The Golden Mound of Level 2 Basement
[Now this monster has become a loyal soldier of the Rotten Legion.]
[This soldier possesses the qualities to become a non-commissioned officer.]
[Do you wish to appoint this soldier as a non-commissioned officer?]
Oh yeah.
I immediately appointed the thing as a non-commissioned officer.
[Now this monster has become an honorable subordinate of the Rotten Legion.]
[Subordinates can lead soldiers and carry out simple tactics.]
Command the soldiers through the subordinate.]
Hell yeah.
I didn't want to issue orders one by one…
There were a few other random master privileges too, but I'd research those slowly later.
When I returned to the bunker with the non-commissioned officer Rotter, the six Rotters had already finished the tasks I gave them and were standing there blankly.
Next to them was a pile of gold coins.
I stuffed all the gold coins into the waist pouch's subspace.
It doesn't matter that the Rotters touched them anyway.
Because I was wearing protective gloves, and gold coins digitize the instant they enter the subspace.
[4,419 gold coins acquired.]
More money than 60 million won for us came in today.
But my goal in coming here today wasn't just to eat the money.
Down there…
There was a gold mound piled higher than anything else.
I called over the subordinate.
“Subordinate! In a little while, you and the rest of the soldiers will go down to the lower level.”
“Yes, sir~”
“There is one big monster down there.”
“Yes, sir~”
“You guys won't fight that monster today. Got it?”
“Yes, sir~”
“Run away while raising your levels and don't fight. Got it?”
“Aggro~ Yes, sir~ Aggro~”
The guy seemed quick-witted and sharp-eyed, whether because he had been made a subordinate or because his original level was decent.
“Yeah, that's exactly it. Aggro! Make sure the Ougre doesn't notice me and never die until the end. That's an order! Subordinate, got it?”
“Yes, sir~”
I took out the mana signal flare and shot it into the air.
Pffiiiii~
Pang~
“And… when I shoot this, the remaining ones have to gather around me. Got it?”
“Yes, sir~”
The thing was rotting all over, exposing bones, but the bright light in the single remaining eye still looked alive somehow. I believed in it.
I opened the status window and checked the time.
[Dispatch time: 12 minutes later (Absolute Principle)]
I immediately set the dispatch target to the Rotter non-commissioned officer, six soldiers, and one random extra.
Then I climbed back up to the bunker, put on the harness, and started descending.
Charrrrr~
Soon I entered the airspace of the second basement level, passing through the bunker and the pit.
I immediately activated the 10x21 scope function on the morning goggles.
The Ougre was instantly visible 10 meters ahead, sharp and clear.
The thing was lying down.
And its four eyes… no, two eyes were tightly closed, and its belly, the size of an air balloon, was slowly expanding and contracting.
Two arms were behind its head.
Another two were scratching its chest and cheek respectively.
The last two were under a ragged cloth draped over its crotch…
But my real interest was the remaining two hands fiddling with the thing in its middle.
A mound of gold coins.
The gold coins that had been like a mountain had all disappeared, but a good amount were still piled on the Ougre's belly, and it was fiddling with them using its two middle arms.
Kid, those hands are so big it looks like it's touching gold dust.
I opened the 3D map and adjusted the positions I had dispatched the Rotter soldiers to, comparing them to their actual locations. The original spots were too close to the Ougre, so I placed the eight of them in a wide circle around it.
Then I went down further and waited for the dispatch.
[Dispatch time: 0 minutes later (Absolute Principle)]
[Dispatch has begun now.]
Jeeuwung-
Jeeuwung-
Jeeuwung-
Almost simultaneously, red light radiated out from the eight points surrounding the Ougre.
The Ougre instantly popped its four eyes wide open.
It looked like it was salivating just from hearing the “Jeeuwung-” sound, just like Pavlov's dog.
Uwa ha ka ya ha~
Ka ha ya u ha ha~
The Ougre yawned so loudly it sounded like it was going to leave the second basement level, or maybe it was a roar or a phlegm sound. With two mouths it roared at the same time, then sprang up.
Clang~ Clang~ Clang~
The gold coins on its chest went flying everywhere and rolled around wildly.
But the Ougre seemed to know the Rotters tasted better than gold coins, so it dashed somewhere in a hurry.
Kwoong~
Kwaang~
Kwoong~
Kwaang~
I cheered out loud.
Because its running speed wasn't as fast as I thought.
This is doable!
And then…
Soon it reached some point, and with all eight hands it started scratching the floor furiously and trying to bring them to its two mouths.
But it was just swallowing air in vain.
Because I had changed the dispatch points, there was nothing there.
How dumb it was, it did this for about a minute before realizing it wasn't eating anything.
Then suddenly.
Eeeing?
Uiing?
It made cute noises that didn't match its size…
Uka ha ta pa ha ha~
Kpa ha ha ta ta ka ha~
Then with all eight arms and eight fists it started pounding the floor.
It looked like a variant of Six-handed Frenzy called Eight-handed Frenzy.
Thud- Thud- Thud- Thud-
Eight arms hitting the ground almost at the same time.
Even hanging in the air, I could feel the vibration from how savage its beating was.
It pounded for a long time without getting angry, then pulled out the weapons on its waist and started swinging them around.
Flail, morning star, club, war hammer, mace…
In an instant the floor it hit was cratered like it had taken a bombing, with rocks breaking and dirt flying everywhere.
Then.
I saw one monster approaching from behind the Ougre.
“It hurts so much~ Kill me~ Kill me~”
Looking down, the other Rotters I had descended with were all lined up and waiting.
