Chapter 347 – The Crystal Beast

“Well then…”

By the time I leaped outside, it had already dispelled its rock armor. It seemed to have been sniffing around, searching for gaps in the barrier—but now it turned to face me.

Its eyes still held anger as it let out a low growl.

Had it recognized me as an enemy? Good. I raised Ouroboros and faced it, casually closing the distance. Given Beryl Mall’s explosive speed, I was probably already within its effective range.

After just a few moments, it charged like a battering ram with its front claws extended forward. I dodged sideways and fired a Fireball as I turned around.

Beryl Mall scraped its claws against the barrier floor, scattering sparks as it killed its momentum, then skillfully shifted its stance to face me again.

Just then, it swiped its claws to cut down the Fireball approaching its face. In that same instant, I kicked off my Shield and charged in.

It rose up on its hind legs and unleashed claw strikes from both sides. I stepped in to dodge the right one and deflected the left strike with my angled Shield. Closing into close range, I delivered a sweeping strike with Ouroboros aimed at its exposed flank.

Just before impact, a crystal shield formed, blocking my attack. A stake-like rock materialized above and slammed down directly below. I slipped out from the side before it hit and leaped backward. Kicking off the barrier, I flipped and closed in again.

Claw swings and crystal spears shot from around Beryl Mall. I parried with Ouroboros and shot them down with Nemea and Capella. Its massive jaws snapped shut with a sound like clashing fangs. Bite force capable of crushing ore. The wind pressure from its massive body roared at close range.

So it compensates for blind spots in its claws by generating crystals and rocks with magical power. It seemed to possess considerable magical power—at this close-range exchange of blows and slashes, crystals shattered and flew everywhere in countless fragments.

It created a huge boulder, cradled it with its shovel-like front legs, and swung it down as if to smash me. I jumped. It slammed the rock against the barrier, then effortlessly sliced through that same rock with its claws.

With a grinding sound, countless crystals sprouted from Beryl Mall’s back. It took on a porcupine-like form—then began firing at me like anti-air fire without even turning around. I kicked off Nemea, Capella, and my Shield to leap left and right, but the barrage precisely targeted my evasion paths as if anticipating them.

As I thought, it’s not using vision. What is it sensing, and how?

They say moles have sharp senses of smell and hearing… Does that apply to Beryl Mall too? That Fireball I fired earlier—it had calculated its trajectory and shot it down as it turned around, and it had also reacted by sniffing out the ore probably from the settlement.

For example—what if it can sense magical power through smell? Then deceptive movements would be useless. Big techniques would be detected in advance too. With that explosive speed, landing a clean hit would be quite difficult. Especially since it can clad itself in rock and crystal armor.

I adjusted my movements accordingly, charging through the barrage along the shortest path to Beryl Mall. I deployed my Shield to the front—not blocking, but deflecting at angles that redirected them backward. Crystal bullets that should have hit whizzed past my ears.

“Grind Dust!”

A composite earth and wind magic. I created battle rings of hard sand and closed in. This wasn’t something a crystal shield could block like before.

Beryl Mall’s judgment was quick. The crystals spread across its back covered its underside too. I feinted as if engaging in close combat—then the moment Grind Dust touched its armor, I relinquished control of the magic. The rotating sand and wind scattered in all directions due to centrifugal force. That meant the magical power equivalent to the spell formula scattered everywhere. A smoke screen—no, chaff to disrupt its radar?

Simultaneously, I drew the heightened magical power inward and dove into its chest. And—Beryl Mall’s reaction was slightly delayed. I drove an impact strike into its crystal armor, and its body swayed slightly.

But relying on the toughness of its massive frame, it unleashed an upward-scooping claw strike from below. I deployed my Shield and jumped as if riding the claw.

Beryl Mall extended crystal branches as it retreated from the spot at full speed, then rebounded by using the barrier as a foothold just as I had done.

High-speed ramming and crystal branches. A nasty combination. Getting caught would cause lacerations, and since the area was wide, I needed to dodge significantly. The wide range prevented enemies from closing into melee, making it both offensive and defensive.

