Chapter 609 - Seventh Story: The Demon Beast Cave
We successfully formed a contract with the Demon girl, and she agreed to tell us where the Scorpions spawn.
If she's in the state of possessing the cat, she can enter the temple. She probably hates the feeling, but a hideout is necessary in case an upper-class Demon Race member comes. As a result of walking around the temple while being held by Obaba-sama as a 'practice' run, it was found that there were no problems.
According to her, she wanted to hide here for a while, so based on her memory, she told us the location of the Scorpions based on the terrain from where the Four Great Dragons were on standby. Unfortunately, she hadn't been informed of any details regarding how the upper-class Demon Race handled the demon beasts or where the Scorpions came from, so we decided to explore by manipulating the Scorpions as originally planned.
After being seen off by the new member of the temple, the black cat, and the crowd who were in high spirits from holding the cat, we returned to the Fire Dragon's volcano. We activated the Four Great Dragons that had been on standby. This time, there are no eyeballs. From here on, it's Eleanor-sama's Plan B.
Leading the Four Great Dragons to the specified location and searching for Scorpions, we found several.
The Scorpions were in a place that had become a deep valley. Honestly, it was unexpected. With such flat bodies, I thought they would be in a wasteland where there are no C-ranks—in other words, where there are few places for demon beasts to hide. Despite their appearance, Scorpions might be held in high regard by other demon beasts.
Wilson-san immediately manipulated them. There were five or six, so he manipulated them all at once.
Confirming the starting point, it was the ridge almost directly above the valley. In other words, the scout demon beasts had climbed up the ridge.
It seems they were exchanging thoughts for a while, but the direction seems to have been decided.
"Let's descend into the valley as is. There is hesitation about going down."
To be able to tell that the Scorpions are hesitating, he really is an amazing person.
He said there was hesitation, and indeed the Scorpions' movements are sluggish. They should have moved faster, but they are clearly slacking off. They should be able to slip past trees easily, but for some reason, their pincers and tails are getting caught. Robinson-san descended the valley, his gaze occasionally turning sharp or, conversely, breaking into a smile.
It was after descending for nearly two hours. It was about time to re-apply the magic.
"What shall we do? Shall we use Sleep?"
Eleanor-sama asked. If we can put them to sleep with Sleep, it would be easy, but if the Scorpions have a strong desire to resist, it might be difficult.
"No, I think it's just a little further. Please stop the movement of just one with Freeze. Let's see the reaction of the other four."
Since Wilson-san replied, Eleanor-sama temporarily froze just one as instructed.
It was when the manipulation of the remaining four was released.
The Scorpions fled with a speed incomparable to before. The four went in different directions. In other words, there is something on the opposite side.
While thawing the last one and manipulating it again, a cave appeared in the rock face.
"That must be it. When I gave the instruction to enter, I received considerable resistance."
The Scorpion turned in the opposite direction, as if it didn't want to enter the cave. Nevertheless, its body was retreating on its own. It was resisting desperately by grabbing trees with both pincers, but the strength of its legs seemed to have won out. Just like that, while swinging its pincers as if throwing a tantrum, it began to back into the cave. It's a bit pitiful.
The cave, from its entrance to the state of its interior, is clearly not a natural thing. The shape is too clean. It was definitely hollowed out with Curve.
I thought we might encounter demon beasts that came to scout the golems on the way here, but there were none. Hypothetically, if they were teleported here from somewhere deep in this cave, and if an upper-class Demon Race member was there, they would flee just like the Scorpions once the manipulation was released.
"Let's explore. Wilson, that's enough with the Scorpion. If there's something ahead, please take care of it."
"Yes. Understood."
The Scorpion climbed up the mountain in an instant.
"Jeanne, please search the interior with Sense Living."
"Yes."
As a result of the search, there were many reactions thought to be demon beasts. There are no massive reactions like the Demon Race, but there's the example of the Western Plains. Perhaps they've smeared slug mucus on the walls to obstruct magical detection.
"Wilson. Is it possible to manipulate the demon beasts inside the cave from the outside?"
"As long as I know their location, I think D-rank and below should be fine."
"Then Jeanne, consult with Bonnie and make a diagram of the general placement of the demon beasts."
"Understood."
