The Ultimate Metal, Adamantium (2)
Was this floor the absolute bedrock?
But the moment I released Matdeu and tried the poison, the ground showed zero reaction. I studied the rock formation closely. There was a shallow groove where my pickaxe had struck. This meant the bedrock here in the 2nd Basement was a different kind from the absolute bedrock of the 0th floor. It was absurdly hard, yet not physically unbreakable. It made perfect sense now. These Ssangdu-palbi Ougres loved to swing their ridiculous strength around, casting Palbi Flurry, Earth Quake, Monster Throw, and the like. If the floor had even a little weakness, the whole place would have collapsed long ago or turned into a jagged mountain. The fact that it was still perfectly flat was proof of its toughness. Of course my cheap iron pickaxe had broken. With my insane Strength already at 45 plus 228, how could a flimsy metal pick survive against this bedrock?
I thoroughly scouted the entire 2nd Basement level. While the 1st Basement had 30 percent soil, the 2nd Basement floor was 100 percent the same solid rock. To dig through it I would need an absolutely top-tier pickaxe…
* * *
A short while later I stepped out through a waypoint near the demolition town. I immediately called a taxi and hopped in. The cab had almost reached the intersection in front of my house when I noticed two figures arguing on the hill above. “Ugh, that bastard is really drunk. He might actually hurt that woman. Ah, they should lock up every stalker like that…”
Listening to the driver’s muttering I climbed the hill. I caught sight of a tall man gripping the arm of a young woman and shaking it roughly. The woman was trying to pull away, but he refused to let go. I recognized the woman’s face and nearly jumped. The one being manhandled was none other than Han Yejin. It was the dead of dawn; no one was around to intervene. “Sir, I know this young lady. Please stop the taxi and turn the meter on. I’ll only need a moment.” “Okay, sure.”
I almost called the cops but held back and dialed Yejin instead. Among the crowd there were plenty who wanted the perpetrator of violence to escape justice. That was why the concept of non-prosecutable assault existed. Yejin and I weren’t even dating yet; we had only just started getting to know each other. No point in overdoing it. As soon as I called, the man was still brawling with her but she answered smoothly. “…I’m inside the taxi ten meters behind you right now. Should I call the police for you?” “Yerp? Oppaaaa! You can’t do that! Please just leave! I’ll handle it myself.” “Who is it? The stalker?” “The guy I used to date.” “Why can’t you report him?” “I… I still owe him a little money and…” Aaaaaack!
At that exact second I heard her scream from the phone and in reality at the same moment. The bastard had grabbed a fistful of her hair. Moments later his furious shouting came through the speaker. “Debt? You call that debt? Your whole family—dad, mom, brother, sister—all free at our hospital? You think you can pay it back without living as my slave your entire life?” “Waaah… I’ll pay. I’ll pay! Let go! Let go!” “You filthy bitch! Where do you even get the money? With a face like that you can’t even sell your body! How do you plan to repay something that big?!” I generously tipped the taxi driver thirty thousand won, asked him to save the black-box footage, and pleaded with him. Since it was his business he promised to do it. I stepped out of the cab and walked straight toward the guy. It was no longer just a simple scuffle. “Hey, um, sir? Can we talk for a second?” He turned to me. Late twenties, about 190 centimeters tall, built like a solid block of muscle. His face was flushed from drink and his eyes were glazed. At that moment Yejin spotted me and shouted, “Waaah! Oppaaaa! Run away! Please, waaah! This guy is an E-class hunter. You’re not even in the same league!” “Ah? So it’s you. The creep who was bothering my woman?” “Correct. And I admit I overstepped by touching your woman, so out of regret I’ll buy you a drink.” Most stalkers would hear the same warning a thousand times in their lives, but the offer of a drink was something new. When I said I’d buy, his sullen mood lightened a little. “What? Alcohol? Not bad. But shit, all the stores are closed at this hour! Where the hell do we get it?” “That’s why I brought a bottle right to you.” I pulled a barrel out of the inventory and set it on the sidewalk, then flipped the lever on the spout so the liquid started flowing. “Drink up?” The guy stared at the barrel as if my sudden appearance from nowhere was normal. “Fuck, you gonna lie down and eat it like a dog? Where’s the cup?” “A man like you doesn’t need a cup. Just chug straight from the barrel.” I lifted the entire barrel one-handed. Neither the guy nor Yejin were particularly surprised. If the barrel was already empty it made perfect sense. “Watch this, sir. Even a 1st-floor scavenger like me struggles, but I can lift this easy. An E-class hunter like you drinking straight from it would look weird, wouldn’t it?” I deliberately exaggerated the effort, twisting my arm as if it were heavy. The guy yelled, “Hey! You weak-ass bastard! Even that’s too much? Throw it here!” I tossed it lightly. Even someone who wasn’t drunk would never guess a full 225-kilogram barrel was being thrown by a weakling like me. The drunk guy didn’t even think twice. He caught it with one arm and shoulder, but the instant he felt the weight he toppled backward. Kuuuung— The barrel he dropped smashed right on top of his body. Cracks and explosions echoed as it shattered. The 225-kilogram barrel falling from more than two meters was bound to do that much damage. As a hunter he wouldn’t die, but for a normal person it would be fatal. “Aaaaaack!” He clutched his waist and the back of his head and screamed. Yejin rushed over, worried. “O-Op-pa, are you okay? Did you hurt yourself?” “Yejin, don’t worry. The sir is fine. This barrel is lighter than it looks.” I pulled another barrel from the inventory and threw it up and down with one hand. The barrel slowly rose until it was five