Chapter 210: Fighting Monsters with Monsters
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 210: Fighting Monsters with Monsters
The Iron Beetles clinging to the walls were gnawing away at the amethysts protruding from the rock.
I wondered if they were creatures that couldn't survive without stuffing their faces twenty-four hours a day, but apparently, that wasn't the case.
The supplementary explanation—that they didn't eat to live, but lived to eat—made their existence feel even more revolting.
"There are so many of them. Won't an infestation like this destroy the ecosystem?"
-I was wondering the same thing.
Ulysses also questioned whether the crystals in the Crystal Cave would eventually vanish if these things kept eating and multiplying indefinitely.
-I don't think so. To begin with, the crystals in this cave grow by consuming the waste of those creatures.
"What? Really?"
They grow by eating excrement? Is that even possible?
-That’s how it looked to me. Since they gnaw on magic stones, gems, and precious metals, their waste hardens into magic stones or power stones again.
"So then they eat that again?"
-Presumably.
"This is a complete perpetual motion machine, then."
Wasn't perpetual motion supposed to be impossible? Were they perfect organisms that didn't increase entropy?
-I doubt it. Mana is likely their primary source of nutrition. Eating precious metals and gems is probably closer to a reproductive activity than a meal.
"Aha."
So, Helena’s theory was that their staple diet was the Labyrinth's mana, and the act of devouring precious metals and gems was a form of mating.
'If I can just find a way to use this...'
I could practically build a factory.
It meant that if I pumped them full of a lethal dose of mana and kept them working, these bastards would keep shitting out precious metals.
'If I can bring cheap raw ores from the surface, feed them to these things, and then collect the golden dung they squeeze out...'
I would essentially own a living, breathing mine.
-Of course, they were deemed impossible to farm because they are far too dangerous and difficult to manage.
"Impossible to farm?"
-Yes. There were several attempts in the past to turn the Crystal Cave into a resource production site, but every time, it only resulted in the deaths of the Magic Tower's mages.
It seemed people in the past had already had the same idea as me.
'Management is impossible. If that's the problem...'
A few ideas came to mind.
'Flesh Parasites.'
And the existence known as Mother, who controlled them.
Could I use them? What if I attached a parasite to an Iron Beetle's head and controlled it through Mother?
'Taking control of Mother will be the most important part.'
That would likely be the easiest path to dominating the 6th floor.
-We're almost there.
"Is it around here?"
-I'm certain I tumbled down right here. Where did the hole go?
Joshua sounded flustered, claiming the hole had vanished.
He said he had definitely fallen through a hole while fleeing from the Iron Beetles near here, but now that hole was gone.
-It might be a path that only opens when specific conditions are met.
"Specific conditions?"
-There were many such places on the 7th floor. For instance, a tunnel that only men can enter.
"A tunnel only men can enter?"
Freya answered my question.
-Yes. It's a cave filled with succubi, and if a woman approaches, they close the entrance and hold a sit-in. They only let you in if there are only men.
"Isn't that dangerous?"
-It's not so much dangerous as... well, there's that sort of thing.
Freya trailed off, sounding embarrassed.
'Isn't that just a red-light district?'
Male adventurers get to satisfy their lust, and the succubi in the cave get to reproduce. Everyone wins.
What kind of place was the 7th floor, anyway? They called it a Utopia. Was it a Utopia for monster girls?
"For now, should we try breaking through the floor? Since he fell down, we should be able to reach it by going down."
-If your Intangibility wears off halfway through, you'll be crushed to death.
"That's true. I can maintain it for about four minutes right now."
-Which means if you don't reach the bottom within four minutes, you'll get stuck in the wall and die.
If I didn't reach the area below the layer division within four minutes, I'd be wedged into the Labyrinth's walls and die a gruesome death.
Was it too much of a gamble?
-Think carefully. Remember when we went to catch the heretics? It took a long time to descend below the layer division of the 5th floor.
"Ah, you're right."
I remembered descending for quite a while after finding the path leading down from the Lake Section.
Looking at it now, four minutes wouldn't be nearly enough.
"What should we do? If the path is blocked, there's no way down. Joshua, are you sure this is the spot?"
-I'm telling you, it's here! No, it really is here!
-Could it be that it won't open because we're currently using Intangibility?
"You want me to deactivate Intangibility?"
If I deactivated it here, the Iron Beetles would swarm me.
I'd be dead for sure. If deactivating it wasn't the answer, I'd be in deep trouble. The Ring of Intangibility has a cooldown, so I'd have to run for my life until it could be activated again.
-The problem is that time is running out even now. Two minutes have passed.
"Ah, shit."
While I was agonizing over the decision, more time had slipped away.
-It does feel like some kind of barrier is active, though.
"A barrier?"
As I stood there at a loss, Freya seemed to have discovered something.
-Do you see that slight indentation on the floor over there? That's a flaw in the barrier. It looks like a barrier cast with a Holy Incantation. Since so much time has passed, the flaw has grown. I think I can create a gap.
Apparently, I couldn't simply pass through the barrier's entrance while in an intangible state.
Therefore, to tear through the barrier and get inside, I had to apply an impact.
"Will the barrier break if I smash it?"
-Only the flaw in the barrier will crack slightly. To break it completely, you'd need to hit it with immense force. It looks like it's already cracked, though. If we give it just a bit more impact, a gap large enough for one person should open.
Going down alone was one option, but I had a different idea.
