Chapter 88

Fortunately, the sugarized table was a cheap one, so it was decided to replace it with something better.

Perhaps they had underestimated the artifact, thinking it was just a tool for making sugar.

An artifact made with magic stones that could be used for military purposes certainly wouldn't be limited to producing just a small amount of sugar.

More terrifyingly, the "Wood Sugarization" magic tool could be used multiple times and recharged with magic power.

It could not only mass-produce sugar but also dismantle wooden houses.

Using three magic stones was worth it, but even so, it had an incredible cost-performance ratio.

The fact that it could be recharged suggested that magic stones were quite valuable even in ancient civilizations.

In any case, by preparing the appropriate amount of wood and metal equipment to match the magic tool's output, they were able to produce sugar stably.

I never thought that a sugar mass-production plan, which had been thwarted by the Zunana grass, would be realized in this form, but as a result, the Maple Guild gained a new flagship product.

The Maple Guild had already grown quite large, and it was said that all sales-related matters could be handled without my involvement, so my job was just to occasionally recharge the "Wood Sugarization" magic tool.

Apart from funding and providing materials, I could just observe, which was like a business simulation and quite enjoyable.

While the sugar sales system was being set up, I had accepted a guild request and come to the city of Soltin for a meeting.

A large-scale monster outbreak was about to occur.

The location was about five days' travel by carriage from Fortren.

It wasn't a significant distance for me, nor would it be for adventurers returning from the Decibattle.

The meeting went smoothly due to the limited number of participants.

In summary, the area predicted for the outbreak (a radius of about 100 kilometers) was mostly just a wilderness or mountainous region with a few small villages, which simplified the problem.

There were several medium and small cities, including Soltin, which would serve as the command center, but the evacuation of the villagers and the protection of the surrounding areas had already been completed, so my job was to defeat the monsters before they left the area and reduce their numbers to a level that the town's protective mages could handle.

Succeeding in this request meant almost completely wiping out nearly 10,000 monsters and monopolizing their materials.

It seemed that a lot of materials for artifacts would be obtained.

Once the responsible areas were decided, the meeting ended quickly. Each person would make their own judgments and fulfill their roles.

The merchants and guild officials would remain in the city, while the adventurers would move to their respective positions.

"Try your best so we don't have to do any work."

As I was flying off, I heard adventurers with anti-aircraft staffs leaving the city say this.

The adventurers, who were originally from the Decibattle, were faster on foot than ordinary warriors, but that wasn't surprising.

There were still about 4 to 6 hours until the predicted time of the monster outbreak, but since the prediction was only narrowed down to a 100-kilometer radius, I had to search for the location where the signs were appearing.

I accelerated, being careful not to exceed the speed of sound, and looked around the sky.

It was said that places where magic elements had gathered excessively would produce dark, swirling clouds, making them easy to identify.

It seemed that the information was correct, as I found a dark, swirling cloud in less than 30 minutes.

It was at the edge of the 100-kilometer radius, but fortunately, there was only one small village nearby.

I cast a barrier spell around the village to prevent any damage and waited for the monsters to appear, watching the cloud.

As I watched, the unnatural black cloud grew larger and darker.

About 30 minutes after I started watching, the cloud stopped expanding horizontally and a strong downdraft began.

The cloud didn't dissipate in the downdraft but instead started to expand downward, suggesting it wasn't made of water vapor.

However, the monsters were still about 5 hours away from appearing.

It was incredibly boring.

I thought about collecting the magic elements immediately, as I had done after the dragon hunt, but I was afraid something strange might happen.

So, I decided to process and link the magic stones I had in large quantities and wait.

One magic stone, two magic stones...

By the time I finished processing the 173rd magic stone, the situation finally changed.

The black cloud that had covered the sky disappeared, and in its place, black flying monsters covered the sky.

The monsters appeared in several waves, but there seemed to be at least a thousand or two thousand of them.

The number was large, but the appearance range was about the same size as the cloud, so I covered the area with a barrier spell.

I would have to enclose several cubic kilometers, but I could cover that with MP.

I decided to test one.

I approached at subsonic speed, swung my magic sword, and decapitated a large, black-winged bird-like monster.

