Genius Corpse-Collecting Warrior - Chapter 111
Labyrinth 2nd floor (4)
Rumbling….
A faint vibration felt from the soft backrest. Dallen chewed the beef jerky and held the spear like a control stick.
When the blue electricity crackles and you gently lean forward, you feel your body leaning back and the sandworm’s speed increases.
A spacious space inside the scales. Dallen patted the sandworm’s skin.
“That’s right. “I understand now.”
“…….”
Bjorn stuck out his tongue as he watched the scene from the side.
You drive a lightning-charged spear deep into the skin and use it as a control rod to control a sandworm that is well over fifty meters long.
Even the ancient dwarf ancestors who created golems taller than the castle walls did not come up with such an idea.
I heard that the shadow elves have a custom of drinking hallucinogenic drugs and studying magic. Could it be that this warrior is also…
“What do you think?”
“…Uh uhh. Good. “Very fast and convenient.”
Bjorn answered the exquisitely poignant question with a slight hesitation.
It wasn’t a lie. The riding comfort of the Sandworm was not as bad as I thought.
There was ample space between the inner skin and the scales under the hard and spacious scales for a riding boat.
The spaced scales absorb most of the external shock, so the rattle is not that loud even though it is digging deep underground.
If you position yourself well, you will find soft inner skin and muscles that gently support your back and shoulders.
Bjorn decided to be honest. At this point, I couldn’t help but ask.
“You…where on earth did you learn this?”
“I heard that many high-ranking monsters obey those who subdue them by force.”
Puzzle!
Dallen said, gently pulling the control stick upwards, sparks flying from his fingertips.
“A warlock said that. Demons don’t necessarily control high-ranking monsters with spells alone. There are many monsters that prioritize proving superiority or inferiority over communication. “The warlock came up with a new breeding method from the demons under the evil god Xun, who subjugated and manipulated monsters using only violence.”
“You are an expert in demonology. If you know demons that well, you must be an extremely evil warlock. “He must be dead, right?”
“…exactly.”
It’s really dead. He was trying to raise an army of monsters, but he was eaten alive by a sandworm.
Thinking over the ending of one of the characters he had raised a long time ago, Dallon wondered where the body was.
Even if I decided to find it, it didn’t seem like it would be easy. There are more than one or two sandworms that inhabit this vast scorching desert.
Dallen pulled the control stick a little higher. And said.
“I’m going to go up for a moment and make sure I’m going in the right direction. “It’s going to be a little bit wobbly.”
Kugugugu…!
When the control stick is pulled, the sandworm soars to the ground. Dallen lifted the scales and looked up at the constellations in the sky.
A labyrinthine sky where the sun never rises. Thousands of twinkling stars draw the same shapes as the first floor of the labyrinth.
The sky in the lower part of the labyrinth all had the same constellations. Thanks to this, it was easy to find my way.
‘It’s a little bit wrong. I just need to change my route a little bit to the west. ‘It shouldn’t take more than a day at the latest.’
If the entrance to the second floor of the labyrinth was on each side of the first floor, north, south, east, and west, the entrance to the third floor of the labyrinth was the opposite.
‘There is only one huge sinkhole in the exact center of the scorching desert.’
Dalen, who was thinking about the entrance to the third floor of the only labyrinth, suddenly turned his head when he felt a presence.
Grumble.
The presence was far away and was approaching quickly at the same time.
Beyond the sand dunes in the distance. The familiar tremors of an excavator vibrating the sand on the slope.
‘…I thought I was lucky with just one, but the second was a sandworm.’
Dallen stroked his chin. When I thought about it for a moment, it wasn’t necessarily due to luck.
Sandworms are monsters that have almost no concept of their own kind, except during the breeding season.
And it takes a lot of energy to maintain its huge body in a desert area where prey is not abundant.
In that sense, injured sandworms were excellent prey. The sandworm, which had become a private bus, seemed to have noticed this and trembled with its huge fuselage.
[Kyaa…?]
Dallon came out of the scales. He held the holy sword with both hands.
You can’t have your car, which you worked hard to select, hit by a hit-and-run criminal.
He jumped lightly and stepped in the air. The holy sword began to rumble with the sound of thunder.
and.
Quagwagwang—!
[The melted body of a warlock was found in the sandworm’s stomach.]
Dallen raised the corners of his mouth as he saw the notification window listed above the snout of the sandworm that protruded from the sandworm’s side.
This is really lucky.
***
There were several more battles.
