If you go straight east from Kiki Island, where Myeosin is located, you’ll come across a small continent.
It’s about one-fifth the size of the main continent where the Empire is, but it’s got its own charm.
After an hour of break, Yena and I managed to reach the place where the village that Myeosin mentioned was supposed to be.
“Um… there’s no village?”
“It’s already been swept through.”
Of course, it used to be a village.
[?]
[Hahaha! What a mess!]
[What a disaster!]
[Did everyone get eaten?]
[That’s just great!]
[Everything’s wrecked!]
[Where are the monsters?]
All the houses in the village were smashed, and in the middle of the town, there was a huge path, as if a monster had just barreled through.
It was about the size of the creature I knew.
Looking beside me, I saw Yena measuring the width of the path with her hands and nodding.
“It looks almost hill-sized… where could it have gone?”
“Who knows? If it finished eating, it might have gone to sleep.”
That thing doesn’t really have a stomach to speak of, so when it finds ore, it just munches down on whatever it can.
However, once it feels full, it usually digs underground and goes to sleep.
From the warmth and signs left behind, it hasn’t been long since it finished its meal.
But one thing seemed a bit odd…
‘There are no people. Did they escape?’
One of the characteristics of the Iron Devourer is that the ‘impurities’ generated from eating ore are spat out again.
If it had raided the village, there should be corpses or large bodies of shattered remains lying around.
But aside from the wreckage, there were no bodies in this village.
“From the traces, it looks like it was at most three days ago. When it goes to sleep, it usually stays out for about a month, so it probably won’t be active for a while.”
“Oh… I see.”
“Yes. And the lack of corpses suggests that someone else might have interfered. The Ore Monster eats ore but doesn’t eat humans. Even if it did, it would spit them out.”
“Really…? But where did you hear that? The Master never really talked about it.”
“I saw something similar a long time ago. If they’re the same race, it probably wouldn’t be too different.”
Of course, the Iron Devourer doesn’t have a ‘race’ like that.
Its origin is pretty much a non-living being.
[?]
[In your alien days?]
[Hahahahahaha!]
[That concept still cracks me up!]
[Go wild, Lily!]
Yena nodded in agreement.
Since we’ve built a certain rapport over time, now whatever I say just gets a “Yeah, I guess” reaction.
If I were to summon mana in real life, she’d probably just go with it, right?
It’s so weak that I couldn’t even show it visibly.
It’s not something to show off.
“First, if we’ve looked around this much, a new quest should be…”
Ding!
[Sub – Clear: Ore Monster]
[A small amount of experience points has been acquired.]
[You have obtained 1 fragment of the Ore Monster.]
[Having confirmed the presence of the Ore Monster, you feel an urgent need to investigate somewhere.]
[You approximately learn the position of the source.]
[Sub – Source of the Ore Monster]
Objective – Explore the dungeon of the Ore Monster.
Reward – ?, Ore Monster Fragment.
One gray fragment dropped into the hands of Yena and me.
It was a pretty large fragment, just manageable in one hand, radiating the unique aura of the Iron Devourer.
Moreover, the way the position for the next quest is displayed from afar was definitely strong in the ‘game’ aspect, recalling early game vibes.
“Well, the position has popped up, so let’s head to the dungeon.”
“Got it.”
[Oh]
[Easy peasy]
[Dungeon let’s gooooo]
[Definitely has that old-school vibe lol]
[Wow]
[Position point lol so nostalgic]
[What will they give us?]
■
“Temple?”
“It feels a bit eerie…”
Following the position point of the dungeon led us to a small temple wrapped tightly with talismans and chains.
It looks like it was tightly bound to seal something, but with a few talismans ripped and the door open, the seal had already been broken.
And that seal must belong to the Iron Devourer that just made a mess of the village we saw earlier.
Yena perked up her ears and waved her tail.
“I glanced at this place while we were coming. There was not only a perfectly fine village but also no people at all. It feels fishy.”
“I didn’t see it either, but it does seem suspicious.”
Is this simply a problem of the Iron Devourer?
Even if the Iron Devourer has been unsealed for some time and could have smashed every village on the continent, it’s not a destroyer like other ancient beasts.
The purpose of attacking villages is solely for food, not for slaughtering out of rage or other motives.
If it could flip the continent upside down, the Iron Devourer’s activities would have had to span at least several hundred years at the very least.
However, this seal hasn’t been broken for that long.
Moreover, if it had committed a massacre, there should definitely be corpses around…
“…Let’s go in first.”
“Sounds good.”
