Chapter 31 Part7 (1/2)
<chapter 31.=”” giants'=”” domain=”” -=”” 7=””>
Lee s.h.i.+n Woo, who'd successfully stolen away the compa.s.s (the actual name was [Lv6 Mana Guide]) and gotten away from Metafel, told the Giants to get ready for their next mission. After that, they used a giant cave near their domain as their command center.
Because the outskirts of their domain was quite a ways away, it wasn't suitable to use as a base of operations.
”Wow, it's deep. Plus, this chill...”
”It'll be worse if you go outside.”
Whereas, this cave allowed the Giants to communicate whenever they pleased and was situated in a location that was difficult for the enemy to find. Therefore, Lee s.h.i.+n Woo planned on gathering his subordinates here.
”It's a really nice place.”
”I thought you'd say something like that.”
To be honest, there was another reason he hadn't set up his command center directly inside of the Giants' domain. It was because of Kratia.
Of course, because of his influence, the undead under his command had long since overcome their instinct - their instinctual hatred of living beings. However, the Giants had merely acknowledged Lee s.h.i.+n Woo; they hadn't actually pledged their loyalty to him. There was no reason to provoke them by showing them Kratia.
”It's been a long time, so what have you two been doing?”
Lee s.h.i.+n Woo had used his Bone Gate (ever since he realized that the Bone Gate evolves the more bones it eats, Lee s.h.i.+n Woo hadn't felt bad about feeding it bones) to bring Kratia to the cave, or their command center. Then Jin, who was forced to stay behind due to the Bone Gate's max carrying capacity, spoke sullenly.
”You'll be surprised. Can you tell? This blinding and brilliant bone compa.s.s...!”
”...Is this what you were telling me about? Did you miniaturize it... Huh?”
Lee s.h.i.+n Woo, as if waiting for her to say that, extracted a few small compa.s.ses from his inventory.
They were very different from the original compa.s.s in size, but they looked so similar that one would believe it if Lee s.h.i.+n Woo said that he'd miniaturized the original. Kratia a.n.a.lyzed them from the side.
”It turned into bone because s.h.i.+n Woo touched it, but because of that, it became easier to a.n.a.lyze. The effect's the same, but its range has lessened a bit, so it was divided into more than one. Despite splitting into six pieces, it's still a level 6 artifact.”
”That was possible...?”
Originally, the Mana Guide was an artifact that could cover Metafel's entire army. Kratia studied the artifact with Lee s.h.i.+n Woo and split it into several pieces.
Of course, it wasn't easy, but her manufacturing ability, which had improved due to her study of Huginn's Eye, combined with Lee s.h.i.+n Woo's magic, resulted in the Mana Guide's new form.
”If you have this, you can resist the spatial magic.”
”Anyway, I should give these to each of the Pauls' leaders.”
He'd give one to Kratia, keep one for himself, and the rest would go to s.h.i.+no Rendu, Chi Paul, Bester Moon, and the group of golems. If the Archmage knew about this, then he'd hit the floor wailing. Why, you ask...?
”We didn't completely remove the tracking function, so right about now, the enemy forces should be in chaos.”
”It must feel like they're looking for the scattered dragon b.a.l.l.s...”
He heard someone interrupting his satisfying monologue, so it had to be Jin.
”I know about Dragon Ball!”
”I suppose there was a similar comic in your world too.”
”s.h.i.+n Woo, you won't always be able to use that excuse to get away with things!”
Lee s.h.i.+n Woo did his best to ignore Jin's hot gaze, and he pa.s.sed a few of the compa.s.ses to Rem. He heard a report that his subordinates would arrive soon.
”Come back after you've pa.s.sed them around. While you're at it, find out where their main forces are.”
[I understand.]
By the time Lee s.h.i.+n Woo was done seeing Rem off and had turned around, Kratia was already a.n.a.lyzing things all over the place. Then again, Kratia would be curious about the giant flow of mana that hid the mountain range, the overwhelming cold here, and the Giant Tribe, so it made sense.
”Kratia, I've already told you this before, but you can't provoke the Giants.”
”I'll leave the Giants to you, s.h.i.+n Woo. I'm interested in the cold.”
”The cold is probably connected to the Giants too.”
”Huh...?”
Kratia tilted her head and soon began her study, but quickly realized that Lee s.h.i.+n Woo was right.
”The center of the Giants' domain is... the source of the cold.”
”Metafel called it the frozen t.i.tan's Heart.”
”You're saying that a single item caused all this? ...Freezing the entire mountain range?”
”Probably.”
”Oooh...!”
Kratia's eyes s.h.i.+ned. Her eyes were silently asking him for something! Of course, even if she looked at him like that, he couldn't bring her the t.i.tan's Heart.
”Be patient for now. Plus, even if we do get it, it's not yours.”
”But it's an artifact that really, really suits me! ...It really, really, really, suits me!”
Kratia grabbed both of his hands. Lee s.h.i.+n Woo thought of a way he could use the frozen t.i.tan's Heart, but... he had to throw out some bait. He acted as though he were smiling benevolently and said.
”I'll give it to you then. I promise.”
Kratia snorted and agreed to cooperate with the 'big picture' for now; she decided to take control over the surrounding cold.
As she was able to use ice magic, the colder her surroundings got, the more powerful her magic became. It was the same as Lee s.h.i.+n Woo's lightning; in an area filled to the brim with lightning, his lightning would come out even stronger. Moreover, Kratia was able to use Catalyst Magic to influence her surroundings, so...
”It's tremendous. Perhaps this area was a battlefield created for me alone.”
”Yeah, yeah.”