Chapter 270

Haruto glanced at Frieren and made up his mind.

From now on, he was definitely going to collect more Magic-Sealing Ore whenever he had the chance—the larger the pieces and the higher the purity, the better.

And as it happened, an opportunity was waiting not far ahead.

Before any of that, though, breakfast came first.

Haruto did not waste the tiny fish Stark had caught. With a few quick strokes of his knife, he sliced it into pieces so thin they were almost translucent, then slipped them into the savory mushroom soup. The delicate slices immediately curled in the heat.

"All right. Breakfast is ready."

He called Frieren and the others over and served everyone a bowl.

Once they had eaten, the four packed up and resumed their journey north.

They had been walking for a little over an hour when Frieren suddenly stopped on what appeared to be an ordinary stretch of solid ground.

She lowered her gaze, looking puzzled.

"Hm? Wait. Could the ground here be...?"

Haruto stopped as well and expanded his En.

Under his perception, the supposedly solid earth beneath their feet was actually little more than a suspended layer of soil.

And directly below it was the Magic-Sealing Ore deposit that Frieren’s group would have discovered regardless.

More importantly, something else lived deeper inside the deposit.

A Venomous Dragon.

Haruto had not seen so much as the shadow of a proper monster for days, so he had been looking forward to this one.

And this was a genuine dragon species.

It might be highly poisonous, but as long as he carefully removed the venom glands and contaminated tissue, there was no question that the remaining meat would be a premium ingredient.

Haruto was still considering how best to handle it when a faint cracking sound came from beneath their feet.

A moment later, the entire layer of earth collapsed.

The ground vanished beneath all four of them, opening into a pitch-black hole with no visible bottom.

Weightlessness seized their bodies as they began falling.

Fortunately, Frieren and Fern reacted immediately.

Both cast flying magic and stabilized themselves in midair, then applied levitation magic to Haruto and Stark, stopping their descent before they plunged into the darkness below.

Haruto hung there with a mildly helpless expression.

Over the past several days of studying under Frieren, he had learned quite a few useful spells in addition to the folk magic he originally wanted.

Flying magic was among them.

Unfortunately, the flying magic used in this world had originally been copied directly from demons.

The physical structure and mana circulation of demons differed greatly from those of humans, which meant the spell came with inherent flaws when used by human mages.

It demanded intense concentration and consumed enormous amounts of mana.

Even Frieren could not maintain it indefinitely.

So although Haruto had been prepared for the ground to collapse, he still had not managed to activate the spell quickly enough.

"The ground underneath us was hollow after all."

Frieren stared down into the dark cavern below with an exasperated expression.

"Wetlands really do have the most annoying foundations."

She had barely finished speaking when something went wrong again.

Both Frieren and Fern’s expressions changed.

They could clearly feel their flying magic beginning to fail.

The levitation spells supporting Haruto and Stark were collapsing as well.

Without magic holding them up, all four immediately began plummeting again.

Haruto tensed his body and covered himself in Nen, preparing to absorb the impact when he landed.

Fortunately, the cavern was not excessively deep.

Haruto and Stark struck the bottom first.

Haruto landed cleanly on both feet.

Stark landed face-first.

Before Frieren and Fern could crash down after them, Haruto quickly reached up and caught both women, sparing them from landing directly on top of Stark.

Once everyone was steady again, Haruto finally looked around.

They had fallen into an enormous underground cavern.

Magic-Sealing Ore filled the walls in clusters large and small, spreading so extensively that nearly every corner of the cavern contained it.

The mineral itself emitted a faint glow, softly illuminating the entire underground space.

Frieren’s expression turned to amazement.

She stepped closer to one of the walls and touched a nearby vein of ore.

"No wonder we found a piece all the way up on the surface."

"I’ve never seen a Magic-Sealing Ore deposit this large."

She also immediately understood why their flying spells had failed.

The deposit was simply too enormous.

They had entered the range where the sheer quantity of Magic-Sealing Ore nullified all magic.

"This really is a nice place."

Haruto looked around at the cavern full of priceless mineral and smiled.

Of course, taking the ore away was another matter.

Magic-Sealing Ore was one of the hardest known substances in this world.

