Blood Moles in the Depths
"Dungbal! Blood moles. Just like the name suggests, these monsters resemble moles. The 'blood' prefix probably comes from one of two things. Either their slippery bodies are blood-red, or these near-blind creatures have an uncanny knack for sniffing out the scent of blood and swarming in."
Blood moles you encounter in narrow mine shafts are a nightmare. That's why, during mining operations, you have to quickly bandage any wounds with cloth or whatever's handy. You can't afford to bleed and attract them.
"R-run! It's getting away!"
"Got it!"
The wounded blood mole thrashed wildly in every direction. Pickaxes struck empty ground in vain.
Slow.
I stepped forward. Snap! I snatched the blood mole in my jaws, and it writhed before going still. A small monster without poison resistance couldn't withstand my neurotoxin.
"Whew, that scared the shit outta me."
"Nice one, snake!"
The dwarves praised me. But the real credit went to the sprout vine snake.
"Did it sense the blood mole nearby?"
"Incredible."
The flustered dwarves soon calmed down. A single blood mole wasn't scary; the problem was when a bunch charged at once.
The sprout vine snake kept waving its cotyledons toward the blood moles. Ah, now I got it. I pulled out my dagger, Ashra, and butchered the blood mole. Sure enough, there was a magic stone. A grade-1 pebble-sized one, but definitely a magic stone. Talk about lucky.
The moment I placed it on the vine snake's leaves.
Slurp.
The magic stone melted away. The vine snake danced happily. I hadn't even noticed, but its senses were sharp. Probably thanks to one of its skills.
Traits:Sprout, Baby, World Tree
Whoa! It leveled up. Did eating the magic stone do that? For me, gobbling magic stones never raised my level. Well, I'd been wondering how a sprout could hunt and gain XP. Seems it absorbs demonic essence directly from them. Maybe one of its traits enables that. That World Tree one looks insanely promising.
The sprout vine snake even had skills.
├─ Flesh Sense lv1
├─ Perception Expansion lv2
├─ Absorption Growth lv1
└─ Leaf Shake lv4
What a flashy skill window. For some reason, it reminded me of my own early days, almost bringing tears to my eyes. My starter skills were just Fangs and Fast Crawl. Perception Expansion, Flesh Sense, Absorption Growth—all amazing. Judging by its origins, this vine snake's at least high teens in level potential. And its potential is clearly top-tier too.
Yeah, as long as you grow up happy, I don't care about the details.
I gently stroked the vine snake's head.
"This is actually good news," I heard Manjin say.
Good news? Meeting a monster?
"Blood moles mean a core stone vein is nearby."
Turns out that was right. Blood moles love core stones. In their search for new veins, stumbling on one was pure luck.
"Hey, friend."
Manjin grinned and made a request. "Can that sprout stick with you the whole time?"
Of course. The sprout vine snake preferred my side over the subspace anyway. We headed deeper into the shaft.
Then, suddenly, the vine snake acted up again. I alerted Dungkel.
"Hold up."
Dungkel halted the dwarves. The vine snake started waving its leaves at one wall. Another blood mole?
The dwarves gulped. Manjin signaled silence and took position. He and one dwarf gripped pickaxes while the others shone lights.
"Hup!"
Manjin swung at the wall alone. The other stood guard for blood moles. But this time, no squelch, no blood spray.
Clang! A clear metallic ring, and dirt crumbled from the wall. A vein of pure white metal gleamed.
"Whoa, a core stone vein!"
Manjin whooped. He chipped a small piece and inspected it closely.
"Purity's off the charts!"
I'd braced for another blood mole, not this jackpot. The sprout vine snake really knew how to toy with our hearts.
"Let's mine here and haul it out. Everyone'll love this."
About four hours in, by my guess. They'd planned days of searching before full mining. The dwarves beamed and swung away.
Clang! Clang! Sparks flew with each strike, core stone chunks tumbling free. They'd take just enough to carry today; tomorrow, carts on rails.
Vine snake, why'd you pick this one?
It sensed the blood mole via its magic stone, probably. But plain core stone?
-It's not just any ore.
Pellelian chimed in.
Core stone's really monster bone?
-High chance. Likely fossilized from some colossal beast. Gotta be a monster at that size.
Core stone was once living bone—like fossils. Even long-lived elves called its era "ancient."
Not dinosaur bones?
-Dinosaur? What's that?
Only answer!
You know, dragons. Huge heads, like T-Rex.
-Never heard of it. Not dragons; no way dragon bones would be this common.