Twice I fought sandworms that preyed on injured compatriots.
And there was one time when I ran into a pack of clawed dogs that played the role of hyenas in the scorching desert.
The corpses of the monsters that were torn to pieces at the tip of Dallan’s sword were neatly disposed of by the Sandworm, which became his own vehicle.
In the process, Sandworm’s injuries also recovered somewhat.
Although it was a little delayed from the original schedule, it was not a big loss since the car was clearly marked as to who owned it.
‘When you beat them, beat them well and when you feed them, feed them well. ‘This is how the demons under the evil god Sun deal with monsters.’
Xun, the evil god of violence and fiery destruction.
The evil spirit that is still stalking beyond the distant Frost Highlands was also the evil spirit that Dallan contracted the most when developing his warlock character.
While chatting with the dwarf and continuing his thoughts, Dallon steadily drove the sandworm towards the center of the Scorching Desert.
How many hours did they travel, coming up to the ground in between, looking at the stars to gauge the direction, then going back down to the ground and accelerating their speed?
Thanks to the sandworms moving underground faster than a horse can sprint, a journey that would have originally taken more than 15 days was shortened to almost a day.
As the day passed, the group reached a sand hill about half a day away from the entrance to the third floor of the labyrinth.
Around that time, the special task force agents also woke up from the curse of sleep. However, the immediate forced march is not easy.
Confirmed by the searcher’s left bank fragment, they were now clearly ahead of the advance party.
It seemed like it would be enough to rest for one night and then set off. The party quickly set up camp.
***
The night in the scorching desert was cold.
The sand, which radiated searing heat and light during the day, would radiate bitter cold at night.
Fortunately, there were trees growing naturally in this dry desert, so the group was able to spend the night a little warmly.
Cracking. Crack.
The bonfire is burning. The firewood was dry trees and thorn bushes.
These were actually the corpses of monsters in the form of plants.
Yuyuka Man-Eater, a tree-shaped monster that climbs up a tree to escape the blazing heat from the ground, then straightens out its branches, ties up the victim, and squeezes out the juice.
‘Karamdur poisonous plant’ is a thorny bush that lures the poisoned victim with fruit dripping with delicious juice and then sticks thorns into the poisoned victim, melting the body fluids and sucking them out.
Of course, for experienced explorers like Dallan, these monsters were firewood that could be used for one night’s work.
Firewood that catches fire well and burns well for a long time.
“hmm. “Not bad.”
Dallen said while chewing freshly grilled meat from a monster-burning bonfire.
What he held in his hand was sandworm meat.
I came across one along the way and took just the right amount to eat before feeding it to my personal sandworm.
The grilled sandworm was a little tough, but edible. If you look at it roughly, it was okay.
Although a bit of an earthy smell remains, it is tolerable.
It was clear that the dish would have been more delicious if Lucia had baked it.
“…How do you eat this?”
Bjorn, who was taking a bite of the grilled food next to him, didn’t seem to think so.
“I’m full.”
“No, isn’t it burnt on the outside and raw meat on the inside? “How can a person grill meat like this?”
“Didn’t they just make a lump of charcoal?”
“Well…that…actually it wasn’t cooking, it was an experiment! These days, I’m looking for materials that can increase the explosive power of gunpowder! Hahaha!”
“…….”
Dallon shook his head. He suddenly pulled out a crossbow from subspace.
A repeating crossbow obtained by killing a scruffy-bearded dwarf in Cheonglin’s territory a long time ago.
The dwarf, who had been smiling awkwardly, looked at the crossbow and Foxy and his face hardened. Dallen asked.
“Is this something related to that?”
The dwarf did not answer right away.
He was fiddling with the crossbow for a while and thinking about something.
He carefully pulled the empty demonstration and asked again.
“…Where did you get this?”
“From the owner.”
“Was he a dwarf?”
Dallen nodded. He told me briefly what happened in the crack.
About the Holy Knights and the members of Cheongrin who attacked them in the ruins of the fallen Estra Fortress.
Bjorn’s expression remained dark throughout the story. After Dallen finished speaking, he spoke in a mixed voice.
“…The evil dragon of the rift. “Have we finally reached that point?”
He sighed deeply and put down his crossbow.
“This is the crossbow of my brother Bayorn Kaladrakum. “To be exact, he’s my half-brother.”
Dallen stopped picking up the meat. They were that close?
This was a case that even he had not thought of. This is because many aspects of the setting related to the one-eyed master craftsman were shrouded in mystery.
