Apostle of the Void

Chapter 39: In the Red Mountain Range (3)

Arzen wandered around the foothills, gathering information.

Adventurers are notoriously chatty, so it was easy to glean valuable insights just by eavesdropping.

He sought out adventurers who appeared relatively strong and deliberately positioned himself nearby to listen closely.

“...I hear the kobolds are quite rampant these days?”

“...Don’t even get me started. The kobolds have been so aggressive that even the goblins have lost their homes.”

“...Those guys have dug tunnels where the rat spiders roam, making the deeper parts of the underground increasingly dangerous.”

Rat spiders were hideous creatures that seemed to be a bizarre mix of rats and spiders.

Their danger level was rated a staggering E+.

Given that goblins are rated G and kobolds G+, it indicated that they were indeed dangerous monsters.

‘But to me, they are nothing more than passing vermin...!’

Arzen was a calamity in and of himself.

Could one stop a storm just because they saw it coming?

To monsters, the power of the Void was just that.

‘Hehe.’

Afterward, Arzen also gathered information about local amenities.

‘To support large-scale investigations, the mayor of <Aurelinople> has rolled up his sleeves.’

He heard that the city had extended its curfew by four hours and shortened the opening hours by two hours.

In short, the city would not close its doors until 10 PM.

And it would open at 5 AM.

‘I’ll work two days and then head to the city for a day of rest.’

After regaining his freedom, Arzen had made one decision.

‘That is to achieve work-life balance!’

Growing the power of the Void was important and enjoyable.

However, he decided to refrain from overworking himself as much as possible.

‘I must live with at least a minimum level of happiness!’

The city hall had added more shuttle carriages running between the Red Mountain Range and <Aurelinople>, significantly shortening the intervals between departures.

Therefore, this plan shouldn’t be difficult.

Inside the crowded carriage, he didn’t want to be mixed in with the adventurers, all reeking of monster blood and sweat.

‘When I heard the witch’s explanation earlier, it seemed like a long stay was expected.’

So, Arzen went to the station information desk and bought a monthly pass for three rides a week.

‘It’s foolish not to take advantage of a 26% discount compared to paying each time!’

Of course, camping out in the Red Mountain Range and resolving quests might be faster, but he didn’t want to do that.

Arzen returned to the branch.

Next to the quest status board, there was a bulletin board.

There, a detailed map of the kobolds’ tunnels in the southern part of the Red Mountain Range was displayed.

A note below indicated that it was created based on reports from brave adventurers.

‘Selling such important information for a measly contribution... they’re brave as hell, aren’t they? Bunch of idiots!’

Despite his thoughts, Arzen went to the counter to purchase a copy of that map. Information was crucial.

‘And just in case I might not have the luxury to chant a healing miracle, let’s buy some potions too.’

It would be best to purchase them from places bustling with adventurers.

Potions were a matter of life and death, so adventurers were keen to find quality items.

The fact that many adventurers frequented a shop meant that word of mouth had ensured its quality.

‘I found one right away.’

A sizable temporary tent had been set up, and adventurers were lining up.

The queue was quite long, but the turnover was quick.

Upon entering, Arzen understood the reason.

Three neatly dressed alchemists in clean white attire were collaborating inside.

Their cleanliness made them seem far more trustworthy compared to the people who carelessly displayed potions on the streets.

To Arzen\'s discerning eye, the quality seemed decent.

Unlike the usual herbalists who only categorized their potions as low, medium, or high grade, these alchemists had further subdivided them into lower-medium and upper-medium grades.

Arzen purchased three lower-medium potions.

Since he could use the healing miracle, anything beyond this would be unnecessary overspending.

He also bought some glowstone.

“Tch, losing a usable pathfinder stepping stone means I have to handle these trivial matters myself.”

He definitely wanted to avoid becoming lost and dying deep underground.

The glowstone would be handy for marking his path.

“Preparation is complete... time to go.”

* * *

He decided to set out for the first day of exploration.

A newly discovered area would be ideal.

He avoided popular spots known to be prime locations due to the crowd.

At the entrance of the tunnel, apprentice witches were strictly managing access, accompanied by guards from the city hall.

