Chapter 64. Demon Core (3)
Verden swiftly spread out his mana detection.
Immediately, countless lifeforms were sensed from all directions. Judging by their forms, they were all the same species of spider.
'How did they get this close?'
If they had approached to this degree, he should have noticed long ago.
At that moment, Lito scratched his head and said.
"The spiders here are a bit different. They're extremely skilled at concealing their presence. I've even been bitten a few times myself."
"Why are you telling me this only now?"
"It wouldn't be fun if I told you beforehand."
Hearing Lito speak so nonchalantly, Verden once again found himself at a loss for words.
Perhaps the advice Lito had given him earlier had been a lie, and this carefree side was his true self.
With a sigh inside, Verden drew up his magic power.
'They're swarming to an unpleasant degree.'
Hundreds of spiders with gray shells and black legs. Some of them were even larger than Verden himself. From the purple drool dripping from their mouths, they were evidently venomous.
Verden's mission was to guard Lito.
He wanted to at least place a protection necklace on him, just in case, but Lito's magic power likely wouldn't withstand it. If he fainted here, things would only get more troublesome.
'I'll have to finish this before they get close.'
Scorching heat spread outward in all directions.
Thin spiderwebs instantly went up in flames, and the smaller spiders were charred black on the spot. The larger ones thrashed wildly to shake off the fire clinging to their bodies.
In that brief opening, Verden concentrated.
From the jewel on his staff, where a vast amount of magic power had gathered, five streams of flame shot out in all directions. Overwhelmed by the blazing heat, the giant spiders that tried to rush him were swept away and turned to ash.
In contrast, the trees remained untouched.
"Oh, marvelous! Most of them are dead!"
Clap, clap, clap.
Lito applauded at his side. It was a bit annoying, but with this, the surrounding enemies were nearly all dealt with. At that moment, Verden sensed something above.
Grabbing Lito by the scruff of his neck, he leapt away.
Ssshhhhhhk!
Purple venom rained down from above, dissolving the ground. Lifting his head, Verden saw a vast spiderweb stretched across the sky, and at its center a colossal spider, as large as a house, writhed ominously.
Eight black eyes locked onto Verden and Lito. Perhaps enraged at the death of so many of its brood, its fury was evident.
"That's 'Araneid,' the master of Spider Forest. This is my first time seeing it so close. Be careful, Asher. The Adventurer's Guild rated its danger at a minimum of Platinum Rank."
"Leave it to me. Just stay quiet."
Silencing Lito, Verden fixed his gaze on Araneid.
From that earlier venom attack, it seemed adept at long-range hunting. With poison potent enough to melt the ground, even a touch—or merely inhaling the fumes—would be deadly.
Of course, the countermeasure was simple.
'Poison is opposed by fire.'
A wall of searing flame engulfed Araneid. It spat venom, but the attack was incinerated instantly. The creature leapt with agility ill-suited to its bulk, clinging to another web strand.
But such movements were already within Verden's calculations.
A spear of rock shattered a tree.
At the tremendous shock, the so-called master and hunter of Spider Forest was suddenly the one being hunted. Then, with a sudden shift in direction, Araneid lunged straight for Verden.
Crunch!
A massive blade of earth impaled the underside of its jaw. The venom sacs around its mouth ruptured, spilling poison. Lacking immunity to its own venom, Araneid writhed in agony. Had it possessed vocal cords, it would have been screaming.
The earth spear, strengthened by his magic tome. Behind it, compressed wind detonated in an instant.
The speed of the strike, cleaving through the air, was over twice the usual, and its piercing force as well.
Boom!
Too fast for Araneid to react, the giant belly burst apart as if exploding. The beast thrashed its legs desperately, but that was the end. With an irreversible wound, its limbs curled inward and its life ended.
Lito expressed pure admiration.
"To think the master of Spider Forest would die like this. No wonder Pale spoke so highly of you. That was quite a spectacle."
"Let's go."
"Wait, wait. We can't just leave Araneid's corpse behind. It's a shame the venom sac ruptured, but with those fangs I can extract venom potent enough to make a fine antidote. Give me a moment."
Lito harvested Araneid's venom.
"Mmm, excellent quality. Alright, let's move on."
***
After Araneid was subjugated, no spiders attacked Verden and Lito.
Though he kept his mana detection active, not a single intruder approached. Safely passing through Spider Forest, they emerged into a clean woodland free of webs.
"At last, we've made it here. Now… ah, that's right! If we go that way, we'll reach our destination."
Feeling the area safe at last, Lito strode boldly ahead.
'For his age, he has impressive stamina.'
Following him, they soon arrived at a vast clearing, strewn with toppled and broken stone pillars.
