Chapter 66
Chapter 66
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 66
Chapter Title: 29th Floor
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Looking around, countless stone statues stood in orderly rows at regular intervals.
They lined the path from the entrance all the way to the throne, like guards protecting the way to an audience with the king.
But there was something off about their appearance.
The statues near the entrance were all prostrated on the ground.
I approached one of them for a closer look.
A dog-like snout and scrawny limbs.
"Kobold?"
It was the monster I'd seen to death in the early 20th floors' abandoned mine.
But the kobold statues here were somehow different.
Their faces were filled with agony, as if they were prisoners sentenced to eternal labor.
They seemed to be crawling toward the king, begging for mercy.
I tilted my head and continued toward the throne.
A strange change caught my eye.
The closer I got to the end, the more the statues' forms gradually shifted.
"This is..."
At first, it was a subtle change.
A kobold flat on the ground would have its waist slightly raised, and the next one would be on its knees.
The long snout shortened bit by bit, and muscles began to form on the emaciated body.
Instead of shaggy fur, thick, stiff whiskers covered the chin.
Finally, near the throne, the statues had completely transformed.
Small but sturdy builds and steel-like muscles. Above all, their abundant, long-braided beards.
In their hands, they held massive war hammers and sharp battle axes instead of pickaxes, poised as if ready to charge out at any moment.
That's when I realized who ruled the 20th floor. They were a race of warriors and craftsmen at the same time.
"Dwarves..."
I stopped walking and traced the flow of changes with my eyes.
From the kobolds at the entrance to the proud dwarves before the throne.
It was as if it depicted the evolution of a single race.
This long corridor was a history book.
A chronicle showing how the dwarves had degenerated into lowly kobolds.
Suddenly, the murals from the 19th floor ruins flashed through my mind.
"It's similar to what I saw with the elves."
I recalled the story from the late 10th floors, of elves who lost their World Tree, fell into depravity, and became dark elves.
So, was this the same context? Had they ended up like this because of the tower too?
"Did some dwarves turn into kobolds? And then a war broke out or something?"
I pulled out my smartphone from my pocket.
I couldn't just pass by this sight.
I started photographing from the overall view of the hall, capturing the statues transforming from kobolds into dwarves.
"Others might not care, but the fridge will love this."
I was focused on taking pictures when it happened.
Kiiiiiek.
With a friction sound, the entire hall vibrated faintly.
Hidden doors opened in the walls and pillars all around, and dozens of golems began pouring out from within.
I pocketed my phone and clicked my tongue.
"You really can't read the mood."
I set down the Ultra Summon that had been on my shoulder onto the floor.
Sand rose from the ground, creating sand clones.
"Ultra Summon, hold those guys off."
The Ultra Summon nodded at my words and thumped its chest twice. A confident gesture saying no problem.
Just like on the 29th floor, I enlarged its body and handed it a shield and spear.
Kugugugu-!
The golems charged with their massive bodies.
The Ultra Summon and mass-produced clones met them head-on, shields forward. Sparks flew amid the roar.
Ignoring the commotion behind me, I pressed forward without hesitation.
Trash mobs like those weren't my opponents.
My eyes were fixed solely on the throne at the highest point in the hall.
"I have a feeling the real deal is up there."
My intuition told me so. The center of this whole story would be that throne.
Sure enough, as I started climbing the stairs, the throne began to move on its own.
Kigigigik-!
The jade throne began to change form amid a massive noise.
The armrests turned into arms, the backrest folded several times to become a torso. The leg and seat split apart into legs that planted on the floor.
I watched the scene in a daze.
"...Pretty cool, huh?"
An exclamation slipped out before I knew it.
A combining transformation mech.
The dream of every guy was unfolding before my eyes.
I could take it down mid-transformation, but that wouldn't be right.
I waited patiently for its transformation to finish.
It was just like a scene from a transforming robot movie I watched as a kid.
