episode_0199

Petra and I explored the underground tunnels of the Dark Forest to find out why pure black iron appears naturally.

Then, I could see the red giant ant and the white giant ant fighting.

“Petra It’s dangerous, so don’t leave my side.”

“Hey, don’t be so nosy. If someone sees you, they’ll think you’re my dad.

“Here it says, I am your father. I have to take responsibility for you. What would I do to Tom if you get hurt?”

“Huh? Your sense of responsibility has grown stronger since Ciel was born.”

“Of course. Our daughter is so cute, and you can see that, but when I see Ciel, I feel a sense of responsibility.”

“Really? I envy your daughter. I wish our old man had done the same to me.”

“Tom would love you too much. Tom is a tsundere, so he doesn’t express it.”

“What is tsundere?”

“He’s a person with two faces.”

“Hmm? Isn’t it bad if the outside and inside are different?”

“Tsundere is someone who only changes their appearance and inside for the person they love.”

“What is that?

“That’s the human mind.”

“Ugh, such an old man-like remark.”

“That’s right, sir. He’s the father.”

I chatted with Petra while waiting for the Giant Ants’ fight to end.

Then I saw a strange scene.

“The white ones are Su-dun, and the red ones are Hwa-dun.”

The white giant ants, which live off the sap of the black tree, attacked the red giant ants by spraying water cannons from their mouths, while the red giant ants, in return, breathed flames from their mouths.

Even if it’s a monster, I wonder if an insect can do that.

“Cyan, look over there.”

In the direction Petra pointed with her hand, the flames spat out by the red giant ant began to turn black when they met the water.

“What the red guy spat out became minerals.”

“It seems that giant ants have a habit of spitting out what they’ve eaten and then attacking.”

Just as the white giant ant eats the sap of the black-necked tree and spits out the water, the red giant ant appears to eat dissolved minerals before attacking.

The battle between the two monsters, which had been sluggish, ended with both of them retreating.

Petra and I took advantage of this gap and checked out the new minerals he had created while they were away.

“Cyan, this is also black iron.”

“So this is how high-purity black iron is made.”

It was amazing. Something that was technically difficult to implement because of the monster ecosystem just came out.

‘Surely, if it weren’t for the black-necked white giant ant, I wouldn’t have been able to cut it down.’

In the same sense, the red giant ant was a necessary entity for refining black iron.

‘Even if there is a lot of black iron, it is too much.’

As I wandered through the underground tunnels, I could see the battles between the giant ants, and the resulting high-purity black iron was spread all over the place.

Perhaps, just as there are many black trees in the Dark Forest, there is a lot of black iron buried underground in the Dark Forest.

“How much is this?”

Petra, who knew the rarity of black iron, cheered.

For her, a blacksmith, it’s like gold is strewn all over the place.

“Cyan, I have something I want to make, can you give me just this one?

“Well, since you’re my blacksmith, take as much as you want.”

“Thank you! I should try making a famous sword with this too.”

“Are you also greedy for the famous sword?”

“Of course! I’m a blacksmith too! I’m going to make a masterpiece like the black bow made by an old man.”

“I don’t use that these days.”

As Clara, the owner of the Black Palace, neared the time of giving birth, she stopped hunting for a while.

‘I don’t think I’ll ever leave the hunting to my women again.’

If Clara and Vivian wanted to hunt, they would go together as if it were a date, but I don’t think they would be sent out on a dangerous hunt.

In that sense, the black bow that Tom made was no longer of any use.

“Xian, don’t you want a famous sword too?”

“Huh, I have a famous sword. And two of them.”

I took out Robera and Almas from .

“I’ve known Rober since before, but what is that thing that looks like a lump?”

“Godrum? It’s a sword from the mythical era that was given directly to the king by the goddess.”

“Really?”

“Then, I will lie to you with a sword?”

Of course, he is a minor god worshipped only by the northern tribesmen, not the twelve gods, and the fact that he is also a troll king is hidden.

It is not a good sight for me, a duke and warrior of the Holy Kingdom, to be carrying the sword of another god.

“Can I touch it?”

“Yeah.”

“Wow… This is a sword made by God.”

Petra’s eyes sparkled like a little girl looking at a sparkling jewel as she observed Almas closely.

‘He usually seems like a cheerful boy, but when I see him like this, Petra seems like a cute girl.’

While Petra was unable to take her eyes off Almas, I put all the black iron scattered across the ground into .

‘Next time I have to go to the red ones’ nest.’

Just as the white giant ants were able to use the blackwood as firewood by drinking its sap, it’s clear that the red giant ants will also be able to obtain more.

…

“Cyan, do you really have to do this?”

Nawa and Petra disguised themselves as the shells of recently dead red giant ants.

It may not seem like much of a camouflage on the outside, but considering the Giant Ants’ habit of distinguishing between species by smell, it was a good strategy.

“Of course. If you don’t like it, I’ll stop time and put it in your . ”

“I hate that even more.”

