112 That Which Comes From the Depths (1/2)

–Aegir POV–

In the underground space, the dwarf called Balbano stands in the middle and faces me.

「You're pretty big.」

「Is that so?」

Balbano, with his log-like arms and legs, looks up at me while saying that. His height is perfect for me to rest my arm on his head, but it might provoke him to fight me if I did that...which makes him about the same height as Celia. Comparing his height with his incredible muscles makes him look really unbalanced. Even so, he still looks much taller than the surrounding dwarves.

「I hear you destroyed our entrance.」

「There wasn't any response, so I knocked, but it broke. Sorry.」

Balbano didn't ask anything further, then hands me a metal cup and fills it with alcohol. I casually accept it with my hand, but that cup is made with an elaborate design and is shining like gold. I'm glad Nonna isn't here.

「Drink.」

I take a sip after being prompted.

「Guh...」

An intense sensation caused me to believe it was poison for an instant, but it was just an unbelievably strong alcohol beyond anything I've drank before. However, the man's face relaxes slightly after I drain the cup quickly.

「What do you want from us?」

「I want to dig out the iron from this mountain, but it seems there was a preceding visitor. I just wanted to address them.」

「Where did you hear about the dwarves?」

「From the ones striking iron and barely living under the shade of the rocks. They only mentioned demi-humans, but I guess they were referring to the dwarves.」

Balbano exhales.

「Do you intend to make our mountain full of holes?」

「I'm not saying I want to live in the mountain. Nor am I saying you need to move where you sleep. But are you perhaps unhappy about the iron being taken?」

「Don't be ridiculous. There's iron everywhere in the mountain so I'm not interested in something like that.」

But that doesn't match what was said. The guys who were making iron said that they faced trouble whenever they dug in the mountain.

「Then why were you angry when the fire nation dug in here?」

「That's obvious. If I think about those gloomy guys coming in the mountain, I get frightened. When we first met with them, I tried asking them 'what they were doing?' but...prattling on about not liking conflict and being segregated, I can't even drink a single cup of alcohol.」

I understand how he feels. The fire nation are living poorly with the lack of food and water, so there is a gloomy atmosphere about them. It can't be helped because of their harsh lifestyle, but they aren't people who you would want to talk with for a long time or live together with.

I push my empty cup in front of me. Balbano looks slightly surprised but a slight smile appears on his face as he refills my cup with alcohol.

「So you don't mind if we dig?」

「Well you seem like a slightly interesting man...」

Balbano stands up and grabs the axe standing against the wall with both hands.

「I hear that human men are just long, lanky and weak. It's boring to face those guys.」

He holds an axe in front of me. I grab it with one hand, but the axe is too heavy and drops to the ground.

「Let's see who's stronger. If you win, you can dig iron or do whatever.」

He takes another axe from the wall and swings it above his head.

I prevent Celia from jumping at him and I also grab the axe with both hands, then hold it up. I don't know what it's made from but it's tremendously heavy. It's several times heavier than my spear.

「So you lifted it!」

Seeing me get into a stance, Balbano shouts happily. I just need to hit him to win. I'm fine with it being so easy to understand.

「Ugooooh」

Balbano shouts by exhaling all the air out of his body and swings his axe down. As swordplay, that move is extremely slow, but I'll still take it head on with all my strength.

An unexpectedly loud roar erupts from the slow movement and the both of us are knocked back. With such heavy weapons, you'll get crushed if you block it half-heartedly, even though they aren't the quickest.

「Fuungaah!」

Using the rotation of being repelled, Balbano attacks once again. Spinning once and using the centrifugal force, I also meet his attack with my own full-powered swing.

A dull clash resonates once again and I succeed in receiving his strike, but the recoil knocks me back. I wonder how long it has been since I was able to go blow for blow in an upfront battle like this.

「Next is my turn.」

The distance between us increased, so I can use the strength from a running start to power my downswing, then I twist my body and swing the weapon horizontally. The weapon is heavy and slow, but there is still a sufficient amount of power behind the strike.

「Oooh, heavy! It's heavy!」

Still, Balbano blocks the strike head-on without even taking a step backwards. His height is almost the same as Celia's height but in terms of weight, he's probably heavier than me. With a short stature and short legs, he has a stable center of gravity and I can't budge him. It's the first time I've clashed with an opponent like this using an axe.

