Only My Magic Levels Up - Chapter 66



Only Noblemtl

As it turned out, Galen’s prediction was only half right.

First of all, the part where the monsters that appear as the exploration progresses become more elite was correct.

“Damn. I’m going to miss those ugly rock monsters.”

After the appearance of the clay doll, there are a few more battles.

Galen overheard Veron muttering softly.

The rock monster that Veron speaks of is most likely an earthen golem.

Although it was annoying, the earthen golem was just at that level and was not a burden at all, but unfortunately for the expedition team, at some point it stopped appearing at all.

If the ruins’ defense system is running on some sort of artificial intelligence, then perhaps they realized that sending it out would be useless and decided not to send it out.

The expedition’s progress slowed down even further as all the monsters that appeared became at least clay dolls.

The clay dolls were still easy to deal with at the gold level, but they were quite threatening at the silver level.

I couldn’t help but struggle as they started to spring up from the walls and floor.

The golden ones also had to deal with the clay dolls rushing in from both sides, so they couldn’t take care of them one by one like a nanny.

“What is this?”

Even more so, new types of clay dolls appeared in the front and rear.

It didn’t really have much personality. It was just a giant clay doll made using enough clay to make three or four clay dolls.

Fortunately, it didn’t get stronger in proportion to its size. It just got a couple times stronger and faster.

So, roughly… a troll?

Of course, there was no gold to be scared of just one or two trolls.

If the trolls continued to grow out of the ground, that was a slightly different matter.

“It’s like a fucking ruin!”

Akanksha exploded in anger and blew up the giant clay doll.

The usual recommended number of people for a relic exploration is two to three.

But that means that if it’s a ‘low difficulty’ relic, you can easily break it with two or three gold pieces.

At the same time, if it was a ‘high difficulty’ relic, it meant that it had to be at that level to be able to retreat without major damage.

In any case, this relic seemed closer to the latter than the former.

Even though the total was not right, the expedition force’s power was stronger than usual, and with the pride battle between the humans and the earth elves overlapping, they were still advancing.

The expedition team was gradually growing tired. The leaders had already realized this, and the onlookers had also noticed.

However, here is where Galen’s prediction went awry.

However, the expedition team gritted their teeth and did not ask for help.

“Toxic, poisonous······.”

Galen muttered so quietly that even the speaker couldn’t understand.

Lilia’s ears perked up right next to him. She was the only one who understood what he said, and she smiled and whispered.

“Isn’t everyone working too hard?”

“You could just work a little less hard.”

Their position had now moved to the center of the line.

From the time the giant clay doll first appeared, the leaders agreed that it couldn’t go on like this and changed it.

They completely broke away from the method of dividing the ranks vertically, lining up half the humans and half the elves, with the supervisor and his party following at the back.

The plan was to have only earth elves in the front, only the supervisors in the middle, and only humans in the back.

The front and rear positions were to be rotated equally whenever an attack occurred.

After making this change, the battle went much more smoothly than before.

Since the golds no longer had to rush all the way to the rear, they could hunt leisurely in place, orders could be given to the silvers right away, and it was easier for the silvers to stick together and form a camp. This was because only those on the same side were gathered together.

It was a good thing for the expedition team.

Galen was the only one who was bored because he couldn’t say anything about it.

However, I was able to catch some of the clay dolls that emerged from the middle of the line and attacked.

It was a small number, and he had already said that he would not demand any stake beyond the point of making a fuss, so it was pointless to make a fuss about it.

“I was planning on only giving a moderate amount of money because I was afraid I would be caught if I offered to help out bare-handed, but it looks like I won’t give you a single penny. Do I look like I’m going to commit some kind of robbery?”

“Isn’t it because they’re mercenaries that there’s a bias against them? Mercenaries usually want a lot of money, right?”

“Is that really so?”

“They’ve only known you for a few days. They have no idea what kind of person you are!”

Actually, they were already nervous about the supervisor’s intervention when they first started, so they might be even more wary after Galen started talking about the stakes.

