novelEvan D. Sherden, Meets the Legend (6)
| ← Ch.110 | Ch.112 → |
Evan D. Sherden, Meets the Legend (6)
The Mahwa were unable to infiltrate the dungeon in their original seed state, and they could not take root in the dungeon. Of course, it was also impossible for them to erode the monsters inside completely.
If you dug into it in detail, there were several troublesome circumstances, but they had different patterns, to put it simply.
Serving the same Demon King did not mean that everyone would behave in the same manner.
"By the way, can the Mahwas completely take over the dungeon...?"
"Yes, they most definitely can."
Evan was horrorstruck as he listened to them. However, Bernard, who was already familiar with these things, spoke with a distant expression.
"Leo, don't give me the same advice again. We have to start thinking beyond our normal horizons to come up with a solution to this problem."
To this, Leo replied, "You're right. But if you think about it carefully, Bernard, then monsters originally controlled by the Mahwa tribe are weakened in dungeons. That wasn't the same for this guy. Moreover, when I found it, it was on the verge of death. However, it was still spreading seeds, even eroding other monsters in an instant. I found it in the field."
"...This is a disaster."
"Of course, the dungeon wasn't a very small one, but we also organized it neatly. However, if the Mahwa continues to increase with this momentum, someday the aftermath will be beyond any of our control. And what if it spreads to the super-large dungeons?"
"I don't want to even think about it."
Normal monsters and the ones being controlled by the Mahwa tribe were fundamentally different. The latter became demons. They were more dangerous and more vicious.
But what if such a Mahwa would occupy the dungeon entirely? What if the gods interfered with the dungeons to destroy the order they had built up and made the interior a mess?
At that time, the crisis of mankind would truly come. The Dungeon City was the main place where mankind was cultivating power right now.
It was like being deprived of the possibility of future human growth. It was better for the Demon King to appear than this happening.
'The Mahwas could never be allowed to invade the wealth inside the dungeon. '
Anyway, the fact that they hated all mankind remained. Evan then asked Leo, pressing hard on his greasy temple,
"Grandpa Leo, everyone knows about their hatred. Does everyone know about the dungeon's situation if they invade?"
"It's only known to the leaders of each country, but I know everyone would hate to believe it. Moreover, hunting the Mahwa tribe would only be possible after dispatching sufficient troops, but the fact that it prevents the dungeon from being infected seems to have no point."
Even in Yo-Ma Great War 2, it was Bernard who eventually solved the Mahwa infection problem!
When Evan looked at Bernard with a salty expression, Bernard patted his shoulder carefully and exhaled a breath.
Leo continued, "One surefire way is to destroy everything within the dungeon completely. But in the end, there are limits to what we can do. So Bernard, please make me medicine. I need a drug that can kill the Mahwa varieties."
"Leo, motherfucker, every time you ask me to make some medicine, it's like you expect me to create a miracle! You motherfucker! Don't be so simple!"
"Grandpa, calm down! Watch your blood pressure!" Evan tried to calm Bernard, who had grabbed Leo by the arms, screaming and sporting a crying expression.
"But you made it once, wouldn't it be easy?"
"They are already resistant to the drugs I made. How many trials do think are required to make drugs that will do the trick?!"
Moreover, now that they did not know what form of resistance the Mahwa had formed against Bernard's drugs, nothing could easily be assured.
It looked like any simple pathogen, but their essence lay in their evilness. It would not be easy to make a drug that killed only them without hurting humans.
"What if I told you that I had brought a sample for you to run tests on?"
"Give it to me. Once I look at it, I might be able to say something."
"Oh, I brought a living one."
'What? A living one?' Evan made a blank expression, and Aria smiled and flicked her fingers.
There was a sudden cracking sound in the air, and then something fell to the floor with a loud thump. It couldn't even get a little stiff, but it was alive... It was a goblin.
They had captured a living goblin and kept it in an invisible space!
"Aria has definitely improved her skills."
"Time does it to everyone. I completed all the work I had to do, and I was wondering what else to do with my divine power."
Aria was also a priest. She dealt in divine magic, healing, and attacking.
However, in the game, every side of her was a bit ambiguous so that she couldn't play a focused role... However, she was still amazing beyond Evan's imagination.
"When we traveled together before, it would have been a lot of trouble if we didn't have Aria with us."
"At that time, we weren't as strong as we are now. Anyway, Aria, you can loosen the space constraint now."
