Chapter 51
Snap-.
Franz snapped his fingers, and a shining sphere floated gently up into the air.
Then the inside of the cave brightened, and his vision took in his surroundings.
'It’s incredibly huge.'
The cave’s interior was wider than he had imagined.
To the point that the entrance, which he had thought was quite wide, felt like just the tip of the iceberg.
Drip-.
A water droplet formed at the end of a long, hanging stalactite before falling to the floor.
It was certainly an incredibly ordinary sound, yet it gave off a strangely dreary feeling.
In the first place, humans are creatures greatly influenced by atmosphere.
Just as if a red meat pie appears in a horror movie, one suspects, “Could that be made of humans?”, but if the same meat pie appears in a romance movie, one suspects, “Is there a ring hidden inside?”.
Even so, even if one was a mage, one couldn’t help but feel fear…
Grrrrrr-.
…Isn’t this just blatantly set up to be scary?
At the bizarre sound coming from deep within the cave, Franz gulped.
However, Yuna seemed to be feeling a slightly different emotion.
“Could it be a bear?!”
Yuna’s eyes sparkled like a kindergartener on a picnic.
Because she took an interest in bears, she probably mistook the cave for something like a zoo…
“Bear meat is delicious…”
Was it not a zoo, but a butcher shop?
A kindergartener smiling brightly at a butcher shop might be a bit scary in its own right.
Anyway, it was truly fascinating every time he saw Yuna like this.
It felt like she had a screw loose in her brain.
“So Franz, do you feel anything?”
“Well…”
Franz was currently experiencing considerable confusion.
He had intended to search the cave’s interior with mana detection, but because the demonic energy inside was too thick, his mana couldn’t reach far.
What on earth should he call this feeling?
It was exactly like having 100 humidifiers turned on to the maximum in a room.
Still, it wasn’t like there was no method at all.
Franz began to emit pure mana from his body at maximum output.
It was an incredibly inefficient task, so he hadn’t really wanted to do it, but since the situation was like this, it couldn’t be helped.
The demonic energy that had filled the cave’s interior met Franz’s pure mana, and its concentration gradually grew thinner.
If those who could sense mana saw this sight right now, they might have offered a prayer in awe.
What Franz was doing was just that amazing.
Of course, to Yuna, who couldn’t sense mana, it was just this:
“Huh? It got really refreshing somehow?”
It seemed she just felt like the air had become refreshing.
Probably most ordinary people would have taken it like that, so he decided not to pay it much mind.
Eventually, once the demonic energy within the cave calmed down to some extent, Franz resumed his mana detection once again.
As if an ultrasound was being shot, a mana wave extended along the cave.
And that information was transmitted to Franz’s head.
From the uneven outer walls, to the long hanging stalactites, to the puddles of water here and there.
As the map of the cave’s interior was drawn in his head in real time, Franz exclaimed inwardly in admiration.
'It’s incredibly huge.'
It was almost like looking at a house built by ants.
It was amazing that it hadn’t collapsed despite having so much space.
But because of that, a fierce battle seemed difficult.
Because they literally didn’t know when it might collapse.
If Yuna made up her mind and swung her sword, probably…
“Then the mountain would be cut away.”
If it were Yuna, she could definitely just open the lid of this anthill.
For now, it would be better to leave that as a last resort and just deal with the cultist efficiently.
At that moment, something was discovered on Franz’s radar.
At various points within the anthill-like cave, something was huddled together.
“What is this…?”
There was no way to explain what those guys were.
First of all, due to the strong demonic energy felt from them, it was certain they were monsters, but their appearance was far too bizarre to just be called monsters.
Chimeras?
Right, calling them chimeras would work.
The sight of various animals tangled together was exactly that.
The problem was that humans were also included among those animals.
It seemed the cultist had caused quite a massive incident.
Hmm-.
After Franz pondered, the conclusion he reached was,
“Yuna, let’s go outside.”
He had earmarked that method as a last resort.
The cave was wide, but not to the extent that they could fight comfortably. On top of that, finding and killing those guys one by one was a chore in itself, so rather than doing that, it was better to just eliminate them in one shot.
In exchange, the mountain would be carved away, but…
Wouldn’t the surveyors who make maps take care of that?
Indeed, they definitely would.
“Huh? Go outside? What about the cultist?”
Yuna tilted her head and asked, as if puzzled.