The one approaching seemed to be the random Rotter I had chosen, not one of my soldiers.
The Ougre turned around.
Then it immediately extended five hands to grab the Rotter and ripped it in half, putting the upper body in one mouth and the lower in the other and starting to chew with wooddduk wooddduk sounds.
A single Rotter wasn't enough to fill its stomach, so it roared again and went on a rampage.
At that moment, a Rotter leaped toward the Ougre with a loud scream.
“Uwaaaaaa~”
It was my loyal Rotter subordinate.
Kha pa ha pa ka ha ha~
Pha ka ha ha ka ka ha~
As the subordinate Rotter charged with its roar, the eight-armed Ougre roared too and charged at it.
Kwoong~
Kwaang~
Kwoong~
Kwaang~
But the subordinate Rotter suddenly made a 90-degree turn about 20 meters before meeting the two and started running in a different direction.
Eeeing?
Uiing?
The Ougre made another puzzled sound.
Its hometown probably didn't have fake things.
Kwoong~
Kwaang~
Kuuwoong~
It couldn't even brake properly, so it ran another 20 meters, did a somersault, and finally managed to steady its body and turn around.
Then the subordinate Rotter stood far away and again let out a roar that seemed to be egging it on.
“Uwaaa~ Uwa~”
Charrrrr~
Watching that, I kept descending a little at a time.
And the moment I saw the Ougre roar and chase after the subordinate Rotter's back, I finally planted my feet on the floor of the second basement level.
★ Title acquired! ★
[Pioneer of the Second Basement Level]
[1 skill point acquired.]
Still without taking off the harness and keeping my eyes fixed on the Ougre's movements, I kept grabbing gold coins and stuffing them into my bag.
Because the Ougre had spread the gold coins over a pretty wide space when it stood up, picking them up was no easy task.
Kwoong~
Kwaang~
Kwoong~
Kwaang~
The vibration from the Ougre jumping passed straight into my body.
It felt like riding a rattling train right next to it, inside a second-floor wooden building.
Even the gold coins were moving a little on the floor according to the Ougre's jumping vibrations.
Uwa ha ha ta ta~ Uwa ha ta ta~
The Ougre, no matter how hard it tried to catch the subordinate Rotter, got so furious it started beating its own head with its fists.
And the thing suddenly took a squatting pose.
I instantly threw the coin I was holding and immediately grabbed the rope and climbed up.
Ziiiiing~
As expected, when I had climbed about 1 meter off the ground, the Ougre leaped high.
“……!”
Considering the size and weight of a second-floor house, the height it jumped was incredible.
10 meters?
15 meters?
And it came down straight, slamming the floor with its own weight.
Kwaaaaaaang-
I had only gone up 10 meters from the floor, but I was already turned because of the strong wind from centrifugal force.
[Earthquake].
One of the Ougre's skills I had seen on Wikipedia was activated.
I continued ascending and immediately checked the Rotters' status through the scope.
Most of the Rotters had fallen or were writhing while holding their heads from a little distance away.
Among them, my biggest interest was still the level 24 Rotter non-commissioned officer.
But the thing seemed to have no choice but to avoid that skill either.
It too was sprawled on the floor.
I quickly estimated the distance between the Rotter subordinate and the Ougre.
It was close.
But luckily one of my other Rotter soldiers was lying right in the middle.
The dumb Ougre was charging straight at that soldier first.
When it arrived it didn't eat the soldier but started flattening it perfectly with fists and weapons.
Kung, pak, kung, ujjik, kwaang-
It flattened the Rotter like melted ice cream and only then did its anger ease a bit, so it slammed its two heads on the ground and started licking it up.
That was lucky.
While it was wasting time on this, the subordinate should have gotten up.
Wait!
At that moment I realized it wasn't the time to just watch.
I immediately opened the status window.
And after pressing [Additional Dispatch], I set the dispatch location to between the Rotter subordinate and the Ougre. It was random.
Jeeuwung-
Another Rotter was dispatched between the two and dropped down.
The Ougre reacted sensitively to the “Jeeuwung-” sound again and immediately charged toward the Rotter.
“Kill me~”
The Rotter's wish was fulfilled in an instant.
Of course, I wasn't sure if it was biological death.
Kung, pak, kung, ujjik, kwaang-
And it was the same flattening work as before.
I pressed [Additional Dispatch] again, but…
[No Rotter available for additional dispatch on the first basement level.]
Damn it.
Ah, crap.
No, you idiot.
I just need to summon for additional dispatch.
I immediately pulled up the list of Rotters that could be summoned from each floor of the tower, sorted by level descending.
Then I returned the lowest-level Rotters to the first basement level on a large scale and dispatched a few of them here to the second basement level as additional dispatch.
“Uwaaaaa~”
In the end, while the Ougre was third time flattening the subordinate with Eight-handed Frenzy into a crushed ice cream, my Rotter subordinate managed to get up while holding its head.
And the thing quickly assessed the situation and started egging the Ougre on like before.
“Uwaaaaa~”
It worked.
Seeing the Ougre again charging at the subordinate with kwoong-kwaang sounds, I descended back to the second basement floor and started picking up the gold coins.
Now its [Earthquake] was on cooldown, so it would be safe for a while.
A little later, I recovered about 90% of the gold coins on the floor. The remaining 10% was too scattered for me to pick up right now.
I took out the luck compass.
Please!
Fortunately the needle was pointing opposite to where the Ougre was.
I sprinted full speed toward that direction.
Hurry! Hurry!
Waypoint! Waypoint!