Part 35: The Miner Blasts the Floating City with the Wave Motion Shovel Blast

Part 35:
The Miner Blasts the Floating City
with the Wave Motion Shovel Blast

The party surrounded the astral beauty Farshinal in her conquered throne room. From the info Alice had extracted from her, they now knew the plan to reopen Hell’s Gate was in fact a feint. Pazuzu’s true aim was to capture a greater angel and use them as a sacrifice for the “Angel Fall” ceremony. In other words, their enemy’s objective was Gabriella.

For her part, Farshinal was nothing more than an underling resurrected by Pazuzu’s power.

“Whew, in that case, we have no need to worry!” said Lucy.

“Lucy, when it comes to safety first, one must never let their guard down.”

If Gabriella were to flee back to Heaven, this whole thing would collapse on itself. But the greater demons weren’t stupid. They surely had a Plan B.

“I agree with Alan,” said Catria. “Especially that one mustn’t ever let their guard down around him.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

The moment anyone let their guard down around Alan, their sanity was in terrible danger. Catria made sure to impress this point on Lucy.

“So what do we do with this woman?” asked Alice. “I could always absorb her.”

“I have a shovelingly great idea. Please connect us to the shovel prison in the World Tree Castle.” Lithisia giggled.

What exactly was this princess thinking of doing with the Mage King? Well, she was probably going to shovel her.

“So they want to sacrifice a greater angel…?” Lucy murmured.

“Lucy, does that ring a bell at all?”

“N-no, of course not.” Lucy shook her head, causing her pink hair to wave through the air and her breasts to bounce lightly. “I’m probably just overthinking it. There’s no way something like that could exist in the world below.”

“Lucy, I suggest not hiding anything from Alan,” said Catria.

“Huh?”

But Alan was already digging through the space above Lucy’s head with his shovel. “I see…an Angel Furnace. It’s a magic tool that absorbs an angel’s very existence and outputs its energy.”

“What the?! Wh-what did you just do?!”

“I unearthed the deeper meaning in your words.”

“Don’t do that without my permission!” Lucy snapped, her cheeks red.

It was indeed awful of him to do that without her permission, but even Lucy was unsure of what exactly was awful about his shoveling otherwise. Either way, if he was going to dig into her, she’d have liked for him to ask for her consent first. Not that she’d say yes to any such vile thing!

Lucy shoved past this strange internal conflict of hers. “A-anyway, that was awful of you, Miner Alan!”

She did her best to shoot him a glare while underlining that what he did was no good at all.

“Hm, how odd.” Catria found she had questions about the angel’s glare.

Lucy’s anger toward Alan for shovelizing Gabriella was clearly thinning. She still didn’t like him much, but it wasn’t like she hated him from the bottom of her heart. Or at least, that was what it felt like. But why? Was she that happy her angelic rank had improved?

“Hee hee, the effects of ALAN from our battle with Farshinal have begun to surface, shovel,” said Lithisia.

Catria decided to buy some good earplugs when they returned to the surface world. It was getting more and more dangerous to listen to this princess’s words.

***

After digging through Rahzelfo for a bit, the party came upon the treasure vault of the ancient magic kingdom. It honestly seemed more like a prison than anything else.

The walls and floor shone black, made from the same mysterious material as the gate to the central tower. A magic circle was inscribed on the floor in dark red blood. However, hovering above the center of the circle wasn’t the Golden Orb, but a larger, egg-shaped object.

On occasion, a ripple ran through the object. Multiple tentacles stretched from it, squirming through the air in search of some unknown aim. The mere sight of this grotesque thing was enough to make a person want to vomit.

“An Angel Furnace…?!” Lucy’s voice shuddered with fear as she backed away from the tentacles. “It’s been activated… Multiple angels have already been dissolved within it!”

“This egg used to be an angel or something?”

Lucy nodded, on the verge of tears.

An Angel Furnace, huh? This was Alan’s first time seeing this particular magic tool. Indeed, he could sense the holy essence of angels trapped within it, as well as an immense amount of energy. It at least rivaled the destructive power of the King of Hell, the “Demogorgon,” and its Netherball attack.

The Angel Furnace was ready for activation even without the addition of Gabriella. Alan had to do something fast, so he whipped out his shovel.

“Wait, Miner Alan! If you destroy it, it’ll go out of control and…”

“Got it. Back away, Lucy. I’ll handle this.”

“Oh no, I don’t believe you will.”

A hoarse voice rang out and ZAP! Black lightning crackled along the surface of the Angel Furnace and the entire underground vault began to quake. Alan gripped his shovel, shifting into a guard stance.

As he did, a winged demon manifested overhead and descended before the party. Slightly taller than Alan, its wicked horns and vast leathery wings were what really sold its appearance. The evil light in its eyes was far more intense than any demon Alan had encountered outside the very depths of Hell.

The shaking grew more violent.

