Chapter 354

In the Magic Tower, the cloudy Mana crossing over from the Demonic Realm was called corrupted Mana.

They defined white as righteous and good, and black as wrong and bad, and taught it that way. They cleanly divided Divine Power and corrupted Mana, and selectively used the Mana in between. It was because unrefined Mana that hadn’t been converted to Aura caused great harm to the physical body.

Are there only one or two knights and mages whose bodies were ruined while containing Mana in their bodies?

It’s not just Mage Boulder who does that. Dozens of mages were agonizing over it, passing down similar research generation after generation. I had once received and skimmed through a report on the various methods they had attempted.

Even Hugh Benson lying right over there was once said to have his body ruined by the influence of corrupted Mana and went around covering his eyes. If the Mana concentration within the Cieron Empire hadn’t been controlled by the divine relic, the capital’s knights who volunteered for the experiments would have turned completely black like the Owen people too.

I didn’t know that on top of that, Wesley Kiadris’s body had even exploded.

Is he even human?

At this time, I once again recalled Nadish Haishan, whom the Third God kept by his side.

What was he thinking as he sat in the underground of the auction house waiting for his day to die. The Third God said Nadish Haishan wasn’t human. That loving a human while leaving them as a human was an unforgivable act.

If so, can a god… change what is human into something else?

Would traces of corrupted Mana like Nadish Haishan’s also remain in Wesley Kiadris’s body?

Did Wesley receive the power of another god, the power of the ninth god?

It is conjecture.

Like a tree putting out leaves in the direction where the sunlight hits, all thoughts branched out in the same direction.

Wind blew from behind my back whoosh. Wondering if the Sylph guys were causing a ruckus again, I reflexively blocked the front of Ruben’s eyes with my body.

The child didn’t feel shy, nor did he act awkwardly. He was just deeply sunk in thought with a complicated expression, and then abruptly murmured.

“…I should have told you a bit earlier.”

“No, not at all. I wouldn’t have believed it right away either, since I couldn’t have imagined such bizarre things would happen before.”

“Still.”

“It’s fine, so let’s sleep. This story…. we can bring it up again when we meet that God of the Sun or whatever.”

“Ung…. I will.”

The sound of rustling as people turned over was heard here and there.

We all knew perfectly well that everyone had heard us talking. However, since it is proper etiquette not to comment on words not addressed to oneself, everyone asked for sleep without saying this or that.

Marianne threw her gaze at me several times like someone who wanted to say something. However, considering there weren’t many days to rest deeply, I thought it was right to ask for sleep first. I didn’t bother getting up to ask for a conversation.

Even if I were to hear the sound of my bones being ground, it would be better to listen to than this.

My ears were completely muffled by the wet sound of Jiangshis rubbing flesh against each other. The Jiangshis swarming blackly covered the entire white desert. Wherever the eyes reached, it was entirely that sight.

How many had swarmed in, it repeated several times that a few Jiangshis pushed each other unable to withstand it and fell forward inside the Oasis’s domain, sluggishly tried to crawl back out, and fell forward again.

The act of breaking through them and going out required great courage. Everyone hesitated, unable to take the first step.

“Looking at this state, Ranunculus will also come looking thinking ‘Ah, there’s Jiangshi food here’, won’t he?”

“…It seems we wouldn’t even be able to collect our bones if we enter that gap.”

When Marianne, completely covering her face with both hands, whined in an exceedingly aggrieved voice, Benjamin also immediately made a weak sound. The words of the guy who used to trudge paving his way no matter what happened sounded weighty, but I, the only one who noticed he was siding with Marianne and not because he was scared, clicked my tongue.

Hugh Benson pondered for a moment but didn’t suggest stepping back.

“For now, let’s…. try making a path.”

“A path? How?”

Hugh Benson held up a small box containing Mithril thread for everyone to see.

“For one, if those things die inside the domain…. they melt, right? Let’s try catching and killing as many as we can.”

“Uung, that’s nice since we don’t need to dispose of the corpses.”

“…Well, let’s try. Since it seems we’ll be pushed all the way to the Oasis if we just sit still.”

The mercenaries also nodded their heads one by one.

Right, it wasn’t much different from sitting down, taking a spot, and fishing. [Read on RanaTranslations🌸] The only difference was that what was caught were things of a terrible appearance that couldn’t even be eaten, but the work we were doing was similar.

Hugh Benson used the Mithril thread to pull in the Jiangshis that were being pushed around unable to go in or out at the boundary of the domain. And he dropped them one by one in front of the group members as if telling each person to do their share.

Then the group members each killed their assigned Jiangshi.

Then the Oasis’s domain promptly swallowed up and cleared away the fallen Jiangshi.

Among the Jiangshis, there were Trolls, Orcs, and Goblins. I thought it was rather fortunate that there were few Jiangshis in human form among them. The fewer times seeing many corpses at once, the better. Even if the children said they were fine with their own mouths, I didn’t want to show them such a sight.

At first, Hugh Benson spoon-fed us, but later, everyone took care of catching Jiangshis on their own.