"Okay."
[Kiaah...!]
When Aria flicked her fingers again, the divine power holding the horrendous monster was released, and it let out a terrible scream.
However, when Bernard put a syringe in his head, it made a wicked sound and then stopped moving. It had immediately stopped moving by being administered a numbing medication!
"Hmm, this drug has extraordinary effects on ordinary monsters. Evan, help me."
"Yes, Grandpa Bernard."
Legends weren't called so without reason. Evan thought this and squatted with Bernard in front of the goblin. He was still learning advanced alchemy from Bernard, but it was possible for him to assist.
"I have to start with the medication experiment. Do you have more samples?"
"I have kept two more. Should I take them out now?"
"No, I'll try it with this one. Let's start."
From there, Bernard and Evan did all sorts of strange things to the goblins and judged the status, ability, and resistance of the Mahwa.
Of particular importance was the reaction of the Mahwa to the special drug Bernard had developed in the past. Once it was clear that it wouldn't kill it, it was important to figure out exactly how it was resisting it.
It wasn't very good.
"I know, right."
About two hours had passed since then. There were exactly three goblins possessed by Mahwa lying disassembled. There was only one thing they were able to find out for sure.
"It prevents the drug from spreading to other Mahwa tribes by different organisms. I didn't know that the Mahwa's ability had developed to this extent."
"Do you mean you can't kill them by spraying medicine like you did before?"
"It will be of an efficiency similar to killing them one by one. It made no sense to use medicine directly on them. I'll have to do more experiments to find out, but developing a new drug doesn't seem to change that much."
"...This sounds like a really desperate time right now."
Everyone in the group was silent. At that time, the Mahwa tribes' blood, which had been scattered on the floor, started to flow.
Bernard, who noticed it, couldn't stop it from moving even though he sprayed the medicine right away, and it quickly pooled on the floor in a specific shape to form a message. Bernard read it,
"Finally I found"
The blood then vaporized into thin air. The bodies of the goblins also melted and disappeared.
Evan spoke again cautiously when there was further silence between the group.
"Grandpa, is it too late to run away?"
"It's too late now. We all have already boarded the same boat."
"If the Mahwas spread inside the dungeon before we could take care of it, we are doomed."
Silence came again after Leo's insensitive words.
Since the structure and the level of the monsters of small and shared dungeons were different, Evan wanted to believe that they would not be easily invaded, but that was only blind optimism talking.
"My Grandpa also made a drug that prevents humans from being infected by the Mahwa. How is that impossible?"
If they couldn't kill the Mahwas directly, they had to find a way to somehow stop the monsters from being infected by the Mahwas inside the dungeon. That could be made possible.
Evan thought it was a pretty good idea, but Bernard shook his head.
"Do you even know how this situation is different from then? At least, those humans who could resist it were able to survive. With the cooperation of all countries, prevention and drug treatment measures were implemented on a global scale. But now? Are you going to put up the monsters in the dungeon and feed them like medicine for a cold? Then they will simply thank us and take it easily, eh!?"
Evan, who thought about it for a while, started giggling at that very moment; something had flashed inside Evan's mind.
"Just as the Mahwa are contagious among the creatures of the dungeon, can't we just make something contagious too? That we can later spread among the dungeon monsters."
"... Contagious medicine? It's a pretty interesting idea, whether it's possible or not."
Evan, gaining confidence, spoke with a louder voice,
"Yes, it is. By spraying an anti-infection drug with ingredients harmless to humans extensively inside the dungeon, the monsters who would inhale it while breathing would develop an immune system against the Mahwa tribe. And again, through their breath, it will spread into the dungeon."
"You mean an airborne infection. Yes, that would be the only way to do it. The question is whether it can be steadily maintained inside the entire dungeon. Dungeons do not usually accept humanly changes."
"We will start researching that from now on, " Evan declared. Bernard, who was worried for a moment, nodded.
"Yes, it is worth researching. My disciple is indeed very smart."
The Mahwa tribe, who had survived without eradication until now, had evolved into a variant with resistance to Bernard's drugs. The only way to fight the monster-spreading disease was by using a monster, too.
But what if it was not a drug that harmed monsters? What if they could create and spread a drug that would only prevent the Mahwa from advancing further?
To infect dungeon monsters with medicine and to prevent the Mahwa from invading the dungeon while doing so. That was Evan's and Bernard's task.
And they both thought it was almost worth dying for.
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