Chapter CLIII

The ping, ping of Axe's pickaxe striking the stone echoes through the mine tunnel as he keeps chipping away at the rock. It's an irritating sound, but knowing what might be revealed once we get through this blockage makes it considerably easier to tolerate.

The guy's idea of buying some digging equipment is proving quite important now, visibly speeding up the work.

Of course, this is after taking care of the most important matter: sealing off access to the lower levels with a series of wooden planks and a few large rocks we took from around here.

But I have to admit that even I don't feel comfortable whenever I walk past it. For now, I'm assuming the monster down there can't get through what we've put in its way. After all, in the game, it never got past the wooden door, and that door wasn't any sturdier than what we've built there.

On the other hand, it was a game, and I've already found several differences between that damn game and this wretched world.

I just want to find the crystals, get enough money to fund the girls and their protection, and preferably keep some gold for myself.

And I don't think I need to go down to the lower levels to achieve that. Which would mean facing that creature. Although I expect a few skeletons with flaming swords could cut through those tentacles like a hot knife through butter. I have no way of actually confirming that before actually trying it. Which would leave me with nothing but fireballs for protection in the end. And I've already discovered that using those in an enclosed tunnel can be dangerous.

In the worst-case scenario, I might even bring the tunnels down on top of myself.

So there's no point in taking stupid risks.

Looking ahead once more at the blockage, which is slowly being cleared, I feel that this is the right way forward.

"Shame the collapse was bigger than I expected," I have to mutter quietly to myself.

Even so, Grumpy, who is standing beside me loading the mule with some of the material Axe has managed to remove, answers with a bitter, "Yeah."

With that, we both sigh at the same time, realising that this is still going to take a while.

As Axe's pickaxe rings out with another ping, I remember our trip to the village to buy it. It had been quick and somewhat uncomfortable, at least for me. Every time someone in that village recognised me and called me Alveric, someone had to struggle to suppress the amused smile spreading across their face.

Apparently, my little adventure and almost entirely new identity had become the talk of the small village. Which isn't all that surprising, considering they probably don't have much else to talk about.

I even ran into poor Lora, who, this time, didn't mistake me for her nephew. At least, not initially. Unfortunately, she was less energetic that day, simply staring into the distance. But as I was walking away, she called me Alveric once again and scolded me for not greeting my aunt.

In the end, she simply told me to go on playing with my friends. As though I were a little kid.

All in all, everything had gone well. Besides the wood and equipment, which had unfortunately attracted some attention to our activities, we had also bought some more fresh food. Not that our supplies had diminished much during the short time since our last visit to the village. But since we were there anyway, we might as well restock.

Only when a pang, rather than a ping, echoes through the tunnel that I properly turn my attention back to the stone wall Axe is trying to break through.

I see the man step back as a larger rock rolls across the floor. Where I assume it had been, there is now nothing but darkness.

"I think we've reached the other side," Axe comments, sounding somewhat surprised.

Meanwhile, I almost instinctively activate Ortan's Shield.

And it's a good thing I do, because when Axe tries to approach again, with me following behind, a blue shape suddenly appears out of nowhere. One of the beetles!

Fortunately, despite the surprise, I have just enough time to kick the beetle, which seems intent on attacking us.

The kick doesn't do much damage, but it creates an opening for Axe to raise the pickaxe still in his hands and bring it down on the creature before it can recover.

And so ends yet another heroic battle.

A few moments pass before Grumpy finally breaks the silence with a tense, "So these are the beetles!"

He hadn't yet had the pleasure of seeing one while it was still alive.

Once the silence has been broken, Axe is the next to speak.

"What do we do now?"

Both men turn towards me.

In principle, we've reached the other side. But this hole isn't much use to us.

"We keep removing the rocks. We need more room to get through."

They both nod, and Axe resumes working.

However, both men proceed more slowly now. Obviously wary of another attack. Even I feel tense, keeping my eyes fixed on the opening in case something else decides to emerge.

For a moment, I even consider summoning a skeleton to provide some more security. The problem is that, given how many days we've already wasted moving dirt and rocks, I can tell widening this hole is still going to take a while. Spending magic that might be more important later, should something appear that genuinely requires a skeleton, would simply be foolish.

For now, Ortan's Shield is more important.

The next attack only comes after we've changed shifts. Blondie is the one removing rocks from around the increasingly wide opening when another beetle suddenly launches itself at him.

Fortunately, the boy jumps away quickly, and Carrion immediately reacts by launching an ice spear at the creature. The attack stuns the beetle, allowing me and Blondie to finish it off.

The other two had only moved a little farther down the tunnel, too anxious to venture any farther away. They return when the commotion starts.

Axe then volunteers to take over Blondie's work, claiming he's better prepared to deal with situations like this.

Once the opening is wide enough for me to squeeze through to the other side, I order everyone to stop and announce that I'm going to explore. After all, there's little reason to keep putting in all this effort if there's nothing of value on the other side.

Everyone offers to help. But in the end, Carrion makes the most sense. She points out that her ice spears can reach the enemy from a distance, avoiding close combat. And considering the alternative would be my fireballs, which might risk killing everyone trapped on the other side, that's certainly preferable!

Before attempting to cross, I summon a skeleton on the other side to keep watch. Then I make my way through, with the woman following behind me.

The tunnel continues for a little while, but we soon encounter three more beetles. For safety's sake, I decide to summon another skeleton. In the end, the two undead quickly cut the creatures to pieces.

And then, shortly after the beetles, we finally find what we've been looking for.

On one side of the tunnel, embedded in the wall, are around six pale-blue crystals. Each emits a faint but steady light and is roughly the size of one of my clenched fists.

Magic crystals.

Carrion and I manage to extract only one of them from the wall with our bare hands. The remaining being too stuck in the wall.

I almost laugh with happiness. Finally, something seems to be going right!

But in the end, caution wins out. It's better to wait until these crystals turn into actual gold. This could still take just as long as selling those giant spider eggs.

And with that, I declare this expedition a success.

Even so, we continue exploring.

Only a little farther ahead, the tunnel opens into a cavern. On the far wall, we find a large number of crystals, although they all seem to be somewhat smaller than the last ones.

Carrion, by my side, can only say, "Wow!!"