They continued deeper into the damp tunnel, where the darkness was thick and underground water seeped through the walls.
It seemed they had finally reached an area untouched by people. Magic stones were now scattered here and there.
Walt twitched his nose and spoke.
“Something smells weird. Be careful.”
Abel gave a reply, just in case, but he couldn’t ignore the magic stones lying at his feet. He had to pick them up.
Casalos too was casting “Light” and searching on his own.
After a while of searching together, they started seeing results.
They found three or four magic stones, blue and yellow ones.
Casalos sorted them, putting only fourth-grade or higher stones into his backpack.
Wanting to get out of there as soon as possible, Abel searched quickly for more.
In the depths of a side path, where darkness seemed to pool, he spotted something faintly glowing.
—Ah, a magic stone. Looks pretty big…
Abel headed into the side path.
He didn’t sense any danger.
On the rough, craggy rock wall, there was a pale bluish lump glowing faintly.
He reached out his hand.
It was only then that Abel realized—
—Wait. Something’s off. That magic stone… just moved?
What he thought was a rugged rock wall was actually the cleverly camouflaged body of a creature…
The wall split open, revealing a red mucous membrane.
It was a giant frog, as tall as a horse, with something like an anglerfish’s lure dangling in front of it.
What Abel had thought was a magic stone was actually the decoy lure.
Abel stood frozen, with his mouth agape, unable to react.
In the next instant, a tongue shot out faster than the eye could see, wrapped around him, and pulled him bodily into the creature’s mouth.
It was warm and reeked of raw flesh.
His whole body was enveloped in a slimy substance.
The crushing pressure was intense, and the suffocating sensation was overwhelming.
He couldn’t even breathe anymore.
“Ugh… oooaahhh!”
A chill ran down his spine.
If this kept up, he was going to be eaten alive.
Abel instinctively imagined Ice Spears and fired them wildly in all directions without thinking.
His body was being violently shaken.
It felt like he was being carried somewhere at incredible speed.
Ise felt intense vibrations.
She heard the sound of rocks collapsing.
When she rushed over, the floor of the tunnel had caved in, revealing a gaping black void.
“What happened?!”
She called out, but Abel was nowhere to be seen.
Walt twitched his nose. Abel’s scent continued into the darkness.
“Lady Ise. Master fell into this collapsed hole. I smell a monster too. No doubt he tumbled down together with it!”
Without hesitation, Ise and Walt jumped into the hole, leaving Casalos behind.
Since he wasn’t suited for combat, his presence would only get in the way.
While firing Ice Spears wildly, Abel suddenly felt like he was being ejected somewhere.
The next moment, a violent impact struck his body.
Pain surged through him from head to toe.
“Light…”
Groaning, he managed to barely utter the words.
The darkness suddenly lit up.
About ten paces away, the rock frog that had nearly devoured him was writhing.
Its decoy lure, mistaken for a magic stone, swung limply.
An Ice Spear had pierced through its belly, and it was bleeding as it tried to crawl away.
Driven by fury, Abel cast Ice Spear again.
“Die!”
The spear shot forward with force and pierced the frog’s eye.
The rock frog flipped onto its back and twitched its leg in spasms.
After delivering the final blow, Abel let out a sigh, but then noticed his face was wet.
When he touched it, his hand came away smeared with red blood.
Blood was dripping from a gash on his forehead.
The force with which the rock frog had spit him out must have slammed him violently into the bedrock.
He cast a healing spell on himself.
“This sucks…”
His body was badly exhausted, and his senses were starting to dull.
A heavy fatigue made it hard even to stand.
On top of that, the tunnel was cold.
His body was drenched in the monster’s foul-smelling fluids.
“How do I get back… Lady Ise!”
His voice echoed endlessly.
No response.
Abel staggered to his feet.
In dangerous moments like this, he had to stay calm.
He took a deep breath.
He focused on the flow of air.
There was a large hole in the ceiling.
