Chapter 282: Showing Off

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Quest: Insect Extermination

Requirements:

– Kill all black insects in this dimension (@T-549222-C1)

– Save the remaining people in this dimension (Remaining: 150,201)

– Create a safe haven for humans (0 / 1)

Rewards:

– Peace of mind

]

“…”

Axel read the quest once, twice, and thrice, but the content didn’t change. He pinched the bridge of his nose while letting out a soft sigh.

“The one who made this quest definitely had a bone to pick with these cockroaches…”

The reward was basically nothing, after all!

However, that didn’t really matter. After all, Axel came here with a purpose — to complete the last three requirements of his upgrade quest!

“What should we do next, Duke Axel?” Rosaria asked soon after.

Axel didn’t have to think hard about it, thankfully. With the extra details from the quest description, their course of action was already set.

“First, we should locate the survivors in this dimension!”

There should be over 150 thousand survivors left, and moving that many people would definitely take time.

To do what they needed to do efficiently, they first had to locate where the majority of survivors were staying. That way, he could build the bulwark right there, eliminating the need for relocation and hitting three birds with one stone!

Of course, the map function couldn’t be used in a different dimension. Thus, Axel had to do it the old-fashioned way.

He gathered mana to his legs and leapt straight up into the sky.

Just short of touching the clouds.

Once he reached enough height, he stayed there for a moment, scanning the surroundings for any signs of human activity.

“Hmm?”

And thankfully, he didn’t miss them. About 20 kilometers to the north, artificial lights could be seen glowing. Since it was the only place with lights, he was fairly certain that was where the survivors were staying.

“Found them!” He quickly reported as he landed. “About 20 kilometers that way. They’re surrounded by more cockroaches, so we’d better hurry!”

“More…?!”

Rosaria and Mimika gasped at the same time.

They had a higher tolerance, but it wasn’t like they weren’t repulsed by the black insects either. If possible, they’d rather not face those again… but that was basically all they’d be doing here!

On top of that, their AOE curses didn’t work with precise targeting. Thus, they couldn’t use them near the settlement, or the survivors would end up getting wiped out instead.

They couldn’t use elemental magic either, as the quality of their mana — their life force — was quite different. Ria using spells was only possible thanks to her partly sharing Axel’s Mana Pool.

Of course, he didn’t miss the crease forming on the girls’ brows.

With a thin smile, he told them. “Don’t worry, I’ve got something better we can use.”

Their enemies were insects. And the best weapon against insects was… not an insecticide, but rather—

“Here, hold this!”

He passed a large backpack to each of the girls, making them wonder what was inside.

The backpacks were heavy. Probably over a hundred kilograms each. If they hadn’t received the 200 stat points earlier, they’d definitely have struggled just lifting them. Now, however, they felt like nothing more than slightly heavy bags.

Attached to the side of each bag was a long hose, and at the end, a handle with a trigger connected to a long tube orifice.

“These are flamethrowers. We can use them to burn everything along our path!”

They weren’t ordinary flamethrowers either — they used napalm! Once the flames touched a target, they would cling to it until it burned to ash or the flames lost momentum.

The girls were curious at first, but when Axel showed them how to use them, their expressions changed.

“This is amazing, Duke Axel! It burns so well!”

“If we’d had this during the locust attack last year, the damage would’ve definitely been minimal!”

“Glad to hear it.” Axel nodded. “Then, let’s move in a line. Burn everything in your path. Don’t worry, I’ve already buffed you two with flame protection, so go wild!”

The part about the Flame Protection buff wasn’t entirely true, however.

Axel was improving day by day, but he wasn’t yet skilled enough to buff others directly.

Instead, what he’d done was clip a small accessory onto each of the girls without them noticing—accessories that granted both Flame Resistance and Flame Protection. With those equipped, they wouldn’t be bothered by the flames even if they were doused in napalm themselves.

After handing them gas masks as well, just as a precaution against the fumes, they set off at a run.

As they ran, they burned every corpse in their path—not just one or two, but hundreds, then thousands.

Axel didn’t equip a flamethrower himself. Instead, he fired Mana Arrows of the flame element here and there, triggering explosions that pulverized anything within range.

