Knock, knock!

Gerald tapped on the stone lightly, but nothing happened. He took out a knife and tried to scrape off some of that gold. Again, nothing happened, but he was also unable to scratch it.

"Hmm..." He took out a mace he bought this very day in the camp and used his entire strength behind the swing.

Bam!

The metal mace received a dent on one of its spikes, but the stone was fine.

He stored the mace away and pointed at the stone with his cannon.

Boom!

Smoke covered the tunnel and the cannonball ricocheted off the stone slab, striking the wall and chipping off a piece.

But, once again, the orange stone was completely fine!

"What the hell is this thing?!" He scratched his head in bewilderment.

Unfortunately for him, he didn't have much time to think about it. The loud sounds he just made, and especially the last explosion, attracted some unwanted guests.

Rumbling of many legs striking the stone surface traveled to his ears, and soon he saw more than twenty Minecrawlers, both Workers and Warriors, running towards his direction from all sides.

"Uh-oh, time to go!" He did not waste any time in making his quick escape from the area. Angry screeches reverberated through the underground after the beasts failed to find their target.

Sneakily attacking one or two lone Minecrawlers was doable, but dealing with more than twenty at once was suicide, even for him.

"I spent enough time here for today anyway! I better get back or my friends might start to worry." He quickly backtracked his steps and returned to the surface. Visiting one of the merchants, he sold the armor plates and a few Ether Crystals for approximately ten gold.

"Damn, making money is so easy now!" He stored the money in his Space Pouch with a smile and went to check on the guys.

"Gerald! You are back! We were just starting to worry..." Kerius went to welcome him with a bright smile when he saw him coming. He had an extra bottle of beer and handed it to him.

"Come, let's celebrate our hunt today!" He dragged Gerald to the campfire where the team was gathered.

"Let's all offer a toast to Gerald, for killing those Minecrawler Warriors and saving us all!" Kerius lifted his beer bottle in the air as he spoke.

Everyone lifted their drinks and shouted "Cheers!" at the same time. The atmosphere was quite lively and people joked and chatted around the campfire.

"Say, Gerald..." Kerius spoke while everyone was having fun, "What was that thing you used to kill those beasts?"

Gerald internally sighed, he knew that many were curious about his cannon now that they knew of its existence. Since that was the case, he might as well say a few words.

"Oh, this?" He lifted his broken metal hand, "Well, it's a new weapon that is made for emergencies. It can direct the force of an explosion in a single direction, making it more powerful. It can be only used once before needing to be reloaded, though, it's honestly not that useful in a fight," he explained while also not saying anything relevant.

"I was only able to kill because you all helped hold down the Minecrawlers, so the true heroes were you all, risking your lives to give me a chance! Let me offer you all a toast!" Gerald lifted his bottle and drank in big gulps.

His words brought forth massive approval in the hearts of the people gathered, so they all cheered and drank around the fire. He then brought out a few more pieces of spicy Warg meat, which further increased morale and lifted the mood.

***

The following morning they, once again, traveled to the giant gates leading to the underground, although they were more serious this time than the last time. Remembering how they already lost two guys on the first day, they were determined to not let it happen again.

The atmosphere was solemn as the old Bishop once again came on the platform and gave a speech. The gates then opened and after a momentary brawl with the Minecrawlers, the warriors marched underground.

This time Gerald's team did not advance as fast, so he didn't have to guide them as much as they could deal with dangers that came their way. Unlike yesterday, they focused more on collecting good-quality armor plates from the Minecrawlers as they were worth more than the reward for the head itself.

They similarly had to be more careful where they attacked with their weapons not to damage the goods.

Their hunt was slower because of it, and they killed less, but the total worth of the loot was almost doubled compared to the day prior.

"Work smarter not harder, the saying really holds true in this case!"

When the sacks they brought with them were filled, it was time to return. After getting his loot counted and sold, Gerald once again made an excuse and sneaked back underground.

That piece of weird orange rock did not leave his mind since yesterday and it was bugging him too much to just ignore it.

In any case, as far as his abilities went, it was indestructible. He couldn't even scratch it. Even using Earth magic, he was unable to move it.

With his remarkable memory, he quickly found his way among the many branching tunnels and caves, arriving back at the place of interest. He ignored the Minecrawlers on his way for the most part since they were incapable of detecting him anyway.

"Okay, let's see what we have here..." He crouched down after arriving at the peculiar rock and observed in the light of a dancing fire.

The piece of stone appeared to have been a part of something bigger once upon a time, but the top was now broken and the rest was nowhere to be seen.

He took out his notebook and a few drops of ink floated in the air, dropping on the page and creating a perfect copy of what was in his sight.

"You never know when it might come in handy..." he murmured and stored the notebook away.

Then, using his Magic Eyes, he observed the golden symbols on the rocky surface. To his surprise, Mana was flowing through it in an orderly manner, following along the gold symbols exactly and not deviating at all.

"Hmm?" He followed the direction of the energy and saw many thin lines of Mana all around. They were extremely delicate, which is why he didn't notice them earlier.

He rushed along the tunnel and noticed a few more of those orange stones poking out of the wall. The structure inside the rock was uniform, straight, and repeated every once in a while. It was the same on the other side, a mirror image.

"Is this some ancient structure encased in stone?" he gasped after seeing a part that looked like a pillar. It was similar to the first piece he saw, although this one was still intact and stood straight, making the tunnel bend around it.

Soon the caverns expanded and many tunnels merged into a single massive stone hall. It was so large that Gerald couldn't see the other side.

It was also swarming with Minecrawlers. There were thousands of them, like a sea of living beings, walking across each other.

A small mountain, a behemoth, soon entered his sight. A Minecrawler, bigger than a grown elephant, was slowly stomping around, munching on Demon Mushrooms, and occasionally on a Minecrawler Worker. The tough shell offered no resistance whatsoever to the massive mandibles as it was crushed like old crackers.

The inside juices were sprayed all around on the floor and the rest of the Workers, who, weirdly enough, didn't seem to mind.

"Oh...my...god!" Gerald whispered, his eyes bulging out as he observed the monster.

He recalled the picture from the Bestiary, it was the Minecrawler King. However, the picture did not do justice to the monstrosity before him.

It was recorded that the approximate strength of this being started at Silver 8-Rank, meaning it could lift more than eight metric tones! That was probably twice its body weight.

But that was only the beginning of its strength. This one appeared to be bigger than the book described, probably approaching the limits of the Silver Rank.

"This is dangerous! If people come here and try to pick a fight with this thing, they will all die! But at the speed they are progressing, it will take at least a week for them to come here. I still have time to think about what to do about this..."

He took the notebook and made a picture of what he saw. There wasn't much light in the cave, but luckily some bioluminescent moss was growing on the ceiling, and with its glowing strands hanging down like chandeliers, it was throwing dim light on the ground below.

Straining his eyes to see in the dark, Gerald noticed a structure behind the behemoth. It was massive, probably more than a hundred meters tall and a few hundred meters wide.

"It's definitely an ancient building, probably from before the Demon Invasion. It's possible that it was buried for thousands of years until the Minecrawlers excavated it and made it their home."

He had his hypothesis, but he didn't dare go any further in to confirm it. Even if he could escape the senses of Workers and Warriors, testing out the Minecrawler King was not a good idea. No amount of magic could protect him from that thing.

He remembered the speed of the Brown Boar Kind, and if this beast was anything like it, it would be like a modern tank going at full speed! No barrier could stop it.

"Yeah... I think I'll be on my way now..." He floated away soundlessly, fully alert of any sudden movements around him.