Upon dissection, I found that it had a large magic stone, similar to the ones used in experiments.

The magic stone was good, but the other materials seemed to be of low quality.

They had a cheap, C-country product feel to them.

Given that they were mass-produced instantly from the strange black cloud, it was understandable.

After some thought, I decided to focus on collecting only the magic stones and abandon the other materials.

While it would be better to collect all the materials, cleanly defeating dozens at once was like trying to eat pudding with a shovel.

With thousands of opponents, it would be like using a bucket-wheel excavator. It was impossible.

As I was thinking, various flying monsters, including birds and winged dogs, attacked.

This was perfect for testing.

I took a step back from the monsters, took out the "Magic Element Suppression" from my item box, and activated it.

I felt a slight loss of power, and the next moment, the surrounding monsters froze and began to fall to the ground.

All the monsters within a 100-meter radius were eliminated, and those outside were flying strangely and losing altitude, showing that it was a highly effective magic tool.

However, it seemed to affect not only the monsters.

I was using a flight spell to maintain altitude, but I started to lose altitude.

I increased the output to maintain my altitude, but it seemed that I was also affected by the "Magic Element Suppression."

The theory that it wouldn't affect humans was false.

... Probably because I, who possessed more magic elements than all the monsters combined, was counted as a human.

Although my magic power had decreased, it was already recovering, and I could use it consciously without any problems, so I began to exterminate the monsters.

Because of the large number, I needed powerful extermination magic, but I didn't want to destroy the magic stones, so I used fire magic instead of the explosive magic used in the Decibattle.

I poured millions of magic power into the area outside the barrier and generated enough fire magic to fill the barrier, then triggered it with a small stone.

The sky turned red.

The heat and flames not only dyed the sky and the surrounding air red but also the ground.

Thanks to the barrier, I didn't feel the heat, but I could feel it consuming magic power.

Even if I lost a hundred million or two hundred million magic power, it wouldn't be a problem for me now, but it would have dried me up in the past.

The flames burned for tens of seconds and then disappeared, leaving a large number of magic stones at the bottom of the barrier.

I had expected the bodies to turn to charcoal, but it seemed that even the charcoal was gone. Should I be happy that the dissection work was saved?

I cooled the magic stones with magic and stored them in my item box, then noticed a new black cloud forming next to the barrier I had set up.

The monsters were supposed to keep appearing from the same place, but the barrier might have interfered with their regeneration.

There was still time before the next summoning, but the outbreak was supposed to last intermittently for half a day.

To save some effort, I decided to try a shortcut.

First, I set up a barrier near the ground to protect it without interfering with the cloud formation.

Then, I poured thousands of times more magic power than the first fire magic and launched a prolonged fire magic.

I confirmed that the fire magic had reached the center of the cloud and triggered it with an accelerated spell.

The surroundings of the cloud were enveloped in flames.

This strategy was to prepare the flames before the monsters appeared and exterminate them the moment they emerged.

If this succeeded, I wouldn't need to keep monitoring the monster appearances.

I watched the flames for a while, but they didn't show any signs of dying out after a few minutes.

There was no damage to the surroundings. The plan was a success.

It was still evening, but the ground near the surface was as bright as daytime. I watched the sky for about an hour, occasionally scouting the surroundings.

Red-black spheres began to fall from the red sky and hit the barrier one after another.

On closer inspection, they were the same magic stones dropped by the other monsters.

Thanks to the magic power, the job of watching the sky and exterminating the enemies had turned into a job of tending the fire and collecting magic stones.

In half a day, I collected about 9,000 magic stones.

With a satisfied face, I returned to Soltin with a large number of high-quality magic stones, and the adventurers on guard rushed over.

"...Are you okay? The sky was burning where you were, and we thought maybe a sub-dragon or a dragon had appeared. The monsters didn't fly over, but we heard it was a dangerous scale even for Maple. Was that your magic?"

"Yeah, that was probably my magic. I pre-filled the monster appearance area with fire magic to make things a bit easier."

I had written 80% smoothly, but got stuck at the end and barely made it before the deadline.

I had planned to write a bit more, but I made a few mistakes.

By the way, it's not because of the summer event.