Day 511-520/Day 520

GT

“Day 50/520 ” The Balance Harmony Tower has a height that will well exceed 500 meters and is shaped like a balance with huge scales on the left and right. Was. The shining silver illuminated by the morning sun was even godly, and the worshipers of the worshipers could be seen nearby. The entrance is a different color black from the surface of silver with no slippery and one unevenness. It seemed to be able to enter inside through the swirling flow there, and it was as informed.

After passing through, I realize that the air is clearly different from the outside.

The inside looks like a hallway of a palace. Strict wall decoration, high ceilings. The floor is lined with red carpets, providing a pleasant tranquility. The air seems to be clean and contains dense magic. With just one breath, I could clearly feel the magic in the air.

There is a feeling that you have come to a tourist attraction where you can enjoy just looking around the details, but switch your consciousness as this is a dangerous zone. Hold the spear in one hand, hold a magic rifle in one hand, and keep an eye on traps and attacks. Being careful not to make footsteps and proceeding to assimilate the sign with the surroundings, I immediately caught the sign of the dungeon monster.

First of all, hide in the shade and observe.

The dungeon monsters were three angelic knights with large white wings growing from their backs. The feet of the knights were about a dozen inches away from the floor, and floated at a walking speed. She wears a thick, heavy silver armor, a long sword on her waist, and a short spear in her hand. The body is large, about 2 meters tall, two males and one female depending on the figure. The two male sky knights walking in front are more for the avant-garde, and the female sky knight traveling behind it seems to be for the rear guard because it has only one short stick.

These three knights are moving to watch out for their surroundings, so they hide themselves on the high ceiling ahead of the path. After a while, the time has come. First, she falls from the ceiling and pierces a female knight who was in the rear with that momentum with a vermillion spear. Vermilion lances easily pierce the helm covering the entire head and penetrate the torso through the skull. The spearhead of the spear penetrated the female Tenshi Knight and reached the floor, and the skewered female Tenshikashi looks like a distorted specimen. Before looking at it slowly, he shoots with a magic rifle at the faces of the male Heavenly Knights who felt anomalies and looked back instantly. Five fires each. Landed almost simultaneously, but unfortunately it was hit by Helm. The helm seems tough enough to prevent the munitions from penetrating, and the deadly firearms turn up their heads and end up with a slight gap. Just a little time is enough, close the distance with one pair, grab the metal stake hidden in the forearm with both hands, and perform a [electromagnetic acceleration] at the neck of the two male heavenly knights Dash into the gap. The metal stakes reached the body, despite the stiff feel, probably because they were wearing protective clothing such as chain mail under the armor. White meat exposes its appearance, and squirts are blue blood. Apparently the sky knight's flesh is white and blood is blue.

I thought about that. It is my fault that did not stop surely.

The torso of the male heavenly knights whose heads blew off stays on without falling down, and regenerates as if the meat was foaming from the wound. The head regenerated in no time, of course, has no helm, and a young man's face looks like a stone statue. Both are breathtaking boys, with blue eyes staring at me with clear hostility. While watching it, he fires a magic rifle at his head again. This time he flew his eyes and skull without being flipped, and red flesh and blue blood scattered around. Still not dead, the torso is standing still. Also, it is troublesome to be resurrected. First of all, the chest of the two male heavenly knights is dug out with the mechanical arm, and the heart that beats vigorously is grasped in hand. He pulled out before desperately resisting, and the exhausted torso slowly fell down.

Apparently, it is better to do a certain amount of damage, or to destroy the heart and brain, in order to make sure.

The female Heavenly Knight, who had been the specimen, also pulled out the Vermilion Spear. When I pulled it out, I moved it a little to stir my brain and gouge my heart, but I could cut it off without regeneration.

Anyway, if you want to kill the Knight, it seems better to break the head and heart than to aim for the missing part.

The first hunt here took a long time unexpectedly. You might have been surprised because you hit it, but it is still a long way to go. Let's proceed without fail.

