Players' NPC Big Daddy

Gold-Eating Ants were categorized as wasp-type insect Monsters.

Although their name suggested they were insects that ate minerals and metals, they were actually absolute carnivores.

To them, metal was a material for growth. They would crush metal, ingest it into a specialized stomach for decomposition and absorption, and then grow a carapace corresponding to the metal.

The carapace of Gold-Eating Ants was still quite valuable, serving as an excellent forging material. The only trouble was that the rarer and more powerful the metal they consumed, the stronger the Gold-Eating Ants became, and the greater the power of their innate corrosive attacks.

Gold-Eating Ants that had consumed Refined Gold could spit out corrosive fluid capable of causing Destruction to all equipment made of materials inferior to Refined Gold.

However, the Gold-Eating Ants in the mines beneath the Broken Steel Mountain Range wouldn’t be too strong; the corrosive fluid they spat out couldn’t even corrode stone.

SQUELCH—

With a single stroke of his Sword, Blaze managed to Chop off one of the Gold-Eating Ant’s legs.

A slender leg fell to the ground, and purplish-red Curse Fire ignited at the severed wound. However, the Gold-Eating Ant acted as if it hadn’t noticed it was missing a leg, completely unaffected as it crawled at high speed along the stone walls in the narrow mine.

”Lethal Execution is useless! Is it because of their insectoid structure?”

If it were any other animal, having a limb chopped off would result in Madness-inducing spurts of blood and instant death, but only a pitifully small amount of fluid oozed from this Gold-Eating Ant’s severed section.

Natural enemies.

Although he didn’t know why, there was no doubt that insect-type Monsters, just like non-living Monsters, were the natural enemies of Lethal Execution.

Fortunately, he discovered this problem relatively early.

Blaze returned the Twisted Greatsword to his inventory and switched to a dagger, which was more suitable for use in narrow spaces.

”Black Shadow Stealth.”

The feeling of this Skill was very strange, like sinking into an ocean of Shadows. Perhaps because his Night Pupil Skill Level was too low, Blaze couldn’t clearly see the Shadow World.

However, he had Visual Sharing. Through the chicken’s eyes, every movement of the Gold-Eating Ant was incredibly clear, to the point where he could even foresee its next step.

”Dark Assault.”

[Launch a high-speed strike in the dark, increasing the critical hit rate when striking a vital spot.]

Blaze was like a shark swimming in the Shadow. Finding the right moment, he lunged out of the darkness and struck the Gold-Eating Ant’s neck with a single Slash.

He had learned this from goblins—when facing an enemy in Heavy Armor, one had to stab into the gaps of the Armor.

A one-hit kill.

But that was the standard for mammals. The Gold-Eating Ant’s health bar had undoubtedly bottomed out, yet it remained alive and kicking. Startled, Blaze retreated and opened up the distance.

Fortunately, the Gold-Eating Ant struggled for a while before collapsing to the ground and turning into dust, vanishing.

[Arthropod Neural Tenacity]

[When more than 75% of limbs remain, normal activity can be maintained for 10 seconds even if the head falls off.]

”Is this an exclusive Skill of the insect race?” Relieved, Blaze picked up the grayish-black carapace from the ground.

[Ant Carapace containing trace amounts of iron Elements]

”Well, this iron content is very low.”

Blaze pinched both sides of the carapace and bent it outward, finding it felt quite brittle. Undoubtedly, it could only be used to make farm tools. If handed over to the Fire Rabbit Forging House, it could probably be sold for around 1 silver coin.

After storing the carapace in his inventory, Blaze continued advancing along the tunnel.

A century or two of abandonment had turned this place into a Heaven for Monsters. Gold-Eating Ants, Spider Monsters, and Miner Rats multiplied with Madness in the tunnels. From time to time, there were also Necromancer-type Monsters transformed from Dwarves or Travelers who had died in the past.

Necromancer-type Monsters were more troublesome. Lethal Execution was useless, while Slash and Piercing Attack didn’t have much Effect; only blunt strikes and Skills with the ”Crush” Effect could effectively repel them.

Of course, the simplest method was a Magic Attack of the fire, water, or holy Attributes. Unfortunately, his Intelligence was too low to learn Magic.

”Is this the location marked by Flying Brick?”

With Flying Brick’s Map, Blaze quickly found the marked location. It was a massive cavern with numerous stone pillars standing crisscrossed like support columns.

”It should be this one, right? Here I go!”

[Equipped: Round Shield decorated with a Space Gemstone]

Blaze didn’t hesitate. He equipped the Shield, and before the chicken had time to speak, he impatiently charged at the stone pillar.

