Chapter 164 – Nanarai Bodra (2)

Artpe’s party took a peaceful break.  It lasted for three hours.  The Demon King’s army was still moving aimlessly outside.  Artpe’s party ridiculed the Demon King’s army as they entered into the ruin.  Everyone had regained their peak condition.  The only one that had been in a state of discomfort was Artpe, but he didn’t make the mistake of complaining out loud.

“Oppa, are you ok?”

“You are the one that dived onto me with everyone in tow.  Do you think I’ll forget about that, you rascal?”

“Eh-hee.”

Artpe vigorously stroked Sienna’s head.  She let out an embarrassed laughter.  He stretched out his Mana Strings in all direction.  They had bravely entered into the ruin, but the thick Demonic energy made it hard for them to see.  This meant that the effectiveness of the Read All Creation was reduced.

However, he could imbue the Mana Strings with his Read All Creation ability.  It was a method that was better than seeing with his eyes.  It was a cheat.

“Nanarai Bodra was a full-fledged Demon, so why did he gather such dense Demonic energy here?  Why did he keep it a secret from the Demon King of his era….?  He was a Demon, yet he didn’t really act like a Demon.”

“There is something Artpe doesn’t know.  Amazing.”

“We aren’t out on a picnic, so stop smiling, you dork.”

Nervousness was entirely missing from Maetel.  He flicked Maetel on her forehead as he extended his Mana Strings deeper into the ruin.  The Mana Strings came into contact with something, and his Mana Strings were severed.

“It’s coming!”

Artpe yelled out as he created a barrier in front of his party.  He controlled the Mana Strings that weren’t severed to create a holy barrier.  As soon as he created it, something rammed into the barrier.  When Vadinet create a holy flame to illuminate their surrounding, the identity of the enemy was revealed.

“Golem······?”

[Geeeeeeee-gee-gee-gee!]

“Let’s destroy it first!  Think later.”

Unexpectedly, the Golem wasn’t that large.  It was a bit larger than the armored Elrick.  However, the power contained within it wasn’t small.  There was one thing that was interesting….

“It isn’t Demonic energy.”

“Holy energy isn’t doing any extra damage!”

“It’s all right.  Physical damage still works on it!”

Sienna let out an energetic shout as she charged forward.  The sledge hammer in her hands expanded to twice its original size.  In the next moment, she took a powerful swing.  The Golem had just broken through the barrier.  She applied a clean hit on the Golem that was about to charge forward.

[Geeeeeeeeeee!]

It didn’t matter if the Golems were strong or weak against holy power.  Their outer shell was made out of composite metals.  It was very hard, and Artpe couldn’t discern the identity of the metal at first glance.  Despite it being incredibly hard, the outer shell couldn’t stand up to Sienna’s strength.  Half its body cratered from her strike!

[Gee-gee-gee-gee-gee-gee-gee!]

“I’m going too!”

When Sienna swung her heavy hammer, it was inevitable that an opening was formed in her defense.  Sienna had to avoid taking damage, and at the same time, it was her role within the party to stop the charge of an enemy’s attack.  However, this was in the past.  After Elrick had joined the party, her load had decreased considerably.

[Geeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!]

The entire body of the Golem was covered with a black metal.  It swung its arm to hit Sienna, but Elrick had charged forward as soon as Sienna had started retracting her hammer.  It was well-timed.  Elrick had swung his axe, and a loud thundering noise was produced when he hit the Golem.

“Koohk.  This guy is really sturdy······!”

“Why isn’t it actively attacking us?”

“Oh Winter Spirit!  Please stick to the joints of my enemies.”

The Golem wasn’t fast in the first place.  When Regina finished her chant, the Golems was moving much slower than before.  Maetel wouldn’t miss out on such a golden opportunity.

“Hoohp!”

“Eh-eet!”

She used Acceleration to charge forward, and the violent swing of her bastard sword caved in the head of a Golem.  She immediately made her Mana explode to nullify the defense of the Golem.  Sienna and Elrick followed up with additional strikes!

The hammer and the axe dug into the Golem’s body.  If someone that didn’t know all the circumstances saw the fight, it would have looked very brutal.

“Winter Queen’s Nail!”

Afterwards, it was Regina’s turn.  Her Ice Spear pierced through the Golem.  The entire hero’s party ganged up on the Golem.  They had gone all out!

The Golem hadn’t been able to put up a decent fight before it stopped functioning.  As soon as the Ice Spear hit the Golem, the party backed off.  They wiped off their sweat.  It was a form of a celebration ritual.

“This is easier than I thought it would be?”

“Hey.  Why didn’t it put up more of a fight against us······?”

The battle had ended too easily compared to the quality of opponent they had faced.  It seemed they were aware of this fact.  The party members tilted their head in puzzlement as they each expressed their opinions.  Artpe checked to make sure no more Golems were coming towards them.  Then he approached the fallen Golem.

“It is possible that this Golem wasn’t made for battle in the first place.”

“This ruin is overtly letting out so much Demonic energy.  The Golem also possesses powerful magical energy, yet it wasn’t made for battle?”

“Yes.  I think it is a possibility.”

Not all ruins and Dungeons were made with fighting taken into consideration.  Magicians also created these types of structures for magical research.  The process in creating a magic tome imbued the magic tome with knowledge and defensive mechanisms were placed within the structure.  This was why it was common to consider these research facilities as Dungeons.

Most Dungeons and ruins were defined by those that explored them.  Artpe’s party had decided this place was a ruin, and they had come in prepared for a battle.

“This Golem is within a space filled with Demonic energy, yet it doesn’t use the Demonic energy.  It uses Mana.”

“I guess so·····?”

“That means this Golem might have been built with the purpose of······.”

