The 1st Basement Floor Jackpot Is on a Whole Different Scale! (6)

I thrust it into the ground with all my might.

The energy that burst out from the staff instantly shoved every living thing except me—the one gripping it—outward.

Boom—

In that instant, I was left alone inside a green hemispherical dome.

All the Rotters except me had been pushed outside the sphere.

Unfortunately, this tent didn’t seem to have any soundproofing.

“Let me diiie~~”

“Kill me~ Kill me~ Kill me~”

“It huuurts~”

The moment something of a stimulating color spread out, the Rotters began clinging to the surface of the tent even more violently than before.

Ding~ Ding-ding~ Ding~ Ding-ding-ding~ Ding~

From the inside, the surface of the energy barrier kept bulging in and out from the hands, faces, shoulders, and knees of the Rotters pressing against it.

It was an utterly grotesque scene, like something straight out of a horror movie.

But I didn’t have the luxury of appreciating it.

I had to start building the bunker right away.

I only had ten minutes. After that, the safety tent would disappear.

I had to finish it before then, no matter what.

I yanked off the ridiculous mask and immediately pulled a support frame for the prefabricated steel tiles out of my subspace backpack.

Since I had practiced it many times, the work went quickly and precisely.

Clack—

Thud—

Clack—

Clack—

Thud—

First, a square support frame measuring 1.8 meters on each side was completed.

Then I drove large iron stakes into the holes prepared in the frame and began hammering them down with a sledgehammer.

Bang—

Bang—

Bang—

Soon, all sixteen stakes—four on each side—were driven deep and firm into the ground, securing the foundation.

Five minutes and ten seconds so far.

Almost the same pace as during practice.

Now it was time to stack the steel tiles on top of the support frame.

Click— Clack—

Click— Clack— Clack—

Click— Clack—

Each steel tile was a 60-centimeter square.

At three centimeters thick, they were incredibly heavy, but to me—someone who had already surpassed human strength—they felt no heavier than ceramic tiles of the same size.

Plus, they were designed as perfectly interlocking prefabricated pieces, so fitting the grooves and stacking them wasn’t particularly difficult.

I’d broken over a thousand of them while customizing the whole set.

A little while later.

I succeeded in stacking a total of thirty-six tiles—nine per side—onto the square support frame.

“Haa~ Ha~”

Even though I was a hunter with stamina and strength far beyond human limits, after working at a frantic pace for eight minutes and twenty seconds, I was breathing pretty hard.

But it was still too early to catch my breath.

The bunker I’d built so far was only about 180 centimeters tall.

That meant once the safety tent disappeared, the insane Rotters would definitely climb over the steel walls. At 180 centimeters, it was a height even the “death-crazed Rotters” could easily scale.

Still, I couldn’t stack it any higher.

The safety work tent itself was only two meters tall.

I hurriedly began the lid-closing process.

Thump—

I pulled out a massive square steel plate with an area of 3.24 square meters from subspace and placed it on top of the bunker.

Screee—

Then, using my monstrous strength, I slowly shifted it into the proper position.

Clack—

Clang—

The serrated edges meshed perfectly with the lid.

Less than nine minutes had passed.

What had originally taken thirteen minutes and forty seconds had been shortened through dozens of repeated practice runs.

This should be enough to hold, right?

Still, I couldn’t be sure.

The population density here was on a level that made Hong Kong’s Kowloon Peninsula look empty. If thousands of Rotters pushed against it, even this small steel bunker might accumulate damage and eventually break.

Therefore, from now on, I had to reduce the pressure even if only by a tiny amount.

I enjoyed the last sweet minute of rest before the work tent disappeared by drinking an entire bottle of water.

Because from here on, an arduous task awaited me—one that could last who knows how many hours.

And then, finally…

The green tent vanished, and the Rotters charged toward the bunker.

Thump—

Bang—

Thump thump thump—

Bang thump—

The crazed Rotters slammed into it with their bodies. The frame shook slightly, but it didn’t look like it would collapse anytime soon.

I drew the Holy Titanium Spade.

For a moment, it felt like my soul resonated with the tool.

First, I opened the hatches attached to the steel tiles with hinges.

Click—

Click—

Click—

There were three hatches per tile, totaling 108, but for now I only opened the twelve lowest ones on all four sides.

Stab—

I drove in the first shovelful.

Since it was ground that had been under Rotters constantly leaking pus, the spade sank in as smoothly as if I were digging into wet soil after rain.

Good.

With the Holy Titanium Spade, I could dig at double speed.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

Moreover…

At Level 8, thanks to Passion for Digging, I now had triple the speed.

2 × 3 = six times the digging speed of an ordinary person.

On top of that, Power of Digging added my level to my strength while digging. At this point, my strength and stamina were 45(+8) and 44 respectively…

At this rate, it was safe to say I was digging ten times faster than a normal human.

Whoooosh—

My hands and the spade were moving so fast they were invisible.

I felt like I’d become the Flash from the movies.

But that wasn’t all.

Among the skills on the active Rune Stone Shovel Mastery, there was one that fit me like a glove…

It was called Whirlwind Digging.

When you thought about it, it was the kind of worthless skill most people would absolutely seal away.

But for a hunter like me who could attack with digging, it was incredibly useful.

That was why I had boldly invested my remaining two skill points into it.

Whoosh— Whoosh— Whoosh— Whoosh— Whoosh—

From that moment on, I spun ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠around like a top inside the narrow 1.8 × 1.8 × 1.8 meter space and dug like a madman.

