34. Is It Wrong to Try Shoveling in a Dungeon? (6)
34. Is It Wrong to Try Shoveling in a Dungeon? (6)
"...I think they're gone."
The vibrations died down.
We all exhaled in relief and looked at one another. A little slower and we might have been caught.
With nowhere else to run, we'd hidden in the burrow I'd dug in a hurry. It was a bit cramped, but that was only to be expected given how rushed the digging had been.
If there had been fewer of them, Karina could have swept them away with a wave of purification. Unfortunately, her mana wasn't infinite, while the number of zombies was obscene. We'd sealed the entrance, so by now they were probably wandering around the first floor.
We'd have to wipe them all out to make it back up, so things had gotten a bit tedious.
"We should check our rations. Show me what's in your bags."
At that, everyone set their bags down in the center and opened them up. I shone the lamp into the bags and checked the food inside. We'd packed quite generously, even accounting for Millia, so if we rationed it, it might last us about ten days. Though Millia whining like a little kid was a problem...
"About ten days should be fine."
"What about the first floor? Leaving those zombies there will be a hassle, and more might keep piling up."
"Purifying them now would be pointless if the dungeon keeps replacing them. It’ll be better to wipe them out all at once when we leave. For now, ignore them and focus on finding the door to the third floor."
While we were at it, I wanted to stop the zombies being produced endlessly like the Xerg. This was supposed to be an open-world RPG, so why was I playing an RTS inside a dungeon? What a pain. If the dungeon was going to produce them, it should at least keep them inside. Why send them to the surface?
They were weak enough that an ordinary person could handle three or four at once as long as they did not panic.
Was there some other purpose?
I could not imagine anyone believing that zombies this weak could conquer the island. With the current power vacuum, they might have overrun it, but what would that accomplish? It was still an uninhabited island.
"So what are you planning to do right now? We have to assume the path to the first floor is blocked, and we're way too short on information."
"First, reconnaissance. Since all the zombies went to the first floor, there shouldn't be many on the second floor right now."
"Can't we just smash them all? Those things look way too creepy!"
What was this girl talking about? Everyone turned to Millia, and she stared back at me as though she did not understand the problem. Did she even realize what she'd said?
Her beautiful face made the sight less grotesque, but she was still nothing but a head. We did not even know where her body was. A disembodied head calling zombies hideous felt like the pot calling the kettle black.
"Not sure a creature with only a head should be saying that."
"Have you ever seen a pretty head like this? Have you?!"
"Alright, alright. Just tell us everything you can about the second floor."
"!@*(&*!($#&$*(!*"
"Stop."
So she could not say a single thing about the dungeon. At least I could still read her face, which should have provided the bare minimum of information. Using the shovel for support, I stood. The tunnel was too low to stand upright, but I could move in a crouch.
"The zombies have thinned out, so I'll go out and do some reconnaissance."
"I'll come too. Karina, would you like to stay here?"
"...Yes. I wouldn't be much help, so I'll stay here and guard the luggage..."
"I want to stay here too!"
"You’re not staying behind."
"Don't pull my hair! That hurts! I said stop acting like that bastard!"
Whoever that bastard was, he had apparently grabbed Millia by the hair and swung her around. She'd been treated pretty roughly.
Reni and I took Millia and left the burrow.
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"Do you have a plan? Moving around blindly seems dangerous."
"First, we clear out the area around the burrow."
"Now that's what I like to hear. I love things simple and straightforward."
"I don't like it..."
Reni grinned and drew the sword I'd made for her. She seemed pleased to finally have something to cut. Come to think of it, she had done little lately besides split firewood, so she was probably itching for action.
"Be careful not to get bitten."
"Yeah, yeah. You too."
We circled the hill and smashed the heads of the remaining zombies. They had been created through fantasy-style magic, but they still died when decapitated, so the work was easy. With ten years of experience behind me, there was no chance some zombie bastard would catch me off guard.
"Looks like we're about done here. What now?"
"...We build a shelter."
"A shelter?"
"I mean I’ll expand the tunnel into a proper shelter. Right now it’s too small to count as one."
"Need any help?"
