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Chapter 75 - Underworld Guest (3)

Kang Shin-hyuk turned off the light flowing out from his eyes. He could still see through the darkness without making them flash, but they were still golden.

“Welcome, saviors. I’ll say hello again. I am the King of Jijoo.” The largest mole came forward to greet them. Perhaps because the light had disappeared, he had much more confidence than before.

“I’m Anvil. So why did you decide to call me?”

“Sir, I’m sorry. When I joined, I didn’t know it was a place where such great people gathered…”

“Ah, I see. So why are you the king?”

“Well, that…” The mole lost confidence again! Claire shook her head.

“Shin-hyuk unexpectedly likes to bully others.”

“I’m just curious. You are too, aren’t you?”

“I am. How did this little mole come up with such a cute nickname?”

“Ah, well.” He couldn’t afford to hide anything since he asked for help, so the Jijoo king told them how he had joined the Hero Universe. Surprisingly, he had been born with the best excavation talent in the world.

“The deeper you go in the underworld, the harder the ground is. We’ve been digging deeper into the ground whenever enemies invade or when the population increases so much that we need to expand, so…” Their claws must’ve been sharp like metal to dig so far down. Kang Shin-hyuk was able to understand their history and culture as he nodded along roughly.

“So you became the king because of that?”

“That’s right. I had the strongest excavation ability, so I was able to access countless treasures in the underworld and become the king. I even entered the Hero Universe.” That had been the source of his great wealth. These guys must’ve been selling rare metals in large quantities on the trading board. No wonder the administrator said this was a helpful world. It was a blacksmith’s dream to have access to so many raw materials.

“The problem is that I was too good…”

“There’s the pride again. Give me the details.”

“I was alone in excavating over the years, and the others stopped working. Generations went by…they had no need to work and became lazier. They stopped using their claws…the end was that they degenerated.”

“Wait, how old are you?”

“150 as of this year. Our tribe’s average lifespan is thirty years, so I’ve lived a long life.” That was probably thanks to being a member of the Hero Universe! It was still shocking news to Kang Shin-hyuk that this little mole had lived a life about ten times as long as his.

“Should I keep going?”

“Ah, yes.” They had heard how he had arrived at this point; all that remained was to talk about the danger terrorizing his kingdom. The king’s expression darkened.

“It is poison. A poison is entering the kingdom. I don’t know if it’s the same as the poison in the atmosphere, but it is clear that it is toxic.”

“It’s poison?!” Kang Shin-hyuk urgently checked his body, but he found no problems. He supposed his poison resistance would’ve kicked in, anyway.

“It’s not such a strong poison. It hasn’t affected the adults among us, the only problem is with the children. We found out about the poison because it started to kill off newborns.” Even if the older ones were safe, if their offspring kept dying, then the future of the kingdom, and even their race, was in danger. Truly, it was a crisis.

“I tried to block off the passages and soak up the poisonous energy with products from the Hero Universe, but it didn’t work.”

“Did you ask the administrator?”

“Administrator…? What is that?” Kang Shin-hyuk couldn’t have imagined himself surviving without the administrator, but the king seemed to have no clue what he was talking about. It was a situation where the survival of a race was on the line, it would’ve been nice to help out, but did the administrator have a grim side? Maybe he should stop thinking the administrator was kind to all Hero Universe members. He hadn’t recommended this quest because it was dangerous, after all.

“The others don’t have the ability to fight…well, they don’t have any other productive qualities either. If the power of the Hero Universe couldn’t help, we had only one way left.” Just like their ancestors, they dug further into a place where there was no danger—abandoning their kingdoms of the past, digging until they were clear of danger.

“But it’s impossible, because of their claws.”

“How about you?”

“Mine too.” Kang Shin-hyuk was convinced as the king raised his paws. The claws on his forefeet were worn down. He had excavated for hundreds of years, so his claws couldn’t have been intact.

“So please. Make me a new, powerful claw! Let me lead the people away from this cursed land to found a new settlement…!”

“…I see. I now have a rough idea of why you needed a blacksmith.” But he still had one question left.

“Are you the only one going to excavate?”

“I can’t leave this important task to my people. It’s enough if I do it alone! If only I could get my claws back!”

