Chapter Thirty-Seven: Hey You, You’re Finally Awake – Part Two

    Upon reaching the dungeon, we saw a large group of adventurers aimlessly shuffling around. The two human guards were standing in front of the entrance. It had a colorless barrier around it, preventing anyone from entering. Rumors mulled about, though. If they were to be believed, it looked as if Noelia was reported missing this morning, so the mines were shut down by Gloria’s forces until she could investigate. Another person said Dark Mana was detected. To defend her country and assure her citizens Dirge wasn’t under attack, Gloria came out to dispel the mana and discover the truth. One thing was for sure. The dungeon would cease operations for the foreseeable future. As for when it would open? No one knew. The Dragonfolk remained on top of the carriage. Well, my waypoint was there.

    It was just a theory, but I wondered if [Eyes of the Huntress] could evolve to pierce through cloaking effects? It was powerful enough, but it felt like something was lacking.

    But with the dungeon closed, we couldn’t get any iron. I had a few dozen pounds of ore chilling in my storage, but it was a pain to walk all this way and have nothing to show for it. The day was pretty, though. A summer breeze danced through my blond hair and sent it scattering while we returned to the house.

    Meanwhile, it was time to do a little spying. Letting the AI take the lead, I instructed it to display and follow Arella and Gloria whilst in satellite mode.

    “Lord Gloria, you must remain in control of your emotions,” Arella said as a holographic map appeared in front of us. We were alone, so I didn’t worry about anyone seeing it.

    “I am incredibly displeased,” Gloria calmly said, her face betraying the cool tone she spoke with. She carried a scowl while leaving behind flaming footsteps as proof of her irateness. Suddenly, she stopped in her tracks and looked to the left, eyeing a group of naked goblins dancing around the corpse of a bat. “It’s unsightly... I hate it... Arella, destroy them. Collapse the rooms and chambers we come across. I don’t want them to even look my way... Not with how angry I am...”

    “Of course, my lord. I know how much you despise dungeons that births goblins.” Arella bowed, then took hold of her curved swords. I thought she was going to rush in, but no.

    She did something entirely different.

    “[Gunblade].” With that single word, her swords flashed a vivid purple and became a pair of tactical machine pistols that shared the same color scheme as her melee weapons. If the guns were the same as the ones from my world, Arella’s weapons used 9x19 parabellum rounds and shot 900 bullets a minute.

    “What the hell? That’s a thing?!” I exclaimed. Tilde nodded and said it was a rare skill, but you could take a melee weapon and a gun and fuse them together. And Dark Elves preferred to use firearms over a bow.

    “[Ammo Storage].” Suddenly, a floating locker appeared in front of her. Arella turned the handle, opened it, and removed two 60-round magazines labeled with [Micro Explosion]. A quick use of [Analysis] said her weapons had [Mana Link]. Tilde spiraled into another lecture and said there was a skill called [Spell Bullet Production]. It was rare, hard to make it appear in your Skill Menu, and more difficult to acquire. With it, you could turn any spell you knew into a bullet. In a way, [Chimeric Armatization] worked like it, but you could use [Spell Bullet Production] to create bullets for later use. It took a lot of mana since creating matter from nothing was no easy feat.

    Arella ejected her guns’ magazines and slotted in the new ones while Tilde said [Mana Link] only supplied the gun with basic bullets. Based on what I saw, Arella’s mana probably wasn’t that strong. Stronger than mine? Definitely. But most of her skills were related to firearms and close combat. She knew very little magic.

    Tilde was confused, though. The fairy said [Micro Explosion] was often used by miners and excavators because it was an explosive spell that caused craters. It was perfect for precise work since the average explosion was less than an inch in diameter. She didn’t know why Arella chose those two magazines. Th.e? most uptodate novels are published on n(0)velbj)n(.)co/m

    She raised her arms, aimed her guns, and pulled the triggers. One second later, thirty rounds exploded out of her machine pistols, leaving behind a mist of death and a room full of craters over a yard in diameter.

    Yes, a yard. It was like a dozen pounds of TNT exploded every time a bullet made contact, and it didn’t take long for the entire dungeon to shutter as if it were wounded. The rumbling didn’t transfer to my holographic display, but I saw the ground vibrate as the room caved in.

