* and yeah, a bit of ate chapter this time, a lot of unexpected things happened this week, but mostly it was just me PROCRASTINATING. Ossan, tension rises


    A high-pitched metallic sound repeatedly echoes in the vast underground s.p.a.ce. Zeros smiles in satisfaction while picking up the pieces of metal ores scattered after swinging his pickaxe against the wall. And, despite not relying on his OP cheat abilities to find the location of the veins, he was in a good mood, immersed in the task of excavating as if he had no other choice.


    The ores are then melted by the wide-range annihtion magic 【Scorching Purgatory mes], and because heavy metals containing a simr rtive density were h.o.m.ogeneouslybined together, he managed to obtain arge number of unusual materials.


    After refining them, the metal ingots are stored away in his inventory.


    "Ohh? It''s Hihiirogane*. I didn''t know it could be found in a ce like this. Truly an excellent ore… Kukuku."


    (*T.N: ; legendary metal in fantasy said to be bright like mes. Written in katakana, I believe it was mentioned a couple of chapters ago but written in kanji. I''ll look up what it was tranted as.)


    "Just what did you mine… Ah, I found some weird y…"


    "Oh, isn''t this orichalc.u.m? You''re quite lucky hahaha!!"


    "Ha!?"


    Immersed in a good mod, Zeros continues mining. asionally, the mine''s walls are sted with magic, and high-quality materials are collected. He was burning with ambition. His objective was gathering enough materials to build a desator silo and a refrigerator, and then a stepping threshing machine. Afterward, if it was possible, he would also build a bath heater*.


    (*T.N: 風呂釜[furugama] /wp-content/uploads/2017/01/IMG_4620.jpg they look like PCs that heat up your bathwater, basically.)


    "Iyaa… I did it, I did it, I can''t stopughing… Hahaha!"


    "Your race hasn''t changed or anything like that, right? This is orichalc.u.m… Are you listening!?"


    (*T.N: race as in ethnic race, I guess it was suppose to be a pun or smt that I didn''t get.)


    "With this… With this, I will take the rice back. Just wait! Then, s-sake, soy sauce, miso, mirin… sake. I will take them all back hahahaha!!"


    "Isn''t your tension a bit too high!? And why did you say sake twice!? Is it that important!?"


    It was incredibly important for this bibulous j.a.panese uncle.


    The pickaxe striking against the volcanic rock makes a pleasant sound, scattering rock fragments on the surroundings as it burrows through the bedrock. His mining speed and uracy are both beyond belief. Without a doubt, he would be able to earn a living working as a miner. In addition, he will clearly be the top breadwinner in this trip.


    The long-awaited mining has finallye, his head filled with being even a step closer to his dream of recreating his j.a.panese lifestyle. Just like going abroad and missing j.a.panese food, Zeros, who can''t return to his former world, seeks the taste of his hometown. It hase to the point where his tension was unusually high.


    For a moment, his tension seemed to go through the roof, and a strangeughter echoed in the mine until he was satisfied. No one would''ve been able to get through him during that time.


    Thus, he got a ma.s.sive amount of different ores in his hands. Ma.s.sive enough to not be able to use them all up even if he tried his hardest…


    "Iya, how embarra.s.sing. Getting so fired up despite my age."


    "Please don''t mind it, but shouldn''t we get moving soon? Monsters might appear again…"


    "They probably got mixed up in my magic."


    "Yeah, that''s ri… not right. My level is too low to fight against these monsters!"


    "Your real thoughts came out… Well, that''s fine too…"


    After annihting the group of Worms, the vast ore deposits were discovered after Zeros'' tension was raised due to the embarra.s.sment caused after Christine persistently asked him about himself while they were mining.


    Nevertheless, despite originallying to rescue her, they seemed to be in the deepestyer of the dungeon. Casually falling from the upper to the bottomyer in one go is impossible, but there might be such traps in young dungeons that seek to consume the mana of its sacrifices to maintain itself. Although they don''t possess an ego of their own, as they grow, they set up their traps constructing something akin to aplex system.


