Chapter 128. Wasteland and Mountain (7)

To be honest, the original plan was quite different from what was happening now.

The specific operational plan for retaking the Steamforge was created after hearing the dwarves' testimonies.

The dwarves had said that most of the Ratmen forces, including the High Priest, had withdrawn.

I knew that a significant number of troops had moved.

Because the Ratmen tunnels the expedition found on the way here led to the east and south.

Circumstantially, a large-scale Ratmen force must have moved south.

They must have had business with Indika, the nearby tribal nations, or the Lumer Legion.

‘According to what we confirmed with the monitoring equipment, they didn't take the heart of the Steamforge. It's made of the same mithril alloy as the Steamforge's door. They can't detach it even if they wanted to.’

But the dwarves had overlooked one thing.

Just how obsessed the High Priest of the Ratmen Technopriest Council was with stealing others' technology.

I knew the Ratmen better than they did.

Since I had played all the named heroes and even cleared the game with them.

I thought it was highly likely that the High Priest and a portion of the Technopriest Council's forces would remain.

Crossing the door with [Calvenia's Waning Moon Labyrinth], then killing all the infiltrated Ratmen to create corpse carts was part of the plan.

The original plan was to use the overflowing mana obtained from that to utilize vampire school magic and gain an advantage in firepower.

And to suppress their firepower with water-based spells learned from the mages of the Blue Magic Tower branch established in Wolfskrig.

Although the Ratmen's technology was excellent, it wasn't to the point of reviving wet gunpowder.

But was it because I hadn't changed William's face?

"Squeak, th-the Nameless Tentacle! That should be the sacred relic held by the wh-white-masked human necromancer...!"

The Ratmen bastard used the sacred relic's authority directly on me, and as a result, we ended up here.

In a cosmic courtroom where the Outer Gods' arguments and interrogations were taking place.

- Think about it. Why did we make this contract in the first place? Wasn't it to prevent disputes among the apostles who would act on our will? There should be at least a minimum level of communication, right?

A sphere floating in a space of utter darkness.

The form of a sacred relic that looked like an eyeball with several pupils said.

That bastard was today's defendant.

For reference, there was no lawyer.

Because the Outer Gods' courtroom was bleak.

- An apostle is a being who understands and acts on our will. If it's a bastard who can't even communicate, isn't he no different from a blind man!

- Since you handed over the authority to that blind man, you must take responsibility.

- Even so, this is too much. It's unfair…….

- Tick-tock?

- What, why are you tick-tocking again?

- Kkiiing?

- What's with you again. Possessed by a dog?

...I retract my statement about it being bleak.

This was a total mess.

A huge jet-black eyeball with multiple pupils.

A statue of a goddess holding a spear in each hand.

A giant starfish with over ten slithering arms.

And a being composed of regular octahedrons and smooth tentacles.

Watching the debate of the four Outer Gods taking place in a space like the universe, I felt my mind going blank.

I would rather turn away somewhere far away, but in this place where a strange silence flowed as if time had stopped, even the movement of my body was not free.

The most I could do was roll my eyeballs or move my lips slightly.

Was that why?

The other guest in this space, the Ratmen High Priest.

The rat-man who was the head of the Technopriest Council and the owner of that eyeball statue was turning pale in real time.

"The-the gods are angered. Squeak, squeak......"

He probably couldn't understand the Outer Gods' conversation.

To him, that conversation was probably perceived as a resonance of meaning emitted by some transcendent beings that made his body and soul tremble.

- It's unfair. I'm telling you, it's unfair...!!

- Calm down. I'll only remove the authority you used. I'll leave the other authorities. It's a light surgery.

- Hwaaaak! Kkuaak!

Well, from a church member's point of view, it might be better not to hear that conversation.

If he heard the Outer God of the sacred relic he served whining, wouldn't even the most devout believer's faith hit rock bottom?

- Don't be too sad. Isn't it a good thing that you've finally met a master you can communicate with?