"No. Protect Karina. I can handle the work alone."
Building a shelter was something I could handle by myself just fine. Having someone without related skills around would just mean I'd have nothing to assign them except manual labor.
As soon as I returned, I began expanding the tunnel. I widened the interior without weakening the ground, shaped simple furniture from packed earth, and built a basic hearth in the center. Then I added a chimney above the tunnel—no, the shelter. The zombies were unlikely to be clever enough to recognize a chimney, so that should have been sufficient.
Finally, I crouched at the entrance and activated the Skill.
"Craft."
The soil writhed and took shape. I'd have preferred sturdier material, but dirt was all I had, so thick brown walls formed around the entrance. I had reinforced the ceiling as well, so the shelter should have been safe unless something like a golem burst from the ground.
"Good work."
I turned toward the voice behind me. Karina smiled and offered me a waterskin. I pulled the stopper and poured water down my throat.
One mouthful. It was only one, but it felt as though the cool water washed the heat of hard labor from my body. I wanted more, but water was the resource we needed to conserve most. Thinking of the fruit wine still fermenting at home, I replaced the stopper and handed the waterskin back to Karina.
"Don't leave this place while we're scouting."
"Yes. I know that too! I'll stay quietly hidden!"
That was why I liked Karina. She listened, did not push herself recklessly, and always handled what needed to be done. She truly lived up to her role as the main heroine.
"Uh, um... Ah..."
It was about time to move. I pretended not to notice Karina turning red and called to Reni, who was watching the graveyard around the hill.
"Reni! We're heading out now!"
"Got it!"
I used the shovel as a staff and stood. My body was damp with sweat, but that happened all the time and posed no problem. On an uninhabited island, enemies did not wait for an exhausted man to recover.
"Before we go! Meat! Give me mea—"
Had she died without getting enough meat and come back with a grudge? I shoved dried meat into Millia’s mouth, hung her head from my waist, and headed toward the graveyard below with Reni.
The graveyard we descended into was still.
A few zombies and skeletons were scattered here and there, but they did nothing more than wander—there was no sign of any purposeful action.
We could probably pass quietly if we used the tombstones as cover. For now, our destination was the direction Millia had indicated.
So... east.
I couldn't confirm the cardinal directions, but since she'd been looking to my right, I designated it east relative to the door.
Anyway, east it was. Investigating the direction Millia had stared at was the most logical first step. We checked our equipment one last time, then cautiously entered the cemetery, where zombies drifted around like a scattering of drunks.
"...This is rather underwhelming for a dungeon."
"The more underwhelming, the better."
How could she say something so horrifying? Thrilling dungeon exploration was fun only in games.
From Reni’s perspective, she could probably have smashed a dungeon like this by herself. I refused to take that approach because we had people to protect, and because reckless destruction could trigger something we could not predict.
To put it bluntly, if we accidentally triggered something and the dungeon collapsed, escape would be the last thing on our minds—we'd end up one big happy family with the zombie bastards buried down here.
"Any undead we meet, feel free to send them straight to the afterlife."
"Whoa, that sounded really villainous just now!"
What was this kid going on about? I smacked Millia's head where she hung at my waist, chattering away, then quietly planted my shovel into the ground.
The shortest, safest route.
"Craft."
Thick walls rose on both sides of me, strong enough that zombies could not even scratch them. I advanced east while extending the walls. Reni killed anything in our path, while I used Craft to form a straight corridor. A few tombstones were destroyed along the way, but that was none of my concern.
What mattered more—the dead or the living?
After advancing for some time while building the walls, we reached a dead end. Apparently, this was the eastern boundary.
And there, we discovered an enormous door we hadn't been able to see from afar.
"Just from the look, that's a door leading down."
"Still, they don't seem keen on letting us go down peacefully."
We looked down at the coffin in front of the door.
A coffin stood there with five holes meant for inserting something, as if declaring that it had no intention of letting us pass easily.
Reni and I looked at each other. At that moment, it felt as though we understood one another without speaking.
We nodded at one another, then took Millia, who was still mumbling complaints while hanging from my waist, and shoved her into the head section of the coffin.