Subduing the Ssangdu-palbi Ougre! (3)
The second basement level had already seen a full week of steady preparation by a legion of over a hundred Rotters.
What sort of subjugation were they preparing for?
The world’s first hunt for the Ssangdu-palbi Ougre, obviously.
Over the past week I had absorbed every new Rotter that arrived and organized them into seven platoons of fifteen soldiers each.
Each platoon received a different assignment.
The first platoon’s job was to lay down the fifty-four wine barrels I had relocated, roll them to the designated sewer entrances, and stand them upright.
Ordinary Rotters were slow and weak, so moving 225-kilogram barrels across the enormous first basement level was never an easy task.
The second, third, and fourth platoons were responsible for hauling the dirt out of the second, third, and fourth sewers I had been digging with a shovel. They used pulleys and buckets.
At first the regular Rotters were too stupid to operate the equipment, but after repeated instruction from the non-commissioned officer Rotters they gradually grew proficient.
The fifth and sixth platoons had the mission of carving out the shortest straight-line roads connecting the waypoints to each sewer.
They worked without rest, clearing stones and gravel by hand and sweeping the dirt floor smooth.
The final officer platoon was tasked with dismantling the bunkers I had built and reinstalling them at the designated spots.
That high-difficulty work required both strength and intelligence on par with a normal person, so it fell to the officer-class Rotters led by the Rotter sergeant. I had promoted him a rank after the last operation.
The officer platoon finished dismantling the bunkers first, and soon afterward the first platoon completed transporting the barrels.
The officers were then reassigned as commanders for platoons one through six, while the first platoon’s members were sent to help with the fifth sewer I was currently digging.
As the legion commander I naturally had to set an example, so I worked harder than anyone. Or so I said. In truth it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to claim I did almost everything myself.
Rumble rumble rumble rumble—
Rumble rumble rumble rumble—
Every day for a week I had poured in several hours and finished opening the second, third, and fourth sewers.
Trait Digging Luck grants you gold.
1 m × 1 Floor × 610 = 610 Gold
You have acquired 610 gold.
Once I raised the relevant level to 15, digging a single meter now yielded a whopping 800,000 won.
If I dug ten meters a day that meant eight million won in daily earnings.
Weekly income: forty million.
Annual income: two billion.
However…
Each floor had a limit. You could only dig a thousand meters at most.
In other words, even if I completely hollowed out the first basement level I could never earn more than eight hundred million won.
The system made sure I couldn’t just settle down on the first basement level and live comfortably.
That restriction actually motivated me to dig more than the money itself.
Rune Stone Self-Development Shoveling grants you ability points.
You have acquired 0.05 ability points.
Self-Development Shoveling was not an infinitely scalable rune stone.
After level 10 the points I gained per meter dug stopped rising beyond 0.05.
Still, it was better than nothing.
Now just twenty meters of digging raised my ability points by a full point.
That growth rate was nothing short of insane.
If things continued this way, an F-Class hunter possessing none of the three so-called “vital stats” might soon appear on the Korean hunter scene and start crushing D-Class and C-Class hunters with raw power.
* * *
Whoosh—
I arrived on the second basement level through the waypoint, carefully rolling the wrecking ball along with both hands.
As I approached, the Rotter sergeant came forward and reported.
“Siiir~ Everything is finiished~”
“Good work these past days. Distribute one bottle each to the soldiers!”
I handed out the 140 mana-vitamin drinks I had stockpiled while digging more than 140 meters. One bottle per regular soldier, two bottles each for the officers.
The Rotters drank and immediately began making strange noises.
“Kyahahaha~ It hurts leeeess~”
“Feels gooood~ So refreshing~ Aaaaah~”
“Niiice~ No pain~”
It seemed the mana-vitamin drinks contained a tiny amount of narcotic that eased the constant rotting pain the Rotters suffered.
I climbed atop the bunker that had been dismantled from the first sewer and reinstalled elsewhere.
I was about to deliver a speech to the Rotter soldiers.
Thud. Thud.
I stamped my foot twice, then shouted in a loud voice.
“Listen up! Soldiers! You have all worked extremely hard until now. Without you we could never have finished preparing to subjugate the Ougre so quickly. Therefore your legion commander… is truly grateful for your existence.”
I was only twenty-two, yet I imitated the speech patterns of the battalion and regimental commanders I had seen in the military and sounded quite like a real officer.
“However… the real battle begins now. This fight will require quick thinking and adaptability above all. I expect every one of you to follow commands and fight well from your assigned positions. Understood?”
“Auuu~~”
“Auuu~~”
The Rotter soldiers answered with morale sky-high.
“Good! Let’s begin! First platoon, second platoon, third platoon, fourth platoon, fifth platoon, sixth platoon… all units to your positions!”
“To pooositiooons~~”
The Rotters followed their respective platoon commanders and moved to where they belonged.
Yet inside I felt worry gnawing at me.
The fact that I had only a single live round had been weighing on my mind from the start.
I had only recently learned that wrecking balls were rarely used in Korea because the country was small and the buildings stood too close together. Even those few uses had almost disappeared lately thanks to advanced blasting techniques.
Acquiring even one had required contacting dozens of companies before I finally succeeded.
Of course I could have commissioned a custom casting, but that would have taken several more weeks just to make the mold. My patience had run out, so I decided to bring the creature down with a single shot.
* * *
The eight-armed, two-headed Ougre was peacefully taking turns sleeping that day as well.
