Chapter 73: Chapter 73

“This armor is actually a failure.”

When Cheryn handed the completed armor to Shan not long ago, she said so with a disappointed expression.

“A failure?”

“Yes. Leaving the quality of the armor itself aside, I haven’t been able to formulate a magic matrix that can harmoniously weave multiple spells together yet.”

However, sending him empty-handed when he was off to hunt a hydra was out of the question.

Suppressing her regret, Cheryn enchanted it into a decently usable form within the bounds of what she could create for now.

She did so with the determination to pull the mana stone back out later, reprocess it, and craft a proper piece.

“Originally, the power dwelling in a mana stone isn’t strictly proportional to the performance of the magic device it’s placed in. Just because a dish uses tens of times more expensive ingredients and effort doesn’t mean it tastes tens of times better.”

And Shan’s armor, to use this metaphor, was like ‘a stew where tremendous ingredients were crammed in roughly and simmered with care.’

Without a recipe to properly bring out the flavor of the ingredients, it was something a skilled cook barely managed to make edible.

Hearing her negative explanation, Shan tilted his head as he looked down at the armor he was wearing.

“Honestly, even this much is amazing. I even wonder if I would ever need anything better…”

As his will transformed into faint fighting spirit and reached the armor, the full suit of armor enveloping his entire body clanked with a rustling sound and was drawn into the cuirass.

And when he issued a command once more, it unfolded and tightly wrapped around his whole body just like in the beginning.

Considering how laborious putting on and taking off such full armor was, it was a function every knight could not help but envy.

Even while wearing it, his athletic ability increased noticeably.

Despite wearing armor weighing tens of kilograms, he could jump high enough for his feet to go above his head just as if he were bare-bodied, and the shock from landing after such a jump also dispersed into the armor to some extent.

Presumably, if it were a castle wall under ten meters high, he could leap down more or less unharmed.

“Yes, it’s impressive. But you know as well. That’s not my goal.”

Sensing what Cheryn’s eyes implied, Shan changed the Thousand Shapes, which he had transformed into a bracelet, into the form of a sword and showed it to her.

Staring into the silver blade with eyes that seemed possessed, Cheryn muttered.

“Truly, no matter how many times I look at it, I can’t understand. Just how does it stably maintain this amount of mana without a single mana stone? How on earth does such a complex formula function without a problem? Why… did the ones who possessed such technology disappear without leaving even a trace? Did the Goddess really curse them and wipe them out?”

“Sister Cheryn, you don’t think that way.”

“Indeed. Though it’s something I must never say outside, there is no Goddess. At least, even if she exists, she certainly isn’t the creator the priests speak of.”

That Cheryn was skeptical of the Goddess’s existence and faith was something her close aides dimly knew.

Though speaking this starkly was something she only did when Shan was before her.

“Anyway, what I want to say is that we’re still far from the real goal. Only when I make something comparable to this artifact can I call it a success. So, finish the hunt safely and return. The best armor needs the best knight.”

Knowing that was her own way of showing concern, Shan replied with a smirk.

Now, the two of them could convey their feelings to each other with just that much.

*

It was exactly one month after the cave was discovered that the hydra subjugation squad officially departed from Palles Castle.

The subjugation squad of about one hundred people followed the exact method used by the past investigation team, taking boats and arriving within a single day at the cave where the hydra resided.

This time, they did not bring horses.

This was because horses were overly heavy for traversing the mud and quagmires of the swamp, and they also tired quickly.

Of course, since people had to transport supplies directly, supply capability would fall somewhat, but that was manageable by traveling back and forth through the cave.

“You have arrived, Lord Protector. I have been expecting you.”

Baron of Lugen Yurk greeted politely with due courtesy.

Since its discovery, the front of the cave here was guarded by troops rotating on shift duty every week, and right now happened to be his turn.

Accepting the greeting, Shan turned his gaze toward the outpost visible behind him.

“While I haven’t seen it, this place has turned out quite proper as well.”

“Yes. The local residents deserve great credit.”

