Chapter 93

Fwoooosh—

Fernan emerged abruptly from the water.

Total darkness welcomed him, but he took a magic lamp from subspace and lit up the surroundings.

“I never thought I’d come back here.”

Although he had proposed to Aint that they build the Bell of Pasa together, it was Fernan who returned alone to the underwater cavern.

He realized it too late.

‘Now that I think about it… Aint doesn’t know I’ve already been here, right?’

And he must never know.

‘I was too hasty.’

In his rush to forge the Bell of Pasa as soon as possible, he had overlooked something fundamental. Fortunately, he remembered before it was too late.

Fernan ended the conversation by asking if the Armian family still had any knowledge about the bell’s manufacture.

And then, on his own, he came to search for the underwater cavern. No one could find out how he had come to know this place.

Of course, there could be traps, or another monster nesting here like the sea dragon. But he wasn’t worried.

Not while he had a firm and reliable guardian he could use at any moment away from prying eyes.

“Wooden.”

— Kkuuuu!

Wooden emerged from the pendant and expanded his body until he reached about 1.8 meters, the height of an average human.

Excited, he unsheathed the sword from his back and swung it lightly.

──!

A gigantic rock was sliced in one stroke.

— Kkungkung!

“Don’t pray for a monster to appear.”

Fernan calmed him and slowly advanced down the corridor.

Before, the ceiling had embedded magic lamps, but since he had taken them all, only empty marks remained.

He traversed the long tunnel until he reached the large chamber where spiritual herbs had grown and where the sea dragon had nested.

Inside, only the traces of the battle it had fought remained.

— Kkung?

“Yes. The sea dragon was here.”

— Kkungkung!

“Why did I fight it alone? I didn’t.”

Lately, he was beginning to doubt whether Wooden was truly a wood spirit. He behaved more like a battle junkie.

‘Though I understand.’

With that new body, it was natural to want to test it out.

Fernan first inspected the spot where he had found mithril. He had mined it in a hurry, so he wanted to check if any remnants remained.

“Nothing.”

As expected, he had been too thorough to leave a single fragment behind.

“Next is…”

The hole where the sea dragon had fallen, also mentioned in the book of prophecies.

It was likely where Aint had extracted the adamantium.

“So deep…”

He leaned in to look. Below stretched an endless abyss.

He threw a small light orb, but even at its limit, he couldn’t see the bottom.

“Hmm.”

What could be down there?

There might be nothing, or it could hide traps. And Fernan wasn’t about to risk himself.

“Wooden.”

— Kkung?

“Go check it out.”

Suddenly, he lifted the ground under Wooden’s feet and dropped him into the hole.

— Kkuuuung?!

Darkness swallowed the black golem’s body in an instant. Only his red eyes continued to glow, quickly fading away.

Fernan smiled at the confusion and resentment in those eyes.

They said spirits were very emotional, and it seemed true.

“Wooden, still falling?”

Even separated, a contractor could speak with their spirit as long as there wasn’t a different dimension between them.

The difference was that a normal summoner had to expend a lot of mana to maintain them at a distance, but since Fernan channeled his through a golem, that didn’t apply.

— Kkuuuuuung!

Wooden’s angry rumble shook his head.

He claimed Fernan had pushed him.

“I didn’t push you, I just lifted the ground. Same result, though.”

“Wouldn’t it be worse if I went down first and it turned out to be a trap?”

— Kkungkung!

“It doesn’t affect you. Don’t forget that body is the most durable in the world. Think of it as a chance to test your limits.”

— …Kkuung?

The doubt turned into curiosity.

“That’s right. If you want, you could let yourself fall without any protection and still not break.”

— Kkuu… Kkung!

Suddenly the voice cut off. Fernan understood he had reached the bottom.

“Wooden, how deep?”

The answer took a while.

— Kkuuuung! Kkungkung!

“I didn’t ask if you got scratched or not.”

— Kkugugugu!

“No pain? Good for you. But tell me, how many meters?”

— Kkuguuu!

“You kept falling…?”

Fernan sighed and calmly asked again.

“Be precise. The magic engravings on your body can measure it exactly.”

— Kkuuu.

Finally, he got the answer he expected.

“Six hundred sixty-six meters? Well…”

A demonic number.

Could it be a trap set by a demon and not the First Emperor?

“Any enemies or traps? A corrupt one, monster, or maybe even a demon?”

He swallowed hard as he prepared to summon Wooden back if necessary.

— Kkungkung!

“Nothing?”

He sighed in relief.

— Kkung! Kkuuuu! Kkuung!

“Strange things, you say?”

Now that sounded promising.

With the path cleared by his scout, Fernan began his descent.