「Interesting!」

I lift the axe with both hands and wield it with my full strength. It's an unlikely stance full of openings, but the opponent doesn't seem to have any intention to take advantage, but rather turns his axe to look to block the attack.

「Gaah!」

「Fuun!」

Each of the blows had the strength of our entire bodies behind it, causing yet another roaring crash. Neither Balbano nor I were budging from our spots and a cloud of dust was raised directly under our axes, illustrating just how powerful the impact was. The impact was so strong that it was enough to make my bones creak and my face warp, but he is similarly gritting his teeth. It seems we're even at this point.

「It won't be settled like this.」

「I guess not.」

The battle won't be decided like this. To be honest, I could kill him. I could parry away his strength and I have enough skill to send his head or legs flying. But that would be meaningless. This is a battle of strength.

I set the axe down where it is. If it's just a simple comparison of strength, there is a much better method.

「Fine with me!」

Guessing what my intent was, Balbano also leaves his axe behind and charges at me. With our bare hands, we lock with each other firmly and push against one another. I already knew, but this guy is unbelievably muscular.

My legs are slowly sliding backwards, but when I push back, his body floats in midair.

「Nuu!」

He quickly separates from me and throws off the clothing on his upper body. For some reason, I also do the same and remove the armor on my upper half and drop it to the ground.

Having become half-naked, the two of us close the distance and collide with vigorous momentum. There was an intense thud when our bodies come together, and I get a little chill from the feeling of his hairy body, but now is not the time for that. The both of us are putting our bodies and souls behind every attack, but our strengths oppose each other and none of us end up moving an inch. There is only sweat dripping down our bodies.

「Two muscle-heads are colliding with each other...a man's body is sexy...how wonderful.」

Who was that just now? It's going to distract me.

「Uggaaaaah!」

Balbano seems to think he's won and lets out a remarkably loud shout while pushing. As expected, I am unable to withstand and am gradually getting pushed back.

But it's not over yet. I can put strength in my hips and support his weight.

I've swung my hips on top of girls many thousand times every night. I am more confident about my hip muscles than anything else.

「Uoooooooooh!」

「You're lifting me up!?」

Slowly but surely, Balbano's body floats in the air. He has probably never been lifted up before, so his face was dyed with astonishment. I grab his arm and use my hips to support his heavy body, then send him flying backwards with all my might.

「Guwaah!」

「He threw him!」「Balbano is flying!」「It's settled!」

Before we knew it, a whole bunch of dwarves formed a ring around us to spectate the battle. Well, I wonder if that's okay.

I couldn't afford to hold back so I threw him back with all my strength, but as expected of a sturdy man like Balbano, he gets up as if nothing happened, even after rolling on the floor and smashing against the wall.

「I lost!!」

He shouts with a hoarse voice. The surrounding dwarves all cheer. I don't see any jealousy or discontent in any of them. They purely enjoy watching us compete to see who's stronger.

「It's your win! Drink!」

Balbano pours into a cup, that appears to be at least five times bigger than the previous cup, and hands it to me while it's still overflowing with alcohol. Then he does similarly with another cup of the same size and drains it instantly. In the end, you drink whether you win or lose, eh?

Honestly, this alcohol is strangely harsh and I'm spinning already from the earlier two cups, but it would be boring if I refuse so I gulp it down.

When I finish, he refills my cup, so I turn around and pass it to all my companions too. If I drink anymore than this, I'll collapse. Also, Celia absolutely can't drink. She'll collapse from just a single sip.

「Don't push yourself so much...here, your armor.」

Celia, who hands me my armor, has a red face and glances here and there at my exposed upper half. She's supposedly used to seeing me naked already though.

「What amazing muscles.」

Leah also pokes my sweaty body lightly.

「Haa, haa, a sweaty man...hah! Don't mind me.」

That was you earlier, right Claire? You nearly caused me to lose.

「So does this mean you'll allow us to dig in the mountain?」

「Of course. You're an interesting guy and you're strong too. It would have been better if you were born a dwarf and not a human.」

「Our new friend!!」

One of the dwarves shouts loudly, everyone holds up their cup of alcohol in one hand and gulps it all down at once. If I look carefully, there are female dwarves and small childlike dwarves who are also gulping down alcohol. They probably treat it as a substitute for water.

By the way, the female dwarves are similar to the men in which they look like compressed versions of a regular female – which is fine – but I feel a differing sense of values when I see their beards and chest hair. I'm glad that I brought Celia and Leah with me.

