Ch.224Fade in Black

*Click-clack…*

“Ooooh~”

Exclamations echoed through the wide space at the entrance of the Wellord Mine.

They were sounds of admiration from people (mostly men) watching a black horse with a blue-white mane transform into human form.

Even grown adults, even people from another world, apparently get excited at the romance of transforming robots.

“I never thought I’d reveal Ancestor’s true identity like this…”

“Now’s not the time to be picky about methods. It’ll also serve as a buffer effect for Iris.”

“I see. For big sister’s sake…”

“It’s killing two birds with one stone. From the beginning, no one but Ancestor was suitable for this operation.”

I hadn’t told everyone, but I was starting to feel the limits of hiding Ancestor’s true identity.

Pulling a covered wagon alone was suspicious enough, but now we were hauling a metal carriage even larger than the covered wagon.

Besides, our party’s composition alone was bound to attract curiosity, so stubbornly hiding the fact that Ancestor was an automaton wouldn’t mean much anyway.

‘Well… deciding to reveal it now is indeed for Iris’s sake.’

After finishing treating the wounded and distributing food, while unloading the cargo from the carriage, we noticed the settlers’ gazes toward Iris were concerning.

Understandably so—for most pioneers, the dark elf race was perceived almost like goblins or orcs, to put it mildly.

Moreover, these residents were currently having their homes ravaged by monsters, so regardless of their gratitude for the supplies we brought, they couldn’t easily shake off their fear or prejudice against Iris, a dark elf.

In such a situation, Ancestor’s transformation scene as an “ancient automaton” effectively captured people’s attention as something far more fascinating than a “dark elf female slave.”

“Good, preparations are complete… how are the barrier tower defense facilities?”

“Perfect. We’ve already finished the basic durability tests, so we just need to install them.”

Answering my question, Mina tapped a hemispherical steel structure in the corner and gave a thumbs up.

That thing, which looked like a dome-shaped jungle gym from a playground, was the defense facility that would protect the Wellord Salt Mine’s barrier tower from stone attacks.

Unlike the barrier towers in western cities that reach several meters in height, the barrier towers used in small outposts like this are only about as tall as an adult man.

Surrounding it with this defense facility made of alloy shields and arched steel structures makes it nearly impossible for even child-fist-sized stones to directly hit the barrier tower.

However, being sturdily built, it weighs about 200kg, so Ancestor’s strength is essential to move it to the barrier tower location and install it safely.

“I’ll leave the rest to you, Ancestor.”

At my instruction, Ancestor silently nodded, easily lifted the large arched structure, and left the mine.

Flying monsters immediately concentrated their stone attacks on Ancestor, but simply by holding the structure above his head, not even a fragment of stone could reach him.

Upon reaching the barrier tower, Ancestor kicked away the scattered rocks around it, then carefully placed the arched structure over the tower.

Ignoring the monster’s stone attacks exposing his entire body, he positioned a stake at the designated spot and struck it with his gauntleted fist.

*Boom*

With a heavy hammer sound, the defense facility was secured to the ground with a single blow.

After repeating this process six times, Ancestor silently returned to the mine, and the men who had been watching cheered and applauded.

It made for a striking image as Iris, the dark elf, wiped the dirt and stone dust from Ancestor’s body.

Like a sexy tank-top-clad woman washing a sports car.

“Now the barrier tower is secure.”

“We have enough food, and the wounded are recovering well. They should be able to hold out until the reinforcements arrive.”

“I guess we can breathe a little easier now…”

Unless the monsters have the means to collapse the mine itself or destroy the barrier tower along with its defenses, it’s fair to say the siege of Wellord Mine has reached a stalemate.

All that remains is to hope that reinforcements from the western city arrive before our food supplies run out.

~~~ Near the Dungeon Entrance, Southwest of Wellord Mine ~~~

Dungeon overflow.

It refers to the phenomenon where a dungeon, long neglected and reaching saturation, spews out excessively generated monsters beyond its gates.

The time from a dungeon’s creation to an overflow varies widely between dungeons, as does the number of monsters that pour out.

Dungeon overflows are particularly dangerous because their timing and patterns cannot be predicted, but sometimes the “anomalies” accompanying them pose an even greater crisis than the hundreds of monsters emerging from the dungeon.

For example, areas traversed by dungeon monsters becoming so contaminated with black magic that they transform into lands of death where people perish within a day,

Or abnormally high frequencies of special entity mutations occurring around overflowing dungeons,

Or cases where people killed by such monsters mutate into the same type of monster, themselves becoming part of the great calamity of dungeon overflow.

*Writhe*

Such an unpredictable disaster was now about to cause another unprecedented aberration.

A group of adventurers who were the first victims of the dungeon overflow.

Those who had discovered this dungeon through a map stolen from outlaws were beginning to revive from death.

Five adventurers who should have decomposed long ago, leaving only clothes and possessions without a trace.

“……”

The party leader, who was killed first, opens his eyes.

The team’s sniper, who contributed most to discovering this dungeon, rises.

The frivolous scout, the fussy but reliable staff wizard, and the taciturn miner revive in sequence.

Their eye whites turned black, their pupils red, and their skin a withered gray—all indicating they no longer maintained human bodies or minds.

*Rustle*

The party leader, who hadn’t let go of his gun even at the moment of death, expressionlessly swung out the cylinder and touched the lightless magic engravings with his finger.

But the magic engravings, designed to respond only to pure magic power, do not answer the black magic of their former owner who has become a monster.

It was common knowledge in Grantis that firearms usable by monsters transformed from humans, or monsters who could utilize human tools, were limited to auto-loading firearms that didn’t require the owner’s magic.

*Woong-*

That common knowledge in Grantis was now being shattered.

Black magic flowing from the man’s hand violently seeped into the cylinder’s magic engravings, overwriting the delicate engravings crafted by a veteran gunsmith.

There was no way to determine whether this was due to the party leader’s former knowledge of gun-making techniques or a special power acquired upon rebirth as a monster.

What mattered was that the revolver in the man’s hand was being reborn as a devil’s gun that would bring chaos to Grantis.

*Click*

Having finished loading, the man aims his favorite pistol at a distant tree.

Then, with an expressionless face, he casually pulls the trigger.

*Bang!*

A sinister dark purple magic bullet fired from the pistol in the man’s hand.

A small hole was punctured in the target tree, with black magic remaining like a stain on the inner surface of the hole.

Although its concentration couldn’t compare to the dark swords used by dark elves, if such a thing were shot into a human body, the outcome would certainly be dire.

*Swish*

Having completed his test firing, the party leader extended his hand toward his companions, each holding their own guns, and the four former comrades handed over their firearms without hesitation or reluctance.

*Woong-*

It was the moment when white magic bullet guns, which had been a light of hope for pioneers for the past 50 years, were being tainted black for the first time.