    To this day, the reason behind this has not been identified and remains as one of the many mysteries about dungeons. And yet, it''s epted as something natural in this world. Most people aren''t particrly interested in such topics, with the exception of stubborn schrs that question the cause and effect of every phenomenon.


    "In any case, that desert-like ce looks like a volcano now."


    "It was more powerful than I thought it would be. It used to be smaller…"


    The aftereffects between the virtual world and the real world were different.


    Previously, the Worms squirming around in that ce were much weaker than Zeros. But with his opponents being instantly incinerated by the excessive heat of his magic, the moniker of 【Annihtor] was not a mere exaggeration.


    It was a habit from the days of the game, to fire high-power magic as soon as he found arge number of enemies around. Moreover, as he didn''t need to chant to cast magic, he only needed to have enough mana.


    "It looked as if you directly shot the magic form itself, just what kind of principle does it use? It''s clearly different from regr magic!"


    "Right…? That''s why it''s such a dangerous magic, but it was unexpected that it had such power……"


    【Scorching Purgatory mes] is a spell made with an extremely dense magic form. Originally, the brain would have to process the magic form, and the desired phenomenon would be produced the moment the magic circle waspleted. However, this magic would reproduce and fire the form itself, using it as artillery sh.e.l.ls.


    The high-density magic form is constructed from 0s and 1s, and for humans to be able to use it, they would need to process information at the speed of a supeputer, which is impossible for the human brain. If that was the case, then it was just a matter of developing a program to process the magic form in ce of the brain. In addition, he thought it would be an excellent idea to use it as sh.e.l.ls, thus giving birth to a nasty annihtion magic.


    When a magic bullet, made out of apressed magic form and loaded with enough mana to trigger an explosion, is fired, the high processing program will expand the magic form when it reaches its target, while absorbing the mana from the surroundings. Finally, said mana, which possesses enormous destructive power is converted into a tangible physical phenomenon.


    If the user manages to process the information of the highly-dense magic form by that means, there''s no need to force the human brain to take on that task.


    The wide-range annihtion magic researched at the Istor Magic Academy is done so under the a.s.sumption that a single person has to be able to process the magic form in their heads, but in the first ce, it''s practically impossible for the brain to read a form rotating at a high speed and convert it into a physical phenomenon. The burden is not something humans can endure.


    Even if it were possible to read the form, the user''s brain would be destroyed, leading to their death before they could even finish casting the spell to ascertain its power.


    In his former world, after creating this spell in the game, he was struck by a severe headache, triggering the game''s safety mechanism and forcefully logging him out. It was quite a dangerous thing that could''ve ended with him bing crippled.


    (If you think about it, including the console, the technology of the game was odd. It urately simted thews of physics to their minute details as if another world was recreated in the digital s.p.a.ce.


    Who created the master system that could handle such a program? A model of this world, even to the smallest details of the environment, such as thews of physics and quantum theory, was recreated without anyone feeling anything out of ce.


    Is such a thing really possible? That game was revolutionary in many ways, and it could be called a great invention that could fundamentally change the world. Well, it''s regrettable but it''s not something I can confirm at this point.)


    For the first time aftering to this world, he noticed an abnormality in the online game he used to enjoy so much. The backbone of the master system of the high-speed processingputer known as ''Babel'', was originally an information control system developed by the Department of Defense for the sake of national protection.


    It was created to keep .s.sified information of individuals and the country safe from malicious hackers trying to ess from the outside, however, due to budgetary issues, the project was eventually shut down and sold to a privatepany. And, some timeter, saidpany announced its new MMORPG, ''Sword and Sorcery''.


    Although it had a simple name, one was able to ess and freely adventure a vast virtual world through a readily avable personal console, which was, in addition, marketed towards the general public as a family gaming console along with the game itself, vastly contributing its ma.s.sification. But, on the other hand one could say that there was an entirely different intention, as if the game was trying to hide its own bizarreness.


