Syl

Chapter 174: Cavern Questing

Syl

After much testing, my current limit with [Metal Slime] seemed to be iron. Copper and lead were both perfectly usable, but iron seemed to be my best option in terms of weapons. I also could predict that the next level would likely give me access to Silver and possibly Bronze.

Despite the momentary disappointment at not being able to immediately use the best metals, the trait itself was fascinating, and it brought me fond memories of my initial testing with my slime when I was first starting out.

It was intriguing that despite my prior work with [Chimeric Mimicry] and [Morph Slime] being what I would call nearly flawless, now armed with [Metal Slime], I couldn’t help but notice that any formed weapons seemed better. I always struggled to mimic sharpness, even with the combination of complete profiles, high trait levels, and plenty of practice, but now it was beyond compare. The inherent compatibility between all my slime traits was simply outstanding; I felt like giving Gramps a standing ovation.

’I didn’t even need to make the mental adjustments or anything myself; it’s like my mimicry trait automatically knows what traits to incorporate.’

Finally, having exhausted myself, I called it a night. I couldn’t wait to head out and start using [Metal Slime] against monsters.

***

"I wish I could’ve joined ya for some hunting. But I need to go get Ma out of the forge." Thern said during breakfast.

"No problem, Thern. Family comes first, and we can go on a hunt next time."

Thern shook his head. "I’m not worried about Ma. I’m worried about the other dwarves probably stuck there with her. But I’ll definitely take you up on that rain check."

After breakfast, I left the house, saying farewell to Thern and Darmod. I was extremely thankful for [Mapping]; otherwise, I might not have found my way back.

’Sure, it might be efficient. But it’s certainly confusing needing to traverse multiple floors.’

While the guild was busy, it didn’t take me long to finally get an available receptionist. She looked cheery enough and had a similar giant beehive hairstyle, except it came with a big single braid hanging over her shoulder.

"Good day. Do you have a quest to post for us?" The dwarf asked with a cheery attitude.

"Ah. No, I’m an adventurer and looking for some quests." I said, pulling out my tag.

"Ah, shit! Sorry, sorry." The dwarf apologized nervously. "I heard the rumor but didn’t think it was true. I thought maybe you were one of the elves from the embassy."

I hid my surprise at him mentioning other elves and decided to ask Darmod about it later. I still had the bag I was tasked with returning, after all.

"Nope. Freshly promoted to Gold and looking to prove myself." I answered.

"Looking to impress someone? Hmm..." The dwarf responded, tugging at her braid. "Well, I think your first two quests can be the permanent ones for killing Worms and Kobolds. There’s no penalty for not doing them, and you never know when you will run into either."

I nodded and accepted both.

<Quest accepted: Exterminate Worms (∞). Silver-Gold rank.>

<Quest accepted: Exterminate Kobolds (∞). Bronze-Gold rank.>

"Now those always earn goodwill, especially if you can kill a worm. Those bastards are always threatening our wards." The receptionist explained. "As for what else will make people look at you... Let me look at your quest record and what we have available."

I nodded and waited in silence.

"Okay. Your profile says you’re really good at mass exterminations. That is a lot of orcs you killed there!" The dwarf said excitedly. "An ant princess was spotted forming a new nest nearby. If you can exterminate it before she sets up and becomes a queen, you’d be making a big splash!"

"Any different to dungeon ants?" I asked.

"The regular drones will be on par, maybe even dumber than dungeon minions?" The receptionist said with a shrug. "The ant princess, though, will be smart and is the real threat. She will also try to run away, so make sure to seal the deal."

"Sounds good to me." I agreed and accepted the quest.

<Quest accepted: Exterminate Ant Princess. Gold rank.>

<Quest accepted: Exterminate Ants (∞). Bronze-Silver rank.>

"If you kill the princess, that’s quest complete. But any dead ants is good in our books." The receptionist grinned.

I thanked the receptionist and was given some guidance on which city gate to use. Unfortunately, her verbal guidance wasn’t enough, and I got somewhat lost. I wished I could have gotten a quest marker to the gate as I got a little lost until I found appropriate signage pointing towards the gate.

***

"That’s a gate? It looks more like a vault door." I muttered to myself, staring at the massive circular door absolutely buzzing with enchantments.

I wondered if they had to open the gate to exit, but I noticed a much smaller hatch-style door leading out when I neared it. Again, I was mistaken for an elven ambassador, but I got loud laughs and apologies when I showed my guild tag. Then I was outside the city, and it opened up into the mouth of a giant cavern.

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"I am so glad I have [Darkvision]..." I chuckled.

I allowed the Ant Princess Quest to guide me since it was the only one with a location. I followed a well-maintained tunnel path with torches, markers, and even some hints of well-worn flooring. I was grateful for the tunnel path as it appeared I was heading off to quite a distant locale. I used the time to try familiarizing myself with [Tremor Sense] since I figured it might be vital to locate the burrowing worms or the ant nest.

When I reached the end of the tunnel, I couldn’t help but gasp at the sight before me. It was like an entirely different biome had opened up. The underground cavern was primarily occupied by towering mushroom trees reaching up toward the unseen ceiling, their gigantic caps casting eerie shadows. The soft glow of bioluminescent fungus carpeted the ground, illuminating the surroundings with an otherworldly light.

As I ventured deeper into the cavern, the air was filled with a faint, earthy scent of damp soil and the gentle rustle of unseen creatures moving through the mushroom grove. It was a mesmerizing and enchanting landscape, unlike anything I had ever seen.

"I swear if you dropped me here, I think I’d struggle to realize I was underground," I muttered to myself.

Despite my hope of using [Tremor Sense], there was so much activity from all sorts of creepy crawlies in this mushroom biome that I struggled to make heads or tails of where to go or what to pursue. I tried my best to filter it to only larger points of interest, but even then, it was a little overwhelming.