At ten times normal speed, the dirt flew neatly from my spade and passed through the 10-centimeter-high, 50-centimeter-wide openings at the very bottom of the steel bunker.

The way the soil flew out was almost artistic.

Not a single grain was wasted; they all shot through the openings with perfect precision.

It felt like I’d been doing manual labor for thirty-two years.

Sizzle—

Sizzle—

Sizzle—

“Ahh~ So good~”

“Freedom~ It’s freedom~”

“More~ Give me moreee~ Moreee~~”

I already knew from experiments that the power of the Holy Titanium Spade could liberate the Rotters.

Of course, it was a shame I couldn’t make the openings any larger for safety reasons. But there was no helping it. Even at this size, some Rotters were still trying to shove their heads and hands inside.

Anyway, despite the handicap of the small openings, my insane digging speed was liberating multiple Rotters in the blink of an eye.

Occasionally, the grotesque faces of Rotters—whose legs, thighs, stomachs, and chests had melted away layer by layer—would appear through the openings and startle me, but the work was proceeding smoothly according to plan.

Whoooosh—

In just a few minutes, I had dug down one meter.

Oh my god!

It worked!

I had been worried that being underground might apply a negative multiplier, but it was still a plus.

I had confirmed that even underground, gold was multiplied by the number of floors.

And right now I was Level 8!

The eighth number in the Fibonacci sequence was a whopping 21!

That meant digging one meter earned me 21 gold.

A powerful support item had ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠also arrived.

Recently, new mana-based drugs had become a serious social problem.

But something like this Manatamine Drink only contained trace amounts of addictive substances, so it had almost no addictive properties or side effects.

The difference between cocaine and Coca-Cola would be an accurate comparison.

Hiss—

Gulp gulp~

I immediately opened the drink and chugged it.

Whether it was a placebo or it really had those ingredients, my mind sharpened instantly and a surge of new energy welled up inside me.

I instinctively realized that the only thing I needed to focus on was digging faster and deeper.

Whoooosh—

Whoooosh—

Whoooosh—

*   *   *

The first inflection point was waiting for me.

Once I dug past the two-meter mark, it became difficult to throw the dirt out through ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the openings right away. By the time I reached three meters, the openings were completely out of sight.

Of course, I had anticipated this, so I began using the ropes I had secured to the bunker ceiling—repeatedly climbing up and down while hauling dirt up with my subspace backpack.

It went without saying that the dirt I hauled up was then used again with the Holy Spade for Rotter liberation work. By then the cooldown on Whirlwind Digging had reset, so everything meshed together perfectly.

The second inflection point arrived earlier than I expected and was far more serious.

All twelve of the lowest openings had become completely blocked.

The reason was simple.

The moment my Holy Spade scooped up dirt, it was infused with holy energy for three seconds.

And when that flying dirt touched a Rotter’s body, both the soil and the Rotter’s flesh vaporized simultaneously.

However…

No matter how densely the Rotters were packed outside the bunker, some dirt was bound to fall to the ground outside without touching any flesh.

That tiny amount of fallen dirt gradually piled up, raising the ground level outside the bunker.

And it had done so faster than expected, blocking the first tile and its lowest openings.

I first used a crowbar to push the dirt away, then shoveled more dirt into that space.

But the blocked openings filled up again, compacted by the swarming Rotters. Eventually, even pushing with the crowbar became useless.

Click—

Click—

Click—

Without hesitation, I opened the next set of twelve openings located one level higher.

Just as I feared.

The second row of openings was positioned 25 to 35 centimeters above the ground.

Under normal circumstances, I should have been able to see the Rotters’ shins.

But what I saw through the openings now were only their feet and ankles.

That meant the ground level outside had risen that much.

Swoosh~ Scatter—

Swoosh~ Scatter scatter—

Swoosh~ Scatter scatter scatter—

After exhausting all the dirt I had hauled up from below, I jumped back down again.

Anyway, the important thing was digging!

More digging,

and more digging!

Stop thinking!

I poured every ounce of strength I had into pulverizing the dirt at the bottom of the pit and continued digging deeper and deeper.

*   *   *

“Huk, huk, huk…”

I was reaching my limit.

It was the kind of brutal manual labor that would have killed an ordinary person from overwork long ago.

I had dug almost straight down for dozens of meters.

But I couldn’t stop.

This was my last chance—everything I owned had been invested in it.

Of course, I could give up and run away.

But if I did, after I escaped, the Rotters would pour madly into this deep pit…

And then, unless I became a chaebol who could buy “holy water” like it was bottled water, opening the path to the 2nd Basement Floor would become impossible forever.

Therefore…

I had to succeed this time.

Hiss—

Gulp gulp gulp~

Drinking Manatamine Drink no longer seemed to have much effect.

It was like a heavy smoker who had already burned through seven cigarettes in a row—not much improvement from taking one more drag.

Maybe I had dug too deep?

Now I could barely even hear the Rotters begging, “Kill me.”

For some time now, all I heard in my ears was a constant ringing.

Beeeeeeee—

I felt dazed.

It was as if my body no longer belonged to me.

The whole world looked like it was in slow motion.

I wanted to drop the spade.

I just wanted to lie on the floor and fall asleep.

It was similar to drowsy driving on the highway.

I knew that falling asleep meant death, yet I couldn’t shake off the drowsiness.

My only wish was…

to lie down comfortably…

and just…

Thud—

Rumble rumble rumble—

In that instant, sleep vanished completely.

The floor I was standing on had collapsed.