But first, the tasting of the knights is the first decision.

Take out the newly dismantled kitchen knife-an excellent one that keeps freshness for a long time-and treat the knights. Apparently, it looks like a structure that is not much different from humans except for the wings on the back. The difference is that the internal organs are increasing, the muscles are white, the blood is blue, the bones are golden, and jewel-like crystals are in the brain and heart. I thought the brain and heart were the key points, but maybe this gem was the key point. I just don't know right now, so there are only experiments. After that, it is necessary to find out in the actual battle whether the poison works, what is the physical ability, how strong the higher species are, and how the cooperation is. There was a lot to do, but it seemed interesting.

After the disassembly, of course, I ate the whole body, but I personally note that the pectoral and back muscles, which were developed for flight, and the crystals like jewelry were particularly delicious. Well trained meat with abundant magic. In addition, the gem crystals contained a drizzled liquid inside, which overflowed in the mouth with an explosion of umami like gravy. The taste is clearly stronger than the others, and the power to fill the whole body is a habit. It seems that the stronger the individual, the better it will be, so I guess you can expect quite a bit of “Astrachium”, which reigns at the top of the Knights.

I'm going to keep climbing while detouring today, but I'm going to climb hard.

'''PLACE TRANSLATIONS ABOVE THE BAR. THESE ARE THE RAWS, LEAVE THEM HERE. CLICK EXPAND TO VIEW THEM.'''

“五十日目　／　五■二十■目” ≪天秤の調和塔≫は五百メートルは優に超えるだろう高さがある、左右に巨大な秤が存在する天秤のような形状をしていた. 朝日に照らされて銀色に輝く様は神々しくすらあり、その姿を見て礼拝している【信者】の姿も近くでは確認できた. 入り口はツルリと凹凸一つ無い銀の表面からすれば異色の黒. 渦を巻くように流動するそこを通れば中に入る事が出来るらしく、それは情報通りだった.

通り抜けた後、外とは明確に空気が違う事を実感する.

中はまるでどこかの宮殿の廊下のようだ. 厳かな壁の装飾、高い天井. 床は赤い絨毯が敷き詰められ、心地良い静謐が満ちる. 空気は清浄で、濃密な魔力を含んでいるらしい. 一呼吸するだけでハッキリと空気中の魔力を感じられた.

細部を見て回るだけで十分楽しめるだろう観光名所に来たような感覚はあるが、ここは危険地帯だと意識を切り替える. 朱槍を片手に持ち、片手にマジックライフルを構え、罠や襲撃を警戒しながら進んでいく. 足音を出さないように気をつけ、気配を周囲と同化させるように進んでいくと、早速ダンジョンモンスターの気配を捉えた.

一先ず物陰に隠れ、観察する.

ダンジョンモンスターは白く大きな翼が背中から生えた、三体の天使の騎士達だった. 天騎士達の足は床から十数センチほど離れ、歩くような速度で浮遊するように移動していた. 分厚く重いだろう銀色の全身鎧を身に纏い、長剣を腰に下げて手には短槍を持っている. 身の丈は二メートルほどと大柄で、体型から二体は雄、一体は雌だろうか. 前を歩く二体の雄型天騎士はより前衛向けで、その後ろを進む雌型天騎士は一体だけ短杖を持っているので後衛向けらしい.

