A new chapter is up.
Come in, get comfortable, and let’s see what kind of trouble waits this time ❤️ ✦ The small goblins fell beneath the gun muzzles.
Only bullet slugs and magic stones remained to prove those monsters had ever existed.
“Amazing.” As Tali picked up the magic stones and recovered the slugs, she could not help sighing.
That overwhelming fire suppression was something she had never even heard of.
Only Nolan kept looking at the surrounding walls.
“Strange.
I did not see the walls grow any Dungeon monsters.” He knocked on the nearby wall.
“By all logic, with the way I am killing them, the Dungeon should be producing more monsters to greet me.” He had not even started using assault rifles yet.
Why was the Dungeon not producing more monsters?
Tali came back after picking up the bullet slugs and heard Nolan’s complaint.
She stared at him flatly.
“Um, from the first to the third floor, monsters do not appear easily during the day.” “Some attack-type mages do things similar to you, Mr.
Ward.
At night, they form parties and come here to test magic.” “Because of that, during daylight, there are relatively few monsters from the first to the third floor.” Tali could tell that Nolan’s fighting style was more like testing weapons than ordinary combat.
She reminded him that this place was actually lively at night.
Some beginner adventurers who had learned magic secretly came here in parties to test it.
Because of that, the first and third floors had relatively few Dungeon monsters in broad daylight.
Just as Tali said, when Nolan prepared to move into the next phase, he discovered that the third floor did not have a single monster in sight.
It was completely empty.
Not one monster had been left for him.
“Tali, I believe you now.” Nolan looked down the empty passage and found it almost funny.
“According to the timing, the next batch of monsters probably will not be produced until around noon.” “It is morning right now.
At this time, there are no monsters here.” Tali could not see a clock, but she could estimate from the surroundings.
“Time?” Nolan took out a watch Hestia had specially adjusted.
The hands showed it was only around eight in the morning.
The fighting speed had been too fast.
Aside from the time Tali spent picking up bullet slugs and magic stones, they had barely consumed any time on the way down.
“Still very early.” Seeing the time, Nolan understood that it was far too early.
“At this pace, the number of magic stones we earn will be very small.” “At minimum, we need to push straight to the ninth or tenth floor and create a large monster gathering.” He calculated the time ahead.
Tali’s eyes widened as she listened.
‘This beginner is terrifying.
He wants to dive deeper this fast?’ ‘Is he not afraid of being surrounded by monsters?’ Tali stared at him in shock.
“Mr.
Ward, why are you so eager to attract monsters?” Had she followed the wrong beginner?
Tali wanted to know why Nolan was so interested in this.
“Money.” “I still owe a great deal of it.” Right now, he owed his country the cost of an enormous bulk weapons order.
If he did not work hard to earn money, how was he supposed to repay it?
“Tali, you are a Pallum, and as a Supporter, you must have seen adventurers bully the weak because they had weapons and power.” “So I believe you must have something on hand that can attract monsters.” Nolan studied Tali.
He thought about her as a Pallum.
If she was a Pallum Supporter, she must have worked with adventurers before and seen their habit of bullying the weak.
She must have had thoughts of revenge.
That meant she was likely carrying some kind of monster lure.
“I do not.” “I really do not.” Tali suddenly felt that Nolan had changed.
He had become wilder.
“I know you have it.” “Right?” Nolan leaned closer, looked the Pallum up and down, and smiled.
“If you have something that useful, you should share.” His hand landed on her shoulder before she could stop it.
‘Scary.’ Tali looked at that smile and felt as if something especially bad was about to happen.
“Even if I did, someone would still have to lure the monsters.” She could tell Nolan was certain she had it.
Even if Tali dared to use monster lure, someone still had to be bait.
“Not you.” Nolan clapped his hands.
“I have my own way to handle the rest.” Did he need a person?
What era was this?
With lure, Nolan had ways to operate without making anyone human bait.
He took from Spatial Storage the map of the first twelve floors that Hephaestus had provided.
“You have some understanding of the floor maps here.
Find an open space that can gather a large number of monsters.” “When the time comes, we gather monsters from several floors and wipe them out all at once.” Nolan’s heart burned with excitement.
He was not the type to search for enemies one by one.
He preferred gathering a large number of monsters and sending them off in one wave.
With the firepower of his heavy weapons, if he did not give these monsters acute copper poisoning, then what had he brought those weapons for?
Tali held the map and listened to Nolan’s insane idea.
She felt as if she was about to lose her mind.
“Mr.
Ward, are you sure you do not want me to act as bait?” Tali still had to ask.
She truly wanted to know if Nolan would make her bait.
“If I use you as bait, who will pick things up for me?” Nolan gave the Pallum a flat look.
Did she distrust his character that much?
“I am paying a high price to hire you.
I did not hire you to die.” “If you die, who does the work?” A sixty-forty split.
“Once we gather a large number of monsters, just think about how much money we can earn.” Nolan coaxed her patiently.
He understood incentives.
If he wanted her to work hard, he had to make the reward feel real.
“One wave and the savings explode.” Those words hit Tali hard.
“A sixty-forty split.
If I take forty percent, and a huge batch of monsters is worth at least hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions of valis…” “Forty percent would mean a million valis.” Tali could fully imagine how much money she could earn.
Her heart pounded wildly.
‘This is bad.
I want it.’ People were like that.
Once a thought they should not have took root, that stirring feeling turned into real desire.
If she had that money, she would have enough to walk out of that Familia.
“I am in.”
CREATORS’ THOUGHTS AuroraVale Thank you for reading.
I hope this chapter pulled you a little deeper into the story.
Stay close, because things are only getting more interesting.