Chapter 173: Cleaning Up

*Bam* Once again, the Colossus gets slapped from Plague Worm's gigantic body after the Colossus pulls out its sword hand from it. Like before, the Colossus only pushed back a little bit and got small cracks all over its armor.

As a battle machine, Colossus is famous for its defense and endurance. Combined with the ability to repair itself, Colossus is like a massive ultimate shield.

At this moment, Gilford arrived at the location. Looking at the nearby area covered with green fumes and mucus from the Plague Worm, he couldn't help but shake his head.

"*Sigh* this is going to be a pain in the ass to clean." said Gilford helplessly.

Gilford takes a gas mask from his space storage while casting a simple barrier to repel any dangerous pathogens in the air.

"Hmm… No matter how I think about it, I couldn't fathom how they could bring such a disastrous monster into this place without us noticing." said Gilford before starting casting the spell.

While Gilford is casting his spell, his battle golem begins to kill all the newborn worms nearby. The two giant figures keep clashing with each other without getting the upper hand. A moment later,  a giant magic circle appears in the sky above the Plague Worm.

"Alfredo, hold the Plague Worm on its spot!!" shouted Gilford.

Hearing its master command, the colossus Alfredo immediately erupted some steam and grabbed the Plague worm body. Looking that Plague Worm managed to stop moving around, Gilford activated his spell [4th Circle - Arcana Totem].

Few massive black pillars appear from the magic circle and come down towards the Plague Worm. [Arcana Totem] immediately pierced the Plague Worm's body and made it wriggling in pain.

After casting the spell, Gilford kneels on the ground with a rough breath and heavy sweat. Maintaining various spells and releasing a large-scale four-circle spell exhausted almost all his mana.

"Haaa.. Haa.. Let's end this already." said Gilford before taking out his gas mask to drink another mana potion.

The Plague Worm's body is restrained by the Arcana Totem and couldn't move its body. It even couldn't sprout any acidic green mucus towards the surrounding area. It feels like every single cell inside its body is being restrained.

Using this opportunity, the colossus brandished its sword towards the wounded head. *Bam* However, the Plague Worm's muscle managed to endure the Colossus's sword. 

The sword could only make the wound deeper little by little while the Plague Worm struggled in pain. At this moment, all of the [Arcana Totem] slowly cracked couldn't withstand the Plague Worm's struggle.

Couldn't let the Plague Worm set free, Gilford gives up his [Auto Control] spell and gathers his remaining mana to cast another spell.

"Everyone, protect me!!" command Gilford towards all his battle golem nearby.

Hearing their master command, the battle golem surrounds Gilford and prevents any newborn worm from approaching him.

"Rus.. Agul.. Sol.. Fami.. Nemu…" as Gilford begins focusing on the chanting spell.

A moment later, another magic circle appeared above the Plague Worm wounded head. From the magic circle appears a gigantic sharp sword coming down towards it [3rd Circle - Arcana Sword].

Looking at the shining sword, Alfredo immediately jumps in the air and grabs the sword before stabbing Plague Worm's wounded head using all its might. The Arcana Sword managed to puncture the gigantic worm and cut off its monster core circulation.

Then, the Plague Worm finally stops moving around and turns into a corpse.

"Haa.. Ha.. Damn.. I use more mana than I expected." said Gilford while kneeling on the ground.

As Gilford rests on the sandy ground, the clan head Jade observes the whole fight silently nearby. He is ready to help Gilford in case Gilford fails to kill the monster. After a moment, some villagers and a hunter squad arrive at the battle spot.

Looking that the villagers become absent-minded at the scale of Plague Worm and Alfredo, "What are you waiting for? Get your ass to work and start cleaning all this mess!! Don't let every single worm escape." command the clan head Jade.

"Yes, sir." replied the villager.

The villager and hunter squad begin to clean up all the green mucus and newborn worms by burning them from a distance.

While the villager is cleaning, Jade approaches Gilford, who commands the colossus, to dissect the gigantic Plague Worm's body. Gilford will not waste this chance to research more about such a unique monster in front of him.