I wonder if it’s not too much of a stretch to try to avoid giving them work like that. If something happens, it’ll be a headache. Just do it in moderation.

The only thing that was reassuring was that since there wasn’t much to do, my magic power was well preserved.

The only magic used in the ruins was Spirit Creation, but even that was left in abundance. The rest were naturally full.

‘At least the chances of the conflict between the two sides escalating into an actual fight have decreased. Everyone is tired, and only Lilia and I are in good spirits······.’

Of course, for now, we should not worry about the division of our forces, but rather about safely destroying this ruin.

The best case scenario is that the expedition team is struggling to get to the boss and asks for help, and Galen plays an active role and breaks the boss’s pot.

Since one boss would be more valuable than a thousand mobs, Galen would be satisfied if he just picked up a spoon.

Surely you won’t even wipe your mouth about contributing to catching the boss.

Galen put his complaints aside, hoping for a later time.

After finishing another battle, the expedition team did a quick clean-up and moved forward again.

How long did it take?

At a time when there wasn’t much to do.

“There’s a bend ahead! Be careful!”

Akanksha, who was in charge of the front, shouted.

The atmosphere in the expedition team became slightly tense.

It hasn’t come up many times so far, but it felt like the difficulty level went up by one every time the passage turned at a right angle.

The combination of a giant clay doll and a regular clay doll was scary enough, so I wonder how much more terrifying things will be this time.

However, what the expedition team saw as they walked through the broken passage was a completely different sight than they had expected.

“ah······?”

The passage ended there.

It didn’t mean it was blocked, it just meant it was no longer a ‘passage’.

As if the purpose of the passage was to guide us here.

“Wow······.”

Lilia exclaimed in admiration without realizing it.

The high ceiling, which was clearly too high for the golden warrior to reach even if he jumped with all his might, was filled with luminous substances, making it look like the night sky.

It was similar to the point where the starlight did not reach the ground.

A huge hollow space, which could be called a plaza, stretched out before them, the width of which could not be gauged even by the light of oil lamps or torches.

“There’s this much space underground. What kind of crazy guy sold this?”

“If you were going to argue about that, shouldn’t you have started from the beginning?”

“Well, if you have the ability to sell such passages, it wouldn’t be impossible to create a community like this.”

Everyone was expressing their feelings, but since it was their first time experiencing this situation after entering the ruins, they had no idea what to do.

Lilia gave a clear answer.

“How about we take a break and think about it first? Everyone is tired, and it seems like it’s almost lunchtime!”

“That’s a good idea.”

The expedition team entered the cave completely and set up a tent near the entrance.

The clay figurines were sticking out of the floor, so it wasn’t safe, but at least they were some distance away from the wall, so it was better.

They were the ones who would appear after a while, so I thought they would come out again after we just fought.

Everyone believed that and took a break. In reality, there was no attack.

I couldn’t cook and eat here, so I chewed on the dried food I brought and drank water to regain my energy.

“Are there any injured people? We will treat them!”

“Okay, it’s okay, but······.”

“We should give you this much for your convenience. We were just watching.”

Two veteran priests roamed the expedition team, performing miracles of healing on those in need.

Among the group of overseers who were intentionally excluded from the battle, the two priests really did nothing. Galen and Lilia took care of any monsters that came running.

It seems that they were so guilty of that that they even tried to act in this way.

Even the regular explorers fought quite well, so there was nothing left to treat other than minor injuries.

After resting for over thirty minutes, the ruins still remained motionless.

“···It’s so quiet that I feel even more anxious.”

“Shall we move slowly?”

“Yeah. I guess it’s okay to rest now.”

The expedition team piled up the torches they had brought in a neat pile at the entrance to the cave and lit them.

Hurrruk!

With the entrance thus marked, the expedition cautiously advanced along one wall of the common area.

Those with good eyesight can gauge the distance from the increasingly distant campfire and see that the hollow appears to be roughly circular.

It was so wide that it was almost filthy wide. No matter how slowly I walked along the wall, all I could see was empty space.