When actually drawn, there is clearly something. The detection results look like several groups of four to five are clustered sparsely, but connecting the gaps between the groups and the entrance reveals a branching passage. Moreover, each and every demon beast reaction hardly moves. It's almost like a human dwelling dug into a cave, but demon beasts wouldn't live like that.
"Are they breeding them?"
It would make sense if they were locked in rooms.
"It's a possibility. Robinson, how are the reactions?"
Robinson-san is holding both hands toward the group thought to be at the very front while looking at the drawing.
"I can't manipulate them. I think they're C-rank or higher. However, there is no strong resistance. Perhaps they are sleeping."
When actually intruding, it turns at a right angle immediately after entering the entrance. The cave is large enough for a single C-rank demon beast within the range seen so far to pass through easily, but there was a door of that size. In other words, it's quite huge. It's on the level of a fortress's main gate. The material is also iron, so if one wanted to open it normally, several Edward-samas would be needed. This is where the genius's turn comes in.
Henry-sama swung his silver sword and carved a hole just large enough for a single human to enter while crouching. At this size, forget C-ranks, even D-rank demon beasts wouldn't be able to pass.
A musty beast smell wafts out. That's not all. Perhaps it's a quite poor environment, as the smell of urine and feces is also intense.
"This is terrible. The smell of quite old feces is mixed in too."
As expected of a specialist. To be able to tell the difference between new and old feces. He didn't live in the mountains with goblins for many years for nothing.
"Perhaps it's just a stock."
According to Eleanor-sama, the demon beasts here are just those to be given as offerings to the Fire Dragon, and until then, they are just being temporarily bred... or rather, stored.
"Perhaps they are just being kept asleep and aren't even given sufficient food."
Hmm, even if they are demon beasts, they are alive. If that's the case, it's a sad story.
Having the Four Great Dragons guard the door, we enter.
Bonnie and Sianya held lanterns, and Eleanor-sama produced a Fire Ball for light. This was because I was keeping Sense Living on and couldn't use Light.
We actually proceed through the passage. The passage is the rock face itself, but it's been hollowed out cleanly. As expected, they used Curve. Immediately after entering, it turns at a right angle again, and turns once more. Beyond that, it becomes a passage that meanders gently.
Beside the passage, there are rooms made by hollowing out the rock. The demon beasts were there. The demon beasts illuminated by Eleanor-sama's Fire Ball were sleeping guu-guu. In the room closest to the door are Orthrus. There are four.
The rooms are exactly like prisons. They aren't that thick, but several iron bars are set vertically. Inside the room, magic circles drawn in four places—the floor, ceiling, and left and right walls—emit a faint light.
"Those are Sleep magic circles. I didn't know they could be used like this. So one can put C-ranks to sleep this way. It's a good lesson."
It is said that Sleep only works on D-rank and below. Moreover, if the target's consciousness is clear, it doesn't even work on D-ranks. If one tries to cast it on a human, even for someone of Eleanor-sama's class, it only has an effect when the opponent is completely off guard... when they are unconscious, sleeping, or dead drunk... so it's called a magic for a good night's sleep. If surrounded by four magic circles twenty-four-seven, it seems to work well. This would be an irresistible setup for a demon beast breeding enthusiast.
That Eleanor-sama, along with Wilson-san, approached the cage and looked at the holes where the iron bars were inserted.
They talked about this and that, but when Wilson-san called Henry-sama, Will, and Bonnie, they all grabbed one iron bar and started rattling it. Before long, it lifted up with a gakon. When pushed further back, it moved sideways. Then they pulled it toward them and removed it.
"Demon beasts wouldn't be able to lift these iron bars, after all. They must be confined by such a simple mechanism."
Indeed, they can't be grabbed unless it's by human hands. In other words, the Demon Race can grab them.
"If we know how to move them, we might be able to manipulate them with magic."
Eleanor-sama activated Shield twice. Looking at her hand movements, it seems she sandwiched the iron bar from the front and back with two walls of air. Just like that, she was doing gakon-gakon to four bars simultaneously, and finally removed them.
There's no need to wake them up while they're sleeping. It was decided to put the iron bars back and continue exploring to the back. We confirmed the second room with Cerberus and the third with Griffons, and just as we were about to go to the fourth room, there was a massive reaction on Sense Living, and at the same time, a growl like the Four Great Dragons could be heard.
