Ch.51Lower Level (1)

Slash-

The last ant that followed us into the lower level gets sliced by my sword and tumbles to the ground.

Perhaps because they hadn’t intended to come here but fell due to their own momentum, they couldn’t regain their senses, making them easy targets.

I stared at the hole connecting to the middle level for a moment, and only sheathed my sword after ensuring nothing else was coming through.

“We can rest now.”

“Huaaah… I’m exhausted…”

“Kerrrung…”

Upon my signal, Kitsune and Kirara released the tension built up in their bodies and collapsed onto the floor.

It was impressive that even in their exhausted state, the barrier they had deployed remained stable without wavering.

‘Well, if it fails, they’d get burned for sure, so they have no choice.’

I looked around. This was a space where lava flowed like water—despite being underground, it was incredibly bright due to the light emanating from the lava.

At the same time, the crushing pressure and the heat that was beginning to penetrate our flame resistance made it a place where we couldn’t let our guard down.

“For now, drink some water and rest.”

“Thank… you…”

After distributing water to the group, I also sat down in a suitable spot, took a drink, and caught my breath.

Originally, I had planned to stay longer in the middle level to adapt to the gravity, but the queen’s movement left us no choice.

‘Now I need to figure out what to do next.’

Ordinary ants can’t even approach the lower level. The reason they settled in the middle level was because that was their limit of adaptation.

Additionally, with monsters guarding the lower level, it was difficult for ants to find an opening to intrude.

However, the situation was different for the queen and her royal guards. The queen had enough power to challenge the boss monsters of the lower level.

Her royal guards also possessed the strength to move around in the lower level.

Therefore, if the queen led her royal guards down here, we would have to engage in another life-threatening chase.

“I don’t have anything prepared to offer the dragon in exchange for handling this…”

I did have some ideas, but I was skeptical about their feasibility.

After pondering for a while, I abandoned the plan to use the dragon and devised a new route—one that would allow for the fastest possible movement.

“If you’re all rested, let’s move again.”

“Five minutes… just five more minutes… please…”

“Kerung… kerrung…”

Kitsune and Kirara responded to my words with sleepy mumbles, apparently having fallen asleep while I was thinking.

It was only natural they were tired, having run non-stop from the upper level to the lower level.

“Mmnya… mmnya…”

Their peaceful sleeping faces were quite cute, as if they’d forgotten we were in one of the demonic realms, but we didn’t have the luxury of time to keep watching them.

Lilly seemed to sense this too, as she used her wind to shake them awake forcefully.

“This is no time to sleep so peacefully. Get up now.”

“Hueot, yes!”

Finally awake, Kitsune startled, wiped the drool from her mouth, and got to her feet.

Though slightly diminished after the brief rest, her face still showed signs of exhaustion that suggested she might collapse at any moment.

At the same time, I could sense her worry about whether we would continue moving for several more hours. To ease her concern, I explained the current plan.

“Our position isn’t ideal, so we’ll move a bit more before setting up camp.”

“Understood.”

While the queen would likely need time to prepare before coming down, making her immediate descent unlikely, our current location wasn’t suitable for camping.

As if to prove my point—

Boom—

Before we could even depart, one of the lower level’s monsters poked its head out from the lava.

“Is that… a frog?”

“That’s a Lava Frog. Be careful of its tongue when it opens its mouth.”

No sooner had my warning ended than the Lava Frog opened its mouth toward me.

Whoosh—

As the Lava Frog opened its mouth, its tongue shot out at an incredibly high speed that would have been difficult to react to without preparation.

The tongue, surrounded by flames and burning brightly—I immediately responded by swinging my sword, but due to the tongue’s slipperiness, I could only block it rather than cut it.

“That’s generally how it works. Most people who encounter a Lava Frog for the first time get caught by the tongue and can’t respond.

And once that happens, most die without being able to resist. Even if you’re resistant to flames, few people can survive inside lava.”

“I’ll be as careful as possible.”

Even as I explained about the Lava Frog to Kitsune, the attacks continued.

From the monster’s perspective, it was simply extending and retracting its tongue, but the speed was so fast that it felt like deflecting bullets.

‘Cutting it seems difficult indeed.’

The flammable substance coating not just the Lava Frog’s tongue but its entire body was what kept it constantly burning.

Its slippery nature gave it resistance to slashing, blunt attacks, and even piercing attacks.

‘Though it’s less effective against piercing.’

Having figured out the pattern of the shooting tongue, I twisted my body to the side at the right moment and stabbed my sword into the Lava Frog’s tongue.

Keugeugek—

The Lava Frog tried to quickly retract its tongue, but since I had embedded my sword in it and was holding firm, it was the Lava Frog itself that got pulled toward me.

“And since there might be other creatures near the lava, it’s safer to pull it out like this.”

After completely pulling the Lava Frog out, I surrounded my sword with sword energy and cut it in half.

It tried to struggle, but being already thrown into the air, it couldn’t do anything properly and perished.

“Now let’s move on. Since it’s our first day in the lower level, I’ll handle the monsters while teaching you how to deal with them.”

Since Kitsune was exhausted and many of the creatures here were difficult to handle without knowing the proper methods, I took the lead.

Most monsters in this lower level could live inside lava. Even those that didn’t live in lava could consume it.

In this place, water was nowhere to be found, and lava served as its substitute for these creatures.

And those that didn’t live inside lava mostly had flight capabilities.

“Kieeek—!!”

That firebird in the distance, flinging burning feathers, was no exception.

“I’ll need an enchant, please.”

After cutting down all the incoming feathers, I sent a slash that severed one of the flying creature’s wings, causing it to crash.

Boom—

The fallen creature tried to fly again with its remaining wing, but was soon devoured by a catfish-like creature that emerged from the nearby lava.

“Monsters in the lower level rarely walk on the ground. The reason is, as you just saw, they die if they expose themselves defensively.

And since there’s so little to eat in this place, they barely move until they go hunting.”

This was also why ants couldn’t come to the lower level. No matter how numerous they were, they lacked the ability to swim through lava.

Consequently, they would only serve as easy prey for the lower level monsters.

“Didn’t you say it was safe if we just stayed within territories?”

“Well, we are safe now, aren’t we? The occasional attack from a single monster shouldn’t be a problem for you if you’re in good condition.”

In reality, the types of monsters don’t change based on territory. They just react more sensitively to external intrusions.

Since these creatures minimize movement to conserve energy, they instinctively try to eat as much as possible when food is available.

If a monster from outside entered a territory, the surrounding monsters would typically swarm, tear it apart, and devour it.

“Right now, we’re moving between territories, so only a few hungry ones come to test us.

The well-fed ones are keeping quiet to avoid being torn apart if they accidentally enter another’s territory.”

It wasn’t what you’d call a normal ecosystem. But considering the location—essentially the bottom of a mine—it made sense.

Without herbivores to occupy the bottom of the food chain, this place was destined for extinction.

‘Originally, there might have been food supply from outside… but that ended when the Dwarf Kingdom was built above.’

If not for the dragon, there likely wouldn’t have been anything left in this lower level’s ecosystem.

She served as a deterrent, preventing conflicts between the other four boss monsters that made up this place.

After traveling for about an hour, we discovered a cave. It was positioned at a safe distance from the lava pits, reducing the threat of attacks.

“That looks good. Let’s set up camp there for tonight.”