There was a time when the exhausted Benjamin only cut the neck of a Troll Jiangshi and was almost caught by its body, nearly causing a big disaster. Although nothing happened thanks to Giselle, who was standing next to him, responding quickly, I once again commanded everyone to properly sever all four limbs so they couldn’t move, since Jiangshis are not living things.

Three hours passed.

“No, are we really making a path right now? It just… just feels like we’re peeling an apple round and round?”

“Save me…. Save me…. Save me….”

“Even the Widro monster dismantling team doesn’t roll this hard….”

“…Huff…. Huff….”

The sound of panting breathlessly mixed into the mercenaries’ complaining sounds.

Everyone’s gazes quickly reached Ruben.

Severing the four limbs and striking the neck of an Iron Jiangshi is a difficult task for Ruben, who cannot use sword energy yet.

Marianne briskly cast magic, and when she got tired, she sat and rested, or wiped her cheeks and nape with a wet towel saying she would cool down her circles. Knowing better than anyone that her physical strength was lacking, she rested shrewdly.

As for Benjamin, since the neck and limbs of the Jiangshi just fell right off if he just drew his sword with strength, he didn’t show signs of being overwhelmed other than losing concentration from the repetitive task. He just silently cut down the Jiangshis, paying attention to the movements of his arms and waist as if he were doing swordsmanship training.

However, Ruben doesn’t need to worry about his circles overheating. He also didn’t have monstrous strength like Benjamin.

Although I tried to stick close and take care of him, thinking on my end that we could only move forward if we quickly dispatched a larger number, I was busy catching two or three Iron Jiangshis at once.

Conscious of me acting like that, it seemed Ruben’s energy was completely drained from pulling in Jiangshis alone without rest and gritting his teeth to cut them down.

How many had he cut down, beads of sweat were forming thick and fast on Ruben’s smooth forehead. [Read on RanaTranslations🌸] Watching his hotly flushed red cheeks blankly as his heat rose to the fullest, I hurriedly searched my bosom to take out a handkerchief. Seeing that sight, Ruben smiled bitterly and shook his head once.

Everyone lowered their swords one by one and looked far away.

Still, hundreds and thousands of Jiangshis were swarming right in front of us.

While lost for words, Leon stood leaning on his axe and swallowed a groaning sound. The white and fine sandy beach without a single drop of black blood felt like a dream.

It had been a long time since each person had easily cut down a hundred Iron Jiangshis each. What on earth is this doing.

Elwin lay down spread-eagle on the spot first. The rest, blankly watching that sight, also let out a sigh one by one and sat down on the spot.

Only then did I realize that the mercenaries hadn’t been able to sit or lie down because they were treating us as superiors. Ruben, who had been standing leaning on his sword, also sat down heavily as if sliding on the spot.

The weather was exceedingly hot. Perhaps because we were close to the holy site of the Sun, the ground temperature was high even in mid-winter.

Even if we controlled our body temperature with the power of artifacts, the limit was evident. Hot steam rose from my entire body from running around the heated sandbank and swinging my sword without rest.

“…I think we should think of another method.”

I anew voiced out words that everyone plainly knew.

“Yeah. At this rate, we wouldn’t finish even if we just wielded our swords for four nights and five days. No, we should have killed half by this point, where do they keep coming out from?”

Hugh Benson irritably messed up his hair and immediately gave an answer. The guy’s hair, drenched in sweat, stood up like horns. That sight was exceedingly comical, but no one laughed.

Anne, who was chanting a Buddhist prayer asking to be saved, hugged her knees and made groaning sounds.

“I taste blood in my throat.”

“Such an exaggeration.”

“No, usually we don’t use sword energy consecutively this many times…”

That is also true.

An ordinary mercenary would have no occasion to face such a large-scale enemy. This kind of work was usually done by the country’s military, the Cieron Empire Knight Order.

Of course, if a crisis was right in front of their noses, they would have solved the impending matter without complaint to survive, but since they were repeatedly expending their energy releasing sword energy from a safe spot, they had reason to complain.

Then Marianne, who was sitting on one side gulping down water, raised her hand.

“I have an opinion!”

“…What is it.”

“The time Michael split the Sandworm in half before. Do you have any intention of trying that one more time?”

“…Huh?”

Does that even make sense. Leaving me dumbfounded and at a loss for words, Marianne wiggled the hand she held above her shoulder. The voice continuing her words was even cheerful.

“It was so fascinating back then that I watched a bit closely. It seems a bit dangerous up to about 8m behind Michael, but if we follow 10m behind, I think we could somehow manage? If Senior Elwin and Mr. Leon set up shields right behind Michael, and we follow in a line behind them?”

“…Uh…”

“I don’t know how many times consecutively that can be done, but we’ve tried making a path before, haven’t we.”

“…Mm, uh…”

“…Now that you mention it. Would it work?”

No. The Troll mutants we saw back then, we could just cut off their arms and run, so we could skip them. The Jiangshis filling the space right in front of our noses now, we could only move past them if we completely severed their heads and limbs. We have to crush them so they can’t move anymore, but I completely had no confidence.

I didn’t want to bring disappointment to the children. I was deeply at a loss for how to explain.