With his flexible skill set, Jamil had protected the southern region from desert-prowling manabeasts and even helped expand the sphere of human activity by furnishing the barren desert with useful and productive edifices. All in all, his achievements ranged from simple manabeast subjugation to land expansion and national development. Top that all with his impeccable mana control, and it stood to reason that Jamil had come to be respected as the Sandsmith.
“Uncle Sandy, you can hold your head up high as a special-classer.”
“I’d be more moved if you stopped calling me that...” Jamil mumbled, then suddenly whipped his head toward the coastline. “Wait. They’re doing something.”
One of the Calamities that had been standing still at the coastline suddenly leaped into the ocean. Water sprayed and waves crashed, but soon the Calamity’s large body sank into the depths. The surface soon calmed as if nothing had ever happened.
Eluria hummed. “They must have sacrificed one of their own to test the waters, literally. Unlike ordinary manabeasts, they know how to think and adapt accordingly... Interesting.”
“Uh... The moment that boulder’s destroyed, we’ll be saying goodbye to those whirlpools and hello to those monsters, right? If that happens, this unc’s gonna start bawling his eyes out, ya know?”
“Uncle Sandy, do you think they can break it?”
“No way.”
“See? I’ve even made sure they’ll never reach it.”
As a matter of fact, the sacrificed Calamity had not resurfaced. It might have been able to resist the current to some extent with its large body, but crossing the strait or even reaching the seafloor was another matter entirely.
“After all, the Calamity will no doubt run out of mana before it reaches the seafloor ten thousand meters below.”
Jamil looked at the girl in exasperation. “When we first got here and you told me you were going to dig a ten-thousand-meter-deep sea trench, I wondered if you’d finally lost it.”
“Mm. I put my back into it.”
“And it spans the entire strait to boot...”
“I’m pretty sure I dug at least a few thousand kilometers.”
“This has gotta be beyond the realm of magic... If you can just alter ocean terrain with the flick of a finger, then what’s next—the entire continent?”
Eluria pouted. “I dug a trench because I’m trying to preserve the terrain. Originally, I was planning to turn the entire coastline into a pitfall so I could dunk all the Calamities into the sea in one fell swoop. But I refrained because we promised the states land as a reward—it wouldn’t do for me to use up some of it here. So I moved to plan B.”
Jamil shot the girl a flat look. “I don’t think anyone would normally think of turning an entire coastline into a pitfall...or digging up a deep-sea trench as a backup plan...”
Eluria puffed up her chest. “Well, I’m not just anyone.” In fact, she thought she deserved much more praise for being so considerate of the post-operation restoration plans.
Soon, two more Calamities jumped into the sea, but the outcome didn’t change—they simply sank down, never to be seen again. The horde of Calamities were unable to advance from the continent.
Eluria nodded contentedly. “I think our job here is as good as done. With their level of intelligence, they should know to give up on all the people here in the western archipelago since they can’t even make it across. I was worried about flying Calamities...but it looks like we’re in the clear.”
An aerial approach was the Calamities’ only remaining path to the western archipelago, but Eluria had hypothesized that a flying Calamity was highly unlikely. The reason was simple: If any Calamities could fly, then they would have already crossed the ocean to the eastern continent and eliminated every last human in this world.
During her stroll to Ariel’s outpost, Eluria had taken the chance to observe the Calamities she’d spotted along the way. She’d found that some Calamities possessed wings and feathers but lacked the ability to fly. Additionally, the monsters appeared to have adapted the appearances of familiar manabeasts but failed to inherit their unique characteristics and abilities. From this, Eluria had surmised that Calamities had evolved into larger bodies via polluted mana while sacrificing their original bodily features and abilities.
The only exceptions were the rithmoles of Paradise. They possessed the ability to communicate with humans and maintained their pretransformation intelligence, so their evolution—uniquely guided by the Demon Lord—must have been different from the rest.
Eluria’s hypothesis had proven right thus far. None of the countless Calamities and Offspring prowling the shoreline could fly. Slowly but surely, they all began to retreat from the coastline.
While keeping her eyes on the retreating monsters, Eluria took her communicator and reported, “Tenth ship, Eluria speaking. Confirming the retreat of the central continent Calamities. The planned method of obstruction is effective.”
Her report was met with boisterous cheers that rattled the deck from within the ship. One in particular came from right beside her.
“Whoa, you actually did it!” Jamil exclaimed. “You chased away such a huge horde of monsters! That’s the Sage for ya!”
Eluria, however, didn’t seem as chipper as everyone else. “Yeah... Everything went according to plan. That’s good...”
In fact, they couldn’t have asked for a better outcome. If she’d failed to repel this horde, then even she and Raid would have struggled to fend them all off. The whirlpool-producing boulder functioned exactly as it should have, and she’d also enjoyed the process of creating a deep-sea trench to divide the central continent and western archipelago. Morphing underwater terrain from the surface had challenged the limits of her magic.
However, she couldn’t help but utter one complaint.
“I wanted to run wild like Raid...”
“Eluria, please don’t say that... You’re scaring me.”
“Uncle Sandy, can I go play for a bit?”
“Stop, please... If you go and pick a fight with them and they come charging our way again, I might just faint from the stress...”
“But I’m also a supreme commander...”
“All right, you can go. But I’ll bawl my eyes out. I’m gonna cry and wail like a little baby. You fine with that?”
“I was joking...” Eluria mumbled. “The Calamities will keep reviving until we deal with the polluted mana. I don’t plan on sabotaging the operation.”
No matter how dissatisfied she felt, Eluria wouldn’t make any unnecessary moves that would put the operation at risk. She could have even gone to regroup with the main army—eliminate Calamities and Offspring while advancing northward with them—but she’d chosen to remain here just in case the Calamities of the central continent came back. Also, she simply didn’t want Jamil to cry and wail like a baby.
In other words, there was just one thing left for Eluria to do.
“It’s time for me to enjoy my afternoon tea.”
With a ruined world as her backdrop and harrowing roars in the distance, Eluria leisurely tilted her cup and took a quiet sip of her favorite milk tea.