Limit Breaking Genius Mage Chapter 437

Episode 437 progress (2)

“Master, may I hold it for you?”

“What kind of guy can’t even keep his balance on his own… I’ll climb up on my own, so just get out of the way. If you’re planning on throwing me off, then just stay where you are.”

Linus felt a momentary urge to throw a rock at Gharun, but resisted.

There were more than a few dwarves whose anger had been tempered by those hands trained for hundreds of years.

[You can easily get up there by asking His Majesty for help.]

“I told you, it's done.”

thud.

Gharun, with an old pickaxe hanging on his waist, jumped low, grabbed a small protruding rock, and jumped again with only his forearms.

It's brute force.

At the same time, he strode up to the ground, having hooked the head of Markuaab's hammer on the cliff.

Twinkle twinkle.

Alpha's single eye blinked slowly.

He seemed unable to understand why the dwarf, whose physical condition was not suitable for rock climbing, was climbing up alone.

“…….”

Verden waited quietly.

It is not appropriate to help Gharun, who has refused the hand of his disciple.

sense.

Alpha was something he hadn't mastered yet.

“Okay.”

Gharun, who had gotten out of the pit and stretched his body slightly, snorted as he looked at Alpha, who was approaching him with blank eyes.

“Even if I were a dwarf, would I be jumping up and down a cliff like this and begging for help? There’s nothing wrong with my body. It’s useless. If I was going to do that in the first place, I would have just carried you.”

“But I came here in a flying carriage piloted by Your Majesty, so in a way, I was carried. I didn’t even walk a few steps properly.”

“Are you saying that now? That is that, and this is this.”

[?]

Alpha tilted his body.

The meaning of the conversation between Linus and Gharoon was located on a vague boundary between efficiency and inefficiency, so it was often difficult to accept rationally.

Verden added to that reaction.

“Just because something is rational doesn’t mean it’s the right answer for everyone. For example… well, if someone else were to run the lab for you.”

[!]

“And what if the result is much better than yours? Would you accept it because it makes sense from an efficiency standpoint?”

There were no worries.

[Absolutely unacceptable.]

“That’s pride.”

Pride is one of the instincts that everyone with emotions has, and it is the main cause of conflict and constant conflict.

If you look closely, you can see that the conflict between Gharun and the Red Volcano Clan Leader was also a result of their clashing prides.

But that doesn't mean it's all negative.

Self-esteem soon establishes the ego.

Just as Gharun is stubborn about small things, he becomes an independent entity from each of these tiny elements.

This is not a question of proportions of results.

If Verden had abandoned himself and only bowed down and flattered everyone for the sake of efficiency, it is clear that he would not have been able to achieve transcendence, let alone magic.

Reason and emotion.

What is combined is the mind, and what contains the mind is us.

[Pride… … Heart… … I understand.]

"really?"

[About 50%?]

Alpha raised one arm, saying he only half understood.

Gharun, who was watching that scene, laughed in vain as if he found it absurd.

“I’m not teaching a kid or anything… How on earth is that a golem? I’m curious, but can I take a peek inside? I’ll make sure to restore it properly.”

[Tsk.]

Alpha refused, mimicking a tongue-clicking sound.

Gharun stroked his beard, thinking that it was interesting, and placed his hand on his waist.

The feel of the Dwarf Search Party's legacy, made entirely of alloy, was rough. A color of emotion flashed through Gharun's eyes as he reflexively frowned.

Verden asked.

“Is this something you know?”

“It’s been so long that I can’t quite remember who the owner was… but I know.”

Gharun held the pickaxe with both hands.

“Because I saw it once before.”

* * *

There was a clan of dwarves who made the Black Volcano their home.

They were not much different from other clans except for the fact that they were exposed to intense volcanic heat, but later, with the birth of the dwarves known as the 'Golden Anvil', they enjoyed an unprecedented heyday.

Creativity and dexterity to create something of a different class from the same materials.

Smelting and forging using our own designed facilities.

Even in a state of exhaustion and near starvation, he never stopped hammering… … No dwarf dared approach him.

In this way, the Golden Anvil grew in greatness over time, and came to have a unique status among the legendary dwarves.

Then one day it happened.

