Chapter 35: It becomes small!
Raining flesh.
The exploded giant flesh scattered all over the place.
Ew, disgusting.
I use my nose to locate the magic stone.
Got it.
It’s a blue octahedron crystal.
This must be its core.
Looking carefully, there are several more scattered around.
『Tres, Pururu, please help me collect them.』
「Okay.」
「Puruu.」
As I recall, we had to crush these cores, right?
We found twelve of them.
……..One is missing.
The description mentioned that there were 13 in total.
But no matter where I looked, I couldn’t find another one.
Still, let’s crush them.
No, wait a minute………
『………..』
Sullenly looking at the magic stones, I put one of them inside my mouth.
Crunch.
Munch, Munch……….!!!!
Bad! What the hell is this? It’s disgusting!
I immediately spat it out.
Wow, this is the nastiest magic stone I ever taste.
I regret tasting it.
Yeah, let’s crush them.
CRUSH!!!!
They easily shattered.
The only thing I did today was break the magic stones.
A simple job thanks to the hard work of my subordinates.
I’m going to look around for a while.
The giant will not appear again, is it?
Wouldn’t it be still alive? There’s one more stone we haven’t found.
As I was wondering so, I felt an unknown presence from behind.
「Guhahahaha, I never thought a human and a slime could destroy me.」
I heard a voice.
It’s an austere, dandy uncle’s voice.
I turned to that direction.
There’s a same giant from before.
It’s the giant….
But the size….
「You’re small.」
「Puruu.」
Tres and Pururu also look at it.
Yes, the giant in front of me looks the same, but far smaller.
It’s not even half its original size.
It’s no longer a giant, but the size of a normal human being.
The giant stares at me.
Then it slowly opened its mouth.
「Hmph. You crushed my core, didn’t you?」
Oh, you can talk.
I’m a little surprised.
「He spoke.」
「Puruu.」
Tres and Pururu were also the same.
Their surprised expressions are cute.
Lovely.
「I can’t speak in my previous form, so that can’t be helped.」
「Are you going to fight us again?」
「Pururuu!!」
Tres and Pururu prepared themselves.
「Loosen up. It’s my lost. I won’t fight you no more.」
The old man, a former giant, raises his six arms in a surrender pose.
The old man comes up to us and sits down with a flop.
Tres and Pururu were wary, but it didn’t seem to me he’s interested in fighting anymore.
He used his hands to urge us to sit down.
For now, the four of us sat in a circle.
Only my size is a little big, though, so I’m the only one who sticks out a little.
「But really, you really got me there. I thought I had to be wary of the earth dragon the most because of its magical power. I didn’t realize the two of you are powerful too. Has my intuition become dulled after 200 years? I don’t want to grow old.」
『You’re a golem, right? You don’t age.』
I sent a telepathic message to the old man.
Then he looked surprised.
「You don’t know, do you? Golem wears out too, ya know? Well, not like a human does. We deteriorated with age, to be precise. Jiryuu, you can talk? You’re less of a monster than I thought.」
I don’t want to be called a monster by a giant with six arms.
Look, you can talk too.
Wait, does that mean being able to do so isn’t normal?
Also, for golem, age is a leased product…
「To prevent degradation, Miss Elibel, who is my creator by the way, has increased my magic stones and their circulation channels. If damaged, it will swap with a new one while repairs the old one. Except that it is still isn’t perfect.」
『So, that wasn’t your full potential?』
「Yeah, it’s only about 5% of the original. I’m only as strong as a General-class monster now.」
You’re telling me that is 5%…..
Same as a General-class monster.
But I already knew.
At first, I couldn’t tell because of its appearance and fear, but when I cooled down and sensed the magical power, it wasn’t as much as the amount written in the description.
Perhaps Tres and Pururu had noticed it from the beginning.
That the giant in front of them was not that much of a threat.
That’s why they headed towards it with no hesitation like that.
Thinking about it now, when Tres went outside, she avoided fighting when she sensed the magic of the King-class, Accurate Crow.
The reason she didn’t hesitate to face the giant, a disaster-designated species, this time is because she knew it’s weaker.
They’re so good at it, I’m ashamed of doing nothing.
「Mister, you’re really strong.」
「Purururu.」
「I guess so. Haaa…. but I’m glad I could fight one last battle before it ended. For the past 220 years since I was born, I’ve been expanding dungeons at the behest of her, but until now, no one has made it this far. I couldn’t do much maintenance on myself, and if I could, I could have fought better…」
The old man shakes his head ruefully.
Please don’t.
It wouldn’t turn out like this if you have your original strength.
And then, after looking down for a while, he looked at me as if he had decided.
「Now, finish me.」
『Eh?』
「Hee?」
「Puu?」
It baffled us.
「Why are you surprised? I am the last guardian of this dungeon. You must defeat me to reach the sacred place. Don’t worry about me. I’m happy that I can fight for her till the very end. Now, come.」
The old man looked satisfied as he sticks out his neck to me.
