Ch.89The Road to the Crusis Mountains (5)

“Lucia and Kasia, go out and recover any arrows that can still be used.”

“Ugh… do we really have to? Those things are filthy…”

“If you don’t want to shoot branches instead of arrows, do as I say. Raisha, protect them.”

“Yes.”

As the three women filed out, I led Simon outside the room.

The area outside was so filled with corpses that there was barely any space to step. Simon and I used magic and sigils to gather the bodies in one place before burning them with flames.

Whoosh!

“Cleanse.”

As Simon uttered the spell, the toxic gases that had begun to spread across the ceiling instantly disappeared, and we set out to explore once more, using the burning corpses as our light source.

Ancient tombs were built very large to bury numerous deceased at once and to allow for their commemoration.

They were also constructed to serve as air-raid shelters and refuges in emergencies, so this space met the minimum conditions for thousands of people to sustain life.

Of course, now it had degenerated into a monstrosity…

“Party leader?”

“What?”

“There must be an emergency power supply somewhere. If we can find it and reactivate it, we could dispel this darkness.”

“Emergency power…”

I muttered, watching Raisha and the elf sisters dragging corpses from afar and throwing them onto the fire pile.

It would certainly be a great help if we could get it working, but…

“Can it be reactivated after hundreds of thousands of years?”

“Actually, equipment in places like this tends to be in good condition. Since there’s no moisture, it wouldn’t have rusted.”

“Then it’s worth looking for.”

Simon nodded, and I whistled to reassemble the party.

The three women approached with light steps, and I told them we were going to search for the emergency power supply.

“Do you really think it would still exist? This isn’t the Imperial era anymore.”

“According to Simon, there’s a high possibility. We can’t keep wasting our strength or magical power just to maintain light.”

“That’s true.”

“Then my sister and I will take the lead. Elves have superior senses, you know.”

When Lucia and Kasia offered to lead the way, I nodded in agreement.

Elven ears weren’t just for decoration; their senses far surpassed those of humans.

“I’ll take the machetes. Kasia, you cover us with the bow.”

“Got it, sis.”

Soon, Lucia began moving slowly with a pair of machetes instead of a bow, and Kasia followed right beside her with an arrow nocked.

We also maintained vigilant all-around security while focusing all our attention on keeping the two light sources from going out. The two elves, constantly flicking their ears, turned their heads this way and that as they guided us to where the generator might be.

Finally, our footsteps stopped at a room about five minutes away from where we had fought.

“Are you sure it’s here?”

“Yes. I can smell it. You know the smell of oil, right?”

Hearing the word “oil,” I looked at Simon.

Logically, oil from hundreds of thousands of years ago couldn’t possibly be intact.

“Simon?”

“Don’t worry. I can handle it.”

“Good. Then we’re going in… now!”

Bang!

As I kicked down the tattered door and entered, I saw several orcs wrapped in straw mats inside.

Slash! Hack!

I quickly cut them down before they could rise, and once there were no more threats in the room, Simon and I maximized the brightness and gazed at the massive generator that filled an entire wall.

Hum-hum-hum…

Surprisingly, the generator was still operating at minimum power, which made this room warmer than the others.

“Everyone, look for containers that might hold oil. We need to restart the generator.”

At my command, the three women scattered, while Simon clung to the generator, tapping with his staff (repairing it with magic) at gauges so covered in dust and scratches they were barely recognizable.

I carefully removed the tattered door that had fallen into the room and watched outside with Lumines, monitoring for any approaching enemies.

“I found it!”

“!”

Soon, Raisha’s voice came from inside the room, and Simon examined the large oil container she handed him, then frowned.

“Natural evaporation… rancid oil… I’ll need to use a spell to make it usable again.”

“Not yet. There must be more oil somewhere, so keep looking. We don’t have many spells left, so we need to use them efficiently.”

“Aye-aye.”

At my order, the party members once again searched every corner of the room, finding more oil containers and gathering them in one place for the spell.

“Repair.”

With the spell, the oil containers began to transform as if new, and the volume of oil inside the opaque containers visibly increased.

“Sun and Moon…”

Although the Four Divine Ministers boasted powerful abilities, only the Sun and Moon—Saburo and Maria—could interfere with this material world, ignoring fundamental interactions, the law of conservation of mass, and the second law of thermodynamics.

They were beings who defined definition itself, and furthermore, possessed the power to intervene in everything that humanity could perceive and manipulate.

Even the Four Divine Ministers had to seek permission from the Sun and Moon when punishing blasphemous believers.

“There. It’s done.”

“Where… do we put this?”

“Wait a moment… there must be a valve here somewhere… ah, here it is.”

Click!

“Now, pour it in here.”

We lifted the oil container and poured the oil into the generator, and with the sloshing sound of liquid, the needle on the gauge above the valve slowly began to rise to the right.

When the needle barely passed the halfway mark, all the oil was gone, and Simon closed the valve again and rushed to the generator, pressing various buttons and pulling levers.

Click!

Thunk!

With a sound like something being fired, the generator began to spin vigorously, and light started to emanate from the half-broken lamp above our heads.

“Let there be light!”

As Simon spoke, the tomb was brightly illuminated, revealing its bare face full of dust, blood, and bones.

*

“Kiriririk!”

“Gweeeeek!!!”

The cries of monsters suffering from the light rang in our ears, and now it was our turn to attack.

“Iron Walker Party! Assemble!”

At my assembly order, everyone formed a strict formation, and in the distance, Green-skins were running toward the generator room, drooling and howling.

“Open fire!”

Whoosh! Whoosh!

“Gweeeeek!”

Arrows began to fly, and the charging orcs started to fall.

The goblins were the first to charge at me, clutching weapons made of hard bones or stones, and I swung my greatsword, separating their upper and lower bodies, cutting and splitting them.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

Slash! Slash!

With each horizontal swing of my sword, sticky blood and slippery entrails poured out, and Raisha spun her halberd beside me, creating angles for the elf sisters to continue shooting arrows.

“Ferna!”

As Simon chanted and extended his staff forward, a magic circle formed in front of it, and then surging flames began to overflow.

Whoosh!

Like a whip made of flames severely chastising the meaningless struggles of immature life, it struck the densely packed wave of Green-skins, and in the tremendous heat, the Green-skins became Ash-skins.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Behind me, the elf sisters were subtly and stealthily shooting arrows, cutting the lifelines of surviving Green-skins, while Raisha and I went out of the room to stab the sprawled Green-skins with sword and spear, confirming their deaths.

*

“The power of magic! If a sage is this powerful, how strong must dedicated combat spellcasters like pyromancers or electromancers be?”

“Incredibly strong. There’s a reason mages are called adventure nobles.”

In the crackling ashes, Simon joked around.

Even I was confident I’d become slime within a minute if hit by the spell he’d just cast—the power of magic was truly destructive.

“They say soldiers of the ancient empire used guns. Weapons that fire arrows made of lead or steel using the power of gunpowder…”

“I’ve seen them too. Marines, pirates, and sailors still use guns.”

“Neither bullets nor arrows can penetrate properly made armor, which is why swords and magic still rule this world. And I’m sorry to say, but my staff still seems stronger than your sword.”

Simon seemed pleased to have demonstrated his skills after so long.

I looked down at my greatsword without saying anything, feeling an even stronger determination to awaken my aura as soon as possible.