A tectonic shift unprecedented in dwarven history engulfed the Black Volcano.

The omen was soon a phenomenon.

The terrible change took place almost instantaneously.

Kugugugugugugugugu… … !

The blue sky begins to turn yellow.

The pure white sail-like clouds faded away and eventually split into hundreds of branches before disappearing.

Up there, it was impossible to even breathe properly, and birds flying by would crash to the ground with a squeak, their heads would break and they would die instantly.

The warm land turned black, lost its warmth, and was thoroughly and shattering through repeated large-scale uplifts and subsidences.

Dry plant.

An animal buried alive underground.

A group of dwarves who had been leisurely wandering through the tunnels also suffocated and struggled until they fell into the pitch-black darkness.

Was this rich volcanic region jealous of the Golden Anvil's hand, or was it simply one of nature's disasters?

I couldn't figure that out.

However, it was clear that the Black Volcano, which had been the hearth of the greatest clan, had fallen asleep amidst the screams of the world, along with the Golden Anvil and the fortress.

Probably, forever.

“This was the boundary that separated the Black Volcano territory at the time… Luckily, it was passed down by word of mouth from a wandering dwarf who was outside of it. About 300 years ago.”

Gharun looked into the distance.

“As I said before, there was no awareness of it being a cursed land back then. The scale was too large to believe otherwise. And unlike the legend, it was possible to breathe like this. Well, the air might have been really dry back then… But anyway, that’s how it was. Each clan, convinced that the disaster was over after a period of time and distance, dispatched an investigation team.”

The strange event that occurred in the Black Volcano was not something that could be passed over lightly. It was a strange phenomenon that might occur to other clans as well.

For the dwarves, it was a matter of survival.

But the land of the black volcano was too barren for a dwarf to navigate.

The extreme cold was somehow manageable with robes that had a built-in body temperature retention function, but the rough terrain and the herds of alien species nesting there were bound to be annoying obstacles.

“Besides, the Black Volcano is the largest area in the volcanic zone. The investigation team repeatedly advanced and retreated, and made many trials and errors, but there was no progress. The search for the Black Volcano Clan was sluggish, and it was the same when I was born about 10 years ago… Finally, we found a crucial clue.”

“It looks like they found some survivors.”

“Yes, the investigation team found a dwarf belonging to the Black Volcano Clan in a crevice of a rock. He was very skinny and had a tattered beard when they found him, but he was a dwarf who was familiar with other clans, so they quickly identified him. He was in poor health, so they brought him to the nearest Red Volcano and tried to save him.”

A bustling crowd.

A dwarf with a hideous appearance.

Although Gharun's memory was not so good that he could remember 283 years of history, the scene was still vivid in his mind.

“But the dwarf was already as good as dead. No matter what I fed him or how much I put him to sleep, it was the same. He spent the next few days gasping for breath and barely managing to survive… All he could do was blink his heavy eyelids a few times and leave a short will. ‘Please save the fortress.’ It was a coincidence that I managed to secure testimony from a survivor.”

Gharun flicked the pickaxe with his hand.

Some of the rust that had broken off from the impact fell to the cold ground.

“The clans dispatched elite dwarves to trace the faint traces left by the survivors. As a result, the investigation team returned six months later and confirmed that they had discovered the Black Volcano Fortress.”

“Have you found the entrance to the fortress?”

Gharun shrugged.

“I don’t know the details. The investigation of the Black Volcano was the adults’ business. As a child, I only heard rumors. Anyway, that’s how the first search party was newly dispatched.”

Decades have passed, but it is unknown how many dwarves still remain within the fortress.

Dwarves have excellent survivability.

The well-prepared clans crossed the Black Volcano based on plans as meticulous as their blueprints.

“And no one came back.”

Even though two years have passed, there is no sign of a return.

The direction where the black volcano was was quiet.

They didn't even show it even though they devoured that many dwarves and their equipment. Some dwarves were so horrified by it that they couldn't even look west.

“But that didn’t mean we could just give up in fear. We had spent too much time and effort on the Black Volcano. We couldn’t rule out the possibility that the first search party was stranded somewhere. The clans gathered their strength again and dispatched a second search party. My brother was among those who followed.”

"……yes?"

Linus' eyes widened.

