I crossed the distance of about twenty meters in merely a bit more than two seconds and was only a few steps away from the entrance. However, just when I was hopeful for almost making a get-away, the stone door closed and blocked my only path to escape.
“Curses!” I stomped on the ground in indignation.
In haste, I circulated the source energy within my body and gathered it in my free left hand. By mustering all the power within me, I additionally conjured lightning like how Tuilë did it and punched the door hard. But like punching a block of steel, my fist was the one getting hard from the clash just now.
Brittle yet hard.
Although it didn’t make sense, it felt like the door was designed to absorb source energy akin to catalyst stones and used it to harden itself. So dreadful.
“Lunaria! You said that most of the security systems are dormant!” I yelled at her, enunciating each syllable.
Honestly, I was frustrated. That was why I was rehashing information just to calm myself down… I mean, I might find a way out if I calmed down.
“I did. You do realize that this isn’t what a maximum level of security is supposed to be. This is barely level 1; maximum level security would have guard tower spring up everywhere by now.”
“Really?! More importantly, what should we do? We are cornered from all directions with no way to escape.”
At this moment, the ancient constructs were slowly approaching me from all directions… It was as if they were sure that I couldn’t escape from their grasp, which was true.
“Fight! I will help you no matter what the situation is.”
She was right.
I had been fighting this whole time, so the answer to this problem wouldn’t be any different. Perhaps, her support was all I needed at times like this.
“Fine! Let’s go then!”
The sword, which was obviously a greatsword, was too bulky to be put into my backpack. Hence, if I wanted to bring it home, I had to use and swung it like my life depended on it.
I pondered for a moment. If the sword could be drawn by source energy, then the password couldn’t be more obvious. So, I channeled some source energy into the sword, and the strange injector-like part suddenly started to rotate and the patterns on the blade glowed.
“Wh-What?!” I stared at the sword in my hands, dumbfounded.
Holding the sword drained my energy like crazy, and if I wasn’t both a Tier-1 enhancer and evoker, I wouldn’t last a second. At the same time, it became sharper, as if it could cut steel like butter.
Suddenly, one of the round ancient constructs rolled toward me at extreme speed. It was seriously frightening. Like a mad bull charging but faster and harder, being hit by it would be no different than being hit by a speeding bus.
Being cornered left me with no choice but to face it; I swung the greatsword toward its trajectory, making it a clash of strength.
The blade made a clanking sound or so I thought as a pressure appeared when it connected with the approaching foe, but the rolling construct was instead sliced in half — the two parts were thrown on my left and right.
It was sharp! Extremely so to the point that the word “sharp” wouldn’t do justice in representing this indescribable feeling of holding this thing.
Ouch! My hands were throbbing; the impact on the hard object caused the sword to vibrate, which then resulted in a painful sensation in my hands.
“Ngh! A sword isn’t fit at cutting hard metal. If only I have a blunt weapon on me… like a sledgehammer or something similar will do…” I whined.
At that second, the sword mechanically transformed and covered both of my fists. I wasn’t sure if it was but a figment of my imagination or not, but this occurred within the span of a moment and was so bizarre that I could only watch silently in shock.
“What the heck happened?!” I tried to move my fingers and they responded.
“My, this is an extremely rare artifact, I say. Ancient weapons always work wonders.”
According to Lunaria’s statement, this wasn’t just my eyes playing a trick on me. It was real — the sword had changed into a pair of disproportionately large gauntlets.
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Wait, this isn’t what I asked! After all, I was asking for a sledgehammer and not a pair of gauntlets. This meant that the weapon also had limitations to what it could transform to.
In any case, this would make do.
Meanwhile, the other ancient constructs didn’t stay silent as they closed the distance with three more rolling constructs coming after me.
I bumped my gauntlets together, causing sparks to fly about. “Alright! Let’s see what this thing got!”
To test the power of this weapon, I smote the nearest rolling construct that I decided to call a “roller,” smashing it into pieces, including its inside.
The other two didn’t escape a similar fate as I threw punches left and right. However, while these two were also smashed, they formed back even with fragmented shells. Apparently, there were shining white orbs filled with strange inscription-like patterns inside their bodies. That must be their cores, similar to the black orb for the watchtower.
On account of this, I targeted their weakness — smashing the white orbs.
None of the ancient constructs were able to put up a fight when my fists flew toward them, even when the other ancient constructs were bulkier and tougher. I didn’t even have to use my source power to coat the gauntlets with source element; just their raw power was enough to crush anything standing in my way.