    [*T.N: This paragraph was a bit confusing to trante especially because the word 筐体[kyotai], which literally means ''case'' kept appearing and I only found pictures of those old arcade machines when I googled it, but I a.s.sume it means console, as in game console.]


    (Why am I thinking about this now? This is weird… it''s as if the world itself was being controlled so there''s no feeling on incongruitypared to the game… no way, hey…)


    Zeros started to feel a sense of difort, something he never felt in his former world. His expression gradually bes sharp as he starts pondering, as if his consciousness was buried in his thoughts. He''s once again conscious of his former world''s abnormal reality.


    "…san… Zeros-san!"


    "Ah! W-What happened!?"


    "That''s my line. I was just asking you when were we going to leave this ce, but you suddenly started to think about something with a scary face. Did something happen?"


    Returning to his senses, there''s a world of molten rocks. He suddenly remembered his current situation.


    "Ah, it''s nothing. Well, we''re done mining then, we should go back up soon."


    "That''s perfect, but I''m just going to be a burden, right?"


    "A burden? Why?"


    "Because… I''m weak."


    In contrast to Christine, who''s looking down dejectedly, Zeros awkwardly scratches his head. If this is the deepestyer, the number of monsters will increase as they go up. It was dangerous for her to keep advancing with her current ability.


    As he was thinking, he casually nces at the copsed ceiling where he could see the adjacentyer.


    "It''s going to be easier from now on. If we go through there, we''ll be fine."


    "Eh? But, it''s too high…"


    The ce Zeros is pointing at, is the copsed ceiling where the exposed adjacentyer is. Which meant…


    "N-No way… Are we flying?"


    "Is there any other way?"


    "B-But, I fell off a precipice just now and…"


    "You''ll be fine, I''ll hold on to you tightly. Come on, just keep your eyes on the ceiling, we''ll be there in a jiffy, alright?"


    She seems to have developed a small trauma after falling off the ledge. Her facial muscles are also twitching slightly, showing her disapproval of flying with Zeros'' flight magic.


    "You don''t want to even if yourpanions won''t be able to get here? Aside from here, there are monsters on everyyer, you know?"


    "B-But… it''s too high…"


    "If you stay still, we''ll be there in a second. Only if you stay still…"


    Flight magic is a kind of spell that defies thews of physics. It works by creating a repulsion field with the user''s own mana, and at the same time, the propulsion is generated by taking in the mana from the surroundings. Because of that, the mana consumption rate is very high. Moreover, it''s designed to only support the weight of the user, so if the weight is further increased, the burden ispensated by consuming more mana.


    "E-Even if we get there, I still don''t have the strength to beat the monsters there!"


    "Just for this one time, I''ll lend you one of my prized weapons. You''ll one-hit all the monsters around here, you know? Fufufu…"


    Along with hispanions, Zeros created a modded magic weapon. Most small-fries should receive a burial with only one hit from this weapon. It had such a destructive power that he decided to keep it for himself.


    For him, it''s just another weapon, but for Christine, it should hold quite the power.


    "Can I choose…"


    "You can''t. But well, while we''re messing around here, I wonder how the knights are doing… Ahhh, I really hope they''re not dead already."


    "Uuu…"


    She hasn''t made a decision yet, and she seems ready to run away at any second while looking at the ceiling. And given that it would be useless to spend more time idling in that ce, Zeros decides to forcefully hold her.


    "Hyaaaahh!!"


    "〖Wings of the ck Bird〗"


    He ignores her screaming and proceeds to fly high in the air… at a tremendous speed.


    While such an uncle soars through the air, a scream echoes in the vast s.p.a.ce below them, in the deepestyer of the dungeon. He just wanted to get home early so he could work on making appliances.


    The pitiful Christine was just dragged into it. She wouldter recall, "The sky is scary… I don''t want to fly anymore…". In the end, he only worsened her fear of heights. It''s even more terrible because he waspletely oblivious to it.


    The two people descend on the ground after reaching the upper floor using flight magic. Most of the monsters they encounter in the way are kicked around by Zeros while Christine follows behind him. She said she didn''t have enough battle prowess, and indeed she was weak.


