Day 571-580/Day 579

Day 579 / 109th day
While the gem egg is being heated, the black flame halo cannot be extinguished. By adjusting the magic power and other factors, the surface of the egg is kept unburned while the inside is kept at a high temperature of over several thousand degrees Celsius, but the problem is that in this state, the egg can only sleep face down. I don't feel the weight of the jewel egg as it floats, but if the black flame halo disappears while I'm sleeping, my torso might be crushed.
Despite my misgivings, I decided to return from the old hunter's hut today. We had spent several days talking, mining, and exchanging information about the gem eggs, but we had definitely gotten some useful information. I'd like to continue mining, so I promised to stop by again if I was ever in the neighborhood, and flew through the air on the back of the Black Flame Wolf.
In the blink of an eye, the hut became smaller and a variety of landscapes spread out. We flew over the "Red Eclipse Mountain Range" covered in red rust, and caught the "Toumushi Cremation Mountain" erupting below us today. As it is an active volcano, there seemed to be volcanic ash flying in the sky as well, so my eyes hurt a little and my throat felt a little irritated. But it was only for a short time, and the pain soon subsided. It seems that even if there are some problems, the body adapts to them. While confirming the changes in my physical abilities in detail, I passed over the crater at the top of the most massive peak of the "Light Mushroom Cremation Mountain". At that time, we sensed the presence of a being watching us from below.
At that moment, the volcano erupted.
Or, to be more precise, the volcano erupted into a plume of smoke, from which countless volcanic bombs flew as if they were aimed at us in the sky. Some of them were as small as pebbles, but the larger ones were several meters in diameter. In the event that they hit you directly, you'll be able to't avoid serious injury, but the black flame wolf swung around agilely to avoid it.
I'm not sure what to make of it. It seemed to be quite large, and I couldn't see all of its long body that was illuminated by the red light of the burning magma. At any rate, I was convinced that the volcanic projectile I had just seen was not a natural occurrence, but was caused by this thing.
Appraising it from above, I found out that the wriggling thing was actually the "Great Lava Centipede. It seems that the lava that flew in during the eruption when I passed through once was part of this thing, and I ate it and gained the ability 【Lava Centipede Emperor's Imperial Cover Shell】. I'm sure the last time it was a part of the body that had shed its skin or something, but this time it met the main body.
It seemed to have a strong sense of territory, so it attacked me to get rid of the enemy - me - who had invaded its airspace. As I was thinking about this, the volcanic bombs flew again. This time I was watching carefully, and I was sure that the source of the volcanic bombs was the Great Lava Hundred Foot Emperor. Living in the magma, the "Molten Centipede" is probably several hundred meters long. The thick outer shell surrounding its long body was covered with countless protrusions that looked like cannons. It seems that it absorbs magma from the surrounding area through absorption holes in the sides of the outer shell and turns it into volcanic bombs, which are then fired from the cannon projections. This moving wall receives an inexhaustible supply from the surrounding magma and spits out volcanic bombs endlessly. Taking full advantage of the terrain, the endless volcanic projectiles unilaterally eliminate all external enemies. The more I observed, the more I understood the troublesome nature of the Great Lava Centipede, but I had to buy the fight that was being sold to me. The more I observed, the more I understood how troublesome the "Molten Centipede" was.
----
RAWS
"百九日 / 五七九目"
宝石卵を温めている間は、黒焔光背を消す事が出来ない。魔力などを調整して表面は何も燃やさず、内部は数千度を超えるほどの高温にした状態で維持しているが、この状態ではうつ伏せでしか寝れないのが難点だ。宝石卵の重量は浮いているので感じはしないが、寝ている時に黒焔光背が消えれば胴体が圧し潰されてしまうかもしれない。
そんなちょっとした不安はありつつも、今日で老狩人の小屋から帰る事にした。話と採掘、それから宝石卵についてあれこれ情報交換していて数日も滞在してしまったが、それだけの有益な情報は得られたのは間違いない。採掘もまだしていきたいので、また近くに来れば寄ると約束を交わしつつ、黒焔狼の背中に跨って空を飛ぶ。
あっという間に小屋は小さくなり、様々な風景が広がった。赤錆に覆われた≪赤蝕山脈≫を飛び越え、今日も噴火している≪燈蟲火葬山≫を眼下に捉えた。活火山なので上空にも火山灰が舞っているらしく、目は少し痛いし、喉も何だかイガイガする。ただそれも短時間の事で、すぐに痛みは治まった。多少の不具合が起きても、肉体がそれに適応してしまうらしい。細かい部分で身体能力の変化を確認しつつ、≪燈蟲火葬山≫で最も巨大な山頂の火口の上空を通過する。その際、下から俺達を見る存在の気配を感じとる。
その瞬間、火山が噴火した。
いや、正確には噴火したように噴煙が発生し、その中から無数の火山弾が上空に居る俺達をまるで狙ったかのように飛んできた、という表現が正しいだろう。小さいモノなら小石程度だが、大きいモノなら数メートルを超える火山弾の嵐。直撃すれば大怪我は免れないだろうそれに対し、黒焔狼は機敏に旋回して回避していく。
回避した後、改めて火口を見ると、マグマの中で蠢く何かが見えた。それもかなり大きいらしく、燃えるマグマの赤い光に照らされる長大な体躯の全ては視認できない。ともあれ、先ほどの火山弾は自然発生したモノではなく、コイツが起こしたものだと確信する。
上空から鑑定してみると、蠢く何かの正体は“溶鉱百足大帝”という事が分かった。一度通った時の噴火時、飛来した溶岩はこいつの一部だったらしく、喰ってアビリティ【溶鉱百足大帝の帝王蓋殻】を得た。前回は脱皮か何かした一部だったのだろうが、今回は本体と出会った事になる。
どうやら縄張り意識も強いようなので、領空侵犯してきた敵――俺達だ――を排除する為に攻撃してきたようだった。そんな事を考えていると、再度火山弾が飛んできた。今回はシッカリと見ていたので、火山弾の発生源は“溶鉱百足大帝”で間違いない。マグマの中に住んでいる“溶鉱百足大帝”の体長は数百メートル程もあるだろう。長大な体躯を包む分厚い外殻の上面には無数の突起が形成され、それはまるで大砲のようだった。外殻側面に空いている吸収穴から周囲のマグマを吸って火山弾に変えているようで、大砲突起から形成された火山弾が発射される仕組みになっているらしい。周囲のマグマから無尽蔵の供給を受け、延々と火山弾を吐き出す動く城壁。地形の利点を最大限まで生かし、外敵を無限の火山弾で一方的に排除する。観察すればするほど“溶鉱百足大帝”の厄介さが理解できていくが、売られた喧嘩は買うしかない。それに“溶鉱百足大帝”は喰ってみたいとも思った事もあり、俺は朱槍を片手に、一気に急降下した。。
----
Category:Novel
Category:Re:Monster ~ The Dark Continent ~ Vol. 3