Ch.229The End of a Man’s Dream

Kale Sanders, a B-rank adventurer who had been operating out of Moon Lake, was consumed by anxiety.

When he had defeated a band of outlaws and discovered a secret dungeon, he thought his life-changing opportunity had finally arrived. But in the blink of an eye, he found himself pushed to the edge of despair after losing all the comrades with whom he had shared life’s joys and sorrows.

In Kale Sanders’ mind, now transformed into a monster, only one thought remained.

To have the secret dungeon they had discovered all to themselves—just him and his five companions.

Of course, since neither Kale nor his companions retained any human consciousness, the meaning of “having the dungeon to themselves” had become somewhat distorted.

Having become monsters due to the Dungeon Overflow, they could no longer think in terms of “conquering the dungeon.”

Nevertheless, the reason they were dominated by the desire to “have the dungeon to themselves” was due to the confusion between their monster consciousness and the knowledge from when they were human.

So how could they satisfy their desire to monopolize the dungeon?

The answer was surprisingly simple.

‘If we eliminate all rivals targeting the dungeon, we will effectively have it all to ourselves.’

From the moment they realized this, the five adventurers led by Kale Sanders moved with the exclusion of “rivals” as their most important and only purpose.

The first rivals to eliminate were the residents of Wellord Mine.

If they could eliminate them and destroy the mine’s barrier tower, other adventurers wouldn’t be able to use Wellord Mine as a base to investigate the dungeon.

They sent the flying Lesser Demons ahead to surround Wellord Mine, dropping stones that were plentiful in the area to destroy all the mining village’s facilities. Eventually, even the sturdy barrier tower would sustain damage.

But Kale’s plan was thwarted by a group of adventurers who appeared from somewhere.

They arrived with wagons full of food to feed the residents, and wrapped the barrier tower in sturdy steel structures that made it impossible to destroy with just the Lesser Demons’ power.

Through his remaining human knowledge, Kale realized these adventurers were an advance party who had come to help the mine after hearing about the Dungeon Overflow.

If that was the case, emergency quests must have been issued throughout western cities including Moon Lake by now, meaning dozens or even hundreds of adventurers would soon arrive at Wellord Mine.

When that happened, the Lesser Demons would be forced into an unfavorable battle and be annihilated, and the emboldened adventurers would surely flock to the secret dungeon that Kale’s group had discovered.

‘No!’

That dungeon belongs to us.

Kale, Terry, Andy, Bernard, Shaw.

No adventurer other than these five should be allowed to set foot in the dungeon.

They needed to defeat the adventurer party sustaining Wellord Mine, then wage all-out war against the large group of adventurers coming from the east and thoroughly crush them.

But things don’t always go as planned.

Terry, the sniper who skillfully wielded the L-1 Custom Replacer—the strongest rifle in Grantis—fell in defeat against the enemy.

The dynamite carried by the Lesser Demons achieved nothing, and Bernard, unable to stand by any longer, risked his life attempting to destroy the barrier tower but failed.

The skills of the adventurers who had come to save Wellord Mine far exceeded Kale’s expectations.

With no other choice, Kale changed his strategy and decided to starve the adventurers and the mine’s residents to death.

Unless they had the ability to turn salt into bread, the food they brought would eventually run out.

By destroying the water facilities to cut off the water supply and repelling the main force approaching from the east to prevent the arrival of supplies, they could succeed.

The problem was that no matter how many Lesser Demons they had, victory against a group of skilled adventurers couldn’t be guaranteed.

So Kale devised a plan to infiltrate two of his companions disguised as “defeated soldiers being chased by monsters” among the adventurers. The plan worked brilliantly, resulting in the complete destruction of the supply wagons.

If not for the sudden appearance of the Silver Wolf tribe, the support troops heading to help Wellord Mine would have been annihilated here, and the adventurers and residents remaining at the mine would have starved to death before new support troops could arrive.

‘Damn those native beasts!’

Originally, Kale Sanders had been favorable toward the beastkin natives, but now as a monster, both settlers and natives were merely “enemies coveting the dungeon we must monopolize.”

Now that these enemies had joined forces and begun their final march to Wellord Mine, it was necessary to mobilize all remaining forces to stop their movement.

The final operation would begin tonight at midnight.

They would gather all the Lesser Demons surrounding Wellord Mine and launch a night raid.

All to monopolize the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity they had finally obtained after a decade of hardship—

~ ~ ~ Wellord Mine, Eastern Camp 20km Away ~ ~ ~

“Shockwave Splasher!!”

‘Pop-pop-pop-BOOM!’

As blue explosions erupted one after another in the midst of the swarming Lesser Demons, nearly twenty of them fell from the sky in tatters.

In the middle of the chaos, about 60-70 people were fighting against the Lesser Demons converging from all directions, illuminating the surroundings with magic similar to flares.

Anastasia had said the reinforcements from the two cities would total about 40 people?

Looking more carefully, I realized the people fighting on the front lines with melee weapons weren’t settlers.

“Those are Silver Wolves?”

