Nido Tensei Shita Shounen wa S-rank Boukensha Toshite Heion ni Sugosu ~ Zense ga Kenja de Eiyūdatta Boku wa Raisede wa Jimi ni Ikiru ~

Episode 55: The One Lurking Inside the Tower

We successfully prevented the Megalowhale from spouting water and safely landed on its back.

Ideally, I wanted to descend near the tower, but if that tower was a dangerous presence.
There was a possibility that it would attack us as we approached.
I could easily defend against attacks, but I couldn’t risk Gyro and the others.
So we decided to land in a slightly distant location.

Another reason we couldn’t reach our destination, the tower, which is located in the center of the 5km long Megalowhale, was because Gyro and the others couldn’t maintain their magical power.

“Phew, I’m tired.”

Gyro and the others, who were not used to long flights, collapsed on the ground, exhausted.

“I’ll go check around a bit, everyone rest for now.”

Saying that, I handed everyone a potion to restore their magical power and started running.
The destination is the black tower growing on the back of the Megalowhale.

“But man, it’s in bad shape.”

I looked at the back of the Megalowhale while moving at high speed with my magically enhanced legs.
Its back was rough and uneven, like a rugged rock surface, and it was in such a terrible state that it didn’t seem like the skin of a living creature at all.

“This is not normal.
What could have happened for it to become like this after I saw it in my past life?”

The back of the Megalowhale I saw in my past life was smoother and more beautiful.
What could have happened for it to become this ruin-like state?

And soon, we arrived near the black tower.

“If we can get this close without being attacked, maybe it’s not an aggressive structure?”

If that’s the case, is it safe to bring everyone here? I approached the tower even closer and examined its structure lightly.

“It’s huge…”

The tower had a cylindrical structure, about 15m in diameter.
The height was around 30m.
The base of the tower was embedded in the body of the Megalowhale, and the surrounding skin sank as if it was being eaten away.

“Someone stabbed this tower into the Megalowhale.”

How cruel.

“And I can sense strong magical power from inside the tower.”

As I approached, I faintly felt magical power from the inside.
As expected, this is not an ordinary building.
This tower is probably, no, undoubtedly…

“We should investigate quickly and call everyone back.”

“It’s a huge tower.”

“Strange patterns.”

“Who could have built something like this on the back of a monster?”

“What were they thinking, building a tower on the back of a living creature?”

“Since it’s a giant monster, maybe they intended to use it like a battleship?”

Everyone who saw the black tower up close expressed their thoughts.
But their opinions were off the mark, to say the least.

“No, everyone.
This is not a tower.”

I pointed out everyone’s misunderstanding.

“Huh? It’s obviously a tower, isn’t it, big brother?”

“No, this is not a building, it’s an object.”

“?????”

Everyone tilted their heads in confusion at my words.

“Yes, this is undoubtedly a gigantic magic item.”

“……”

Everyone’s faces turned dumbfounded, and then a few seconds later, their eyes widened.

“M-Magic item!?”

Everyone exclaimed in surprise.

“W-What does that mean? Is there really such a large magic item?!”

Mina-san denied that the black tower could be a magic item.
But that’s the truth.

“This is undoubtedly a magic item.
I can feel the flow of magical power from this structure.
And not just in one place, but magical power is running throughout the entire tower.
This is because a huge magical circuit is spread all over this tower.”

“No way…”

Mina-san’s murmuring represented everyone’s disbelief.
It seems like everyone can’t believe that this is a magic item.
But in the era when I was alive, magic items of this size were quite common.

“Perhaps because of this magic item, the Megalowhale and the others have come close to the land.”

I spoke while looking alternately at the black tower and the Megalowhale’s offspring across the sea.

“Originally, Megalowhales are creatures of the open ocean and don’t approach the land.
Approaching the land poses the risk of stranding, and besides, the sea near the land has little food.
Even fishermen go further offshore if they’re targeting big fish.”

“But what kind of power does such a large building as a magic item have?”

“We won’t know until we investigate.”

That’s right, we don’t know.
This magic item is a type I’ve never seen before.

Which means, it’s highly likely that it’s not from the era when I was alive.
In fact, compared to the damage to the Megalowhale’s skin, the magic item has hardly any damage.

“That’s why we should go inside and investigate.”

“Go inside? But this isn’t a building, right?”

Liliera-san tilted her head, wondering if it’s possible for people to enter if this is a magic item.

“No, when it’s this size, there should be space for people to enter for maintenance and adjustment… Look.”

After a little search, we found an entrance.
However, the door was locked and wouldn’t open, so we had to forcefully break it and create an entrance.