Combining Nemea and Capella’s explosive speed, I leaped away largely. Beryl Mall repeated its high-speed charges and rebounds two, three times.

“—Resonance Mine!”

Timed to match Beryl Mall’s charging movement and speed. I left resonance bombs in place as I leaped upward. A magic that causes internal destruction by detonating multiple acoustic bullets to collide at a single point.

A direct hit would render crystal armor useless. But I knew it would detect the magic activation. First, I needed to silence this noisy assault.

Sensing danger, Beryl Mall hooked its front claws into the barrier for an emergency brake, turning its face away. The Resonance Mine detonated right before its eyes and nose. The explosion of acoustic bullets. It avoided a direct hit, but damage remained to its hearing and armor.

I kicked off the barrier ceiling and fell vertically. Just before hitting the ground, I used Levitation to kill my inertia, then flew at a right angle to close in.

I wrapped Ouroboros in magical power, raising it as I deployed a Magic Circle. Beryl Mall’s sense of smell was still active. The moment it was distracted by that, Nemea’s Claw struck from the opposite direction. Immediately after, I drove another impact strike into its head from the reverse direction as if pinching it, then gripped Ouroboros with my free left hand and fired magic at point-blank range.

“Sealing Wedge!”

Sixth-class Light Magic. A wedge of light pierced Beryl Mall through the cracks in its armor. From the pierced spots, thorns of light extended, wrapping around Beryl Mall’s body. Simultaneously, the armor it wore began crumbling away.

One of Mother’s Sealing Techniques. It doesn’t restrict movement, but seals one of the target’s techniques or abilities. Unlike Magic Seal, it’s a technique designed for actual combat, so its fast activation is an advantage, but like Magic Seal, it has the drawback of being easily resisted.

But Mother used it in real combat. Either catch the opponent by surprise, or if not, do as now—inflict sufficient damage to create a blank in their consciousness. Drive the wedge into that gap in awareness and break it.

“Gahh!”

A short, irritated roar. Perhaps realizing its armor wasn’t functioning, Beryl Mall switched to another technique—crystal bullets, scattering a barrage as it rose on its hind legs and swung its claws.

I dodged while stepping in, shifted the striking point to kill its momentum, and blocked with my Shield. This time, I had closed into melee range. I swung Ouroboros through, piercing its flank.

The impact shot through, bending Beryl Mall’s massive body into a V-shape. As its face dropped, I drove an upward-scooping Palm Strike into it.

It swayed unsteadily. While swaying, it tried to impale me by growing huge crystals from the ground. Quite the fighting spirit. I thrust Ouroboros into the ground as if to leap upward, then generated Capella’s hind legs from my shoulders to jump overhead. I released the accumulated magical power. Deploying a huge Magic Circle. If it lost its armor, I just needed to pierce it with a Lightning Strike. There was no escape within the barrier—.

Just then, Beryl Mall widened its small eyes, then voluntarily flipped onto its back, exposing its belly. It held its front paws before its face as if to stop me.

“…So you surrender when you can’t win?”

This is where it differs from Labyrinth monsters, huh. I’d been suppressing my magical power as much as possible to avoid detection by Beryl Mall, but it probably understood the difference in our capabilities from me going all out and the course of the battle so far.

In that case, I needed to determine whether this individual itself was ferocious or not…

I heard Beryl Mall sometimes attacks towns but only for ore. It also let adventurers go when they dropped their ore and fled… Rather than actively attacking humans, you could say it’s just extremely greedy for food.

I landed on the ground while maintaining the Magic Circle. Like this… it had completely stopped resisting, curled up and flipped over.

“…Sleep Cloud”

I doused Beryl Mall’s snout with Sleep Cloud, and its entire body went limp. I’ll apply Magic Seal and cast Light Bind… then keep it floating with Levitation. If I do that much, it shouldn’t be able to do anything by strength alone.

“So, what will you do with that?”

Looking at Beryl Mall lying flipped over and breathing in sleep, Rosemary opened her feather fan with a wry smile.

“…When they take that attitude, it’s a bit difficult from my position as Otherworld Ambassador.”

