Black Iron Magician

Chapter 15 The Nest’s Deepest Part

「Yep, I guess this will do!」

Haruna, who killed a lot of ash kobolds in the room, said so while wiping the blood on her fist. The frightened ash kobolds were no different from a disorderly crowd, and in the latter half, some of them tried to run away. Haruna didn’t get any damage, and the battle, which was supposed to be challenged with a party, ended.

However, there was one careless thing that Haruna did. That is――

「Ahh! This is Chinatsu’s handkerchief!? T-this is bad, I thoughtlessly used wiped the blood with it. I have to quickly wash it off….」

She wiped the blood using a handkerchief that she borrowed from Chinatsu. The lovely pink color became a repulsive fresh blood color. There is no detergent or bleach in this world. It’s a race against time. Haruna hurriedly looks around for a watering place.

「Ah, if I’m not wrong, the time will be stopped for the items inside this bag, right? F-for the time being, let’s put it inside.」

――――The problem seems to have been solved safely. Relieved, Haruna moved on to the task of cutting the tail from the pile of ash kobold corpses. She cut it and put it into the bag, she cut it and put it into the bag again. There’s no end to it.

(Still, my overall condition was really good. My aikido reversal was neat like in a manga, blow technique and locking technique were amusingly hitting well. Is this because of the skills? If I master the skills thoroughly, maybe I can techniques that are impossible in reality?)

Despite thinking about such a thing, Haruna’s work proceeds smoothly. After a while, what remained are 38 tail-less ash kobolds.

「Dismantling work is over! Hmm, this sense of accomplishment sinks deeply into my mind…! If I want to take pieces of the opponent I fought, should I take 『Dismantling』 skill? Yep, let’s consult it to Shishou later. Although, wondering about these things feel enjoyable~」

Haruna puts her hunting knife in the bag and then looks at her next destination. It is a cave at the lowest level that looks just like any other holes. It takes too much time and effort to explore all the holes in the wall. As a solution to this, Haruna decided to choose the hole where the ash kobolds were trying to go to. There were some ash kobolds trying to escape in the previous battle, and when she deliberately let them go, it seems that all of them were trying to escape into this hole. Then, Haruna thought this.

(It means, there’s something in this hole!)

…… There’s a paper-thin difference between idiot and genius, but what about in this case?

When she entered the cave, she could see that the crystal was buried in the wall here as well. Securing visibility, check. Haruna steadily goes ahead while being cautious for a surprise attack. There are traces of the wall being excavated here and there, and pickaxes being left on the ground. Probably they were in the middle of mining. The metallic sound can’t be heard at all now.

「Well, is this the end of the line?」

At the end of the cave, there’s another large space spread out. Even if it’s not as big as the room before, it’s still a big room. It seems that it can fit a few houses with the size of Deris’s house. And finally, Haruna discovered it. The wall that’s filled up with the black ore that’s giving a different atmosphere from other ores. The second purpose after subjugating the ash kobolds. If she collects this ore, Haruna will complete the training that was assigned to her.

「Guruoooooo!」

「Yeah, well, I guess it won’t end easily!」

To the loud howl that came from the high place in the room, Haruna’s eyes shined as if she was expecting this. In the guild, old man Geo was against it that much. There’s no way that this subjugation request is easy. Something is definitely going to happen. Haruna was sure of that.

「Guooo.」

When Haruna looked up, there was a huge shadow. A figure that triples the body of the ash kobold and added with fangs, claws, and strong muscles. The weapon in its hand is not a club or other weapon that are about to be discarded, but a large steel battle mace. Saliva was pouring out of its mouth as if it was looking at Haruna in front of it as prey.

Whoos, it swung its strong arm. Haruna, who sensed that something was flying at her, hurriedly left that place.

――Bam!

It was a large rock that was thrown. It flew at a terrible momentum and hit the cave where Haruna came through, blocking the path.

(Uh oh, the retreat path is blocked. Is it the boss of the ash kobold? Since I was told to defeat all of them before mining, I guess I have to deal with this first.)

With a strong boss in front of her, Haruna decided to deal with it while opening and closing her finger, provoking it. Displeased with the attitude of Haruna, which it saw as prey, it raised its angry howl further. The anger led directly to its next action and it instantly jumped high up.

「Gurururu …!」

「Wow, it’s even bigger up close.」

The physical difference between Haruna and ash kobold boss who are facing each other is like an adult and a child, no, it’s more than that. Furthermore, the opponent has a blunt weapon. If she foolishly challenges the battle of strength head-on, it won’t even become a match. Of course, Haruna has no intention of doing so.

「Guruuaaa!」

The mace that was swung with all of its might hit the ground, making the inside of the mining site to shake. Haruna, who avoided it, reconfirmed that she can’t win with power alone. Then, she decided to use the opponent’s power.

She parries the large mace’s furious attack with aikido, adding her power to it, and slam the ash kobold boss against the ground. The target of her attack is its head. It will be difficult if it’s standing, but once it’s down, it doesn’t matter how tall it is. As soon as Haruna knocked the opponent down, she immediately gave him a kick to the head. It’s a kick with all of her power.

――Whoosh!

「Waaah!」

It swung its mace and grazed Haruna’s long black hair.

「Guoo.」

「Oops, it might be a lot stronger than I thought….」

The ash kobold boss shook its head and get up while growling in a low voice. Haruna’s heartbeat quickened a bit, she didn’t expect that he would do a counterattack even from that state. Even though she was able to avoid it with a paper-thin difference thanks to the reflexes, which from the martial arts that she had cultivated over many years, it would be a fatal wound if she was hit.

(T-that was close…. My heart is beating fast. I feel it’s different from nervousness, though.)

After that, Haruna continuously slams the boss against the ground and attacks it with a hit-and-run strategy without chasing it too far. The damage is accumulating little by little. However, she can’t land a decisive blow like this. She also thought about aiming at a critical point such as the eyeball or throat, but it has some learning ability, so it properly takes a guard stance whenever it falls.

(Our physique is too different if I want to lock its joints, and the power will be dispersed by its thick hair and skin…. Fufu. Finally, the time for it has come!)

Seeing an opening where the ash kobold Boss had fallen again, Haruna, who showed a smile of joy, focused her attention on her right hand. What Haruna is trying to do is dark magic. It might be easy to forget, but Haruna’s main job is a magician, which she finally began to do magician-like things after coming here. She’s by no means a brawler.

(It’s a great magic which was used by Gobuo, the Goblin Hero, to defeat the Demon Lord Orcuho….

I will bring you down with this!)

The only dark magic that Haruna was taught by Deris was one type of elementary magic which was written at the beginning of the textbook. Nevertheless, her job is unmistakably a wizard.