“Shall we go then?”

“You just casually destroyed the door.”

“No mercy.”

Everyone cast light magic on their weapons, and we entered.

“It’s… not dark here.”

As Minasan said, the inside of the tower was dimly lit.

“The light from the flowing magical power inside the tower serves as the light.
But I think it’s quite wasteful.”

I feel like the design is strangely sloppy compared to the enormity of the structure.

“Anyway, let’s proceed.”

I walked at the front, followed by Gyro-kun.
Mina-san and Norbu-san were in the middle, while Liliera-san and Meguri-san were at the rear.

I cast detection magic to sense the presence of living creatures in the surroundings.

“There’s no presence of living creatures inside the tower.
It seems to be unmanned.”

The inside of the tower had a spiral staircase leading downwards, and there was something shiny visible above.

“I can feel a significant amount of magical power coming from that shining thing.”

This tower probably has the property of containing magical power.
The interior was filled with more magical power than I felt from the outside.

This might be a bit troublesome.

We descended cautiously without letting our guard down.

“Is this the power room?”

When we reached the bottommost floor, various devices were arranged there.

“Amplifiers of magical power, control devices, and a huge extraction machine?”

Each one was a mechanism of a magic item that I recognized, but the size was on a completely different scale.
Perhaps they were made to fit the size of the Megalowhale?

“Do you know what this is, big brother?”

“Well, I’m not entirely sure, but I think it’s a device that stores the magical power extracted from the Megalowhale.”

“You can tell just by looking at it!?”

Mina-san was surprised, but I think any expert would be able to tell just by looking.
After all, in my previous life, I was a sage.
But, this design looks familiar… Ah, no, it might be.

“I’m not entirely sure, but I don’t think humans made this.”

Yes, I had a hunch when I saw the interior design.

“If it’s not humans, then who made it?”

“Of course…”

Just as Liliera-san asked who made it, the detection magic suddenly reacted.

“What’s wrong?”

Everyone looked puzzled at my reaction.

“It seems like the person who made this has come.”

The sudden reaction means that they were hiding within a barrier or maybe a gate? I looked in the direction where the reaction appeared, and there was a passage leading deeper.
And from the depths of the passage, footsteps could be heard.

Everyone readied their weapons.

“Who are you, intruders?”

From the darkness emerged an otherworldly being with silver hair, tanned skin, and bat wings, a demon.

“A demon!”

Gyro-kun and the others, who had encountered demons before, changed their expressions.

“Huh? A demon!? Huh?”

Liliera-san, who had never seen a demon before, seemed to be struggling to understand when told that it was a demon.

“Hmph, humans have come even to a place like this.”

The demon glanced at us and sighed.

“Those weak monsters are not even fit to be guards.”

He’s probably referring to the Megalowhale’s offspring, right?

“Did you implant this into the Megalowhale?”

I pointed to the ground and asked the demon.

“I have no obligation to answer…!”

The demon refused to answer my question and then, with wings enveloped in magic, accelerated explosively and flew into my embrace.

“Rex-san!?”

Liliera-san screamed.

“First, you die!”

The hand blade of the demon clad in red and black light approaches my abdomen.
However, I twist my body halfway and deflect the attack, grabbing the demon’s arm and pulling it in.

“What!?”

Then, I spin around behind the demon and immediately push it down to the floor, locking its joints.

“Guaaaah!?”

“Mana Jamming!”

By further infusing the demon with a special wavelength of magical power, I disrupt its manipulation of magic and suppress its ability to cast spells.

“…Guh!? I can’t use magic!?”

As expected, the demon who was trying to counterattack with magic cries out in surprise.

“Now, shall I teach you?”

“W-who would answer! Guardian! Kill the intruders!”

In response to the demon’s voice, several black creatures appear from the depths of the corridor.
They don’t look like ordinary monsters, and they seem to be the defense mechanism of this tower.
The monsters fly towards me, who is restraining their master.

“Watch out!”

Liliera-san’s spear pierces the attacking monsters.

“I won’t let you lay a hand on my brother!”

Gyro and the others also intervene to hinder the monsters.

Yes, this is an opportunity for everyone to train.

“Everyone, I have to deal with this guy, so I’ll leave the rest to you!”

“Understood!”

“Leave it to me, big brother!”

Alright, now I can focus on restraining the demon.

“Hmph, are you sure? Those humans won’t be able to defeat the Guardians.”

However, the demon speaks to me with a confident attitude.
Despite being locked in joints and having its magic sealed, it remains surprisingly composed.
There must be something going on.

“Damn it, these guys are fast!”

