"Boom—!"
The earth-shaking tremors resonated through the entire mine tunnel and also blew away with the noisy dust outside the mine.
Outside the entrance of the North Wind Mine, next to the dilapidated inn under the rugged mountain road, a cargo-covered wagon stopped by the roadside.
A few men who looked like adventurers gazed up the mountain road at the rolling dust, their eyes filled with shock and uncertainty.
"Is this... an earthquake?"
"It doesn't seem like it... I've never heard of earthquakes near Thunder City. And they say earthquakes shake a whole area at once, but this tremor clearly isn't that strong."
An experienced adventurer cast his gaze toward the distant forest; the birds dwelling there were not startled into flight.
Clearly.
The only affected place was this mine.
"Could it be someone mining there?"
A long-haired young man with a short bow on his back grinned, but the middle-aged man beside him with a shortsword shook his head.
"Impossible... that place has been monster territory for ages."
As the leader of the group, Jack said nothing but frowned, weighing the pros and cons, wondering if it was worth getting involved in this mess for a long-time comrade.
Sitting on the wagon, the old driver looked at Jack with his eyebrows knitted tight, his voice tense as he spoke.
"Master... last time I only brought them here, do you think I can leave now?"
He was just a driver after all.
If it weren't for the Black Snake Gang finding him, he wouldn't even want to mention that he had seen the man with the silver scimitar last night.
Seeing that it was getting late, Jack finally made a decision and tossed a coin into the wagon.
"Wait for me here until the sun sets... remember, after it's completely set."
The driver's face showed a bitter expression.
Although he didn't want to meddle in the chaos, he dare not offend these bloodthirsty ruffians as he still needed to make a living, so he could only nod in agreement meekly.
Jack waved his hand, signaling to his brothers to get ready to go up the mountain, but then he saw the oldest adventurer in the team staring intently at the nearby inn, his brows tightly furrowed.
"What's wrong, Villu, did you find something?"
Hearing the boss's voice, the adventurer nodded and said thoughtfully,
"This inn, someone has been here recently."
...
Deep in the mine, the brutal slaughter had ended, replaced by a one-sided massacre.
Following the broken tunnel, the surging rat horde rushed into the spider-web-filled labyrinth, looking from a distance like a black waterfall falling into the abyss.
Facing the food that had fallen from the sky, the Earth Cave Spiders lying at the entrance of the first layer of the maze leaped up excitedly, charging through the rats and feasting to their heart's content.
And facing the hunting of the Earth Cave Spiders, the ratmen who fell into the maze had no power to fight back; they were simply being slaughtered one-sidedly.
As time passed, the ratmen who had launched a charge towards the Demon King Territory soon died or were wounded in great numbers.
The remaining ratmen no longer had the strength to maintain their dense assault, and seeing that victory was hopeless, they scattered and fled.
The tide of rats was not unsolvable.
When most of the ratmen were no longer being swept forward, that destructive charge that annihilated their opponents as well as themselves naturally ceased to exist.
The Earth Cave Spiders in the lower labyrinth of the mine had been fed almost to satisfaction.
Facing the rats running everywhere, they no longer continued to tear at them but captured them with spider silk, hanging them in the webs like "rat rations" wrapped up like rice dumplings.
Storing prey that they couldn't immediately finish was one of the habits of the Earth Cave Spiders.
The milky white spider webs flew wildly around the pitch-black great hall, like machine guns going off.
The scene was spectacular.
Some players watched as their SAN points plummeted, unable to help themselves from covering their chins, making retching noises but vomiting nothing.
Meanwhile, other players were too engrossed to notice, excitedly cheering for the hard-won victory, clapping with each other... even though most of them had only served as meat shields and had hardly killed any rats.
Gou Shi, looking up at the tirelessly shooting giant spiders, suddenly revealed an envious expression on his face.
"I suddenly realize... becoming an Earth Cave Spider doesn't seem so bad."
Jiaqi looked at him in astonishment, "Are you sure? I feel like if I turned into that thing, I might scare myself to death just looking in a mirror."
Gou Shi: "Hehe, not important."
Jiaqi: "…?"
Elsewhere, the player known as [Encyclopedia Explosive Knowledge] who had died and revived numerous times, climbed up from the vicinity of the core of the Demon King Territory, shaking off the mud on his body.
"Brothers! I'm alive again! Ga ga ga!"
Not far away, [Chugging Down The Septic Tank] also climbed up from a pile of ratmen, shaking his dizzy head.
"I also—"
Before he could finish his sentence, the explosives on him suddenly burst, and in a flash of fire, he turned to ash and was blown away by the wind.
"..."
Because it was too embarrassing, the surrounding players decided to pretend they hadn't seen him.
Luo Yan, who had secured the MVP, let out a sigh of relief and sat down on a nearby stone bench, supporting his waist.
He had barely broken through the barricade of being steel-class and endured a wave of intense magic casting, which exhausted him tremendously.
But—
At least it was held.
The slave rats that had escaped from the maze ended up returning to it once more.
As for the new trouble brought by the Earth Cave Spiders, that was a problem for another day.
At least for now, they could rest for a while.
Luo Yan opened his attribute panel to check, and to his surprise, he had actually leveled up.
