Volume 4 Chapter 117 Turtle Heart, Mysterious Figure
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
# Burning Dragon Peak — Revised Localization
We had secured a way into the body of the Guardian: the Rock-Shelled Dragon that guarded the path to the Seventh Floor. It was a strategy only I could pull off through the Love Hotel’s special function.
”What a bizarre place.”
Kéa opened the External Information display and stared at the projected image.
I blinked.
”…A factory?”
Yomi voiced the same thought I had.
The vast interior was built from stone, metal, and crystal-like material. Thick conveyor belts carried enormous boulders through rows of machinery while countless pipes crawled across the walls. Every mechanism moved with cold precision.
It looked exactly like an automated factory.
Nothing about it resembled the inside of a living creature.
Yet one thing separated it from any factory on Earth.
Magic circles covered the machinery. Pale blue runes glowed from every surface.
A grotesque fusion of machine and sorcery.
”Amazing…”
Nokiroul, the magic-tool craftsman, leaned toward the display with shining eyes.
”Look at the density of those magic circles. I’ve never seen craftsmanship like this.”
According to him, the Guardian was less a living being and more an autonomous magical weapon.
Which left us with one problem.
How were we supposed to kill it?
”Couldn’t we just bombard it from inside the motel?” I muttered.
There was no room to maneuver an airship inside the Rock-Shelled Dragon, but we could still open the motel door and fire through it from safety.
The interior facilities looked far more fragile than the outer shell.
We had no idea which sections mattered, but if we destroyed everything, the Guardian would eventually fall.
”What a waste!”
Nokiroul practically screamed.
”He’s right,” Beckus added. “If possible, we’d like the body preserved. The materials inside this thing could support entire industries. If you blast everything apart, most of it will be ruined.”
The dwarf craftsmen all nodded in agreement.
”So you want me to destroy only the core?”
Whether this artificial Guardian even possessed something equivalent to a vital core remained unclear.
”Ideally, yes,” Beckus admitted. “Though asking for it undamaged may be impossible.”
He knew it as well as I did.
I wasn’t about to endanger my companions for the sake of salvaging materials.
Still…
The resources inside this Guardian could become invaluable on future floors. Maybe even essential.
After all, our current airship had originally come from the Fifth Floor.
”It’s still hard to believe,” Tifi murmured. “The Guardians were artificial all along.”
”Not necessarily made by humans,” Sphica replied quietly.
According to legend, beings akin to gods had once existed in this world—entities beyond human understanding that created the dungeons themselves.
Maybe the glowing orb I encountered when I was first summoned here belonged to the same category.
I checked the outside display again.
”The small ship ended up there,” Korukona said, pointing toward one of the conveyor belts.
Massive boulders rolled past on a belt several meters wide.
”And beyond that…”
She scrolled the image forward.
At the end of the line sat a colossal crusher.
Interlocking gear-shaped blades ground stone apart with a deafening roar.
Kéa and Korukona had escaped moments before the ship was dragged inside and pulverized.
”Wait,” Nokiroul said sharply. “That hull was made from Non-Corrosive Magic Steel. It got destroyed instantly?”
”Instantly,” Kéa replied.
”Good grief…”
A close call didn’t begin to cover it.
I looked at the two of them again and felt genuine relief that they had made it back alive.
—
Kéa opened the motel door.
A brightly lit corridor stretched beyond it.
Pipes lined the walls. Metal gratings covered the floor while narrow catwalks extended through the passageways.
The place felt less like a creature and more like the interior of a shipyard or industrial plant.
Everything about the structure suggested it had been built for human movement.
Maintenance tunnels.
Or bait.
Either possibility kept us alert.
We advanced in tight formation through the Guardian’s body.
Only a few minutes passed before shrill alarms erupted overhead.
Red warning lights began flashing across the walls.
”Incoming!”
Shapes flooded out from deeper within the corridor.
Each creature possessed a spherical core the size of a human torso with six bladed legs extending outward from it. Their limbs scraped violently across the grating as they rushed toward us.
Magic circles glowed along their metallic shells.
No eyes.
Only pale blue light.
Mechanical spider-like sentinels.
Kéa moved first.
Her twin blades flashed, splitting the lead construct in half.
Korukona’s chakrams roared through the corridor, severing multiple legs at once before a knife punched directly into a glowing core.
”Aim for the center, Yomi!”
”Already doing it!”
A beam of light erupted down the passage.
Three sentinels collapsed simultaneously.
The ones behind immediately crawled over the wreckage.
I met them head-on.
My greatsword knocked them off balance while gunfire shattered exposed cores. Slash. Stagger. Shoot.
One after another.
Sphica’s wind magic gathered the swarm into a violent vortex and slammed them against the wall.
”Now!”
Rozmiaque’s roots burst through gaps in the flooring and pipes, binding the trapped constructs in place.