Whatever it is, we’ll find out by checking it out.
If it really is the Iron Devourer and it’s still engaging in such acts, we’ll have to seal it again.
If it’s getting loose, I guess we have to seal it again.
[Let’s go~]
[We’ll find out when we get there, right?]
[Yena is so cute.]
[In the meantime, look at Yena’s speech returning, lol.]
[Hahaha]
I opened the half-open door of the temple.
[Recommended level 60, playtime 7-80 minutes, maximum party size 15.]
[Do you wish to enter the Ore Monster’s temple?]
[You are currently on a training quest. Difficulty will adjust based on the training process.]
…
[Recommended level 121, playtime ? minutes, maximum party size 2.]
■
A world full of spiritual power.
In this land, which is neither easy to call large nor small, two types of people lived.
One was ordinary people with regular bodies and minds.
And the other was special people who could see demons and possessed unique inspiration and spiritual power.
These two types of people didn’t understand each other’s differences, yet they coexisted in their own way.
That was because ordinary people were far more numerous, while those with spiritual power were much fewer.
Ordinary folks called them ‘sorcerers’ and sometimes requested them to handle difficult tasks or strange phenomena when they happened.
Sorcerers helped ordinary people and received appropriate rewards for their efforts.
As the relationship between sorcerers and people continued.
“Hah…”
“This is serious. How could this happen…?”
“What could we do with such a thing…!”
“Everyone, calm down!”
An event occurred where the best sorcerers of the time gathered in one place.
The reason for their gathering was that the seal of the Primordial Demon and the largest demon, the ‘Iron Devourer,’ was becoming increasingly loose.
Evil demons that existed long before sorcerers were called sorcerers.
If such a demon were to be released, a great disaster would ensue, so everyone was searching for a solution, and finally, a sorcerer appeared with the answer.
“Ma?”
It was a child.
A small child who had just begun to walk.
At first glance, they seemed insignificant and fragile, but all the sorcerers felt it.
That the child possessed enough spiritual power to seal a powerful demon.
The woman who brought the child, the one with the strongest spiritual power among the sorcerers, declared with her splendid robe billowing:
“There’s no time. The old jewel, Iron Soul Sword, can no longer seal the ‘Iron Devourer.’ Someone must infuse the power to seal the demon.”
“Ahem… But the Iron Soul Sword has handled it well until now. Handing over the sword at this point…”
“I’ve been holding it off this whole time. Handing over the sword now… doesn’t sit right with me.”
“Hmph. If sorcerers are this ignorant…”
“Ig, ignorant?”
Boom!
“Don’t speak carelessly! No matter how much you claim to be the best among sorcerers, those here are the finest…”
“Aah. Enough. The conclusion is that the Iron Soul Sword has lost its role as a jewel. If we don’t want the perpetrators to die along with us, we must proceed with force.”
“…But why has the Iron Soul Sword lost its spiritual power? It was perfectly fine the last time we saw it, just a few years ago.”
“Who knows? It’s such an old item. It wouldn’t be strange for it to run out of power at any time.”
Cough…
“Isn’t it rather fascinating? That we managed to seal such a ghost for so long?”
Everyone swallowed their breath.
As she said, the Iron Soul Sword could no longer maintain its seal, and the ‘Iron Devourer’ was on the brink of breaking free into the world.
There were some doubts, but the situation was urgent.
In the end, the Iron Soul Sword containing the Iron Devourer was placed in the hands of a child.
For a time, peace was maintained.
A temporary peace, that is.
■
[TIP. The path of training is difficult. There won’t be much information allowed.]
[Training in progress.]
[Depending on the difficulty of training, existing progress and routes may change partially.]
[Changing… Complete.]
[You are a Level 6 Sorcerer.]
[Temporarily, all stats are converted to Spiritual Power.]
[Spell – Level 2 Spiritual Power restriction applied.]
[Spell – Level 1 Information restriction applied.]
“Restrictions? Information?”
In that moment, I glanced at the message before me and thought of Myeosin, grabbing my head.
Memory…
“It’s fine, huh?”
“Nyaa?”
“Miss Yena? You’re fine too, right?”
“Of course, I’m fine, meow.”
Is the user fine?
I wondered if the system’s penalties could affect memories, but thankfully, it seemed it wasn’t that severe.
I felt a bit restricted in power, but this much…
“What are you doing, meow?”
“Oh. I’m just thinking for a second─”
“Aren’t we supposed to go hunt a Level 5 Demon today? We need to hurry, or other sorcerers will take the prize, meow!”
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