The only difference from the movies was the grotesque elements embedded between the magnificent machinery.
Writhing masses of flesh. Dozens of faces twisted in agony, as if screaming.
"Uwooooooo-!"
It let out a sound between a scream and a roar.
I summoned a now-familiar diamond cutter and sliced it in two.
The massive mechanical monster collapsed.
I dusted off my hands lightly. More anticlimactic than expected.
"Got the core too..."
Standing atop the wreckage, I looked around.
The golems that had filled the hall were being systematically dismantled by the Ultra Summon and clones.
I nodded in satisfaction and began searching.
"It's a palace, so maybe there's treasure or something."
Dwarves meant treasure, after all. And this was their palace.
Leaving a place like this empty-handed would be rude.
I wandered the hall, tapping walls and pushing statues.
But there didn't seem to be any secret compartments firmly sealed.
"Aw, nothing after all?"
As I muttered in disappointment, the ring on my finger vibrated faintly.
[The Sandworm says your method is inefficient.]
"So, is there another way?"
[The Sandworm explains that dwarves have rules for hiding treasure.]
[The Sandworm advises you to check that wall. Find the stone slab of the king who set down his crown.]
I walked in the direction it indicated.
A wall engraved with the life stories of countless dwarf heroes. Among them, I found the stone slab the Sandworm mentioned.
It depicted a crowned king removing it himself and placing it on a blacksmith's anvil.
A symbol of returning to being a craftsman?
[The Sandworm says to pull the dwarf's beard.]
"You sure about that?"
Half-doubting, I touched the slab's surface. With a click, it shifted.
The slab receded inward, revealing a hidden space.
Inside was a single black stone slab densely inscribed with runes.
No jewels or skill books anywhere.
"That's it?"
I pulled out the slab. The runes, looking like ancient script, were impossible to decipher. Hard to tell if they were pictures or letters.
"How do you even read this?"
[The Sandworm says it's ancient dwarven language, and it can interpret it.]
Reliable in times like this. I held up the slab for the Sandworm to see.
A moment of silence passed.
[The Sandworm says the content is too vast to convey this way.]
[The Sandworm hopes you raise your realm quickly so you can communicate with it properly.]
"...? My realm is lower? Than yours?"
The Sandworm nodded its head up and down.
"No way that's possible."
[The Sandworm understands your reaction. It's hard to accept, right.]
"..."
I was speechless. Felt like total defeat.
Then it happened.
Kwajik-!
From the far end of the hall, the last remaining mechanical golem had its head pierced by the Ultra Summon's spear and fell.
At the same moment, a brilliant light burst from my chest.
"Huh?"
Startled, I looked down at my chest.
The light was coming from the pendant around my neck.
The World Tree leaf.
An item I'd gotten on the 19th floor and completely forgotten about for a while.
"What's this now?"
While I stood baffled, a system message appeared before my eyes.
[The World Tree leaf resonates with your feat.]
[The World Tree responds to your heroic act of massacring the filthy dwarves and ravaging their palace.]
"What? Massacre? I didn't do anything like that!"
I'd never even met a dwarf. I'd just poked around the palace a bit.
It was utterly unfair.
Regardless of my inner thoughts, the system continued.
[The item evolves.]
The light from the pendant intensified.
The leaf, tinged with light green, soon turned emerald.
A lustrous glow, as if freshly plucked from the World Tree.
['Revived World Tree Leaf' evolves to 'Lustrous World Tree Leaf.']
[The item's grade rises from 'Epic' to 'Unique.']
[Special ability: 'Vitality' added.]
[The wearer's life force greatly increases, granting resistance to all curses and status ailments.]
[Special title: 'Hero of the Elves' added.]
[You have resolved two of the elves' five long-standing wishes. All elves will show you absolute respect and goodwill.]
I blankly alternated between the system window and the lustrously glowing leaf pendant.
In the heart of the dwarven city.
Somehow, I'd become a hero of the elves.