Combined with its ability to nullify magic, that meant mining spells based on cutting or melting were completely useless against it, while ordinary physical tools could barely scratch its surface.

That was precisely why even when deposits were discovered, large-scale mining was practically impossible.

Most pieces circulating on the market were fragments that had naturally broken loose.

It was also the main reason the price of Magic-Sealing Ore remained so absurdly high.

Haruto drew his Melk Knife and coated the blade with Nen.

Then he slashed at a piece of Magic-Sealing Ore roughly the size of a millstone.

The strike carved only a finger-deep groove into the mineral.

Seeing that, Stark drew his battle-axe and gave the ore a heavy swing of his own.

The impact numbed both his hands.

The Magic-Sealing Ore remained completely unharmed.

Stark fell silent.

Haruto did not bother attacking it again.

He put away the Melk Knife.

The material deserved its reputation as one of the hardest substances still in existence. Haruto could cut it, technically, but doing so would take far too much time.

He had no intention of spending days carving pieces out of the cavern wall.

That did not mean he was giving up.

Instead, Haruto gathered Nen around his fist and smashed the ordinary stone supporting the ore.

The Magic-Sealing Ore itself might be nearly indestructible, but the rock around it was not.

After several punches, the surrounding stone shattered.

Haruto planted both hands around the millstone-sized chunk and pulled it free.

Once he found the trick, things became much easier.

He extracted several more large pieces in the same manner and stored them away.

When he felt he had collected enough for now, he finally stopped.

With the ore secured, the four began searching for a way out of the underground cavern.

Haruto could have simply returned through the hole they had fallen through.

But he had no intention of doing that.

The Venomous Dragon living deeper within the deposit was still waiting for him.

It was not often that such a promising ingredient practically presented itself.

There was no chance Haruto was leaving without it.

Unfortunately, the sheer size of the deposit soon became a problem.

The underground cavern was practically a gigantic maze.

Side passages and branching tunnels stretched in every direction, while the Magic-Sealing Ore veins seemed to continue without end.

Worse, none of them could use magic inside the deposit.

Detection spells were useless, so they had no way to scan the cavern’s structure.

Their exploration speed became painfully slow.

The four spent most of the day walking through the enclosed underground passages.

Without sunrise or sunset, the passage of time became strangely difficult to judge.

Fortunately, Haruto had a clock stored inside the Gourmet Restaurant, allowing them to keep track of the time and maintain a normal schedule.

The underground cavern did not contain only Magic-Sealing Ore either.

In one chamber, they discovered clusters of mushrooms glowing with a soft blue light.

They grew across the rock walls in dense patches, their rounded caps full and plump. Faint luminescence rippled across their surfaces like flowing water, casting a pale-blue sheen over the surrounding stone.

Haruto crouched down for a closer look.

He brushed his fingers along the gills, scraped away a tiny piece of flesh, smelled it carefully, then touched a drop of the mushroom’s juice to the tip of his tongue.

A moment later, he nodded with satisfaction.

"These glowing umbrella mushrooms aren’t poisonous."

"They’re edible."

"The flesh is tender and holds plenty of moisture. They’ll make good ingredients."

Once Haruto confirmed they were safe, the group harvested most of the cluster before continuing onward.

About another hour passed.

Then they discovered a large pile of animal bones.

Stark immediately tightened his grip on the axe strapped across his back, his body tensing as he went on guard.

Still, the presence of animal remains meant there had to be some way for living creatures to enter and leave this place.

That alone gave everyone a little relief.

At least they were not trapped in a completely sealed dead end.

Unfortunately, the bones also meant that something powerful probably lived nearby.

Haruto crouched and inspected the remains.

Several of the bones were abnormally thick, their surfaces covered in hardened layers of bone, with sharp protrusions extending like blades.

They clearly did not belong to ordinary animals.

They were monster remains.

Haruto’s breathing paused slightly.

He searched through the pile and quickly found several more skeletons with the same unmistakable characteristics.

Ordinary monsters disintegrated completely after death.

Normally, not even bones would remain behind.

Yet these monster skeletons had been preserved.

There was only one possible explanation.

The mana that had formed and stabilized their bodies had never dispersed after they died.