Chapter 45

The Pumpkin Monster reacted quickly.

It managed to catch something springing up from where it had stepped on, but it couldn’t respond in time.

– Grrr?

Not knowing what that was, it was certain that the metallic chunk had jumped into the air on its own.

But it was way too cold to be considered alive.

I dare say no one would have expected fragments to fly out in all directions from such a small spot.

The Pumpkin Monster extended its mana shield just in case, but it was useless against physical force.

“Goodness…”

“It’s come this far up…?”

Very tiny fragments were shot out in all directions.

Even elven eyesight couldn’t keep up with it.

The fragments discovered far away were enough to send chills down the elves’ spines.

“Head of the Gallery, that’s terrifying.”

Eliana, who accidentally slipped into her natural tone, gazed at the Pumpkin Monster in pain.

– Kiiieeek!

A bone-chilling scream that sounded like scraping metal.

Seeing those large, thin limbs writhing in agony was supposed to give chills.

It should have…

Yet, the mine right in front of me felt far more eerie than the monster itself.

“Not intended for lethal purposes…”

When I first heard this from the Head of the Gallery, I thought, “What nonsense is this?”

If a weapon isn’t for lethal purposes, what does it even mean?

But now, it seemed I understood.

– What the hell?

– Thinking about getting hit by that gives me chills, right?

– I can’t believe this looks so sinister; it’s like something a devil made!

– Even the demons recorded in history weren’t that cruelly creative!

“Where on earth has the Head of the Gallery lived to come across all these dreadful weapons?”

– Right?!

Thud, thud!

– Grrr…

The elves simultaneously aimed their bows to definitively snuff out the Pumpkin Monster’s breath.

Yet, was it just my imagination that the dead monster looked somewhat relieved?

Even though they had captured it too easily, the elves found it hard to rejoice.

“…You’ve worked hard. I’ll report to the queen now, so you can disperse.”

“Yay!”

“Elf-kyaah! Time to clock out!!”

Of course, one couldn’t resist finishing work.

With a small sigh, I stared toward the direction of the Elven Kingdom, Elardrien.

*

(Explosion of fragments GIF)

(GIF of numerous fragments embedding deep within the monster’s body)

(GIF of the monster writhing in pain)

Inside the Queen’s office surrounded by holy trees, Armin was already watching the tenth GIF.

“Goodness.”

Even after watching it, the grand magics were still awe-inspiring.

As the queen of elves, her long, golden hair shimmered with bright green eyes.

Although she had often been praised for her talent and proficiency in magic, she had never seen anything like this in her life.

“Amazing. No, it’s beyond amazing!”

Armin brushed her hair back, taking a deep breath to calm her excited emotions.

“I can see why humans think of the Head of the Gallery as a god. After witnessing this, who wouldn’t believe?”

“True. That high-explosive grenade you gladly handed over before was of a type we’d never seen.”

“Exactly. When it went bang! How shocking it was…”

She jabbed her finger into Eliana, who remained stiff.

“Ah!”

With an unexpected belly attack, Eliana jumped in surprise, and Armin’s eyes danced with mischief.

“By the way… You’re still using formal speech?”

“…Because she is the queen of all elves. Things can’t always be the same as in the old days.”

“The Knight Commander directly under the queen… talking back?!”

“…”

Eliana felt a brief headache.

She had been close friends with Armin back in the day and knew how playful she was.

Especially now, as a queen and a knight commander, she had to be so careful around Armin.

“I got it, Armin. Is this enough?”

“What about that cute way of speaking?”

“…Is this okay now?”

“Giggly!”

Especially since the Gallery was established, she had even learned strange phrases and used them frequently.

Eliana felt a complex emotion watching Armin flail about, speaking oddly.

Is this… the queen of the elves?

Armin was one of the few elves who knew Eliana’s true identity.

That Eliana was the Deputy of the Gallery, a Full-Peel Elf.

“I sometimes envy you. You get to speak directly with the Head of the Gallery.”

“Well, that’s true.”

“Plus, last time, you even handed over a proof you wove from your hair! Goodness, just… wow!”

Startled, Eliana quickly put her hand over Armin’s mouth.

In a moment, she felt something brush against her palm.

“Ah!”

“Hehe.”

Of course, it was Armin’s tongue.

Their relationship hadn’t changed at all since the old days.

But sadly, the atmosphere of the world, of Elard, wasn’t as it used to be.

“…Armin, you know? Variant Monsters are gradually gathering in Elard.”

“Yeah. Similar to the Pumpkin Monster, right?”

These were not monsters indirectly influenced by the Rift but had become monsters through direct nourishment from tentacles.

Such monsters were starting to creep out one by one.

“But we can’t smash the Rift…”

Armin fell into contemplation.