「Stay over tonight. The inside of a mountain might not be the most comfy for humans but it should at least be better than camping outdoors. You can have as much alcohol as you want too.」

I don't need alcohol, but I'm grateful for a soft bed without needing to worry about monsters. I'll gladly accept your offer and stay over.

Night time

「Say...isn't it about time you give this guy some attention?」

「Just a little longer...I'm sorry.」

「I'll do anything later so just a bit more...」

Celia and Leah are repeatedly kissing and rubbing my arms and my chest. My dick has already gotten hard and is standing at attention, but they won't touch it just yet.

「What amazing muscles...」

「Can't get enough of them.」

Something got into them after seeing my battle with Balbano. They're rubbing my arms and chest and brushing their cheeks against me too. I can't hold back, so if this goes any longer, I'll forcefully fuck them. It was at that moment when I flipped Celia over, and thought all I had to do to make Celia submit to me is to slam my dick into her.

「Hey pal, are you awake?! Something bad has happened. Please wake up.」

Balbano rushes into the bedroom without knocking. Because the two girls screamed and covered themselves with the blanket, I'm left exposed while naked.

「...What's wrong?」

「The earth insects are breaking loose. I'd like to borrow your strength, pal, so please come.」

I don't really get what's going on, but it doesn't seem like something that happens everyday. I have no choice but to go but my dick is too hard and it won't fit in my clothes. If Celia or Leah would use their mouths....

「Pal...your dick is pretty big. Mine is too, but not like that.」

Maybe he also just woke up, but Balbano is half naked as he nods while saying that. I instantly feel my dick going limp and I am able to put on my clothes without a hitch.

「So, tell me the details, what happened?」

Celia and the entire escort unit, who are fully armed, gather beside me. Leah, Adolph and Claire are being protected by the dwarves in a safe room.

「Even though you say earth insects, I don't get it.」

「You'll understand if you come.」

Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.

Balbano said just that and rapidly advances deep into the mountain. He is carrying the axe that he used when we were comparing strength on his back. It's quite impressive that even with its weight, he's able to carry it and walk easily.

As I watch the brawny dwarf's back and advance along the winding path, the ceiling suddenly moves.

「It's the earth insect!」

Balbano shouts and I thrust my spear at it faster than he could lift his axe. That thing lets out an unpleasant shriek, not resembling anything human nor monster, then falls to the ground with a splat.

「Is it...a spider? An especially large one.」

「That's what it looks like.」

The shape itself is very similar to that of a spider we're all used to seeing and usually sticks on the walls to scare the landlord. But its size is abnormal and it might be as large as a human if you include its legs. Like this, it would be able to bite off the head of someone like Celia.

「Nuuun!」

The following insect is smashed to the ground by Balbano's axe. The large spider splatters into pieces with one strike from the heavy axe. A green liquid sprays everywhere, resulting in a foul stench wafting in the air.

「There's one over there too!」

Celia spots a spider crawling on the ceiling and throws two knives at it. She was able to hit its torso with pinpoint accuracy, but that wasn't enough to finish the thing off.

「Get it!!」

Three soldiers from the escort unit pierce the thing with spears one after the other to drop it to the ground, and after slashing at it several times, it finally dies.

The only thing these spiders have going for them is their size, but it still takes time to finish them off. On top of that, the tunnel walls allow the spiders to climb up and down and left and right causing us to chase them around, making this environment the worse one for us to fight them in.

「How many more of these things are there?」

「Much more! We'll have to seal off the hole they're breaking out of...」

It seems Balbano is feeling a sense of urgency and has started to jog into the tunnel. It might be too late to notice, but his short legs make it seem like only his torso is moving and it's quite comical.

Once the pass through the tunnel, we reach a hot and stuffy room. Several furnaces are burning hotly. This must be the room where the dwarves process the metal.

But right now, the sounds I hear are not of a typical blacksmith but of fighting. There are a large number of spiders crawling on the walls and ceiling, causing the dwarves to pick up hammers and axes to fight them.

「Pal, I'm counting on you!」

He doesn't even need to tell me; there's no other choice but to fight. I won't be able to communicate with spiders either.

「Escort unit, form a circle. They'll come from all directions, and don't overlook the ceiling.」

With that said, I wield my spear and charge in, stabbing the side of a spider, which was reaching for a dwarf with its forelegs extended, and swing it around before throwing it away.