Where there had originally been only a lonely, desolate cave, an outpost made of wooden palisades now stood.

It was an achievement realized by shipping a large quantity of timber from the capital down the river, after which hundreds of laborers were mobilized.

Of course, blocking a hydra with mere wooden palisades was out of the question, but they could unilaterally hold the upper hand and overwhelm the primary targets, which were miscellaneous monsters.

Though some among them detoured by swimming across the adjacent river.

“It is a pity I cannot go with you.”

“Someone has to guard this place. Having Baron of Lugen guard it gives us peace of mind.”

“Haha…”

Yurk laughed sheepishly and glanced sideways at Ravana, who was standing behind Shan.

Ever since she became Cheryn’s knight, Yurk had consistently shown a competitive spirit toward Ravana.

Although the honor of being the strongest knight in Palles was stolen by Shan, he had thought he was next in line, so he felt that the famous mercenary-knight from outside was threatening that position.

Of course, thanks to being disciplined to a terrible extent in the past, he did not act brazenly by suddenly asking to test their skills or the like.

Although the educational process was rather harsh, it could be said to have succeeded in cultivating proper morality.

“Then, please take good care of things while I am away.”

“Have a safe trip.”

With a rattling sound, the gate installed in the middle of the wooden palisade opened, revealing the cave.

Holding lamp magic devices, the hydra subjugation squad strode inward along the path previously explored.

After walking in for a long time, the mountain of matted hydra poison and bones they had seen in the past came into view.

“Oh, is that really…?”

“It truly is magnificent beyond words.”

Those who had been unable to participate in the previous exploration team looked at it with faces mixed with admiration and fear.

Fortunately, there was no need to take antidotes to avoid being poisoned like last time.

It was thanks to the mages from the Society having visited over the past month and sprayed plenty of neutralizing agents.

The outer edges were already being harvested for use in various purposes.

According to Cheryn, it was even enough to become a specialty of Palles in the future.

If they could really tame the hydra, they would have shoved it here and forced it to keep producing that.

“Let’s go.”

At Shan’s command, the subjugation squad passed the mountain of purple bones and advanced into the dark interior of the cave.

Although the path winded here and there, it was fundamentally wide and flat, so there were no major obstacles to movement.

Since it was large enough for a giant hydra to enter and exit, it was only natural.

As they stepped deeper inside, before long, monsters lingering throughout the cave heard the noise and approached.

The first guests were bipedal lizards covered head-to-toe in scales: lizardmen.

Their scales, wet and glistening, collided with the light of the lamp magic devices and scattered violently.

“Front squad, attack.”

At Shan’s order, the five soldiers standing at the front swallowed hard and advanced toward the lizardmen.

The bastards, who had flinched in fear at seeing nearly a hundred humans, hesitated briefly when only a few approached, before charging with ferocious shrieks.

Thump! With a violent sound, lizardmen with thick builds like crocodiles slammed into the soldiers’ shields.

However, none among the soldiers were pushed back by the opponent’s strength.

“Wow, this…”

“This is seriously amazing.”

Those with abundant monster-hunting experience gasped at the difference in sensation they felt.

This was because they could distinctly feel that the recoil returning to them was weaker compared to before.

The following counterattack was the same.

Spears thrusting from hands not holding shields relatively easily tore through the lizardmen’s scales and split their bodies.

Considering that ordinary soldiers had to grip their weapons with both hands to inflict severe damage on a lizardman, it was a tremendous difference.

After about a minute of intense combat, the five soldiers at the front succeeded in easily dispatching lizardmen that outnumbered them by two.

Of course, since everyone was exhausted and panting, saying it was easy might be a slight misnomer.

Even so, considering that one heavily armored soldier generally corresponded to one lizardman, it was remarkable.

Watching that sight, the soldiers in the rear also showed signs of wanting to fight.

After all, weren’t warriors a breed that grew anxious to try out good gear wherever they could?

Even after that, Shan continued to make the soldiers and squires take turned hunting the monsters that appeared as they advanced.