"Let me just head towards the ant sighting rather..." I said, trying to suppress the small headache forming.

Heading deeper into the mushrooms, I noticed that most of the non-monstrous critters seemed to be bugs or invertebrates. Nothing seemed particularly eye-catching as I grabbed and snacked on a few things. Eventually, I sensed something trying to creep up on me, and I thought it might have been a serpent judging by how it moved, but when I turned to face it, it appeared to be some form of living fungus.

<Creeping Fungoid [III] LV 18 Elemental Affinity: Nature.>

"Seriously? You’re a tier three monster?" I looked at the strange thing with bafflement.

I was about to lob a [Fireball] at it when I paused and decided this was ample opportunity to try out my two latest slime traits extensively.

Forming a shortsword in one hand and a rapier in the other, I took a stab and a swing at the fungus. It didn’t even react, and my attacks seemed to not affect it in the slightest. It counter-attacked by trying to unexpectedly rise up and try to engulf my weapon and use it to crawl towards my arms.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

’Honestly... I should have seen this coming. It’s literally just iron at this point.’ I sighed and activated [Nitro Slime] with an instant prime and detonation.

There was a click, and then the sword it was crawling over abruptly detonated, sending bits of fungus scattering. The small remnants of the fungus creature were writhing on the ground, trying to reconstitute itself. Not willing to let it do so, I stabbed into it with my rapier, which I then reverted to a more slime state and engulfed it.

<Creeping Fungoid LV 18 defeated. Experience gained.>

’Weren’t plants supposed to fear me?’ I wondered.

I still had the [Nature’s Bane] emblem equipped, even though I displayed [Dungeoneer] using [Identity Fabrication].

’Perhaps I should swap to the latter in case I discover a hidden dungeon nearby?’

I changed my emblem and then started looking through its profile to find out why it had approached me. The answer was baffling.

’It’s a damn slug? Seriously? It basically has fungus in its name?’

The traits were also laughably bad. It secreted digestive acids used to eat prey and could even vomit them out. It might have been useful if I didn’t have [Acid Slime]. Its final trait allowed it to morph into the appearance of a fungus it was in contact with. I found it pretty dull and disappointing.

’I hope the worms or kobolds have better traits... I already have an ant profile, so there’s not much hope there unless the princess has something... Wait!’

I realized I already had an ant profile! I threw everything into storage and shifted into a giant ant, making sure to pick up the various pheromone-related traits.

’I’m sure I can use this to find the ant nest!’ I thought happily as I continued my search.

Sure enough, after exploring a bit more, I began to find many trails left behind, all heading toward a unified direction and previously invisible to my normal senses. Feeling quite happy about a well-executed plan, I started following the trail and saw a few drones meandering about. Unlike the previous ants, they were bright red and busy harvesting what they could.

<Fire Ant Drone [II] LV 15 Elemental Affinity: Fire.>

’That’s a bit on the nose, isn’t it?’

I crawled up a large mushroom and watched them continue to work. The numbers were quite considerable, but they were all low-level. The nest most likely held some higher-tier ants.

’I know [Nitro Slime] is very effective... But could I combine it with [Metal Slime]?’

I began thinking of how I could effectively combine the two. One idea that came to mind was to create a shrapnel-style bomb that would explode and cut up the ants. While that would certainly satisfy my inner Dewi, I wondered if there was potentially a more elegant solution. I especially wanted to toy with more cost-efficient ideas. Sure, I could detonate a small lake’s worth of [Nitro Slime] and probably kill nearly anything, but it felt wasteful.

Since [Metal Slime] had made me think of my past tactics, I wondered if I shouldn’t explore that. I could create metal projectiles to shoot like I had once done with tusks and teeth. I thought of the giant frog and the boar I had attacked from the inside and wondered if I could apply that method somehow?

’Metal spikes or needles that are primed and detonate from the inside? Could that work? I could even coat the tip with [Acid Slime] for enhanced penetration.’

The idea sounded good, and I started experimenting by using both traits to design thin needles. Once I made a few and chose my favorite design, I locked it in, created a few more, and then primed them to hold their shape.

’The conditions I can set with [Nitro Slime] will expand with further trait levels. How amazing would it be if I could set the exploding condition for after you are inside? The on-contact explosion is probably too quick. My other option is a 5-second delay, but that feels too long. Hell, if a monster is too small, the needle might be outside of it before it detonates!’

I was searching for a solution when the obvious one struck me. I could set them as on-trigger and then use a [Sub-Core] to monitor and detonate once the needle had penetrated. Given how high-spec they had become after evolving, I was sure they could easily handle the task.

With a salvo of iron needles formed from [Metal Slime], tipped with [Acid Slime], and primed with [Nitro Slime], I began sneaking about for some good firing angles.

Like an assassin, except with explosive needles rather than poison, I began my assault. Needles fired out unbeknownst to the ant drones going about their business and pierced rather effortlessly through their carapace. Thanks to the various skills and traits I had accumulated, it was far more accurate than I had realized, and as each needle pierced through, they detonated.

<Fire Ant Drone LV 15 defeated. Experience gained.>

...

<Fire Ant Drone LV 10 defeated. Experience gained.>

’Haha! Nice, good, excellent!’ I cheered as the explosive needles were far more effective than I realized. The ant drones were popping before my very eyes.

<Fire Ant Drone LV 12 defeated. Experience gained.>

...

<Fire Ant Drone LV 14 defeated. Experience gained.>

<Class Experience threshold reached. Elementalist is now LV 5.>

<14 Skill Points are now available.>

<Your class has revealed the following skills: [Earth Magic], [Elemental Harmony]>.

<Fire Ant Drone LV 9 defeated. Experience gained.>

...