Chapter 85. Master of Explosions (1)
Kwooouuung!
Again, an explosive sound that could tear eardrums echoed.
Rhodes, where the midday sun shone brightly. Inside the ruin site, Enoch, wearing an explosion-proof robe, slowly walked through the smoke of the explosion.
Around the time the 'experience farming' of increasing magic resistance with Explosion Magic was nearing its end.
Enoch had already entered the deep part of the ruin site with Sirocco.
And the number of explosion artifacts he had found and 'personally' dealt with throughout Rhodes, while also searching for the Sword Saint's sword, had steadily increased.
To soothe his ears, which felt like they were developing tinnitus from the consecutive explosions. Enoch walked across Rhodes. Then he slowly pondered the current situation.
Roughly, the [Explosion Magic] was all as he had expected.
Unlike military explosives like grenades or claymores, which cause damage with fragments when detonated.
It was powerful general magic that emitted intense heat or shock from the 'explosion' itself.
It surely had high applicability, being able to unleash power capable of blowing away an entire area according to the caster's intention. Conversely, it was also possible to reduce the power and set it to only make a loud sound like a blank round.
Naturally.
Deploying it to trigger chain reactions on [Trap Magic] installed on walls or floors, or casting it on an explosion artifact made it an excellent mine.
As with trap-type magic. From the opponent's perspective, it was a terrifying magic that gnawed at their nerves because they didn't know when or where it would be installed and triggered.
However, at least for me, it was an exception.
After all, as long as it was magic, if I focused with the Sense of Mana, I could roughly estimate its location. Perhaps because of that, I was able to find out some rather unexpected facts.
'They've installed them quite evenly everywhere.'
For some reason, the areas where explosion magic traps were installed covered almost the entire area of Rhodes.
Moreover, they were particularly concentrated in areas where Magical Beasts were densely populated.
The intention was clear. To inflict damage through the explosion itself. And subsequently, to induce frenzy in the nearby Magical Beasts due to the vibration and explosive sounds.
At this point, anyone could easily notice it, even without professional knowledge of combat.
It was a meticulously calculated trap installation technique. And it was the work of a veteran combat mage who was skilled in combat and knew how to utilize the surrounding environment.
Perhaps if Sirocco, who was dealing with the swarming Magical Beasts, wasn't here, I wouldn't have been able to go around triggering the explosion magic on my own.
By this point, his magic resistance should have increased significantly. He had more or less achieved his goal.
"..."
But Enoch frowned. That part was very good, but there was just one problem. And a very important one.
'I still haven't found the Sword Saint's sword.'
It had been almost an hour since he started searching. But he still couldn't find the other Sword Saint's sword.
Enoch pondered and looked around.
It had been some time since he began acting separately from Dionil's squad, searching for the Sword Saint's sword alone and playing human minesweeper.
He thought he could enjoy productive farming time. But what awaited him was a continuous series of failures.
There were more variables than he had expected.
"...Hoo."
Enoch leaned against a nearby ruin structure for a moment. Then, looking at Rhodes, he slowly fell into thought.
There was clearly a plan before coming.
Before being hit by reality.
There were definitely no objects like the Sword Saint's sword or clues that could lead to them on the map he had explored in the original work over and over again.
Therefore, the method of elimination was the most effective.
Surely, the judgment that it was best to search areas that could not be accessed in-game first wasn't wrong.
However, there were a few facts he had overlooked.
'First, the area of Rhodes is much larger.'
If his memory was correct, 5 years later. In the original work, more than half of Rhodes is submerged.
In other words. The map was significantly different from the present, and even larger compared to the original work.
To begin with, Rhodes was a ruin, no different from a wasteland.
There were many broken places. Many places where people found it difficult to enter easily. Even just looking around, it was full of large rubble walls that were shaded and covered in bushes.
To search every corner of this?
Even an outstanding mage would need more than a few days.
He had roughly guessed that the search wouldn't be easy from the first time he saw Rhodes, but the barrier of reality was higher than expected.
Spec-up was indeed not an easy task.
'I need to make a new plan.'
That said, the situation was by no means desperate yet. There were still corners left to search.
There was still one place left on the ground. If it wasn't on the ground, he could search underground.
