Kays Translations

Chapter 57: Mineral Ants

The first time I saw mineral ants, they had an alien appearance. About the same size as a human, it was covered in a shiny metallic shell and gazed at us with eyes devoid of any emotion.

“Is this the part where I yell ‘Ants!’?”

“No, it’s Ali, but …… what happened all of a sudden?”

“I’m talking about a game that my father liked to play. I just remembered it.” 

Galatea smiled nostalgically as I stared at her. Was Souzi doing something like exterminating insects? Anyway. We have to see if these guys can use a gun.

I heard a dry sound from the ordinary rifle I had brought with me.

“I’m freaked out when I see them…..”

As expected, the rifle’s bullet, which had pierced even the wyvern’s scales, was easily repelled by the shell, which had been assimilated by the mithril.

I call out to Ruby as I realize the threat of the mine ants.

“Ruby!”

“I want you to leave it to me!”

A bullet is released from Ruby’s magic bayonet and pierces through the mine ant’s leg, knocking it off balance and causing it to fall. But from that point on, it was beyond my expectations. The ant immediately crawls on all fours, as if it feels no pain.
No, I guessed that it really felt no pain. I have heard that insects have no sense of pain. In the same way, these guys don’t have a sense of pain, which means that if you don’t shoot them in the vital spot, it will only have the effect of slowing them down. Eventually, Ruby delivered another shot to the forehead, and finally, it stopped moving.

And as for the other two mine ants…..

“Breath of the Flame God, become an arrow and shoot at my enemies!”

“They are not my enemies, though they are quite hard.”

One had been burned by the magic of the self-proclaimed Cain, and the other had had its torso and neck torn off by Galatea. After all, her physical strength solves everything. Galatea’s too strong…….

“Oh, Grace, these weapons are awesome! I could have taken down those mine ants on my own. It took five of us to defeat it until now. Now I don’t have to put Cain through all the trouble.”

“Ah, isn’t the power of Asgard amazing?”

Ruby had a big smile on her face and I was thinking with a smile on my face as I pondered what I was going to do. I knew that the magic bayonet would be effective, but this time I had my hands full trying to take down one of them.

The Asgardian soldiers may be able to shoot through a steep spot and finish them off with a single blow if they are caught by surprise, but if they are moving or in a melee, it’s tough. It’s easy to imagine what would happen if we were to run into a nest of ants at this point.

If this happens, we will have to increase the number of magic bayonets and have the dwarves use them as well. They may not be used to guns, but they can handle them, as Ruby proved.

“Cain, how many people do you think there are in our country that could easily defeat these guys?”

“Huh…..? Oh, yes. This is just my guess, but there are only ten wizards who can use magic enough to ignore the anti-magic power of Mithril, even among the subordinate wizards of the “Sword Saint”. The rest are probably Georg, the “Sword Sage” He would be able to cut through the entire mithril. I think it’ll be possible if there are multiple members of his body guard. However, there is no room to form a formation in the mine, even if it’s a large place. It’s going to be quite a struggle.”

If the battlefield were flat, even mineral ants with hard shells could be defeated by sheer force of numbers. However, in such a narrow place with many side roads, a hard fight was inevitable.

I touch the mineral ant, which is already out of breath.

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Mineral ant (mithril)

A monster that eats the stones in the mine to create a shell. Their hardness and magical system are further enhanced by mithril. They also have no sense of pain and will come for the queen even if she is in pain.

——————————————————————————————–

Oh, now that I’ve actually fought and understand mineral ants, I have even more detailed information than I had before. Now that I understand their biology, I may be able to find an effective way to defeat them.

At any rate, I’m curious about the queen. 

“Master, that face you’re making, you found some hope, haven’t you? As expected of you!”

“Thank you, Galatea. Now the greatness of Grace-Vermilion is about to begin. Hey, Ruby, have the dwarves gathered any information about the mineral ants?”

I nodded to Galatea, who looked at me reliably. Yes, my weapon of choice is not only my inventiveness, but also my knowledge. By learning more about mineral ants, there’s a good chance that my world library will be able to give me even more useful knowledge.

“Oh, I have a report that someone has written. I’ll show you later. Also, I was thinking about using this earlier, and I’ve come up with some improvements that I’d like to discuss with everyone in the workshop!”

“Thanks for the help! I had Bowman make it for me in a hurry. I think there are still some areas that could be enhanced.”

“Well …… Grace has found something decisive……”

As Ruby and I were talking, the self-proclaimed Cain said something with a somewhat envious look on his face. Then it was time to go back to the dwarves’ castle with the mine ants.

“Grace….. I need to talk to you both.’

The self-proclaimed Cain said, looking a little nervous.

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