Chapter 237: Stronger Than Anyone 2

Listening to the explanation, there was a reason why the stone dwarves were in such an uproar.

The reason was that Vacuum Stone, a special ore that spews out mana and pulverizes the surrounding rocks and earth, required a specific way to be used.

Naturally, for a race made entirely of stone, misusing something that could annihilate the surrounding stone would lead to a disaster beyond the expression “industrial accident.”

“And the flappers just threw it down the cliff path?”

“They used it to collapse the cliff.”

“Feathered troublemakers, as always.”

Given that it was a mana-emitting ore, it felt like a modern-day industrial engineer needing to handle a cutting-edge machine with extreme caution, similar to a mage or an alchemist.

But then, these feathered old hags threw it at the cliff in an attempt to block intruders, flipping the stone dwarves’ insides out.

Imagine the feeling of researchers watching hired thugs occupying a lab and shooting millions of won worth of equipment with slingshots as if they were holding a sit-in*[1].

While it’s unlikely for hired thugs to occupy a lab, it felt somewhat similar.

Throwing a precious tool capable of creating underground cities just to block a path and having it roll off the cliff seemed wasteful.

“If it’s that kind of item, we could shoot it down or deflect it with magic when it flies at us.”

“Indeed, perhaps I was too scared of something I hadn’t seen before. If we cut it out of the air before it hits the ground, it might not activate. It surely won’t disintegrate the metal that makes up the sword, right?”

Anyway, according to Old Bobo, it wasn’t some black hole bomb that annihilated everything around it, but more of a digging tool that, depending on the user’s settings, could spare valuable ores while grinding up ordinary dirt and rocks.

We could shoot it down with arrows or bat it away like a baseball without our equipment or bodies being annihilated.

…Well, it’s unlikely that a mere mob monster on the 43rd floor would have a pattern that ignores defense and disintegrates bodies or equipment.

That would be magic worthy of a Demon King.

“However, Vacuum Stones are quite rare, hard to find in cities, and to think it was discovered just a few days away. Hmm, this means…”

The stone dwarves were still buzzing with stories about Granny Pipi’s city, and Old Bobo, stopping mid-explanation, began to ponder deeply.

Sensing something big was coming, Han Se-ah sneakily approached me with the camera.

Even when she’s clueless, her mana control and sense for streaming are beast-level.

As the camera persistently filmed the featureless stone head, viewers started getting excited, while Old Bobo murmured to himself.

Granny Pipi, city, squishies, Vacuum Stone, flappers, passage—

“Squishies, could you do me a favor?”

“Of course!”

There was no reason to refuse Old Bobo’s request, which came after much contemplation.

Whether it was due to his leadership or a trait peculiar to stone dwarves, the others quickly quieted down.

Our party surrounded Old Bobo, and the stone dwarves surrounded us, creating a peculiar standoff.

Despite his request, Old Bobo hesitated again, prompting everyone to maintain silence and gaze at his short stone head.

“Can you somehow manage to get a few Vacuum Stones from those flappers? I think it’s time to open a path to another city.”

“Another city?! He said another city!”

“Old Bobo has made up his mind!”

His request was, as half expected, for us to bring back Vacuum Stones.

If they were throwing them near their nests along the cliff paths, then snagging a few should do the trick.

Since they seemed to emit mana waves, we would need to stop by the magic tower to buy a magical device to cover the Vacuum Stone.

As I mentally organized what needed to be done, the chat went wild as usual.

Reading through, they were arguing over something trivial again.

“Who knows? Maybe a storyline where my claim that we’re inside the tower becomes believable if breaking through the passage fails?”

“Fussing again!”

At least climbing through cave stairs won’t be boring.

The woman, who narrowly escaped being renamed from Han Se-ah to Comrade Han Se-ah by her viewers, pulled up the quest window to divert their attention.

“Look at this! So, there are two things we can make from this. One is that there could be a city on each floor. So, from the 41st to the 42nd, from the 42nd to the 43rd floor… like this, connecting passages between cities. What’s the point? It’s for delivering goods.”

“The other? The other possibility is there might be underground monsters other than Harpies. Do you really think we’ll keep digging through the ground without a single fight and pop up on the 50th floor?

“If we dig through the ground, we’ll likely encounter something that threatens the stone dwarves, and we’ll end up protecting them,”

Viewers rushed to the newly updated quest window, eager to let their imaginations run wild.

They stopped trying to pin Han Se-ah as a North Korean soldier and began spamming the chat to prove their delusions were correct.

Thanks to them, even the climb up the stairs away from the underground city was far from boring.

“Roland, do you think we can move to another floor if the stone dwarves dig a passage?”

“Well… Maybe they’ll realize it’s impossible and despair. After all, this is indeed inside the tower.”

Climbing the stairs, the party, filled with curiosity, started discussing the same topic as the chat.

Could the stone dwarves really dig a passage to another city and reach it?

According to Old Bobo, there was his city on the 41st floor and Granny Pipi’s city on the 43rd.

While adventurers could cross mountains through gates in just over a day, it could feel like an eternity for stone dwarves digging through.

No matter how much they dug, they might never see the end, and perhaps the unknown power inside the tower… that is, the game system set by BB Games, might block them like a wall.

“Maybe something like a gate will open if they manage to dig through.”

“That’s a possibility. The tower is, after all, a realm of the unknown, so anything happening wouldn’t be strange. …Still, I hope those Harpies don’t end up outside the tower. Flying monsters are just too troublesome.”

Grace immediately responded.

Recalling our chase after orcs, she voiced her concerns.

Indeed, didn’t we end up letting a few orcs slip through and had to hand them over to the kingdom’s knights?

The one infecting wanderers outside with the same virus as the tower’s orcs might still be roaming the northwestern wilderness.

“Orcs, maybe, but I don’t think Harpies will leave. Because we found their nest, and seeing how desperately they struggled to defend it, they don’t seem likely to leave their nest and go outside the tower.”

“Irene seems right. In the north, monsters that attacked domains didn’t cling to nests but expanded their territories.”

As we shared stories, we reached the end of the stairs and a cave appeared.

As expected, the dark Harpies didn’t approach now that we were far from their nest on the mountain.

Thus, Han Se-ah set out of the tower to learn magic.

[1] a form of protest in which demonstrators occupy a place, refusing to leave until their demands are met.