CH 159

Chapter 159 – Preparing To Enter

After dinner with Grande’s favorite food, we started our excavation work in the morning the next day.

Last night? It was a peaceful sleep, yeah. Isla was lost in thought, all the Harpies were tired, and Grande was hungry and asleep. After putting Isla to sleep, we all slept peacefully together until morning.

“Now, let’s dig.”

“I’ll leave it to you.”

“I’ll leave it to you.”

“I’ll leave it to you.”

“I leave it to you.”

“I’m counting on you.”

“I’ll help!”

Grande is a real angel who wants to help in this situation. Since she is an angel, let’s pat her on the head and give her a candy bar. But Grande can’t take it well, so let’s not make her do it. I’ll take care of it, and you can lick the candy quietly.

The first thing I did was dig roughly with my Mithril shovel +9. This shovel can dig up soil that is 20 meters wide, 50 meters deep, and 1 meter thick. However, I can’t really control it. In some cases, the buried treasure may be crushed by the rocks on top of it, so it can only be used for rough purposes.

That’s why I made a set of shovels with various materials.

The Mithril Shovel +9 is a mithril shovel with a magic sparkling stone, but by changing the materials used to add the magic sparkling stone and magic crystals, and by adding magic iron, magic steel, and ordinary steel shovels instead of mithril, I was able to create shovels that can be used for a variety of purposes.

After a quick dig, I asked Grande and Isla to investigate the ground, and I proceeded to dig towards the artificial space I wanted.

“I feel like I’m looking at something amazing.”

“I wonder how it works…”

As I worked, I switched to the various shovels that I had registered as shortcut keys, and Bella and Tozume, who were watching, were astonished for some reason. I wondered what they were surprised about.

“If you use that ability, you’ll be able to switch from one weapon to another during battle.”

“It would be annoying if someone could switch from sword to spear, spear to axe, axe to dagger, dagger to two-handed sword in no time…”

“If Kosuke-dono learns martial arts, he will surely become a great warrior.”

I don’t plan on doing that. Why should I bother wielding a broadsword when I have a gun? I’m not a soldier of a certain country who bayonets assault in the 21st century. There’s no need to use melee weapons unless you’re getting too close. I have machine pistols, shotguns, submachine guns, and assault rifles.

I actually have a mithril shortsword registered as a shortcut, though that’s a secret. It’s survivor’s nature to not be able to let go of melee weapons even when you have a full arsenal of ranged weapons…

“Oh, looks like I hit the jackpot!”

The power of the shovel revealed a stone material that was clearly man-made. I carefully dug through the dirt to make my way to a good entry point.

“It’s a sturdy looking stone wall. What are we going to do?”

“Isn’t that obvious? Kosuke.”

“Aiyo.”

I swung my Mithril pickaxe +9 and made a hole in the wall I dug out. A stone wall of this size is just one swing. It’s dark inside the collapsed wall, and you can’t see a thing. I’ll need some light.

“Isla?”

“Hmm, I’ll use lighting magic.”

When Isla mumbled something, a ball of light the size of a softball was generated and drifted inside. It drifted into the interior. It was a corridor of stone walls. It seems that I made a hole in the corridor wall to get in.

“Now, is there anything we are looking for?”

“I don’t know. I hope so.”

“Don’t go in yet. I’ll use a magic spell to check if it’s full of poisonous air.”

As Isla said that, a colored ball of light and a kind of magic circle are dancing in her hand. I don’t understand how she grasps information with that, but she says she can use it to check for poisonous gas, toxic mold, or spores inside. The power of magic is amazing!

I wonder if I should make a toxin detector one of these days. If I can make it compact enough, adventurers might be interested in it. No, would it be quicker to make a gas mask? If you combine it with magic, you can make a poisonous respirator that can be used in all environments, even underwater exploration.

“It’s done… but there are a lot of magical reactions inside.”

“Oh? Is that a treasure?”

“It’s possible that it’s a magical artifact from the Omit Kingdom. But I could also confirm that some of them are moving. The inside of this ruin must have been a completely closed environment. So, let’s assume it’s a monster.”

“Some kind of undead?”

Ms. Zamir, carrying a newly made mithril alloy short spear, bared her fangs. It’s scary. But she is laughing, isn’t she?

“Probably. Or perhaps golems, dragon fang soldiers, or some other magical creature.”

“Hmm, dragon fang soldiers, huh…? Are they puppets made from the fangs of dragons?”

Grande, who removed her protective bracelets, said that and clutched her hands with vicious claws. These days, it seems, she has learned to control her strength and can handle close combat without problems. However, it seems that she is still unable to control attacks that use magic power, so it is forbidden to use them in enclosed spaces.

In fact, I was going to ask her to wait on the surface with the Harpies, but she said she had no time to stay on the surface, so she decided to come with me.