"Who do you think could bring such a monster into our territory unnoticed?" asked Jade towards Gilford seriously.

"I am not sure. But, it is those other villages. Although Plague Worm is a disastrous monster, it still takes more than this to eliminate the whole Sur Village. So, the main suspect is those other villages."

"As for the hidden organizations, they will never use such a roundabout method just to harm our village." replied Gilford honestly.

"Haa.. Those villages will never give up." said Jade.

After a while, Angus, Jayna, and Isvel, bringing the last intruder, arrive at their location. Looking at the two kids safely, Gilford couldn't help but smile and thought something.

"Father, I think this guy is one of the intruder leaders. He is a grade-four combatant." said Isvel while throwing the bounded intruder.

"Grade four??" asked Jade back.

Even though the Endless Battlefield dimension is covered with thick mana and helps people advance their mana core faster, Grade Four combatant is still rare. Not everyone could reach this kind of level.

For the Sur Village itself, it is like elite manpower. So, Jade was quite surprised to see a Grade Four combatant in this kind of attack. It means this kind of attack is very important from the other perspective.

After thinking for a while, "Good, send him to Abet to be interrogated later." said Jade.

"Wait, father. Can I play with him after the interrogation is done?"  chimed Gilford with a playful smile.

"Do what you want." replied Jade nonchalantly.

"Yey.. This time I will manage to create it." muttered Gilford.

"Anyway, I owe you one for this nephew. I hear you are the one that found the Plague Worm first. If it is not for your timely action, the whole Sur village will be turned into a dead zone." said Jade.

"You are overpraising me too much, uncle. Besides, the Sur village already helps us a lot by sheltering us in this dangerous land. So, it is our right to repay you with this." replied Angus.

"You're too humble, cousin. You just withstand the might of a grade four combatant and few other lower grade combatants. You should be proud of yourself." said Isvel nearby.

'Withstand the grade four and other lower grade combatants?!!' thought both Jade and Gilford, who heard it nearby.

"Good, as expected as the genius of my family and Leon's daughter. Alright, you can go back to the village with Isvel now. Leave all this clean up to us." said Jade.

Hearing Angus and Jayna feat, Gilford seems to think about something but not saying anything until the end.

Angus and Jayna go back to the village along with Isvel without any obstruction. Arriving at the village, they immediately rested at their respective places.

Soon, their news about surviving grade four spread around the Sur village. Everyone in the village often talks about their achievements. Some even blew up the story and said they managed to kill the grade four combatant.

While Angus and Jayna's reputation is soaring in the village, a person feels disgusted and jealousy hearing this kind of news. This person is none other than Neil. *Brak* Some furniture is destroyed in Neil's hand.

"Damn it!! Those outsiders!! It should be me that they are talking about. Why do they keep talking about those outsiders." yelled Neil while flaring up his mana.

"Son, calm down. It's just a story." said the mature woman inside the tent.

"But, mother… They are outsiders, yet they get more attention than me. It was supposed to be me that hailed as a genius, not those outsiders." said Neil angrily.

Hearing this, the mature woman couldn't help but shake her head. As someone who has survived in this dangerous land for a long time, she knows that her son will never survive with this kind of personality. 

There is a reason why Sur village could grow into now despite living in the harsh conditions. It is because they never try to bluntly provoke the other group or community inside the Endless Battlefield.

For Sur village, Pride may be important. But, it is not as important as their life. Because of this, Sur village could grow silently without anyone noticing until now.

Still looking at the rapid growth of Sur village also creates some jealousy among the other villages, leading them to use many underhanded tactics like the Plague Worm.

Despite her son's behavior, the mature woman still couldn't abandon her youngest child and loves him deeply.

"Son, you are still a genius and growing further. Besides, once you enter the Ancestral Ruin during the coming of age ceremony, you could have a chance to get a legacy like your older siblings." said the mature woman trying to soothe her son.

"Ancestral Ruin. Yes, if I could get something like a colossus, I could beat those two outsiders. Hahaha..." Laughed Neil while imagining himself controlling colossus.