“Are they participating in the emergency quest?”

“That can’t be. The Silver Wolf tribe hasn’t signed the Frontier License Agreement.”

“Then they came to help out of pure goodwill? How kind of them.”

When beastkin warriors with excellent close combat abilities cover the front lines, gunners can perform at more than 100% of their capability.

We had hurriedly prepared for battle and followed when all the Lesser Demons around the mine suddenly flew east, but seeing how they were fighting now, perhaps we didn’t need to come help after all.

Not that we had any intention of turning back or fighting half-heartedly.

“Airy Curtain… Break Enchant!”

As Jessica’s enchantment activated, its effects extended not only to our party’s weapons but also to about half of the reinforcements.

The green magical bullets fired from gun barrels created shockwaves upon impact, mercilessly tearing apart the Lesser Demons’ wing membranes. Melee weapons imbued with wind energy not only had enhanced cutting power but also prevented blade damage.

From the Lesser Demons’ perspective, even a graze from either type of weapon could be fatal.

‘Rat-tat-tat!’

‘Bang! Bang! Bang!’

‘Baaang!!’

With each green magical bullet fired from single-action revolvers, repeating rifles, and large-caliber pistols with shotgun barrels, Lesser Demons fell like autumn leaves.

Some Lesser Demons tried to approach quickly, timing their attacks during magical bullet reloading, but…

“Hyah!”

‘Swoosh!’

‘Splat!’

Before Seti, who covered a wide area with swift movements and wind blades, and Ancestor, who disintegrated enemies with overwhelming brute force, they died like insects caught in an electric fly swatter.

Of course, overwhelming numbers are threatening in themselves, and as the saying goes, “even drizzle will soak clothes.” Among the relentlessly attacking Lesser Demons, some lucky ones managed to break through the front line defenses and successfully attack gunners or mages in the rear…

“Healing Mist!”

It seemed the main force had a mage specializing in long-range healing magic. As time passed, the number of Lesser Demons visibly decreased while our party and the main reinforcement force maintained near-optimal condition.

Though more than ten empty mana potion bottles were already rolling around at the healing mage’s feet… let’s hope they squeeze out every last drop of strength, as they’ll be able to rest well after this battle.

After about 30 minutes of this life-or-death struggle with the Lesser Demons, a slight crack began to appear in the battle situation that had been overwhelmingly favoring the settler and Silver Wolf alliance.

‘Bang!’

“Argh!”

A Silver Wolf youth, pierced through the side by a black magical bullet that came from somewhere, collapsed and began convulsing with foam at his mouth.

At first, the adventurers were bewildered by the unconventional situation of monsters using guns, but as the second and third victims fell, they sensed the gravity of the situation and began allocating personnel to secure the perimeter.

“Phyllis, Seti. Did you see that?”

“Yes. Black magical bullets. But I couldn’t see who fired them.”

“I saw black magical bullets being fired from empty air. The enemy must be using magic or a magical tool to conceal themselves.”

Some kind of invisibility magic?

If they were simply hiding in the darkness, Phyllis’s night vision could neutralize them, but dealing with an opponent concealed by magical means wouldn’t be easy.

Even if we tried to catch the moment the bullets were fired, they could freely choose positions and timing beyond anyone’s line of sight.

As everyone’s nerves were on edge due to the threat of the black magical bullets, Iris, who had been hiding in the wagon, called out to me urgently.

“Master, please come over here for a moment.”

“Iris? It’s dangerous right now, so if you have something to say—”

“I sensed black magical power activating. Over there, near the Silver Wolf with the scarf and dual swords, right next to the broken tree.”

Looking in the direction Iris pointed, I could faintly see a broken tree about 20 meters beyond the scarfed Silver Wolf.

Is the attacker with the black magical gun hiding around there? But how? Iris shouldn’t be able to use any magic right now because of the collar of subjugation.

I felt somewhat confused, but Iris wouldn’t lie in a situation like this.

I examined the area around the broken tree from the corner of my eye, careful not to face it directly, while preparing to activate Quick Draw at any moment.

After about 20 seconds, a pitch-black magical bullet was fired from empty air about five steps away from the broken tree!

“Got you!”

Immediately activating my skill, I fired one white magical bullet at the black bullet flying toward the Silver Wolf, and five more white bullets around the spot where the black bullet had been fired from within the frozen time.

Unless they had fired the gun from a particularly awkward position, at least one of my five shots should hit.

‘Baaaang!!’

With the long-echoing gunshot, the black magical bullet flying toward the Silver Wolf was neutralized by the white magical bullet and scattered away. Three of the five shots I had fired into empty space pierced through the concealed enemy’s body.

Right after, an old revolver dropped to the ground from what had seemed like empty space, and as the invisibility magic’s effect disappeared, a man with gunshot wounds to his right arm, left side, and center of his chest slowly lost his balance and collapsed.

The poor man who had almost grasped a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity after ten years as an adventurer.

It was the true final moment for Kale Sanders, who had continued to chase his dream even after losing his life to the Dungeon Overflow.