I think I walked for more than twenty minutes.

“It’s across the street, around here.”

Lilia muttered as she occasionally looked back to gauge her current location.

“If the cavity is circular, then the opposite side of the entrance is······.”

“There is another way!”

At that moment, a voice was heard from ahead. The exploration team’s steps became a little faster.

Sure enough, there was a passage there.

What was different from the entrance on the other side was that, although it looked like a passageway at first glance, the end was blocked.

It was more like a warehouse with only the width and height of a passageway. The door was nowhere to be seen.

“Oh!”

“Look, it’s a treasure!”

As expected from a warehouse, all sorts of things were displayed, either in good condition or broken.

What caught the attention of the expedition team were the shiny, perfectly intact objects.

If something shines in the light, isn’t it a precious metal or a jewel?

I just looked around with the light on, but there seemed to be quite a few of them.

“Three, my goodness.”

“How much is all that?”

The discovery of the treasure naturally excited the ordinary explorers, both human and elf.

The expressions on the leaders’ faces were calm, but it seemed as if they were tapping away at calculators in their heads.

The only ones who remained calm were Galen and Lilia.

Lilya wasn’t the type of person to feel materialistic after seeing something like this.

Galen was interested, but he was more interested in something bigger, namely experience.

“···Treasure Guardian.”

“yes?”

“They say treasures are usually found deep in ruins. Along with guarding monsters. But you haven’t found them yet, have you?”

“The clay figurines… were too numerous, and too weak. It’s a bit much to call them guardians, isn’t it?”

“I don’t know if there are cases where it’s not a single strong entity but rather a large number of weak entities that are competing… but either way, I don’t think there’s any reason for there to be a common ground here.”

The leaders who had been listening intently since Galen opened his mouth all frowned when they heard a faint echo.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Whether through the ground or through the air, through the walls of the building.

The vibration was being transmitted.

Phaaaat!

Lillia summoned the Sword of Light and raised it above her head, spreading its light as much as possible. The light was incomparable to that of a torch, lighting up the entire space dazzlingly.

However, the entire community was not fully revealed.

It was enough to illuminate a nearby area.

What should I say? The number of monsters rushing in is as much as the width of the passage and the gap.

“It looks like they decided to push ahead with numbers.”

Akanksha twisted the corners of his mouth. Sachet sighed.

“But after fighting here, it seems like there’s no need to fight any more.”

“If this is the place, then so be it. Come on, everyone gather around! Build a defense line!”

“Exploration team, prepare for battle. Don’t worry about the treasure at the back. If you don’t want to die.”

Alon gave an order to his men. It meant not to touch the treasure, but more importantly, not to look away.

“But it’s a little better since we’ve all dealt with them before.”

Veron, who was laughing bitterly, shot towards the giant clay doll that was running closest.

Since the role of the Golden One when dealing with multiple enemies is to use his personal force to the fullest extent and stir up the enemy camp, no one stopped him as he ran forward first.

Oh, there was something like that.

A clay doll that steps forward from the side as if to protect a giant clay doll.

Of course, it was an unacceptable existence for Veron. He cut it into two pieces in one breath and immediately swung his sword horizontally to attack the giant clay doll.

Kagakak!

The sword that was supposed to split the shield was blocked in the middle.

No matter how roughly he swung it, it didn’t make sense. Veron’s eyes widened.

Boohoo!

The next moment, the left arm that wasn’t holding the clay doll’s shield drew a semicircle at a terrifying speed.

Veron, terrified, quickly turned over. He was so shocked that his head almost exploded.

“This insignificant thing!”

An enraged Veron swung his sword with all his might, but the clay figure holding a wide rock shield blocked it again.

Kak! Kak!

The human and the doll collided repeatedly with a dull sound.

Those who were on Veron’s level saw through him that he was not joking.

Lilia shouted with shining eyes.

“That clay doll looks different! It’s much more elaborate!”

“Oh, come to think of it!”

Akanksha was astonished.

“What the hell! The doll is made of gold?!”