Chapter 38: Proof

During the few days I spent in Normans, I gathered as much information as I could.

In particular, while collecting things related to Acedia, I discovered some strange things.

Steel golems that shoot magic bullets at over 20 per second.

Bullets that explode in all directions with a flash of light.

Magic stones that float in the air and explode.

They were all familiar technologies.

The most striking of them all were the mechanical golems that used very unique things.

Many adventurers were said to have been killed by the mechanical golems without being able to use their strength properly, and they were all things I knew very well.

“Why are Mammon’s toys here?”

Mammon’s things were killing adventurers.

Toys that looked like they were for children to play with, but inside, there were dozens of rotating saw blades sticking out, and such murderous weapons.

Human adventurers were being attacked by strange beings that used Mammon’s technology.

“Why are they using Mammon’s technology? What is Mammon’s technology? It’s magic engineering.

A technology that combines alchemy and magic, the representative weapon is the gun used by the village chief of the Holy Sword Village.

An object that allows anyone to easily use magical power.

The fact that it is mainly used as a weapon shows us the true nature of humans, but it is true that the magical engineering technology has been helpful to both the human world and the demon world.

In other words, magical engineering is a technology that was imported from the human world to the demon world.

Although similar technologies existed in the demon world before, and the concept of firing something that stores mana using an object existed before, the introduction of products of magical engineering technology such as guns and bombs was clearly thanks to the demons who visited the human world.

Then, one question arises here.

Are the magical engineering technologies of the human world and the magical engineering technologies of the demon world the same?

If it takes several decades, they can be considered similar, but if a century passes, the context of the technology changes greatly.

What is this?

Oh, that? A bomb that can blow up the Demon King’s castle in one go.

It’s an egg?

It’s a bomb that looks like an egg.

The moment you break this to cook bread or whatever, bang!

Hehe, how is it? Isn’t it fun? You’ll be so excited? Kihahahaha!!

Humans and demons have different personalities, and demons also have different perspectives on technology.

Even if high-ranking demons or demons were summoned to the Middle-earth and learned their technology, fundamentally, magical engineering technology should be different between the human world and the demon world.

“But why is the demon world’s technology so widespread?”

If you look at the records of adventurers who were killed in dungeons, it feels like they were killed in Mammon’s dungeon in the demon world.

“Has Mammon ever released his technology to the human world? He wouldn’t do that recklessly.”

“Mammon is a demon lord to begin with, so if he spread his technology to the human world, wouldn’t he have been summoned to the human world as well? Then anyone would have stepped forward and dealt with it, so why is it so widespread?”

Even if the concept of magic engineering could exist in the human world, Mammon’s magic engineering should not exist in the human world.

But it exists.

That was the most incomprehensible.

As we headed toward the warlock’s abandoned dungeon, the confusion grew with each step we took.

And then.

“Stop.”

I lifted my staff to the side and stopped the group.

The distinctive sound I could hear from beyond that passage was definitely that.

“Examiner Morzen. I’m sorry, but I don’t think the examination is important right now.”

“Huh? What’s going on from the beginning..?”

“Here we go. Earthwall.”

I raised a thick layer of dirt and took cover behind me.

“Master, are we enemies?”

“Enemies. Very dangerous.”

Despite my unannounced actions, the three of them immediately closed in on me, and soon red light began to burst from outside the passage.

Doo doo doo doo!!

The sound of bullets.

The sound of something spinning.

And the sound of something quickly stomping on the ground.

“Morzen. If an automata appears, what level of danger is it?”

“Automata? That’s at least C-”

Doo doo doo doo doo doo doo!!

“I think I saw someone from the union.”

The voice grew rougher and closer.

I signaled the three panicked men to be quiet, and while hiding behind cover, I created a fireball.

Direction, distance, angle.

Calculation complete.

“Brace for impact.”

I gripped the staff tightly.

The mana that had escaped from my body was embedded in the fireball, and my consciousness was soon connected.

WHIST!

“Fire.”

The flames quickly flew over the cover.

The enemy’s fire suddenly aimed for the fireball that had suddenly popped out, but I moved my fingers to change the direction of the fireball.

Sliders.

WHIST!

I avoided the fire and flew like a swallow, hitting the enemy with the fireball.

At the same time, there was a bang sound and the flames exploded, and I immediately jumped forward with my staff.

“Intercept.”

WHIST.

I placed one foot on the cover, turned the staff around, and aimed the end with the magic stone embedded in it at the other side of the passage.

I’m sorry, but this side is also good at this.

Snipe.

BAM!

The arrow of flames shot out from the tip of the staff and struck the enemy as light.

The arrow struck the body of the exploded automata, causing it to explode once more and break down.

“The time it took for the enemy to stop functioning was 7 seconds.