Kkumteuli wriggled its tentacle like a skilled doctor.

Then, one of the white pupils of the black eyeball shook and then popped.

- Kkyaaaaaaaak!!

With a scream-like echo, the space of utter darkness disappeared.

The battlefield returned.

Zombies were biting slave soldiers.

A Necro Ogre's arm was blown off by a high-explosive shell fired by a Ratmen gunner.

Claw warriors and Grave Knights were tangled up, rolling among the machinery.

I approached the High Priest of the Ratmen who was sitting collapsed in the middle of it.

The bastard lifted the necklace with the sacred relic.

"Squeak, O-O Eye that gazes beyond... Squeak!"

I raised my sword and cut off the hand holding the sacred relic along with the necklace string.

I swung once more and slashed his neck.

I had intended to cut it clean off, but even in his dazed state, the bastard pulled his body back and survived.

Gasping, he pulled something out from his bosom with his remaining hand.

It was an object that looked like a gauntlet.

After putting it on his fist and moving his fingers a few times, the upper part clacked open and a projectile spewed fire.

A small rocket.

[Deploying [Hebrun’s Crimson Bloodbird].]

Kwagwagwang!

A blood-red afterimage that spread out like branches shot down the rocket.

As his last-ditch effort ended in failure, the bastard, who was clutching his neck and gasping, soon stopped breathing.

Tang!

I made sure he was dead with a pistol.

In any case, I had caught him in my identity as William.

[Achievement Unlocked! You have protected a dwarven treasure.]

[Acquiring a random trait.]

[Outside the Blanket is Dangerous]

[The morale and stats of troops under your command increase during base defense.]

[Achievement Unlocked! You have given a distinguished service to a subordinate.]

[Acquiring a fixed trait.]

[Grow Big and Strong]

[The experience acquisition and ability improvement of troops and heroes under your command increase in battles or training participated in by the commander.]

[Achievement unlocked! You have collected four or more sacred relics of the church.]

[[Warrior's Binding] regains its original power.]

[Troops summoned with [Warrior's Binding] can now grow like real beings.]

Let's put aside the notification windows that popped up for now.

Cleaning up this mess came first.

When the High Priest died, the remaining Ratmen began to flee.

The exit was already blocked anyway.

When the fight started, I had the vampire necromancer Tisha and the troops under her command perform a flanking maneuver and completely block all the Ratmen holes bored into the Steamforge.

"My lord, I have slaughtered all the remnants of the disgusting rat bastards."

"Good work, Tisha."

It didn't take long to finish off the remaining Ratmen forces while tightening the encirclement.

Now all that was left was to reactivate the heart of the Steamforge.

The 'Heart', a steam engine device that operated on mana stones, was made of mithril alloy and had no particular damage.

However, there were traces of attempts to cut it starting from the corners.

If he had a few more months, the Ratmen High Priest might have taken the whole thing and flown off.

"Connect that tube here. Put this conveyor here and turn on the power. This is how you do it, right?"

‘Probably, master. If it's as the dwarf king said.’

‘Eheheheuk. Keoheuk...’

‘Now, now, don't cry and eat some of this. What will you choose for your name?’

Although it was quite chaotic with one more guest in the subspace, I steadily prepared for the reactivation of the Heart according to the method passed down from the Dwarf King Ungol.

He said that after connecting the mana stone injector and turning on the power, connecting the byproduct discharger, maintaining the hoses, and even inserting the container with lubricating fluid, the preparation was complete.

Now I just had to press the activation button.

Click.

No reaction.

Click, click.

"......"

The advice the dwarf king had given me just before he went up to the surface, which I didn't want to recall, popped into my head.

‘Just in case. It's really just in case, but they might have pulled out the wires. The switchboard cover is also made of a hard alloy, but it's not mithril. Because you have to be able to force it open in an emergency.’

‘Then what should I do?’

‘You have to match them. But...’

‘?’

