Chapter 222: A Dunce From the Masters of Spears Hides A Sword (1)

“Damn goblin bastards. They’ve hidden themselves real deep this time!”

The man holding an axe kicked a rock on the ground in irritation.

Clang! Clatter...

The stone clattered against the tunnel wall and echoed, making the mercenaries behind him frown.

“Don’t act recklessly in the mine. What if the goblins notice us and ambush us?”

“Hahaha! Don’t worry! I’m a goblin slayer, after all!”

“Big words for a mere Silver-class who can’t even use aura.”

“Who needs aura to kill goblins? And you’re silver too!”

“I’m the best out of the Silver-class!”

“Bullshit!”

The two mercenaries bickered, while the others just chuckled and kept marching.

“Pick up the pace, you lot. Our job is rescuing miners, not goblin extermination.”

“What’s the rush? They’re all probably corpses by now anyway. You know goblins never let men live. Maybe if they were women...”

“Try telling that to the receptionist while handing her a hunk of meat. We need them to be identifiable if we want to get paid.”

“...Fair point.”

The mercenaries sped up a little. One man began to lag behind, and the others glanced back.

“Something wrong, Captain?”

The captain of this mission was different from the Silver-class mercenaries—he was Platinum-class. It was natural for the rest of the mercenaries to treat him with respect.

“This job was to rescue miners kidnapped by goblins, right?”

“Yeah, more or less.”

“Up until now, I thought the witness must’ve been mistaken, since goblins don’t kidnap men. They just kill them on the spot. So why did the witness specifically say they were taken?”

The Platinum-class mercenary looked uneasy, but the others dismissed it lightly.

“They were far away, relying on lanterns. Probably didn’t see clearly.”

“Maybe they saw goblins carrying corpses, and thought they were alive because the arms swung.”

“Let’s just hurry. I want to get back to the village before sunset.”

As they urged to go faster, the Platinum-class mercenary suddenly froze, eyes wide.

“E–Everyone, stop! Don’t move an inch!”

“Ah, not this again.”

“Is he high or something? Why’s he so jumpy?”

While they grumbled, cold sweat ran down the Platinum-class mercenary’s spine.

“Y-you fools... didn’t you notice? Since when... How did I not notice?!”

“Spit it out already! What’s wrong?!” yelled the self-proclaimed goblin slayer.

“We’re deep in a mine tunnel... so why are there no support beams?” the Platinum-class mercenary’s voice trembled.

“...Huh?”

“...What?!”

The others finally looked around. He was right. A mine tunnel should always have support beams installed to prevent the ground from collapsing. There had been beams at the entrance, but somewhere along the way, they had disappeared.

“Maybe it’s a mine that doesn’t need support... Agh!!!”

The man who spoke was suddenly yanked upward, screaming. A huge pincer from the darkness had snatched him up.

Crunch!

His torso fell, sliced at the waist.

Screech!!!

An ant-like creature emerged from the darkness. It was the size of a person.

“F-fuck! What is that?!”

“Marlin!”

“G-get your weapons out!”

While the Silver-class mercenaries pulled out their weapons, thinking it was just a big ant, the captain—a Platinum-class mercenary—stared at the monster in despair.

“Idiots... That’s not just some ant. Look at the carapace. It has rocky plating. It’s a Rock Ant, an A-tier monster...like an ogre!”

An A-tier monster could never be beaten without aura, and usually took three Platinum-class mercenaries for one of them. Here, they had eight Silver-class mercenaries and only him. They didn’t stand a chance.

“Run! They’re not fast, so if you sprint at full speed, you might live!”

Even in despair, the Platinum-class mercenary still fulfilled his duties. However, the Silver-class didn’t listen.

“Fuck! It’s just one! Kill it! Avenge Marlin!”

“Go!!!”

“You fools!”

The Platinum-class mercenary watched the inexperienced mercenaries lose their composure and simply ran off on his own. There was no point in risking his life to save people who were intent on dying; they weren’t even close enough to warrant that kind of sacrifice anyway.

“Ha... Ha...”

He ran until his lungs burned. Then, he slowed down, sensing something in front of him. He cautiously approached, thinking it may be other people, but quickly cursed.

“Shit...”

Scraatch... scraatch...

Rock Ants crawled out from the darkness. Not just one, but five, were blocking the tunnel.

“You won’t let me escape, huh.”

Vwoom!

Aura flared along his sword.

“I was going to try to get promoted to Diamond-class after this... Don’t underestimate me!”

Slash!

His aura-charged sword cleaved the rock-like carapace, spraying a sticky green fluid from the injury.

Screech!!

The ants coordinated, surrounding him and charging from all sides.

“Rahh!!!” he roared, exploding his aura.

His sword blocked and cut through the ants’ fangs and forelegs.

“Ha... Is that it?”

Having lost their teeth and feet, the ants pulled back rather than charge forward.

He smiled, starting to get more hopeful.

I am Diamond-class material after all...

His despair turned to hope, then to confidence. The mercenary, elated from the dramatic emotional shift he had just experienced, was going to dash for the exit. But as he turned to flee...

Boom!

The tunnel shook as it emerged: a Soldier Rock Ant. Even ogres were snacks to it.

“H...heh.”

His will to fight melted like snow. Ordinary Rock Ants had carapaces like steel carapaces, but the Soldier Rock Ant’s was like amantir. Without Master-level aura, he couldn’t even scratch it.

𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

“A... Argh!!!”

He charged, as standing still and waiting for death wasn’t like him. However...

Squelch!

“Kuh!”

Though the Soldier Rock Ant was gigantic, it was incredibly fast. Its sharp foreleg skewered his gut.

