The Call of the Underground 5
Slow, solid, and massive.
For someone like me who hates quick, tiny enemies, could there be a better punching bag than this? Stepping past the raw ore scattered at my feet, I advanced toward the King Earth Beetle lumbering my way. The giant subterranean beetle clicked its massive jaws — jaws capable of crushing solid rock — in a menacing display.
Watching it, I concentrated as much mana as I could into my mace. Now that summoning Durandal had unlocked the ability to project aura beyond my weapons, I wanted to check whether I could still do it without Durandal.
Guess not, huh?
The result was unfortunately close to a complete bust. I could feel that the mace had become far tougher and harder than usual, but there was no blazing aura erupting from its surface.
Looks like whoever designed Roland had been extremely thorough about the distinctions. When I was in tank form with mace and shield, I probably couldn't use any attack-related functions at all. How did that even make sense — stats go up but only defense and HP increase?
With a touch of irritation, I swung the mace. Full power was out of the question — I couldn't risk damaging the passageway or the Vacuum Stone — so I put about as much force into it as chopping firewood on a school field trip. Thwack-!
Heavier than I expected.
Maybe because it was a mid-boss from a wave event, the resistance I felt in my hand was considerable. On top of that, even after I'd smashed its head, it kept thrashing around — a pretty unpleasant sight.
Kyaaaaah-!
Whether it was a named-tier monster from a difficulty-boosted floor or a mid-boss from a defense wave, its vitality was ridiculously tenacious. Even though my mace had crushed through its metallic shell and pulverized its head, that massive body still writhed and convulsed like it was having a seizure.
Black ichor poured from the shattered shell as it flailed, and the metallic carapace began glowing an increasingly fierce red. Anyone could tell it was about to self-destruct or unleash some kind of finishing move, so I hastily yanked my mace free and started hammering its head repeatedly.
Clang- Clang- Claaang——!!!
Apparently eating rock long enough evolves your shell into metal, because the clear, ringing sounds echoing through the passageway were far too pure and resonant for someone beating a bug to death. Even holding back, this was the same level of force that one-shots black harpies — it really was tough.
"Roland, are you okay~?"
"I'm fine!"
My party members' startled voices drifted over — they'd clearly expected me to one-shot it and come right back, and the sight of the King Earth Beetle glowing cherry-red had given them a fright.
I hadn't meant to worry them, but at least I'd gotten a rough sense of things. My attacks were landing solid damage, but I was no longer at the point where I could one-shot even named-tier monsters. You know how it is in mobile games — there's always that stretch where you start to feel it.
You're pushing story content with a free 5★ character, and suddenly trash mobs start surviving your AoE skills with a sliver of HP left. Or your clear times were blazing fast with constant one-turn kills, and then they suddenly slow down. Or auto-clearing stages was racking up three-star mission clears nonstop, until one day a two-star result pops up...
Looks like the 41st floor was that kind of stretch for a natural-born 6★ character. Though steamrolling the 40th floor in the first place had already been ridiculous.
"Yeah, this thing was definitely named-tier. Shell, jaws, and a mana stone, huh."
"With jaws that impressive, no wonder it lives underground chewing through dirt."
Thinking that, I gathered up the King Earth Beetle's byproducts — which had turned into a mana stone before it could explode — and headed back to the Vacuum Stone. Being a named monster, the King Earth Beetle had dropped byproducts along with its mana stone.
The shell fragments, each about the size of a human head, looked like metal plating. The massive jaws looked like some terrifying industrial tool that could punch through armor if you grabbed them and drove them down. And the mana stone was the deep blue unique to named-tier drops.
As my party and I stood examining the King Earth Beetle remains in my hands, Stone Dwarves came scurrying over.
"H-hey, Softie! You planning to sell that?"
"Did King Earth Beetles always carry gems around? And ones that polished, too?"
"Dunno, I've never even seen a King Earth Beetle before."
True to their craftsman race, they showed immediate interest in the metallic-looking remains and the mana stone. Of course — in the world the Stone Dwarves came from, monsters didn't vanish and leave mana stones behind instead of corpses. Thanks to that, more and more Stone Dwarves were starting to believe the stories about this place called the Tower.
While the Vacuum Stone was temporarily shut down, Bobo and a crowd of Stone Dwarf craftsmen swarmed over to start talking about the mana stones.
