Chapter 977 – How to Convey Your Voice

000

“Quon. Cast a spell that will help Herti.”

Cleon opened his mouth after seeing Herty holding her head in pain due to the voice of adamantite constantly flowing in.

While saying that, I took a deep breath, took a stance with my drawn sword, and moved my gaze to look around the surroundings, which seemed to be the battlefield from now on.

A group of golems constantly forming and crawling out around them.

It had an appearance that seemed to imitate a ‘thought’, but unlike the one designed by Ventuna and created by the other four people pouring their magic power into it, the somehow distorted appearance stimulated people’s anxiety.

The broken face, staggering limbs, and Ventuna do not provide vocal magic, so the sound of metal clashing against metal is, of course, just an unpleasant and terrible sound effect that cannot be accepted as a voice.

Geek, Geek.

A sound similar to scratching a blackboard with nails or an iron plate with nails rings out from all directions, surrounding the group in the cavity.

“First, I tried standing like this… But the situation is not good. Yes.”

Flammé mutters like that.

“I can’t believe my uncle is speaking weakly…”

“Well, they say you tend to worry more as you get older, but isn’t it true that it’s objectively difficult? If you think of each of them as ‘adamantite,’ they will absorb most of the magic. That said, the physical If you say the strength is weak, that is not the case.”

He shook his head and sighed.

“I remember fighting with automata that I accidentally woke up a long time ago…”

And Lila, who never forgot and remembered the old story, spoke while holding her staff tightly.

“Don’t worry. This side isn’t just sitting around either. We’ve prepared a much more powerful magic than last time…”

“Lila, how much magic power is left?”

“Ah…”

In response to Cleon’s question, Lila let out an exclamation and closed her mouth.

It had been just a few minutes since she said that she had used up more of her magical power than she thought.

“… Sorry. I might not be able to fight for that long.”

“It’s okay. I didn’t come here expecting a battle from the beginning. Melusine and Ventuna. What about those two?”

“There is no problem here. Just…”

“The compatibility is not good. The compatibility.”

When Ventuna talks about Melusin, Cleon can’t help but nod his head as if he understands.

“Let’s maintain the defensive formation until we find a breakthrough. If that’s the case, it would be a good idea to think about retreating through the transfer gate we installed.”

“But, if that happens, the adamantite mine will go to ground…”

“Ah… But I can’t exchange the lives of everyone here. I’m sorry Herty. This is also to protect you.”

After answering Herti’s hesitant words, Cleon looked back on his ‘thoughts’.

At the end of her gaze, she was sitting on the ground, her palms on the ground and her head down.

“‘Thought’. Can’t you convince the other adamantites once again?”

‘Thoughts’ would respond to Cleon’s words by shaking their heads.

“I’m separated from ‘us’ who was one until now… I can’t hear my voice properly… I think ‘us’ who refuses to coexist with humanity is blocking my voice…”

She said that, lowered her head, and then opened her mouth.

“… What you said was not limited to ‘humans’.”

“…”

The consciousness created by the colony was never the will of ‘one’.

Even the ‘thoughts’ were thought to be all adamantite’s thoughts as a single will, but there were different voices, big and small, within it.

Now that the ‘thought’ that integrates and processes it has been separated, the voices are expressing their own will, and among them, the voices opposing the opinion of the thought have become louder, so the current situation is happening.〈 Br〉

A feeling of loss and alienation that I have never experienced before.

And, how much the disconnection from those she was connected to must have hurt her.

Cleon understood her feelings.

I thought it would be impossible to fundamentally resolve this situation without the help of her, who is ultimately an adamantite.

And before she knew it, an adamantite golem came right in front of her – an imitation of ‘thought’.

Seeing that thing coming this way, swinging her sharply forked arms, Cleon swung the adamantite sword she was holding,

Whoops! I heard a voice.

It was difficult to imagine that this was the sound made when something was cut with metal.

Same material – Cleon’s sword is an existing iron sword.

It was a red-colored sword mixed with impurities, made by melting and mixing the blood-soaked and rusty sword of Talchek.

The sword smashed the incomplete golem’s joints and scattered them on the ground.

If you look closely, one Sangar Cleon cut her own palm and fed it to her ‘slash’.

As a pure sword that is not concerned with magic power or minor techniques – when it comes to ‘cutting’, ‘cutting’, and ‘destroying’ something physically, there is no other weapon that is as useful to Cleon as the slash with its increased mass.〈 Br〉

[This guy has no blood again!]

“So instead, you are feeding me my blood.”

Cleon answered Slash’s complaint as he looked at the crumbling remains of adamantite.

At that sight, ‘Thoughts’ opened its eyes wide and showed a surprised expression.

Because she probably knew best what kind of being they were.

Surely, she never thought there would be a human who could cut adamantite with a sword.

“‘Thinking’. If you don’t want to be broken, you have to get up.”

