Chapter 638 – The Demon Axe and the Guild

“The sound is strange for such a large horde! I think illusions are mixed in!”

Seraphina’s voice echoed through the underwater cave. A massive number of monsters were approaching from the depths of the cave, but if her words were true, it was unclear how many were real.

After some exploration and several battles since then, we had descended from the cave portion of the Magic Light Water Vein into the water and continued our exploration—when we entered a relatively wide side path, we encountered a large group of monsters.

From the rear, I used Life Detection to probe while attaching light spheres only to the monsters with life reactions.

The Merfolk tried to brush off the light spheres with their annoying-looking harpoons, but it was pointless. It wasn’t an attack spell, and they had no physical form.

“Only the monsters with markers attached have life reactions. The others must be illusions, or monsters that never had life reactions to begin with. Judge the types by appearance and intercept accordingly. Be careful of projectiles!”

“Understood!”

Grace and the others responded, leaping forward while leaving the rearguard behind. I would handle the rearguard’s defense. Controlling Balor’s movements, I made him circle around the party while trailing a light tail. I shot through the approaching schools of Blade Fish with light bullets, knocking them down as if stitching through them.

Then Ashley and the other rearguard members added their covering fire. When chunks of cold air flew out, the areas behind them froze solid, trapping large numbers of monsters in ice. Ashley’s area denial ability showed no decline even underwater. With Marlene’s Saucers and Illusion Magic, along with the familiars’ bullet curtains, the rearguard had no problems.

That meant the vanguard could charge in without worrying about their backs. They cut down the Merfolk and other monsters without any apparent danger.

There were various marine-type monsters—the Spinning Star, a starfish monster that attacked with high-speed rotation; the Bullet Shell, a shellfish monster that charged forward while ejecting water like bullets; and others—but I could see them being effortlessly cut down and smashed aside.

Maxwell flew around assisting the others to prevent them from being surrounded, spinning around to deliver slash attacks to enemies before immediately disengaging.

A slash attack from Maxwell came down from a high stance. The Merfolk tried to block it with its harpoon, but just before impact, Maxwell changed its trajectory.

Relying on the momentum of the downward swing and spin, what should have been a frontal strike transformed into an attack from behind. The Merfolk couldn’t respond to that movement. Without stopping, Maxwell leaped toward its next prey.

It moved freely across the battlefield while leaving red trails of light, but its movements didn’t interfere with anyone—rather, everyone seemed to be fighting more comfortably.

Not having to worry about your back was actually quite convenient. That was precisely the role I had requested of Maxwell when it acted as support.

The monster horde rapidly decreased in numbers, leaving only illusions behind.

The humanoid coral monsters called Coral Men appeared to be waiting in the rearguard—but among them floated a suspicious, wavering light. Not one of the light spheres I had created. It was a monster called Fantasm Angler, an anglerfish monster. Using the lantern growing from its forehead, it could create illusions.

Whether the surrounding Coral Men were illusions or not couldn’t be determined just by looking with Life Detection. Coral might be living organisms, but Coral Men seemed to be closer to beings like Golems.

“That’s it…! That large anglerfish further back is using illusion magic! It’s unclear whether the surrounding corals are real or illusions!”

“Ignis!”

Responding to the voice and focusing on the enemy—it was Ignis who stepped forward, following Rosemary’s command. The group of Coral Men seemed poised to intercept, trying to prevent Ignis from approaching the Fantasm Angler.

“Providing support!”

Maxwell followed a moment later. Ignis picked up Maxwell as if matching its movements. Dual Wield with a War Hammer and Battle Axe. The rotational movement created by special joints was further accelerated by magnetic force, making the heavy metal mass move with tornado-like ferocity.

As if scattering pieces of paper, the Coral Men’s limbs flew apart. It didn’t matter whether they were real or illusions. The Coral Men couldn’t even serve as a wall, and in the blink of an eye, they closed in on the Fantasm Angler. Evasive actions were too late. The next moment, Ignis’s Battle Axe swung upward, finishing off the anglerfish with a single blow.

Simultaneously, the illusions disappeared. Well then. Only a few monsters remained. Time to move into cleanup operations.

That previous battle—could be considered relatively large-scale.

With numerous illusions mixed in, it was a battle that tested our judgment in various ways, but none of the party members were in any apparent danger, and Maxwell had performed well too.

“That last battle was good.”