“It’s okay. That guy and I ended our relationship a long time ago. Moreover, if he had fallen under the control of the evil dragon, it would be fortunate that it ended like this.”
Bjorn waved his hand and said. A light tone, as if it was really okay. However, the emotions flowing from deep within his eyes were not like that.
After being silent for a moment, he opened his mouth. It was not a short story.
“When we were young, we used to make a bet. It was a competition to see who could create a better work by looking at a blueprint. Mine had excellent power and accuracy. “His crossbow was small, so it had excellent loading speed and concealability.”
Two works of completely different sizes were created from the same blueprint.
I later found out that it was a flaw in the blueprint. The length unit of the blueprint was changed back and forth inconsistently.
The bet was a draw, and the brothers decided to keep the artwork as a symbol of their friendship.
The brothers’ feud occurred decades later.
After stealing gunpowder technology from the empire and running away, it was a period of discussion and research on how to use it.
“It was a time when neither the Empire nor the Tsardom knew the full utility of gunpowder. This guy, who had a deep grudge against humans, insisted that the humans be wiped out with this new weapon. “I couldn’t bear to agree because one of my mother’s distant relatives was human.”
“I see.”
More than a hundred years have passed since the declaration of disownment. Bjorn’s crossbow ended up in the hands of a young witch he met in the back alleys of the Bronze District.
His half-brother, on the other hand, still carried a crossbow.
It is unclear whether it is truly a symbol of friendship. However, the dead are silent, and the emotions of those left behind were solely their own responsibility.
“…Thank you.”
Bjorn said, handing back the crossbow.
“Craftsmen often compare their lives to tools. There is no good or evil in tools. However, the owners of the tools are different.”
If it is not used for the right things, it is better to be broken. With those words, Bjorn fell into silence.
Cracking. Pop!
The bonfire was burning. Dallen looked at the fire in silence and munched on the meat.
He was not confident in comfort. It seemed strange that he was offering consolation here.
After sitting like that for a while, Dallon stood up. Bjorn looked at him.
“What’s going on?”
“I think it’s time to pick you up.”
Gurgling……
At that time, an explosion was heard from afar.
The explosion of gunpowder echoing through the sand dunes, clearly different from the vibrations of sandworms.
Bjorn, a self-proclaimed gunpowder expert, jumped up. The special task force agents who were resting by the bonfire also began to murmur as if they had sensed this.
“Do you know where it is?”
Bjorn asked.
The explosion was heard quite far away. It is not easy to trace its origin as it echoes among numerous sand dunes.
Dallen quietly closed his eyes.
A naturally expanding sensory area.
The increased sensory abilities from recovering the warlock’s body expand its limits beyond several sand dunes.
Select and synthesize the flood of stimuli. The scene that looks blurry, like a black and white screen with noise, is near a sand pit several kilometers away.
Explosives buried in the ground exploded everywhere, and advance team members fell to the ground under the rain of lead bullets.
And in the midst of it all.
‘Sienna.’
A woman holding a five-barreled crossbow in one hand who has a more distinct presence than others.
The magic of the spell swirled around her, blocking the explosion, but it still seemed impossible to cover all the agents.
Sigh –
Dallen lightly pulled out the axe.
As he achieved skill level 30, the concept of using weapons within him changed subtly.
If until now it had been a subversive method of tearing everything in front of it with overwhelming force.
At first glance, it looks soft and fragile, but it feels like you have grasped the tip of a secret that can make even things that cannot be done with force possible.
Suuu….
A haze forms on the ax blade. Dallen lifted the hatchet over his shoulder.
The goal is the top of the sand dune.
Between the eyes of a spellcaster wearing a robe, looking down into a pit and remotely detonating explosives.
Ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
that has surpassed the critical limit transforms into the power of the realm, and a strange resonance sound is added to the ax blade.
Paget!
The moment when that resonance radiates as a discordant sound and gives a clear shape to the blade.
Peeing!
The ax disappeared from Dallen’s lightly struck hand.
There was no thunder.
The same goes for flashing.
However, rather than tearing through space, the ax blade deflected and jumped a long distance in one go.
Easy profit!
A single clean line penetrated the sensory sphere and landed in the center of the spellcaster’s head.
A spellcaster who collapses without even realizing what has happened to him.
The detonator connected to the explosive fell out of the man’s helpless hand.
Sreung –
Dallen drew the holy sword. The attention of the party was focused on him.
Now that the emergency fire was put out, it was time to go meet them in person.