‘We dwarves are all skilled, aren't we. So we never make mistakes when it comes to things we do with our hands. I'm not sure about you, a human.’

‘What do you mean by that...’

‘It will explode if you connect the wires wrong. Maybe not the entire Hold, but at least the Steamforge will be blown away.’

"Ha, damn it."

How could they make a machine like that.

Exploding if connected wrong.

This wasn't Chernobyl.

I sighed and opened the switchboard.

As expected, all the wires were cut.

Connecting them again didn't seem difficult in itself.

Because it was a structure where you just had to connect them roughly like stripped copper wires, and there were also spare wires on the side.

"They're all black."

The problem was which wire to connect where.

They should have at least made them different colors to distinguish them.

Or at least marked the color that would cause an accident when connected.

‘M-master. Will you be okay?’

"I have to try."

‘I don't have this kind of knowledge either. I can't tell you even if I want to.’

What could I do.

If I just stood still like this, it was obvious I would be beaten to death by the Orc Great Chieftain.

It was a relief that the ability of the newly acquired sacred relic was the authority to handle space.

I heard that although it lost the ability to teleport others, it was still possible to teleport oneself.

The range was also quite wide.

To the extent that if things went wrong, I could escape outside the Hold in an instant.

‘I lost the most important ability. Heuk, because of that rat bastard...’

‘Now, now, here are some sugar-pickled tangerines. Let's eat and cheer up. Alright?’

Kkumteuli was comforting him well, so it should be fine.

I completely tore off the switchboard cover.

I grabbed one wire from the top and bottom each and took a deep breath.

It was then.

‘Tick-tock?’

The statue of the goddess holding twin spears peeked its head out from the subspace.

‘Tick-tock, tick-tock.’

"What?"

‘Tick-tock.’

"This one's not it?"

Tick-Tocky nodded its head.

Looking at the gem on its stomach, it was indeed red.

Come to think of it, this one could foresee disasters that would strike in the short term.

A bomb about to explode right in front of me was its specialty.

‘Tick-tock!’

After grabbing a few other wires, the red light soon went out.

It meant this was the right pair.

Just in case, I prepared for the worst and connected the two wires.

"......"

Chiiik-

Thud. Thud.

Something started to turn.

Even to me, who didn't know much about machinery, it sounded like a part of the 'Heart' was being restored.

"Tick-Tocky, you're promoted."

‘Tick-tock!!’

It seemed I had a good pet Outer God.

* * *

Yeokbalsan Gigae Se.

Meaning 'strength to uproot mountains and spirit to cover the world', it was an ancient idiom that expressed the martial prowess of Xiang Yu, who had once divided the Chinese continent.

In fact, it was known that Xiang Yu's martial prowess was unrivaled in his time.

It was a clearly recorded fact in history that he fought on equal terms with Liu Bang, his arch-rival who had divided China.

Considering the achievements he made while saddled with the twin shackles of the worst political ability and terrible personnel management, it would be right to say that his command ability and martial prowess were second to none.

Well, I didn't know if he was truly a general who was an enemy of ten thousand men.

Because the debate over how much exaggeration and mythical metaphor were used in ancient historical records was a common topic that often rolled around among history researchers.

And anyway, on the Earth I lived on, humans were nothing more than limited animals with thin skin, weak bones, and soft entrails.

Here, it was different.

In a world where all sorts of supernatural laws, including mana, coexisted with physical laws, it was possible for even humans or demi-humans to uproot mountains and shatter the earth.

Facing hundreds of people single-handedly was much easier than that.

One of the representative examples of that was the Orc Great Chieftain.

The bastard swung his iron club.

The blood and flesh of over a hundred soldiers were dried on the club.

I threw myself sideways by a hair's breadth.

It was the moment the club hit the ground.

Kwaaaarurung-!

A thunderous roar erupted.

Jjeojeojeok!!

The ground, which cracked like a crevasse in the polar regions, swallowed several soldiers.

"Fall back! Don't get in the way!"