plumnovel Chapter 196 : Dwarf (8)
Chapter 196 : Dwarf (8)
Chapter 196: Dwarf (8)
Taironi recognized at a glance that the situation had worsened.
He was grateful that Robin had done his best despite being at a disadvantage, but they had crossed a river from which there was no return.
That door pouring out all kinds of summons was Magic the Demon Tribe had painstakingly installed.
It was a kind of passage connected to a place in the Demon Realm teeming with Monsters.
Magic that was difficult to destroy unless it was a Domain.
To speak coldly, this place was as good as finished now.
Chwarrrrrrk.
The chain launched from his left arm wrapped around a protruding steel bar.
After confirming it was firmly secured, Taironi pulled his arm as it was.
Like a weight at the end of a string performing pendulum motion, he drew an arc and approached the Balrog.
“It will sting.”
Pabababak.
From the launcher that sprang out of his right hand, dozens of silver needles poured toward the Balrog.
The creature raised its thick arms to block them, but Taironi did not care.
Poison had been applied to the tips of the silver needles.
Of course, the Balrog did not foam at the mouth and collapse.
At most, its arms were paralyzed for a few minutes.
Taironi had not expected a great effect either.
“Over there! Artillery! Fire the powder shells!”
The artilleryman above hesitated for a moment, then immediately turned the cannon barrel toward Taironi.
Bang! When the cannonball flew with that sound, Taironi had already moved away from the Balrog.
Puhwaaaak!
The cannonball that struck the Balrog did not inflict great damage.
Instead, coal powder spread thickly.
Taironi ignited the black haze.
Puh-uh-uh-uh-uhng!
The area where the powder had spread was engulfed in flames.
It was a massive explosion, but no one was optimistic that the Balrog had died.
Rather, when the Balrog inhaled, the flames were sucked inside.
“Artillery! Cooling shells! Into that bastard’s mouth!”
“Y-Yes!”
The Balrog was originally a Monster capable of breathing fire.
Taironi knew the Balrog’s traits well.
Before it could spew flames. At the right timing, a cooling shell slipped inside.
The cannonball made with a mass-produced Artifact exploded near the creature’s uvula.
Even the flames froze as they were, blocking its airway.
The Balrog, which had opened its mouth wide, could not help but have its breathing stop for a very brief moment.
Seizing that gap, Taironi accelerated along the chain and swung his hammer at its eyeball.
Thud.
The Balrog’s blood-red eye burst apart.
Taironi did not stop there and aimed his right hand at the one remaining eye.
Pababak.
Silver needles lodged into the thick eyeball.
Even for a large Monster, poison that had penetrated the eyeball could not be expelled immediately.
The Balrog reflexively swung its arm, but Taironi had already moved beyond its reach.
“You fight well.”
It was Robin’s impression as he watched Taironi.
It was the first time he had seen a style of combat where one hung from chains and struck at the right moment before retreating.
But only up to that point.
There was not just one Balrog, and facing several like that made every moment perilous.
Chwararararak.
Retracting the chain, Taironi landed beside Robin.
“Robin, if I give the signal, can you hold those bastards for a moment?”
“I can buy you five seconds.”
“That will be enough.”
Taironi set down his hammer and fitted a hook into his left hand.
It looked like a harpoon, yet also like a short spear.
“When I give the signal, you must dash out at once, so conserve your strength.”
“Understood. But what is the signal?”
“You will know when you see it.”
He launched his left hand, now a hook, and suspended himself in midair once more.
For a Dwarf who lived underground, it was a fresh method of combat.
At the same time, it was an excessively dangerous maneuver.
“You are all watching, right! Spray them with brine!”
When Taironi shouted loudly, the artillerymen busied themselves.
Just what method did he intend to use to deal with so many Balrogs?
Though anxiety came first, Taironi advanced aggressively unlike before.
Thud. Thud. Thump.
Stepping on the Balrogs’ heads as if they were stepping-stones, he pushed something in with the tip of his foot.
That object, presumed to be an explosive, detonated with a bang each time Taironi moved positions.
The sight of him hacking with an axe and driving in blades wherever he passed was close to eccentricity.
He succeeded in throwing them into confusion.
“The brine is ready!”
“What are you waiting for! Spray it!”
Puh-buh-buh-buhng!
