Book Eater

Chapter 194: Mercurius (1)

Theo’s judgment was correct. There was no way to mount a general assault on the moving fortress that was Mercurious. It would be like trying to cut water, and it was doubly worse that Mercurious didn’t even have a weak point. They would need overwhelming firepower.

This didn’t exactly mean that it would be easy.

“No way. Only two people are going to block that monster?”

“It isn’t possible. It is too dangerous!”

“We’ll go as well!”

Mujak, Sylvia, and William all opposed Veronica and Theo’s opinion.

An 8th Circle magician and a 7th Circle magician could sweep through the continent, but this monster was beyond ordinary standards. Since Veronica couldn’t use fire magic, her combat power had dropped by half. How could they leave the two alone in such a situation? Three people weren’t convinced, but Para was in agreement.

“That’s a good decision.”

“What...”

“What are you talking about?”

Para didn’t care about the reactions of the party and continued speaking indifferently, “Mercurius calculates the priority of its actions based on the mana of the target. The density of magicians who are of the 7th Circle and higher is completely different, which means it will set them as the highest priority.”

“B-But if its attention is on the Andras group...”

... Couldn’t they sneak past like Lloyd Pollan?

In response to the unsaid question, Paragranum calmly pointed out, “Everyone is dead. Look.”

The trembling of the earth had stopped, and the Shadow Knights, though excellent aura users in their own right, were dead. Mere expertise wasn’t enough to deal with a legacy from the Age of Mythology. It hadn’t even been a fight. They had been slaughtered. Mercurius was wriggling around while complaining about having missed Lloyd. It seemed to be looking for another target to destroy.

In this atmosphere where everyone seemed convinced, Para secretly called out to Theo, “Captain, this way for a moment.”

“...?” He approached her.

Para whispered, “Don’t worry.”

“What...”

“I know how to enter, but that guy who dared break in? I assure you that the rude man won’t come out alive.”

“Oh, a trap?”

Theo realized her meaning at once and Para nodded with a cold smile. For a grimoire, their creator was a god who should be cherished. She was not about to tolerate an intruder in her creator’s dwelling.

“I can’t stop Mercurius with sub-master privileges, but I can control the laboratory’s security system. I’ll enter and capture him.”

“... Then I’ll leave it to you.” Theo felt slightly sorry for Lloyd, who had made a grimoire his enemy.

Paragranum reached out discreetly and slipped something into Theo’s pocket.

“This...?” Theo was bemused.

“It’s the thing I promised you. I wish you could hold onto it without using it, but it is there if you need it. I can just make it again.”

“Ah.”

The Foolish Philosopher’s Stone!

Theo nodded as he touched it and confirmed what it was. He had been worried about not having a means to deal with Mercurius, but this gift gave him another option. After Para finished speaking with Theo, she moved away from him.

Veronica, who had been watching them with strange eyes, spoke, “Now, shall we begin?”

It was time to face Mercurius, the artificial guardian.

***

Mercurius was an artificial guardian which had been inadvertently created by Paracelsus. It may have been an accident stemming from one of the ingredients, Hermes’ divinity. Or perhaps it had grown in intelligence after living in the world for so long. Paracelsus couldn’t return alive, but Mercurius was currently very angry.

After all, it had missed a small intruder right before its eyes.

『Mission performance, 98.2% progress... This is insulting. 』

Since Creator Paracelsus hadn’t considered emotions in his designs, Mercurius twitched around without knowing how to soothe the irritation inside it. Despite having been born millenia ago, it was very much an infant in mental age. It had been designed as a tool which couldn’t move arbitrarily unless a trigger was pulled.

... Yes, unless someone pulled the trigger.

Kwaang!

A strong impact suddenly struck Mercurius’ head. It contained a mighty power which could blow up thousands of gallons of mercury! Mercurius’ head was wrenched to the side by the blow, and it stirred up a blazing emotion.

It was being irritated by the enemy buzzing around its head.

『The 1st shot from the target, the means of use is force bound. 7th Circle magic...』

The sun was setting behind the ruins, but the magician was framed brilliantly in the evening light. With red hair and a red robe, Veronica roused her magic power to the maximum, dyeing her body in red.

She smiled at Mercurius as she floated above the dunes. “Oh, there was an effect. I wanted to get close.”

This smile unintentionally touched on Mercurius’ nerves.

『Obliterate.』

Kurururu...

The huge serpent threw up a dust cloud as it rumbled toward her. The land seemed to be screaming every time the huge snake moved its body. Even Veronica couldn’t help feeling impressed despite being accustomed to large-scale destruction.

It wasn’t easy to battle Mercurius. After all, it weighed more than thirteen times the weight of the same volume of water, and Mercurius probably consisted of more than a hundred thousand, perhaps even millions of gallons.

The tail was a natural means of pure devastation.

“Kid!” Veronica stared calmly at the mercury serpent before calling out to Theo, who was concentrating underneath her. “I’ll leave all the ice magic to you! Freeze it when it comes!”

“Yes!”

“The rest of you will take advantage of that gap! Count it carefully!”

Mercurius made a lot of noise as it approached. Theo ignored his increasingly pained ears and waited for Veronica to enter Mercurius’ range.