"…Ruins?"
"Ancient ruins. They're so remote that no one but me has ever set foot here. Now, look closely at the center."
Verden's eyes followed where Lito pointed.
Amidst the grass, a single flower glowed with a faint blue light.
"Rozenflower. Unlike the mana blossoms we commonly use, it contains magic power that is incomparably pure and dense. With just that, one can craft far higher-quality items simply by producing mana water in bulk."
It was truly a flower meant for alchemists.
Normally, before it could grow, it would either be eaten or lose its nutrients to other plants and die, which made its natural growth extremely difficult. In that sense, these ancient ruins were nothing less than a cradle for the Rozenflower.
"Watch that bird closely."
A bird landed on the ground.
It seemed to have been drawn by the magic power of the Rozenflower. The moment it hurriedly approached the ruins—
Crack!
A fragment of stone moved and struck the bird. The impact was so strong that nothing remained but blood and feathers.
At that sight, Verden's eyes widened.
"That… could it be a Golem?"
"A natural Golem, to be exact."
Golem.
A demi-human born by using an object infused with a high concentration of magic power as a core. Composed mainly of stone or metal, they had no reproductive process, and moved only to protect the core that served as their heart.
In ancient times, golems were often created and used as guards.
The technique had nearly been lost to history, though Verden remembered hearing that the Artison Magic Tower had recently succeeded in partially restoring it, creating small golems once again.
'But if that is a natural golem, then…'
"Don't tell me that Rozenflower is the core?"
"Correct."
Verden frowned.
"…From what I know, a golem cannot be killed without destroying its core."
"Correct again. But there's one other way to kill a golem. That is, by separating the core from its body!"
But no one knew how far it had to be separated.
Just as every human was different, every golem had its own nature.
"And if it chases us to the very end, what then?"
"That's why I brought you. There are many ways to deal with a golem. For example, you could carry that core and use flight to escape far away. Still, in the unlikely case it doesn't die even then… we'd have no choice but to destroy the Rozenflower."
Hmm, Verden thought.
Without destroying the core, the golem would regenerate endlessly no matter how many times it was smashed. Even Verden could not kill it directly.
'But there is a way.'
Far more feasible than fleeing with the core.
And this method was impossible for ordinary mages. Among the fourth tier, Verden could confidently say he was the only one capable of it.
"Understood. But let us do this according to my plan."
"Plan?"
***
While Lito harvested the Rozenflower, Verden drew the golem's attention.
That was the beginning.
Flying low, Verden dodged the golem's strikes. If he created too much distance, its vigilance would scatter and it would target Lito near the core.
Whoosh! The golem's arm swept past, stirring a fierce gust.
With sheer mass that could not be stopped by a mana barrier or telekinesis, a single direct hit meant death. Yet the golem's arm failed to graze even Verden's sleeve, his movements as if foreseeing the future.
Boom! A massive boulder struck the golem's flank, breaking apart its body.
Fragments of ruin scattered everywhere, only to gather again, drawn by the magic power of the core, regaining their original shape. With no such thing as stamina, destroying it was nothing more than buying time.
As Verden continued smashing the golem over and over to keep its focus, Lito shouted.
"It's done!"
He had successfully uprooted the Rozenflower, and as he had mentioned beforehand, he dashed off in the opposite direction. Sensing its core being taken away, the golem turned.
A spell struck from behind, shattering its legs. Multiple walls of earth rose up to block its path. Before long, the legs regenerated, and the golem smashed through the walls, resuming its pursuit of Lito.
Thud! Verden planted his staff firmly into the ground.
The land split open.
The enormous tremor threw the golem off balance. One of its legs slipped into a narrow fissure.
The ground had already been weakened to its limit.
Verden stretched both hands forward.
Magic power surged from his eyes like a flame.
Rrrrummmble…!
The earth moved. The ground beneath the golem split apart lengthwise, the gap slowly widening.
Below was a bottomless cliff. If it fell in, not even a golem could do anything. There was absolutely no way out.
Crackkk! In an instant, the fissure tore wide open. Losing its foothold, the golem was lifted into the air. It tried to seize the edge, but the soil crumbled under its weight.
The golem plunged into the darkness. A few seconds later, a heavy thud shook the ground, followed by vibrations. Verden then forced the earth to move again, sealing the fissure shut.
"Hoo…"
Sweat beaded on his chin, his breathing ragged.
Even by his standards, he had expended an enormous amount of magic power all at once, leaving him mentally and physically drained. It was a sensation similar to what he had felt in the cavern where the Wailing Knight had been.
Then, from a distance, Lito—who had been watching Verden's magic—approached.
With a look of utter disbelief, he said,
"You really are a madman."
"..."