Even so, the enemy numbers barely thinned.
Then I realized why.
Destroyed units were being dragged away by the others.
Fragments fused together around glowing core stones.
Broken machines rebuilt themselves into fresh bodies.
”Destroy the cores completely!” I shouted.
Kéa dashed forward and crushed one beneath her blade.
The pale light vanished.
Only then did the construct stop moving.
We gradually pushed forward.
Then another wave approached from behind.
”Rear contact!”
The corridor was too narrow to maneuver.
Constructs surged from both directions.
”Rozmiaque, hold the rear!”
Roots exploded across the passage behind us, sealing it off.
The sentinels tore straight through them.
No matter how many we destroyed, more kept coming.
”Yomi, clear the back line!”
”I’m already overwhelmed up here!”
The pressure mounted steadily.
The distance between the two swarms shrank.
At this rate we’d be crushed.
”Fall back!”
I summoned the motel door.
Everyone rushed inside.
The instant the entrance closed, the constructs halted outside, flashing red for several moments before retreating.
Heavy breathing filled the room.
”We don’t have enough firepower,” Sphica said.
She was right.
Individually, the sentinels weren’t stronger than the Sixth Floor dragons.
The problem was density.
Narrow corridors.
Endless reinforcements.
A maze-like interior packed with enemies.
Even with the Spirit-Seeker’s Compass and Sphica’s clairvoyance guiding us toward the core, reaching it would require repeated engagements.
And we still needed to avoid excessive damage to the surrounding facilities.
The deeper I considered the situation, the clearer the conclusion became.
Our current strength wasn’t enough.
But retreating now wasn’t an option.
”Then let’s recruit reinforcements.”
—
”So you want our help?”
Gaedaf grinned confidently.
”Leave it to us. Fighting in narrow dungeon passages is where adventurers shine brightest.”
The leader of Star of the Dawn was a Gold-Rank adventurer with years of frontline experience.
Reliable didn’t begin to describe him.
His party had already worked alongside us during the conflict between the Kingdom of Nakuos and the Demon Race.
Lately, they had been training on the Fifth Floor while struggling against the wyvern swarms on the Sixth.
”If these things are weaker than Sixth Floor monsters,” Gaedaf said with a fearless smile, “then this is practically ideal terrain.”
The second group consisted of elves.
Young newlyweds, many of whom had recently deepened their bonds after my rather unusual lessons.
As advance payment, I had taught them fragments of the true names of Guardian Spirits.
For spirit users, those names represented unimaginable power.
”For Sir Taro,” they declared.
Gathered by Sphica, the elves accepted immediately.
With five- and six-character spirit names at their disposal, they had already become elite among their kind.
At last, the force we needed was assembled.
—
The assault resumed.
Three separate parties advanced as one.
Warning sirens screamed through the corridors while crimson lights flashed overhead.
This time, we didn’t stop.
Constructs flooded toward us.
I never looked back.
There was no need.
”We’ll handle the rear!” Gaedaf roared.
Star of the Dawn fully demonstrated why they had earned Gold Rank.
Their coordination in close-quarters combat was flawless. Gaedaf’s team sealed off every attempt to surround us, holding the rear line with astonishing stability.
Meanwhile, the elves secured the flanks.
Whenever side passages burst open with reinforcements, Spirit Magic rained down.
Wind sliced through steel.
Ice sealed entire corridors.
Stone crushed advancing constructs.
Years of teamwork allowed the elves to weave their spells together without interference.
The Guardian’s interior sprawled like an underground continent filled with endless tunnels and swarming defenses.
Progress remained slow.
But steady.
Days later, we finally arrived.
Sphica closed her eyes.
”We’re close,” she whispered. “Right turn at the next junction. The core is inside the chamber ahead.”
”One final push,” I said.
Kéa drove her blades into the final bulkhead.
Metal—or perhaps bone—shrieked apart.
Then the atmosphere changed.
Warm, humid air clung to my skin.
For the first time since entering the Guardian, the place felt alive.
The chamber beyond was enormous.
Pipes thick as trees twisted across the walls in tangled masses.
And at the center…
”Whoa…”
Yomi’s voice tightened.
Korukona looked disgusted.
”That’s revolting.”
A gigantic heart pulsed in the center of the chamber.
It was the size of a house.
Black-red flesh throbbed wetly while countless vessels extended outward into the surrounding machinery.
The entire factory connected back to this single organ.
Machine.
Living tissue.
A monstrous fusion of both.
The Guardian Core.
”Hit it!”
Yomi’s beam lanced forward immediately, punching straight through the massive organ.
The wound closed almost instantly.
”What?!”
Rozmiaque’s roots wrapped around it.
Sphica’s wind blades carved massive chunks from the flesh.
Regeneration swallowed the damage in seconds.
”Then I’ll cut it apart!”
Kéa launched herself forward.
