Creeeek…
The Dragon Turtle was turning the area into a wasteland while searching for me.
‘Since I’m flying, it won’t find me anymore.’
When it couldn’t detect anything despite searching, it must have thought I was dead from its attack, as it lifted its head to the sky and roared again.
Kwahh-!
As the Dragon Turtle set its front leg down that it had lifted, the ground shook as if an earthquake had occurred.
‘Ugh… what an immense weight.’
Then, the parasitic bloodlines that had been hidden on its back began to reveal themselves one by one through the gaps in its shell.
It seemed that to catch them, I would have to roast the inside of the turtle too, but neither the turtle nor the parasitic bloodlines were easy opponents.
‘Huh? What the?!’
Even among the parasitic bloodlines that crawled out, a few started chanting spells, and the Dragon Turtle’s body began to recover rapidly.
Of course, the bloodlines that had chanted the spells turned to dust and scattered, but still, there were over 300 parasites left, and I couldn’t even think of how to deal with that guy.
‘What a ridiculous one. There’s no way I can capture a creature that’s stronger than a Lizardman and has incredible vitality. Huh-‘
I tried to assess ways to whittle down its health slowly, but I think I should abandon that idea.
‘But at least I got something.’
– Experience points have increased dramatically!
– Level has increased!
I leveled up, something that hadn’t been happening before. If I gained enough experience points without taking it down, just how powerful was it?
After distributing the stats gained from leveling up, I flew back into the sky, moving entirely in the opposite direction of the Dragon Turtle.
If my memory serves me right, there shouldn’t be anything stronger than that guy in this dungeon.
However, it couldn’t just be that one guy, so I expanded my perception as much as possible and moved with caution.
I must have traveled for about 10 minutes.
‘Whoa… what are those?!’
In the distance, a flock of over 70 gigantic birds was flying towards me.
They were so large that calling them birds felt wrong, and they carried uncharacteristic weapons.
I recognized those monsters.
‘Those are Gryphon Knights?!’
Should I call them Sand Gryphon Knights instead?
I had never heard of those appearing in a desert terrain… what kind of world was this?
These creatures had the lower body of a lion, the head and wings of an eagle, but their front legs looked like human hands, which was different from usual gryphons, and particularly worrisome was the lance they were holding.
‘Leading the charge with a lance is considered top-tier among A-rank monsters, right?’
There were exactly 75 of them, and they clearly had a target in mind as they flew.
Each individual would be evaluated in the A-rank mid-upper class, but with that kind of number, I thought even the Dragon Turtle I had encountered earlier would be in trouble.
I turned invisible, using [Dark Reflection], to blur my presence and decided to observe the situation for a moment.
Even though they approached my location, they didn’t react at all.
‘As expected… they didn’t come to hunt me.’
That meant they had one target.
It must be the Dragon Turtle I had just fought.
‘… If two forces clash, neither side will easily tip the balance…’
If I took the opportunity for an ambush and picked off even one, it would be considered a success, which tempted me.
But then, one of the “Sand Gryphon Knights” suddenly turned its head towards me, flying past me back in the direction of the Dragon Turtle.
‘?! What? Did they notice me?!’
I guess I couldn’t fool an A-rank monster’s eyes after all?
I still hadn’t recovered my mana up to 1,000, so [Meteor] was out of the question, and their flying speed was far superior to mine, so it naturally painted a scenario of me getting slaughtered.
Just as I was quickly making up my mind, I felt an unshakable eerie presence behind me.
‘Huh?!’
I urgently soared higher into the sky to escape the ominous feeling.
Wooooh—
‘What in the world is that?!’
Something began to undulate from the spot I had just vacated.
A translucent sphere resembling the stars in the night sky.
It started to suck in everything around it like a black hole, even swallowing up the flock of Gryphon Knights that had hesitated at the strange energy.
The sphere devoured every single Gryphon without leaving one behind.
“Kuk—!”
‘Huh?’
As the sphere consumed the Gryphon Knights, it began to undulate erratically, and then unexpectedly, it let out a burp.
From the sphere, a figure began to take shape, and soon, a meter-tall dwarf wearing a brown cone-shaped hat appeared.
‘……’
The moment I saw its appearance, I was frozen in place.
‘The Crazed Desert Archaeologist’…
In short, known as the “Accident Scholar,” a monster that one could encounter in a dungeon of desert terrain with a very rare probability. No, it was the guardian of a hidden dungeon.
It was far more likely to meet him than a mimic, but that didn’t mean I could just see him if I tried.
An A-rank upper hunter would have cheered upon seeing him, but not me.
‘Is it possible to self-destruct together… ?’
A unique monster like that would be worth sacrificing a life for, as it wouldn’t be a loss at all.
But the “Accident Scholar” was looking up at me with an expression that seemed to see right through my thoughts.
Chill—
‘Shit… even dying together seems impossible. The levels are just too different. The aura is no joke, right?’
I thought I briefly sensed the aura I felt from the “Golden Mimic Tanya.”
A strong instinct telling me that approaching it seemed impossible.
And as soon as I moved just a bit, it felt like my body would shatter into pieces.
It was staring at me intently.
What does it want?
‘If I’m going to die anyway…’
I braced myself and looked straight at him.
In that instant, the form of the Accident Scholar became clearer.
Its skin was dispersing like sand in the air, and its spiky arms resembled lizard scales. The completely blackened eyes without pupils felt heavy and eerie, almost as if they could peer into the depths of my very soul.
