Chapter 84
Chapter 84
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Some time earlier, before Crushiadra’s troops reached Bashtar .
【”Gugyo, eburoa! (Look, prey coming right to our plates!)”】
【”Aaah! Egyaa! Fuiko!! (Aaah! Big brother! How dare you!!)“】
【”Moguu opyo! (We’ll see what color is your blood!)“】
【”Gyaaa, gakuuuu! (Nooooo, deaaar!)“】
【” Gogaa, ga eku…! (My love, I hope we will meet again in the next life…!)“】
While barely noticing the monsters that came to attack him only to be trashed in his path one after the other, Kurats arrived at the foot of the Bolivia mine .
The heaps of monster corpses that were mowed down by him as he ran to his objective were quite pitiful .
There may have been a sad story of love and ruin between some of them, but how could Kurats know?
【”It’s bigger than I thought . ”】
The Bolivia mine was not a single peak: the name actually pointed to six different peaks of different sizes .
Now that the forest had been swallowed down by monsters, the Bolivia mine was only a shadow of its former self .
The only traces of those prosperous days were the scattered ruins of warehouses and lodging houses that used to host numerous miners .
This was once the world’s largest mithril mine . In its golden age, more than 5000 miners and workers spent their time here .
The enormous wealth amassed in these mines was the foundation that led the Bashtar to a prosperity unlike that of any other remote territory . A prosperity that had made them fearless of monsters .
However, when faced with the great invasion, the knight order of Bashtar that was once said to constitute the elite of the kingdom was wiped out in less than a day .
Currently, this mine that used to pulsate with activity was surrounded by silence, as if it were in a deem slumber .
『Interesting . This is a better find than I thought . 』
【”Meaning?”】
『Hmm… Mithril is a metal that has good compatibility with magic, and it is well suited to forge weapons with magic attributes . For that reason, mithril veins tends to have strong magic power . Just like here . 』
Now that Bernst mentioned it, Kurats did feel strong magic power leaking from the few parts of the tunnels that he could see from the side of the mountain .
『… Even so, the magic power that I’m feeling seems a bit too strong . There shouldn’t be that much power leaking from the tunnels of a mere mithril mine…』
Bernst was puzzled .
Although mithril was certainly good at conducting magic power, it was not good at storing it . It was not supposed to emit such strong power .
『Could this be… Scarlet-adamant?』
【”What’s that?”】
Kurats asked about the unfamiliar name with great cruiosity .
『There is a metal found in the east called Hihiirokane, or Scarlet adamant . It’s the ultimate magic steel . It’s not as easy to forge it into magic weapons as it would be with mithril, but it does have the property of accumulating and amplifying magic power . 』
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Was this still unknown in this world? Back in the Dolmand world, one sword made out of this material could be traded for a small country .
『The ratio of magic power it can tolerate is different from that of mithril . If you handle this well, you just might be able to make a weapon that suits you…』
【”REALLY?!”】
This had truly caught Kurats’ interest .
Even the magic sword Gerlach would fall short of Kurats’ extraordinary magic power .
Though massive weapons like battering rams were good enough for him to display his strength, he still wished he could wield a magic sword .
He was suddenly feeling very motivated .
『It seems their mining never progressed all that much . Judging from the magic power coming from inside, there are plenty of veins left . 』
Mithril alone was already a big deal, but if there really was Scarlet adamant here, it was going to be necessary to gather master blacksmiths and have them mine it under absolute secrecy .
There wasn’t much of it to mine in the first place . Despite all the magic power coming from the mines, Bernst estimated that this amount of Scarlet adamant was only enough to build a few swords, at best .
(Since they will be mining mithril from now, should I have the territory manufacture Mithril products on the side?)
While Bernst started to ponder on the future management of the Bashtar territory, Kurats stumbled on an idea of his own .
【”Alright, I’m gonna crush it . ”】
『Come again?』
Bernst could not quite grasp Kurats’ meaning .
What Bernst hoped to do was to gather enough workers to not only mine the mithril but also manufacture it and sell the resulting products, instead of just mining the mithril and exporting it .
How had Kurats gone from this to the conclusion that he should crush everything?
His words were to be taken literally: he intended to crush the whole mountain and the mine with it .
It did not fit Kurats’ nature to laboriously dig through a cave and develop an efficient mining system through time, workers and tools .
However, if the mine was completely crushed instead, then gathering the mithril would become as easy as reaching down to the ground . Even children would be able to do it .
This would solve the issue of having to find workers on top of making the Scarlet-adamant very easy to obtain .
【”I gotta wreck it down with all my strength…”】
『Wai… Hold on, I have just the right spell to work a mine!』
Benst had a method to detect the veins and dig them without any waste .
With some effort, it would even be possible to directly extract the mithril itself, without having to dig anything else .
『There is no need to destroy it . Also, the spell I’m thinking of is very showy, it’s perfect for this! Just let me to do that instead!』
Unfortunately, Bernst was given no time to make his plea .
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【”Oooooooooooooooooh!”】
After jumping to the sky with all his strength, Kurats launched a calculated barrage of shock-waves that went underground, in an effort to make the mountain collapse on itself .
The finely calculated punching barrage made the 800 meters high Bolivia mount penetrate inward into the ground .
It now looked as if it was in the middle of a concave lens .
As the ground’s bedrock started breaking and the surface of the mountain showed signs of collapsing, Kurats threw one last punch towards the very center of this concave lens .