Cleon, feeling her gaze, turned to her and spoke.

The rise of the mine, the attack of the adamantites.

In either case, the fundamental cause is to once again organize the voices of the adamantites and change their ‘will’.

And there was nothing that made that possible except for the ‘thought’ that has represented them until now and that has made it possible to communicate with humans.

‘Thought’ listened to Cleon’s story, then immediately raised its head and stood up from the spot.

There was a different will in her eyes than before, and she faced Cleon with a determined expression.

“… Okay! I will definitely convince every one of my ‘idea’. But I need your help to do that.”

As she said that, she looked back at the adamantite golems surrounding her.

To prevent the wizards from getting closer, they raised the ground, pushed it out with the wind, or created ice to knock it down, but they were unable to inflict direct damage, but if it continued like this, its magic power would be depleted and the defense line would be breached.

“Please stun your compatriots as much as possible! If the person wielding the ‘sword’ made of compatriots destroys the body of the compatriot, the ‘consciousness’ separated from the body will disperse into small pieces and temporarily lose its ‘self’. In that case,, there will definitely be an opportunity for me to share my voice.”

“Okay. If that’s the case…”

As if joining Cleon, Bourbon swung and swung her ‘pickaxe’ that she had brought along with her work clothes.

Although it is a small body, it makes a powerful swing and makes the sound of cutting through the wind.

The pointed part of the pickaxe stuck into the golem’s body with a thud, and the impact spread from there, collapsing the golem’s body and scattering it into metal chunks.

“How to break adamantite… Hmm. I know best how to scatter it.”

With her confident attitude, Bourbon had Cleon’s back.

“Is this the second time we fight together like this?”

When Cleon asked that, Bourbon nodded and answered while loading explosives into the pickaxe.

“Now that I think about it, I think the opponent back then was a gargoyle made of adamantite.”

“… That’s right. Then, you remember how to move, right?”

“Ah!”

While saying that, the two people run out in different directions and jump into the golem army.

Every time I swung the sword or pickaxe, a loud sound was made and the adamantite golems began to collapse before my eyes.

“Uncle Flammé! And Ventuna, assist Bourbon! Me and Melusine are on Cleon’s side! And… Cuon!”

“Don’t worry. I’ve already started.”

Before Lyla’s instructions were given, Kuon raised his staff, and it floated in place without being defeated by gravity and without tipping over or falling to the side.

In the next moment, an alien sensation is added to the magic that surrounds Kuon’s body.

It was a feeling of a more sacred and powerful magic mixing with her magic.

This place is still inside the territory of the spiritual vein of the Eastern countries.

This meant that her voice was accepted by the most powerful being in this Eastern country.

Wow, a turquoise flame blooms around her.

The same magical energy as her wings is formed, and Kuon’s hair sparkles like when Lila’s magical power and emotions are heightened.

“I pray for the power and will of the sacred tree… For blessings for all beings living on this land…”

Through the ritual at the Five Elements Festival, Kuon fully awakened her powers as a shaman – no, as a great shaman.

Even though it is not a temple, the voice of her sacred tree reaches her even now in the basement.

As she closed her eyes, a clicking sound was heard, and she could feel the vibrations of the mine surrounding her weakening.

Kuon gently opens her eyes and speaks to the others.

“I borrowed the power of the sacred tree to reduce the mine’s rising speed. With this, I will be able to buy time.”

Someone else’s voice was heard overlapping her voice.

“Uh… I was going to tell you that I wanted you to recover from the barrier. Well, anyway, you did a good job! It’s better than I could have imagined!”

When Kuon used stronger means than she expected, Lila must have nodded her head, although she was a little embarrassed.

“Yes. Of course, that is important, but I learned that it alone is not enough.”

Kuon was smiling at Laila.

The ordeal she experienced at the ruins of Fairy Village changed her attitude.

So, while humans fought desperately to stop the adamantites, ‘Thoughts’ closed their eyes and focused on the ‘will’ flowing through their bodies.

‘Hive consciousness’, that is, she herself is represented as a being called ‘thought’, but it is a form in which the small voices of the adamantites that make up her body are combined and overlap to form a large voice.

That’s why she was looking for it.

The voices that originally comprised her – that were part of her original ‘thought’ – were lost in completing this body.

[──]

“There it is…! I found it!”

And then, she opened her eyes with sparkles.

The parts of her that were cut away by the wind, melted by the fire, and fell as if swept away by the water.

She needed to get them back first.

In order to convey her own voice, even just a little, she needed a louder voice.

Fault! It was almost at the same time that she jumped into the midst of the golems, making a loud noise.

“Sleep…!? What are you doing!?”

Ventuna, who was right next to her, saw that and raised her voice in shock.

No matter where you look, the top priority of the adamantite golems was the ‘thoughts’ that had the potential to interfere with them.

“It’s okay!”