“It’s over...”

He sagged in defeat, deciding not to resist the fear anymore. He closed his eyes, accepting his death.

Then...

Thwack!

Huh?”

Drip...

Something sticky poured onto his head.

“

Blech!

Wh-what?!”

The ants screeched in a frenzy. Soon after, the mercenary felt himself fall back as the ant collapsed toward him. He immediately opened his eyes and rolled aside to avoid being crushed, then glanced around his surroundings. Then, he witnessed something unbelievable.

Pop! Pop!

The other ants’ heads began bursting like jelly.

T-their heads are the hardest part of their body...

The mercenary couldn’t even begin to guess what was happening. That was when footsteps echoed from deeper within the tunnel.

“Am... Am I hearing things? Yeah. This must be a hallucination. This is all a vision of what I want to see. Is death really this sweet...?”

As the footsteps drew nearer, the mercenary felt his body growing heavier. He had survived for now, but he had been pierced through the abdomen. It had missed vital organs like his heart, sparing him from instant death, but his internal organs were damaged and bleeding heavily.

Slumping against the wall, he muttered, “If I knew this was coming... I should’ve confessed to her back then.”

He slowly closed his eyes. But then, the footsteps stopped abruptly.

Slap!

“Ugh!”

A fiery sting spread across his cheek, snapping his eyes open wide. He lifted his head. It was a person.

Someone is in here? In this deep, deep tunnel?

“...So I wasn’t hearing things?”

“Hey.”

“Y-yes?”

“Yes? This bastard’s dazed out. When a superior calls you, you answer with your name and rank, don’t you?”

“J-James, Platinum-class!”

“You little punk. Get up.”

“Urgh...”

Groaning in pain, James somehow managed to stand.

Only then could the mercenary clearly see the person standing before him: silver hair gleaming with a mysterious luster in the torchlight, eyes swirling with gold and violet. Even in this dire moment, the man was breathtakingly handsome.

“E-excuse me... may I ask who you are?” James asked.

“I’m Keter, the branch manager of the Liqueur Mercenary Guild Branch Chief. You may call me Mr. Branch Manager,” Keter replied, as if he was doing the mercenary a favor.

* * *

Hearing Keter introduce himself as the branch manager, James’ clouded mind snapped back to clarity.

“M-Mr. Branch Manager? You came to rescue us? As expected of the Liqueur Mercenary Guild, a symbol of trust and reli—

cough

!”

James coughed up blood and collapsed. In his brief excitement, he had forgotten that he was grievously wounded.

Keter calmly rifled through James’ clothes, pulling a few gold coins from his pocket.

“Nine gold? Not even enough to buy a bottle cap,

tsk

.”

After dropping the coins into Six’s magic pouch, Keter took out a low-grade elixir.

Glug glug glug.

He poured half of it into James’ gaping stomach wound and forced the rest down his throat, then immediately chopped him on the throat to make him swallow.

“Gack, kuh!”

James, having regained consciousness, tried to spit it out, but Keter clamped his mouth shut.

“Swallow. It’s good for you.”

“Mmff... mm...”

James finally felt himself starting to heal and managed to swallow the elixir fully. He wasn’t completely cured, but at least he had escaped death’s doorstep.

“T-thank you... for using such a precious elixir...!”

“It’s not free. Pay me back later, James.”

“...”

“What are you standing around for? Get going.”

“Forgive me for asking, but... are you two... the only ones?”

James glanced between Keter and Decameron.

“Why?”

“There were mercenaries who came with me. Most are probably dead, but some may still be alive. Rock Ants store their prey like spiders before eating them, so...”

“I know.”

“A-and, I have some skill in tracking. I could help you locate the captured mercenaries...”

“Ugh, enough!”

Thwack!

Unable to stand it anymore, Keter flicked James on the forehead.

“I thought you had something important to say. Get lost!”

Keter even fired an Aura Arrow at his feet to drive the point home. Realizing that Keter wasn’t bluffing, James quickly bolted.

Once James was gone, Keter turned to look at the fallen ants around him.

“

Tsk

, all of that money and delicacies...”

The carapace of a Rock Ant was as tough as steel yet far more flexible. And their flesh, though toxic when raw, tasted like lobster when cooked. Gourmets even praised it as the lobster of the earth.

“I’ll have to tell Ultima to recover it all.”

He hadn’t forgotten the pager Ultima had given him. Crushing it would let Ultima track him down no matter where he was. It was meant for emergencies, but...

“This counts as an emergency. If I leave it here, the villagers or other mercenaries might loot it.”

He pulled the pager from Six’s pouch and crushed it. He did it now, as it would take time for him to get here.

“One hour... I’ll finish before then.”

He knew from childhood memories of digging through anthills that they were deep, complex, and full of chambers. But the queen’s chamber would always be the deepest.

“And these things have mana, so tracking them is easy enough.”

Keter placed his palm on the ground, spreading his mana outward. It raced down hundreds of meters below, tracing the queen’s presence.

After a moment...

“Found her, but she’s deeper down than I thought.”

Rock Ants were the size of grown men, so the tunnels were massive and winding. Even running, the uneven terrain slowed him down. And every passage was crawling with ants. He could ignore them and push through, but the queen’s chamber was different, as the Soldier Rock Ants blocked the entrance entirely.

“This is annoying. I’d have to kill my way through them one by one.” He stroked his chin for a moment, then nodded with a decisive look. “Dropping straight down from here will be faster.”

Keter acted as if piercing through hundreds of meters vertically into the ground was as simple as digging a hole in his backyard.