Chapter 477

Into the Forest Depths(4)

“–Now let’s get started, it’s time for Tunnel construction!”

Having decided on a spot to dig, I started the Tunnel fabrication.

While checking the location of the Asura Golem on the map, I removed the soil, made a hole, and hardened it with [Hardening] to prevent it from collapsing.

I had to harden all the areas except for the pit, because I was afraid that it might collapse.

This kind of terrain-altering function required a lot of DP, so in the case of a one-and-a-half-kilometer tunnel, I had to use a huge amount, but I had already explained the situation to my wives and received their “okay”.

Fufufu, there was no flaw in my plan.

I felt like an ant. An underground empire…I was not going to build it though. However, it might not be a bad idea to try building it someday.

…Speaking of ants.

I remembered that we were chased by an army of ants in the Demon Forest a long time ago.

The memory of that time…still remained as a trauma to this day.

A huge number of ants crawled out, covered the ground, and chased after me and Rir, trying to eat us.

It was the first time I realized how dangerous this forest was.

By the way, by far the most traumatic experience for me was the worm-filled treasure chest in the ghost ship dungeon that Nell and I conquered together.

That was really the worst.

I opened it, and they crawled on my fingers one after another…

I have to seal this memory.

[…? What’s wrong?]

“I just remembered a rather unpleasant memory…How can Enne be so unconcerned about dealing with any insects…?”

[…Hmm. Because insects are one-hit killed. There are some poisonous ones that you have to be a little careful with, but basically, they are weak. No need to be afraid.]

Ah, so she was looking at it that way…

My child looked so tough, while I looked so weak and insignificant.

And then, that’s when Rir made noise as if to follow up on me.

“Kuu.”

“…Yeah, that’s right! The bugs in Demon Forest are big, strong, and creepy, so it’s normal to be scared of them!”

[…Don’t worry. Enne will protect you, Master. No matter how scary they are, I’ll be with you.]

“Thank you, Enne. I know it’s pathetic, but please take care of me when it comes to bugs.”

As we were talking about this, I was working on the tunnel… then I came across to a place that looked like a cavity.

I had lights. Without it, the cavity was too dark for me to even see what was inside.

What the heck was that cave?

I looked inside and what I saw was a black fluffy thing.

It was large, roughly average for a monster in the Demon Forest, and its skin was thick.

The distinctive feature was its claws.

The claws on its arms and legs were thick and shaped to make it easy to scrape through the dirt.

It was a mole.

Its head moved and turned toward me, and then its eyes met mine.

Hello.

“Uwaaah!”

I quickly swung Enne and delivered a single blow.

[Piggya!”]

It was an unexpected encounter, even for the Giant Mole, and the strike went well, but because the opponent was huge and inside the Tunnel, Enne did not properly penetrate, so the damage was shallow.

The mole seemed angered and tried to attack me with its sharp claws, but Rir jumped in front of it and bit it right on the neck.

Rir had reduced his body size to get into the hole, but the strength of his bite remained the same.

Rir’s fangs pierced the thick skin and the flesh beneath it, making fresh blood gush out.

The Giant Mole was frightened.

“If it’s a thrust, I can do it even in this narrow space!”

I took the opportunity Rir had created for me and thrust Enne into its head.

Now I could hold the super-heavy Enne with one hand and deliver a powerful thrust.

The blade pierced through the brain without obstruction.

The Giant Mole twitched, then lost the light from its eyes and stopped moving.

“Fuu…Rir, are you okay?”

“Kuu.”

Rir replied, “No problem,” and pulled his fangs out of the Great Mole’s neck.

…I had considered the possibility that there might be monsters in the ground, but I never thought I would really bump into one.

I wondered if the Asura Golem would notice the sound of the battle.

I was digging pretty deep, so I think we should be okay….

I quickly checked the video feed from an Evil Eye above ground that I set up to monitor the golem from a distance… and there was no problem.

It was in the same position, not moving.

Either it didn’t hear us, or it didn’t have the ability to sense sound.

Or maybe it did notice us, but it didn’t have the ability to process what was under the ground.

–This was one of the troublesome things about golems.

There were combat golems listed in the DP catalog, but this was one of the reasons why I didn’t use any of them, and only used ones made for scouting.

The range of what they could do was fixed, and they could only do what they were set to do, with no growth potential at all.

They simply were a bunch of toys for the big boys.

No matter how crazy their offensive abilities might be, it was always the smart ones who prevailed!

“We will be the real winners…!”

“…kuuh.”

[…Master, be on your guard, bad…]

“I know, I know, it’s okay, it’s okay. I’m not being careless.”

–I finished digging up to the planned spot without any problems after that, I cut away the topsoil as much as I could, and set all the traps I had prepared with DP in it.

First, a long, wide hole.

On the ceiling, a large amount of explosives.

On top of that, I set up bombs with metal fragments that would be sent flying when they exploded, and at the end of the drop zone, a concentrated sulfuric acid poison swamp with piercing pikes.

There was also a trap at the bottom that, when touched, would eject a harpoon with a chain, which would penetrate the target and immobilize it.

If this didn’t work…I’d just run away and ask for Lefi’s help like a mature person.

After I finished setting everything up, we went back the way we came, made sure there were no monsters around, and waited at the reconnaissance point.

“Alright, let’s do this.”

“Kuu.”

[…nn!]

I then activated the trap.