meters high. Because I was playing with it like a football pass, anyone watching would think it was an empty barrel. At that moment the drunk stalker finally stood up. “Hey! You son of a bitch! You throw heavy things at me and then show off with an empty barrel? What?” “No, this is a full barrel. Catch it.” I tossed it again, but this time the trajectory was different. Instead of two meters it rocketed straight up and hovered like a drone for ten meters. The fact that it looked empty was even more obvious. Throwing a full barrel one-handed that way was impossible for anyone below C-class. “It’s a full barrel. Stand back if you’re not confident. I can’t take responsibility.” He stared blankly, then pointed at the falling barrel. “If this is a full barrel, I’ll drink every drop inside it today.” But he was still cautious. This time he caught it with both hands. The 225-kilogram barrel from ten meters up simply pushed his hands aside and smashed down on his head. Smack— A weird sound rang out as his head was driven straight into the barrel’s top. The barrel’s rim hooked his shoulder with a sharp crack. He dropped to his knees from the shock, but no scream came out. His entire head was trapped inside the wine-filled barrel. If only it had broken… This time the barrel was perfectly straight overhead and didn’t break. His head was now stuck under a giant barrel, turning him into a weird alien-shaped figure. At first he tried to shake it off, but the weight and tight fit made it impossible. So he started slapping the barrel with both hands, looking utterly defeated. It looked more like a panicked middle-aged woman than a hunter. If only I could smash it with a punch… But his situation wasn’t hard to understand. He had been too drunk, suddenly couldn’t breathe, and kept gulping down the alcohol until he was half-dead. He was basically experiencing the “life panorama projection stage” right before death. Soon he snapped out of it and decided. He slammed his head against the asphalt to break the barrel. Kuuung— But the barrel was too tough. His plan failed. Instead… rolling~ rolling~ He kept rolling down the hill with the barrel stuck on his head. He had no strength left in his limbs; he had passed out. Rolling~ rolling~ The descent got steeper and faster. It was dawn so there were no cars, which made it even more reckless… Yejin chased the rolling barrel, realizing she couldn’t stop it. “Sigh… What do we do? Oppaaaa! The guy’s gonna die! Hurry! Do something!” “How am I supposed to save him? Call 119?” Yejin started crying and squatted, covering her face. “Waaah… What should I do? His dad… is taking care of our family… I’m ruined. If he dies…” “Then let’s save him.” I pulled out one more barrel. It had cost 500 won but was mixed with Potion of Nox so I couldn’t drink it or sell it. I tossed it with my new Monster Throw skill. The barrel spun like a football pass and flew straight, then exploded with a loud crack forty meters ahead, shattering the rolling head of the “alien.” Swaaaa~ His body was completely soaked in wine from head to toe. He thrashed wildly, then convulsed and froze. Yejin rushed over without hesitation. I followed slowly behind her. “Big trouble! He’s not breathing!” His face poured red liquid from eyes, nose, ears, and mouth. Consciousness and breathing were gone. She pressed her ear to his chest, checked his nostrils, then frantically undid his belt and started CPR. I felt sorry for her sweating through the ordeal for the trash who had just grabbed my hair. I picked her up in a flash. “Huh? O-Op-pa, why? This person needs to be saved!” “I’ll save him. Close your eyes.” She hesitated, then squeezed her eyes shut. “Don’t open them?” I said, then jumped hard and shot up fifteen meters into the air. Earth Quake. According to the skill window this was supposed to knock out nearby living things, but the reverse was true for already stunned ones… or so I thought. Or not. Fuck it. From fifteen meters up I looked down at the city below. Fifteen meters was roughly five floors. Every intersection in the neighborhood was visible. Luckily it was still dark; almost no pedestrians or cars. Judging the timing, only the stalker would be hurt if I used the skill. I looked at Yejin. She was still closing her eyes like a good daughter obeying her father. I dropped straight down. Kuuung— Dust exploded around me in a perfect circle. Of course Yejin and I were fine; the skill gave zero falling damage. I just got a temporary stun for one or two seconds. The guy inside the circle wasn’t so lucky. He shot up a meter from the impact then fell back down. “Now open your eyes.” I set her down. “Cough~ cough~ uwaaa~” Luckily he coughed, regained consciousness and breathing, then started vomiting. It was so violent he looked like he might spit out his organs. “Uwaaa~ uwaaa~ wek~ wek~ wek~ wek~” After two minutes he had thrown up several liters of wine, then rolled his eyes and passed out right there. It was only natural. The barrels left over from the Ougre extermination each contained about 700 milliliters of Potion of Nox mixed in. Compared to 225 liters of normal wine it was tiny, but for an already drunk man it was more than enough to knock him out. Yejin called 119; it arrived in four minutes since it was nighttime. The paramedics asked if anyone was there to identify him. Yejin started to speak but I cut in. “We are strangers.” * * *
The place was near Yejin’s house, so I carried her all the way there and returned home. On the way up the hill Yejin finally broke down sobbing. “Waaah… Oppaaaa, I’m so sorry. My life is such a mess, isn’t it?” I patted her shoulder lightly and asked, “Does he keep bothering you by asking to meet again?” “No. The one who actually hurt me was Go Jutae, that bastard. After seeing the face under my mask…” “He’s Go Jutae?” “So what exactly is he causing all this ruckus for?” “Men who get drunk turn into dogs and want only one thing…” “Then what are the two things Go Jutae wants?” I sighed. “One I know. What’s the other?” “…The location of the belt his father left me.” My heart suddenly pounded. Liquid Adamantium…