Chapter 19
Chapter 19
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 19
Chapter Title: Ravata Mine Subjugation Operation (1)
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Chapter 19
The mine subjugation quest offered some pretty generous rewards. Success would earn me the respect of the Ravata Mercenary Guild, along with a hefty sum of gold. The experience points were plentiful too, making it an offer too good to pass up.
But among them, one reward particularly caught my eye...
It was the special item ‘Shadow Cloak,’ obtainable only from the Ravata Mine.
A special item hidden deep within the Ravata Mine by the demon Porrasis, also known as the [Duke of the Night].
‘With my [Explorer] trait, finding it will be a piece of cake.’
The ‘Shadow Cloak’ was an item that unfurled a veil of pure darkness, rendering the user in perfect stealth. In the original game, it wasn’t all that popular. Why? Players could just smash everything—other players or monsters alike—with their overpowered weapons. No need to hide.
But unlike players who respawned in town after ten minutes no matter how brutally they died, I was now just like any ordinary mob in this world. I couldn’t exactly burn through cash in real life either.
So even if it was unpopular in the game, an item like the ‘Shadow Cloak’ that could massively aid my survival was something I absolutely needed to get my hands on. In this world, items that evaded even 7th-class detection magic were rare treasures one might never even glimpse in a lifetime.
‘I’ll get it no matter what.’
I resolved myself firmly and grabbed my bow and arrows.
“Ayla, El, let’s go.”
At my words, the silver-furred wolf who had been dozing off with her head nodding and the little girl now properly geared up both turned to look at me.
“El, this is your first dungeon, right?”
“Yes. I’ve only heard about them from Father before.”
“No matter what your father told you, things are going to get way more serious than that.”
“......”
“So stay sharp.”
I pulled out a fairly decent longsword I’d bought recently and handed it to El.
In Ravata, famous for its mines, good swords were easy to come by. This plain but well-forged steel longsword would serve El well for the time being.
‘It’s not time to return House Reinhardt’s sword yet.’
El took the sword with a face flushed with joy.
“......Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
“It feels much better than the one I used before.”
“It should be. It’s made from Ravata mountain steel.”
“Really, thank you so much.”
“......”
El had grown stronger.
El was a hard worker. Even during the escort quest, she trained whenever she could, and she hadn’t stopped since arriving in Ravata.
On top of that, our combined techniques as a trio—Ayla, El, and me—had improved tremendously.
Ayla handled tracking and front-rear scouting, El took point on attacks and defense, and I provided rear support.
It was clunky at first, but lately everything clicked perfectly. We were as good as any decent party.
‘Plenty of mercenaries were itching to join us.’
But I turned down all the ordinary ones. They weren’t needed.
If they could at least use magic, maybe... Ah, but someone who could use magic wouldn’t be drifting among the riffraff mercenaries.
Anyway, we packed simple lunches and boarded the carriage sent by the Mercenary Guild toward the mine.
The Ravata Mine had a sinister vibe right from the entrance.
Though it was an abandoned mine, resources inside were still abundant. It hadn’t been shut down due to depletion but because of rumors of a demon.
Monsters popping up occasionally was par for the course, so miners equipped themselves like low-tier mercenaries. There was even a saying: ‘Give an experienced miner an axe, and he can take down a troll.’ That said it all.
So the Ravata Mine wouldn’t have been abandoned over a few measly monsters. At least mid-tier ones must have appeared. Maybe even a real demon.
Plus, from the stories I’d overheard here and there, after the ‘demon’ appeared, all the miners met mysterious deaths...
Since then, fear kept everyone away, turning the Ravata Mine into a forsaken wasteland. Such a shame.
But the standard theory was that once a dungeon was cleared once, subsequent clears became much easier. Strategies get shared, and the difficulty drops sharply.
‘The problem is no one has cleared it yet.’
In a bustling port city like this, with plenty of tough guys passing through, the capable ones must have tried challenging it. And yet the dungeon remained unconquered...
‘No way it’s really the [Duke of the Night] showing up, is it?’
Unlikely. The quest only mentioned that demon Porrasis had hidden the Shadow Cloak in the mine. Demons weren’t the type to hole up in a dungeon like this anyway.
There might be some connection...
Worrying about it in advance wouldn’t help. Better to spend that time sharpening arrows.
The deeper we went into the mine, the dimmer the light from the magic stones set up at the entrance became. I distributed dawnstar tree fruits I’d prepared in advance to El and the mercenaries. These fruits glowed in the dark without the fire risk of lanterns, making them perfect for confined spaces like caves or mines.