Still, she won’t stop saying that and moving her feet.

“What!? Your body wasn’t designed for combat!?”

After Ben Tuna shouted as if she couldn’t understand, she quickly turned to Cleon and gave her signal.

“Stop that guy, protect him, either way!”

“I know…!”

Cleon says the same thing and tries to move forward by cutting down the golems blocking her path, but because there are so many of them, she can hardly advance.

Meanwhile, her golems surrounded her ‘her thoughts’ and rushed towards her.

Then-

“Taaat!”

She kicked her feet and jumped up.

It is natural because she is an adamantite, but thanks to her body being much stronger than that of a human, she was able to jump with much more force than a human when she kicked the ground with her feet.

The concept of humans unconsciously putting a limit on the power they exert to protect their bodies did not exist for her.

It was so high that her head almost touched the ceiling.

Seeing her like that, not only Ventuna but also the golems that were chasing her all looked up at her sky.

“Toot!”

Then, just before her head touched the ceiling, she bent forward as if to rotate her body, and this time she kicked the ceiling and quickly dived under her.

And then, she clenched her fists and-

“Oh my!”

Just like that, she jumped into the midst of the golems that surrounded her, slamming her raised arms together with her own body.

Quang! When the sound rang out, the ground shook greatly and the surrounding golems flew backwards or floated upward due to the impact.

The ‘thought’ was to move among the golems while quickly picking up something scattered on the ground.

“… They say it’s not designed for combat…?”

With her ridiculous athletic ability, Lila unknowingly asked her designer, Ventuna.

“Well, but… What I was thinking of was a girl who fights more gracefully, for example with a parasol or something…”

She overcomes the golems surrounding her with the fighting skills of her inhuman physical abilities.

Every time she swings her fist, the sound of her violently cutting through the wind is heard, and the golems caught in the aftermath are pushed away or fall down.

However, she did not directly hit other golems.

She must be well aware that she is made of the same adamantite.

Besides-

‘Jijik- Jijik-‘

And every time she moved her body, the sound of something in her being torn or torn apart was heard.

“… Wait, wait, wait…!”

When Ventuna realized the identity of the sound, her face turned pale, and she raised her voice.

“That’s it…! This is enough!”

Without even caring about that, ‘Thought’, a bright voice from among her golems, jumped up with her arms full of adamantite fragments.

Then, he stepped on the heads and shoulders of the golems, bounced, and returned to the group.

“Look! I’m not hurt at all!”

“Lucky!? I’m not lucky!”

As she said, ‘thought’ herself didn’t have any injuries.

The clothes she was wearing were torn and torn here and there, and were in tatters.

It is so difficult to believe that the original design was a dress that noble ladies would wear.

“So, what are you going to do?”

Lyla pushes Ventuna away and asks ‘Thought’, who returns with her adamantite fragments.

“These are fragments that fell from the mass that was originally ‘us’. And in these fragments and in this body, the magic power of each attribute that you gave us still remains. Using that…”

She gathered her fragments and held them in her hands, and smoke and heat flowed out of them.

If a normal human touched her, it would have caused serious burns, but she didn’t even frown, and through her heat, she melted the fragments she had gathered in her hands – she processed them into the form she wanted.

She melted all the fragments, made them into one lump, and then stretched, stretched, split them, and put them together again to create something different in her hands.

And the completed thing—

It was an unusually shaped instrument with six strings.

“… What is this? It’s different from a lute or a mandolin.”

Lila asked as she looked at the instrument in a form she had never seen before, and her thoughts tilted her head.

“I see… What is it? I had a strong desire to transmit sound, and this shape came into my head…”

And she stood up, holding the instrument she had made.

And let’s lightly pluck the string-

[Jiing-!]

And a sharper sound resounds than any other instrument that the people there had previously known.

Laila and Ventuna, who were nearby, covered their ears, and Herty, who had keen senses, even flinched.

However, there must have been another reason why Herti trembled.

“This… Another voice…?”

“It will sound like that to Mr. Herti. And… To other adamantites around here.”

‘Thoughts’ said that and looked back at the golem that was approaching them.

Then, the golems started cackling, and their movements became sluggish, as if they had not been greased.

“We do not originally communicate using ‘language.’ So, if it is ‘sound’ rather than ‘language,’ then ‘will’ can be conveyed in any form.”

Before she could speak human language, she was talking to Herti.

“… If we play this instrument made from fragments that had the same will as ‘us’. Just by doing that, ‘our’ voice will reach the consciousness of other adamantites-“

She puts her foot down while saying so.

‘Thoughts’ wearing a torn dress and holding a strange instrument I’ve never seen before.

“Everyone! We and humanity can definitely coexist! So, everyone, calm down…!”

Jijing…!

She flicked the string again, and this time, part of her golem came to a halt and collapsed on the spot.

“Listen to ‘our’ voice!”