Chapter 26 - 026_Bermuda
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Title: Even though they look down on me for being a spider user, I'm strong even without using spiders?
URL: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n0973hk/
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026_Bermuda
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Rodney and his group, who decided to explore a labyrinth in the royal family's direct territory, moved from the capital to an inn in a mid-sized city called Merudabaru. It is a city about seven days by carriage from the capital.
This Merudabaru has a labyrinth called the Sea King Labyrinth. Much of the field is sea, and many of the Selvanui that appear are those that can move in water.
The domain soldiers they brought to the capital were elite, so there was no concern about their fighting strength. However, since they brought ten soldiers, two could not explore the labyrinth. Therefore, they set up a rotation of two soldiers at a time.
This time, there were three spear users, three who used sword and shield, three greatsword users including Yulin, and Rodney who used a single-edged sword, making a total of ten.
Since the Sea King Labyrinth is a sea field, it has not been explored. When it comes to combat in the sea, humans cannot beat the Selvanui. So, the knight order merely guards the entrance.
When they showed the king's royal permit to those knights, they received a salute.
"Lord Forbus, are you also targeting 'Healing'?"
"That is my intention."
From the Life Light Stones of the Selvanui in this Sea King Labyrinth, the fundamental force called 'Healing' can be obtained. Since it is a fundamental force literally as the name implies, many people including knights desire it, but the sea field interferes, making it quite difficult.
The knights let Rodney and the others, who challenged such a labyrinth, through, thinking they would likely come running back.
As they entered the labyrinth, there was a sandy beach about five rum (ten meters) wide, with the sea beyond it. The waves washing onto that sandy beach were considerably calmer compared to the sea of Dedel Territory.
For Rodney and the others who knew the sea of Dedel Territory, such a calm sea was something they wouldn't even see in summer.
However, ferocious Selvanui dwelled in this calm sea. They steeled themselves that it was a sea that invited death.
From the sandy beach, a stone path about one rum wide continued. Occasionally, waves crossed over the stone path to the other side. Because of this, the stone path was wet and slippery.
As they walked a little along the narrow stone path, the sea swelled up. The three holding shields deftly raised their shields.
What emerged from the sea was a Selvanui called a shark-man, which felt like a shark with arms and legs.
"So because it's a shark, it can move in water, and because it has limbs, it can also come up onto land. What a strange fellow."
"Lord Rodney, it's coming this way."
The shark-man deliberately came up onto the stone path. On the path, it was barely different from the Selvanui they had fought so far—rather, the shark-man couldn't make use of its strengths, giving Rodney's group the advantage.
"Be careful not just of its sharp fangs, but also of the water it spits from its mouth."
At Rodney's instruction, the three holding red true steel shields closed in on the shark-man. Since the stone path was narrow, when the three lined up, they completely blocked it.
When the shark-man opened its mouth, the three stopped and firmly lowered their hips. Water was released. A considerable volume. Sage, positioned in the center, received it with his shield.
Sage's feet slipped and he was pushed back, but Sage withstood that water discharge. For the domain soldiers of Dedel Territory, who trained running on sandy beaches in summer and on ice in winter, this stone path was easy to move on. If they were to slip from this much, they couldn't even do combat training on ice.
While the shark-man was discharging water at Sage, the other two closed in on the shark-man and attacked with their swords. The shark-man tried to bite the soldiers with its sharp fangs, but it couldn't penetrate the red true steel shields.
"Good, pierce it with the spears!"
"Ooh!"
From behind the shield-bearers, they thrust their spears through the gaps.
Under the attacks of swords and spears, the shark-man's movements worsened in an instant, and Keldo's spear dealt the finishing blow, ending its life.
"Since they deliberately come up onto the path, we had no trouble at all... Next, we'll go with brute force using fundamental forces."
Since this was their first time in the Sea King Labyrinth, they intended to try various fighting methods. They planned to think about the optimal tactics from among them.
The next shark-man's battle ended in an instant thanks to Yulin's 'High Heat Flame Bullet.' The shark-man, with a large hole in its torso, turned to dust and vanished without being able to do anything.