They seemed to be compiling a list to keep track of casualties and missing persons.

“Looks like such menial tasks have fallen to the apprentice witches!”

The apprentice witches were typically in their late teens to late twenties.

Yuz, who had already been officially appointed as a witch in her early twenties, was quite an elite.

Being the disciple of a priestess was no lie either.

“Identification tag?”

“Here.”

“Steel, huh? What’s your request?”

When Arzen presented the request slip stamped by the Witch Association, the witch raised an eyebrow.

“So you received a designated request from Witch Beth?”

“Yes.”

“How interesting. I see you\'re not someone to be misjudged... you may pass.”

Upon entering the tunnel, a slope appeared immediately.

‘There are various supports, braces, and torches set up near the entrance, making it seem solid, but...’

Deeper inside lay untouched tunnels where human hands had not reached.

Dust fell with even minor tremors, which felt slightly unsettling.

‘No, kobolds are masters of tunnels. They wouldn’t let anything collapse so easily.’

Arzen formed a light using the 《Lamp of Prayer》.

“Kaz to Arcturus. 10th tier.”

Buuuuuum... The eerie silence of the underground felt calmed by the sound of the flapping wings.

“Worker bee!”

The worker bee perched on Arzen’s shoulder. Lately, he had almost given the little creature its own dedicated space.

“Alright, let’s go!”

They descended further for about half an hour.

As they went deeper, the echoing sounds of the tunnel began to resonate, soon capturing the sound of hammering.

‘The sounds are resonating through the tunnels...?’

Kobold tunnels varied immensely in size depending on their purpose.

Tunnels simply used for travel were barely wide enough for an adult to pass through.

Arzen understood why Sia and Jerome hadn’t come.

‘If they had indeed arrived here, they would have had quite a tough time.’

However, the area where the work was in progress was quite vast.

As he exited the long tunnel, he could see kobolds setting up supports and hammering stakes here and there.

‘Kobolds!’

They were reptilian demons.

There’s a legend that they are descendants of ancient beings known as Reptilians, but that is merely a legend.

They were short like goblins, and while their combat ability was better than that of goblins, they were still insignificant.

However, kobolds possessed masonry skills that distinguished them from the typical lowest-grade monsters, and they wore a kind of stone armor and helmets.

“Nevertheless, in the face of the power of the Void, all monsters are utterly insignificant!”

The kobolds, who had been widening the tunnel with pickaxes or hammering stakes, turned in surprise at his voice.

“Kobold brothers, you’ve worked hard today. If you leave those stakes behind, I’ll let you live. Oh, and since pickaxes can fetch a price, leave those too.”

The kobolds exhibited a primal animosity toward humans.

Thus, they charged at him, using their tools as weapons.

“Crawrrrr!”

Arzen crossed his arms arrogantly and chuckled.

“What’s this? You want to rush me? You think a mere G+ rank can take on me, Arzen? Worker bee, we need to teach these rude trash some manners!”

Buuuuuum… The worker bees lined up in formation and advanced.

The kobolds caught in that line began to writhe in pain as if being swallowed by some unseen force.

Arzen picked up a pickaxe that one of them had dropped.

‘This looks to be of decent quality.’

He could understand why it was valuable.

“Let’s see if it fits your head.”

Crack!

He delivered a lethal blow to the head of a kobold, nearly half of its body consumed by the Void creatures.

The helmet, likely due to weight issues, was merely clay molded from dirt with a stone piece attached to it.

It couldn’t withstand the destructive force of the pickaxe.

“Boom, clap, boom, crack, boom! Follow me! Boom! Clap clap! Boom! Clap!”

Arzen danced rhythmically as he confirmed each kobold’s kill with his pickaxe.

It seemed cruel, but kobolds were said to possess enough intelligence to play dead, so caution was warranted.

‘The number of kobolds I’ve taken out is already 10!’

The rest had been completely devoured by the Void creatures, so there was no need to confirm their demise.

“Wow, what a windfall on the first day.”

Soon, this vast cavern would belong to Arzen.

All those pickaxes and stakes represented today’s profits.