No freeloading nonsense about demanding mana stones on top of us defending their city — true to a craftsman race, they proposed a proper trade. And we had no real reason to refuse. Once the passageway opened, exchange between the Stone Dwarves and the city would begin anyway.
"The alchemy workshop would like first dibs on purchasing that mana stone."
"I want the King Earth Beetle's jaw. Something that clean and flawless would be perfect for metalworking."
"I can't buy all the shell pieces, but I'd like at least three."
Instead of the noisy younger Stone Dwarves, only the older craftsmen seemed to have gathered, their deep voices exchanging opinions. Since you couldn't tell young from old by appearance, you had to go by voice alone.
What they offered for the trade was, naturally, the various metals used in the underground city. Taking those to the Magic Tower would fetch excellent prices, so it was no loss for us.
"Still, let's keep one jaw and a couple of shell plates for the Magic Tower report. And there's only one of these mana stones — should we sell it to the Magic Tower or the Stone Dwarves?"
"Uh, hmm... What research could the Magic Tower even do by buying a mana stone?"
The one problem was the single mana stone from the King Earth Beetle — the giant subterranean beetle. We already had dozens of regular Earth Beetle mana stones, so selling most of those to the Stone Dwarves was fine. But there was only one King Earth Beetle mana stone.
Decisions this annoying should fall to our leader and hero, Han Se-ah.
"Oh, is that so? Since it's a named-tier mana stone, maybe we could get jewelry-grade gems on top of reinforcement metals?"
As always, the moment opinions were called for, the viewers came crashing in like a tidal wave to roast Han Se-ah. Today, too, the corners of her mouth twitched as she took another round of paid punches.
Grace and Katie had fallen into thought, so I pretended to deliberate as well while checking the viewer reactions — roughly 70% were pushing to sell to the Stone Dwarves. How should I put it... they seemed to be imagining some kind of limited-exchange item.
"I think selling it here is a good idea too. When I was looking at the arrowheads, I noticed this place has an incredible variety of alloys and alchemical catalysts. It'd probably be a huge help to Hanna."
"Same here. Between the whetstones they use to restore swords and everything else, the Stone Dwarves' craftsmanship is beyond anything I imagined. Securing good magical tools early seems like a better deal than just taking gold coins."
While I'd been reading chat, the two of them had finished deliberating and offered their opinions. I gave a slight nod as if agreeing, and Han Se-ah met my eyes and nodded back the same way.
I glanced over at Irene, who hadn't voiced an opinion — she simply wore a gentle smile that said she'd support whatever choice we made. Confirming she had no intention of opposing Grace and Katie, Han Se-ah spoke up.
"Then for this mana stone... hmm. Since it'll be a pretty rare item for the Stone Dwarves, how about we put it up for auction? We tell Bobo we want to sell it through an auction format, and give him the coins we have on hand as a handling fee."
"Coins, huh. Think he'll like that?"
"Well, the innkeeper did eat a silver coin with great relish... If we give him the leftover copper and silver from shopping, I'm sure he'll be happy."
"Right, this is a race that judges silver coins by taste, not value."
At Irene's words, Han Se-ah checked her inventory and nodded. Even if their earnings were approaching gold-coin levels, you still got change when shopping at the market.
Han Se-ah pulled out a jangling handful of copper and silver coins from her inventory, plus a gold coin just in case, then headed toward Bobo with the mana stone in hand. Nearby, Stone Dwarves were having a heated discussion while fondling the jaws and shell pieces we'd set aside for the Magic Tower submission.
Apparently there was some difference between armor torn directly from a monster corpse and byproducts that simply popped into existence when the body vanished, because they were turning the materials over with fascinated curiosity.
"You want to sell it through an auction? I'd be delighted!"
"Ah, come on now... Elder? Don't get greedy."
"If you've got a problem, why don't you just buy it yourself?"
True to a race accustomed to frequent trade, Bobo accepted the request to hold an auction without a moment's hesitation. The Stone Dwarf from the alchemy workshop standing beside him grumbled, apparently suspecting Bobo planned to open the auction and then buy the stone himself — but Bobo paid him no mind and swallowed the silver coin Han Se-ah offered in a single gulp.
Pay someone and they eat the money... that was still a hard sight to get used to.