「I have thirteen cores. Twelve of them were inside my previous form, and the last one is inside me. Now I am even weaker than before. You should be able to destroy me easily.」
With that said, he sticks out his neck.
You see…
How should I say…
First, we didn’t conquer the dungeon.
But the old man has a full and refreshing expression on his face.
「Elibel, this Berg will go now…. Sorry for making you wait for so long.」
Look! Don’t say that!
You’re making this difficult for me.
『……..Mister, wait. Don’t be surprised, but we didn’t start from the dungeon, okay?』
「Huh! What nonsense are you talking about? If you didn’t come through the dungeon, how did you get to this- wait. You came from behind me, didn’t you? No way….」
Apparently, the old man noticed it too.
Good guess.
「Yeah, we’re here from the ruins.」
「WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATT??!!!」
The old man had a surprised expression on his face.
The reaction was amazing.
Mine was inappropriate.
After that, I told him the whole situation.
I made a dungeon on the ruins.
I was digging from there and accidentally entered the site.
That’s where I got all Elibel’s knowledge and research materials.
And I also told him her genuine feeling.
It was quite a long story, but the old man listened to me in silence.
After that, he said a few words.
「I see….」
Is what he said.
He must have something on his mind.
His expression looked much more tired.
Silence reigned in the hall.
No one raised their voice.
The atmosphere that the old man produced was ever so lonely.
How long had passed?
Slowly, the old man opened his mouth.
「I never thought what you said would come true, Miss Elibel. I’m just amazed by what I’ve seen today.」
『What did Elibel said?』
I ask him a question.
At that moment, the old man’s eyes widened.
「How dare you say her name like that!」
Scary!
『I’m sorry!』
I put my head down.
I couldn’t resist somehow.
「No, it’s fine. Forgive me for being rude. You need not do that. I remember now. I remember what she said…」
『So, what did Eli- Miss Elibel said?』
「Sigh, you need not call her that. You have the right not to do so. Anyhow, this is what she told me after the dungeon is complete, 」
Berg pauses for a moment.
「”If anyone is going to get my inheritance, it will be unexpectedly. For example, something like skipping the dungeon.”」
Who on earth can do that?
Ah, wait. That’s me.
I didn’t even try the dungeon, I just stumbled upon the ruins.
And I got the core of this dungeon from there.
But did I conquer it?
And what about the person who made it?
It’s like your work being unappreciated.
A super-difficult dungeon with 88 floors.
Didn’t it take a hell of a lot of time, money, and equipment to do so?
I made my own dungeons for free, though. Mainly for food.
「Fufu, when I heard that, I had the same expression as you.… However, when you look at it now, Elibel might have expected this, or perhaps she was expecting it. She loved irregularities more than anything else.」
Wow, what a personality.
Is she a masochist? It didn’t fit her at all.
But that will not stop me.
After everything we’ve done.
「What a weird person.」
「Puu.」
Tres and Pururu seem to agree.
「Haha, I agree! There’s no other weirdo more eccentric than her during those days! She even admitted it herself! Hahahahaha!」
The old man slaps his knees and laughs.
Is this alright?
「Haa, talking like this really takes me back. She has quite a few loose screws. Hey, you must have seen that footage when you arrived at the ruins, right?」
『Footage?』
「You know, that footage. The one where Miss Elibel screams, “Mic test, mic test”! Only she’s weird enough to leave such footage for future generations! Hahahaha!」
Then the old man laughed again.
Oh, I just remembered.
That footage.
As I recall―――
『Aaa~ Aaa~ Mic test, mic test…… Eh? You’re recording already? Ah, hold a mo! That doesn’t count! Redo! Redo! I didn’t have my makeup on yet! Can we do-over? ―――― A, wait a minute, Berg! You laugh just now, didn’t you! You bastard! 』
『Jeez, I haven’t put on my makeup yet…. Wait a minute, Berg! What do you mean we can’t redo?!』
I remember it well because it was an incredibly disappointing video, even if she’s a beauty.
The person who was filming was yelled quite a few times too….. hm?
『Berg! You just laughed at me!』
『Hey, Berg! What did you do just now――』
『Elibel, this Berg will go now―――』
Oh.
Then I realized.
「That person, it was you?」
So, the old man chuckled.
He finally realized, or so he seemed to say.
「That’s right. I am Miss Elibel’s first kin, and the last to remain. I am Berg Löwenherz the Tyrant Golem.」
The old man chuckled.
………That smile was strangely awkward.
Hmm, what should I do, it’s hard for me to tell him now……..
The thing I want to get in this dungeon.
I’m sure he’ll be mad at me….
The purpose of my visit to this dungeon which is to obtain the “Spine of the Earth Dragon”.
Materials from different parts of me, or rather, the earth dragon has a different effect.
And the spine can cancel all kinds of magic and sorcery.
That effect is the highest level.
But I can’t use my own spine.
I can never find it myself.
That’s why I came to Elibel’s dungeon.
And I’ll use it to release the spell used on her.
The bones in that little room.
The anti-immortalization spell on Elibel’s remains.
That’s right… My goal is to revive Elibel the Sage.