The sides were blocked.
In other words, the ceiling was the only way out.
Abel began climbing the rock wall.
He aimed for the tunnel one layer above.
It was then.
From deep within the collapsed bedrock, a faint light seeped out again.
Could it be another of those rock frogs?
Would he have to fight, cut off from all aid?
Even so, he forced himself to summon his remaining strength and accelerated his mana.
But no attack came.
The light belonged to a real magic stone.
Abel climbed the wall and dug with his dagger.
A faint pink glow leaked out.
It was big.
About the size of a baby’s head.
With effort, he managed to dig it free.
It felt like a valuable find.
“With this, I might be able to make it back!”
Breathing hard, Abel stuffed the magic stone into his pack.
He climbed again and reached the tunnel above.
But he had no idea whether to go left or right.
The climb had taken far more strength than he expected.
Exhausted, he sat to rest.
The magic stone was heavy.
He had come all the way into this hellish place for it, yet now he felt like throwing it away.
With his current stamina, climbing the wall again would be brutal.
Depending on what happened, it might not even be possible.
His spirits began to sink.
He knew from experience that spending too much mana made him feel depressed.
At times like that, he would usually just sleep it off.
But there was no way he could fall asleep here.
That giant spider-centipede thing might sneak up and inject its poison.
Separated from Ise in this oppressive place, his heart grew even heavier.
Only dark thoughts filled his mind.
If he couldn’t regroup with her, could he really make it back to the surface alone from the depths of the mine?
The answer was clear.
Absolutely impossible.
“I don’t want to die…”
Abel muttered, slumping in despair.
Unwanted memories flickered through his mind.
That little man’s father…
—That abusive bastard who always beat me.
Who took out his frustrations on me over the smallest things.
There was a time when the scolding went on for hours. When I yawned, he punched me in the face.
He ordered me to walk around the neighborhood in just my underwear if I wanted forgiveness, so I wandered through the residential streets in the middle of the night.
When I came home, he was waiting for me…
He said I had to do it again because I’d been wearing shoes.
So once more, barefoot, I walked aimlessly through the midnight streets.
Yeah… that really happened…
Abel shook his head.
A worthless piece of trash like that didn’t matter.
Instead, he thought of brighter memories… of Ayla and Walter.
Ayla, beautiful and full of energy, always smiling.
She was good at hunting too, sometimes bringing back rabbits from the forest.
And her full breasts.
Yes. One night…
He had woken to pee, only to find the two of them gone. When he searched, he found them in the clinic, making love.
He wasn’t into peeking, so he hadn’t watched for long, but it was clear how deeply they loved each other.
Touching… kissing…
They had taught him what passion between a man and woman looked like.
Walter, meanwhile, was a ruggedly handsome man, and women were often drawn to him.
At first Abel hadn’t noticed, but before long he realized: even women with no real ailments, like the daughter of Tenana and married ladies from town, would come to Walter for a “checkup”.
Most of the time Ayla would simply give them medicine and send them off.
But there was one time… a lady had needlessly bared her chest, showing Walter her breasts.
Abel’s face lit up with a smile.
He felt a little strength return to him.
He thought he heard someone’s voice in the distance.
When he strained his ears, there was no doubt.
“Hey! Over here!”
When he shouted back, the one who appeared from the dark tunnel was Walt.
“Master, are you safe?”
“Uoooh! Hachiko! You’re Hachiko, aren’t you!”
(TN: Hachiko is a famous dog in Japan.)
“H-Hachi? What’s that supposed to mean?”
“How did you even find me?”
“Easy. I just followed your scent.”
“My scent, huh… I was right to save you.”
“Abel! You’re alive!”
Ise had come too.
In a world like the murky depths of hell, her beautiful features seemed nothing short of a miracle.
With pale skin, clear red eyes, and flowing black hair.
