Chapter – 80
Carlisle’s group decided to investigate an abandoned mine and rode their donkeys up the Murell Mountains.
The road was steep and narrow—dangerous, certainly—but nothing they couldn’t handle.
Except for Evangeline, they were all in great physical shape with excellent reflexes. And since they were riding donkeys, no one was particularly exhausted in the first place.
“Where are we going, butler?”
“There’s a dwarven mine up here that was abandoned. Rumor has it there’s still a lot of ore left. We’re going to check it out.”
Carlisle answered the baby dragon perched on his mount.
“Dwarves? Oh, you mean those little bearded guys?”
“Yeah.”
“Hm…”
The baby dragon narrowed his eyes, thinking for a moment.
“I need dwarves too, actually.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Dwarves are very useful to dragons. They build great nests, craft beautiful art, plus they hoard gold and gems.”
“You don’t mean…”
Carlisle stared at the baby dragon in disbelief.
“You’re thinking of kidnapping dwarves and forcing them into labor?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“You’re seriously saying that out loud?”
“Why not?”
The baby dragon replied as if Carlisle was the strange one.
“That’s a crime.”
“Then is a tiger eating a deer a crime too?”
“That’s just the law of nature. What does a tiger and a deer have to do with this?”
“It’s the same thing. Dragons raising dwarves is natural. It’s been that way since the dawn of time.”
“…Really?”
“Us taking dwarves to work for us is like humans raising cows and pigs to eat. You really don’t know anything, do you?”
“So… you’re saying dwarves are the natural prey of dragons?”
“Exactly.”
“That… weirdly kinda makes sense…”
“It’s not ‘weirdly’—it is the law of nature.”
“That sounds more like animals. Dragons are intelligent beings.”
“Humans are intelligent, and they still raise dogs and horses to use them, don’t they?”
“…Fair point.”
Carlisle couldn’t refute that.
If it was a law of nature, there was no logical counterargument he could pull out on the spot.
“Then you’re saying there might be a dragon here?”
“No way.”
The baby dragon dismissed the idea instantly.
“If a dragon lived here, do you think dwarves would’ve been left alone? They would’ve been mining gold to decorate the dragon’s nest long ago.”
“…That’s true.”
“Something made the dwarves flee, but it definitely wasn’t us.”
Carlisle felt slightly relieved.
Out of every creature in this world, the one he must never encounter or antagonize… was a dragon.
They finally reached the abandoned mine. A small dwarven village lay nearby—now nothing but ruins.
The mine entrance had collapsed, but clearing it was easy.
“Leave it to me!”
Evangeline summoned her titan, and it smashed aside the boulders blocking the tunnel.
Inside was surprisingly bright. Magic-stone lamps lined the walls, illuminating the tunnel, allowing them to walk in with no trouble.
“Let’s not walk. We can ride these.”
Kudo pointed to ore carts commonly used in mines.
Rails ran along the floor, and the carts had a magic-stone engine that could propel them with a simple control.
Clack, clatter-clack!
Riding the cart, they zoomed deeper into the mine.
The tunnel was deep.
Even after riding for tens of minutes, they saw no end.
“How far did they dig?”
Carlisle was impressed by dwarven tenacity.
After nearly two hours, they finally emerged into a massive underground cavern.
It was large enough to hold several small villages. Mountains of rare ore filled the space, and there were dwarven lodging quarters built around the edges.
Some of the ore looked like raw stones of top-grade magic crystals—worth a fortune on their own.
And the tools and equipment the dwarves left behind were also extremely valuable.
“For them to leave behind all this ore and gear… something must’ve happened.”
Carlisle muttered as he looked around—
“Master.”
Evangeline pointed toward the surroundings.
“What is… that?”
Carlisle spotted nearly a hundred stone statues shaped like dwarves and frowned.
No dwarves—only stone dwarves?
“Don’t tell me… the dwarves here turned to stone?”
“That’s impossible.”
Wilson shook his head.
But Carlisle wasn’t so sure.
He examined a statue’s expression closely.
Every single stone face was frozen in shock or terror.
Who would sculpt statues with faces like this? These are the faces of people turning to stone in their final moments.
Just as he reached that conclusion, a faint sliding noise echoed from the darkness.
Sssssrrrr…
“Master!”
Maranello called out, scanning the darkness.
“I hear it too.”
Carlisle drew his sword, Garmungandr.
“There really is something here.”
“What kind of vacation is this supposed to be?!”
Kudo and the others unsheathed their weapons as well.
Moments later, long slithering shapes crawled into view.
“Snakes…?”
Snakes—covered in shimmering, multicolored scales.
