Volume 2 - CH 10.4

Chapter 10: Let’s Challenge the Emperor of Sands , Part 4

Mountain range that served as the home of the Yamata no Orochi was called Yaegaki.

This mountain towered above all others like a sword and sucked all the humidity out of the air, stopping all of the rain and snow at the mountain’s summit, and sending only the hot, dry winds towards Sahara.

While he was traversing the summit, Aur thought that it was strange.

Aur had practically no knowledge or experience in dealing with the people from this Empire of Sahara. He’s never been there, doesn’t know their customs and its citizens. And they were in the same boat when it came to dealing with him.

But even despite that, the undead soldiers were lined up along the border of the, mountain, facing him and waiting.

There was no declaration of war between them, but even so, they stood there, ready to begin the bloodshed at any moment.

「Eh, I knew it would end up like this, I really knew. And even though I knew this, their numbers really are something else.」

Lilu said with a tired voice. It was as if the land before their eyes was covered by a thick black carpet. A carpet made entirely out of them members of the Immortal Sand Army. It was hard to see the details from the top of the mountain, but the only thing that was clearly see was that there was a lot of them.

Of course, Aur didn’t brought an army with him, but only a small number of his most trusted people.

They couldn’t ask Zana to directly help them in battle unless they wanted her political situation to worsen considerably, and transporting a large amount of troops through such a mountain while there was a raging blizzard would not be the brightest of ideas. Not to mention that the spring meltdown was approaching. If they wanted to attack the Immortal Sand Army and destroy it, now was their only chance to do so.

「Uhm, if I may ask, Lord Aur, why did you bring her here with you?」

Lilu ask about bringing Sharl with them with a troubled expression and furrowed brows.

Ten years ago she wore her emerald hair at shoulder length, but now they were reaching all the way to her waist, and were tied together with a ribbon at the very end, and her sapphire-blue eyes were showing more calmness and self-confidence. Her chest also grew bigger, but only slightly. All in all, now she looked a lot more mature than ten years ago when she and Aur first met.

As for her abilities, even if she improved them, she had no chances to show it thus far. Up until now, she was leading a group of monks working under Aur, and practically stopped fighting on the frontlines herself. But regardless of that, her intuition as a former adventurer was as sharp as ever.

「You’ll see soon enough, Lilu. Now do the thing.」

「Yes sir!」

At the same time as she gave her answer, several holes appeared in the slope of the mountain.

Whether it was Yamato or Himuro, they lacked the one thing that Aur’s civilization possessed.

Magic Tools.

It would seem that here on this continent, pretty much any living thing possessed magical power. In other words, that which is dead does not have it at all. Because of that underdevelopment, they had no way of countering the tools that Aur and his people have already developed.

Which is why they would not understand what the many cannons protruding from the slope of the mountain were, even if they were aware of their existence.

They all made a roaring sound, and many magic-infused bullets were fired off simultaneously.

The explosions that occurred on impact turned the undead soldiers to smoldering ashes without even giving them a chance to resist.

But that method was only good enough to defeat hundreds of them at best. They needed something even stronger in order to ensure that the victory would belong to them. And that’s where Sharl came into play.

Looking at the bullets that were being released, Sharl realized what Aur’s intentions were. Each of the bullets had an oversized Magic Stone planted inside it, and when they hit the ground, the magical circle was automatically drawn in the place of the impact. Sharl herself was unaware of this strategy up until now.

「Activate Dispelling Curse!」

When she used her spell, the pillars of light began to bloom from the bullets that have already hit the ground. The light travels from one circle to another, creating one enormous magic circle.

And when it shone with a bright light that covered the entire battlefield, tens of thousands of undead bodies were evaporated.

「I’ll supply you with magical power now.」

The art of using Magic Stones, which are simply a crystalized mass of magical power centered around using the casters magical energy to uphold the effect of the spell. But since it was on such a scale, Sharl herself would run out of juice in no time. That is why Aur approached her and shoved his tongue inside her mouth without any warning, sending his own power to her through his saliva. Even after he bestowed the sufficient amount of energy onto her, he still continued to kiss her, and when he was finally satisfied, he separated himself from her with a thin, silver line still hanging between their lips.

「Lord Aur, my other mouth also craves your magical energy!」

「No it does not! Prepare to unleash the next spell without spouting such nonsense.」

Aur pointed towards the ocean of enemies as Sharl was greedily raising the front part of her skirt.

「What is that?」

Mari suddenly asked with a loud voice.

When everyone followed her gaze, they could see something shining in the back of the Immortal Sand Army.

「Fire, huh?」

Aur narrowed his eyes to properly see what it was.

To him, it looked like the flames were gradually spreading to the sides.

「Hey, is it just me, or are they…?」

Lilu asked with a hoarse voice as she grabbed onto Aur’s soldier.

「… Are they getting bigger?」

As she said that, the flames covered the entire horizon like a pair blazing wings.

「No way, such a foolish thing.」

Aur scanned his whole field of vision with his eyes. The horizon was far away from them, about one hundred miles. No weapon could effectively fire at them from such a distance.

「INCOMING!」

At least that’s what everyone thought at the moment.

The fireball that approached them was getting bigger by the second, until it covered the entire sky before them.

「PAPA!」

Just before the raging fireball hit them, Sofia appeared and created a walled room that sheltered everyone who was gathered at the mountaintop and transported them somewhere safe.

The ball of fire hit the mountain, shaking its very foundations.

「You’ve got to be kidding me!」

Lilu whispered in a terrified voice. The peak of the mountain where they stood just seconds ago was now nothing more than a smoldering ashes.

「That was the spell of Uzermart, the Emperor of the Sands… but to think that his power would allow him to do something like that?」

Even Zana appeared to be surprised at the extent of the emperor’s actual power.

「Are you okay, Sofia?」

「Yeah, I managed to escape safely, but some of my hair got burned.」

Right now, Sofia looked like a ten year old. She aided them in their escape because she came to this mountain earlier with Aur and made it a part of her territory.

「I knew he is powerful, but to this extent? This is just…」

And then it happened.

A giant demon swooped at them from the sky and grabbed Sofia by the neck, lifting her up together with him.

「Sofia!」

Aur and Mari screamed together, and reached their hands out.

Aur extended his cube like a tentacle, but the silver demon was already out of his reach.

The monster gained altitude, and started heading towards the territory of Sahara. Sofia cannot wield her authority outside of the Dungeon. She’ll be just a defenseless ten year old.

「Wait!」

Chasing after them, Mari jumped off the cliff without hesitation.