Rumble—

He grew rock platforms from the wall and started descending on them.

‘If it really was 666 meters, Aint couldn’t have reached the bottom.’

He must’ve found an intermediate ledge. And from there extracted the adamantium.

‘But… did he mine it all?’

Aint wasn’t a miner, nor was Gardner. That much was clear from the book of prophecies, which mentioned only 5 kg of mithril.

‘Here.’

He descended about 50 meters and found what he was looking for—a ledge with a small opening in the rock.

He widened it with magic and went inside. There he found clear signs of mining.

“This is where the adamantium was, and Aint mined it.”

He placed his hand on the excavated rock. The mana in his heart spread rapidly.

Earth magic was his specialty. And the reason he had chosen it as his main affinity, rather than fire which was more natural to him, was simple.

“I found it.”

It was precisely for this.

About 5 kilograms of adamantium, which would be reduced considerably after refining, appeared deeper inside, and Fernan smiled in satisfaction.

— Kkungkung!

“I’m coming, don’t be so impatient.”

He gathered all the adamantium and resumed his descent. But soon he stopped.

“…That is…”

About 100 meters further down, he saw a protruding rock and, behind it, a small opening that struck him as strangely familiar.

“…Could it be…?”

Holding back the pounding in his chest, he entered the hollow.

There, a purple-colored metal awaited him.

“…Damn it… is that really orichalcum?”

Mithril, adamantium, and now orichalcum.

The three legendary metals, all in the same underwater cavern.

Fernan could bet his entire fortune that this place had been artificially created.

“Orichalcum, about 20 kilos.”

He extracted it with a pleased smile and continued descending. He hoped to find something else, but there was no third surprise.

‘It’s a lot, but still not enough to forge the bell.’

He had wanted more.

Although that concern turned out to be unnecessary.

“….”

When he finally stepped onto the floor, his eyes widened.

— Kkungkungkung!

He paid no attention to Wooden’s scolding for taking so long.

“…Ah.”

Fernan couldn’t take his eyes off the wall.

Before him unfolded, without a doubt, the most beautiful sight he had ever seen in his life.

A sight that would make anyone on the continent rich.

A sight of minerals stretching as far as the eye could see.

On one side, a turquoise sea shimmered.

On the other, a brilliant silver showing a thousand shades.

And beyond that, an iridescent purple.

“…Stroke of luck.”

Mithril, adamantium, and orichalcum.

The chamber walls were covered with those legendary metals, extremely rare and nearly impossible to find.

Could something like this even be real? The doubt brushed him, but the joy of knowing it was all his far outweighed it.

“…Good thing I came alone.”

Had he brought someone, he would’ve had to share.

His eyes gleamed with greed as he savored the sight of the minerals.

— Kkuuuung!

Then Wooden waved a hand in front of him, pulling his attention away.

— Kkungkung!

He was pointing to a specific spot, as if saying something even more important was there.

“What could be more important than all this…?”

And there was.

Where Wooden pointed, a plant was growing.

A spiritual herb absorbing energy from the minerals.

Perhaps because it was surrounded by those legendary metals, its color was more radiant than any known itarium.

And its size was no longer that of an herb, but of a tree sprout.

“…Now this is a discovery.”

The loss of the itarium in Altrierc had troubled him, but this plant more than made up for it.

“…Carefully. I need to extract it with the roots and all…”

It was at that moment.

─!

The chamber shook.

─!

A rhythmic sound.

─!

The rumble of heavy, slow footsteps.

What appeared was a gigantic serpent. Not a dragon.

A long, massive body with two sharp horns on its head. It had no wings, but it did have fins.

Every time its four feet touched the ground, the entire cavern trembled.

From its breath spread a subtle poison.

“…A Knucker?”

Similar to a sea dragon, but with the nature of a monster more than a magical beast.

Its strength in water was absolute, and its poisonous breath could dissolve everything.

The monster growled, showing hatred and bloodlust toward the intruder coveting its treasure.

“…What the hell is this place?”

Mithril, adamantium, and orichalcum in abundance, a sea dragon above, and a Knucker below.

The Knucker opened its mouth. It was about to exhale its poisonous breath.

— Kkungkungkungkung!

Wooden, now grown to eight meters tall, roared with excitement at last at a worthy battle and lunged at the monster.

The two colossal creatures rolled and clashed throughout the chamber. Fortunately, it was wide enough to withstand such a battle.

But that wasn’t the real problem.

“Had to be a Knucker…!”

Fernan ground his teeth.

A Knucker’s venom was so lethal that even those legendary minerals could be damaged.

“Wooden! Don’t let it open its mouth!”

He couldn’t allow the precious stones to suffer any harm!

Fernan shouted more desperately than he had in a long time.