In the World of Midgar 75 — The Dwarf Country Blutgang (11)

꒰ঌ The Dwarf Country Blutgang 11

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Ohhh, there's so many of them. All the scorpion monsters are like a wriggling carpet.

Having left the interior of Blutgang to Penny and the others, I was currently outside surveying the army of scorpion monsters that were several hundred meters ahead. I couldn't help but smile. From what I could tell, the monsters had some substance to them. While there were definitely some small-fry that were there just to bolster numbers, most of them were over level 100 or 200. But what was really surprising was the fact that Blutgang was managing to go toe-to-toe with the scorpions.

The golem forces battled it out with the monsters without giving an inch, and the supporting fire from Blutgang itself was very well-placed and effective. What interested me the most was the woman in black off in the distance who was a way higher level than everything else.

I bet that's Anko. The 'Lucifen' inside me is telling me so.

The golems were giving her a good fight, although it wasn't quite even. They were amazing, to say the least. The golems, which looked just like Penny, used dazzling teamwork to get at Anko. But a good fight was nowhere near winning. They weren't fighting evenly. While the Pennys were trying their best, Anko would still win if nothing changed, at least in my opinion. One was already half-broken with a hole in its torso, and another two were also in horrible shape.

"That's too bad," I muttered without meaning to. Minako looked up at me and responded, "What is?"

"Just those Penny lookalikes. From what We can tell, they're level 700. In this era, they're masterpieces. It's a waste to see them broken like this.… By the way, you said that our level 100 golem was worth a million el. So how much would something like those be worth?"

"They're national treasures."

"Huh?"

"They're super-valuable golems that have been deemed national treasures."

… So calling it a waste was underselling it.

Well, it made sense if level 100 was already a million el. A level 700 golem was something no person, including me, could make today in the first place. So the fact that Blutgang deployed them at all showed just how far they were backed into a corner. Just how heavy would their loss be…?

"There's no other choice. Let's hurry and end this. Minako, a weapon."

"Which one would you like?"

"The whip sword," I said, extending my right hand. Matching my movement, an Xgate opened up, and I was now gripping my favorite sword.

In the game, the properties of a whip sword were that its attack animation was a little slow, but in exchange, its attack range was very large. It was quite convenient for sweeping through large numbers of weak enemies, and it was my favorite weapon to use. I tended to use something different against bosses, but this would have to be my choice for my most used, favorite weapon. But as things stood, I couldn't bring this weapon to bear.

"Minako, pave the way."

"Leave it to me."

If I were to simply wade in now, I'd end up hitting the golems in my path as well. That would be a huge waste. While it would have been possible for me to remake them, I didn't want to have to try, since it would be troublesome and tiring, given their numbers. So, I decided that taking measures not to destroy them would be best. And my measure was right next to me.

"Xgate!"

Minako's magic and heaven-arts combined to form a gate. Its location? Encompassing the entire battlefield.

It was a little funny seeing all the golems fall over backwards when the hole suddenly opened up. But the only ones that fell were the golems. All the scorpion monsters stayed where they were.

An Xgate couldn't be passed through by beings with a will without complete consent. By that rule, golems, which didn't have a will, all passed through unilaterally. The monsters, which were living beings, didn't. That made Xgate the best spell for separating these two forces.

Now I could attack without restraint. "Now, then. Let's get to it."

I swung, sweeping my sword in a great, wide arc. When I did, the sword unwound, and the blade extended into the distance. I used that length to mow down everything on the battlefield! I did make sure to hold back a little. But I wouldn't weep for anything that was killed in my attack.

While it was true that all these monsters were Anko's followers, that didn't mean they were my followers. These scorpions only followed Anko by instinct in the first place, since she was a stronger monster of the same type as them. All of them were fundamentally murderous monsters with no intelligence that only acted based on instinct. Summed up, I had no need to hesitate.

Still though, I held back so at least the strongest wouldn't die, since the higher-leveled ones could be useful. That way, I could capture them for use later. Anything that was killed during my attack wasn't worth capturing in the first place.

After all, I wanted to level Wendy up, too.

Once my attack was over, the battlefield had undergone a drastic change. There were no longer any golems, and the scorpion monsters were almost completely decimated outside of a small number of high-leveled ones. Then, the radiance of mana spilled out from the dead monsters, and it attempted to enter my body.

Is this what EXP looks like? It wasn't visible like this before, but… Maybe I can see it now, since I'm resonating with Lucifen? No. More importantly, this is bad. All the experience is coming to me. Come on. There's no point in me getting the EXP. I'm already level 1000! If this keeps up, Wendy won't level.

I concentrated and tried to will the mana to not get absorbed into me. Not this way. Go to Wendy! She was in my party and participated in battle (?) so she should get at least some of the EXP! Lemme powerlevel her!

As I kept concentrating my will, the mana started to gather on my palm instead of inside me. I noticed Minako holding her breath and looking surprised, but I didn't have the leeway to care at the moment.

Keep gathering… Keep gathering… Eventually, the concentrated mana shined gold and settled into the shape of a fruit that I was very familiar with — an apple.

"… What the hell?" I couldn't help but mutter.

The EXP became an apple. I don't get it. So should I give this to one of my friends to powerlevel them?

I looked towards Minako, and found her making a grim expression, her eyes glued on me — no, on the apple in my hand.

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