In fact, with this mighty weapon, Luna-1 didn’t even have to help me.
Once I finished off all of the nearest ancient constructs, I focused back my attention on the stone door. The number of ancient constructs trying to kill me seemed unending, so I had to seize every chance to escape I had.
I circulated my source energy to the gauntlets and coated them with Pyro and Electro. As an evoker, I was able to coat parts of my body with source elements — though it might be harmful to oneself if he or she wasn’t an enhancer as well. The effect would be weaker compared to using a catalyst stone, too.
However, the pair of gauntlets were strangely able to absorb and transform the source energy I sent in as though their entirety were made of catalyst stones… Furthermore, it had no issue turning it into any element I wished for.
How was that possible?!
I mean, it would make more sense if it could only transform into one source element. But more than two? Did that even make sense?
Whatever the reason might be, I focused back on attempting to destroy the stone gate and clenched my right fist as hard as I could before unleashing the strongest punch ever.
When the gauntlet connected to the stone gate, it caused it to carve a spiderweb crack along with a fist imprint. It seemed that one punch wasn’t enough. Not with my current strength at least.
“So what? If one is not enough, then two, then three!” I continued throwing even more punches until the stone door broke into pieces and hastily got out of the place.
It almost felt like I was being chased by a ghost — one of the ancient construct’s blades nearly stab me. If I was a second too late, I would have died while feeling relieved. That would be the worst thing that could happen.
It was worth noting that if I didn’t manage to discover the use of this artifact, I wouldn’t have retreated scot-free. Or I even might not be able to return alive in the worst-case scenario.
“Ack… I didn’t feel it when fighting… but now that the action is over, the fatigue from using this weapon gets back on me.”
Now in a safe location a distance away from the ruins, I fell to the ground in a rather dramatic way. It wasn’t intentional; I was just that tired here…
In the same moment and in the same way, the pair of gauntlets turned back into a greatsword. It appeared that its true form was still a sword, not a pair of gauntlets or any other, and it would revert back when it was no longer in use.
My hunch was telling me that this was still not the full potential of the weapon. The “password” mentioned in the description given by [Identification] probably didn’t refer to simply using my source energy to activate it but something more profound.
Above all else, now that the sword had shown its worth, it would be used often to become my main weapon. After prolonged use, the catalyst daggers had been worn out, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they would crumble into pieces sooner or later.
“But my automatic rifle would still excel when it comes to long-range fight. The sword is only useful when facing strange creatures impervious to bullets like the ancient constructs.”
Preferably, I didn’t want to have more similar melee combat no more, but not every situation could be solved simply by avoiding it, so I had to be prepared. Speaking of close-range fights…
“Who are you talking to?” Lunaria interrupted my thoughts as Luna-1 floated near me and said, “Now that the ruins have been explored, what’s next on the menu?”
“Well, I want to tie the loose ends that I have made — taking care of the carcasses of the mutant ants in the queen’s chamber, along with the promise of recruiting Yorith and his men. Yesterday, he voiced his agreement to join this endeavor.”
Also, there was the ant insecticide and Aquarine fire that had to be paid for. I had been purchasing things from the vendor on credit and it had been long overdue, so I ought to pay for them as soon as possible.
“And?” She inquired, expecting me to say more, “Is that all on your agenda?”
I raised my shoulders and shook my head. “After that, we’ll check on Tuilë and the airship’s progress. She may require our assistance, and if we want to finish the airship’s reconstruction faster, we have to help. Rebuilding the airship is a job and a half. Can’t say what danger may come to us if we dilly-dally.” Even though, I wanna slack off a bit after all this exploration…
“That’s agreeable.”
With that said, we returned to the surface. However, ever since that time when bringing too many source crystals with me, in fear of invoking people’s greed, I had been exploring the cave to find an alternative exit whenever there was free time these past two days. Luckily, I found one quite quickly, and it led just a bit more than a dozen meters away from the mine.
Hang on… I can transform it into a pair of gauntlets and place them inside my backpack… I facepalmed for not thinking about this earlier. Besides, if it could transform at will, it should be able to shrink somewhat…
So then, I channeled my source energy into the sword and made an intention of turning it into something small within my mind. In a second, the artifact sword dematerialized and shrunk into a palm-sized badge,
“Neat!”
If it transformed mechanically before, now it was magically, perplexing me.
I then gave Yorith a heads-up to gather his men tomorrow morning so that they could prepare today. Although there was still time before sundown, conserving my strength for today and taking a long adequate rest was more important.