そんな三体の天騎士達は周囲を警戒するように移動しているので、進路に先回りして高い天井に身を隠す. 暫くして、時は来た. まずは天井から落下し、その勢いのまま後方にいた雌型天騎士を朱槍で突き刺す. 朱槍は頭部全体を覆うヘルムを容易く穿ち、頭蓋を通って胴体を突き抜ける. 朱槍の穂先は雌型天騎士を突き抜けて床まで達し、串刺しになった雌型天騎士はまるで歪な標本のようだ. ただそれをゆっくり見るより前に、異常を感じて瞬時に振り返った雄型天騎士達の顔面をマジックライフルで銃撃する. それぞれに五連射. ほぼ同時に着弾したが、それは残念ながらヘルムによって弾かれた. 魔弾が通じない程度にはヘルムは頑丈らしく、致命的なはずの銃撃は頭を仰け反らし、僅かな隙を作るに終わる. ただ僅かな時間があれば十分で、一足で距離を詰め、前腕に隠していた金属杭を両手に掴み、【電磁加速】させながら二体の雄型天騎士達の首元に出来た僅かな隙間に叩き込む. 鎧の下にも鎖帷子のような防護服を着ていたのだろう、硬い感触はありつつも金属杭は生身にまで到達し、耐えかねて首が千切れ飛ぶ. 白い肉がその姿を晒し、噴出するのは青い鮮血. どうやら天騎士の肉は白く、血は青いらしい.

そんな事を思ったのが意識の隙だった. 確実な止めをしなかった俺の落ち度だ.

頭部が吹き飛んだ雄型天騎士達の胴体は倒れる事なく踏み留まり、傷口から肉が泡立つように再生していく. 瞬く間に再生した頭部には当然ヘルムはなく、石像のような美貌の青年の顔が出来上がる. どちらも息を飲むほどの美男子で、青い双眸が明確な敵意を持って俺を睨む. それを見ながら、再びマジックライフルによる銃撃を頭部に叩き込む. 今度は弾かれる事なく眼球や頭蓋を弾き飛ばし、赤い肉片と青い鮮血が周囲に散った. それでもまだ完全に死んでいないのだろう、胴体は再び踏み留まっている. また復活されても面倒なので、一先ず機械腕で二体の雄型天騎士の胸部を抉り、力強く拍動する心臓を手に掴む. 必死に抵抗される前に引き抜くと、そこで力尽きた胴体はゆっくりと倒れていった.

どうやら確実に仕留めるには一定以上の損傷を与えるか、心臓や脳を破壊するのが良さそうだ.

その確認も兼ね、標本となっていた雌型天騎士の方は朱槍を引き抜く. 引き抜く際に多少動かして脳は掻き混ぜ、心臓も抉るようにしたのだが、再生せずそのまま仕留める事が出来た.

とりあえず天騎士を仕留めるなら、部位欠損を狙うより頭部と心臓を壊す方が良さそうだ.

ここでの最初の狩りは思いのほか時間がかかってしまった. 不意を打ったのでそれでも呆気なかったかもしれないが、先はまだまだ長い. 油断せず、確実に進んでいく事にしよう.

ただ、まずは天騎士達の味見が先決か.

新調した解体包丁――鮮度を長く保つ優れ物――を取り出し、天騎士達を捌いていく. 見たところ、背中の翼以外はヒトと大差ない構造らしい. ただ内臓が増えていたり、筋肉は白く血液は青、骨は黄金に輝き、宝石のような結晶が脳と心臓にあったりと差違はある. 脳と心臓が急所かと思ったが、もしかしたらこの宝石こそが急所なのかもしれない. ただ今は分からないので、その辺りはまた実験あるのみだ. 後は毒が効くのか、身体能力はどの程度なのか、上位種の強さはどれほどなのか、連携はどれほどなのか、など実戦で調べる必要がある. やる事は多く、しかし色々と面白そうな事でもあった.

解体後はもちろん全身全て喰ったが、個人的には飛行のためか発達した胸筋と背筋、それから宝石のような結晶が特に美味かったと記しておこう. よく鍛えられた肉で、豊富な魔力を秘めている. それに宝石結晶は中にドロリとした液体が入っていたのだが、口内で溢れたそれは肉汁のように旨味の爆発を伴っていた. 他よりも明らかに味が濃く、全身に漲る力強さは癖になる. 強い個体程旨くなるらしいので、天騎士達の頂点に君臨する“アストラキウム”はかなり期待してもいいのではないだろうか.

今日一日は寄り道しながらだが登り続ける事になりそうだが、張り切って登って行くとしようか.