Arzen spread his troops wide and collected all the pickaxes while analyzing the battle he just fought.

‘Even while using La Tsi Qua, I felt that the power of the Void is incredibly strong against organic beings but weak against inorganic ones…’

Living beings without armor were truly slaughtered.

However, when obstructed by inorganic matter, its destructive power was significantly diminished.

It had already been proven that he couldn’t completely annihilate a great tree with La Tsi Qua.

‘But demons have taken down even hydras, right? This might just mean my power is still weak.’

Perhaps there might be a new mutation among the Void creatures or some other kind of evolution.

‘But for now, I need to devise a strategy. When dealing with kobolds, I’ll avoid using the worker bees and stick to the fused entities instead.’

The worker bees and the soldier bees could exert considerable strength even against inorganic materials.

These kinds of armor wouldn’t be able to obstruct their power.

“Hmm, uh…?”

At that moment, Arzen let out a groan.

‘The stakes won’t budge!’

No matter how hard he pulled, they were embedded so deeply that there was no movement at all.

His palms were scraping and burning from the effort.

“Worker bee, can you get this out?”

The Void creatures rushed in.

They began gnawing at the underground earth to extract the roots of the stakes…

As expected, they were tough against organic matter but weak against inorganic, which meant they took a long time for this simple labor.

“Enough, worker bee. We can’t waste precious Void creatures on such simple labor. There are laborers more suited for this menial task! We’ll need their help.”

* * *

After packing the pickaxes into his army, Arzen followed the path marked by glowstone and exited the tunnel.

He hadn’t realized how much time had passed underground, but it was already dusk.

Just then, a burly party was having a junior witch write up an entry list.

“Wow~ This is a real gold mine! Look at all these pickaxes marked with green glowstone!”

Arzen shouted, as if to let them hear.

“Aah~ There were tons of stakes too, but my army is full, so I couldn’t bring them along! I’m really weak! Oh no, how unfair! Oh!”

Fire ignited in the eyes of the burly party members.

They shot looks at the junior witch, urging her to hurry.

As soon as the entry list was completed, they dashed into the tunnel like hungry beasts.

Arzen watched their retreating figures and smiled wickedly.

* * *

“……It’s real! There are really tons of stakes!”

“……Each one is worth 10 coins! There are at least 20 here!”

“……Woohoo! It’s steak for dinner tonight!”

The burly party members began to grunt and work hard to pull out the stakes.

The pile of stakes they spread out in the center of the cavern soon counted up to 15.

If exchanged for money, that would be one silver coin and 50 copper coins.

Just then, it happened.

Suddenly, all the torches went out at once, and bugs rushed in from the darkness.

“Uh? What, what’s going on!”

“Gah, it hurts!”

“Get away! These things are on my head! No! I can’t go bald at my age!”

The burly party members were no match for the bugs that relentlessly tugged at their scalps in the darkness.

There was only one option!

They could only grab the stakes they had just pulled out and hurriedly flee toward the glowstone.

“Gah! Bugs! Bugs! What kind of gigantic bugs are these!”

“Run away!”

“It’s a terrifying new type of monster that causes baldness! We need to report this to the guild!”

As the burly party members flailed and disappeared under the pursuit of the bugs, a new presence soon emerged.

“Cough, cough, ha ha ha, ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!”

The presence began to laugh.

Gwanghui!

The boy who was laughing maniacally started to gather the pile of stakes in the center of the cavern as if they were his.

“You fools! Don’t you know there’s no such thing as a free lunch in this world at your age?”

This is neither a scam nor exploitation.

\'I paid a fair price—10 silver coins—to purchase the labor of those fools.\'

\'I wondered if there could be a more fair trade than this.\'

‘I caught the kobolds and cleared the path, so it would only be right for me to reap all the rewards…!’

\'I, Arzen, am such a soft-hearted and benevolent boy.\'

\'I just couldn\'t bring myself to do that.\'

\'So, at the moment the big guys were pulling out the last stakes, I sent in the void creatures.\'

\'Sigh~ If I keep being such an altruistic adventurer, I’ll end up with nothing. I really am too soft-hearted for my own good.\'