After retrieving the staff, I checked the enemy’s movements.

“Morzen. It won’t revive even if you blow it up like that, right?”

I didn’t.

Since I blew up the power unit, I knew that I couldn’t move even if I wanted to.

“That’s what it said on the guild bulletin board.”

“Oh, yes, yes. That’s right. You looked after it well…”

“Because we have to prepare for anything.”

However, I pretended that I had figured out the identity of the newly appeared enemy through research and advance study at the guild.

I’m not sure if it was effective, but at least I couldn’t say things like ‘How did you know that?’

“That’s amazing, Witch. How did you know?”

“…With a feeling.”

Since Rosemath tripped, it was difficult to say that I figured it out with hearing or magical power. So I just said it was a feeling.

“Can I just approach it and check it out, Morzen?”

“…That can’t be. Why is the automata here…?”

Morzen was shocked.

The person who was supposed to lead us seemed to be panicking and unable to make sound judgments, so I grabbed her by the collar.

“Examiner Morzen. I asked if I could approach it and check it. Don’t you know?”

“Oh, oh… no. If it’s that damaged…”

“Are you sure?”

“Master.”

Lucius approached me from the side, and I let go of Morzen’s hand as he slowly regained his composure.

“First of all, Examiner, the situation has become strange. First, let’s get out of here and…”

Creak.

There was a sound of something moving outside the passage.

Rosemath turned her head toward the entrance we came in with a pale face.

“The entrance…?!”

It was blocked.

It seems like the master of this dungeon has appeared or something like that.

I might have to fight with all my might.

Damn it.

If the automata I know are my enemies, then I’ve met my worst enemy right now.

Those things don’t have magic stones.

An enemy that doesn’t recover even if you use mana.

It’s the worst.

However, I have gained one thing.

“Can I check that for a moment?”

“Master?”

That thing that was momentarily illuminated by the flames.

It was definitely a seal I recognized.

I ran straight to the destroyed automata and checked the traces of burning.

As expected.

This machine.

I thought it was no ordinary object, but who would have thought I would find a clue here.

Killing Spider Mk-IV.SN: 1Q2W3E4R018

Model name and serial number.

And the Acedia emblem underneath it.

Found it.

Zephyr, traces of the Demon King’s army.

***

“Hmm….”

The dungeon’s master, Mine, Shax, was a little flustered.

“The Killing Spider was subdued so easily?”

Crackle, crackle.

The Killing Spider, an automata with the appearance of a spider, was easily destroyed by the enemy’s attacks.

“Hmm….”

The Red Witch.

Although she seemed flustered, she skillfully dealt with the enemies that appeared in the dungeon.

“This is no ordinary bet.”

While everyone else was flustered, she alone created a wall out of the ground to hide herself and fired a fireball.

“Is that woman the leader of the group?”

I thought the man was the leader, but it turns out that the red-haired witch seems to be the leader of the group.

“Then let’s drop them. Let the loaches… take care of the dead ones themselves. Alright, Raising Undead.”

Bang!

As Shax fired his shotgun at the ceiling, the numerous skeletons scattered inside the cave began to rise one by one.

“As expected, they noticed right away.”

He deliberately fired his shotgun so that it could be heard through the passage, but the enemy’s movements were unusual.

Pass.

Shax grabbed the skeleton next to him and laid it flat next to him.

Then he continued to hold the shotgun and waited quietly for them to approach.

Crack, crack.

The skeletons picked up their weapons one by one, their spines cracking.

Some held bows, some held spears, some held axes.

If there was one thing they had in common, it was that all the skeletons were wearing similar armor.

Crack, crack.

Inside the cave, four adventurers appeared.

Shax greeted them with a grin.

“Hello, trespassers.”

“You are…?”

“The owner of this lab, the warlock Shax.”

The adventurers exchanged glances.

Shax was dumbfounded by the seemingly determined behavior of someone trying to fight him.

“Do you intend to fight me?”

“I am Hora Morzen, the deputy of the Adventurer’s Guild, Adventurer Response Team.”

“The Adventurer’s Guild.”

“This was a warlock’s lab that had been abandoned for about 30 years. The Adventurer’s Guild regularly deals with the monsters that appear here…”

“I’m still alive, so why are you coming into someone else’s house and swinging your weapon at the owner? This is ridiculous.”

Shax muttered and aimed his shotgun at the adventurers.

“You bastards. Those who enter someone else’s house without permission…”

Clink.

With a load, Shax aimed the gun straight at the red-haired witch.

“You are guilty of trespassing, and will be executed immediately.”

“Wait. Let me ask you something.”

“Oh.”

Shax did not avoid the eyes, but decided to listen to the will.

The shot of the shotgun was pulled out!