"Since it's a sea Selvanui, I thought the effect of 'High Heat Flame Bullet' might be diminished, but it's no problem. Next, have everyone try a volley of 'Fireball.'"
In the next battle, as Rodney instructed, a volley of 'Fireball' was carried out by five domain soldiers.
Since even with different colors, only one type of fundamental force can be obtained from a Lulmil Life Light Stone, many soldiers know 'Fireball.' This time as well, of the eight soldiers, five knew 'Fireball.'
That volley damaged the shark-man, but did not defeat it. They fired another five 'Fireballs,' but it still didn't fall, so Rodney had no choice but to cut it down. As expected, fire attribute attacks seem to be less effective against shark-men.
"Next, there's one 'Earth Bullet' and two 'Wind Sphere'—no, Yulin also has 'Wind Sphere.' This time, have the four of you attack."
Next, a volley of 'Earth Bullet' and 'Wind Sphere' was carried out. Surprisingly, the shark-man fell after six shots.
"So, it turns out that while 'Fireball' is less effective against water-type Selvanui, other attributes work reasonably well."
Rodney advanced while trying various things. The shark-men weren't very strong. No, they were weak for Dedel Territory's domain soldiers, but generally they were strong. After all, they were Selvanui that dropped intermediate Life Light Stones.
As they advanced further, the width of the path didn't change, but the stone path changed to a rocky path. It seemed the real deal started here. The rocky path, full of bumps and difficult to walk on, was far harder to traverse than the stone path.
"Selvanui!"
The sea right next to the rocky area swelled up, and what emerged was a shark-man. The moment it showed its face, it discharged water. The water rushed at Rodney and the others. The shield defense didn't look like it would be in time.
"Vanish!"
With that single word from Rodney, the approaching water vanished. This was a defense activated by 'Mist Disperse.'
While the soldiers were frozen in surprise, Rodney instructed Yulin to fire 'High Heat Flame Bullet.'
"'High Heat Flame Bullet'!"
The shark-man had its head blown off and turned to dust, disappearing.
That was close, so they can discharge water suddenly too. From now on, I'll have to keep that in mind and respond accordingly.
"Didn't the water just vanish?"
"That's a fundamental force I have called 'Mist Disperse.' It's my trump card, so you must not tell anyone."
Rodney answered Keldo's question and issued a gag order, but he thought that even if someone found out, 'Mist Disperse' wasn't the kind of fundamental force that could be countered.
"Well, even with attacks from within the sea, there's no problem as long as I and Yulin have 'High Heat Flame Bullet.' But it's unacceptable when the Life Light Stones fall into the sea. What do you think we should do?"
The sea was quite deep, making it difficult to retrieve Life Light Stones that fell in. If they dropped one, that was the end.
"Unfortunately, I don't think there's any effective countermeasure for now. If I had to say, perhaps waiting for them to come up onto the path?"
Yulin answered, but there was no good idea.
"It can't be helped. For shark-men that don't seem likely to come up, I and Yulin will defeat them even in the sea. It would be foolish to get injured just because of that."
They advanced further with that policy. Roughly half of the shark-men came up onto the path. Half of the Life Light Stones fell into the sea.
An island came into view ahead. As they proceeded toward that island, a snake-like Selvanui appeared. Its body was covered with fine white scales, and it was five rum in length.
"There it is, a Bermuda."
This snake-like Bermuda was the Selvanui they were targeting this time. From a Bermuda's Life Light Stone, 'Healing' can be obtained. It is a fundamental force that heals one's own or others' wounds, but since defeating a Bermuda requires considerable effort, few people possess 'Healing.'
"Bring out the harpoon!"
According to records, Bermuda does not come up onto the path. Therefore, they needed to forcibly pull it onto the path by harpooning it.
Keldo brought out the harpoon he had been carrying. The harpoon had a rope attached; the plan was to pierce the Bermuda with this harpoon and pull it in.
Rodney received the harpoon from Keldo, readied it, and took aim. He activated 'Monster Arm,' and further layered 'Enhance' and 'Augment' on top of it.
