Granmaria and the other angels carried spears shaped like lances, designed for straight-line charges. Their combat style centered on converting weight and speed into pure destructive power. I had seen them in action before; they could pierce through iron shields with ease.
However, those weapons had proven useless against the Death Balls. While they could penetrate the outer shell of a stationary target if the angels struck with everything they had, the rapid rotation of the monsters had been their undoing.
Even if we didn't have to fear the Death Balls as long as Zabuton's Children were around, I wondered if it was really okay for Granmaria and her squad to leave things as they were.
"No, we want to become stronger!" Granmaria and her companions insisted.
Well, I would leave the personal training to them. My role was to help with their equipment.
"Can you use anything other than spears?" I asked.
"We’re trained in most basic weapons. However, considering we attack while in flight, these spears are the most compatible."
Swords would force them into close-quarters combat, which would negate the advantage of their flight speed. Exchanging blows at point-blank range simply didn't offer enough benefits.
In that case, the best move was to craft new spears. I decided to consult Gatto.
"The material of the spearhead is the crucial part," he told me.
Since the angels' current spears were already made of high-quality materials, replacing them with standard iron would actually make them weaker.
"For now, let's use what we have in the village..."
I went and fetched scales from Hakuren and Rusty.
"Umu. We can grind these into powder and mix them into the iron... but we can't do this alone."
Gatto rounded up the High Elves who were free and got to work. Beside them, I silently focused on carving the shafts for the spears.
"It's finished!" Gatto announced.
The result was a wooden shaft tipped with an iron spearhead infused with dragon scale powder. To the naked eye, it looked like an ordinary spear. I handed it to Granmaria to test.
...Something felt off. We all felt it.
I took the spear back. "Sorry, Granmaria. You can head back for now."
"Wouldn't it be better if we made it into a lance like the ones they already use?" I suggested to Gatto.
"Forging that shape... might be a bit much for the equipment we have in this village."
"Is that so?"
"It’s the volume of iron required. If we try to fuse smaller pieces together, the structural integrity becomes brittle."
I see. That left me with a different plan.
"What if we made an attachment that fits over the tips of their existing spears?"
"That would require much less iron, but... wouldn't it just fly off after the first strike?"
"Ah... you're right."
It was the part that took the most impact. Though, if the opponent was massive, leaving the spearhead buried inside the body might actually be an advantage.
As I was considering that possibility, one of Kuro’s offspring approached me with a dejected look on its face. I wondered what was wrong, but I noticed something unusual immediately. Even though it was a fairly large Inferno Wolf, the horn on its forehead was missing.
When I asked what happened, the wolf explained through gestures. It had found some prey, started to run, slipped... and its horn had gotten lodged in a tree. Unable to move, it had struggled until the horn snapped off at the base.
I excused myself from Gatto and the High Elves and followed the wolf to the site. Sure enough, the horn was stuck deep in the trunk of an ordinary tree. I tried pulling it, but it wouldn't budge. I couldn't just leave it there—it was heart-wrenching to think of the wolf feeling sad every time it saw its own horn stuck in a tree.
I transformed the Universal Farming Tool into a knife, shaved away a bit of the wood, and pried the horn loose. I couldn't exactly stick it back on, so I decided to put it in the storage area where we kept the naturally shed horns.
I patted the now-hornless wolf on the head. "Well, you’re much easier to pet without the horn in the way."
That was a mistake.
The other wolves nearby immediately started looking for rocks to bash their horns against. I had to stop them. "Don't do that! Breaking them on purpose is absolutely forbidden!"
I returned to Gatto’s group with a sudden spark of inspiration. The horns of Kuro’s offspring—I wondered if they could be used as spearheads.
The wolves gave me a "go ahead" gesture, so I tried attaching the horn to one of the shafts. It fit perfectly without any extra processing. Now, I just needed to test the strength of this "Kuro-horn spear."
We gathered in a wide-open area for the experiment. The target was an iron shield. If it couldn't pierce that, it wasn't worth considering.
I tried to level the spear and charge... but it was unexpectedly difficult. Just holding the thing horizontally while moving was a struggle. Running was out of the question. Gatto and the High Elves fared no better. Since they had lived in mountains and forests where swinging long spears wasn't practical, they hadn't trained for it.
I felt bad about calling Granmaria back for a mere prototype, so I asked Kudel to help instead.
"One of Kuro-san's horns?" she asked.
"Yeah. I want to check the hardness. Could you try striking that iron shield?"
"Understood. However, since this is a standard spear... do you mind if I throw it?"
"Hmm?"
"I’m actually much better at throwing."