“Hee hee, Zeleburg has failed, has he?” said the demon. “To think beings of the surface world would make it to the floating city of Rahzelfo.”

Lucy shot the vile creature an enraged glare. How many angels has this monster killed?! It can’t get away with this!

“Great Hero Catria, Miner Alan, this is Pazuzu!” Lucy shouted. “Please, lend me your strength and…”

But before Lucy could finish speaking, Alan shot his Rapid Fire Wave Motion Shovel Blast.

“DIG!”

KA-CHOOOOOOOOM!

It blew Pazuzu away, along with the wall of the treasure vault. Sword in hand, Lucy was frozen in place.

Huh? It’s over? Before I could even ask for help?!

Catria patted Lucy on the shoulder. “Remember, Lucy. Never let your guard down around Alan.”

“Huh…?”

“By the time you get fired up, chances are pretty good he’s already done his thing.” Catria stared blankly into the distance. She knew trying to explain was futile, but even still.

“Huh? Er, wha?!” Lucy blinked rapidly in an attempt to understand what had just transpired. Um, the evil Demon King is certainly gone…or appears to be gone? But…

The quaking of the ground grew ever more violent and the Angel Furnace continued to crackle even more fiercely. Something was happening, but what?

Lithisia looked down at a shovel-shaped thing in her hands. “Sir Miner, according to my Shovepass, our altitude is dropping.”

“I can feel it as well. I knew it… We don’t have time.”

“Er, Miner Alan? What do you mean?” Lucy asked.

“The floating city is currently falling to the surface.”

No, that can’t be! Lucy frantically looked out of the hole Alan had opened in the wall. Outside, a vicious gale blew in an upward direction. Also, they were accelerating. If this gargantuan city-continent were to collide with the surface world, a continent-sized hole would be blown off of the planet.

The speed of their descent likely had something to do with the Angel Furnace. They were just getting faster!

I will never forgive them for using angel power like this! Lucy thought. There has to be a way to stop our fall!

As if in response to her thoughts, Alan took up his shovel.

“N-no, Alan! You can’t! You mustn’t destroy it! Its amassed energy will go berserk!” Lucy flailed her hands at the miner. This is bad! I’m the only one who knows anything about the Angel Furnace!

“I’m not really out to destroy it…”

“But if we’re going to stop our fall, we have to get control of…” Lucy stopped.

In her training, she had been taught how to control an Angel Furnace. It was a terrible technique, but this horrible, awful thing, was their only chance. Lucy hugged her shivering body.

It’ll be okay. I’m the little sister of Gabriella, an archangel. It’s scary… It’s terrifying, but…

“Lucy, we’re getting out of here. Let’s…”

Lucy heard Catria’s voice. A true Holy Knight who, despite being a human, could wield the Holy Blade.

This true hero saved me (from shovel corruption) so many times. I have no reason not to sacrifice my life for her.

“No, that won’t be necessary.” Lucy stood tall, doing her best to hold back her tears. She seized one of the thrashing tentacles connected to the Angel Furnace and stuck it directly to her own bountiful chest.

GRIIIIIND.

It immediately began to devour her heart.

“Urrrrraggggggh!”

“W-wait, what are you doing?!” Catria dashed over to her.

“Alan…Miner Alan…use the Ring of the Archangel… Give me my orders!”

“What?”

“If you command me…to get inside of the Angel Furnace…I can control…agh!” The tentacle sucked at Lucy’s essence. Her chest burned hot, as did her mind. Her entire body was being absorbed. No! I’m not going to hold out long…but I have to!

Catria tried to wrench the tentacle off Lucy, but to no avail. It was now a part of her. Every time it convulsed, an eldritch jolt ran through Lucy’s body.

“Ngaah…AAAAAAAHHHHH!”

The foreign object pushed into her, but she couldn’t resist it. She had to let it in. The only way to control the Angel Furnace was to become a part of it. She would lose consciousness, but a ringbearer could still force her to take action according to their will.

“Damnit! What is with this thing?! Lucy, stop it! Stop this stupidity at once!”

“Aaaggghhh…Great Hero Catria…it’s okay… If I can use this…life to save you… AAAAHHH!!!”

“You don’t have to throw your life away! We can still be saved!”

“Huh?”

“We can. For sure. Like, it’s not even a big deal.”

Finally, Alan stepped in. “Perfect. Preparations complete. We’re all getting out of here.”

Alan scooped up Lucy and the Angel Furnace with one hand (transportation was a miner’s specialty), then exited from the hole he had created when he annihilated Pazuzu into the rushing wind. Aboard his Shovel Glider, the entire party fled Rahzelfo.

They shot into the sky, buffeted by powerful gusts, but soon they were gliding easily down to the surface. Once on solid ground, they realized to their horror that the floating city was on a collision course with the fields of Rostir, plummeting like an incoming comet.

If it were to make contact with the earth, it would turn the entire nation of Rostir into one big old crater.

Alan had only one option.