While this was partly to conserve the knights’ stamina, it was more to let them experience the power by using the newly received magic devices in actual combat.

Shan’s two squires, Vico and Tavera, were also thrilled after slaying poisonous frogs with the magic devices granted to them.

Perhaps wanting to use it in a better place, Roden declined the offer to try out the flail made of ogre bone.

How many times had passed like that?

With a splash, something massive leaped out from the river water beside their marching path.

The soldier standing at the front screamed and fell backward.

“Gasp!”

The identity of the thing that suddenly popped out was a giant crocodile nearly ten meters in length.

Though not a monster, at that size, it was a presence far more dangerous than most monsters.

By the riverside, it would easily hunt down even a small troll.

Shan, who happened to be nearby, quickly pulled the soldier who was nearly eaten and shouted.

“Soldiers, fall back. Knights!”

At the command, the soldiers quickly fell back and the knights came to the front.

Ravana roared as she took the lead.

“Out of the way, everyone! I’ll take it!”

Unlike in the past when she wore leather mixed with mail and armor, now that she had become a knight, she wore full plate armor just like the others.

If there was anything unusual, was it that two holes were on top of her helmet, from which rabbit ears poked out?

Ravana, taking the lead, brought down her double-handed axe with a roar so loud that echoes resounded deep within the cave.

Her treasure, the Altoan artifact Rabbit Foot, cleanly sliced off the crocodile’s long snout.

“I’m going too!”

Following her, the other knights also hacked away at the crocodile from all sides with the magic devices granted to them.

As the creature writhed in pain, its thick, long tail whipped like a lash and slammed against various parts of the cave with loud thuds.

“Gah!”

“Ugh…”

While a few knights who failed to dodge nimbly tumbled onto the ground and groaned, the other knights continuously drove their weapons in and snuffed out the crocodile’s life.

The few knights who had been knocked down stood up and exchanged impressions among themselves.

“Whew… this is certainly sturdy. I thought a bone or two might break if I was unlucky.”

“Tell me about it.”

Even after being struck by the tail of a crocodile weighing tons, the knights’ plate armors were merely slightly dented.

Considering that a nearby rock struck by it was slightly gouged, it was truly amazing defense.

Of course, there was a minor problem that repairing this denting required dispelling the magic placed on the armor, so it could not be repaired on the spot, but that much was tolerable.

Saying that with equipment of this level, this hydra hunt would be easy, everyone displayed a confident attitude.

Shan, watching that sight, felt a strange anxiety instead.

Although he did not have that much worldly experience, still, based on experience, an accident tended to happen when people were this confident or relieved.

*

Exiting the hydra’s cave took nearly a day and a half.

Although it was not particularly wide, it had traversed an entire mountain range, so this could hardly be called taking long.

The subjugation squad, emerging on the other side, let out small exclamations of awe as they watched the water flowing from the mountain range soak into the ground to form a vast swamp.

“So this region looked like this…”

Geographically, it was a neighbor right next door to Palles, but since it was a place reached only after crossing the river and going all the way around the mountain range, few people had come here directly.

Otherwise, they would have disembarked outside the riverbank and crossed the plains instead of bothering to go through the cave.

“Who did you say the lord here was?”

“The Kanzen Swamp is the domain of Viscount of Treba.”

At Shan’s question, Roden answered right away.

Viscount of Treba’s domain, situated at the northeastern edge of Pendia, was fairly large in size, but lacked substance.

This was because most of it was covered in marshland and it directly adjoined the Demonic Realm, causing monsters to swarm.

Even the Shedil region to the south had developed into a hub city for exploring the Demonic Realm since its land was at least an ordinary plain, but here even that was impractical, making it literally a half-abandoned region.

If one were to seek its significance, it was perhaps that one could rapidly travel back and forth with the Ajun Kingdom through the Demonic Realm, and that it served as a place where exploration parties traveling too far north from Shedil could rest along the way.

In the past, Shan had also considered stopping by this region when returning after hunting the cockatrice.

