Chapter 98
Translator: “Hakou” Editor: “Weasalopes”
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「I am thinking of accepting the request to mop-up the Hell Divers (Hell Bees)」
I told Herbivorous Mechanic when we met at the hangar.
The top is panicking over the Knight Orders’ great loss but the daily lives of the people continue on regardless.
The Knight Order did not move at all and the Adventurers’ Guild had their hands full with investigating the Heavy Lancers.
「Will you be alright? We do not know the whereabouts of the Heavy Lancers」
Herbivorous Mechanic too knew of the situation between the Knight Order and the Heavy Lancers. I was the one who told him about it, of course, it was after I got permission from the Guild Chief.
The Guild Chief’s opinion of me is that I am skilled at piloting but my knowledge of demon beasts and the international situation is lacking. There was finally a victim of the Hell Diver.
(It is a shame but that is true)
I am in the midst of studying bit by bit from sources such as books but I’m still far from the level of common education of the people in this world.
And Herbivorous Mechanic is expected to make up for the parts which I am lacking in.
「That is alright. Old Lady and I will be able to escape even if the group appears」
I reply with pride.
In my heart, I know that the Heavy Lancers will probably not appear again but I cannot let it slip.
「I understand. But please do be careful」
I smiled and nodded after hearing those words.
The response to the Hell Diver mop-up is being hurried.
But I have a reason for choosing this from among the other emergency matters.
(I will try my C rank magic)
This is it.
Due to the luminescence from activating magic, Old Lady has never activated a C rank magic before.
However, previously I learned with the matter regarding the Heavy Lancers that there are cases where D is not enough.
I must test this as soon as possible.
(But the location is the problem)
Why is Old Lady eighteen meters high? She really stands out.
If I were to assume that Old Lady’s whole body would sparkle, I will not know how many people will be able to see it.
I am also unable to think of any excuses right now, so it will be troublesome to deal with that situation if it comes up.
(In that regard, the Hell Divers fulfill the conditions)
Hell Divers are a Bee-type demon beast that is about two meters in length.
Its body is black in color and it is adept in the dark even though its a bee-type.
They are aggressive in nature and it attacks enemies by diving down from the sky at night. Needless to say, they attack in hoards and consume small demon beasts but they also do the same for medium, and at times, large demon beasts too.
They also have a habit of making large underground nests earning them the title Hell Diver.
(A large underground nest. That is the important part)
No one would see if it is underground and I will also be able to test my magic. I do not think anyone would enter the nest.
「Well then, I will immediately equip the lighting equipment」
Herbivorous started making preparations.
I will need to enter the den and exterminate the queen to annihilate the Hell Divers.
For this reason, lighting equipment is needed as the underground does not have any light from the stars, it was completely dark.
「I will finish by evening, so you will be able to sortie tomorrow morning」
As Hell Divers are nocturnal, the theory (tactic) is to attack during the day when they have returned to their nests.
One must take care to take them all down with one swoop or there is the fear that the wandering bees will be called upon, causing disturbances to the surroundings.
Taking the travel time into consideration, it will be best for me to sortie as soon as possible.
「Thank you very much. But please do not overwork yourself」
「It is not a demanding task so it is fine」
Herbivorous Mechanic gave a broad smile as he said this.
Early morning of the next day.
The sun had not risen yet and the stars were still twinkling brightly in the sky.
However, the bottom half of the clouds in the east were dyed in deep red signaling to those that saw it that dawn was fast approaching.
And Old Lady and I sped along on the main road, heading west.
There was no human traffic probably due to the time so I chose to move by hovering.
As I have become accustomed to controlling wind magic, the converging airflow from before only formed a limited amount of clouds of dust behind Old Lady.
(The amount of human traffic will only decrease from here on out)
I will take the branch road that is before Awoke, a nucleated town which lies west of the Royal Capital.
From here lies the route that everyone is avoiding due to the existence of the Hell Divers.
The number of people should eventually become zero as I approach my destination.
As I think of this, I look to my surroundings from time to time to check once again that there is no one.
(Hell Divers huh)
I went over the information that I confirmed prior to this.
Hell Divers are dangerous existences but fortunately, the only target demon beasts and have no interest in humans and livestock.
For that reason, they rarely appear in the human living areas with few demon beasts.
The reason they were the subjugation targets this time was that the place where they made their nest was close to the human realm which caused a part of the Hell Divers and the human living areas to overlap.
(Even if they had no interest in humans as food, it seems that it was treated as the Hell Divers having intruded upon the humans’ territory)
The villagers who forcefully entered seeking food from the mountains became the very first victims.
And as a result of the survivors fleeing, the Hell Divers were brought to the village and the number of victims increased.