Her twin blades crossed deeply through the pulsing mass.
The severed flesh suddenly twisted.
Like living tentacles, it wrapped around her arm.
”W-Wait—!”
The heart dragged her inward.
”Kéa!”
Sphica unleashed a violent burst of wind magic.
The flesh shredded apart.
Kéa’s body tumbled free.
I caught her and immediately leapt backward.
”You okay?”
”Barely…”
I turned back toward the core.
It pulsed steadily.
Untouched.
Every trace of damage had already vanished.
”We’re reaching our limit back here!” Gaedaf shouted.
A fresh tide of constructs surged through the entrance.
The elves and Star of the Dawn continued holding them back, but the pressure kept mounting.
Soon the line would break.
”Retreat!”
Everyone dove through the motel entrance.
I shut the door the instant the last person crossed.
Silence fell.
”We’ll have to destroy it through bombardment,” I said.
”…Seems we have no choice,” Beckus replied reluctantly.
Even he understood the situation.
The core’s regeneration surpassed conventional attacks.
If blades and magic couldn’t overwhelm it, then concentrated firepower was our only option.
Still…
I couldn’t stop thinking about what I’d seen.
The instant Kéa cut into the core, I had glimpsed something buried inside the flesh.
A human-shaped figure.
Only for a moment.
But I knew I hadn’t imagined it.
What exactly was hidden inside that heart?
—
Summary:
The protagonist organizes a joint tactical operation to penetrate the deepest level of the dungeon while minimizing structural damage. Gaedaf and a group of skilled young elves are recruited to bolster the current force. The operation commences against a swarm of mechanical spiders with the parties advancing in a coordinated formation.
The party successfully reaches the center of the Guardian after heavy fighting. Upon finding the core, they attempt to destroy it with magic and blades, only to discover its rapid regeneration. A narrow escape forces a tactical retreat, leaving the protagonist haunted by the sight of a human figure inside the core.
—
Trivia:
- The specific technical function of the Love Hotel beyond being a rest facility for adventurers
- The exact list of spirit characters taught to the elves
- Specific magical resonance mechanics
- The identity of the figure inside the hear
—
Character Insight:
The protagonist shifts from a solitary or limited-party strategy to a broad command role, balancing the need for brute force with careful resource and facility management.
Kéa demonstrates extreme reckless behavior in combat, while Sphica maintains a calm, tactical oversight. The protagonist displays a growing suspicion regarding the nature of the Guardian.
—
Glossary:
Notes:
• Kéa – A high-energy, dual-wielding adventurer who uses swords to carve through enemies. She is reckless in combat, frequently puts herself in danger, and is prone to suggesting direct physical attacks.
• Yomi – A magic user capable of deploying barriers and utilizing precision ranged light beam magic. As a party member and adventurer, she expresses disgust toward the biological horror of the Guardian’s core.
• Nokiroul – A blacksmith and technician who works closely with Beckus on specialized equipment. An elderly Dwarf specializing in magic augmentation and decoration.
• Beckus – An elderly Dwarf and world-class blacksmith with a boyish enthusiasm for mechanical inventions, capable of identifying magical ores. Stationed inside the Love Hotel, he oversees tactical decisions and bombardment planning.
• Tifi – A chestnut-haired woman and one of Taro’s wives.
• Sphica – Elven Matriarch and elder sister to Rozmiaque, with long golden hair, blue eyes, and the appearance of a woman in her twenties. A clairvoyant elder and spirit user, she leads the party through the dungeon with deep knowledge of dungeon lore and the world’s logic. She serves as a liaison between the protagonist and the young elven newlyweds, wielding significant influence over her kin.
• Korukona – A cat-eared girl with amber eyes from a fishing village, possessing exceptional physical ability and ship-piloting aptitude. Brave yet vulnerable, she radiates honesty and gratitude, often offering blunt observations. Taro rescued her from pirates and plans to return her home, where her skills and spirit are deeply valued. She now participates in exploring the Guardian’s interior.
• Rozmiaque – A tall, silver-haired high-ranking elf in ornate robes serves the Master with loyal devotion in Spirit Magic. Condescending and bigoted, he despises half-elves and humans, using six-letter Spirit Magic and root-based magic to bind, damage, and trap targets. He interrogates aggressively, suspects a hidden High Elf, and senses concealed truths.
• Gaedaf – A muscular, broad-shouldered man and leader of the adventurer party ‘Star of the Dawn’. He is a Gold Rank adventurer known for his expertise in close-quarters dungeon combat and fearless demeanor.
• Kingdom of Nakuos – The nation where the protagonist and companions were summoned as heroes.
• Taro – A summoned Hero who utilizes a Love Hotel as a safe zone and mobile base.
Please bookmark this series and rate ☆☆☆☆☆ on here!
Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
Thanks for reading.
Leave a Reply