Abel thought that Ise had a calming effect on him…
He returned to the place where they’d left Casalos behind and showed him the harvested magic stone. Casalos recoiled in shock.
“W-Whoa!”
Casalos let out a cry of admiration.
“This pale pink glow…this is a type of first-grade magic stone. There’s no doubt about it!”
“Then the mission’s done, right? Let’s go. Hurry, let’s get back!”
The group quickly set off for the return trip.
Abel asked something that had been on his mind.
“How much is a first-grade magic stone worth?”
“The price fluctuates… but if you took it to the imperial capital now, with the war causing a shortage of magic stones… it could go for about thirty gold coins.”
“Thirty gold! No way. My monthly pay is five silver coins. And one gold coin is worth about fifty silver coins… That’s thirty years’ worth of wages…!”
Even after all that effort, because it was a mission, he wouldn’t even earn a single copper coin.
It was ridiculous. Far too ridiculous. Abel writhed in frustration.
His anger bubbled like magma.
This isn’t right.
This is a labor dispute.
Workers must rise up.
Protect the rights of workers.
He muttered these things feverishly under his breath.
Casalos turned to Ise and asked,
“Uh, is Abel okay? He’s mumbling something under his breath.”
“Don’t worry about it. He’s probably just mentally drained from overusing his magic. He’ll recover once he rests.”
The tunnel, strewn with rocks, was difficult to walk through.
Just as their exhaustion was starting to peak, the smell of the air changed.
The scent of trees and grass.
Abel felt an immense sense of relief.
Outside, night had already fallen.
But thanks to the moonlight, it was surprisingly bright.
Abel hurried. He was eager to reach the village as soon as possible. But Ise grabbed him by the shoulder.
“Magical beasts.”
Only after being told did he realize it. There were swarms of them.
Around thirty goblins.
And even four of those monstrous ogres.
The hungry beasts quickly spotted Abel and the others.
One after another, they approached, drooling, filled with ferocious hunger.
Abel let out a sigh.
Fighting those things in his current state would be tough.
That said, he didn’t feel right leaving it all to Ise and Walt, either.
But unexpectedly, Casalos spoke up.
“I’ve been relying on you guys too much…I’ll fight too. Just watch.”
With his usual vague, laid-back expression, Casalos began chanting a spell.
Abel could feel a considerable amount of magical power being drawn up within Casalos.
Eventually, that power reached its peak.
The spell activated.
“Thousand Fang Tails of the Dragon.”
The entire area where the beasts were standing began to writhe, and in the next instant, hundreds of stone blades erupted from the ground.
In a flash, the blades began spinning at high speed like a blender, encircling the beasts and slicing through bone and flesh alike without mercy.
The sound of bones cracking echoed loudly.
Even those ogres, with their notoriously tough vitality, didn’t stand a chance.
It was a level of destructive power that far exceeded expectations.
“Whoa… That’s strong… What was that spell?”
“Hehehe. That was Mineral Magic, Sixth Rank, Thousand Fang Tails of the Dragon. I harden the soil into blades, then make them spin as they erupt upward from the ground. I’m not good at combat, but if the enemies are grouped together like that, even I can manage something like this. It uses a lot of magical power, though, so I can only pull it off once a day. Alright, let’s head back…”
When Abel looked up at the night sky, he saw the Milky Way crossing in the shape of a cross.
An unbelievable number of stars sparkled in the darkness.
Could this be the result of two massive galaxies merging?
He was captivated by the breathtaking beauty that seemed to descend from the heavens.
The man at the core of Abel wondered…could it be that the world he originally came from lies somewhere out there?
“Lady Ise… the stars… they’re beautiful.”
“There is nothing in nature that isn’t beautiful.”
Abel quietly glanced at Ise’s profile.
Bathed in the light of the stars and moon, her figure was so breathtakingly beautiful that Abel could only fall silent.
After that, Casalos pointed out various constellations and explained the motion of the stars until they arrived at the village.
It was a romantic tale.
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