For the past several days the Ougre had slept in the exact same spot.
Considering how it had freely slept all over the vast second basement level for years, its sleeping habits had completely changed.
The reason it insisted on sleeping in the same place was simple.
It had seen a huge pile of delicious gold coins fall and accumulate exactly there. It held the hopeful expectation that such luck might strike again.
Snore~ Snorrrre~
While the left face slept soundly, the right face kept its eyes wide open and stared at the ceiling.
The double-headed Ougre was a species that slept half the day away, yet when it stood guard it was more diligent than anyone.
It knew its own weaknesses well and understood that keeping watch was vital to its survival.
Thanks to that sincerity, even with low intelligence the creatures had managed to maintain their place in the tower’s dog-eat-dog world until now.
Then something fell from above.
Like golden rain…
Ting ting ting—
Ting—
The right face felt as if someone were sprinkling ticklish sand on it.
Huh?
The Ougre rubbed the sleep from its eyes and looked up again.
Shiny things were definitely falling.
The Ougre possessed eyes that could spot glitter even in darkness.
“Kuhakakaha-pakaha~”
The right face let out a loud, delighted cry.
Being showered with gold coins was always pleasant.
The left face, however, remained fast asleep and unaware that a rain of gold was falling.
The right face glanced sideways, saw that the left face was still sleeping, and began greedily scooping up coins for itself without a shred of loyalty. It even tried to chew quietly so it wouldn’t get caught.
By the time it had eaten most of the fallen coins, the left face woke up rubbing its eyes.
Huh?
Once it came to its senses and looked at the right face, it realized the other head was secretly eating gold without sharing.
“Ukahakaha-paaaha~”
The left face stretched out a hairy hand to snatch the coins the right face was eating. The right face, unwilling to yield even though it had already eaten plenty, shoved every coin it held into its mouth and chewed noisily.
“Ukyahapapapapa~”
The left face instantly flew into a rage and swung all four of its left arms to pummel the right face. The right face raised its four right arms to guard while counterattacking.
“Kuhapaha—”
“Paahakakaka—”
They fought in a childish manner, yet their punches and blocks showed practiced skill. It was clearly not their first or second brawl.
Then, in the middle of the fight, the left face noticed the right face pointing at the ceiling with a startled expression.
Huh?
The left face looked up as well and saw something sparkling falling at tremendous speed.
Huh?
More gold coins?
But…
This time the “coins” seemed incomparably larger than before.
The Ssangdu-palbi Ougre jumped to its feet and retreated a good distance, taking a wary stance.
No matter how stupid an Ougre was, its instinct for danger remained intact.
And then…
The object that had been falling at ferocious speed grew larger and larger until it reached the size of the creature’s own head…
Clang—
It struck the floor and bounced back up.
Upon closer inspection it was not a gold coin but a spherical object.
The object bounced high, then slammed into the ground again.
Clang—
The golden sphere repeated the motion dozens of times before it finally exhausted all its potential energy and rolled with a clatter right up to the Ougre’s feet.
The two heads looked at each other with identical expressions that seemed to ask, “What is this?”
It was what humans called an exercise ball.
Of course the stupid Ougre had no way of knowing that.
After a brief discussion the Ougre crouched in front of the sphere with a heavily guarded expression.
Then the right head and left head each extended four arms and played a long game resembling rock-paper-scissors minus one. Eventually they decided who would be “it.”
The right face cautiously poked the sphere with its second right hand.
A soft, squishy surface.
It didn’t seem very dangerous.
Gathering courage, the right face grabbed the golden sphere with one of its massive excavator-bucket hands.
It brought the object close to its face, sniffed it, licked it, and even tried biting down.
“Heeheeing~”
The right face looked delighted.
The left face, however, appeared extremely anxious. It had missed out on the gold coins while sleeping and now the sphere had been claimed first.
The left face looked up at the ceiling again.
And…
More were falling.
Three of them this time.
The left face reached out and leaped forward bravely to catch them, but the right face twisted its body and moved out of reach.
“Kyahapapapamaha~”
“Kuhapapaa~”
When the left face angrily demanded an explanation, the right face tucked the golden sphere under its arm and smugly conveyed in the Ougre language the idea that “safety comes first.”
At that moment the three golden spheres dropped to the floor one after another.
Clang—
Clang—
Clang—
The instant they struck the ground they shot high into the air, then fell again from a certain height.
That was when it happened.
The right face that had just been preaching safety suddenly moved frantically and swung its three remaining arms, snatching all three golden spheres.
The left face realized the betrayal too late and tried to grab some for itself, but it was already too late.
It saw that the right face now held a golden sphere in each of its four hands, squishing them happily while grinning.
“Pakapahahahahahaha—”
The left face’s anger shot through the roof. It began beating the right face wildly with all four arms.
Thud!
Thud! Thud!
Yet even as green nosebleed gushed from all three of its nostrils, the right face never raised its guard.
The soft, squishy texture of the golden spheres in its hands felt far too good.
The left face panted and looked up at the ceiling once more.
This was too much.
Why did the other head get four while it had none?
Just one more time, please!
I want to feel that golden sphere too, you bastard—
That was when it happened.
Another golden sphere fell from above.
Same location.
Same size.
Same color.
The only difference was that this sphere was growing at a much faster speed than the previous ones.
But the left face, burning with desire, completely failed to notice the dangerous signal it carried.
Its greed had blinded its wild instincts.