'A strong impact.'
My brain started whirring.
The area below was bound to be crawling with monsters anyway.
In that case, why not just unleash the Iron Beetles down there?
No time to waste. I had to settle this before Intangibility wore off.
"Let's start a fire."
-Again?
-An ordinary flame won't be enough to kill an Iron Beetle.
"I'm not trying to kill the beetles. We're going to blow the barrier open with oil bottles and explosives."
I was going to use everything I had.
It would be better to blow this place up and clear a path before Intangibility ran out.
I planned to fight monsters with monsters. Since my ultimate goal was to rescue Lady Leah, my plan was to hand her the Ring of Intangibility the moment I found her to help her escape, while I would tear a Teleportation scroll to get out immediately.
The cooldown for Intangibility was a burden placed on the user, not the ring itself, so she should be able to use it right away once I handed it over.
-I hope it works out.
"It will."
I had to break through in one go.
If I failed, I didn't know when I'd get another chance. This was the best way to get Leah out as quickly as possible.
-Intangibility is about to wear off.
"Almost done!"
Since I couldn't grip objects while intangible, I recklessly shoved highly explosive items into the spot that looked like the barrier's flaw.
-Thirty seconds left.
"Here goes!! Blow it up!!!"
I ordered the Hypercube to ignite the fuse.
After leaving a lit Hypercube at the end of a broken oil bottle and immediately de-summoning it, I waited a moment. Soon, the items piled in the barrier's flaw began to explode.
-It broke!
The barrier shattered completely.
At the same time, the Iron Beetles began to swarm toward the sound of the explosion, and my Intangibility finally wore off.
"Let's go!"
I felt the heat of the explosion's aftershock singe my skin, but I didn't have the luxury of feeling pain.
I had to jump down before the lunging Iron Beetles could catch me.
"Aaaagh!!! This is way too deep!!!"
The tunnel seemed to go on forever.
The moment we entered the flaw in the barrier, the Iron Beetles swarmed the spot where we had just been standing.
If I had been even a second later, I would have been bitten. The timing couldn't have been more perfect.
*
How far down had we come?
We finally entered the Necropolis.
"Kieeeeeee!"
The Iron Beetles that had followed us down let out ear-piercing screeches, and I had no choice but to run forward blindly. If I stopped, I'd become food for those crazy bugs.
-A blade is coming from the side!!!
The Necropolis, shrouded in pitch-black darkness, held more of the departed than I expected. Among them, particularly strong Gravekeepers began to attack me.
I felt eyes watching me from all directions. The departed swung their weapons at me, and I continued to flee, dodging their attacks with the Demon Eye of Insight.
With the Iron Beetles right on my heels, I couldn't stop. If I did, the beetles would kill me.
"Graaaaaagh!!!!"
The departed and the Iron Beetles began to clash, slaughtering each other.
This was it! This was exactly what I wanted.
While the crazy bugs and the Gravekeepers of the Necropolis were busy killing each other, I had to find Leah and get out.
"Lady Leah!!!! No! Joshua! Where's Leah? You said she'd be here!"
-She definitely should be here.
I saw the remains of Joshua's broken golem and traces of human presence.
Lady Leah should have been here. But she was nowhere to be seen.
"Dammit!"
The departed of the Necropolis were all beginning to wake up. Sarcophagi opened, and skeletons and rotting undead rose, reeking of decay.
If this continued, I was finished. The Necropolis, now flooded with hundreds of Iron Beetles, was no different from a living hell.
-Footprints! Aren't those footprints?!
Freya discovered Leah's footprints, and we could see they led deeper into the tomb.
Why had she gone deeper into the Necropolis?
I didn't know the reason, but since rescue was the priority, we had to step into the darkness.
-By the way, are there no side effects?
"Ah, Zelia erased them."
The Ring of Intangibility made by Lafnel had a strange side effect that made the user want to strip off their clothes.
Normally, I would have had to go through the trouble of undressing due to the side effect after Intangibility wore off, but fortunately, with Zelia's help, I was able to remove the ring's side effect.
When I tried to use the Hypercube to create light, the Gravekeepers fighting the Iron Beetles immediately tried to make me their primary target. It seemed I shouldn't turn on any lights.
-Put it out! Put out the light!
I de-summoned the Hypercube before the departed with hollow eye sockets could swarm toward the light.
As soon as the light died, the Gravekeepers resumed their battle with the Iron Beetles.
'I'll have to use Night Vision.'
I wanted to avoid combat as much as possible. I didn't know how much more fighting I'd have to do when I actually found Lady Leah.
Above all, I had been moving for two days straight without proper rest, so I wanted to avoid unnecessary physical exertion.
*
I continued to track the lady's footprints, making sure not to provoke the departed.
After leaving the Necropolis in a state of total chaos and following the footprints for a long time, a stone door appeared before me.
It was a massive and heavy-looking stone door.
-I think there's something behind that door!
Just as Helena said, I saw the stone door, and I could feel a massive presence behind the tightly shut entrance.
It was a sensation similar to what I had felt from the Three Villainesses. And...
"Leah..."
Leah was inside.
Her footprints ended right in front of the door.
I had to open the door and rescue her.
However, my feet wouldn't move.
-Are you afraid?
I shook my head at Helena's question.
It wasn't so much fear as it was the feeling of being overwhelmed.
I felt as though the moment I opened that door, I would be swallowed by an irreversible abyss.