“Did your teacher have any brothers? This is the first time I’ve heard of it.”

“Of course it is. I haven’t said anything in over 200 years. What good would it do to talk about bloodlines buried in the ground long ago?”

“Ah…… I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”

“Okay. Don’t be sorry for something so trivial.”

Gharun took a sip of his wine.

“Well, as everyone expected, the second search party that went to the Black Volcano also did not return. The damage to the clans was indescribable. Despite that, we organized a third search party, but… after engaging in several battles with the alien species along the way, we lost half of our members and returned to the clan.”

“…….”

“Eventually, the investigation into the Black Volcano was concluded as a failure about 250 years ago and completely ended. It was considered a taboo. The data was burned, and all the search parties that disappeared were declared missing. My brother was one of them. It must have been around that time. At the same time that the Black Volcano was called a cursed land, all kinds of rumors began to circulate.”

A curse passed down by word of mouth.

Time took its toll on him, and he eventually became a terror to the dwarves.

Gharun wasn't afraid of the black volcano, but he didn't have any good memories of it, so he tried hard to stay away from the place.

My brother's death was buried in my heart.

They buried it deep, pounding it relentlessly with heat, metal and hammering.

… … .

The atmosphere became heavy.

Alpha, who had quickly learned the meaning of intuition, quietly blinked his one eye.

In that situation, the first one to speak was Gharun himself.

“That’s all I know about the Black Volcano. And this pickaxe was with the first search party… If we’re lucky, the fortress might be close. Yes, all that’s left is to follow their footsteps.”

He strapped an old pickaxe to his belt and boarded the flying carriage.

“If you’re a transcendent being, you should be able to find traces like that right away, right? Let’s go now.”

Empty!

Gharun knocked on the carriage.

Linus' face turned pale at his easygoing attitude toward a transcendent being, but Verden paid no attention to him at all.

The exploration resumed.

* * *

Wide-ranged magical power detection cast while flying nimbly through the air.

As a result of the skills gained through transcendence and the addition of <Arcane>, it is difficult for even other magical transcendents to reproduce the magical power detection ability of this level of Verden.

I don't know about the current Demon King or the owner of the top ranking Magic Tower.

Hwaaaaah!

As I became more and more accustomed to the sense of large-scale detection, my speed gradually increased.

I wasn't tired.

Because his magical power was still infinite and he felt almost free of physical fatigue.

Of course, you can't live your whole life without sleeping or eating anything.

Because it's not like they're undead.

However, the life force of the transcendent body is only comparable to it.

Exploration day and night.

Every time I detected something foreign, I would turn the ground upside down, and about 20% of the time I could find traces of the dwarven search party.

A tattered flag.

The remains of a dwarf.

Damaged armor.

A battle hammer with its handle missing.

A double-edged axe, rusted and crumbling.

Even the remains of the dwarf-controlled vehicle… … .

At first glance, it appears that there are many relics buried there, but in reality, there are only a few.

“The items from the first and second search parties are mixed together. Judging from the location where they were found, they seem to be pointing slightly diagonally… This can’t be a coincidence, right?”

“I guess so.”

Verden nodded at Gharun's opinion.

In every way, the traces from hundreds of years ago seemed to indicate a kind of path rather than being scattered here and there.

It is also possible that the shape was caused by a small tectonic shift that may have occurred during or in the middle of the epoch.

But it was ruled out.

'It is irrational to ignore the highly probable cases and consider the possible cases.'

It was at that time that we were chasing down so few clues.

I found a small cave.

To be more precise, it was a cave that was artificially expanded from a natural crevice.

The area of the black volcano was very cold and almost windless, so the traces remained intact and undamaged.

“Follow me.”

Verden took the lead and entered.

It didn't feel that narrow, as it was wide enough for five or so normal dwarves to fit side by side.

The height was also just right.

Although the ground was extremely steep, at an angle of almost 30 to 40 degrees, no one fell because Verden manipulated gravity.

“Phew…….”

After walking briskly for about two hours, Linus was just catching his breath.

A steep cliff appeared in front of Verden and his party.

A huge circular pit.

A bottomless pit with no visible bottom.

“……I finally found it.”

Gharun muttered softly and looked at the crater of the black volcano that was sleeping underground.