“It’s okay. When you come to your senses, it’ll be over.”

“Do you know what’s going to happen in the meantime?”

“I won’t do anything to you.”

“Huh? Not that! You can’t miss out on something interesting there!”

“Oh, that was it?”

I urged Petra to enter the , but she vehemently refused.

It seems that there is some resistance to miracles.

“Then, just trust me and follow me. I will protect you no matter what happens.”

“…Sian, you say such cringey lines without any problem.”

“I’m used to saying things like this because there are only women around me. Even if you ogle me, you have to endure it.”

“A woman… Then, if an old man followed you, would you have said something different?”

“No, Tom is precious to me too, so I would have done the same. Tom would have liked it, too.”

“Ugh, it makes me sick to imagine it.”

“Suddenly?”

Petra covered her mouth with her hand, feeling really annoyed.

Hey, hey, you’re not a teenager, so don’t be offended by this.

“Hey, don’t throw up. We’ll be arriving at their nest soon.”

“Okay, I got it.”

Petra barely managed to hold back her vomiting, but it looked like she was having a hard time.

“I’ll do it just this once.”

“Huh? What is this hot air?”

“It’s vitality. It’s Hestia’s miracle. Your body will be filled with strength. ”

“Somehow I feel like your energy is entering my body.”

“Hey, be careful what you say. It’s not okay for a grown woman to say something like that.”

“Kukuku, that was just like what dad said.”

Petra began to laugh, feeling somewhat better. Hestia’s vitality was truly a fraud.

“The joke is over here, and I’m going back to the nest.”

“Okay.”

I entered the red giant ant nest while holding hands with Petra.

Curiously enough, the nest and structure of the white giant ant were similar.

However, because their diet was different, there were leftover minerals scattered around, and sometimes there were what appeared to be monster corpses.

Seeing that, Petra seemed to be curious about something and started asking me questions.

“Cyan, I have a question.”

“What is it?”

“Why is that monster so big when it eats that kind of stuff? It doesn’t even eat meat like a warbear.”

“Well, how should I explain this?”

Petra’s question was similar to the one I asked my father, An, when I was five years old.

At that time, my father was embarrassed and couldn’t answer properly. I guess he didn’t know that he would ask such a question at such a young age.

‘I should have asked when I was older.’

I had to live with the reputation of being a genius because I couldn’t hold back my curiosity. Even now, I can’t forget the look in my father’s eyes that was filled with anticipation for me.

Dad, I’m not a genius. I’m just a past life person who was born with a good spoon in my mouth.

Anyway, thanks to Ellie, the wisdom bag, I now know a certain amount.

“The reason most monsters are big is because their stock is huge.”

“Mana?”

“The sap in black wood and black iron, which contain a lot of impurities, also contain mana.”

Mana is the smallest unit of divinity, and is also the only means by which humans who lack the power to control divinity can become stronger.

“Monsters grow and become stronger when they eat mana.”

“Then it keeps getting stronger?”

“I know that each individual has a limit. It’s the same for people.”

Of course, humans don’t become stronger by simply consuming mana like monsters, but it does have some effect.

Thanks to the high-concentration mana water flowing down from the Titan Mountains, the village of Rugeron has a relatively large number of beautiful women compared to other villages.

The red giant ant dug the ground to find a vein of ore, then melted the vein with the flame coming out of its mouth and consumed the ore.

At that sight, Petra seemed anxious, perhaps feeling that the black iron resources were being depleted.

“If it’s like that, I don’t think any minerals will remain.”

“Look carefully, I’m spitting out what I ate.”

After the mana intake was finished, the entity immediately vomited out the mineral and took it somewhere.

“Is it written separately?”

“Let’s follow.”

It was dangerous inside the nest, but Petra and I couldn’t hold back our curiosity so we went further inside.

I usually wondered if this was food suitable for feeding to puppies.

But there was something completely different from what I expected.

“Throwing what you were eating off a cliff?”

“Deeper than the underground tunnel.”

Whether they were doing this ritual periodically or not, the red giant ants would all throw the heated minerals onto the cliff.

As if dedicating something to someone.

Petra and I looked at it carefully and concentrated to see if there was something deep underground.

Then, one of the red giant ants was pushed by the group and fell to the ground.

The guy tried to resist by breathing fire, but gravity was no match for him.

At that moment.

Kwajik!

As if the bright light caught its eye, a giant mouth hidden deep underground swallowed the fallen red giant ant.

“City, City.”

“Be quiet.”

I immediately covered Petra’s mouth in case he noticed.

‘I’m going crazy. Why is someone like that suddenly appearing?’

The giant ant, which was over 5m long, was so big that it looked like an ant, and you could be sure that it was a sacred smell.

One of the beings that the Emperor was so wary of, and one that could turn the continent into a wasteland.

One of the ghosts was living and breathing near my village.

‘The real estate market is a mess.’