With the thunderous sound of a volcanic eruption, the Bolivia mine shattered to the ground, starting from the middle, all the way to its extremities .
For better or worse, the Bolivia mine was relatively close to Triestella’s headquarters .
【”Those shrewd humans… They were aiming for my glorious castle from the start!”】
It was not strange for Triestella, who was approaching Narak, to reach that conclusion .
In the past, the Bashtar army had thousands of soldiers .
Now, she had been told that they had no more than a few hundred soldiers and two strong enemies that stood out from the rest .
This was far too little .
There had to be thousands of forces remaining, secretly targeting her base .
Based on the standards of 70 years ago, Triestella was convinced this was true .
(Curse you, humans!)
Triestella bit her lip in a quiet wrath .
As a reigning aristocrat, she had not once been made light of by the likes of humans, let alone being outwitted by them .
Humans were supposed to be insignificant beings, only good at being exploited .
If they had been willing to let themselves be trampled down, Triestella would have let them go once she felt like it .
But now, she no longer had any mercy to offer them .
She did not know who was the mastermind who had come up with this plan, but she was going to pursue him to the end of the planet, and end him as brutally as she possibly could .
【”I will come to save you at once, my lovely girls . ”】
Triestella’s harem of pretty girls happened to be inside in her castle . She had to go there to save them .
More importantly, if a count who stood at the 13th rank among the demons were to lose her castle to mere humans, then to say nothing of just being ridiculed by her fellow aristocrats, she might even be reprimanded by the demon king .
【”Crushiadra!”】
Triestella yelled out with a clear voice .
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【”I am returning to defend the base . Do not let them pursue me! Understood?”】
【”Please leave it to me . I will come back with great triumph . ”】
After declaring her future victory, Crushiadra glared at Frigga, who was still confronting her .
Crushiadra had acknowledged Frigga’s strength at this point . However, it turned out she had been fighting here in order to deceive Triestella and attack the base when it was defenseless .
Crushiadra was not going to forgive the humans for disgracing Triestella with their cowardly means, no matter how inconsequential their actions were .
Now that Triestella had entrusted everything to her, Crushiadra was filled with an even greater fighting spirit than when first stepping into the battlefield .
She vowed to herself that she would drop the hammer of revenge down on Frigga .
She did not think for a second that she could lose to the humans .
She still had more than a thousand soldiers, while the enemy only had around 300 .
She believed that if she could just defeat Frigga, then victory would be as good as hers .
Though Crushiadra was slightly underestimating Lunaria, her conclusion was not very far from the truth .
Losing the Snow White Valkyrie would quite clearly destroy the morale of the fighters on Bashtar’s side .
【”I hope you’re not too attached to you head!”】
【”That’s my line . Your head will be a gift worthy of master’s praise!”】
【”I’ll be getting sister’s love with yours!”】
While both expecting sweet victory and rewards, Crushiadra and Frigga clashed against each other again .
As a demon, Crushiadra was physically stronger than Frigga .
One leap was all she needed to get closer . It looked as if she was gliding through the air .
Even so, Frigga and Shellac’s exquisite maneuvers and teamwork did not lost out to her .
They were like one single entity . A centaure with the lower-body of a griffon .
Once she closed the distance, Crushiadra attacked with all her strength, but was immediately blocked by a diagonal slash of Murasame .
Her left fist moved at the very same moment like it had been waiting for that .
【”I’ve already seen that one . ”】
This was yet another backhand blow aimed at Frigga’s abdomen .
Frigga was not the type of foolish swordsman that would get caught by the same technique twice .
She blocked the attack with the handle of her sword, and then twisted her sword through instinct alone, without even looking .
【”Tsk!”】
With that twist, Frigga’s sword came right up from below, catching Crushiadra’s right arm while is was still hanging mid-air .
The blow looked like it had merely grazed Crushiadra’s upper-arm, yet it showed an astonishing sharpness that sent her right arm flying .
This was due to Murasame’s magic properties .
【”…I did not expect that . That sword if yours is a bit troublesome, I must say . ”】
Crushiadra’s eyes showed a brief but very real astonishment .
There were many anecdotes about magic swords that could cut something in half with a single touch, but in reality, there was no other magic sword with such sharpness .
Even the magic sword Gerlach could not achieve this .
As she had no artefact-type armor, Crushiadra had no way of blocking Murasame .
【”Then again, that’s all it is, a bit troublesome . ”】
As she said so, Crushiadra tried to regenerate her right arm, only to be astonished once again .
【”What is happening?”】
Her arm did not grow back .
Something felt out of place around the area of the cut .
Whatever that was, it was disrupting her regeneration .
【”That is not going to work . I cannot exactly let you keep regenerating yourself forever, so I had to put an end to that . ”】
【”Ah…!”】
Before she realized it, Crushiadra had let Frigga’s water magic infiltrate her wound .
This water magic was obstructing Crushiadra’s own magic, and by the same occasion, her regeneration .
The problem was that fighting with one arm against a strong enemy like Frigga would be too disadvantageous .
Crushiadra was starting to feel chills on her back .
【”Damn it!”】
This was not supposed to go this way . How was this happening?
How could a mere human being make a fool out of a demon aristocrat?
【”YOU DAMN HUMAN!”】
Crushiadra roared in defiance of the terrible pain she was feeling .
Even with a single arm, a demon would never lose against a human .
To prove this fact, Crushiadra jumped at Frigga with every ounce of strength in her body .