[
ID: Luo Yan
Race: Human
Soul Tier: Steel (Level Cap LV50)
Level: LV.32
Experience: (1780/32W)
HP: (1300/1300)
MP: (110/3800)
Constitution: 13
Strength: 13
Agility: 13
Intelligence: 36 (+1)
Spirit: 38 (+2)
]
[Faith Value: 79
Daily Growth: 101~120
Daily Consumption: 100
]
"... after reaching the steel grade, the attribute points gained per level actually become 3."
In addition, I didn't expect that grinding for monsters could also yield experience points.
Before this, Luo Yan had always thought that as an Undead Mage, the only way to become stronger was through meditation.
Although it didn't seem strange to the players, this discovery was a pleasant surprise for him.
After catching his breath, Luo Yan felt his spirit had recovered a bit; then, he had Youyou distribute the Joss Paper and Contribution Value to the players.
Watching the cheerfully hopping skeleton soldiers, he couldn't help but be infected by the players' morale, a smile curling up at the corner of his mouth.
These guys are pretty easy to please.
Even now he hadn't specifically stated how much Joss Paper was needed for a bottle of Undead Potion, nor how much for a big treasure sword.
Forget it.
Let them stay happy for a while then.
At that moment, Luo Yan suddenly noticed a pair of glaring eyes from the side, and he followed the gaze to its source.
There, squatting behind the Stone Prison, Chris and a few other captives were staring straight in this direction, their eyes wide with disbelief.
Obviously, they had not expected the rat tide, the terror of adventurers, to be so easily resolved by him.
She was suddenly a bit impressed with the guy.
His gaze falling on the captives, Luo Yan then suddenly remembered he had a few "blood bags" to replenish magic, and without a word, he raised his right hand and took a satisfying draught.
Arm: "Ah~~~"
Chris: "Guh—!"
Grey Dog: "Aaah!"
Reksen: "..."
Feeling the vigorous energy filling his body, the previously fatigued Luo Yan was once again brimming with spirit.
That feels good!
He suddenly started to understand why Miss Lilith always wanted to keep a pointy-eared pet.
Just as Luo Yan was considering what to do next, Youyou's voice suddenly appeared in his ear.
"Lord Demon King, your players seem to have discovered something amazing in the mine!"
"Something amazing?"
"Yes! A really big, fat rat, almost filling up half of the mine! I really don't know how it got in there!"
Youyou's voice was filled with curiosity.
What a shame that place was far beyond the Demon King Territory's range, otherwise it would have already rushed over to see for itself.
Upon hearing Youyou's description, Luo Yan immediately guessed the identity of the rat.
Without a doubt!
That guy was the ringleader behind the rat tide!
"Can you locate the position of those two players?"
Youyou: "Hmm-hmm! Although I don't know the precise location, the general direction isn't a problem!"
Hearing this, Luo Yan quickly got up.
"Lead the way."
Youyou: "Roger that!"
Taking out his wand to hold in his hand, Luo Yan followed Youyou's directions, skirting around the collapsed deep pit along the mine's walls, then controlling "Bond" who was carrying a large sword to leap over as well.
Some little players caught sight of his movement and curiously followed to see what was happening.
Luo Yan didn't stop them, instead letting them follow behind as he continued to the deeper parts of the mine.
Soon, he saw the lone [Pig-headed Knight] and [Bull-headed Warrior].
Two skeleton soldiers were sneakily crouching behind a protruding rock, peering toward the open space in the cave not far away.
Noticing the commotion behind them, the two skeleton soldiers quickly turned around to find the boss of the Great Graveyard standing right behind them.
"Lord Demon King?!"
"Why have you come—"
"Shh."
Luo Yan made a shushing gesture, signaling them to keep quiet, and then turned his gaze to the depths of the cave.
There, a plump giant rat lay prostrate in the center of the dark cave, letting out hissing pants.
The sound was filled with terror, reverence, and the madness of terminal illness.
"Such a fat rat... how many levels is it even?" Gou Shi, trailing behind Luo Yan, couldn't help but mutter under his breath.
Yiye Zhiqu stared intently at the rat and shook his head.
"Impossible to tell... but my gut says this guy is strong, possibly as strong as the Demon King!"
Gou Shi: "No shit! You had to tell us that!"
Unable to Resist: "Seriously!"
Yiye Zhiqu: "..."
Luo Yan glanced sideways at the bunch of players who had joined the excitement.
He didn't like those words.
As strong as him?
Is that how you're supposed to compare?
Without stooping to argue with them, Luo Yan lightly waved his wand and directed "Bond" to move forward.
The large sword that dragged on the ground made a scraping noise, quickly alerting the plump old rat in the cave.
"Who's there!"
Jiaqi screamed, its hefty body quickly bouncing off the ground, the fat on its heels rolling like waves.
Finally seeing the man standing at the entrance of the cave clearly, Jiaqi's eyes narrowed into slits, a hoarse growl emanating from its throat.
"It's you... Are you that Demon King? The new Demon King?"
"I am."
Under Luo Yan's control, Bond let out a voice like the creaking of a rotting coffin, raising his large sword to point directly at the tip of the fat rat's nose.
"Submit—"
"Or die."