kscans

Chapter 276 - The Rock-Eating Hive

The [Gemrant Army] monsters, true to their rugged appearance, are attacker-type monsters with stats heavily skewed towards firepower and agility.

Their attack methods include simple bites and body slams, and they are also equipped with a long-range attack, firing the gems that grow on their large, round, insectoid abdomens.

A further point of caution is that there are different types, even with the same name.

There are three variations of individuals—first, the 'Soldier Ant.' They are the most numerous and form the basic type that pushes forward with numbers. Despite their attack-specialized nature, they also possess above-average durability thanks to their natural armor.

Their movements are agile, their strength is high, and their physical resistance is also subtly high, making them quite high-spec.

To top it all off, they display the characteristic 'tenacity' of insects, and will still attack with just their upper body even after being cut in two. This means that carelessly dismembering them can lead to trouble, so it's best to carefully check their HP bar and deliver a finishing blow.

Next is the 'Kamikaze Ant.' They appear in about half the numbers of the Soldier Ants and are dangerous foes that charge straight ahead without a second thought.

What makes them so dangerous is that if you allow them to get close, they will self-destruct without a moment's hesitation. Regardless of whether there are allies nearby, they flash with light and, a second later, explode.

They fully utilize their own bodies, composed of rock and gems, as shrapnel grenades, but the scatter pattern is completely random, so you can't memorize it to dodge.

Therefore, the absolute rule is to 'deal with them before they get close'… and while they would normally be quite a troublesome opponent, their armor is thinner than the Soldier Ants', so defeating them is not difficult. Merciful.

And finally, the 'Winged Ant'—Sora-san's nemesis.

What makes them her nemesis has nothing to do with their nature or specs as monsters, but for one simple reason.

She can't stand the sound of their wings. So, the moment they appear—

"—[Dreißig]!!"

—this happens.

The moment that sound, which many people would instinctively recoil from, reached her ears—a volley of magic swords shot through the air and riddled the giant body that had taken flight far ahead in the cave with holes.

They are a textbook example of a melee-killer, a long-range type with flight capabilities, but like the 'Kamikaze Ant,' their armor is paper-thin, so dealing with them is easy if you have a projectile weapon.

—In other words, they are no match for my partner.

"Hah… as reliable as ever."

"Stop just watching me and get to work!"

As I was admiring my partner's bravery, I received a scolding from the lady herself.

Well, that's fair.

Compared to the intense battles I've experienced recently, I tend to let my guard down, but the fact that my durability is nonexistent remains unchanged.

The Soldier Ants, regardless of type, have an extremely simple targeting priority. Therefore, just by being in front of Sora, I can fulfill the role of a tank, which is a relief… but 'I got careless and took a hit' would immediately make me the one to blame.

I'll maintain a certain level of focus—hey!!

"Hmph…!!"

In the middle of the swarm, surrounded by countless living rock masses, I had been focusing on evasion. Now, infusing my avatar with strength, I instantly switched to the offensive.

I slammed the jaw of a Soldier Ant approaching from the left into the ground with the scabbard of my [Samidorizuki], then used the recoil to launch my body into the air and spin,

"—A degraded [Heavenly Snow]!"

From a horizontal position in mid-air, a high-speed, three-hit horizontal spin.

It was a fake [Fourth Strike (Heavenly Snow)] using my own style of 'Matoi' instead of 'Shukuchi,' so its power and precision were incomparable to the original—

But even so, against monsters (PvE), it was more than enough.

One of them in front of me had its vital head sliced open and exploded into phosphorescent light. But the countless soldiers, unfazed, stepped over their comrade's corpse with an almost mechanical killing intent.

The Kamikaze and Winged Ants I could ignore. Sora would take care of every last one of them.

That meant my job was solely to annihilate the Soldier Ants in close combat.

"Bullet!"

I tossed my jade blade, scabbard and all, straight up, and with my now-free hand, I fired a barrage of crimson projectiles—followed by [Exploding Rabbit].

I used the barrage of explosions to keep the individuals preparing to fire their gem bullets in check, then tossed the shattered Rabbit Dagger into the scabbard at my waist… and activated [Whirlwind].

"Take… thiiis!!"

In one direction of the closing encirclement, I stepped straight towards the nearest one—and delivered a straight punch.

My fist, cloaked in a storm, with a STR of 200, struck the massive head, which was about the size of a car tire… and shining on that right fist was the 'white' [Anima] that had devoured the red.

"—[Shot]!!"

That wasn't a key word, but a call for an order.

In that instant, the [Everquartz, Sky-Soaring Crystal Sword] materialized in my hand and was launched at high speed, forming a follow-up attack that blew through the [Gemrant Army]'s head.

"Hah! I'm counting on you for my back, partner!"

'Autonomous Action' activated. The white sword, having overshot its target, turned and flew past my back, leaving a dangerous whooshing sound by my ear—…hey, was it necessary to graze my face?

What, are you still mad??

As I grabbed the falling jade blade and dealt with the Soldier Ants, I couldn't help but give a wry smile at the rebellious attitude of my [Anima].

It was as if it were venting its pent-up frustration. The sound of the sword, rampaging while devouring my MP, was certainly reassuring from behind my back, but…

"Bring it on, you bastard… In that case, let's have a kill count competition!!"

Remaining enemies—estimated a lot.

There's plenty of prey to choose from, so go wild, my beloved sword!

◇◆◇◆◇

"—It's really like it's alive… or rather, I should probably just assume it actually is alive…"

"Yeah… it's almost like an NPC at this point."

After the battle—the moment I raised a victory cry in accordance with the 'results' I had counted by uselessly making full use of my 'memory' gift, the [Everquartz] returned to its ring form on its own.

