Vending Machine - 205 - Marching Forward

Chapter 205: Marching Forward

Link: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n7583de/

Author: Hirukuma

Translated by Zzonkedd

Edited by Gumihou

Gumihou: The text started to become rather wordy and blocky. Smoothed it out [1].

Two days later, the hunter who had been sent on the recon mission returned.

He had feathery wings growing out of his back, making him look like an angel. He was part of a race called the Winged Demons, and possessed a rather unique set of Gifts which included <Flight>, <Concealment>, <Thousand Mile Vision>, <Night Vision>, <Teleportation> and <Stealth>. [1]

All factors made him especially suited to this dangerous job.

As key members of this mission, we were immediately notified the moment he returned.

Ramis said as we hurried over, “It’s great that the scout returned safely.” [1]

“He seems especially adept at recon missions,” Harumi observed from her seat on top of my head. [1]

Since we were in a hurry, Ramis sprinted forward with me on her back and the brains of our operation on my head. Pitee and Mishael followed just behind us.

Speaking of which, I noticed that the two of them had been getting along quite well lately. At least, I saw them talking to each other quite often. They appeared quite different, but they must have something in common to chat so much. If they could become friends, I would have one less thing to worry about.

In the meeting room, a handsome man with bright golden hair and large, white, swan-like wings dominated the place. He really did look like an angel.

“You’ve all arrived. Take a seat.”

Despite all that hurrying, it looked like we were the last ones to arrive. I was placed near the entrance.

“Now, Mukiora, what can you tell us?”

“Well, there was certainly an island with a fortress on it behind Rocky Dog Mountain. I landed on the roof in the middle of the night and infiltrated the place.”

Isn’t that too daring? It’s not like Director Bear to send people out on dangerous missions… [1]

“The mission request was for external scouting only.”

“Yeah, that’s the plan. But since there’s no sign of the enemy, I thought I’d take a look around. I was already there and couldn’t sense any sign of life or movement.”

Ah, so it was his own decision. [1]

“The whole place was completely emptied out. No ships either, so I guess they must have decided to abandon the place. [1]”

Since they knew I had escaped the place, they must have moved on to a different base. I think I read in a novel somewhere that it is a basic military strategy to have several bases in different locations.

“Fumu, I did hear that the majority of their soldiers were Bone Demons. Likely minions summoned by the Ruler of the Netherworld. It would be no problem for the Ruler to send the minions away or help move the few humans and demi-humans to escape the place. Also, I heard that Sulrim could use <Teleportation>. It is entirely possible that she may have moved the whole group to an entirely different level.”

“That is highly unlikely, Director,” said Mukiora. “As a <Teleportation> user, I can assure you that it is a tricky Gift that consumes a great amount of mental and physical energy. I only have enough magic to carry myself and three others. Once done, it would need three days to recover. No matter how powerful Snow Spirits might be, I believe they could only transport up to ten people. Moreover, it could not be used continuously for long-distance travel.”

If that’s the case, if Sulrom used her <Teleportation> skill at all, it would only be to move Leader Keryoil and his party while others fled by ship. There was no way Leader would allow her to leave with his son.

“Clearflow Lake Director! Let’s go after those escaping by ship and truss them up like chickens!” Scorching Sand Director’s voice roared across the room.

“Scorching Sand Director’s opinion is reasonable,” said the Director of the Beginner’s Floor. “However, would the Ruler of the Netherworld really allow his people to escape by ship, knowing that they could be captured and questioned? If I were him, I would either have them defend the fortress to death to buy time or have them all commit suicide.”

It was quite horrifying to hear the director casually say something so utterly terrifying. Then again, she was the one who had seen the terrible result of the Ruler of the Netherworld’s actions.

“Maybe there’s another reason behind that move? This Ruler of the Netherworld guy seems like a pretty bad fellow,” said the child-like Director of the Rocky Dog Mountain floor.

“What are your thoughts, Hyurumi?” Director Bear asked.