Pellelian, the dinosaur dunce. I held a core stone chunk near the vine snake. It extended cotyledons like hands—adorable.
And...
Tsss... The stone's faint white glow faded to dull gray.
Clink. It hit the floor and crumbled to dust.
Its leaves look glossier!
The fragile cotyledons turned a richer green.
-Oho! Absorbed demonic essence from the ore!
Bones are packed with phosphorus.
-Phosphorus?
Bone meal's fertilizer, right?
-You know the weirdest stuff.
Pellelian marveled at my knowledge. The vine snake kept surprising us. Its potential seemed limitless. Mine was supposed to be the high-potential one, but I felt great anyway.
Unlike our warm vibe, shouts erupted from the mining dwarves.
"Cut the bullshit!"
Manjin yelling at Dungkel. They hadn't seemed chummy, but why snap now?
"It's not bullshit."
"It is! Dwarf society can't go on like this?"
They'd switched to casual speech. Were they always like that?
Dungkel calmly countered Manjin's agitation.
"It can't. We've quit trading entirely, just digging. Even the mine lord's holed up in the depths, ignoring everything else..."
"Just digging? Just digging?"
"Why fixate on that one word?"
"Mining boring you?"
"You know that's not it."
Dungkel and Manjin bickering. The young dwarves watched anxiously.
Dungkel said steadily, "Mining's vital here. We're a race that smelts ore and forges goods. But if no one uses them, what's the point? We need to restart trade, get dwarf wares back out there."
"That's for the elders."
"Those elders are doing jack in the depths."
"Damn... Ah, bro Dungkel!"
"Bro"? Dwarves flinched. Even I was shocked. Bald Dungkel, bushy-bearded Manjin—I'd assumed Manjin older. Wrong.
"You know why you've been bullied since you were a kid? Why no one likes you?"
"..."
Manjin seemed to be overreacting, but history between them, probably.
"No fur, no beard? Nah. It's your nonstop clueless bullshit. Can't pull your weight but spout pretty, infuriating crap. That's why everyone hates you."
"Manjin."
"If you hated it, stick to pickaxe. Nah, learn trading, medicine, management. Now you're shoveling pig shit!"
Manjin steamed up. They must've been close once. Dungkel took the abuse without anger, just a wry, awkward smile.
"...Someone's gotta do it."
"..."
"Raising pigs, cleaning shit—even that. Someone has to, or the mine grinds to a halt."
Dungkel was right. Hierarchies in jobs are pointless.
In the chill air, crisis struck.
Whoosh. The sprout vine snake curled its leaves—like hiding from something.
What's up, vine snake?
Sensed a threat? My Survival Instinct didn't ping. Still, couldn't relax; might threaten others.
It did.
Pop pop pop! Wall bulged; blood-red head burst out. Another blood mole. Tiny degenerated eyes like pinholes, drool dripping from lipless pointed teeth.
"Hyaaah!"
A dwarf swung fast. Pickaxe crunched its face, blood spraying.
"Good—gahk!"
No time to relax. Not one this time. Ceiling, walls—blood moles pouring out.
One latched onto a pickaxe-wielding dwarf.
"Gaaah!"
It clawed and bit into his gut. Hey, that's my old tactic.
"Lanterns up!"
Manjin commanded amid chaos. Blood moles hate bright light. Lanterns seemed to work at first.
But dwarves overlooked: monsters learn.
"Tik dik, kidik."
Eerie cry from a dark-furred blood mole. It echoed; fleeing moles charged lanterns instead.
Crash. They tore into oil lamps. Designed to snuff if glass broke—fire prevention. Made it worse.
Fearless moles extinguished every light. Pitch black descended.
Zero visibility. And hordes of blood moles.
Shit.
Worst-case for miners.
* * *
In the dark. "Huddle up! Emergency lights. Matches, anything!"
Manjin bellowed. No panic—foreman had to stay cool.
"Gaaah!"
"Kaaah!"
Impossible to control. Even Manjin itched to swing.
Splat. Hot liquid splashed his face. Metallic reek. Blood. One of his young followers'.
"No, no...!"
Panicked, a blood mole leaped at Manjin's neck.
Pew! A beam pierced the dark, skewering it.
Hallucination? Pew! Another beam.
Unmistakable now. Snake. My beam show lit the dark.
And whoosh, fwoosh! Flames bloomed, illuminating around.
My magic, no doubt. Over ten blood moles now. They dove into fire like lamps—but burned.
"Go-gobs...!"
Manjin steadied his voice. "Pickaxes up! Kill 'em all!"
He swung with fury.