Its behavior was exactly that of a sulking child. When it's this blatant, it's almost cute, but you could at least praise your master for his hard work…

That aside, it was time to check the battle results. This dungeon has a rather special way of handling drops—

"Hmm… it's so sparkly."

"It's starting to hurt my eyes…"

After the battle, in the cave that had regained a temporary silence, a vast expanse of countless ores and gems was scattered across the rocky floor.

In the underground labyrinth where sunlight could not reach, the glow of these items, illuminated by the remains of the ants—glowing rubble that served as a light source—dazzled our eyes.

The giant ants do not drop unique monster materials.

Instead, what they bestow upon players are vast quantities of astonishingly diverse and high-quality stone-type materials.

A unique feature of this dungeon is that all of their drops are scattered on the spot, rather than being placed in the inventory. The sight of glittering stones covering the entire area is surely exciting for both men and women, but…

I picked up a fist-sized ore shining with a light blue color and tapped it—

[Aquamarine Agate Ore]—A stone composed of fine quartz crystals. It holds a faint trace of water magic.

After reading the ridiculously simple text that appeared, I tossed it aside without a moment's hesitation. Why? Because it has no value to us.

Favored by production classes, shunned by combat classes—this is the reason why.

Apart from the visually unsettling insect-type monsters and the combat difficulty that is apparently quite high for the general player base, the biggest problem with this dungeon is that the variety of minerals obtained is so vast that it's difficult to get the specific items one is looking for.

—A wide variety of high-quality items can be obtained, that much is true.

However, the effort required of combat classes to obtain those 'high-quality items' is insane. Not only do they have to defeat enemies to get loot, but they also have to sort through a mountain of stones with an absurd number of types to find what they're looking for.

Efficiency can be improved by bringing along a Magicrafter who can use appraisal skills, but it's undoubtedly much more troublesome than a normal dungeon crawl.

To put it bluntly, it's the kind of dungeon that makes you think, 'It's too much of a hassle, so I don't want to go'—I can understand why it's a paradise of romance for craftsmen, with reports of new ore and gem discoveries still coming in, but…

Unfortunately, meticulously sorting through everything is just too inefficient.

"Sora, if you would."

"I still feel like it's a waste, but… I guess it can't be helped."

And so, we were practicing the 'extremely rough sorting method' we had been taught by our artisan.

Our objective this time was gem ores suitable for crafting into accessories. It seems not all of them are like this, but those types of materials generally have a high affinity with 'magic.'

The sorting method involves using that property to—

"Sssuuu— — — — —hk!"

—hit them with 'magic' and see how they react.

After a deep breath, Sora held out her hand and unleashed her ki, and a 'wind' raged around her. This was something I couldn't do—or rather, something the vast majority of players couldn't replicate. It was a manifestation of 'magic.'

It wasn't something that could be achieved simply by raising one's mind stat; it was a special skill that could only be manifested by a limited number of players who excelled in their aptitude as mages.

Although it was a skill, it didn't usually provide any direct benefits… The exception was when interfering with 'something that reacts to magic' like this.

"…Hk, how, is it?"

"Hold on a sec."

Consciously releasing magic, while possible, was apparently not easy. As Sora asked between breaths, I was spurred on and rummaged through the pile of rubble.

Special materials suitable for accessories were said to show some kind of reaction, like glowing or vibrating, but—

"No luck, I guess… Thanks, Sora, that's enough."

"…Phew."

The strain of releasing magic was apparently similar to 'holding one's breath.'

She didn't actually need to hold her breath, but the mental image was so similar that she did it in conjunction… I felt bad for making her go through the effort, but the sight of her pursing her lips, her face red as she trembled, was a little cute.

"Alright, one more time, if you please."

"Yes!"

Unfortunately, we didn't find any accessory candidates this time. So, next up was the second stage of the 'rough sorting method.'

After confirming that I had retreated behind her, Sora raised her right hand straight up…

"[Turm Riesig]."

Summon, and enlarge.

Through the effect of the skill [Optimize Alert], the sand tower became a giant sword that reached the ceiling of the cave—and she slammed the 'belly' of that magic sword into the pile of rubble.

An earth-shattering tremor and a crushing sound that matched the overwhelming visual scale shook the cave… The giant magic sword immediately vanished into thin air, and what was left behind were the shattered remains of the stones.

"Oh!"

"Ah!"

And there, a single deep blue color remained. It was an ore material that had survived the extremely rough 'hardness check' and would likely be suitable for crafting into an armament.

I picked it up and tapped it… Hmm, [Sea Star Ore]. It was still covered in stone dust, so its true brilliance was unknown, but—

"It's beautiful…"

"Yeah, it is."

Its appearance, with golden flecks embedded in a deep blue that peeked through the cracks, was, well, very promising. It didn't seem to be a gem, so I'd have Kagura-san take a look at this one.

I honestly couldn't be bothered to spend time on detailed sorting and appraisal, but finding a single treasure from a pile of rubble like this had a certain romance to it that I didn't dislike.

…Of course, I would choose not to think about the fact that among the materials found in this dungeon, there are apparently super-rare items that are neither hard nor react to magic.

It's very bad for my mental health.

"Alright. Let's keep going at this pace!"

"Ahaha… Is it really okay for us to be going through this so… briskly?"

Hmm? Are you perplexed that a 'high-difficulty' dungeon is so lukewarm?

Well, that can't be helped. No matter what it is, difficulty is defined by the masses, that is, the 'general player base.' In other words—

—the normal standards no longer apply to a ranker and his equal partner.