It wasn't a javelin, but she said it would be fine. I left it to her. While we were at it, I decided to have her test the dragon-scale-infused spear as well. I still wanted to see if my "attachment" idea was viable.
"Which one first?"
"The dragon-scale iron spear." That was my main hope, after all.
The iron shield was laid flat on the ground. Kudel soared high into the sky. From a great altitude, she plummeted toward the target, hurling the spear from about thirty meters up. Without losing momentum, she banked sharply and soared back into the clouds. It was a beautiful maneuver.
The spear struck the dead center of the shield. With a dull thud, it pierced straight through the iron and buried itself deep in the earth. When we pulled it out, the tip wasn't even chipped. It was a success.
However, throwing it presented a logistical problem. Even a specialist like Kudel usually carried a lance for charging. I didn't want to force her to change her entire combat style just to fit a new weapon. I would stick to the attachment plan for the dragon-scale iron.
Next up was the spear tipped with the wolf horn. We set up a fresh iron shield. Following the same trajectory as before, Kudel threw the spear. It hit the shield and...
The world exploded.
A massive pillar of fire and bolts of lightning shot twenty meters into the air. The shockwave knocked Gatto, the High Elves, and me flat on our backs.
When the smoke cleared, we assessed the damage. The spearhead had vanished completely, though the wooden shaft was only slightly scorched. The iron shield was gone—blown into non-existence. In its place was a shallow crater.
Kudel landed, thankfully unharmed. Those of us on the ground had escaped with minor scratches. The nearby fields were fine. A few of Zabuton's Children had been knocked out of the trees by the blast, but they were unhurt.
However, back at the Village Head's Mansion—which was quite a distance away—Alfred, Tiselle, and Torain had been startled out of their naps and were now wailing. Ann sent a messenger with a very brief command: "Report to me immediately."
I probably needed to go apologize to Lilius and the others too.
"What happened?" I asked.
Kudel explained that she hadn't used any magic herself. That meant the problem was the horn. But if the horns were this explosive, why hadn't the one stuck in the tree gone off? It was a complete mystery.
I decided to consult someone who might actually know. Just then, Lu arrived to deliver the formal complaint from Ann.
"It’s a magic item," she said simply.
"Eh?"
"When they're attached to their heads, the horns act like magic wands. Once they come off, they become magic items with fixed attributes and effects. I assumed you were storing them because you knew that."
I was just keeping them as mementos of the wolves growing up.
"Wait... isn't that dangerous?"
"They won't explode just from being handled roughly. It’s a matter of intent. If you hold the horn with a clear desire to attack, the magic triggers. It's the same principle as casting a spell. You could throw one into a campfire and it wouldn't explode."
I see. I had stumbled upon... or rather, discovered an terrifying weapon. We had quite a few of these horns stored in the doghouse and the cellar. If every one of them had this much power...
"I’d say that’s a special-grade spell," Lu noted, looking intrigued. "I’d like to confirm the limits of its power."
With Kuro's permission, I brought out more of the stored horns. We lashed one to a new shaft. The next target was one of Hakuren’s scales. We laid it out just like the shield.
"Kudel, if you would."
Kudel performed another diving attack, her aim perfect as always. The moment of impact triggered another massive explosion.
This time, we were braced for the shockwave. Spectators had begun to gather—Dwarves, Mountain Elves, Lizardmen, Beastmen, and the Civil Official Girls had all come to see what the noise was about. Their eyes were fixed on the spot where the scale had been.
Once the flames died down, we cautiously approached. Hakuren’s scale was still there, glittering in the light. But then, with a distinct crack, it shattered into a dozen pieces.
The crowd erupted in cheers.
"To shatter a dragon's scale... that's definitely special-grade magic," Lu said, looking strangely delighted. "The attributes are fire and lightning, which matches an Inferno Wolf. I wonder if a Cocytus Wolf's horn would produce ice and lightning?"
"Um, Village Head," Gatto interjected. "The power is incredible, but are you really going to make these into weapons?"
...I thought about it for a second.
"Let’s not."
It was far too dangerous. If someone like Urza got a hold of one, the damage would be catastrophic. We would stick to the dragon-scale-infused iron for Granmaria’s squad.
However, the explosion was certainly spectacular. It might be perfect for a ceremonial signal to start a festival or a martial arts tournament. And since the wolves shed them naturally, we’d have a steady supply.
I left the rest of the work to Gatto and his team. As I turned back toward the house, I saw Ann standing there, her arms crossed in a pose of pure, unadulterated fury.
Doing it a second time before I’d even apologized for the first was a tactical error. I felt a deep sense of regret. I tried to explain that Lu was the one who wanted to test it, but... ah, right.
I’m sorry. I really am. Please forgive me.