Hyurumi folded her arms and closed her eyes in deep thought.

Then, she slowly opened her eyes, her gaze far away as she said, “This is just a speculation, of course. It is highly likely that the ones who escaped on boats are low-ranking members with very little substantial information. So, even if we did manage to get our hands on them, they wouldn’t be of much use to us or get their side in trouble. The other possibility is…”

Hyurumi suddenly stopped. She gave everyone around a significant look and said, “They may be planning to use the Skull Ring to manipulate Rocky Dog Mountain. If they could get the Floor Boss to move and destroy the base, well, whatever evidence of them on this floor would be eliminated. [1] There is also the possibility that they may use the ring and make the Floor Boss come this way…”

Someone gasped.

Well, this kind of horrifying, over-the-top plan certainly fits the King of the Netherworld.

“We cannot ignore the possibility. As a precaution, send another scout to-”

Suddenly, the conference door slammed open.

A panicked-looking soldier said, “Emergency! Rocky Dog Mountain is heading our way!”

Looks like the worse the prediction, the more likely it will happen.

I had already mentally braced myself for the situation and could therefore accept this unexpected development.

“Move all residents to Clearflow Lake Floor! Head over there once you’ve sent all the residents off!” Director Bear quickly ordered before rushing out of the room.

We sprinted after him.

“Hey, so what are we going to do? What should we do now?!”

“I don’t know! Just run away!”

Panic gripped the villagers as they ran around in all directions.

Soldiers tried to calm them down and guide them towards the Teleportation circle, but the majority of the residents were staring at the sea with despair in their eyes.

In the distance, a ginormous dog stepped forward leisurely across the sea. With every step it took, large waves rushed forward from its paws and soon, houses along the shoreline were swallowed by the sea. It was utter destruction.

Grandpa Shimerai stepped forward. He took out a fan and spread it out. On the fan was the painted depiction of a rocky mountain.

“At this rate, we could be swallowed by a tsunami before can do anything. Hup!”

He made an upward slashing motion with the fan.

Suddenly, a massive rock wall emerged from the sandy beach. It stood majestically along the coast. At a guess, it was probably about five meters high.

“Woah!!”

Cheers erupted from the residents.

With the view of the incoming Rocky Dog, the fear appeared to have gone down a bit.

“Hurry, guide these people to safety,” said Grandpa Shimerai as he tapped the child Director on the back.

This caused the child director to jump and, after a quick spin around, leapt into action. “Ah, that’s right! No need to panic, everyone~! This matter is being handled by experts, so please head towards the teleportation array in an orderly manner. Children and the elderly first!”

“This way, please.”

“Prioritise the children and elderly,”

“Do not worry, we have plenty of time.”

We left the matter of evacuating the residents to the child Direct and his staff, as well as the soldiers.

I noticed one of the female staff members holding a weapon that looked a lot like a police baton. Well, tonfas are good peacekeeping weapons, so it was probably not strange to see them being carried around.

Still, this was not the time to dwell on such things. We still have the Rocky Dog Mountain issue to deal with.

Most of us had climbed into the makeshift wall. [1] Well, I was carried up, but that was a given. As we watched, the stone monster continued its steady pace towards us. It certainly looked like some kind of giant monster thing made with expensive special effects.

I remember reading about the cost of the scene in that movie about monsters.

“It’s absolutely impossible. How did that team even manage to defeat it last time?” Hyurumi sighed in exasperation.

I can understand her frustration; unlike those movies, we lacked the heavy weapons and explosives needed to confront a monster of such size. Doing anything against it without thought is beyond reckless.

“Indeed, just how did we do it? It seemed even more far-fetched now. Do you remember it, Granny?”

“How could you have forgotten? We were swallowed by that beast and went on a rampage inside.”

“Oh, yes, it was certainly a ‘very close fight’,” [2] Director of Darkness snickered.

“Umu, looking back, it was certainly quite reckless of us. I’m surprised we even survived,” [2] said Director Bear thoughtfully.