The Rift took the shape of a large gem, and no matter how many attempts were made, they could not break it.

So, would they have to wait until they could attack like with the Pumpkin Monster?

“What should we do? The younger generation of elves won’t wait for that.”

The younger elves, unlike the old generation, ate meat, traveled widely, and consumed mana pills eagerly.

It would be fair to say that the adult content occasionally surfacing in the Gallery was all the work of young elves.

Telling them to wait because it’s dangerous wouldn’t easily calm the atmosphere.

“But there’s no other choice.”

If they loosened control just to ease their frustration, elves would end up dying again.

Armin found that unbearable.

At a time when she was wondering whether to increase the level of control rather than loosen it…

“Yikes.”

As Eliana looked into the Gallery, she suddenly opened her mouth wide in surprise.

“What, what’s wrong?”

“Look at this.”

Eliana showed her Gallery to a startled Armin.

The gallery contained the Head of the Gallery’s brief messages.

Head of the Gallery*: Need more mines?

Head of the Gallery*: (GIFs of various types of mines)

Head of the Gallery*: I have plenty, so feel free to ask! Haha

“Goodness.”

The GIFs ranged from jump mines seen just a while ago to much larger, heavier mines.

Are such weapons as common to the Head of the Gallery as pebbles on the road?

“Armin?”

As Eliana called out in surprise, moving her face closer to the elven queen, Armin quickly turned her head away.

“Are, are those going to explode like grenades or jump mines?”

For some reason, excitement filled Armin’s fair skin, glowing pink.

*

The Pumpkin Monster became a good test subject.

After all, witnessing the power of modern weaponry I would never see in reality was an entertaining experience for me.

“Did they just say this is only the beginning?”

I’d heard from the Deputy that it wasn’t just a matter of appearing occasionally like waves.

Dangerous monsters were beginning to be sighted simultaneously across the entire Elard.

“What should I try next…”

This also meant there were many more usable things to try out.

Just then, a new post appeared in the Gallery.

[Title: A monster has appeared. But it’s rather large…]

(GIF of a massive monster with horns on its back and head)

(GIF of a monster that isn’t easily subdued even by jump mines)

For now, it was clear that the weapons given by the Head of the Gallery were effective…

But getting close to subdue them was problematic. T_T

With all the bleeding, even watching from afar was deadly, and after causing mayhem for 30 minutes, they died…

(GIF of the nearby vegetation and animals in disarray)

Most importantly, it doesn’t care whether it’s friend or foe…

Elth-hucks…

[Recommended 5423] [Not Recommended 523]

– Has the Elves’ appetite grown already?

– For real, if the Head of the Gallery didn’t have those weapons, the entire Elard would be in disarray.

– If you’re so unhappy, how about joining us? Haha

– Who’s unhappy?

– Sigh, the sarcasm is truly typical of Inpyung.

– Yeah, the Head of the Gallery prefers humans over the ungrateful elves, lol.

– So what about Frederick?

– Hey, wanna taste the Head of the Gallery’s steel?

– What are you going to do, haters? Want to become a pincushion from the Head of the Gallery’s jump mines?

The conflict between elves and humans didn’t bother me much.

That was just a usual WWE show.

But rather, I was drawn to the massively bulky monsters.

While they could be killed by jump mines, it seemed very painful for both sides until that point.

With their bulkiness came incredible blood loss, which also negatively impacted the Elard forest.

After all, it was difficult to clean up fragments that could fly away for hundreds of meters.

– Head of the Gallery*: Okay, noted.

– Writer) Huh?

– What weird thing are you trying to bring up again…?

– Head of the Gallery*: Isn’t it fine if there’s no form left?

– Writer) ??

– Huh? What do you mean, Head of the Gallery?

Just then, while browsing through the mine category, I found a uniquely shaped mine that was the latest in the list.

[PTKM-1R Modified]

Originally developed for anti-tank use, it has been modified for use against big monsters since the appearance of the mass monsters.

Outstanding performance! Lavish explosions!

“Oh, is this it?”

It seemed that even the bulky monsters could be caught easily with this…

However, the problem was the price.

119,190 points

“Well, I’ll go check somewhere else.”

With that amount of points, I could buy an overwhelming number of anti-tank mines used during world wars.

Spending that much on a weapon was a bit much.

[M15 Anti-tank Mine] – 131 points

“Oh, this should be fine.”

I looked at a cheaper anti-tank mine that, more than anything, had assured performance.

[M15 Anti-tank Mine x10 purchased!]

This would be sufficient.

Even if a monster came out that was bigger and stronger than the Pumpkin Head Monster, it wouldn’t matter.

After all, it was a mine made to break tanks, so there was no need to worry.

“Well then, I’ll send this… huh?”

Just as I was about to close the shop category, my hand froze as I saw something very popular and an old friend.