Chapter 277: A Horde Beyond Expectations (2/2)

Reinbach-sama pointed to a part of a valley crowded with undead, where a steep cliff could be found along with the rotten remains of a rope bridge that must have snapped and fallen a long time ago.

Along the way, I found out that the bridge was once called the ‘Bridge of Hope’.

“The criminals sent to the prison down this road were all convicted felons sentenced to either life or execution. At the time, it was accepted to abuse the prisoners to allow the wardens to satisfy their urges, so torture was also the norm. But there were also rumors that human experimentation – which was illegal – was also being performed…” [Schieber]

“In other words, it’s a famous spot for suicide. Though sometimes it wasn’t the prisoners killing themselves but the jailers pushing them off for fun. A place like that is bound to make it easy for undead to rise and gather.” [Remilie]

“Is that what the hope in ‘Bridge of Hope’ refers to? Ironic…” [Ryouma]

“Unfortunately, humanity isn’t all pretty.” [Sebasu]

“Agreed, and that’s why the least we could do is to get rid of the undead that we can see.” [Schieber]

When I nodded to Schieber-san, the ruins of the bridge was already before us. The area around the bridge must’ve been well-maintained before, as it was clear of obstacles. We placed our belongings away from the cliff and started preparing.

First, we secured the area around us, then I prepared a lifeline for our descent with earth magic, rope, and the wire slime. I don’t know what the exact height of this cliff is, but it’s at least as high as the fifth floor of a building, so precautions ought to be taken.

After that I took out barrels filled with oil and quickly lined them up along the edge of the cliff, then the adults threw them down.

It was surprising how the adults didn’t push the barrels down and instead carried them then threw them down. The barrels were the same size as those large barrels filled with wine, so they weren’t by any means small, and they were filled to the brim with oil, so they were certainly heavy.

I know they used ki or magic to strengthen themselves, but it’s still a queer sight to see a group of four adults so easily lift such heavy barrels and throw them down.

“Fu fu, I might not like fighting up close, but I can still do this much. Mages do need a weapon in case they’re forced to fight up close.” [Remilie]

“True.” [Ryouma]

I know she’s healthy and all, but seeing her pick up those huge barrels with her slender arms, not to mention with one hand, gives me a weird feeling as though I were looking at something that’s been photoshopped. I guess this is a part of my previous life that I’ve yet to completely rid myself of…

“Ryouma-sama, the royal court magicians may all be called as such, but they have many duties ranging from research to the nurturing of their juniors. Remilie-sama was mainly in charge of hunting down monsters and bandits, as well as researching magic. She was one of the best.” [Sebasu]

“So not just any royal court magician could have done her work.” [Ryouma]

“Precisely.” [Sebasu]

Just like with ki reinforcement, the more a mage uses strengthening magic, the more proficient they become, and the more efficient their mana consumption becomes. They could also opt to consume more mana to raise the efficacy of their magic.

“Vah…” [Undead 1]

“Ah…” [Undead 2]

Every time a barrel fell, the sound of it crashing accompanied by the screams of the undead would echo throughout the canyon. Perhaps they were trying to avoid the light of the day, but there were barely any gaps between the undead. That’s why the barrels would always hit a few of them.

“Ryouma-kun, that’s enough.” [Reinbach]

“You sure? That’s only about half of the oil I brought with me.” [Ryouma]

“The barrels are big and we’ve already thrown about 30 of them. It’s more than enough.” [Reinbach]

“I can’t believe that’s just half of what you brought.” [Schieber]

“It’s because you can make a lot of raw material for vegetable oil using slime and magic.” [Ryouma]

We had plenty of oil already, so I took my slimes out from my Dimension Home. I got an Emperor Scavenger Slime and a Big Acid Slime, then for support, I also got out the metal slimes and iron slimes, as well as the spider slimes. About 50 slimes each.

“Looks like your slimes are ready. Let’s begin.” [Reinbach]

Upon seeing that my preparations were complete, Reinbach-sama shot a fireball at the barrels down the cliff. With nothing to obstruct them, they shot straight for their target and started a fire that quickly grew into a great flame that devoured the undead.