The reason for further strengthening the upper-level fundamental force 'Monster Arm' with 'Enhance' and 'Augment' was because Bermuda's scales were extremely hard. According to one theory, they could even repel upper-level fundamental force attacks.
Rodney focused his mind so as not to lose sight of the Bermuda moving freely in the sea in all directions.
The moment the Bermuda leaped out of the sea surface, Rodney threw the harpoon. The harpoon flew at overwhelming speed and pierced the scales slightly behind the Bermuda's head. The rope played out as the Bermuda thrashed.
"Good, pull!"
"Ooh!"
The Bermuda, with the harpoon's barb caught in its skin or scales, was pulled by the three soldiers who possessed 'Steel Arm.' However, the Bermuda, not willing to be easily dragged in, thrashed about, jumping on the sea surface and diving deep.
"Put your backs into it! Show the results of your daily training!"
"Hup! Hup! Hup! Hup! Hup!"
Zados, Geraldo, and Zodofus sweated on their foreheads as they matched strength with the Bermuda. Because the rocky path was narrow, only three could pull the rope, but they were top-tier strongmen even in Dedel Territory.
The thrashing Bermuda repeatedly pulled the rope back in, but the three clenched their teeth and pulled the rope.
Around the time a quarter bell (30 minutes) had passed, the Bermuda's resistance weakened. The three were also quite tired, but feeling this was the decisive moment, they pulled the rope all at once.
The Bermuda, dragged up onto the path, still resisted. It raised its scales like gravel to shoot them out.
If this attack was used from underwater, it would cover a wide range and cause great damage. It was one of the reasons Bermuda subjugation did not progress.
"Vanish!"
When Rodney activated 'Mist Disperse,' the raised scales returned to normal. Seizing that opening, Yulin slashed with his greatsword.
A metallic screech sounded, and Yulin's greatsword was blocked by the Bermuda's hard scales. Rodney was impressed that the scales could indeed repel upper-level fundamental forces.
This hardness of the scales was the second reason Bermuda subjugation did not progress.
Yulin sensed the Bermuda's movement to coil around him and leaped back, and Rodney sprang in.
Rodney's White True Steel Sword sank into the Bermuda's head.
"Wooaahh!"
With more force, the Bermuda's head was cleanly severed in two.
Upon seeing that sight, Zados, Geraldo, and Zodofus sat down on the spot from exhaustion.
"Drink water and lick some salt. After a short rest, we'll head back."
Rodney handed the leather bags of water to the three and gave them salt.
"Lord Rodney. The Bermuda's hide has fallen here."
The Bermuda left behind a hide with beautiful white scales. Sage picked up that hide and the Life Light Stone, and handed them to Rodney.
"This hide looks like it could be used for armor."
"Since it has Bermuda scales, it should make good leather armor, shouldn't it?"
Yulin said they should make Rodney's leather armor from it.
While they gave red true steel equipment to their attendants and domain soldiers, Rodney still used cheap leather armor. The armor that should have been made first for Rodney was being put off the most.
After leaving the Sea King Labyrinth, Rodney reported the subjugation results to the knights. It was their duty to report how many Selvanui they had defeated and how many Life Light Stones and items they had brought back.
"So you have subjugated a Bermuda. And you even brought back its hide. Congratulations."
Thus addressed by the knight, he replied that he was lucky.
However, they had only subjugated a single Bermuda, and the probability of obtaining 'Healing' from its Life Light Stone was considered extremely low.
The knights sent that report to the capital, and the capital also concluded that Rodney likely would not obtain 'Healing.'
Meanwhile, the Bermuda hide was very rare and extremely durable, so they tried to negotiate a purchase, but Rodney and the others had already returned to Dedel Territory.
Rodney returned to the capital, then to Bassam on the Hacklehoff Trading Company's ship, and from Bassam traveled overland back to Dedel Territory.
By that time, winter had already ended, and all the domain soldiers' red true steel equipment was prepared.
And then, the annual labyrinth opening ceremony was held, and the domain soldiers' labyrinth exploration began anew.
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