“…” Kang Shin-hyuk regarded him quietly; the king’s resolve was steadfast. His eyes burned with a sense of responsibility and mission as one who had reigned for over 100 years.

“You just need claws.” In the end, Shin-hyuk nodded. He couldn’t say anything right now; at least for now, that would be enough.

“Thank you! Thank you very much! If I have claws that can pierce these minerals, we will surely escape from the poison!”

“Anvil!”

“He’ll make claws for the great king!” The moles were cheering in relief at his simple affirmation. Their belief in the king was as solid as iron.

“Then we’ll start right away. I need to know the condition of the ground first.”

“The only way to cut through it would be to make claws made of the same material…!”

“Is it all ore?” As Kang Shin-hyuk began to move under the mole’s guidance, he felt a tap on his shoulder from Claire. Her eyes were shining with an intensity that he could see even in the dark.

“I’ll start moving by myself. If the nature of this crisis is poison, my abilities will be of assistance.”

“Thank you, sister. But if you mess up while studying it…”

“I have resist poison at SS rarity and S rank proficiency.” Kang Shin-hyuk was immediately convinced. Who was worried about who? She had already earned a lot of HP by working in the Hero Universe. Looking at Shin Eunah next, she drew two S’s in the air.

“Because our enemy uses poison, it’s a skill that should be mastered as quickly as possible.”

“The enemy?”

“Jormungand.” Shin Eunah answered briefly with an unhidden hostility burning in her eyes. He wondered what happened between her and that organization in the past.

“Claire, get away from my junior.”

“Ah, that’s what it was.”

“You’ll be hated if you’re so jealous. Anyway, I’ll be on my own for now.”

“Go quickly.” Claire walked off into the dark on her own. Some moles tried to warn her, but it was pointless for one of Earth’s high rankers.

“She’s also a member of the Hero Universe, so there’s no need to worry. She’ll investigate the poison, so please treat her well.”

“The poison? I don’t know where it started from…”

“It’s her job to figure that out.” However, Shin-hyuk was also a little worried about that. Not knowing where the poison started could be dangerous. What if they made it worse by digging blindly? Not that staying still was an option. The administrator hadn’t been joking about the difficulty of this quest.

“Then, let’s go.”

“Alright.” Eventually, Kang Shin-hyuk urged the king to lead him to the outermost area of the kingdom, the last area excavated by him. It was a zone that glowed a faint purple in the dark.

“I stopped excavating because we had enough resources and space for us to live in, but also because of this unknown vein.” The king’s voice was filled with deep emotion.

“Until then, I was digging through a fairly solid vein. But this one was different. I couldn’t break through it with my claws, so we had to stop expanding.”

“Is this vein in all the boundaries of the kingdom…?”

“Yes. I thought it would be okay then, I couldn’t imagine having to dig more than we had.” Going up would be throwing away their lives, and they couldn’t dig further down. So they had no choice but to settle on this land until this unknown toxin attacked them.

“Shortsighted.” Shin Eunah let out the words with a sigh.

“I understand that you were hiding underground because of the poisonous atmosphere, but then you only dug deeper each time a crisis arrived. You never thought of solving the underlying problem, even though you had the time to study and deal with it. Even having the power of the Hero Universe, you neglected it.”

“…”

“If you had only thought rationally just a little, you would’ve known this was just an escape.” The king trembled at the chill air radiating out from Shin Eunah. She regarded the king as if he were pathetic, but Kang Shin-hyuk just stared blankly at her. Honestly, it was a ridiculous idea to view her as the opposite sex. She turned to Shin-hyuk.

“…What is it?”

“No, it’s alright.”

“Hey…” Her cold and pretentious expression collapsed in front of him.

“I regret it, I regret it. Given the opportunity, I would never do it again!”

“Yes, yes. Let’s get the materials first.” Kang Shin-hyuk decided to save his words and let out a sigh.

“The ore is really hard. It’ll be difficult to collect the materials…”

“Don’t worry about harvesting.” Kang Shin-hyuk stretched his arm forward.

“Go, Onyx! I choose you!”

-Myuuuuu!

Onyx leaped off of him without hesitation, finally free to eat to his heart’s content in this metal paradise.

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