    They are currently resting on a narrow s.p.a.ce in a rocky area. Fortunately, Zeros always keeps firewood in his inventory, so he lights up a campfire and prepares for a smallte lunch break.


    "Fumu. By the way, can you use magic, Christine-san?"


    In contrast to Zeros, who just finished starting the fire, she reluctantly starts talking while lying face down.


    "I… can''t use magic. It seems like I don''t have the apt.i.tude. I can memorize the magic form, but I can''t invoke the spell, something like that."


    "I see. If you could use magic, would you like to learn?"


    "I''d like to learn if I could, but it''s impossible. All the magicians who''ve tried to teach me magic said that."


    While inhaling the cigarette smoke, Zeros takes out several pieces of magic paper from his inventory. They are the same magic scrolls, modified from the Academy''s textbooks, that Celestina had memorized before.


    It''s a prototype he made when the talk of selling magic scrolls came up, but unlike the scrolls being currently sold, these do not possess a magic erasing technique.


    "This is?"


    "I dare say, mydy might be able to use this magic, perchance?"


    "But… I don''t have the apt.i.tude…"


    "Right now we''re are practically at the gates of Hades, you won''t lose anything trying it."


    "Uuu… That might be true. Then, I will try."


    As she says that, she pours mana into the scroll, activating the magic form, which is then etched into her mind. After the process was done, she mutters the spell''s chant.


    "〖Burn the light, illuminate my way. Torch〗"


    The moment she finishes her chant, a small me flickers on the top of her palm. Christine opens her eyes wide in astonishment.


    "Z-Zeros-san! I don''t feel sluggish like when I used the spells I''ve been taught before!"


    "That''s excellent. Ah, please return the scroll. This magic has spread around enough."


    "I… was able to use magic…"


    "My student had the same problem as you. Please consider this magic as closer to the one of the past."


    Christine, whoes from a family of knights, doesn''t have much to do with magic. However, now that she''s able to cast magic, her options are wide open. Though she''s not aware of that fact yet…


    "Umm, is this okay? This is one of your original spells, right?"


    "No, this is something I modified from the Magic Academy''s textbook, it''s good if you like it, but we have to do something, mydy. I don''t know what those knights will do…iyaa, seriously…"


    The knights will surelye down looking for Christine. But they will be bothered if she''s injured when she joins them. He was thinking it was better to have as few worries as possible, as Christine was trying to learn several spells in a hurry.


    —


    "I was wondering, what kind of meat is this?"


    She says what she was wondering about to Zeros, who was grilling meat skewers over the fire as a savory fragrance wafts in the air.


    "Hmm? Well, I have many different kinds of meat sitting in my inventory, so I''m not entirely sure, but don''t worry about it. Please try it, alright?"


    The meat that''s being grilled over the fire drips its delicious oil. He sprinkles some salt and spices before roasting it again for some time and then hands her the skewer.


    Despite being improper, she loudly gulps the saliva unconsciously .u.mted in her mouth before slowly bitting into the meat skewer. The juicy sweetness and tenderness of the meat, that seems to almost melt in her mouth, give away its rich vor.


    "D-Delicious."


    She could only utter that single word. She hadn''t eaten anything since falling to the deepestyer of the dungeon, and the meat skewer seemed to be a heaven-sent treat to quench her hunger.


    "Ah… This is Manticore, Wyvern… and Death Mantis meat."


    "Bufu! Gohogoho!"(*T.N: choking sfx.)


    *** You are reading on / ***


    Zeros remembers from which monsters the meat was from after tasting it. Manticore and Wyvern meat are amongst the finest ingredients. They''re luxurious enough that even n.o.bles would hardly ever have the opportunity to savor them, with the exception of the Death Mantis, which was an unheard-of type of meat. In addition, in this world not only did no one think of eating insects but also monsters were known for being dangerous creatures with ferocious strength. It''s certainly not something one could easily get their hands on.


    *** You are reading on / ***