Ch.7676. Free City of Lachburg (5)

In truth, I had been secretly underestimating the ‘Queen’ of the cave worms.

It made sense, since the cave worm species itself had an ecology similar to ants or bees, so I had assumed in my mind that their queen would also be like ant or bee queens—merely an individual dedicated solely to laying eggs.

Of course, being the leader of a magically connected hive, she would have some magical aptitude, and considering the buffs she receives as a ‘Master of the Other World,’ she couldn’t be considered weak, but…

Even so, I thought she would ultimately be nothing more than a giant mid-tier worm.

And right now.

‘…Huh?’

Now that I was directly confronting the cave worm queen, I had no choice but to reconsider those thoughts.

The queen specimen before my eyes was enormous. Truly enormous.

Judging by body size alone, she might be comparable to a Tarasque, and her appearance could best be described as a hideously distorted and twisted form of an Arachne.

One pair of massive arms and two pairs of sensory legs protruded from her torso.

The egg sac jutting from her rear looked more robust than I had imagined, and in the exact center of her body was a mouth for consuming food.

Above what could be called her head protruded the upper body of an insect-human hybrid, glaring at me with formidable magical power.

At this point, I painfully realized how severely I had underestimated this queen.

Her body… or rather, her maternal form was visibly protected by an extremely thick and sturdy exoskeleton. Though her massive physique made movement difficult, she could easily crush approaching enemies with her forelegs.

Meanwhile, the organ that could be called her head took on a humanoid form… and if nothing else, this brain structure was unlike anything described in any book.

Judging by how she was drawing magical power from the entire dungeon toward herself, she appeared to be specialized in magic use, and based on my accelerated thought process, this was an organ far removed from ordinary specimens.

In short, the queen specimen before me was a mutation—an individual with completely different ecology and characteristics from the original species (cave worm queen).

‘Come out quickly!’

[Fire!!!]

Therefore, instead of wasting time with words, I summoned my animal companions while Sophia called forth Minerva and immediately cast a spell.

—RUMBLE!!!

The sonic projectile Sophia fired flew toward the mutant queen with a thunderous explosion, but the queen blocked the attack with a floating stone wall she conjured without even an incantation.

And while buying time this way, my previously unsummoned animal companions began to appear one by one at my side.

[[[■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■——!!!!!!]]]

While the Hydra at the front roared and drew everyone’s attention, the Squeak-squeaks scattered and melted into the shadows of the animal companions, and Korin took to the sky and began emitting lightning.

[KIYOOOOOOO———!!!]

—CRACKLE-CRACKLE-CRACKLE!!

With an indescribable cry… no, a monstrous shriek, Korin wrapped herself in lightning and soared into the sky.

[[[■■■■■■———!!!]]]

The Hydra, whose physical abilities were greatly enhanced thanks to the Boost Wildness spell I cast, used its size—the only one capable of confronting the mutant queen—to draw attention and initiate close combat.

[■■■, ■■ ■■■!!!]

Of course, the mutant queen must have judged the Hydra as threatening, as she levitated rock fragments extracted from the ground through magic and fired them like bullets in succession.

And as I observed this scene… I accelerated my thought process and began to deduce.

The magic the mutant queen was casting was probably ‘Earth Magic’—power derived from the mysteries of the earth, with extremely powerful defensive characteristics.

Literally, it can create and manipulate earth materials like soil and rocks, but the core advantage of earth magic is that the materials it can control (ground) exist everywhere.

Pulling walls of earth and stone from the ground requires almost no magical power expenditure, and even if casting without incantation increases mana consumption, the magic required for defense isn’t that significant.

In short, earth magic is most commonly used to continuously defend against attacks with cost-effective defensive spells, forcing a war of attrition.

But this queen is different.

Her dominion over the environment as ‘Master of the Other World’ further reduces the mana consumption of earth magic.

The fact that we’re underground naturally amplifies the power of earth magic.

Moreover, the queen has made her already sturdy body even more solid by imbuing her abnormally tough exoskeleton with earth magic.

As a result, she boasted durability that was virtually impervious to physical attacks…

‘[…Now!]’

Therefore, Sophia and I decided to test a technique we had been preparing for some time to subjugate the mutant ‘Queen’.

※ ※ ※

‘Mystery,’ the source of all supernatural phenomena, is called such because its principles and concepts cannot be fully identified.

However, that doesn’t mean mystery is completely unknown territory.

Even if we haven’t grasped exactly how mystery works, we’ve identified several basic principles of its activation.

And the most representative example is that the law of equivalent exchange applies to the activation of mystery.

To cast a spell with a power of 100, you must invest 100 in resources. For instance, activating 60 mana with 20 resources each from incantation and hand signs.

This is an absolute law that applies to all mysterious phenomena, with no exceptions possible.

And this law of equivalent exchange is used in various places to enhance the power of magic, including the magic that Sophia and I are about to use.

Among celestial magics that handle climate and ‘heavenly energy,’ there exists magic that can be strengthened through the concept of ‘sacrifice.’

For example… there’s the principle of ‘Holocaust’ (燔祭), which is close to divine magic.

Though it comes with the difficult condition of requiring a voluntary sacrifice other than the caster, this ‘Holocaust’ principle provides appropriate compensation in return.

The most representative effect is explosively increasing the power of magic, and another is a pseudo-guaranteed hit effect.

While allies designated as targets will inevitably be caught in the spell, enemies similarly designated will also be caught in it.

[[[Pour down———!!!]]]

As Astra’s magic power enhancement buff—which maximizes effect at the cost of drastically shortened duration—is applied to the three magic casters,

I, Sophia, and Minerva, three intermediate celestial magic casters, combine our powers to cast a spell that ‘generates lightning.’

This attack technique, essential for celestial gathering druids, with power that varies tremendously depending on mana consumption and the caster’s capabilities… was now cast in a form worthy of being called ‘Celestial Punishment.’

—KABOOOOOOM!!!

Lightning struck with enough shock wave from the explosion alone to form sufficient lethality, and companions with sensitive senses gradually retreated in pain from the extreme flash and explosion.

If just the aftermath was this severe, the state of the queen who took a direct hit was even more devastating.

[………..■…..■■….■..■■■..■■■■…■■■■■■■!!!]

The left side of the screaming mutant queen’s body… her maternal part was completely collapsed. Traces of terrible burns were visible all over her body, and her brain structure was no exception.

And in the case of Korin, who became the sacrifice for the ‘Holocaust’ and was swept up in this attack just like the ‘Queen’—

[————UOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!]

The power of a thunder bird, a magical beast close to a spirit, does not disappear. As practiced beforehand, Korin temporarily converted part of her body into current and gained perfect immunity to lightning attacks, letting it flow through her.

[Here I gooooo———!!!!]

No, rather, she began to use the current injected into her body to her advantage.

Although thunder birds can absorb current and use it as various resources, as a species with physical form, they cannot absorb unlimited current.

Therefore, Korin didn’t absorb the current. She merely redirected it toward the queen’s brain structure.

And… that was the end.

The queen, in critical condition, couldn’t withstand Korin’s follow-up attack and collapsed to the ground. Korin, feeling a tingling sensation, slowly began to descend to the ground—

“Really, nothing but worthless creatures.”

—SLASH!

From within the dust cloud created by the fallen queen’s body, ‘something’ flew toward Korin.

“—Korin!!”

Korin’s body, split in half by ‘something,’ scattered, and her soul returned to my side to be recovered.

Faced with this sudden turn of events, I desperately rolled my eyes trying to grasp the situation…

“Over here, forest dweller.”

The culprit who had thrown ‘something’ at me revealed themselves with a mocking tone.