Chapter 1248 Glitter Is a Better Quality Fuel Anyways Part 1

When you get down to it, what is even a courage, huh? The answer to that question is really simple: the lack of hesitation to challenge the strongest of opponents even though you yourself are really weak!

When you get down to it, what is even a courage, huh? The answer to that question is really simple: when you see a group of Crystal Scorpions stampeding straight towards you, you just meet them head on without trying to dodge to the side or anything like that.

When you get down to it, what is even a courage, huh? The answer to that question is simple: I don’t really want to go against that mysterious “Golden Age” Crystal Scorpion, but even so I still indoctrinate myself into thinking that doing so was in my best interest here.

So in the end, when you get down to it, what is even a courage? It’s the name of the giant club that you swing around with all of your might, and a few years from now on when you are going to come back to this exact memory, you won’t end up having regrets that you started swinging that club in the first place.

* * *

If there was ever something like a minimum requirement for being a strong character, it would certainly be the ability to not be easily distracted, and certainly not in a pinch. If only it was so easy –––– so show some courage in face of danger and the King of Scorpions comes to meet you face to face as a result. It’s really nice, but why do I feel like a small mouse whose heart was beating so fast as if I just bit through some electric cables? Hmm, I see? Due to the nature of the Crystal Scorpions that I have met thus far, I was anticipating that the battle with the Extraordinary variant of this monster would be an even greater of a battle during which I would have to struggle way harder than I had to struggle before, but…… Why do I get a feeling that this thing is basically welcoming me?

「I know that this thing is a Crystal Scorpion, but even for one of those, a behavior like that is highly unusual, I won’t lie……」

「Since this monster is considered to be the King of the entire flock of this place, maybe it means that it is fond of destroying its enemies duel-style? …… We are lucky that this guy does not prefer to settle its battles via forming a circle with its subjects, like the death match with a high voltage cage surrounding the arena. So hey, silver lining, I guess?」

Usually, after all of the rampage of the Crystal Scorpions the only thing that is left in here is nothing more but a graveled ground and occasional crystal chunks that would litter the ground here and there. But even then, this here behavior is something that could be considered highly abnormal…… But then, obviously…… No, really. Oh, what the hell? Is this the corpse of the Elder Crystal Scorpion!? And say what now? What kind of force had to steamroll all over it to flatten it just like that!? At this time, it would be unreasonable to think that the corpse would not disappear, and I am certainly grateful that it does not look as though it will start to move once again. So in a sense, even though it was a dead monster, but even though it was dead, it was still here. So it was more of an object right about now.

And then there was the rest of the audience that was here: the rest of the smaller Crystal Scorpions that were surrounding the corpse of the Elder Crystal Scorpion, forming a circle around it. In a sense that looked like the walls surrounding the arena of the Coliseum. And the moment both Sigma and myself have entered this strange makeshift arena, the missing part of the circle surrounding the “stage” was finally closed. Or rather, the Crystal Scorpions managed to fill it out. Part of me was morbidly curious what would happen if I tried to jump outside of the formed circle right now, but I imagine that in the presence of His Majesty the King such act of rudeness would not be met with a kind reaction. Worst thing possible, I might actually get executed on the spot.

「YOU HAVE MANAGED TO DISCOVER NEW TYPE OF MONSTER! DISCORVERED THE NEW EXTRAORDINARY MONSTER!」

「NEW SUBJOGATION TARGET ADDED: ANCIENT GOLDEN CRYSTAL SCORPION “GOLDEN AGE”.」

「ACTIVATING COMBAT MODE! THE BATTLE WITH THE EXTRAORDINARY MONSTER WILL BEGIN MOMENTAIRLY.」

「Ahh, so, that’s supposed to be this whole Golden Age, huh……? I see, I see. Well, it certainly has a unique sense of style, I’ll give it that.」

Since all of the Crystal Scorpions that were surrounding us were staying perfectly motionless, the words that I spoke up just now echoed from their hard crystal bodies and got carried forward. Honestly, it was a rather unpleasant feeling…… The sound of the Scorpions’ bodies that would normally reverberate throughout the cliffs were gradually coming to silence as, which was making this entire situation even creepier than it should have been. I would rather prefer to have some ambient noises, because I would know that at least some sort of normal behavior was left with those guys. And what about the ore? Wasn’t it a thing that those guys eat the ore that is mined and not picked up, and that’s how their bodies are gradually increasing in size? Or that the chunks stacking on top of one another would eventually create larger crystal boulders? But if they do eat them, then how many of those crystal snacks that Golden Age must have devoured to grow to such an intimidating size? I would like to know that, but I guess that actually knowing the answer would only send shivers down my spine, and that is something that I could do clearly without at the current moment.

「Okay, Sigma, how do you see this? Because see those things near its claws and stinger? Especially their colors? I think that we are both pretty much familiar with those, huh? But I guess that we can expect that they will be extra hard to break to pieces.」

「Hazarding a guess: Is it something similar to metal or alloy plating? Or maybe extremely hardened crystal hide created from stacking multiple layers of ore all over its body? Too little information to formulate a comprehensive answer.」

Hmm, that’s certainly a correct assessment of our current situation…… So we can basically assume that this thing is going to be extremely hard to cut through or inflict damage upon, huh? And the fact that we have literally no comparison when it comes to its sturdiness certainly is not helping here. But would it be safe to assume that it’s going to be similar to that Slaughter Demon? Or maybe even harder?