“Aaaaaah… Demon Ore really dropped…”
Aisha picked up the metal orb with trembling hands.
“No doubt about it. It’s Demon Ore ‘Iron’.”
Aisha gazed at the Demon Ore as if it were precious, a smile spreading across her face.
“Fufufufu, this is getting interesting. Now, let’s kill more and more Monsters, kill, kill, kill them all!”
Yuma and the President were taken aback by that crazed smile.
They were starting to get scared if she was okay, but they couldn’t stop the investigation halfway. Reluctantly, Yuma and the others continued to hunt Monsters.
Pill Bugs died instantly if a Longsword pierced their vitals, and even if it missed, stabbing them two or three times would turn them into sand and they would disappear.
Earthworms could be cut into rings, and although they moved for a while after being cut, they stopped moving and disappeared when crushed.
The most troublesome were the Armadillos.
The blade just wouldn’t go through. He tried changing the shape of the Dagger several times, but he still couldn’t penetrate the Armadillo’s shell.
Since there wasn’t an actual Dagger, he couldn’t imagine it well, and it was still in the realm of being “dull.”
“Yuma-kun, can you coat the Pickel with Metal?”
“Huh? Coating?”
Yuma frowned at the suggestion, which he hadn’t considered. Certainly, ‘Liquid Metallization’ had a high degree of versatility. It seemed like he could coat things with it.
“I’ll try.”
He picked up the Pickel that was on the ground and imagined the Liquid flowing over the surface. Then, a Metal Gray Liquid crawled up the surface of the Pickel from his hand.
In a matter of seconds, the whole thing was covered.
“It’s done!”
“Yeah… With this, this Pickel has turned into a weapon harder than the Monsters. Can you make the head part bigger and the Pick part more acute?”
“I-I’ll try.”
When he concentrated, the Liquid began to gather on the head of the Pickel and form a shape.
The head became about twice as large, and the pointed part (Pick) changed to an acute shape like a pickaxe.
Since there was an actual Pickel, it was easy to imagine.
“Okay, try defeating the Armadillo with that.”
“Yes!”
Yuma raised the Pickel and pointed the sharp Pick part at the Armadillo. As he swung it down with all his might, it easily pierced the shell that had been so hard.
The Armadillo let out a death scream. It died instantly and disappeared into sand.
“I did it!”
“With this, we’ve defeated all the Monsters on the eighth floor, Yuma. All that’s left is to hunt them down!”
“Yes, President.”
Yuma hunted Monsters with the President, who was pleased. Since Metallization had a time limit, he released it every five minutes and tried to conserve it as much as possible.
Yuma and the President caught the Pill Bugs and Earthworms that were running away and gathered them in one place.
When a certain number had gathered, Yuma used ‘Metallization’ and crushed them with the Pickel.
The Pickel, which had increased in weight, mercilessly crushed the small Monsters. This was the most efficient way yet.
The hard Armadillos could also be pierced with the sharp Pick part of the Pickel, so they turned the Monsters into sand one after another like an assembly line.
And then…
“Oooooooooh, wonderful! To think we could get this much Demon Ore!! The drop rate really is 100%. This is the best!”
Aisha was overjoyed and sorted the large amount of Demon Ore into cases.
Pill Bug ‘Iron’, Earthworm ‘Copper’, Armadillo ‘Chrome’. All together, there must have been close to forty.
–I’ve never seen Aisha-san so happy before.
Yuma put down the Pickel, sat cross-legged on the ground. His face was tired, and his forehead was covered in sweat.
“President, I’m exhausted.”
“Well, it’s no wonder after defeating that many.”
The President took an energy drink out of his bag and handed it to him, saying, “Here.”
Yuma thanked him and pulled the tab, opened the lid, and gulped it down into his stomach. It spread throughout his body.
“Haa, I can’t put any more strength into my body. I think I’ll have muscle pain all over tomorrow.”
“What a wimp. When I was young, I kept defeating Monsters all day long!”
“Times are different, President. You have to think about work-life balance these days.”
“What’s work-life balance! Don’t use such lame loanwords!”
The President was ranting, but he must have been tired, because he plopped down next to Yuma.
“Well, that’s it for today, but we still have a month left. Let’s get fired up again starting tomorrow!”
“That’s right. There’s still a long way to go, so I’ll do my best!”
As Yuma and the President were talking, Aisha looked at them with a puzzled expression.
“What are you two talking about? We’re going down to the tenth floor to hunt other Monsters.”
“Eh!?”
Aisha said it as if it were obvious, and the exhausted duo turned pale, wondering if she was serious.