The ruckus caused by the kidnapping incident was over and we were once again back to exploring the mines.
We went around checking the areas we already cleared first just in case any new insect monster had popped out before resuming our investigation of the central region. We also returned to our home through the «Transfer Gate» temporarily to check on how Baretta and the other service dolls were doing.
All in all, one week had passed from the time we explored mines in the truest sense. Teto and I, after completing our preparation, advanced to the core region of the mines and soon reached it.
"So this place is the origin of the insect monsters, huh?"
"Ugh, it's so mushy here......"
The core region that was visible from a big hole was brimming with dense negative mana 一 i.e, miasma 一 as far as our eyes could see.
The ominous-looking miasma that had been on the cursed magic sword simply wasn't worth mentioning in front of it. A huge insect monster was lying down in the center of such a miasma.
The monster was lying down while leaning against the wall, its long cylindrical body sticking deep into the ground as if sucking something from there.
The eggs of many kinds of insect monsters were growing out from the bulging belly of that insect monster; it was laying eggs inside that big hole. The several insect monsters that hatched out from those eggs in the bottom of the hole then moved to kill and eat each other, and then the few that survived left the hole.
"So this is the reason behind the numerous insect-type monsters that appeared in the mines. Disgusting......"
"They're coming up from the bottom."
The insect monsters who had achieved evolution and reached maturity after killing their own swiftly rushed towards us to attack as if we were some sort of candy in their eyes.
Though they didn't last long in front of my wind blade and Teto's magic sword and were cut down in no time.
However, the mother insect monster's body took in the murky mana 一the accumulation of resentment released from the giant hole where the monsters were born and killed each other to achieve mutation and quick growth 一 and shivered in what looked like pleasure.
"That's so nauseating. I assume this is the monster that Lariel wants us to defeat."
"Let's defeat it quickly and clean this creepy place up!"
We turned our weapons towards the huge insect body 一 Mother (Tentative name).
"Let's test our skills first. 一一«Wind Cutter»!"
"1, 2, and shoot!"
I propped up my wand, created five big wind blades, and then shot them at Mother.
Teto created multiple pebble-sized stones in her hands with earth magic, enchanted them with «Hardening Magic», and then shot them with her full power.
The wind blades I fired sliced Mother's body here and there while the stones that were thrown like the bullets from a shotgun by Teto drilled into her body, turning her into the shape of a beehive.
«Screeeeeee!!»
"They're effective!"
"Let's do it one more time-nanodesu!"
This time, Teto created fist-sized stones and then tossed them with her full power like before.
The stone bullets grazed past Mother's abdomen and pierced the wall after gouging out her flesh, causing tiny stones to fall from the ceiling.
"Control your strength, Teto. Even we would be buried alive here if we go too far."
"I'm sorry-nanodesu!"
"But our attacks seem to be working......"
Venomous purplish liquid dripped out from the wound of Mother's injuries made by us and, at the same time, the malevolent miasma leaked out into the hole.
Then the tube-shaped body that had drilled into the ground pulsed as if something was being sucked and what followed was the sight of Mother's wounds healing at an astonishing rate.
"This is dangerous. She's healing herself by sucking the mana from the earth veins."
I looked at the murky mana clinging to Mother's body by gathering mana in my eyes.
Mother had made this place hers and had been exposed to the mana and miasma from the earth veins deep in the ground for all these years. Her body had now become heavily mana reliant after living in such an environment for so long.
"Fortunately, it seems like she won't be able to live in a low-mana environment so she can't cause a disaster by appearing outside. Although, it seems like we have to break one or two bones if we want to eliminate her."
Mother, who just finished regenerating her wounds, turned towards us while we were analyzing the situation and swung her arm down.
It was just a simple swinging attack so we avoided it with me using flight magic and Teto by running inside the mine. Mother, after seeing we were unharmed, spat out deadly poisonous liquid towards us which was stopped by my barrier and fell onto the ground.
"She's a handful. Her attacks may not be able to reach us but we can't kill her either at this rate."
I wracked my brain for a solution while calmly dealing with the incoming attacks.
Mother was an insect-type monster with a huge body but the mana coiling around her had taken the form of a viscous miasma; a product of the accumulated negative mana that who knows how many insect monsters had released when they died from the poison or by being eaten by their own kind.
The property of the said miasma had reached infinitely closer to the realm of a curse after absorbing so much impure mana. It was evident from the fact that the murky mana that was coexisting in the body of Mother had gained an independent will of its own and was shooting mana bullets at us.
The bullets shot weren't much, it could only cast one at a time, however, its attack incorporated with the curse was enough to send people to death's door which raised the danger level of the monster to a new level, overtaking even the water hydra that we had once subjugated.
What was even more troublesome was its ability to heal by sucking mana from the earth veins, providing it with an almost inexhaustible amount of mana even if we did manage to injure her.