On top of that, he was sniping any cockroaches that tried to close the distance, cutting them down before they even came within visible range. With him holding the line, the two girls were free to continue their burning spree uninterrupted.

Just like that, without any enemies getting close, they steadily made their way toward the destination.

They weren’t in a rush either. Axel could see that the population counter on the quest hadn’t changed, meaning the survivors were safe—for now. How long that would hold was anyone’s guess, but they’d definitely arrive before things took a turn.

“Alright, I can see it now!”

After cresting a small hill, Axel finally spotted the settlement in the distance. But at the same time, as expected, the number of insects surrounding it was beyond reason.

The entire ground looked slick and black—a sign that it was completely blanketed by those swift, crawling insects.

Axel couldn’t spam his spells here, though. Given how wide the blast radius of his attacks was, he’d almost certainly damage the settlement. So he quickly swapped to a sword and patted Rosaria and Mimika on the shoulder.

“You two, head straight for that city,” he said, pointing toward the light sources ahead. “Explain to them why we’re here—that we’re here to save them. I’ll circle around and clean up the pests manually.”

“Yes, Duke Axel!” Rosaria nodded, then turned to the other. “Mimika, let’s go!”

“Yes, Captain!”

And with that, the two pressed forward fearlessly, burning everything in their path. Cockroaches weren’t so revolting when they were reduced to ash, after all.

Axel had topped up their tanks a while back, so they had more than enough fuel to reach their destination.

“Great. Now…”

With the two on their own mission, Axel shifted gears. His eyes narrowed as he took a deep breath. Then he leapt forward.

The scenery blurred past his periphery as his sword—held at a precise angle—carved through swathes of cockroaches.

Since the blade carried a holy element, every monster it touched—spawns of the demon’s invasion—was purified and killed in a single hit.

Axel swept away from the two girls and began clearing everything that had crept too close to the survivors’ walled city.

As he cut down hundreds, then thousands of cockroaches every second, it was only a matter of time before he was noticed.

“W-What is that? Am I dreaming?!”

“Everyone, look! Someone’s killing the Black Beasts!”

“T-There’s someone over there too, carving a path of flames!”

Starting close to the wall and fanning outward as he circled the perimeter — several kilometers in total—it was no wonder he drew attention. Though of course, part of it was intentional; he made sure to pause at just the right moments while within eyeshot of the people inside.

A little PR stunt, one might say.

He didn’t stop until the two girls reached the walls. By then, the nearest living insect was already about 4 kilometers away.

“Phew…”

Axel came to a stop beside the two just as they finished speaking with the gatekeepers. He was drenched in sweat from running nearly nonstop at faster than the speed of sound.

It felt like it had been a while since he’d last felt this tired—setting aside the times the girls wrung him dry, of course.

“So, can we go in?” He asked the two.

“Duke…”

Rosaria pulled down her gas mask, her expression a thin frown.

“It seems they don’t accept outsiders. Probably out of worry over their dwindling resources. They wouldn’t let us in.”

Axel sighed as he stored his sword back into his inventory.

“Well, I figured as much.” He shrugged. “Either way, I’ve already scouted the perimeter. So with or without their consent, I’ll start setting up a fortress to protect them.”

From the “To the Next Stage!” quest, he still needed 900 more sq. km. of land. That meant the bulwark had to cover at least 900 sq. km.

To standardize the area, he opted for a circular zone rather than a square. Instead of a 30 km by 30 km plot, he’d only need a radius of 17 km—18 if he wanted some breathing room.

Of course, unlike when he restored the fortresses along Witcheria’s frontlines, this time he’d be starting from scratch.

But with ample funds and two witches at his side, he didn’t think it would be that difficult. Not to mention how his backup would also arrive soon enough.

By now, Navi must’ve already told the girls of where he was, and such. He even already prepared the Return Scrolls set to this dimension and placed it in the system’s inventory—accessible to the girls too.

In short, the only problem were the locals!

“If they don’t want to let us in for discussion, then I’ll just set this section as the edge and build everything around them!”

Axel grinned mischievously, eyes glinting at the guards peering down from the top of the walls.

“Starting now!”

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