“Come to think of it, that city wouldn’t be too far from here.”

“Indeed, my lord.”

When Shan voiced the thought that suddenly occurred to him, Roden beside him answered right away.

It seemed he had been having a similar thought as well.

That the nameless city burned down by the Holy Order of the Ajun Kingdom was relatively nearby.

After brief small talk, Shan began commanding in order to hunt the hydra in earnest.

To do so, the first thing they had to do was find the traces left by the beast.

“The hydra is likely not too far from the water stream of this cave we came out of. Everyone keep watch on the surroundings and search for tracks.”

The surroundings were not in very good condition for searching for tracks.

This was because the air, turning cool as winter gradually approached, met the relatively warm swamp water and turned into a thick fog.

Here, even Shan’s glowing eyes were of no use.

His eyes pierced through darkness, not through fog.

However, even in such a situation, fortunately, traces of the hydra were revealed before long.

Strictly speaking, calling it ‘found’ was odd, as the tracks the beast made while passing were clear enough that anyone without eyes missing would naturally find them.

“I-Is this… could it be?”

“Is it really of this size?”

Each of the footprints, presumed to be four, was large enough for a person to lie down whole inside, and the torso that left a long line on the ground was about four meters wide alone.

Even the lord of that ogre pack had not been like this, but at this scale, it was truly a size closer to a walking building than a living creature.

Would the legendary Lagrissa of the Vermilion Wings, who brought down the Arman Empire, be of this size?

“Can we really fight something like this and win…?”

A soldier muttered so and quickly covered his own mouth.

Because it was a remark that would not be strange even if he were flogged for daring to lower morale.

However, none among the knights tried to punish him.

Because deep down, they all harbored similar thoughts.

As silence flowed for a short while, everyone’s gazes gathered in one direction.

Because the alpha wolf who had to lead them, Shan Barendil, was observing the tracks without an expression, glowing with green eyes.

‘Oh…’

‘Can we take it?’

‘He looks confident.’

Shan’s appearance, lacking even a bit of agitation, brought such faith to the soldiers.

Originally, a flock of sheep led by a lion is stronger than a pack of lions led by a sheep.

As his stance, unfearing in the slightest, proved contagious, before long, baseless confidence spread outward.

After all, so what if the damn hydra was a bit big?

Beside them stood the strongest knight of Pendia.

And the newly acquired magic devices were awesome as well!

While the subjugation squad shrank back among themselves and then recharged their confidence, Shan, having finished his observation, gave a low command.

“Everyone, follow the tracks. Knights, keep antidotes ready to take, and priests, prepare your blessings as well.”

“Yes, understood!”

A thunderous response spread across the marshland along the humid fog.

However, considering how spiritedly they had shouted, the march was somewhat sluggish, as there were not many people accustomed to traveling in swamps.

The neatly worn metal armors also merely caused their bodies to sink deep into the quagmires and were of no help for walking.

“Ugh…”

“Grab the spear shaft and get out!”

Escaping the danger of sinking to their deaths time after time, the light gradually vanished from the subjugation squad’s eyes.

They would rather wander the cave for days on end; traveling through this marshland for just half a day felt as if all strength was drained from their bodies.

It was only thanks to Shan and Roden, who were former explorers, spreading tips for exploring the Demonic Realm’s swamps that it remained at this level; had it not been for that, several people would have truly sunk and drowned.

Several soldiers with weak stamina stuck out their tongues as if they were about to die.

“I-In this state, can we fight the hydra?”

“I have zero confidence…”

Even so, they could not cast the Blessing of Vitality on every member of the subjugation squad.

Doing so would exhaust the priests, preventing them from casting blessings that grant poison resistance when needed.

Hours passed as they pushed through the swamp with such difficulty.

Finally, the subjugation squad discovered that the hydra had torn up something other than the ground.

“This is…”

A certain knight’s dazed mutter spread into the air.

Amidst the thick fog, the ruins of a city whose city wall had melted down in its entirety greeted them.