Chapter 318: The Tin Knight and the Meaning of the Sacred Treasure (10)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 318: The Tin Knight and the Meaning of the Sacred Treasure (10)
The ground trembled.
No, ‘trembled’ was not enough to describe it.
“The earth… it’s like a wave…!”
The Lion’s voice was filled with horror.
Heavy, heavy rock shot high into the sky. Trees rooted in the ground sank far below.
And in the next moment, their positions were reversed.
The lake, the rocks, the soil, and all the flora and fauna living there were violently mixed, tangled, and thrown into disarray.
The land where the Tin Knight’s party stood was no exception.
[The ‘Tin Knight’ warns you to keep your mouth shut, lest you bite your tongue!]
Dorothea clamped her mouth shut as the Tin Knight instructed.
The Tin Knight quickly grabbed Dorothea by the waist and rode the surging ground as if surfing a wave.
Adelaide, too, grabbed Sophia and followed the Tin Knight.
The ground where they had just been standing collapsed completely.
Like fish swimming through the waves, boulders weighing dozens of tons tumbled through the debris flow, and ancient trees, hundreds of years old, were shattered by the shockwaves, their splinters scattering like rain.
The Tin Knight and Adelaide moved from one unstable foothold to another, dodging or blocking all the threats.
A dizzying, shifting view. A chaos where one couldn't even distinguish the sky from the ground.
Amidst the vertigo, Dorothea gritted her teeth and racked her brain.
‘There’s no way the sacred treasure would suddenly go berserk for no reason. This was the plan from the start.’
Provoking the underground by tormenting the eight generals, and the underground retaliating in fury—it was all part of the heavenly realm’s design.
Realizing this, Dorothea shuddered at their ruthlessness.
The party was currently at a detached villa on the outskirts of the royal capital, so there weren't many people around.
However, considering the nature of the sacred treasure hunt, this phenomenon was originally supposed to occur in the royal palace of a major power—a place like the Empire or the Magic State. In the heart of a capital.
She couldn't even begin to imagine the number of casualties in that case.
Dorothea was enough of a proper witch not to help strangers without reason, but she was also enough of a proper human to frown at the sight of them dying senselessly.
More importantly, this disaster was only just beginning.
At the center of the devastated land.
Like a dragon bursting from the water's surface, a giant snake thrust its head out from the ground.
《───────! ! ! ! !》
The snake, formed of black mist and shadow, roared.
Just as the snake opened its abyss-like maw to tear Langwidere apart, an immense surge of energy erupted from the center of Langwidere’s body.
Emerald holy power and shadow-like mana collided.
KWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!
A part of the snake’s head exploded, and its massive body tumbled to the ground.
Langwidere was unharmed, but the force of the holy power emanating from her body had subsided.
Mana gathered around the black snake, and its head regenerated as if time were reversing.
However, before the regeneration was complete, Langwidere made her next move.
The moment she waved her hand, eight of the dozens of hats circling her flew toward the eight generals.
The hats, upon contact, transformed into masks fitting each general’s size and were forcibly placed on their faces.
A strange light emanated from the masks.
Dorothea knew instinctively that it was a power meant to control the wearers against their will.
A power so strong that resistance was nearly impossible.
But the generals of the underground were beings who had once been transcendent.
Even as mere fragments of souls, far from their complete state, they were not so easily handled.
They resisted the will of the masks trying to control them.
And then, as if to crush their resistance, eight more hats flew from around Langwidere.
Opium, Tuberose, Haider, Amaryllis, Borealis, Lilium, Dicondra.
The bodies of the seven generals went limp.
Only Dracaena, the golden dragon, remained.
Langwidere clicked her tongue in annoyance and was about to fire another hat at Dracaena.
At that moment, the black snake, having finished regenerating, tried to lunge at Langwidere again, but a crimson-black trajectory fell from the sky, blocking its path.
Armor that seemed to be a mix of metal and leather, engraved with the crests of a bear and a lion.
An absurdly large emerald greatsword that an ordinary human couldn't even lift by one end, let alone wield.
Kalidah.
The Black-Red Angel slammed her sword down on the black snake’s head.
The snake held its ground, as if determined not to be pushed back so easily this time, but its movement was inevitably halted for a moment.
Using that brief opening, Langwidere fired a third hat at Dracaena.
The remains of the dragon, which had boasted of its ferocity and pride, finally fell silent.
The next moment.
The eight masked generals began to sprint in different directions.
Confirming this, the angels, as if their business was done, shook off the snake and ascended back into the sky.
《───!》
The black snake glared at them with a look of pure hatred, but it seemed to have more pressing matters as it looked around.
The snake gazed in the directions the eight generals had fled, seemed to ponder for a moment, and then split its body into eight parts and began to chase after them.
