Overwhelming Firepower

The group met with other monsters aside from the veinleeches along the way. The stonemites, despite being a weaker type of monster, were the more irritating lot, as they ate ores, steel, and other inanimate things.

They skittered through the tunnels in small swarms, their bodies pressed low to the ground and unnaturally wide, like flattened beetles carved from living stone.

Each movement was accompanied by a faint grinding sound, mineral plates scraping against one another as if the creatures were constantly reshaping themselves to match the tunnel walls.

Their shells were layered with mineral plates of uneven colors, each one stained differently depending on what they had been feeding on.

Some gleamed dully with iron. Others bore faint greenish streaks where traces of copper or lesser mana-infused ore had been consumed.

The reason these things weren’t as dangerous but more irritating than the veinleeches was that they didn’t attack the group directly. Instead, they went after the tunnel itself.

One of the oil lamps flickered as something scuttled past, and Lucen watched in mild disbelief as a stonemite latched onto a metal support spike embedded in the wall.

Its mandibles grated noisily as it chewed, sparks jumping as metal was reduced to shavings and then swallowed whole.

The group started killing the stonmites they spotted. It was so much easier to kill these monsters than the veinleeches, but there were many more of them, and they were harder to spot, and even sense, since they felt like they were part of the environment.

Also, their mana signatures seem to resonate with whatever they were eating, making it hard to sense their mana.

While the group was killing the stonmites, Bram asked a question. ”Why are they eating the support beams now, instead of before we came? Does that mean there are a few eating near the entrance?”

Durik didn’t answer right away. He crushed a stonemite under his boot with a wet, gritty crunch, then glanced up at the half-gnawed support spike.

”These little pests like to stone and ores, but their favorite would be metal under strain.” Durik kicked another stonemite. ”The moment we walked in dragged a cart, fought, cast spells, and put pressure back into the tunnel. They feel the strain, they feel the vibrations in the stone, and they find that a delicacy.”

The group had no other choice but to kill all the stonemites they spotted, as they became even more vigilant the deeper they went.

It took a while, but they reached the end of the tunnel Durik made. ”Finally, now it’s time to continue to dig. You guys just need to stand guard and kill all the monsters that come.”

After saying his piece, Durik happily started working. Durik planted his feet and rolled his shoulders once, as if loosening up before a bout.

He raised the strange pickaxe and brought it down. There was no ringing clang. Instead, the impact produced a low, heavy thrum that traveled through the stone like a heartbeat.

The rock at the point of contact didn’t shatter. It yielded, splitting cleanly along a natural fault that hadn’t been visible moments before. It was like he was passing through butter.

’Yep, even with what I know about modern tech, seeing this scene just makes me think magic is truly f*cking ridiculous.’

Lucen shook his head at the sight of how easy and fast Durik was expanding the tunnel. He could pretty much rival the modern drilling equipment.

’Nah, I guess Durik is even better than that cause not only is he expanding the tunnel so fast, he’s even able to create the necessary supporting beam while he’s at it. Also, where did he hide all those materials?’

Lucen looked at the cart, and he saw a few runes in there. When Durik placed his hand into the cart, it disappeared as if it had gone into a different dimension.

’It’s like an inventory in-game...’

When Lucen had that thought, he had an idea. Unlike Tower Master Thelwin, who uses his own power, this is using the power of runes, meaning anyone can use it.

’I guess, I’ll ask him if he can make a bag with similar properties.’

Robert was also focused on the spatial ability of the cart. His eyes were wide open, scanning the runes engraved.

He was feeling the flow of mana, and for the first time, it was taking him some time to figure out the flow. A manic smile appeared on his face. ”Hoh, this is truly interesting.”

Robert started trying to copy the flow, but it wouldn’t work the way he wanted. Every attempt ended the same way.

The mana would align for a brief instant, then collapse in on itself, dispersing harmlessly into the air. It was rather infuriating, but at the same time, it was exhilarating.

This wasn’t a matter of power, but precision. With his understanding growing, he became even more excited as he continued observing the rune engravings.