Artpe used his Read All Creation ability to search the body of the Golem.  In the end, he was able to find a small metal magic circle inscribed within the body.  The magic circle had taken significant damage from Maetel and Regina’s attack.  However, it wasn’t damaged enough where he couldn’t recognize it.

“As expected, this magic circle converts Demonic energy to plain Mana.  That is why the Golem doesn’t emit any Demonic energy.  It sucked in the Demonic energy within the ruin, and it converted the Demonic energy into Mana.  The Golem moved by using the converted Mana as its power source.”

“······huh?”

“Oppa, are you sure a Demon made this······?”

“What a waste. Nyaa-ah.”

His party members still didn’t have a proper grasp of what he was talking about.  They looked confused.

“Why was a Demon conducting a research where he changed Demonic energy into Mana?”

“Maybe that person wasn’t a Demon?”

“That’s not possible.  I’ve compiled all the historical accounts about Nanarai Bodra, and there is no way he was a human.  His life wasn’t a path that could be tread by a human….   If that is true…”

It would have made sense if a Demon was researching for a way to convert Mana into Demonic energy.  Why was this Demon researching for a way to convert Demonic energy into Mana?

Demonic energy was more aggressive compared to pure Mana, but in terms of efficiency, Demonic energy was on par with pure Mana.  However, the Demon race couldn’t use pure Mana, so it was best if all Mana was converted into Demonic energy.

‘I had thought Nanarai Bodra was merely a genius that was prolific in his research······.’

Artpe suddenly felt a chill all over his body.  He had considered this place to be the last opportunity to level up with the Demon King’s castle ahead of them!  However, it turned out not to be that simple.  There was something more here.

“Let’s try to advance without killing any Golem.”

“So you think there was an ulterior motive as to why the Golems are converting Demonic energy into Mana?”

Maetel was correct.  In the first place, the ruin was located near the Demon King’s castle. If they were rash in destroying the ruin, the Demonic energy in the nearby region might increase.  If that happened, it would become unbearable for them.

Even if this place was made by a Demon, it had been locked.  It was locked so tightly that Artpe, who was the possessor of the Read All Creation ability, was the only one able to enter it.  That meant there was a reason why Nanarai Bodra wanted to maintain this ruin in this location.

“Was Nanarai Bodra not on the side of the Demon race?  Was he on the side of the humans·····?”

“Let’s head in deeper.”

Artpe unfurled one hand.  Several dozen Mana Strings extended out in a winding manner, and it extended out into the entirety of the ruin.  He had no reason to hesitate now.

“It’ll be hard to go forward without killing any of them…”

“I just have to stop before I kill them!”

Artpe just laughed when Maetel replied in a spirited manner.  If she said she could do it, she could do it.  He decided to ignore the rest of his party members, who had turned deathly pale.

The party headed deeper into the ruin. Since the place was lined with traps, they couldn’t move too quickly.  However, Artpe’s power allowed him to know about the traps in advance, so they were able to disarm all of the traps.  They didn’t suffer any harm from the traps.

Of course, traps weren’t the only Artifacts installed in the ruin.  There were Artifacts that converted  Demonic energy into Mana.  There were Artifacts that synced the Golems, and it increased the efficiency of the Golem’s abilities.  If the Golems used Demonic energy as their power source, it would be quite inefficient.  Then there were the Artifacts that were placed to solely control the temperature of the ruin.  Every Artifact was working to reduce the Demonic energy.

“There’s one here too.  It seems it isn’t just the Golems.  The entire ruin is purifying the Demonic energy.”

“Maybe, that is how the ruin was able to hide itself?  I also think there is a barrier that negates the Demonic energy that leave this place.”

“Negation.  If one negates the Demonic energy, it is quite noticeable.  Demonic energy’s properties doesn’t allow for that to happen.  This ruin is currently….  There is a spell over the ruin that is fooling the entire Demon realm.”

Regina was right.  This ruin was amazing, but it couldn’t win against the entire Demon realm.  That is why Nanarai Bodra had gone great length to hide this ruin.

“Aside from the function of changing Demonic energy into pure Mana, isn’t there a wealth of Mana within the ruin?  The ruin is probably uses that Mana as a power source to hide itself.”

“If we had destroyed more Golems…..”

The Mana, which was being used to hide the ruin, would run out.  The ruin’s location would have been revealed to the Demon realm.  The party felt a chill run up their body when they realized this fact.  They had come here to ambush the Demon King, yet they had almost made a mistake!

“How many Golems did we subdue?”

“522.”

“That means······ How bad was the Demon realm when this ruin hadn’t existed?”

Artpe considered himself to be fortunate in his past life.  The Demon King hadn’t asked him about the location of this ruin.

The sole purpose of the Golems were to change the Demonic energy into Mana.  Their defense was high, but they didn’t possess much offensive capabilities.  If the Demon King had found out about this ruin, he would have destroyed it.  It would have immediately increased the power of the Demon realm.

“Artpe, I can see the end.”

“Artpe-nim, I feel an ominous energy.  Please get ready for battle.”

“······nyaa, nyaa-ah.”

Maetel, Vadinet and Roa spoke in order.  After finding out about the identity of the Dungeon, Roa had been unable to settle down.  She was so persistent that she badgered Artpe by scratching at his back.

“I want to eat.  I want to eat.  Nyaa.”

“I’ll flick your forehead every time a drop of blood appears on my skin..”

“Nyaa-ah-ah, nyaa-ah-ah-ah.”

They were probably getting close to the heart of the ruin.  He could feel something being protected by the guardians.  It was probably an item where the Demonic energy was concentrated.  Artpe also sensed something familiar beside the item.

“······no way.”

“Artpe?”

Artpe’s face stiffened. However, Maetel didn’t have the chance to ask her question.  Thirty three Golems had appeared all at once from across the large space.

It was the start of the boss battle.