"That was faster than I thought."
"A powerful reaction at the entrance, it's the Demon Race!"
"The main event."
Eleanor-sama says it's likely the superior of the Demon Race member we already subjugated. In other words, a strong one.
"The golems won't hold..."
"It's not that simple. Their defense is quite something. They are lumps of earth, so they are fine no matter how much they are attacked with weapons. Since they move by magic, their magic defense is also strong. They should buy us enough time, so let's prepare on this side."
It seems the real battle starts from here.
The growling of the golems stopped. They must have been defeated.
The sound of something heavy falling with a gakon is heard. It must be the hole Henry-sama carved in the door. He had put the cutout back so it wouldn't be discovered immediately and had the golems guard it. That must have been opened again. Just from that, we know the golems were defeated.
"The reaction, it, it's gone!"
"There was a Teleport reaction."
That was Eleanor-sama, who is doing magic detection.
Just as I thought that, there was another reaction further back. They must have moved to the back by Teleport.
In this case, it's regrettable that we couldn't go all the way to the back at once. We still don't know what's at the far end.
"Priestess, how is it?"
"Okay, I'll go take a look."
Let's have the Wetlands Priestess do her best.
The result of the Priestess's scouting was that it was incredibly dangerous.
There were over twenty cages where demon beasts were kept asleep, and half of them apparently had demon beasts in them. The ones we fought might have been here too.
The Demon Race member was in the innermost room, where there was apparently a chair and table, a wooden box containing Magic Stones, a wooden box containing what looked like wine bottles, and several barrels. That room was connected to two more rooms, both of which apparently had large magic circles drawn on the ground. They must be Teleport. The Priestess apparently saw the Demon Race member in one of those Teleport rooms. They appeared right in front of her. They must have come to check the situation. She said she thought they were strong at a single glance.
"They had horns, and a huge sword hanging from their waist."
She's telling us excitedly. Even if she's invincible because she's a ghost, scary things are still scary. Just as a ghost can't win against a priest, she might be unable to resist a strong Demon Race member.
In other words, even if they are a subordinate, they are quite strong. The one in the Northeastern Forest was like that, but we had a hard time with the subordinates in the Western Plains. Roberts-sama, Hughes-sama, and Harrison-san—the three of them fought. The superior fought a duel with Roberts-sama. We defeated them easily because the blinding effect of Light worked, but if their eyes had been normal, it would have been a quite good match. Come to think of it, this Demon Race member is handling demon beasts in the largest Demon Realm. In other words, they are a subordinate of the Number One who was on the fourth floor, so they might be quite strong.
Are we going to fight without an active Hero present?
Asking such a thing would be pointless. Eleanor-sama and Gwyn-sama's eyes are already glinting. They are full of motivation.
At that moment, a grating, loud voice echoed. There shouldn't be many of Edward-sama's class, so it must be the effect of Loud.
I wondered what it was, and the light of the magic circles in the rooms where the demon beasts were confined went out. In other words, Sleep was released. Furthermore, when the loud voice echoed once more, the demon beasts woke up with a bikun.
"Manipulation has begun."
"All of them?"
"Yeah, I can tell by sensation. Humans can't be manipulated, but after that voice just now, there was the same sensation as when using Subordination."
Multiple types simultaneously? As expected, the Demon Race is more skilled.
However, the demon beasts are inside cages.
Just as I thought that, they began body-slamming the iron bars while raising growls. Every time they hit, the iron bars bent gunyari. I'm starting to wonder what these bars were even for.
"I think there were several snakes. If those come out, we'll be found even if we hide our presence, right?"
That was the Wetlands Priestess. Things are finally getting dangerous. If we make a wall with ice magic, we can create a blind, but then we'll be found by the Demon Race.
"Gwyn-dono, how is it?"
"There's no need to ask."
There was another person whose fighting spirit was quietly smoldering.
"Priestess, let's merge."
"U-Understood. Since we've come this far, let's just do it!"
The Priestess slipped into Sianya's body, and at the same time, her body was enveloped in pale blue flames.
"Interesting. Very well. Shall we settle it here? Let's leave the Demon Race to the vanguard. Wilson, we will attack the demon beasts with our magic."
"Understood."
An upper-class Demon Race member who commands dozens of C-ranks as an opponent. This won't be easy.