Durik stopped for a second as he noticed what Robert was trying to do. He looked at the human for a second and was a little surprised, but then he went back to work.

While Durik was working on digging deeper into the mines, he found several more orichalium ores. That means they were getting nearer to the vein.

The others, on the other hand, continued to deal with the monsters, which were now increasing in numbers.

They encountered no other type of monster than the veinleeches and the stonmites, which Durik found a little weird, since the mana absorbed by orichalium was something most monsters would be attracted to.

Still, he didn’t pay too much attention to it as Durik continued to sense where the orichalium vein was located and continued to dig towards that area.

Durik suddenly stopped mid-swing. The pickaxe hovered an inch from the stone, unmoving. ”... Hmm,” he muttered.

Lucen, who had just killed another stonemite, turned to look at Durik. The steady rhythm of digging, the heartbeat-like thrum that had echoed through the tunnel, had ceased.

”What is it?” Bram asked, tightening his grip on the staff. Sir Thalos, who also turned to look at Durik after he crushed a few more stonemites.

Durik pressed his palm flat against the tunnel wall. His eyes narrowed, unfocused, as if he were listening to something none of them could hear.

”We’re close,” Durik replied.

He stepped back and shifted his stance, swapping the pickaxe for a heavy hammer he brought not for battle, but for this moment. This time, when he struck, the sound was different.

The rock face shuddered, spiderweb cracks racing outward from the point of impact. Durik struck again, and the stone gave way, not in fragments, but in a single collapsing sheet.

With a low, thunderous rumble, the wall fell inward. Cold air rushed out, carrying with it a sharp metallic scent far stronger than anything they had encountered so far.

The oil lamps flickered violently as the tunnel opened into something vast. Lucen stepped forward, eyes widening.

Beyond the broken wall lay a massive cavern, its ceiling lost in darkness. Jagged pillars of stone rose from the ground like the ribs of some buried colossus, veins of ore running through them in glowing threads.

At the heart of the cavern, embedded deep within the rock, was a massive orichalium vein. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the only thing they saw.

The orichalium vein was wrapped around something. At first, Lucen thought it was part of the cavern itself, a massive, uneven ridge of stone coiled around the central rock formation. Then it moved.

The ground trembled as an enormous body shifted, stone grinding against stone. The glowing threads of orichalium embedded in the cavern walls flared faintly in response, as if reacting to its presence.

Slowly, a colossal head rose from the shadows. It was shaped like a serpent’s, long and angular, but warped, as if something had gone wrong in its creation.

Jagged ridges ran along its skull, uneven and asymmetrical, like broken horns that never fully formed.

Its scales were thick and layered, closer to overlapping slabs of dark stone than true flesh, cracked in places where dull veins of orichalium had fused directly into its body.

Two massive eyes opened. They glowed with a dim, molten gold light, dull, unfocused, and heavy with something that felt less like malice and more like exhaustion.

The creature’s body was immense, easily thicker than the tunnel Durik had carved, coiling around the cavern in slow, deliberate movements.

”... It can’t be... To see one of this kind hidden here, of all places.” Durik mumbled to himself.

The creature exhaled. The sound was not a roar, but a deep, grinding rumble that echoed through the cavern, sending dust cascading from the ceiling. With the breath came a pressure that weighed down on everyone present.

This was so much worse than the time Lucen and his group met with the wounded young fire dragon. This was another monster that was not part of the game, meaning this was the first time he had seen it.

Still, despite the fear and anxiety he was feeling inside, Lucen couldn’t help but think. ’If this monster were implemented in the game, it would have been awesome.’

The massive serpent-like dragon shifted again, its coils tightening slightly around the glowing rock at the cavern’s heart. It then closed its eyes once more and seemingly went back to sleep.

Durik tightened his grip on the hammer. ”That is a being we dwarves call the Khaldruun. Those who failed to ascend. Snakes that wanted to be dragons, but instead of reaching the sky, delve deeper into the earth.” His voice sounded as soft as possible but the others still heard it.