“Oh, way more convenient than lanterns.”
The mercenaries admired the fruits, examining them closely. Dawnstar tree fruits, which grew only in deep forests, were a rare sight for most people, so it was natural.
“You can eat them in emergencies. They help recover stamina.”
“Ooooh!!!’
“But don’t eat them right now.”
We pressed deeper. In the time since people stopped coming, the mine seemed occupied by rock goblins and tar orcs, judging by the crude traps, rotting corpses, and scattered bones we encountered sporadically.
The rock goblins’ traps weren’t all that threatening but were annoyingly persistent. They were just crudely stacked heavy rocks—easy to spot and avoid—but disarming them took effort. If triggered, the falling rock could cause the whole mine to collapse from the impact, even if you dodged it.
“Damn goblin bastards!”
In the end, one mercenary couldn’t hold back and cursed them out, but I silently disarmed the traps. With my [Explorer] trait, spotting them was easy. After repeating this a few times... we finally reached an empty space free of traps.
“This seems to be the midpoint.”
The mercenary captain said, checking the mine map. Unlike the narrow paths so far, this hollow, empty space had a small spring in one corner, surrounded by a few miners’ tools. Midpoint, huh. I glanced at the captain, wondering if we’d take a break.
“Let’s regroup briefly and head out again.”
I nodded and sat down far from the spring. El seemed puzzled by my choice, keep glancing at it.
“Stuff usually pops out from places like that.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
I replied curtly and pulled out two lunches and a neatly wrapped large hunk of meat from my magic pouch. The lunches were for El and me, the meat for Ayla. I tossed a hind leg to Ayla and handed a lunch to El. The inn’s lunches were plainer than yesterday’s, but that was better. Overeating dulled your movements.
As El and I opened our lunches and Ayla tore into her leg...
-Blub blub blub...
-Grrrk grrrk grrrk...
An ominous sound echoed.
“Master, the spring!”
“U, uwaaaaaah!!!!”
Before El could finish, a black, massive, filthy hand shot from the spring, yanking the nearest mercenary in. The unlucky guy’s upper body plunged straight into it.
“See? Told you stuff pops out from places like that.”
I closed the lid on my untouched lunch and stowed it back in the pouch. In that brief moment, the spring had turned into a sticky bog. Or rather, it probably was a bog from the start. Like how muddy water clears with clear water rising on top if left alone, it had just been masquerading as a clear spring.
What emerged from the bog was none other than a tar orc. Covered head to toe in sticky black oil-like tar, it bellowed an incomprehensible roar while shoving the mercenary deeper into the muck. Naturally, the mercenaries drew their swords.
That’s when it happened.
-Squeeee!
-Squeee!
-Pahbat!
-Pat!
Arrows rained from all sides as if on cue. Shorter and cruder than standard arrows, their tips coated in filthy muck that would fester wounds on a graze. Only goblins used tactics like this. I immediately drew my bow and loosed an arrow at the jagged ceiling.
-Squeeeeeeee!!
-Thunk!
-Thud!
One rock goblin hanging upside down from the ceiling took the arrow and plummeted to the floor.
“Above! Goblins!”
The mercenary captain shouted.
A few mercenaries grabbed crossbows and fired into the air. Some goblins fell, but others just embedded harmlessly in the ceiling. If only that were the worst— a collapse could trigger who knows what from the vibrations.
“Damn it.”
I aimed a [Shaman Arrow] at the most cracked section of ceiling. The swiftly shot arrow embedded there, and roots and vines soon spread like a net, wrapping the fissure.
‘That should hold for a while.’
Better for me to quickly pick off the goblins than let the mercenaries keep hitting the ceiling. I unleashed a barrage at the goblins.
-Thuk!
-Thunk!
-Thunk thunk!
The goblins dropped helplessly. Despite their name, rock goblins were light enough to hang from ceilings unscathed, so arrows pierced them clean through for instant kills. Lucky, I guess?
‘The real issue is that tar orc.’
With its body slathered in sticky tar, arrows might not penetrate properly. Indeed, the mercenaries’ sword strikes barely fazed it. Instead, their blades were corroding from the muck.
Ayla seemed to sense it instinctively too, not charging recklessly. One bite and she’d be poisoned or dissolved.
I looked for El.
The new Ravata steel sword should pierce the tar orc’s hide easily.
I nocked a silverwood arrow etched with shamanic runes and aimed at the tar orc.
-Squeeeeeeee!!!
And shouted at the same time.
“El, kill it!”