Hold it, were they the ones who had defeated the Rocky Dog Mountain in the past? As in, Director Bear’s party?!

“Eh? You defeated that thing before?!” Ramis exclaimed.

The two of us were not the only ones who were shocked. The others just weren’t able to react properly.

“Aaah, we were young then and filled with the recklessness of youth. Our team was swallowed up and we managed to destroy it from the inside somehow,” said the Old Man.

“Then, we can just do the same thing, right?” Ramis looked very excited now.

“That’s not possible, Ramis. To be honest, I would not recommend that method. The inside of the Rocky Dog Mountain is filled with corrosive fluids that would dissolve nearly anything in an instant. Back then, we had countermeasures, sought cooperation from those with Gifts of protection and trained for months before even attempting the challenge.”

“Our party also have Gifts that allow us to control liquids and wind manipulation. We also brought time-delayed exploding magic tools. In the end, if luck had not been on our side, we would not be here now,” said Granny.

If the powerful elderly couple advised against an enemy that they had already defeated once before, that creature must be quite the enemy.

To the Rocky Dog Mountain, we must be like ants.

Even though this was a fantasy world, defeating such a ginormous enemy must be something like an absurd thing.

“So, the only thing we can do is… buy time until the evacuation is completed?” [1] said Hyurumi in frustration.

“It may be possible to challenge that thing on land, but with the added challenge of the sea… What do you think, Master Hakkon?” asked Mishael.

I do wish he would stop directing such unreasonable questions at me.

Especially since it only made everyone turn expectant eyes towards me.

Um, let’s think. The method that Director Bear’s party used was similar to how I had defeated the Eight-Legged Alligator.

Then again, the Alligator was a living creature with weaker internal organs. Was the Rocky Dog Mountain even a living creature? Did it even have internal organs?

“Mon-ster”

“In-side”

“Wh-at”

Although my words were limited, I hope it got the message across.

All eyes then turned to Ramis and Hyurumi.

“I think he wants to know what’s inside that thing,” said Hyurumi.

“Yup, Hakkon wants to know the monster’s insides,” Ramis confirmed.

I was lucky to have them to communicate my intentions. However, I should not rely on them completely. I need to improve my language skills and get better at speaking.

“The insides, eh? Well, it’s basically a cave with rough rock walls. The digestive liquid reaches up to the knees and is powerful enough to dissolve regular iron in minutes,” said Grandpa.

“What else… Ah, there were also those nasty flying creatures about the size of a human’s head. I remember those things being really annoying.”

“Well, Granny here took care of them, so we were spared from having to deal with those things.”

“Eh, they were pretty big targets.”

It must have been a pretty hellish place, not that anyone would know it from the casual way these two elderly people talked about it. Their tone seems more nostalgic than anything.

Still, it was reassuring to know that the very people who had participated in the one and only subjugation of this monster were our companions. However, it was not so reassuring when this very same companion advised against using that same tactic against this monster. Perhaps we really should consider not doing anything too reckless.

It would be one thing if I were the only one to make the suicide attack, but I don’t want to put my comrades in danger. Ramis would definitely want to come with me if I did anything like that.

“Bu-y”

“Ti-me”

“Buy time?” Hyurumi said.

“Buy time!” Ramis cheered.

Their voices overlapped as they interpreted for me.

There was no argument against this plan. However, the question now is how to buy time. The Rocky Dog Mountain is steadily getting larger and larger in the distance. The tsunami striking against Grandpa’s makeshift wall was also getting taller.

At this rate, the water may go over the top of the wall soon.

If I have the opportunity to return to Japan one more time, I would definitely use the time to watch a [3] kaiju movie and properly analyse how they had defeated the creature,

Such thoughts drifted through my mind as I stared at the approaching Rocky Dog Mountain.

[Gumihou: Hmm, this chapter is difficult in its own way]

[1] Added details

[2] Changed the dialogue between Director Bear and Director of Darkness for dad joke reasons.

[3] Kaiju – ginormous monster

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