Chapter 33: The Ancient Ruins

Author: Kurohitsuji
Raw: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n2086fk/34/
Translator: Lilia v4
Editor: Yuriko AYA

It’s a fairly famous story that at the Heroes’ and Demon King’s final battle, “God-Demon Annihilation” and the Demon King fought hard enough to change the terrain.
The earth split, the sky tore, and a new mountain range was born, they say.

Well, that’s the kind of story that Hero… or rather, Tsukasa, would do.
And that final battle was fought near Gernika’s old Demon King castle.
And not far from the old Demon King castle were the ruins I was aiming for.

Or rather, they were buried.

“Hey, Ring. There’s no entrance, is there?”
“—Searching… buried in earth. No other entry or exit hits.”
“For real.”

Well. If a fight on the level of a natural disaster happened nearby, a buried entrance isn’t strange.
One big sigh. Can’t be helped. I’ll do it.

I take a stance with the handgun-type devices. But what I’m using this time isn’t mana rounds. A big drill.

Kyuiiiiiin…!

A high sound, and I grind away at the ground.

○○○○○○○○

“—Ouka. Arriving at the entry-exit section.”
“Okay. We dug quite a bit.”

It’s already deep enough I couldn’t get to the surface alone.
Well, if I fly it’s no problem.
She said arriving, but… this smooth stone, maybe.
Pitch black, but lots of silver lines in it.

“—Analyzing… complete. Please touch that terminal.”
“Terminal? Ah, this round thing? Here we go.”

I touch a ball I don’t understand, and the wall in front of me goes gashon and slides sideways.
Uwah, amazing. It opens on its own.
I peek in and it’s surprisingly bright.
Looking close, geometric patterns, I guess? Angular patterns carved over the whole wall, and they seem to be glowing.

“Oh. Amazing. The door opened by itself.”
“—Map updated. Continuing analysis.”
“Thanks. Still, why’s this wall glowing? Convenient, though.”
“—It appears to be a material that emits light using ambient mana.”
“What is that, that’s super convenient.”

A small chip I might take home.
Shall I try shaving it with the drill.
…Ah, no good. Super hard. Won’t dig at all.
Can’t be helped. I’ll give up and go in.

It’s surprisingly, you know. Not even moldy, and the air seems to be circulating properly.
That’s magic handling that too, maybe. Ancient ruins are amazing.

…Come to think of it, why is the ancient-ruins tech more developed than now.
I took it as just how it is, but if you think about it it’s strange.

“—Warning: mana reading. Ahead, one skeleton.”
“Eh. There’s a monster in buried ruins… Ring.”
“—Sakura-Drive Ready.”

“Ignition”

In the dim light, pale sakura-pink rises.
I check the map: a red point right nearby. One.
But I don’t let my guard down. I run with everything I have.

“All right. Shall we dance.”

I smash a gun butt in as we meet. But the surprise hit is taken on a sword.
This thing’s strong for being bones.
I use the force it’s pushing with to spin, put centrifugal force on it, and smash a gun butt from the other side.
I bat the sword away, then a piercing kick.
I put one in the head where it flies.
The skull bursts, and the body turns to dust and fades.

Nn? Something feels off.
Has the mana rounds’ power gone up?

I try firing ahead.
Sparks scatter in a big way on the wall in the back.

“Ring, the power’s gone up. Did you do something?”
“—Confirmed. I apologize.
—I believe the cause is the limited release of the limiters the other day.
—With the increase in power, effective range has widened, and the mana used has increased as well.”
“You don’t have to apologize, but about how many meters can it go?”
“—Approximately one hundred meters, but if you increase the mana, maximum range and power increase.”
“Five times all at once, huh. I mean, it goes even further.”

Until now it was about twenty meters. Farther than that and it sometimes wouldn’t punch through, but the range jumped all of a sudden.

“—Also, usage restrictions on expansion functions have been lifted.
—Additional install of combat records, and selection of read-priority, are now possible.
—Additionally, the control AIs of both Cocytus and Inferno have sen—”
“Wait. Don’t dump a pile of nonsense at once. I don’t get any of it.”

There’s the mystery language again. It’s been a while.
Still makes no sense.

“—Apology: I’m sorry.”
“Anyway, I get that the power went up. If there’s other useful stuff I’ll leave it to you. Tell me later when we have time.”
“—Understood: beginning download of necessary portions at my own discretion.”

I don’t really understand, but being able to attack from far away is something to be grateful for.
I’d basically be out of the fight if I take one hit.
I can’t even use the physical enhancement ordinary kids use naturally.
I want to avoid danger as much as I can.

“—Ouka. Mana reading ahead. Three skeletons.”
“Perfect. Shall we try.”

Distance to the targets, about thirty meters.
I cycle a little more mana than usual and fire.
The sakura-pink round punches through a head from long range, clean.

Ooh. Feels good.
I continue, second one, through the head the same way.
Hmm. What happens if I put in the maximum mana.
Shall I try a bit.

I run the mana flowing through my body into the handguns to the limit and pull the trigger lightly.
In that instant. A pale-crimson ray flashes, and it punches through the skeleton and the ruin wall together.

…I see?

“Oi, wait. The ruin walls were super hard, right?”
“—Affirmative: power sufficient to punch through a shield of magic silver, most likely.”
“…Shall we practice somewhere with nobody around.”
“—Recommended. No hostile readings in the vicinity.”
“Copy.”

I seat the handguns in the holster. The sakura-pink fades, and the corridor is only the wall’s dim light again.

…I mean, will I get yelled at for putting a hole in the ruins.
Well, they were buried, so it’s probably fine.
Either way, I get that this isn’t something I can use casually. Too dangerous.

“Anyway. Do you know the destination?”
“—Searching… displaying on the map.”
“Oh, thanks. Looks pretty close.”

The place I’m aiming for doesn’t seem that far.
Anyway, first, to the destination.

Handling of dangerous goods, we’ll think about another day.