Rhodes, which was a submerged area in the original work, had its deep underground parts submerged in water, making exploration impossible. If the sword wasn't on the ground, it would be somewhere underground.
'Besides that, there's nothing else to gain.'
Although Rhodes was a farming stage in the original work. In fact, other than another Sword Saint's sword, there wasn't much that was valuable in the current situation.
After all, among the things that could be farmed here. There weren't many valuable items.
Usually, in farming stages, one could only obtain scrap metal of trash level that could be used as materials to enhance high-tier equipment obtained from gacha.
And that probably wouldn't be much different now that it had become reality. Collecting such items wouldn't be of much help.
Including Sirocco. It wasn't a necessary element for nurturing the follower families he would recruit in the future.
"..."
Thinking that far, Enoch suddenly realized that the Magical Beasts' roars from nearby, which had been heard behind him, had disappeared.
Sirocco's work was probably finished. Leaning against the ruin, he glanced over at her.
"Haaaam~."
Under the dazzling midday sun pouring down. Sirocco was yawning leisurely, slightly covering her mouth.
Beneath her slender bare feet, a pile of debris from what had been Truncatus just moments ago was scattered around like a disorderly mountain.
The Magical Beasts, whose appearance resembled inorganic matter, had all turned into black ash and were rising into the sky with a dry rustling sound.
Enoch smiled faintly without realizing it.
As expected, they must have been easy opponents for her. I thought dealing with the Truncatus herd would provide some combat experience. Perhaps it wasn't even enough to be noticeable for her.
Well.
When he first met her last time, she had dropped down in front of the leader without hesitation even when the Magical Beast Legion of Legypion was approaching.
"...Ah, you're here?"
As I walked towards her, perhaps she sensed my presence. Sirocco glanced over and looked at me.
"It seems there are still some Magical Beasts left around here."
"Still?"
"Heh. They kept coming whenever you detonated explosives. Even though I think I dealt with a lot, I can still feel their presence. There are probably many more around."
Sirocco tilted her head as she said that.
"This ruin site. There are more Magical Beasts here than around our village. To a somewhat strange degree."
"Yeah."
Enoch lightly agreed.
It was definitely a little strange. It wasn't his imagination. It was true that the number of Magical Beasts was quite high compared to the Rhodes in the original work.
Of course, now that it was reality, the current number of Magical Beasts couldn't be perfectly identical to the number that appeared in the original work 5 years later, but...
However, it was certain that their number was large enough to feel a sense of incongruity.
Although I didn't know the reason yet, it wasn't that rare for the number of naturally roaming Magical Beasts to increase.
"But it doesn't seem like you struggled at all."
"Yeah, of course. But it feels a bit strange."
"What is?"
Sirocco tilted her chin slightly and looked at me with a detached gaze.
"Heh, it's nothing much. I've mostly hunted Magical Beasts alone. So I guess it's not so bad having someone standing next to me when the battle is over."
"Then that's fortunate."
Sirocco, suddenly stroking her pointed wolf ears on her head, looked up at me as if worried.
"...But, the explosions were loud earlier. Are you okay? Even hearing it from the side, my ears hurt a lot. My ears are sensitive, you know."
"Well, as you can see."
Enoch nodded lightly. Although his whole body was still a bit sore, there were no major injuries.
But this was where the real task began.
Enoch slowly walked past Sirocco.
He would utilize the knowledge from the original work as much as possible. Even though this was a naturally sinking submerged area and the terrain was different from the original work.
'Because there's still knowledge I can use.'
An area filled with the rubble of a collapsed spire came into view before his eyes. Enoch's gaze narrowed slightly at that.
He had memorized the entire map after it was submerged. Therefore, all he needed to do was check the areas outside of that map.
And if his memory was correct. This was the only place in Rhodes he hadn't checked yet. It would be one of the areas that had sunk deep beneath the lake water in the original work.
Whatever was on the ground had to be here.
However, the area in front of this place was blocked by collapsed ruin debris. As it was, entry was impossible. Then there was only one way.
"Sirocco."
Sirocco, who looked up at me when I called her name from the side. Enoch turned his dark blue eyes towards her and said briefly.
"Here. Blow it all away."
"Heh, alright!"