Numerous cannonballs struck the Balrogs and exploded.
Inside the shells was seawater.
“A gift.”
Taironi scattered dozens of pebbles.
At a glance they looked like ordinary stones, but they were Artifacts possessing a single effect.
The seawater that burst from the shells intertwined like a net and wrapped around the Balrogs.
Robin realized this was the signal Taironi had spoken of.
“I cannot hold them long.”
Robin shot forward like an arrow and swung his sword in the midst of them.
Dark-red Fighting Spirit deflected the Balrogs’ attacks and inflicted wounds.
Under the crushing offensive, his knees felt as though they would give out.
The Balrogs’ bodies were so sturdy that even when he unleashed Fighting Spirit, it only left shallow cuts.
Now he understood why Taironi had emphasized Domain.
To deal with these creatures, a higher-level technique than Fighting Spirit was required.
“Is it still far from ready!”
Taironi pushed aside the artilleryman at the lower ground and connected a wire to a thick rectangular solid.
A storage battery whose stability had not yet been fully verified.
A tingling current ran through his mechanical body.
He aimed the hook attached to his left hand at the Balrogs.
“That is enough, come out!”
He had been waiting for those words.
The moment Robin withdrew his body, Taironi’s hook was launched.
Pajijijijijik!
Soaked in seawater, the Balrogs convulsed all over without even knowing what had struck them.
The current that had flowed through Taironi’s mechanical body ran through them, roasting the Balrogs like whole grilled meat.
Their trembling figures looked ridiculous at a glance, but soon they collapsed one by one.
It was a success.
“Guuuh….”
However, Taironi let out a groan of indescribable pain.
Perhaps part of his mechanical body had been damaged during the battle and had not been perfectly insulated.
“Huuuh…. I miss the Spirit Mage.”
The fall of the Balrogs was not the end.
After a little time passed, the rectangular door would spit out another troublesome foe.
Now was the time to see this through.
When he descended to the ground, Robin spoke with a startled expression.
“Taironi, are you all right? Your complexion….”
“I am not all right. But what must be done must be done.”
“Let us go together.”
Supported by Robin, Taironi approached the center with difficulty.
Judging by the unstable flickering, it seemed that this side had also suffered damage.
“You have the Dragon Speech Stone, do you not?”
“How do you know that?”
“I knew from the beginning. I made it. Can you hand it over?”
His voice, soaked in fatigue, pressed Robin for an answer.
The Dragon Speech Stone obtained in Nabrash.
The effect contained within that stone was ‘Sleep’.
“The effect does not matter. If it carries the rank of a Dragon, it is sufficient to dismantle High-Level Magic.”
“You have a devious side. Did you anticipate a situation like this?”
“I always prepare a second-best option.”
It was checkmate.
If he hesitated here, all the effort until now would turn to nothing.
The more he argued, the greater the loss, so he took out the Dragon Speech Stone without protest.
“Throw it at the door.”
“Understood.”
It would be a lie to say it did not feel wasteful, but his hesitation was brief.
The Dragon Speech Stone entered the pitch-black door.
The rectangular form convulsed, then vanished as if being sucked somewhere.
“We did it.”
“Yes.”
“I believed in you, that you would not give up.”
When Robin smiled, Taironi shook his head.
It was not over yet.
“Grrraaaah.”
When he lifted his head, the Balrogs that had fallen were writhing.
True to their ferocity, they had no intention of dying easily.
“I am sorry. It seems our luck ends here.”
“Damn it, what are their weaknesses?”
“In your current state, no matter how wildly you fight, it will be difficult to win.”
“You knew?”
“I knew.”
Even knowing, he had drawn Robin in and closed the center.
This had been the best option.
If he could close the door somehow, they could at least buy time.
Dealing with the remaining Balrogs was a separate matter.
“Please go first.”
“What are you saying?”
“I will hold them off. Go recover first.”
It was incomprehensible.
Robin, who had fought them directly, should have known better than anyone that they could not handle a pack of Balrogs.
Yet not a trace of resignation could be found in the swordsman holding twin blades.
“Well, something will work out.”
“That does not sound like you.”
“A fight is not won by strategy alone.”
“Then why not use me as bait instead? That would raise your chances of survival.”
“I told you, there is much I want to hear from you.”
