I Alone Regress in a Hero Party That Was Annihilated - Chapter 42

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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#42. Raw Night (3)

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The entrance to Meursault Mountain, the Abandoned Mining Area.

A Demon Cave that the Empire designated as a zone where human survival is impossible.

Among them, the most dangerous place is right here at Beauvoir Mines.

This place, where originally not even a single rat would pass by, let alone any human presence, was today bustling with the kind of noise you’d expect from a blacksmith shop.

Clang— clang— clang— whoosh! Bubble bubble bubble bubble… whoooosh! Bang!

Inside Beauvoir Mines, countless prisoners were sweating as they labored.

The sound of pickaxes hitting stone walls, the sound of flames drawn from lava being transferred to kindling, the sound of furnaces heating up intensely, the sound of bellows blowing air, the sound of iron ore bubbling as it melted down, and so on…

The prisoners mined iron ore with their trembling arms and legs and melted it down.

Meanwhile.

“Hey! I told you that’s not how you do it! If there are too many impurities, it won’t even maintain its shape!”

Sancho, who had been entrusted with command authority by Featherback, was earnestly berating the other prisoners.

“You bastard! I told you not to pour the molten metal that fast!? It’s overflowing outside the mold! Do you want to see my head get chopped off? Huh? What!? Hey! Hey! Hey! Fire! The fire’s going out! Ahhhhh! Add more firewood! Quickly! What are the bellows doing!? Revive the fire now! If the fire dies, you’ll die too!”

Sancho was leading the work while berating the prisoners divided into five groups.

They put the iron ore mined from the abandoned mine into the furnace and melted it to make molten metal.

Bubble bubble bubble bubble bubble bubble…

The prisoners scooped up the molten metal and poured it into large molds.

Then they covered it with snow and ice brought from the snowy field to cool it down.

Hissssssssssssssssssss…

Eventually, an iron stake revealed its form.

However, as soon as it was removed from the mold, it made a loud noise and broke in half.

Sancho covered his face with his hands.

“This won’t do. Prince Featherback said we don’t need to make them perfectly well… but at the very least, we should be able to drive them into the ground somewhere. What do we do if they break before we can even drive them in!”

Looking at the broken stake, his deceased father’s face flickered before his eyes.

Sancho had experience helping with work at his father’s blacksmith shop when he was young.

Would his life have been different from now if he hadn’t fought with his father, who was forcing him to inherit the family business, and left home?

Sancho shook his head back and forth.

There’s no point in regretting the past now.

Right now, meeting the deadline is the urgent priority.

‘Right. Let me focus only on work for now. How did Father do it back then?’

Definitely boiled the molten metal… put it in the mold… cooled it down… hammered it…

‘Wait? Hammered it?’

Sancho’s eyes lit up.

“That’s right! Forging! Before it completely cools down, you have to hammer the pig iron like crazy to remove the impurities. Heat it and hammer it, fold it and hammer it, this process needs to be repeated at least several more times…”

Right at that moment.

…Clang! …Clang! …Clang!

A loud hammering sound began to echo from beside them.

When Sancho hurriedly turned his head, he saw a man pounding cast iron with a hammer.

Soon after, the man scooped up several buckets of snow and poured them over the mold.

Hissssssssssss…

The snow melted into water, and the water boiled into steam and disappeared.

There, a massive iron stake had been completed.

Sancho’s eyes wavered.

“Lee Wan… You bastard. You knew how to work iron?”

“Hmph, I don’t need orders from someone who can’t even hammer properly. I’m a real blacksmith by trade.”

The bearded man called Lee Wan turned around.

Lee Wan looked at Sancho with a sneer.

“To think you could do blacksmith work with something you roughly learned by watching over someone’s shoulder, you fool.”

“What, what’s wrong? Prince Featherback appointed me as the supervisor! How dare you be so insolent!”

“Don’t mess around. I have no intention of following orders from someone who knows nothing. If you don’t like it, try me.”

The prisoners began to stir at the confrontation between Lee Wan and Sancho.

Lee Wan smiled coldly and said.

“I’ll do what Featherback orders. I have no choice since my neck is on the line. So stop your noisy chattering.”

As Lee Wan strode forward brandishing his sickle and hammer, Sancho could only break out in cold sweat.

Soon after, Lee Wan smiled coldly.

“Until now, we were firmly in that bastard’s grasp, so it was hard to harbor different thoughts… but here it’s different. That bastard has no choice but to depend on us too, doesn’t he?”

The prisoners began to stir.

The eyes that had been docile until now instantly changed, spewing forth venom.

Lee Wan smiled at those prisoners.

“Everyone just trust and follow me. I’ll definitely give that bastard what he deserves.”

The prisoners began to rally behind him.

Shaking the chains bound to their wrists and ankles while shouting, they looked ready to explode at any moment.

‘At this rate, something terrible will happen….’

Sancho tried to sneak away.

But.

…Thud!

Lee Wan placed his hand on Sancho’s shoulder.

“Hey, goat beard.”

“….”

“You also lost everything because of that bastard Featherback, didn’t you? Your money, your family too.”