As soon as the words were out of his mouth. She lightly leaped up in place and then launched a fierce spinning kick forward.
A dull, bone-crushing sound of impact. Immediately, rock chunks exploded and scattered in all directions from the ruin in front of them.
Kururururung.
Soon, the soaring fragments and dust in front of them subsided, and the area that had been hidden by the pile of rock debris was revealed.
A place clearly hidden from view.
Seeing that, Sirocco's eyes instantly widened.
"Ooh~ There's really something inside?"
Sirocco exclaimed and glanced at me.
"Heh, how about it. Did I do well?"
"Yes. You did well."
Perhaps surprised by the praise, Sirocco, who had glanced back, her neat eyes widened slightly. Then, she immediately smiled broadly, completely happy.
"Right? Who do you think I am! You can praise me more, you know."
"That can wait."
Judging by her tail wagging wildly behind her, praise seemed to be more effective than expected. Enoch said, looking forward with dark blue eyes.
"Because there's still work to be done."
It was a place he had never seen before now.
Enoch slowly stepped inside.
A ruin where green moss and lake water pouring from the walls harmonized. Enoch's gaze narrowed as he looked at the past heritage faded by time.
Under the dazzling golden sunlight of midday.
The ruins of the ruin site, half submerged in the quiet silence and the lake water. An old corridor forgotten by time was revealed.
Perhaps because human footsteps had ceased here for a long time, wild flowers and green weeds bloomed here and there in the cracked gaps of the walls and floor throughout the corridor.
And what came into view above that corridor was—
'Knights?'
Stone statues of knights clutching swords. They were lined up in a long row on both sides. Enoch went in and examined the surroundings more closely.
Inside the ruins of the fortress city, submerged up to its foundation.
Stone statues of knights, wearing helmets and clutching long greatswords with both hands, plunging them neatly downwards, stood in a solemn array.
The floor was shallowly submerged in the lake water, making their swords appear as if they were plunged into the water's surface. Below the clear water, their inverted figures were reflected quietly.
Above the fortress city on the lake. Knight statues.
Each of them had their heads fallen off, or arms severed. Some of their faded stone armor was covered with the leaves of green vines and moss.
However, even after the passage of time and losing parts of their bodies, their upright posture, clad in armor and gripping their swords, had never changed.
'Were these the knights who guarded this fortress city in the past?'
Enoch walked into the corridor for a moment, silently observing the knights with his dark blue eyes. His impression was somehow strange.
An era where knights in steel armor wielding swords lived.
On the other hand. Now, high-rise buildings full of glass form the skyline in urban areas. And cars run on asphalt roads in the modern Magic Empire.
It must have been a distant past, unimaginable now. Enoch turned around and walked past the knight statues.
A faint smile had already formed on his lips.
It wasn't that he was rich in artistic sensibility and was lost in contemplation. There was just one most important thing that could be inferred from those statues.
'Anyone can see it's related to the Sword Saint.'
Enoch's heart began to beat a little faster.
He hadn't found the Sword Saint's sword yet. But he was certain.
If Rhodes was indeed a place where knights who openly used swords like this had been, the probability of the next Sword Saint's sword being somewhere here was high.
Perhaps the Sword Saint he was about to acquire this time was even related to knights.
Just as Enoch, who had thought that, turned his head.
In the darkness of the air.
─A translucent line of light blue, like water, was shimmering and drawn in the air before him.
Enoch slightly turned his gaze and followed the line.
The place where the end of the light blue line led. It was indeed the underground of Rhodes, where Dionil's squad would be entering for the rescue operation.
He could see the passage of collapsed stairs leading there. A conviction flashed through his mind in an instant.
The location of another Sword Saint's sword.
It was the underground area of Rhodes right before his eyes.
And the very next moment that realization flashed through.
Kwooouuung—!
Again, a familiar explosive sound was heard, shaking the ground. Enoch immediately confirmed the source of the explosion.
The deep part of the Rhodes underground passage, where the line of mana led. Vibrations were emanating from there, shaking the surroundings.
Another explosion from underground.
And that place, according to the map Emma had drawn for him earlier, was towards where Dionil had gone for the underground rescue operation.
A premonition of dread ran down Enoch's spine for a moment. His legs had already pushed off the ground and were running.
Something was wrong.