At six hundred meters, the dust was so thick that it was hard to get a sense of distance. At four hundred and seventy meters, he was starting to realize it was faster and more flexible than he thought. At three hundred and twenty meters, he analyzed the zigzag pattern that it was moving at. At one hundred and fifty meters, Mercurius was in his range.

-Now.

In a situation where a delay of a hundredth of a second meant death, Theo’s concentration was fine enough to thread a needle. He was preparing a tactical spell that had a hundred-meter diameter. Mercurius might be moving fast, but Theo’s precision was unparalleled.

“Over the sky, under the sky! Blow unceasingly in the sky, Ymir’s white fog!”

Theo used the genius ice spell invented by Sylvia Adruncus!

“Diamond Dust!”

The silver storm was worse than Blizzard in a limited space as it descended around Mercurius. It was different in scale from that of Sylvia, who was only at the 6th Circle. Cold crystals tore through the air like a blizzard, freezing the mercury solid. Mercurius was surprised by the attack, since it had only been aiming for Veronica.

Jjejejeok...! Jjejejeok...!

Unsurprisingly, Mercurius tried to escape the trap. However, it was too late as more than half of its body was already frozen. It was frozen from its head to some of its tail. For a moment, there was a frozen snake statue in the middle of the desert. The rest of the investigation team took advantage of the gap and slipped into the ruins. Their distant voices echoed in Theo’s ears.

“I pray for your luck!”

“Theo, take care of yourself!”

“Try not to die, Captain! Tower Master should also be careful!”

They were very noisy. Theo couldn’t help laughing, then he met Veronica’s gaze. It was a good blow, but it wouldn’t deal any significant damage to Mercurius. Theo, who had grown accustomed to fighting beings from the Age of Mythology, sighed.

This time will be quite annoying as well.

Resignation filled his eyes as he saw the ice starting to melt. If Theo calculated the magic power he used, it should’ve been frozen for another hour. However, Mercurius’ magic resistance was so strong that it only lasted for three minutes.

If this was its response to ice, which should be its weakness, then the other attributes wouldn’t be the answer either. Was it best to buy time until Paragranum secured the ruin?

As Theo was busy thinking, Veronica attacked without worrying. The 1st commandment of the Red Tower was that the one who struck first had the advantage!

“Force Comet!”

The 7th Circle attack spell, which used force that combined all attributes equally, struck Mercurius’ frozen body.

Kwaaaaang!

Solid mercury was far more brittle than liquid mercury, so Veronica’s blow literally shattered its body. Huge sheets of mercury shattered as the body crumbled, scattering shards of mercury over the sand. It was a sight that truly suited the name of the god of destruction.

“Ugh! What are you doing suddenly?” Theo scolded her as he hurriedly avoided the debris.

He had almost been caught up in that unexpected shock wave. However, Veronica was looking at the shattered pieces of mercury with an unusually serious expression.

“... Hrmm, such massive destruction is meaningless.” She could sense it.

Veronica had thought her timing was perfect, but the attack had no meaning. As if to confirm her intuition, Mercurius survived.

Huuuuuuong!

No, survival was a term for living things. The shattered fragments gathered in one place and merged together. Was it turning into a giant snake again? It might’ve fallen into Theo’s trap, but the flexible and strong body of a snake was an advantage. No defense magic or aura defense could endure the mercury’s sheer weight of hundreds of tons.

However, their speculation was betrayed in an unexpected way.

“... Giant?”

“It seems like it.”

It didn’t look too different from a human being, except for the fact that its two arms and legs extended beyond fifty meters. The two of them tensed as Mercurius transformed into a giant.

At that moment...

Beondduk!

The eyes were the disconcerting part. It had white corneas, white pupils, and white irises. However, if that was all, Theo and Veronica wouldn’t be surprised. The problem was the number of eyes. They covered its body from head to toe.

“Wow, disgusting.” Veronica frowned at the unpleasant sight.

Meanwhile, Theo’s companion woke up and spoke to Theo.

- It has reproduced the watcher, Argos, who has hundreds of eyes. It wasn’t just nonsense that Mercurius had Hermes’ divinity.

Gluttony, tell me what you know.

- Argos is the name of a giant who appeared in an old myth. Thanks to the hundreds of eyes covering its body, it was an expert at surveillance. Then it was killed by Hermes, who was trying to obtain something Argos was protecting.

Gluttony briefly explained Argos’ story and analyzed Mercurius, who was about to move. It might not be Paragranum, but Gluttony had a lot of experience with the Age of Mythology and explained the situation.

- An artificial creature made with Hermes’ divinity... Fortunately, it can’t use Caduceus’ abilities. Indeed, if it could use it, Mercurius would be a god.

Then Gluttony spoke like it was interested in the coming battle.

- Well, try to think of a method.

... No, is there anything I can do? Is this the end?

- Can you afford to not be looking ahead?

Ahead? What‘s in front... Damn.

While Theo was listening to Gluttony, Mercurius’ hundreds of eyes had turned toward him and started glowing red. Theo didn’t know what that meant, but he had an ominous feeling as he jumped back. At the same time, Mercurius took a big step forward.

“-It’s coming!”

A giant and two magicians who could destroy a mountain with a fist... This was the moment when a legend began in the middle of the desert.