episode_0158

After the first Sandworm attack, we were never attacked by Sandworms again.

Dain seemed quite surprised that the Sandworms weren’t attacking, and tilted his head as we moved.

“Strange. Usually, Sandworms live in groups of 4-5… There should definitely be another Sandworm attack, but there isn’t….”

The reason the Sandworms aren’t attacking….

I have a rough guess.

‘Were the Sandworms also Berserked, like the Blue Tiger?’

Dain said that Sandworms are monsters with a lot of greed.

The reason they operate in groups of 4-5 is to hunt prey more efficiently, and if Sandworms from different groups meet, it can lead to a big fight.

And like with the Blue Tiger, wouldn’t they have become Berserked and thought, ‘I don’t need to be in a group?’

‘Well… this is all just a hypothesis.’

It’s not like I know everything about monster ecology, and more than anything, that explanation doesn’t account for why the Blue Tigers form groups….

I decided to just let it go, thinking it’s best to just let good things be.

However, even if the Sandworms aren’t coming now, I don’t know when they’ll come again, and if they do come again, it seems like Baekryeon and Seollin alone would have a hard time dealing with it, so I decided to follow the minecart after all.

“I’m fine, young master!”

“That’s right. We can beat those earthworms.”

Of course, Baekryeon and Seollin frowned and opposed my decision….

“Yeah, you could probably win. I won’t say anything about that. It’s true. But if you guys fight the Sandworms, this tunnel will definitely collapse, right? I’d feel better if it were on the surface, but at least not here.”

“Ugh….”

“…Hmm.”

Baekryeon and Seollin eventually fell silent at my point.

So, in the end, we rode the minecart, stopping in the middle to rest each time, and it took us a little over 3 days, as Dain had initially said, to finally get near the satellite city on the 4th day.

“Now that we’re near the city, it certainly feels like something.”

“Hahaha!”

When it was the Orc territory, the tunnel was just an unfinished tunnel.

But here, the surrounding walls were reinforced with metal or concrete-like materials to prevent the tunnel from collapsing easily even under impact, and there were lines for several minecarts to pass through.

Those must be the tracks leading to other branches that I saw a few times on the way here.

“…Hmm. But it’s strange.”

“You said it was strange a few days ago, why is it strange again.”

Dain, who had said it was strange just one page ago, tilted his head again as he got closer to the satellite city, stroking his chin.

“Normally, there should be someone managing this place when you get this close…. I haven’t met a single dwarf on the way here.”

“…Hmm.”

Certainly.

Even though Dain said we were getting close to the satellite city, I haven’t seen any other dwarves.

Of course, from my perspective, it’s good not to meet dwarves.

As Lucy said, and Dain also said, most of the races here don’t like outsiders coming into their territory carelessly.

Moreover, this is the dwarves’ pride and secret underground city. There won’t be any dwarves who like seeing so many humans walking around here.

So, it’s better to quietly use the minecart to get to the World Tree quickly than to cause unnecessary trouble.

‘Looking at the speed of the minecart, it looks like it would be faster for me to just memorize the way roughly and run directly….’

Anyway, the conclusion is….

“It is strange.”

“Hmm…. Did something happen….”

“Stop the minecart.”

“?”

Dain tilted his head at my words.

“It’s dangerous to stop here, though?….”

“Stop when I tell you to stop. Either way, there’s not a shadow of a dwarf in sight. Or do you want me to stop it myself?”

“Ah, no.”

For reference, Dain no longer doubts my skills after I killed the Sandworm with one blow, even before it appeared from underground. Thanks to that, he hardly ever argues with anything I say, which is so much easier.

Indeed, people say you have to communicate, but something closer and more immediate than communication is force.

Peace without power can’t protect anything.

“If we keep going straight, we’ll arrive at the satellite city, right?”

“That’s right?….”

“And when we get here, there’s no threat from the Sandworms, right?”

“I can’t say there’s none at all, but it’s extremely reduced. This outer wall is designed to prevent vibrations from spreading outside, so it stimulates the Sandworms less.”

Good, that’s enough.

Having heard all the information I wanted to ask, I looked at Baekryeon, Seollin, and Levia.

“Baekryeon, Seollin, Levia. You three wait here for a while. I’ll go ahead and check the situation in the satellite city and come back.”

“Understood. Are you sure you’ll be alright alone?”