"Sure enough, even if I have 300,000 units of mana now, there's always a heaven above heaven."
Mother had an inexhaustible supply of mana from the earth veins.
She may not be able to survive in the low-mana environment outside but, should she be ranked, I'm sure she had far surpassed the A-rank and could be classified as the legendary disaster level monster rank 一 S-rank.
Mother's body possessed enough might to bury the land outside with numerous monsters by giving birth to them if she wasn't so mana-dependent, and she could most likely even destroy the kingdom.
It was a silver lining amidst misfortune that she couldn't live outside.
"We have to cut off its mana supply first somehow. 一一haa!"
I fired tens of consecutive wind blades from all angles at the tube-shaped body that was connected to earth veins but Mother already knew that it was a vulnerable point so she protected it by using her huge body as a shield.
"Teto!"
"I'm ready-nanodesu! 一一Gooooo!"
But unfortunately for her, we already expected her to defend it.
Teto pierced her hand into the ground and manipulated the soil.
Teto's mana firmly grasped the ground and caused it to shake.
The floor of the mines wriggled and the tube-shaped body of Mother that had been sticking to earth veins jumped out of it like a root.
A green-colored mana light leaked out from the hole leading to the earth veins, but Teto immediately plugged it with bedrock and sealed it tight.
"I did it! Now she can't suck any more mana from the ground!"
"Great, Teto. Now we can handle it. 一一«Wind Cutter»!"
I shook my wand twice and made 20 wind blades which then rained down on the body of Mother.
Mother healed her wounds by consuming the mana that had been accumulated through all the miasma now that the mana supply was cut but that wasn't enough.
«Screeeeee!»
The malevolent mana entity that was sticking to the lower half of the body of the cornered Mother leaped out and tried to escape from us.
"Wishful thinking if you think you can get away by discarding the body!"
Mother's body which was left behind, on the other hand, scattered liquid all over from being crushed under the weight of its swollen body 一 perhaps because the bulging body had been supported by mana up until now 一 and the wounds caused by my wind blades.
The malevolent mana entity of Mother which tried to slip away received Teto's attack as it ran to the open area.
"One, two, and got you! Take this-nanodesu!"
Teto turned towards the mana entity with her magic sword brimming with high-density mana and immediately brandished her sword reflexively.
The mana entity that was like a black cloud mass quickly dispersed under the might of Teto's sword, but all the bits got together again, returning to their former self.
"Teto! That thing is currently a magical lifeform just like that Great Devil. Normal attacks won't be able to do anything to it!"
"So annoying, what do we do then?"
Annoyed, Teto hurled the wind pressure from the sword multiple times at the mana entity but it hardly had any effect as the mana entity regrouped itself and went back to its original form every time.
However, from my perspective, that mana entity was awfully fragile.
"It hasn't achieved complete body materialization yet like the Great Devil and it also lost the support of Mother's body which became its vessel. It should be dispersing soon."
It wasn't just limited to this, a part of the mana entity had also become unstable after leaving the core of a monster, the magic stone, in Mother's body.
The magical lifeform born from venomous mana was raging based on its instinct.
"Let's see, «Purification»!"
«Screeeeee!»
I sent forth purification waves with all my might to cover the whole open area inside the mine.
The malevolent mana entity's mana was purified under the intense white light and disappeared without a trace.
"Haa This should end it."
Mother and the mana entity was hardly our opponent without the support of the earth vein's inexhaustible supply of mana 一 I took a step forward while thinking so and found my vision slanting, only to be supported by Teto.
"Majou-sama, you overworked yourself."
"Huh, I...... you're right. I'm a bit tired."
The waves of undulating purification magic I released were mainly to use on that murky, malevolent mana entity but it wasn't just limited to it.
I also used that chance to purify the corpse of Mother and the pool of negative mana that had transformed into physical matter and was accumulating in the giant hole where the newborn monsters fought and ate each other.
This layer had accumulated so much contamination that it wouldn't be purified unless you could gather tens of priests and perform the purification rite that took several tens of days to finish.
I guess I may have unconsciously used up all my remaining mana to completely cleanse the ground at the bottom of the giant hole that had been contaminated with the miasma of various poisonous insects for so many years.
"Well, I guess we can call this case settled. It would have been really awful if this situation was to be neglected and the contamination spread for some reason."
The ones to bear the damage first if that contaminated deadly poison traveled outside would have been the residents of the nearby town.
Just as I was thinking about how much this could have affected the lives of the people, I noticed the green-colored mana leaking out from the earth veins in front of us gathering up.
'Impossible, don't tell me the mana body of Mother survived even after being purified?' The green-colored mana took the shape of a person I was familiar with and appeared before us just as I was vigilantly staring at the situation.
"Howーー Lariel?"