Jump, flip, step on the Shield, unequip the Shield—and then he crashed into the stone pillar so hard he saw stars.

”That hurts!”

The chicken’s eye twitched; it was truly the kind of impact that hurt just to watch.

”I say, how about...”

”Damn it! The movement seems a bit off!” Annoyed, Blaze sat up, raised his Shield, and charged at the stone pillar again. This time, he crashed into the pillar before he could even unequip the Shield.

”Human, you...”

CLANG—

”That hurts! Damn it! I flipped too far!”

”Um...”

CLANG—

”That hurts! Ah—is the timing wrong?!”

CLANG—

”That hurts! I think I’m about to succeed!”

CLANG—

”That hurts! My butt seems to have clipped in a bit!”

...

Dull crashing sounds continuously echoed within the mine. After an unknown amount of time, the chicken finally couldn’t take it anymore and flapped its wings to block Blaze’s path.

”Enough, Human! I won’t allow you to meaninglessly hurt yourself like this!”

”Hurt? I have this.” Blaze took out a Healing Potion. This was Herbie’s sponsorship before he set out to level up; one bottle was enough to fully restore his health.

”That’s not what I meant.” The chicken snatched the Healing Potion from Blaze’s hand in frustration. ”You can get quite a bit of Experience Value in this mine, so why do you keep trying this wrong, unreasonable technique?”

”Wrong and unreasonable...?” Blaze paused. Stroking the Gemstone on the round Shield that flickered with a mysterious silver light, he fell into a long silence.

”...This might be the decisive difference between us and the Foreigners.”

”Huh?”

”Yamata, the Sky Giant tribe, the Titan Giants—they defeated so many natural disasters that we had already accepted as correct and reasonable existences.

”Foreigners are never subjected to the restraint of common sense, always whimsically challenging failures and mistakes. That’s why Foreigners can achieve things we deem impossible... They are free.

”And I yearn to be like them.”

Facing the stone pillar, Blaze raised the round Shield and charged toward the wall with all his Power, just like before.

”Wait!”

In a voice only he could hear, he muttered under his breath.

”I can understand it.

”Perhaps leaving Balkan City that day was wrong and unreasonable, but the scenery behind the wall named ’wrong and unreasonable’ is truly beautiful.

”I want to see it again—the beauty I witnessed that day.

”I want to feel it again—that almost transcendent liberation.”

Blaze charged toward the stone pillar, the movements of Flying Brick surfacing in his mind.

Jump, flip, step on the Shield, and unequip the Shield the moment he hits the wall!

Even though he had battered himself black and blue time and time again, Blaze kept his eyes wide open, absolutely refusing to let himself miss even a single second.

His vision plunged into darkness, but that wasn’t because he had knocked himself out. It was a success!

An unimaginable pressure washed over him; every bone in his body seemed to tremble.

That was the gravity of common sense and rationality.

He endured it, overcame it, and finally broke free from the darkness, shooting all the way up into the sky.

He didn’t jump using formidable Power, he didn’t use flight Magic, and he wasn’t sent flying by an attack. Instead, he shot into the sky in a pure, wrong, and inconceivable manner.

He plunged into the clouds and arrived in the sky!

It was an unparalleled sense of release, the liberation of his soul.

”Hahaha—it’s a success—I did it—”

Blaze couldn’t help but spread his arms and laugh heartily as gravity pulled him back down, plummeting toward the Earth.

”Human!”

The chicken rushed toward Blaze, kicking up sonic booms along the way. It grabbed Blaze’s Chest Armor and flapped its wings desperately.

BOOM—

A massive crater was smashed into the peak of the Broken Steel Mountain Range.

Lying in the crater, Blaze was clearly on his last breath, yet he was still laughing loudly.

”Are you... Did you hit your head and go stupid, Human?” Lying on Blaze’s chest, the panting chicken pecked at his helmet in annoyance.

”Hahaha, cough, cough—” Blaze struggled to sit up. He lifted the chicken with both hands and shouted happily, ”More importantly, look! I did it! I stepped over what’s wrong and unreasonable and soared into the sky!”

”Human...”

The chicken stared, mesmerized, at Blaze’s sparkling eyes beneath the helmet, remaining silent for a long time.

”Chicken?”

”Ah? Cough, cough, cough. Um...” The chicken snapped back to its senses and coughed, hiding its face with a wing. ”You still fell down and almost died from the fall.”

”So what?” Blaze tossed the chicken into the air. Startled, it flapped its wings frantically and nearly crashed to the ground.

Blaze looked up at the star-studded sky and spread his arms wide.

”Even though my soul and body have landed on the Earth, I have already left my mark in the sky!

”I will go back.”