It was right around then that the Tin Knight’s party, having escaped the aftershock from the black snake’s emergence, finally set foot on the ground.
“What in the world…”
The scattered eight generals, the two angels returning to the sky, and the giant black snake.
Faced with the storm-like events that had just unfolded and were still ongoing, even the battle-hardened members of the party couldn't help but hesitate in word and deed for a moment.
Of course, true to their motto of acting before thinking (a motto the witch would vehemently deny), their hesitation was brief.
[The ‘Tin Knight’ points out that they must catch the generals first!]
[The ‘Tin Knight’ says it’s obvious what kind of catastrophe will occur if those clearly unhinged beings run into other people!]
“I get it, but there are eight of them and only four of us!”
[The ‘Tin Knight’ says they can just call for helpers!]
[The ‘Tin Knight’ says the worst thing to do is to dither and waste time!]
“Aargh, seriously!!”
Though annoyed, Dorothea summoned her golem horse and carriage.
The state of the surrounding terrain was a literal mess, impossible for ordinary horses and carriages to traverse, but her magic horse and carriage, having undergone all sorts of modifications at the magic tower, could race through even this environment.
Following the Tin Knight’s strong insistence, they first sped off in the direction the golden dragon had flown, while Dorothea haphazardly created corpse messengers.
It was uncertain whether the messengers would arrive in time, or if their recipients would even respond, but it was better than doing nothing.
As they rode, Adelaide, who had been silent for a while, spoke as if she had made a decision.
“I’m going to make a quick stop somewhere else.”
Dorothea frowned.
“You—don’t tell me you’re thinking of taking one down alone? You don’t even have your belt right now. There’s no need to overdo it—”
“—No, I have to.”
The golden-haired lion with violet eyes glanced at the sky where Kalidah had departed, then at the ground where the giant had run.
“To one day reach her, and to pay my respects to the one I have journeyed with until now.”
Faced with her unyielding resolve, Dorothea momentarily swallowed a groan.
“…You used to have a cute side. I wonder who you take after. It’s so obvious I don't even have to ask, and that's the problem.”
Grumbling, Dorothea created an avian undead large enough for a person to ride.
It was a de facto permission, telling her to take it and go.
Adelaide smiled faintly, then turned her gaze to the Tin Knight.
[The ‘Tin Knight’ says that since you’ve already acquired the ‘Ancestor Slayer’ title, it’s time for the ‘Giant Slayer’ one!]
“Please try to forget about the first title…”
After speaking in an exhausted tone, Adelaide finally smiled and bowed her head.
“I’ll be back.”
With a soft thud, she leaped from the carriage. An undead bird, looking like an eagle magnified several times, snatched her from the air and flew in the direction the giant had gone.
Sophia opened her mouth.
“In that case, I have a request as well.”
“You can’t fight on your own.”
“I should be able to buy some time. If I hold out, another way might present itself.”
“You’re hopeless, really.”
Though she grumbled, Dorothea created another composite undead and offered it to Sophia as a mount.
[The ‘Tin Knight’ says it doesn’t matter if you just go ahead and defeat it!]
Sophia chuckled softly.
“Yes, I’ll do my best.”
She, too, flew off on her undead mount.
Now, only the Tin Knight and Dorothea remained in the carriage.
Dorothea muttered under her breath.
“Since it’s come to this, you and I should split up too, right? I can supply you with mana from a distance, and I might be able to handle one on my own.”
The Tin Knight shook his head.
[The ‘Tin Knight’ says he doesn’t have enough power!]
“Ah, right. …I guess I’m not as strong as Adelaide, and I don’t have a guarantee of survival like Sophia, no matter what happens.”
[The ‘Tin Knight’ points out that while your self-assessment is accurate, that’s not the point in this case!]
[The ‘Tin Knight’ says he can’t catch that dragon on his own, so Dorothea needs to be by his side to help!]
At this uncharacteristically weak statement from the Tin Knight, Dorothea blinked in surprise.
“Hey, why are you being so out of character?” Dorothea asked.
The Tin Knight surmised the past based on the combat experience etched into his body, though not in his memory.
As the price for subjugating the fairy that freely traversed all manner of places, his predecessor lost his right arm.
As the price for subjugating the dwarf that summoned and wielded an infinite number of weapons from a subspace, his predecessor lost his left leg.
As the price for subjugating the succubus that delved into people’s minds and controlled them at will, his predecessor had to tear his own mana circuits to shreds.
And, as the price for subjugating the evil dragon that destroyed countless nations with its power alone, without a single soldier under its command—
[The ‘Tin Knight’ says his predecessor was, for all intents and purposes, killed by that dragon!]
[The ‘Tin Knight’ says that simply replacing a body part wasn’t enough, so he had to replace his entire body to challenge it again!]
—the previous Tin Knight met his end as a human.