Currently, every villager has evacuated and was waiting for the Hell Divers’ subjugation.
(But this is also cool)
Regardless of how grave the situation was, my fascination lies in a different place. It was Old Lady’s new equipment.
Remembering her gallant figure I saw in the morning, I fell head over heels for her.
Although the lighting was installed on both shoulders, they looked exactly like the lamp pods from night rallys and was extremely wonderful.
To be exact, two lights on the right shoulder, two on the left and one on the head.
He told me that the lighting range was wide so it was probably inspired by the Monte Light Distribution.
(I really want to put them to use as soon as possible)
I whistled as I moved along with little clouds of dust.
「I have arrived」
I reached my destination before noon.
Hell Divers are even more dangerous than man-eating bees so there was no support adventurer team.
I did not lose my way as the entrance to the nest was already marked beforehand.
(I see there are two on lookout)
There are two arrow marks drawn on the ground before this.
They pointed to the entrance and black bees lived a little deeper.
Even if they are nocturnal, it seems like they do not let down their guard during the day. Probably what humans would call 24/7 vigilance.
(Time to quickly defeat them and break into the nest before they notice me)
I shot consecutive shots of Magic missiles from outside of their alert range and took their lives in one breath.
Thereafter, I revved up the hovering and dived into the nest.
There is usually only one entrance.
In order to not let the Hell Divers out, I will need to defeat more enemies than the ones that are pushing me back.
「D rank magic activate! Magic Missile continuous fire!」
I said out loud as I displayed the technique I refined during the battle with the Heavy Lancers.
It is as the prior information said, the Hell Divers were far softer than the Heavy Lancers, the continuous fire of five shots per second easily shot them all down.
「Eat this and this!」
Bees started appearing one after another from deeper within the nest.
The road to the nest is already sprawled with bees, I have no choice but to get used to the feeling of disgust.
Though this could be called a close-range battle, the Hell Divers could do nothing against the continuous rain of Magic Missiles.
The most they could do is dirty Old Lady with their body fluids and their broken body parts that flew and scattered everywhere.
As I advanced, the daylight behind me got further and further and it gradually got dark.
It is finally time for the lamp pods to shine.
「Supply!」
I allowed some mana to flow in.
Strong pillars of light shined from both of her shoulders and her head, lighting up a wide area in front of me. It was probably very bright as even my eyes could see that the movements of the Hell Divers have slowed down.
While imagining the figure of Old Lady lighting up the darkness, I continued shooting down the hell divers.
(……What numbers)
After a long period of time has passed, I collapsed in my pilot seat. I let Old Lady’s lower body onto the ground and stretched out her legs.
There was already no attacking Hell Divers. It should be fine to say that they were annihilated.
(It was underground so I thought that the nest would be much narrower)
I surveyed the inner part of the nest once again.
My sight that was synchronized with Old Lady’s was is wide as the gymnasium at school.
Of course, there exists a difference in scale between Old Lady and humans, an unbelievably huge space.
(Is this really underground?)
I came from the entrance so there is no mistaking it. Even so, how wide it was was outside of the norm which made me think that way.
(Alright, let’s go)
I made Old Lady stand up and advanced deeper.
A mountain of corpses with nowhere to step on was the exact phrase to describe my surroundings.
It was a colony genocide (everyone was killed). From the bees’ perspective, this was nothing more than hell.
Hexagonal shapes were spread all the way up to the ceiling each one of them housing a larva or pupa.
『They’re nice when eaten』
An adventurer who I was indebted to during the repelling of the man-eating bees. I remembered the words he said.
(I wonder if that refined old man eats Hell Diver larva. Even though they are larger than humans)
As I shook my head to clear away the idle thoughts, I managed to advance to the deepest part where the queen is enshrined.
「She only looks big」
Only the upper part of her body is somewhat larger than the other Hell Divers. However, her backside is many times bigger and is very long. Only her backside is white and it swelled from time to time.
It is probably a special trait for laying eggs, the shape is strange.
Her flight power and battle prowess have long since been lost. She is trying to intimidate but shows no sign of attacking.
「This is also part of the job」
With the queen as my opponent, I made her eat several shots of my slightly condensed Magic Missile. With that, everything has been accomplished.
The only sound that can be heard within the nest now were grinding noises from the jaws of the larva demanding for food.
Within the hexagonal room, they twisted their bodies and clamped their jaws as if complaining that they were hungry.
I began checking my surroundings just in case.
There is no longer any existence here that will be a threat to Old Lady, not even human eyes of course.
(I have completed my objective)
A fall in output like the time when I first activated D rank magic.
There is a considerable possibility that the same thing will occur.
There is an absolute need for me to eliminate any surrounding danger before I test C rank magic.