“Let’s just slice them up along with the mountain. Looking inside, there are an endless number of annoying creatures.”
“Is that okay?”
“Yeah, I’ll take care of the aftermath, so you just slice.”
“Alright, if you tell me to do it, I should.”
Is that the right answer…?
At Yuna’s words, Franz felt an ominous foreboding.
Because it was something Hera, the self-proclaimed slave, would say.
But there was no way Yuna, who had a family, would say she wanted to become a slave, so it was definitely just his imagination.
No, it had to be his imagination.
Just the elf alone was overwhelming, but if the hero joined in too, he would rather hide somewhere.
Eventually, Franz and Yuna slipped out of the cave.
“Yuna, when I give the signal, slash here at about this height with all your might.”
Franz considered the elevation of the cave and the surrounding topographical features to find the optimal height and angle, and marked it on a rock for her.
He might not know about other things, but Yuna’s sword alone was trustworthy enough, so there probably wouldn’t be any particular problems.
“Okay, I’ll be waiting.”
Fortunately, Yuna nodded and answered, having seemingly understood well.
Following that, as Franz snapped his fingers, dozens of magic Circles floated around the Rocky Mountain.
It was to dispose of the debris easily after Yuna slashed the mountain.
With all preparations finished, they only needed to start.
“Yuna, let’s go.”
Franz’s signal fell.
Step.
Yuna, holding the holy sword in her hand, took a step forward.
Immediately after, an immense aura began to emanate from her body.
The sight of a golden haze seemingly wrapping around her and the sword was truly marvelous.
“Huuup-!”
Yuna thrust her sword horizontally.
At that moment, the world stopped.
The drifting clouds, the swaying leaves, all ceased their movements in an instant.
A thin solid line was drawn across the world where silence flowed.
A single sword strike cut away the mountain, the sky, and the world.
The power of a hero was this overwhelming.
Eventually, the stopped time began to flow once again, and along the trajectory the sword had taken, the mountain was split into two chunks.
Franz snapped his fingers, matching that.
Then, the dozens of magic Circles that had been floating in the air began to activate simultaneously.
Rattle-rattle-rattle-.
Iron chains shot out from the magic Circles and connected to the mountain, and soon after, the upper half of the mountain that Yuna had cut off floated into the air.
One more time, from there.
Snap-.
As Franz snapped his fingers, additional magic was triggered, and the size of the massive mountain began to gradually shrink.
It was the magic he had used when he rescued Yusti-ah from monsters in the past.
Creating a barrier, and then applying matter erasure magic to the space inside that barrier.
Only, its scale had grown tremendously large.
This was truly the essence of magic that could not be explained by modern science, turning existence into complete nothingness without leaving even a molecule behind.
Eventually, the mountain that had been gradually shrinking completely vanished without a trace.
Now, all that was left was to check the interior of the horizontally split cave.
Most of the monsters would have died just now from that single strike, but if any happened to survive and head to civilian houses, it would be an absolute disaster.
So even if it was a bit bothersome, it was better to check.
“Franz, is it all over now?”
It was the moment Yuna asked that.
As if it were a cliché, from somewhere a voice was heard.
“M-My lair…!”
From the deepest part of the cave, a place that wasn’t even a cave anymore since it was split in half, a voice was ringing out.
At that, Franz and Yuna’s gazes naturally turned toward the source.
There stood a small girl who looked to be about Yuna’s height.
If there was one slightly concerning point, it would be that her head and torso were separated.
Since I had already experienced it once at the World Tree, it wasn’t particularly surprising.
Rather, it felt a bit cliché.
Was there perhaps no other repertoire?
It was when Franz was thinking that.
Tentacles emerged from the cleanly severed cross-section of her neck and connected to her head.
…This is a bit new, though.
Anyway, why are cultists coming out equipped with immortality like a basic passive these days?
For the first time in a while, he became aware that this world was inside a game.
As it headed toward the latter half, the developers' ideas must have dwindled, so they probably just made them blindly strong for now.
Well, seeing as she came out bearing the tremendous title of the Seven Great Evils, he understood, but still.
“Franz, could she be…”
“Yeah, she’s probably the cultist.”
As Franz gave a definite answer, the haze began to waver from Yuna’s body once again.
He felt a bit sorry for the surveyors, but perhaps the mountain might turn into a hill.