“What is this?”
The light immediately disappeared.
Yihi was scared but hurriedly regained her stability.
She grumpily kicked the nasty flesh, only to hurt her toes. She frowned as she rolled and examined the flesh from every direction…it only took a little bit to realize that his form had changed.
“Uhh, he absorbed the root.”
The sharp and solid root. The light was from the flesh absorbing it and now the changes were obvious. The flesh had used it as a source of magic power.
“Flesh. Are you angry with Yihi?”
Yihi’s conscience was p.r.i.c.ked and she released the flesh. Before there was wonderful elasticity as she poked it, but now it was extremely hard. The rigid body was like he was angry.
“It didn’t work. This ~ it isn’t fun.”
Duk!
Yihi kicked the rigid flesh.
“Ya!”
Obviously she got a sore foot.
Yihi rolled around on the ground. Despite doing the same thing just seconds before, Yihi hadn’t learned.
“Hiing, I’m not playing with you!”
Yihi cried out and flew off to hara.s.s the bees.
* * *
Stein.
The elder of the dwarves a.s.signed to the 7th floor of the dungeon. He was now heading towards the 15th floor with some st.u.r.dy dwarves.
“Elder Stein-nim. Will we get some good roots this time?”
“Get rid of the anxiety in your voice. We aren’t going to beg.”
“But…we aren’t dark elves. Frankly, I feel a little uncomfortable facing them.”
“Bah, we just have to ignore them since Dungeon Master commanded us to get the roots. And the Tree of Origin didn’t grow here due to chance. It is all thanks to the greatness of Dungeon Master!”
Stein had an upright character.
The dwarves and elves were enemies. Their mood darkened every time they met.
However, the roots from the Tree of Origin were a very good material. The dwarves could quickly improve their skills making decent armour and they could boost their reliability with the Dungeon Master. It was important to obtain the Roots of Origin.
But they always needed to negotiate with the dark elves for the roots. It was ludicrous and absurd. They wouldn’t even be able to see them if it wasn’t for Dungeon Master.
Stein laughed and then snorted.
“We are productive dwarves. On the other hand, they just grow a few plants. We can do at least that much.”
“In many ways, we can be considered proxies of the Dungeon Master.”
“They’ll see soon. Right now the woman called Chrisley is handling the roots, but that will soon change. Once the ‘dwarf king’ is born, we will be in the top position in the dungeon.”
“That’s right. I will be waiting eagerly for that day.”
A st.u.r.dy young dwarf replied. The thought of having the authority of a Dungeon Master caused them to be thrilled.
After walking through the forest for a while, Stein frowned.
“By the way, no one came to greet us…ey, such lazy b.a.s.t.a.r.ds.”
“Isn’t that their original nature?”
“Tsk tsk. This is why the dark elves…eh?”
Stein was spitting when he suddenly c.o.c.ked his head.
There was something sparking in the bushes. The dwarf poked it with a foot and revealed what it was.
“This…”
A metal sheet.
Stein touched it, patted it, brought the metal plate to his ear and other actions.
“Elder-nim. What is it?”
“A material I’ve never seen before. I can’t feel any magic power from it. I’ll have to hammer at it.”
The eyes of the young dwarf shone.
“Will Elder-nim work on the metal?”
“Of course. Rather, there is a lot I don’t know about it.”
Stein didn’t have the inherent knowledge of all metals that the ‘dwarf king’ was born with.
He had no choice but to study. But it was so interesting.
‘It is unusual. Like something that has just been born into this world.’
In his hand was the newly born, unidentified metal.
Just imaging the results caused his heart to be excited.
* * *
Kaaang! Kaaang!
Stein sat in front of a hearth and hammered it.
It had already been 40 hours, during which he repeated the same action without any food or drinks.
‘A great metal. I never thought there would be a metal like this in the world!’
Stein had accidentally picked up a metal he had never seen before. An unexplained metal that seemed to come from myth or legends.
‘Every time it is broken, it just returns to its original position. Its ability to maintain its original properties is very strong.’
The second thing was its solid nature. So changing the form itself was very difficult.
‘I will make an armour. An armour that the world has never seen.’
He didn’t know why he wanted to make armour. It just seemed like he had to make armour. He felt like that.
Kaaang!
Stein poured all his skills into it.
He never looked away and spend dozens of hours without sleep. A hammer was constantly beating down on an anvil in the hottest world.
He did not stop. His muscular body slowly shrank. It was like his life was literally being carved away.
A superhuman mentality and obsession. But little by little, the metal was being shaped. He eyes were kept open by excitement.
Three days, four days…a week.
The dwarves were worried, but Stein banned them from entering his workshop.
Once this was completed, it would be his masterpiece. He didn’t want to be disturbed.
After approximately 10 days, the form of the armour started to gradually take shape. Stein’s body and spirit gradually eroded as the work progressed.
Saliva dripped. His eyes were full of blood. His white hair and beard were growing. His hands didn’t stop moving.
Stein willingly became a slave to the metal. He kept working the metal.
The long march finally ended after a month.
‘This thing…is mine. It can’t be given to anyone else.’
Greed filled his eyes as he grabbed the armour.
* * *
The party ended due to the storm I caused.
Kim Yong-woo’s hands and mouth were always busy moving.
Time pa.s.sed quickly and my daily business didn’t change much. Of course, there wasn’t anything specific. I primarily trained Yoo Eun-hye and Edward. Krasla mainly trained Edward, while I made sure Yoo Eun-hye could handle the property of lightning.
“The way you use it with the sword is still a little stiff.”
“Right? I’m not used to it even when I repeat the movements over and over.”
“I’ll teach you a way.”
“Do I need to take off my clothes?”
“There is no need.”
“Really?”
Yoo Eun-hye smiled like a cat.
Unlike in the past, there was no need for direct skin contact to induce growth. I placed my hand on Yoo Eun-hye’s abdomen and sent a strong electric current.
“Uhh…”
Yoo Eun-hye’s body twisted but she endured it.
The current flowing was strongly stimulating her erogenous zones. Other people would be turned inside out, but Yoo Eun-hye had received the blessing of the lightning spirit.
The electric current naturally moved inside Yoo Eun-hye. I then slowly moved her hand holding the sword. Moving the energy of others was very delicate work. Intense concentration was needed.
-Master! Something big has happened. A dwarf has gone crazy!
“Ack!”
My concentration broke. The wild current made Yoo Eun-hye leap. Fortunately, nothing dangerous happened.
“W-why did you do that?”
“Wait a minute.”
I stood up.
At the same time, I contacted Yihi.
‘Yihi. What is going on?’
-Yihi isn’t sure. The dwarf elder is wearing Flesh. He isn’t listening to Yihi, he is just trying to absorb the Tree of Origin. The griffin collapsed and Gigantes is blocking him, but he can’t hold out forever…
‘Stein. Wearing Flesh?’
-He turned Flesh into an armour. What should I do? Yihi is afraid, Master.
Flesh could only refer to Infinite Flesh. But didn’t Infinite Flesh die at Pakan Griolli’s dungeon? He had somehow returned alive and was now disguised as armour.
Yihi’s voice was extremely pitiful. It was to the extent that I could almost see Yihi trembling.
‘The griffin collapsed…’
I pressed a hand against my forehead. The griffin was a high cla.s.s creature. Despite it being in the lowest tier, it still took a lot for it to collapse. In addition, even Gigantes was struggling. The griffin and Gigantes were the strongest creatures I had. Krasla, Chrisley and White were strong, but they couldn’t compare.
‘Hold on. I am coming now.’
I realized the seriousness of the situation and immediately moved.