(Here I go, C rank magic)
I activate my C rank magic.
I confirmed through Old Lady’s eyes that a faint blue light leaked out from the gaps of her armor.
By the way, the reason that the light was blue was that I activated recovery magic, it will be red if its injury recovery magic and green if its abnormal status recovery magic.
(……I see. Only the main body of the golem radiates)
The armor is a separate thing.
(My pain receptor is also not synchronized with the armor)
I become convinced of that fact.
Then, the mithril silver shell at Old Lady’s chest started storing mana I let out.
The next moment, a violent shock like that of being run over by a car ran through my whole body.
(Gah!)
It felt like I would lose my consciousness but I very nearly hold out.
Old Lady’s entire body became filled with overwhelming power far surpassing my imagination.
Unable to maintain Old Lady’s posture, she knelt down on one knee and shook.
(……This is agonizing!)
The feeling was like inserting more air into a basketball that is already full of air.
At this rate, Old Lady will no doubt rupture. My intuition told me so. Of course, my senses are still synchronized.
(The connection……should I sever it?)
I thought as I gasped.
(No I can’t do that. I can’t stop Old Lady’s explosion even if I sever the connection)
It is too naive to think that I will be safe even if there was an explosion.
I managed to look for solutions even in my agony.
(Use mana! Use the rifle to allow the excess mana to escape!)
There is no time left. Old Lady’s chest is already letting out creaking sounds.
Using the mana control, I send as much as the mana, that was filled with the pressure of a killer, to the rifle.
Seconds before, at the back of my mind, I recalled the image of the shell that burst into belt-shaped pieces was blown into the sky above the lake
That was the sight when I first fired the E rank magic, magic missile.
(This is bad!)
I brought forth what little remaining judgment I had.
However, there I cannot stop this. If I do that, both of us will explode.
(Direction!)
Up or down.
I did not think of the sides. This is for the image of boring a hole through the bottom of a river or a colony.
(It’s down!)
I do not know if anyone was aboveground.
That being the only basis for my judgment, I jam the rifle’s barrel to the ground.
「Magic Missile!」
Along with my immediate shout, I drew the activation trigger with my consciousness.
The world turned to white soon after.
「Ohhhhhhhhhh!」
I unconsciously let out my voice but the surrounding noise drowned it out and it did not reach my ears.
The Magic Missile I fired formed a storm and Old Lady’s back slammed straight into the ceiling as a result.
「Kuh, ka, ha」
I cannot breathe due to the shock from the crash.
My chest received a strong shock like that of crashing into a large rock, leaving no time for me to recover.
The raging storm swept from side to side as it was not allowed to descend to the ground. Old Lady hit the wall once again while she was spinning.
(……I can’t breathe!)
The Magic Missile fired by Old Lady bored a magnificent hole in the bedrock.
The bedrock broke into countless lumps and scattered at speeds that can kill.
The Hell Divers’ nest is spacious for one being underground, but it was too small to stop the momentum of the rock lumps.
The rock lumps slammed into the surface of the wall and ceiling and recoiled without losing any speed.
They then either crashed into the floor and the wall and recoiled upwards into the air once again, or crashed into one another.
This repeated many times.
Right now in the space occupied by the Hell Divers’ nest was a giant mixture of a large number of rock lumps and Hell Diver corpses and the Old Lady.
(Kuuuuu!)
The only thing I could do in that giant maelstrom was to endure by turning Old Lady into a ball much like Dangorou.
Elsale, the finest brothel in Awoke.
A beautiful woman, who held the number one position there for a long time, knitted her eyebrows, that looked like they were from a drawing, slightly.
(Did it just tremble?)
She stopped trying to seek consent from the person she shared the bed with who was asleep, face up.
The man who was her servant had a blissful expression and his energy bar was sideways.
In order to maintain her beauty, from a while ago, she was absorbing the low-fat and high collagen energy drink from the energy bar seven times continuously.
(As expected this is the limit)
Even if there is brainwashing to make the person think of her as the best woman in the world, there still exists a physical limit.
She honestly wanted more but she chose to give up on the servant being her partner for now.
Wiping her mouth, she looked at the mirror and reapplied her make up.
(But what was that just now?)
Even the word earthquake could not describe it.
Her intuition was trying to tell her something, she, who has higher sensitivity to mana than humans.
(Well, it doesn’t matter)
It was not like she was involved in this matter.
She covered the limp energy drink with a handkerchief as a reward. She then left the room, while shaking her rump, looking for an energy drink replacement.
On the afternoon of that day, a local earthquake occurred at Awoke, a nucleated town west of the Royal Capital.
As there was a village nearby, some of the houses collapsed but there were no casualties as the residents there coincidentally evacuated due to the fear of Hell Divers.
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