If it had become ferocious due to magical power, it would have fought to the end, so you could say Beryl Mall was just following its instincts and habits. It’s quite a large specimen, and given its habitat, it probably had no equals until now.

It seems fairly intelligent too, and I think coexistence might be possible if it can learn what’s inconvenient for humans.

“Coming to the mine was like an unfortunate accident for both parties, wasn’t it?”

At Grace’s words, Marlene also nodded.

That said, we can’t just banish it either. Letting it ravage the ore vein would clearly be a negative.

“…There’s also the option of making it a Familiar or summoned beast.”

“Only if Beryl Mall agrees to that when it wakes up.”

When Ashley said that, Claudia looked at the still-sleeping Beryl Mall and laughed. Either way, if a contract is formed, it can receive magical power from the magician. It would become much less gluttonous than now.

“And if it doesn’t agree?”

“…How about making it wear a Bracelet so it doesn’t oppose Labyrinth monsters, using Subjugation Magic to prevent it from attacking humans, then releasing it in the old Labyrinth mine shafts?”

…Hmm. Would that be the compromise? I’d like to hear the opinions of the residents of the Marquisate, who are the concerned parties.

When I looked at Malcolm and Edgar, they gave wry smiles as if understanding what I wanted to say.

“Since it’s a wild creature, punishment seems somewhat inappropriate. If no further damage occurs, I have nothing to say.”

“From the start, we couldn’t do anything about it. Not showing mercy to something begging for its life leaves a bad aftertaste too. There were injuries, but no deaths.”

At those words, the Dwarves also nodded in agreement. Hmm. It seems Malcolm and the others have no problems with it.

Then, to decide its future treatment, let’s proceed with preparations for the contract ritual before Beryl Mall wakes up.

“The conditions would be not having a Familiar and being skilled in Earth Magic, I suppose. If compatibility is bad, efficiency suffers when providing magical power, and the contract becomes difficult too. A summoned beast would be fine, but in that case, Marlene would take responsibility, and it would still need to wear a Bracelet and stay in the old mine shafts normally.”

While making preparations, we decided who would take Beryl Mall. We borrowed tools from the settlement and built a simple Altar.

Marlene’s magical affinity is lightning. As a Shrine Maiden, she has high affinity with the night, so I expect her compatibility with Beryl Mall, which lives underground, to be fairly good. Because it’s normally in darkness.

Marlene looked around at everyone’s faces, took a step back, then nodded quietly. When she looked at me, she made a gesture like touching her own arm—seems she’s concerned about the Bracelet being mandatory.

“So if no one else wants it, you’ll take it?”

When I asked, Marlene smiled and nodded.

“If it’s Earth Magic, Steph is skilled, right? Light Magic too, wasn’t it?”

“If I can be of service, I’ll take it…”

Responding to Princess Adriana’s words, Princess Stephania looked at me, so I nodded in affirmation. No objections came from the others either.

“Then I’ll take responsibility for keeping it.”

“Then… shall we begin?”

Princess Stephania received the Ritual Rapier from Marlene. Beryl Mall had been floating in the center of the contract ritual’s Magic Array, but when I neutralized the Sleep Cloud’s effect, it shook its head slightly and regained consciousness.

“Can you understand my voice? If you’re willing to listen, nod. If not, shake your head.”

Claudia called out to Beryl Mall from outside the circle. Beryl Mall looked at Claudia, then nodded.

“You strayed into human territory. The food you eat is also necessary for humans. That’s why we clashed. It was an undesirable event for both sides, but now we can resolve it another way.”

“However, for that, you must either become my Familiar, or go to another place and live quietly. You need to choose one of these two paths. If you want to become a Familiar, nod. If you want to go elsewhere, shake your head.”

Princess Stephania pointed the Ritual Rapier’s tip toward Beryl Mall. Beryl Mall looked at me, then turned to face Princess Stephania and nodded clearly.

“Then…”

Princess Stephania cut her finger with the Ritual Rapier, let the blood drip into a water-filled basin, and proclaimed:

“From now on, your name shall be Corulis.”