Their eyes were a dead, cloudy gray, and they flicked blood-red tongues as venom gleamed on long, needle-sharp fangs.
“Hissss!”
The snakes lunged at them.
“You little—!”
Wilson swung his axe at a leaping snake—
SPLAT!
The snake spat venom midair.
“Ugh!”
Wilson dodged quickly, but a drop still hit his sleeve.
Ssssk… crk…
The fabric turned gray and crumbled to dust.
“Petrifying venom! Everyone fall back!”
Maranello stepped forward.
“Hissss! Hissss!”
Thousands of snakes surged toward him, spewing venom.
But—
FLASH!
WHOOSH!
A chilling wind burst out—like a winter gale slicing across the ground—sweeping through the swarm.
In seconds, thousands of snakes lay scattered on the floor, split cleanly in half.
He hadn’t even used a weapon.
Maranello still held only the feather duster he always carried.
He really is incredible…
Watching Maranello’s back, Carlisle finally understood why people called him the Grim Reaper of the North.
To slaughter that many monsters with a feather duster…
But the snakes weren’t the real threat.
Sssrrrkk…
A massive shape slithered from the shadows, glaring at them.
It wasn’t human.
A serpent’s lower body—
A woman’s torso—
And a head crowned with writhing, living snakes instead of hair.
“T-that’s—!”
Evangeline gasped.
“You know that thing?”
“G-Gorgon…! An ancient demon!”
“A demon?”
“Yes! I read about it in a magic book! One of the demon generals from the demon realm—if you meet its gaze, it turns you to sto—”
“Everyone, look away!”
Carlisle shouted before she even finished.
“Aah!”
“Ugh!”
Everyone turned their heads away and backed up fast.
No one wanted to become a statue like the dwarves.
Carlisle had never seen this creature before.
There was no such demon called a Gorgon in the game Overlord.
“I have waited long…”
The Gorgon hissed, her voice like snakes slithering on stone.
“Centuries I have waited… for those who would free me from this dark prison.”
“What are you talking about?”
Carlisle hid behind a stone dwarf statue.
“Who said we’re here to free you? That’s not why we came.”
“With the blood of the living, I shall be released. Your lives will be the key to my freedom.”
“…Huh.”
Carlisle didn’t really understand her cryptic talk.
But one thing was obvious—she was the one who turned the dwarves to stone.
No wonder the dwarves fled. They wouldn’t abandon a mine this valuable for nothing.
A monster like this? Even dwarves, famed as a warrior race, would stand no chance.
“Come out. Hiding is pointless. None of you can escape.”
Ssss…
Small snakes slithered out from every crevice, surrounding them—numbering in the tens of thousands.
“Heh.”
Maranello chuckled.
“I don’t know why an ancient demon is lurking here… but you are extremely unlucky.”
“…Unlucky?”
“Because you met this old man. That makes you very, very unlucky.”
Maranello didn’t avert his gaze or look away. He stared directly into the Gorgon’s eyes.
“You’ll turn to stone too, Maranello.”
“I’ll be fine, young master.”
He replied calmly, unfazed.
Apparently, a being of Maranello’s level didn’t fear demon magic.
“Arrogant old mortal…”
The Gorgon glared.
FLASH!
A gray beam shot toward Maranello—a petrifying gaze.
But nothing happened.
“W-what…?!”
The Gorgon recoiled in shock.
Maranello was not stone—he was smiling faintly, completely unaffected.
“You call that a spell? Ancient demon or not, that was a cheap parlor trick.”
He slowly raised his hand.
A massive scythe materialized out of thin air.
It resembled the weapon of death itself—the very scythe that the Sigmund family had bestowed upon Maranello, their retainer.
Its name: Grim Reaper.
A weapon that had harvested tens of thousands of barbarian lives.
“I avoid using this cursed thing unless necessary. But we are not on a battlefield, and you are not human—so I am not breaking my vow.”
Scythe in hand, Maranello stepped toward the Gorgon.
“If you’re an ancient demon, act like one and stay sealed quietly. What made you think it was worth crawling out here? Heh.”
A chilling aura swept over the cavern.
The Gorgon—an ancient demon—froze.
Maranello’s blood-red eyes glowed with killing intent that crushed even a demon’s pride.
“I’ll reap your pointless life here.”
In an instant, Maranello closed the distance.
The Gorgon tried to react—
SWISH-SH-SH-SH-SH!
He swung the scythe at a speed too fast for the eye to follow—dozens of times in a blink.
Carlisle didn’t even see the swings—only the afterimages.
Tap… tap, tap…
The Gorgon collapsed—carved cleanly into dozens of pieces.
As if she had always been a pile of fragments.