“Calm down! Don’t try to take on them alone!”

Gyro and the others seem to be struggling against the agile movements of the monsters, who are freely moving in the dimly lit area.

“Haha, after all, humans are nothing more than this.
Shouldn’t you hurry up and save them?”

I see, they’re waiting for me to go rescue everyone.
But that thinking is naive.
After all, I trained them.
They’re just a little surprised by a real fight, but they shouldn’t have any trouble dealing with these monsters.

“Don’t worry, everyone! You can win if you do what I’ve taught you!”

“Yeah!”

“Okay!”

Gyro and Meguri-san jump towards the monsters.
The monsters naturally try to dodge, but Liliera-san thrusts her spear with a slight delay.

“Ha!”

The monsters narrowly avoid this attack, but then Minna-san’s magic strikes them.

“Thunder Lance!”

The monster hit by Minna-san’s magic drops to one knee, and Liliera-san’s attack pierces through it.
That’s the second one.

“Protection!”

The attack from the monster that came from behind Gyro is deflected by Norbu-san’s defensive magic.

“Take this!”

Gyro jumps and thrusts his sword into the monster that attacked him, causing it to lose balance.
Then, flames enhanced by elemental magic burst out from the sword, burning the monster from the inside.

“Thanks, Norbu!”

“Please don’t be reckless!”

“Sorry, sorry.”

“Take this!”

This time, Meguri-san creates a magical platform in the air and attacks the monsters while freely flying around.
Although the monsters are agile, they can’t keep up with Meguri-san’s movements, utilizing platforms that shouldn’t exist in the first place, and gradually accumulate damage until they are defeated.

“What!? The Guardians were easily defeated by mere humans!?”

And finally.

“Gyuu!”

Mofumofu attacks the monsters, utilizing the acceleration from its flight magic.
The monsters try to strike Mofumofu, but it’s very difficult to hit its small body, and every time Mofumofu’s attack lands, a part of the monster’s body is shaved off.

“Now, it’s just you.
Shall I teach you something?”

With the situation completely decided, I speak to the demon.
It should understand that there is no chance for a counterattack anymore.

“…Ku, Kukuku.”

However, for some reason, the demon laughs with a defiant voice.

“Ku! Kuhahaha! Fine! I’ll tell you!”

The demon raises its head and shouts.

“This is a magic weapon! It accumulates the life force of monsters and explodes all at once when enough is gathered!”

“A magic weapon!?”

And it explodes!?

“It took some time to find monsters with overflowing magic power in this era, but with the magic power of these monsters, I can expect an explosion that will erase the surrounding countries from the map!”

“What!?”

Liliera-san cries out in surprise at the demon’s words.

“Hahaha, yes! How terrifying, human girl! Even if you try to escape now, it’s useless! In this era where humans can’t even use flight magic properly, you’ll be caught in a big explosion before reaching a safe place!”

“W-what!? If you do that, you’ll die too!”

“Oh, don’t worry.
Because I have this teleportation bracelet! With this, I can escape to a safe distance in an instant!”

The demon smiles smugly.
I see, that’s why it didn’t resist.

“It doesn’t matter if I’m restrained! I just need to infuse a little magic power into the bracelet! Farewell, human!”

The demon shouts, and everyone rushes towards me to try to stop it.
However, there is no sign of the demon’s magic item activating no matter how much time passes.

“W-why!?”

The demon is shaken by the fact that its magic item isn’t activating.

“Well, I’ve been sealing magic, haven’t I?”

Mana Jamming is a magic that interferes with the manipulation of magical power.
In other words, it also disrupts the flow of magic power into magic items.

“Ah!”

The demon remembers that its magic has been disrupted and finally understands that Mana Jamming is a type of magic that also inhibits the activation of magic items.

“…Human, let’s talk.”

“Hmph!”

“Goha!”

With a satisfying sound, the demon kisses the ground.

“Spider Hold!”

I cast a restraining magic on the demon and take away all the magic items it was wearing.

Now it can’t escape.

It seems like it had various other items, so I’ll confiscate them as well.

“Ku, damn it! I can’t move!”

The restrained demon struggles to break free, but the magic isn’t weak enough for it to escape.
But you know, this isn’t the end yet.

“Mofumofu!”

“Kyuu!”

Mofumofu jumps onto the demon as if it had been waiting, and happily starts nibbling on its wings.

“Hey, stop it, you beast! Don’t nibble on my wings! Ah, aaaaah!”

Hehe, it’s a punishment for underestimating us.
Oh, but I hope it doesn’t eat something strange and get an upset stomach.