“I’m confident in stealth, too.”

Baekryeon nodded at my words, and Seollin looked at me with a sulky expression.

It was an unspoken expression that she could be helpful enough, so take her with me.

“S-Shall I give you a blessing?….”

“The blessing is fine. There probably won’t be any enemies that dangerous…. I think.”

“If you need it…. Please tell me anytime.”

“Okay, I will.”

I only accepted Levia’s heart and got off the minecart.

“Hey.”

“?”

In the meantime, the dwarf Dain looked at me and said.

“If something’s wrong…. Please save my people. It’s a request.”

With a serious look, Dain bowed his head.

“Okay, I understand. Don’t worry.”

* * *

Thump!

Each time I take a step, the surrounding environment changes in an instant.

Freed from the speed constraints of the minecart, I quickly broke through the tracks and arrived at the watchtower.

It must have been built by the dwarves to identify underground monsters entering through the underground passage in advance.

But there was no one even in that watchtower.

In other places, it might be different, but if there aren’t even any ants in the watchtower, let alone dwarves, something must have happened.

“If I create a debt to the dwarves, there will be times when I can use it later.”

I lightly passed the watchtower and entered the dwarves’ underground satellite city.

“Oh…. This is the dwarves’ underground city…. Amazing?”

I thought it wouldn’t be much because the means of transportation was a minecart, but the dwarves’ underground city was more impressive than I thought.

In the middle of a huge common ceiling, about the size of an average metropolis, a large object, whether it was a jewel or a metal, was emitting a bright light like the sun, illuminating the entire satellite city.

And under that sun-like glow, there were quite sophisticated buildings densely packed together.

It looked complicated, but each one was clearly a planned city built with a plan.

“But…. Even though I’ve come all the way here, there’s no sign of anyone.”

Now that it’s come to this, there’s no need to hide my presence and wander around.

I stopped hiding my presence and confidently stepped into the satellite city.

“This is like a ghost town.”

I usually only see things like this in apocalypse or horror stories.

“…Hmm. It’s not like it was attacked by something, so the buildings didn’t collapse, and there aren’t any dwarf corpses or bloodstains either…. What happened?”

It’s a situation where the moving creatures have literally evaporated as they are.

Thinking that it was fortunate that I came first, I began to search the surroundings more thoroughly.

Swish

“….”

Tatat!!

Just as I was examining the buildings, I felt a presence.

When I turned my gaze, about 3 dwarves charged at me with axes.

Their eyes, like the Blue Tiger, had lost their vitality.

“I said I’d save them…. I have to save them. Machina, kill the blade.”

I readjusted the sword.

I told Machina to kill the blade in preparation for any possible situation, and it’s okay because I’m hitting with the flat of the sword, right?

Whoo-oong!! Kwang!!

The overwhelming wind pressure generated by swinging the sword.

Due to that wind pressure, the dwarves who were charging at me were caught in the wind pressure and slammed into the walls of the buildings. And as if that was a signal, countless dwarves, who I don’t know where they came from, grabbed their weapons and charged at me.

“Wow, really…. There’s nothing useless in the world. I’m so glad I practiced enough already?”

Against countless orcs, without killing even one orc, that time-wasting thing that blocked everything…, no.

The practice for more skillful control of power has come to shine.

“Come on.”

Kwaaaaaaaang!!!!

Not a single sword touched a dwarf.

Because the sword pressure created before that blew all the dwarves away.

I don’t know how strong the dwarves are, but surely they won’t die with this much.

Even if they do die, it’s not my fault if one or two of them die when they charge at me like this!!!

Whether all the dwarves in this vast city are charging at me, no matter how many dwarves I blow away, they keep coming from somewhere.

But I couldn’t get tired with just this much, and after a fierce battle that completely destroyed part of the city, I was able to subdue all the dwarves for now.

“…Hoo.”

There are no more dwarves charging, and the building has collapsed a lot, but it seems that things have worked out somehow.

“Really, I’m lucky.”

Smiling brightly, I raised my head.

Under the sun-like shining glow, a woman was looking at me. Black wings fluttered on her back, and her bright yellow hair was like an incarnation of the sun. On top of that, a woman with red shining eyes was looking down at me with an arrogant expression.

“Are you the ?”

“Hahahahaha! Yes…. I am the .”

I encountered the .