“….”

“Join hands with us. If we all combine our strength, we can kill that bastard. Here on this snow mountain.”

Sancho’s eyes began to tremble faintly.

Lee Wan began to entice Sancho with a gentle tone.

“It won’t be difficult. You just need to report to Featherback that there are no problems. Just keep repeating those words. That’s why we let you become the leader in the first place.”

“….”

“Ah, don’t worry. We’ll make the iron stakes as scheduled. Much better than what you’re making, exactly to the specifications he ordered. But… when we finish making them all, his life will end too. We have a plan.”

Other prisoners gathered around Sancho.

Before he knew it, all the prisoners except Sancho were staring at him with gleaming eyes.

Lee Wan said.

“I’ll handle everything, so just say one word: ‘I’ll help.'”

“….”

The inside of the abandoned mine began to heat up like a furnace.

Large beads of sweat formed on Sancho’s forehead.

Finally.

“I am….”

Sancho made his decision.

* * *

The snow mountain where blizzards raged.

Featherback was currently walking across the plains attached right below a high peak.

Trudge— trudge— trudge— trudge—

White breath puffed out from his mouth.

Featherback’s red eyes swept over the scenery beyond the snowy field.

A plains-like peak existing between high and low peaks.

It was certainly terrain that was hard to find in this area.

“….”

Featherback silently crossed the plains.

‘Those prisoner bastards. They’re probably plotting a conspiracy right about now.’

He had already suspected as much from the moment he left the cave.

The eyes of several of them had been gleaming suspiciously, so they would soon start a riot the moment he stepped away briefly.

However.

‘If they’re going to rise up anyway, I wish they’d do it a bit sooner.’

Featherback was actually waiting for the prisoners’ rebellion.

‘The moment those bastards start a riot, immediately… Hmm?’

Suddenly, Featherback stopped in his tracks.

Featherback’s gaze was directed toward a canyon spread out below a low cliff.

“…”

Featherback carefully examined the floor of the canyon.

Strange green patterns were drawn on the floor of the narrow valley.

Width: approximately ten-odd meters. Length: unmeasurable.

Strange shapes formed by traces of melted snow covered the entire canyon.

‘The snow melted due to geothermal heat, and grass sprouted in those spots.’

A grassland in the middle of a snowy field—truly a bizarre phenomenon.

Featherback followed along where the grass had sprouted.

Only the ground where grass had grown was warm, and that heat continued into the canyon’s interior, drawing winding curves.

The deeper into the canyon he went, the more this phenomenon expanded.

Warm heat rising from the ground was melting the snow across the wide plains area, revealing the bare earth beneath.

What was even more peculiar was that the sprouts and flowers blooming here were all species that bloomed in different seasons.

‘The life force of the mountain flows through these veins. This is where all those tributaries converge.’

It felt as if the ‘mountain’s essence’ had taken the form of a serpent and passed through here.

Featherback stepped on rocks protruding from various points on the cliff and descended below.

[Grrk?]

Midway down, a large lizard tried to bite Featherback.

Slash—!

Having reached the 3-Star Level, Featherback severed the distant lizard’s neck simply by swinging his sword through midair.

The release of sword aura.

Launching a slash attack through the air.

This was a dream realm that ordinary knights could never reach even with a lifetime of training… but for Featherback, it was just another passing milestone.

Featherback sheathed his sword at his waist, showing no emotion about the divine skill he had just demonstrated.

His interest had been directed elsewhere from the beginning.

‘…Certainly. This canyon is too warm. This vegetation can’t possibly be from the middle of a snow mountain.’

Featherback looked toward the cave at the very back of the canyon.

He also clearly took note of the terrain of the mountain peaks rising around the edges of this canyon.

‘Yes. I remember. This is the right place.’

Featherback checked the surrounding environment several times before descending into the canyon.

Thud―

As his foot touched the ground, his certainty deepened even more.

Large footprints were imprinted in the ground where snow had melted into mud.

Footprints much larger than even Featherback lying down.

They were undoubtedly traces of a giant monster.

‘…It went this way.’

Featherback walked along the canyon toward the cave.

Near the cave entrance, scars were carved as if made by striking dozens of times with a giant scythe.

Traces of excrement were also visible nearby.

In the excrement that had become muddy mixed with melted snow water, several human skulls were embedded.

‘Did it devour the natives living nearby.’

Featherback nodded his head.

‘…Yes, this is the one. I found it well.’

As a result of tracing his memories from before regression as much as possible, Featherback was able to find the nest of his desired prey.

The ultra-high-level monster that caused the Beauvoir Mines, which once boasted the highest iron production in Mörsolt Territory, to be designated as a Human Survival Impossible Zone.

‘Without this creature alone, Mörsolt could become several times more prosperous than now.’

Featherback stood up.

Cold wind blew from inside the cave, sweeping over his hair.

‘…Going inside right now would be dangerous. Drawing it out comes first.’

Featherback quietly retreated.

He had already prepared a method to draw out the master of this canyon.

‘The prisoners’ riot. It should be worth looking forward to.’

All that remained was to watch for the timing of execution.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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