    “Tilde, what the hell?!” I exclaimed, turning to a fairy with a gaped mouth. She quickly shook her head.

    “Holy shit... Look, the strength of your mana determines the power of the bullet produced by [Spell Bullet Production]. If it’s this strong, then Gloria herself must be supplying Arella with her bullets. This is bad, Master. Those bullets are strong enough to blow a hole through an elephant’s ass. And that’s with an SMG. Imagine if she used a sniper or shotgun that shoots slugs."

    But I wasn’t scared...

    No, I was...thrilled.

    “That’s a proud grin you have, my liege,” Sekh said, turning to me. She had one of her own across her face. I could tell she was more determined than ever.

    Returning our gazes to the holographic window, the dust started to settle. Arella stood in front of her summoner with her swords crossed in front of her chest. Around her and her summoner was a barrier of purple, which prevented harm from coming to them. The Dark Elf lightly chastised her lord for the overwhelmingly powerful attack as the teleporter to the lobby appeared.

    “That was for a reason, my dear,” Gloria replied, skipping over to the remnants of Noelia’s camp while her hands flashed orange with deadly fire. “Couldn’t you tell? When we arrived in the dungeon and made our way to the boss, we encountered Noelia’s camp. Crowded around the campfire were the corpses of a bandit troupe that chased a little half-breed deep into the mines because they wanted to break her down. They were new to the area, so they didn’t expect to see a Soul Warrior waiting at the depths.”

    Scorching flames danced from the tip of her fingers and burned the evidence.

    “Noelia and her brave attendants fought like hell to protect the girl, but a stray arrow found its way to her little half-breed heart. Overcome by wrath and anger, Noelia unleashed the hidden power of her soul and became a torrential flow of purifying, deadly flames. It consumed her, devouring everything in this room while leaving the innocent, injured girl alive. Even as she turned into flames and entered the afterlife, the half-breed was protected by a barrier. And we simply found her here, surrounded by ash and death. In a groggy state, she foolishly entered the arena, and I acted fast to save her life, leading to the egregious use of [Twilight Abaddon]. I assume it shouldn’t be too hard to find a half-breed somewhere? Tell the Barclays to find one around 8 years old, and make sure she’s shot with an arrow. And tell them to hypnotize the child permanently. An orphan girl shouldn’t have much in the way of mental defenses. Understood?”

    “Of course, my lord. I shall see it done.”

    “No, you won’t. Send the shadowguard to relay my orders. You will remain here and act as my eyes and ears. Inform the guild master that the Mines of Gamor will be inaccessible for the foreseeable future. It needs time to heal, yet I will make it my temporary home while you search the city for answers.”

    “As you see fit, my lord.” Arella saluted, turned on her heels, and walked towards the teleporter.

    We talked about what we saw, then resumed our journey home. Once there, I sat down with Irisa and her parents to drop off the things I’d stolen while telling them what occurred. To be safe, I plopped a waypoint on the shadowguard, Gloria, and Arella and shared it with the onis. “Whatever you do, if you see the waypoint nearby, avoid it. Gloria is a master of illusion magic, so I wouldn’t put it past her to disguise her guard,” I said.

    I was glad Niva was still unconscious while we talked about this. Perhaps hearing Gloria’s name would be enough to send her into shock. But after about twenty minutes, I decided it was time to go with Irisa to Smithy’s Corner.

    We had some prosthetics to construct.

    Sekh remained behind to tend to the newest member of the Kill Idiot Loser Lords Squad, or the KILLS as Tilde liked to put it.

    Thanks to the AI, I knew what size the prosthetic had to be, but that didn’t mean I knew how to make them. How was I going to make the sleeve? What material was best for it? And how was I supposed to start? The socket or the leg? After sighing, Irisa rubbed my back softly with her tender hand. “It’s okay, Mila. I dunno much about it either, but I’m sure we can come up with something.”

    The powerful, beautiful woman gave me a friendly smile as she put on her blacksmithing apron and held her smithing hammer determinedly.

    “Right. Let’s get to it.”