‘Ugh…’
In less than 10 seconds, I was overwhelmed by its presence.
‘Could you please let me go just this once?’
Honestly, that’s how I felt.
The “Accident Scholar” was an immense being that kidnapped desert monsters to manage ancient ruins buried in the sand, and judging by the difficult nature of this dungeon, if I entered, I felt I would be immediately killed without a trace.
“Pi- pipipipipi- pihihihihi!!”
But after a while, it began to laugh hysterically at me.
As if it hadn’t seen anything this fun in a long time.
Suddenly, its eyes deepened into an even darker shade, and just as I thought I was about to be caught and die, it disappeared without a trace along with the incomprehensible sphere.
‘Did it… leave? It left, right? Phew…’
In less than an hour, I encountered three entities I couldn’t deal with.
‘Ah, I want to get stronger quickly.’
I am getting stronger now, but I yearn for strength intensely.
‘The idea was good, and it succeeded.’
The idea of using a small gate in the dungeon to head to another dungeon wasn’t bad, but this dungeon was simply too difficult for me to navigate right now.
‘I have to stay low-key. Damn it.’
I grumbled as I set off again.
As much as I wanted to let my mind rest a bit more, it seemed better to stay on the move since I didn’t know what might pop up.
‘The Dragon Turtle wasn’t the dominant species in an A-rank dungeon. It’s an entirely different world from the one connected to ours.’
Lost in thought, I moved for about an hour, but all I perceived in the waves of my senses was just sand, sand, and more sand.
‘Did that Accident Scholar dry up the monster population?’
I steeled myself and picked up the pace.
I could detect those pesky “Sand Gryphon Knights” in between, but they didn’t seem to have a very good sense of detection and just passed by my faint presence.
After traveling for a long while, I noticed a pretty wide, empty space at the bottom of a gigantic sand mountain.
I often saw such empty spaces in the desert, so I planned to pass without much thought, but as I got closer, I felt something unusual.
‘Oh… what is this?!’
I hurriedly ran down to the bottom of the sand mountain and activated [Tunnel Destroyer].
Kachakachak!
‘It’s minerals. There are still unmined ores in this mine!’
Madly, I began digging through the sand, directly entering the empty space, reaching a fairly spacious passageway.
‘Even a well-maintained passageway! This really is a proper mine!’
Internally cheering for my luck, I looked around.
‘Hmm… this passage feels familiar from somewhere.’
The straight passageway, as if drawn with a protractor, spread out chaotically like an ant nest.
I had seen such a passage in the “Living Statue of Strength” dungeon.
It was the same kind of passage leading to the village where the Were Crocs lived.
And I felt like I had seen something similar once before…
‘Ah, I just remembered. This is almost identical to the passage where I discovered the Kadinite before!’
It was the mine I found in the “Lesser Dire Wolf” dungeon, where a group of Kobolds came out along the passage to chat with Ddung-i.
That’s how the passage they used looked too.
‘The Kobolds’ influence really is widespread. I once thought they were a lowly monster, but the more I learned, the more skilled they appeared.’
When I thought of a mine, I used to associate it with Dwarves, but now the image of Kobolds would pop into my head as well.
Anyway, I stepped into an opening about half the size of a basketball court, where I discovered a mass of ‘Kadinite’ that hadn’t been fully mined yet.
‘Hahaha! What luck is this!’
While Kadinite is known as a rare mineral that can produce high-quality equipment, its real value is during battles against the Orc Legion.
The blood of Orcs led by the Orc Legion Commander has an extraordinary corrosion effect on weapons, so gear made of Kadinite, known for its unusually high resistance, would surely be a great asset during combat against them.
‘Huh- Today will be spent mining this. If I mine it as meticulously as Ddung-i, it’ll take forever. Should I just do it like this?’
[Beginner Miner]
– Increases the speed of mining minerals in the mine by 20%.
An achievement I earned early on.
I planned to combine this with [Tunnel Destroyer] to completely remove the surrounding areas filled with ore and shove it all into my inventory.
‘I should get Ddung-i to handle the mining. That lazy bastard. I need to make him work.’
After finishing my thoughts, I began to busily move my body, starting the task.
Worried that another monster might respond to my digging noise, I proceeded carefully, but as time passed I realized I wouldn’t have enough time at this pace, so I began to speed things up.
Boom—! Kachachakachaka!
I wasn’t mining; it was more like blowing the mine apart as I greedily collected the ores.
Kragagagag—
‘What… is that the Dragon Turtle?!’
Did I dig too noisily?
I felt a heavy presence moving leisurely above ground.
– BooOOOOO—
I fervently hoped it would just pass by, and luckily, it roared a couple of times and moved in a different direction.
Though its appearance was similar, its roaring was distinctly different, leading me to suspect it might be a variant of the Dragon Turtle.
There were enough Kadinite buried here, at least thirty times more than the first piece I dug, and I felt the pressure of time as well.
Adjusting my speed slightly, I continued mining until ultimately, I managed to shove over 95% of the Kadinite buried in the mine into my inventory before Yeon-hee called me back.
[Intermediate Miner]
– Increases the speed of mining minerals in the mine by 35%.
‘Oho- I’ve gained an achievement. Nice!’
While I felt a bit humiliated for being pushed around by powerful monsters, this was certainly a satisfying outcome.
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