Incidentally, the party for exploring the ruins this time consisted of me, Isla, Ms. Zamir, three demon-type girls, and Grande. Since it is impossible to use explosives or fly in the narrow underground space, the Harpies had to stay at the base. They said they would take care of the fields.

“Now, let’s check our equipment before we go in. We’ll go in when we’re done.”

“Copy that.”

We all replied to Shumel’s words, and each of us began the final check before going in.

This time, my equipment is a set of Wyvern leather armor that I made together with Shumel’s equipment, a submachine gun with a suppressor, and a pump-action shotgun. I also brought a mithril shortsword.

The submachine gun I brought this time is a submachine gun from the land of hamburgers, nicknamed the greasing tool. It has a .45 caliber and 30 rounds. It has a thin steel stock and a long, box-shaped magazine that can be used as a foregrip.

The low initial velocity of the .45 caliber ammunition and the suppressor work well together to muffle the sound. In this case, I wasn’t looking for secrecy, but I chose this gun with a suppressor to muffle the sound because banging out a gunshot in an enclosed space surrounded by stone walls would hurt my ears and would surely be a big nuisance to the people around me.

In fact, I wanted to use a more advanced version that uses 9mm bullets, but this one was much cheaper in terms of cost… This is a design that specializes in mass production. The .45 caliber bullets had plenty of offensive power, so it was hard to find a better option when it came to escorting and covering Isla and defending myself.

As for the shotgun, I’ll spare you the details. I’m not going to fire it unless it’s an emergency situation because if I do, it’s guaranteed to make a huge noise. In the first place, since there are four excellent vanguards, there should be no chance to fire this gun.

It is the nature of a survivor to be prepared for any eventuality. Please forgive me. I don’t feel comfortable leaving out any of the preparations that can be made… I have shortcuts for more powerful assault rifles and rocket launchers, but I don’t think I’ll be shooting any of them.

Eh? A suppressor for a shotgun? It seems to be possible to make one, but at a cost, right? For some reason, compared to suppressors for assault rifles, submachine guns, and pistols, the cost is more than five times higher. I wonder why?

The main reason why they didn’t make them for assault rifles was because of the size of the sound reduction effect. Unless you use special subsonic ammunition, the sound reduction effect is inevitably low… It’s a good idea to have a suppressor on handguns and submachine guns that use ACP ammunition.

“What’s that?”

Tozume tilted her head to look at the silenced submachine gun I was holding in my hand. She seemed to be curious about the unfamiliar weapon.

“It’s like a bow that can fire a series of metal arrowheads at high speed. It’s a weapon from my world.”

“Oh, a gun. I’m curious to see what it looks like.”

“I’d like to see it in action too, so I’ll shoot it when I get a chance.”

The bullets are specially prepared, so they should be effective against the undead, who are immune to simple physical attacks. It’s a full metal jacket bullet coated with mithril silver alloy. Mithril silver alloy has a higher hardness and lower extensibility, making it much more practical as a jacket material than ordinary silver.

Cost is an issue, though! I’ve only prepared five magazines of special mithril silver bullets or a total of 150 rounds, so if possible, I’d like to see them appear in magical creatures instead of undead. I’m desperate.

“But is there such a thing as an underground facility where magical creatures are stationed?”

“The Omit Kingdom was in a state of war at the time, and there are records that the security was quite disturbed at the end of the war. It seems that there were quite a few facilities where magical creatures were placed to prevent bandits.”

“The Elver has been attacking, and the security has deteriorated… it’s hell.”

Isla answered Ms. Zamir’s question, and I was taken aback, imagining what it was like back then.

“But it’s not necessarily magical creatures that are here. It is more likely that they are former inhabitants who were buried alive and turned into undead due to the pain and resentment of dying from starvation or dehydration. That’s more natural.”

“Ugh… I’m not very good with the undead. Sometimes they can’t be attacked with weapons.”

“It’s okay since you have the new weapons that Kosuke made for you. They’re all made of magic steel and mithril alloy.”

Weapons made of iron, steel, mithril, and their alloys are effective against so-called “normal weapons ineffective” monsters. In that sense, these weapons are precious for archaeological explorers who sometimes have to deal with the undead.

“I have my own magic. No problem.”

Isla snaps and sparks her magic. It’s easy to forget that Isla is a former court mage who can use powerful destructive magic because she doesn’t usually show this kind of behavior. In terms of simple attack power, she is probably the best among the three, surpassing even me.

“If you leave it to me, I can take care of the undead and magical creatures with ease.”

Grande also asserts herself. Indeed, Grande alone will be able to punch undead and magical creatures alike. I’ve heard that Dragon’s claws and fangs can tear apart spirits and monsters that are immune to conventional weapons without any special effort. Dragons are awesome.

“Are you finished checking your equipment? Then let’s go.”

With that, Shumel was the first to step into the ruins, followed by the rest of us.

Now, the dungeon attack begins.