The undead tried to flee, but the scope of the fire was too big, while the undead were slow and too many.

They could barely move yet the winds blowing between the cliffs roused the fire to burn even stronger. A cloud of black smoke veiled the great fire, but the winds blew that veil open, revealing the countless corpse writhing in agony as they burned. It was hell indeed.

“…Reinbach-chan. That was just a Fireball, right?　Didn’t the fire spread too quickly?” [Remilie]

“Yes… Despite the oil, the corpses should have taken a bit more time to catch fire considering the moisture.” [Reinbach]

“I was planning to use that oil as a trap, so I used the sticky slime’s sticky liquid as a thickener and mixed it with it. As a result, my oil can stick onto the skin and clothes much easier than normal. That’s probably why the fire spread so quickly.” [Ryouma]

It’s also because of that that I couldn’t use it for cooking or fuel or for other products, as well as the biggest reason why I ended up with too much oil.

“You even did that?” [Sebasu]

“By this point, it’s already a weapon. An anti-personnel one. In that case, this will probably be much quicker than I’d thought.” [Reinbach]

“I’m glad you like it.” [Ryouma]

But at this rate, won’t this actually be enough to wipe out all the undead below?

Or so I asked, but…

“Unfortunately, that’s not possible. The undead are just too resilient.” [Schieber]

“Your oil may certainly be more effective than normal oil, but at most, it’ll be able to take down 75% of them.” [Remilie]

“Still, there’s so many of them that even just reducing their numbers by half is plenty. The remaining undead should be weakened by having to regenerate so many times in a short period of time, so this definitely wasn’t a meaningless act.” [Reinbach]

Despite that it would still take awhile before the fire dies down. Not that I’m complaining, though. Since it definitely beats having to take that massive horde head on.

“I thought this too when I saw it from above earlier, but this sure is an amazing view.” [Ryouma]

“Come to think of it, you were looking around inquisitively, weren’t you? Is it your first time seeing a landscape like this?” [Remilie]

“I’m used to mountains and forests already, but it’s my first time seeing such a vast canyon. I wonder how many years it took to form? I can’t even imagine.” {Ryouma]

“This canyon should be about 1,500 years old. Apparently, it was the ‘Child of the Gods’ then that changed the geography.” [Remilie]

“Really? …Isn’t that a fairy-tale?” [Ryouma]

The ‘Child of the Gods’ is a term used to refer to the otherworlders that have transmigrated here. Among those otherworlders are people whose actions and existence continue to be spoken about even to this day. That was written in the book I got from Gayn when I came to this world for the first time.

“While I’m sure there are plenty of embellishments and distortion of facts in the stories passed down, they’re not fairy-tales.After all, it was none other than the king of this country that created this canyon after training his magic. His name has properly been recorded in the history books, and there’s an anecdote about him there too.

The Child of the Gods, Masaharu, was born with vast reserves of mana, and he wielded powerful magic. The magic he used in his training was so powerful that he gave rise to mountains, tore the ground, leveled the earth, and washed everything away with heavy rain and waves, resulting into this.

He was born during a time of war, and records have it that it was because of his power that the country was able to push back the front lines.” [Reinbach]

“I see. That’s my first time hearing it.” [Ryouma]

It’s hard to believe that the magic of an otherworlder was actually able to form a canyon like this. Just what kind of magic could realize such a thing? The scale is too big. I couldn’t do it even if I used my slime magic.

Well, I might be able to accomplish it it were in several moves. Certainly, not in a single move, though. And it would take me a considerably long time. He became a king, did he? …Hmm?　Wait, he’s the king, and that would mean the royal family, so…

“If I’m not mistaken, that King Masaharu is Elia’s ancestor, right?” [Ryouma]

“Precisely.” [Sebasu]

I knew it! It’s that’s peerless otherworlder magician that Gayn mentioned!　I don’t know much about him, but I heard he poured all of his otherworlder privileges into magic. If so, then perhaps it’s not impossible that he was able to change the terrain this much with magic.

As I thought of the possibilities of a magic I’ve never seen and my otherworlder senpai, the fire below gradually waned and our plan to subjugate the unexpected horde below moved on to the next phase.