The writhing Balrogs rose to their feet.
Killing them with electric shock had been impossible.
Thud.
Robin hoisted Taironi onto his back and ran.
After setting him down before the entrance they had come through, he gripped his sword tightly.
“Do not worry. I will not die.”
With that, Robin charged toward the Balrogs.
Red Fighting Spirit flashed, drawing lines between the creatures.
“Foolish.”
From Robin’s perspective, it would not have been wrong to see Taironi as having betrayed him.
He had chosen sacrifice for the sake of his own kin.
Yet even so, Robin chose to save Taironi without the slightest resentment.
“I am sorry, Harold. There was no other choice.”
If he wished to save him that badly, then he ought to prolong even his wretched life.
He knew a brutal battle was unfolding behind him, yet there was nothing he could do.
A decision made after coldly assessing the situation.
Step.
Dragging his tattered mechanical body, he left the cavern.
He would highly value Robin’s contribution and grant ample compensation to his companions.
If they wished, he would open the report and allow them to live without worrying about money for the rest of their lives.
So he resolved.
“How shameful.”
Neither body nor mind was whole.
A young man who had followed him this far believing a casually spoken promise without even a proper contract.
A young swordsman connected to a comrade with whom he had shared life and death.
What would that reckless Mercenary say if he saw him like this?
“No. This is not right.”
Though his body was in ruins and his will had long since been broken.
Just once more, for the last time.
If there were a miracle, grant him strength.
Bang.
What Taironi faced upon returning to the cavern was Robin moving so swiftly that afterimages lingered in the air.
As if possessed, he was cutting down the Balrogs.
“…To unyielding Fighting Spirit, agitation.”
Pajijijijik.
The red Fighting Spirit went beyond merely enhancing cutting power and crackled like lightning.
At the next words, Taironi’s eyes widened.
“Anger.”
Kwa-ruuung!
Robin’s elongated blade cleaved through a Balrog’s shoulder.
That technique was very familiar to Taironi.
The journey with Harold passed before his eyes like a lantern reel.
“Hoo, these bastards are truly tough.”
Robin drew in a deep breath.
He had unleashed the most powerful slash he currently possessed, yet regrettably failed to sever its neck.
One arm fell to the ground, but far from diminishing, the Balrog’s aggression only grew more ferocious.
A sense of crisis began to ring an alarm.
At this rate, he truly would not escape death.
“If I push just a little more, I think I can reach it.”
Bang! Kwa-gwa-gwa-gwang!
As he evaded the fists slamming down from the Balrog,
he failed to dodge one and was struck in the back.
“Kuh-huh!”
Robin was sent flying like a cannonball and crashed into the wall.
The world spun, and for a moment his vision went dark.
“Kuh-ugh… Cough! Cough!”
He had felt uneasy, but to think it would turn out like this.
As sensation returned to his body, a Balrog loomed right before him.
“I cannot die here….”
In a perilous moment like a candle before the wind.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
From afar, Taironi struck his hammer against the ground, noisily drawing attention.
“Even if a nation loses a war, if it loses while resisting, it can rise again, but a nation that surrenders of its own accord can never rise again.”
“Taironi?”
Thud!
The force contained in the hammer was different.
He had not merely brought it down.
If it were an ordinary hammer strike, the ground would not tremble like this.
“I fear that this may be the end of my life. Even so, if there is something that cannot be broken, it will be my will.”
Kuuung!
With will, he occupied the space.
Robin finally realized what those words meant.
It was unfolding before his eyes.
An overwhelming pressure that made even breathing difficult.
Taironi recited a verse infused with his own rank.
Then cry out, steadfast Horatius,
O Blacksmith,
To every Dwarf of this land,
Death comes to all someday,
But I shall die most honorably,
Bravely facing fear,
By my father’s grave,
Fighting for the iron-scented anvil!
Above each Balrog’s head, a massive hammer appeared.
It was not a hammer made of iron.
It was a hammer formed from the gathered will of Taironi.
The hammer imbued with tremendous force was the very life of the Blacksmith.
Huuuuuuung!
Over a dozen hammers swung simultaneously,
and Robin could not take his eyes off the sight.
The Balrogs struck by the hammers turned to powder and scattered.
The problem that had tormented the Dwarves for so long vanished through the courage of a single Blacksmith.