Great Magic Detected

‘It’s another dead end!’

The slimes shouted after seeing that the path was blocked by a metal panel.

There wasn’t even a door. It was just a panel.

‘What’s on the other side of the wall?’

‘There’s nothing!’

A slime had slipped through the crack between the panel and the wall.

However, there was nothing to be found there.

‘…It seems like it was originally a very big mine.’

Most of the routes were like this.

Apparently, they had used a small part of the mine to create this facility.

The paths were probably blocked off so they could stop intruders from coming in through the unused passages.

We had already discovered over 100 passages that were blocked off.

But…it would have taken an enormous amount of time and resources to block off all of those passages.

It seemed like they would be better off expanding the facility they made the Cursed Water in, and keep the device in there… But maybe there was a reason that they couldn’t.

As I wondered about this, I continued to send the slimes out to search the area far and wide.

And then…they detected a spot of huge magical energy in the mines.

‘…This…is big…’

I could feel it through Shared Senses. It was clearly on a much different scale than an ordinary human or magic tool.

In fact, it was much closer to a dragon, if anything.

But even the Fire Dragon had not had such strong magical energy.

‘Something is there!’

‘It’s huge!’

The slimes said as they headed to the source of the energy.

‘Be careful.’

Whatever it was, it wasn’t moving.

But that didn’t mean that it was safe.

Well, I could always protect them with ‘Magic Transfer’ if things got a little dangerous.

As I considered this, the slimes continued to go deeper in.

And then…they were suddenly in a very large room.

It was so big that I couldn’t take in the entirety of it from where the slimes were standing.

In such large mines as these, there are often gigantic underground chambers where the ore once was…that’s probably what this place was.

And in this gigantic space…was the gigantic and ominous-looking machine.

There were armed men protecting the area…but they were somehow smaller than the individual bolts that held the machine together.

Yes, even the dragons I had fought looked small compared to this machine.

This was most likely…the Universal Purification Device.

‘So this is the scale that is required when making a machine that can destroy a continent…’

After seeing the Universal Purification Device, I could finally understand why the Blue Moon of Salvation had built it in a mine.

It was too big to have it on the surface.

Had they wanted to hide it in a factory, they would have had to construct a building that was dozens of times wider and taller than the facility that made the Cursed Water.

It would draw too much attention…in fact, it would be like asking for people to be suspicious.

And so that was why the Blue Moon of Salvation had put the magic device deep within this old mine.

That was my conclusion. Now I had to figure out how to deal with it.

Would I be able to destroy it if I used Hellfire of Obliteration on it?

But…this device was supposed to be able to destroy a continent.

There was no guarantee that it wouldn’t be able to withstand the heat of Hellfire of Obliteration.

‘Maybe it would be better to just take over the entire facility and prevent any members of the Blue Moon of Salvation from getting inside…?’

Even if the machine was hard to destroy, the people controlling it were not.

I could station the slimes all over the facility and have them take down anyone who tried to get in. I could keep the enemy away from the machine.

Surely even the Blue Moon of Salvation would not be able to do anything if they couldn’t get near to the device.

However…it would be hard to do that for an extended period of time.

While the slimes could take shifts, there was only one me.

And in spite of their numbers, the slimes couldn’t fight the Blue Moon of Salvation without magic.

That meant that in order to maintain control of the place, I would have to stay up all day and all night and support the slimes.

That would not last very long.

As a former corporate slave, I could stay up for three nights in a row, but I didn’t know if I could go any further than that.

If only there were two of me, we could take turns in maintaining security.

As I thought about this…a slime raised its voice.

‘There’s something over there as well!’

The slime was looking at something that was behind the device.

As the device was too big, I couldn’t see it with my own eyes…but I definitely detected the magic coming from it.

It was also big…and felt like a dragon.

In terms of size, the energy might have been even larger than the Universal Purification Device.

But unlike the Universal Purification Device, it seemed like a living creature. And there was something about it that felt weakened.

The main reason I hadn’t noticed it immediately was probably because it was hiding behind the device…but the fact that it was weakened probably affected this as well.

‘I’m going to take a look!’

The slimes said as they got closer to the source.

But even if the creature was weakened, it could still be dangerous.

After all, it was as strong as a dragon.

Strong monsters were strong even when they were weakened.

If anything, an injured monster is likely to be angry and could be even more dangerous than usual.

After all, I had only had to fight the Fire Dragon because it had gone berserk after being hurt by the rain.

And…we didn’t even know if this was a natural monster.

This was the Blue Moon of Salvation, after all.

It could be a manmade monster or a mutant that was created to protect the device. I would not be surprised if it was the case.

…But even a normal monster could attack the slimes on sight.

‘Be careful. We don’t know if it’s friendly or not.’

‘Okay!’

So saying, the slimes move to the back of the Universal Purification Device.