While proceeding with material extraction, I spoke to Maxwell.

“Ooh. I’m glad to hear you say that, Master. My coordination with Ignis was quite stimulating as well.”

Maxwell’s core flickered brightly.

“Thanks to the magnetic acceleration, I suppose, but it moves in ways you wouldn’t expect from a heavy weapon even when wielded by others.”

Rosemary spoke with admiration. That could be considered an advantage when others wield Maxwell. While it couldn’t maneuver as nimbly as when alone, the wielder’s physical strength and weight could be added to increase the power of each strike.

Ignis could continue making reckless movements, while Grace or Sheila could overlay their Fighting Spirit. The fact that even Sheila could handle it effortlessly thanks to the magnetic force was probably a benefit. Since it could perform movements and coordination not possible with existing weapons, I could look forward to its future performance.

“More importantly, we ended up destroying the Coral Men quite spectacularly due to excessive momentum.”

“Hmm. They’re the type that won’t stop moving unless you destroy them quite thoroughly anyway. Quite a few parts in good condition remain, so we can sell those… and even the damaged parts should be sufficient for Magic Stone extraction or similar purposes.”

Even if broken into small pieces, they could be made into coral beads or have various other uses.

“As for the other monsters—”

“The anglerfish… its appearance is questionable, but I like the taste.”

When I looked around, Sheila—who was gathering Bullet Shells—looked over and said that. Hmm. Its size is incomparable to regular anglerfish, so you could say it has substance. By the way, Bullet Shells taste similar to scallops.

The starfish, unfortunately, taste bad and apparently aren’t suitable for eating. However, they seem to serve as raw materials for Magic Potions and such, with demand in alchemy-related fields.

Well then. This should be about enough for Maxwell’s combat training. It performed better than expected, and I could look forward to its future development.

“Let’s head back once this extraction is finished.”

When I said that, everyone nodded. We had just returned from fortress construction, and we had achieved our objectives of Maxwell’s combat experience and coordination within that. For today, making an early withdrawal would probably be best.

After exiting the labyrinth, we stopped by the Adventurer Guild to sell the materials. While waiting for appraisal, I introduced Maxwell to the guild staff. There would likely be many opportunities to bring Maxwell to the Adventurer Guild from now on.

“I am called Maxwell. I look forward to working with you from now on.”

When Maxwell bowed, the receptionist Heather smiled and responded.

“I’ve heard about you from the Guild Master. I look forward to working with you as well.”

While I was introducing it to the guild staff, Auria appeared from the back.

“Ohh. You’ve been to the labyrinth, I see.”

“Yes. For combat experience, we went to the Magic Light Water Vein.”

“The Magic Light Water Vein, hmm. If you can operate effectively in that place, your capabilities must be reliable.”

After responding to my words like that, Auria made an expression as if she’d thought of a good idea.

“That’s right. How about registering Maxwell as an adventurer?”

“Ah. That might be a good idea.”

Maxwell could handle responses for documentation purposes too. Having an officially recognized position from the Termwills Adventurer Guild might be beneficial as well.

“Ooh. Me, an adventurer.”

Maxwell’s core flickered. Was it pleased with becoming an adventurer? Well… my influence might be at work there.

“Since we’re at it, shall we register Helvorte too?”

“That would likely make it more convenient when acting outside with Her Highness.”

When Claudia asked, Helvorte nodded quietly. Hmm. While Helvorte’s background is difficult to explain, having adventurer registration would make various explanations easier.

And so, Maxwell and Helvorte stood side by side undergoing administrative procedures.

Well, how to put it. A floating axe responding to guild staff was quite attention-grabbing.

“A talking axe registering as an adventurer? I was surprised when it was Her Highness Stephania’s familiar too…”

“So… what is that axe?”

“Could it be some ancient relic from the labyrinth’s deep floors?”

Speculation flew among adventurers who didn’t know the circumstances. Considering that Dragonian axes and such were used as materials, the part about the deep floors was partially correct, I suppose.

While those rumors circulated, the administrative procedures finished without incident.

“You should receive a metal plate like this later. We can ask Viola or Princess Elharm to process it so Maxwell can wear it easily.”

“I look forward to that.”

When I showed Maxwell the metal plate hanging from my neck, it responded with a happy tone.

Hmm. Above all, it seemed we could build a good relationship with the Adventurer Guild.