“DIG!”

KA-CHOOOOOOOOM!

The beam of light he fired from the land below pierced the sky itself, almost like a reverse-flowing comet. It was Alan’s Hyper-Wide Wave Motion Shovel Blast.

Alan fired the hyper-wide beam at about 20 percent of its normal power, but it was more than enough to engulf and evaporate Rahzelfo. Just like that, Farshinal’s arcane lair and the pride of the ancient magic kingdom was as nothing. If mages seeking the knowledge of old were to bear witness to this moment, they would undoubtedly burst into tears, but all of that was kind of beside the point.

This all wrapped up in the twenty seconds after Lucy let herself get caught by the Angel Furnace.

“Um, what?” The tentacle attached to Lucy’s chest wriggled as she stared up at the empty sky, her existence continuing to be slowly absorbed by the Angel Furnace. Um, where’s Rahzelfo? I was supposed to use my life to stop it from falling.

“Didn’t I tell you we’d be okay, Lucy?” said Catria.

“Um, but, er… Whaaaa?!”

“Now then, how do we get this thing off of you…? Whoa! It’s fusing with you!”

It was too late. Lucy was a part of the Angel Furnace.

No, wait, come on! Really?! After all of this?!

As Lucy pleaded within her fading consciousness, a hoarse voice rang out from above.

“How dare you… That light… Do you possess a Heavenly Artifact?!”

There in the sky was Pazuzu, who had supposedly been blown away by Alan. However, the demon’s appearance was…wrong. For one, it was many multiple times larger than its original appearance in the floating city. For another, it roared as it circled the skies in an enormous draconic body.

Alan peered up and observed its movements with a careful eye. “Huh, so the thing from before was just a splinter, then? I’m assuming this one’s the real deal.”

Most great demons had some sort of resistance to death. As such, even if you beat one of its splinters, the main body would remain unharmed.

“Haaah, haaah… In that case…!” Lucy managed to raise her voice despite the ongoing diminishment of her entire being. I’m going to be useful this time! I’m going to defeat the demon… I’m going to help!

Lucy did her best to suppress the quivering of her body as she stood before Alan.

“Don’t worry… With the power of the Angel Furnace, I can, urgh, seal its resistance to death…argh…!”

Lucy would use the furnace’s pent-up power to defeat the demon and save Catria once and for all. For the second time in one minute, she steeled her resolve.

I have no reason not to sacrifice my life for her, right?

“Lucy.”

“Miner Alan, aaaagggghhhh!!! Command…me…!”

Alan frowned at Lucy as she pleaded with him, her face covered in tears. “Stand aside,” he said.

“Huh?”

Alan wrote the words “Pazuzu’s Death Resistance” into the ground and buried it. Boom. Resistance sealed.

He then fired off his Hyper-Wide Wave Motion Shovel Blast again, this time at 50 percent maximum strength.

KA-CHOOOOM!

This half-measure was more than enough to engulf Pazuzu’s entire body in light and vanquish him forever. The second reverse comet of the day.

“…”

The Angel Furnace tentacle absorbed the last dregs of Lucy’s existence. She was now mostly transparent. As her consciousness disappeared within the white egg of the purified Angel Furnace, she remembered Catria’s words: “You must never let your guard down around Alan.”

Tears poured from Lucy’s eyes. Why…why did I not listen to her?

The last thing she remembered was Gabriella’s face during the final fleeting moments of her sanity.

“I truly am blessed…I get to die as an angel…”

Yes… Lucy smiled through her tears. In that case, I too am fortunate…

She had constantly let her guard down. She was a fool, an idiot, even. But at least she’d get to leave this world without being further corrupted by the shovel.

***

Ten seconds later on the fields of Rostir, Alan held the Golden Orb, which had fallen from Pazuzu’s enormous body.

“Welp. Now that we’ve finished off Pazuzu and have the orb, let’s save Lucy from the Angel Furnace,” Alan said.

“Here it comes! Sir Miner’s classic Angel Scoop! Time to go retrieve an angel from certain doom, shovel!”

“You make it sound like he’s scooping up goldfish or something…” Alice said.

“I knew it. So you can save her?” Catria asked.

Alan remained completely unfazed as Lucy vanished, so Catria figured as much.

“At the end of the day, it’s a furnace, just like a blast furnace. This means you can scoop up its insides with a shovel.”

“Please don’t do that to a poor blast furnace.”

Catria was well aware her sentence made no sense. Well, whatever, it was impossible to measure this man’s shovel with common sense or real world knowledge.

“Think about it this way. Melting in a furnace is a good experience for angels.”

“H-how so? I feel so bad for Lucy…”

Catria did feel bad, but she also knew this was their best course of action. She looked up at the empty blue sky as it crept toward night. For a moment, she saw the smiling face of Lucy among the glittering stars.

Lucy, I know you think you’ve gone to the next life, but…unfortunately for you, the true shovel corruption is about to begin.