Makai Hongi - Chapter 303

The first five days passed quickly after we entered the Coast of Everlasting Summer.

That meant we were about halfway through our journey to the Descendant Library.

So far so good.

We had only met the patrolling soldiers that one time. We hadn’t heard a word since.

Perhaps we could make it through without meeting anyone else… It was just as I started to think this, that it happened.

“…Hmm? What is that?”

I was the first to spot it.

There was a gray wall up ahead of us.

The wall stood boldy over the road.

And it appeared to go around in a circle.

And it became narrower at the top. It looked a little like pudding…or a pillbox.

There were square lookout holes, so maybe it really was a pillbox.

Pillbox…it was a kind of temporary defensive fortress.

“Juga. Do you know what that is?”

“No… I used this road when I escaped to the Forest of Everlasting Autumn, but there was nothing here.”

“So it must have been built recently? When did you go to the Forest of Everlasting Autumn?”

“About forty days ago.”

“I see…”

Ten days had passed since we left the Sealed Tomb.

That meant that I had met Juga a month after he escaped.

So the pillbox really was quite recent.

“Well, what should we do? We could go around, but I have a feeling that it would be dangerous to go any closer.”

I doubted there were any guns in this world, but it was still eerie that such a thing had been made to block the road.

That being said, even if we wanted to go around, on one side you had the sea and shore. While the other side was a steep cliff.

It really had been made in the perfect defensive position.

“You can’t just attack it head on?”

Juga did not understand what a pillbox was.

“As it’s very easy to strike back at the enemy from there, it would be very troublesome to try and take it like that.”

The hole was too small, so I wouldn’t be able to fit inside.

And while there should be an entrance somewhere, it would likely be locked.

“But why is something like this here?”

“I suppose people that come from the Forest of Everlasting Autumn will usually pass through here. And so they probably wanted a fortress that they could attack from.”

It was made to stop any invasions from the autumn side.

Why? Perhaps they were protecting something important.

“Hey, Juga. There’s something I want to ask you. Where is the rebel force’s main base?”

“You mean the Hollow Cave? Well, it’s just up ahead.”

“…I see.”

So it was rather simple. I had misunderstood.

Just by everything I had heard up until now, I had assumed that the base was in the Descendant Library. But it was not the case.

Now that I thought about it, he did say something about the Dragons living in the Hollow Cave.

And the cave was somewhere close by.

This fortress was built here in order to protect it.

That would also explain the patrolling soldiers we had met.

Their main base was nearby. So it would not be strange that there were people roaming about in order to defend it.

And now we had to get past it.

It seemed like backbreaking work.

The people defending it would know how to strike back as well. So, what to do?

I stopped to reconsider my current specs.

I didn’t have the weapons that I had before.

All I had was one sword that was probably made by humans.

And I had no armor. Just clothes. I might as well have been wearing paper.

But worst of all, my body was no tougher than that of a human.

While I could still strengthen it with mana, it was a downgrade compared to how I was after evolving.

“At least I can still use my special abilities.”

Even though I was in this body, my soul was still the same.

And my soul was telling me that I was still a Susanoo-no-Mikoto.

Personification or not, that had not changed.

“Then there’s combat experience.”

I had lots of it. Both as an Ogre in my past life, and a human in the life before that.

If it came down to a fight, I could hold my own…I think.

“But this sword…seems like it won’t be too useful.”

It was clearly made to be wielded by a human.

The blade was thin and brittle. I would not even be able to cut down a tree.

The combat races were able to strengthen their bodies with mana to varying degrees.

This was especially true for high-rankers.

It would have helped if I could charge a weapon with mana in order to strengthen it.

“But I couldn’t charge up this blade at all.”

Plants and ore in the Demon World would absorb mana naturally.

Every substance in the world contained mana.

But apparently, the materials used to make weapons in the Human World did not contain mana.

And so it was impossible to charge such materials with mana.

“Well, there’s no point in whining about weapons I don’t have. I’ll just have to make do with the cards I’m holding.”

And so I slowly walked towards the pillbox.

A spear came flying out of the lookout hole.

I dodged the spear while grabbing it out of the air. The person had good aim.

It had come straight towards my throat.

“And the force was impressive as well. That means someone quite strong is inside.”

It would be very dangerous for me to advance without being prepared.