170 – Sacrificial Ritual – 3

“It’s really hard to understand the dwarves.”

Eun-shin, who could be said to have the emotions closest to an ordinary person among the party members, shook his head as he spoke.

They were currently climbing the Uralta volcano.

Although the other Summoned shook their heads in disbelief at them moving as soon as the overflow ended, it actually was not that difficult thanks to their levels having risen significantly after hunting the eyes and the divine beast in succession.

“They act as if they would die if they did not offer a sacrifice to the god right this instant. Even though they have had no problems with that god named Ptah until now.”

Hearing those words, Laura spoke with a bitter smile.

“I think I understand a little. To the dwarves who spend their entire lives hammering metal, faith in Ptah, the blacksmith god, must have been more than just a simple belief—it was like a guidepost for their lives. Yet, since that faith was actually drifting without reaching the god… it is not unreasonable for them to be impatient.”

“As expected of a Sister, you understand well.”

“However, I also think that if they were that desperate, it would have been right for them to manage somehow with their own strength instead of relying on us.”

“As expected of a blade wielder, you are sharp.”

Perhaps because they had hunted the divine beast together, the wall between the two of them seemed to have broken down a bit.

Gi-jun, who let out a chuckle at Eun-shin’s appropriate chiming-in, clapped his hands to focus the group’s attention.

“It seems the dungeon is close. Let’s rest here first and eat some food.”

Since they had eaten a lot of greasy food before the overflow and had run wild to their hearts’ content, a menu that would whet their appetite without putting too much strain on their stomachs would be best right now.

In times like this, a Korean meal was indeed the best.

Rice balls made by rolling in the hand rice cooked in chicken broth, with various ingredients like simple salt, stir-fried anchovies, salted pollack roe, tuna mayonnaise, and minced meat stir-fried in red chili paste.

As they also had soybean paste soup boiled with plenty of clams and seaweed, their stomachs naturally felt relieved.

—You have consumed a soul supplementary meal prepared with thorough consideration for the eater. Health and mana are restored, and you gain resistance to all status ailments.

—You have consumed a soul supplementary meal prepared with thorough consideration for the eater. Health and mana are restored, and you gain resistance to all status ailments.

What was special was that the dishes Gi-jun made did not just end at making one feel that way, but were actually certified by the system.

“Hyung, when on earth did you boil the soup?”

When Eun-shin, who was deeply moved by the soybean paste soup as well as the rice balls, asked, Gi-jun replied as if he had been waiting for the question.

“Whenever I have time, I boil them and keep them in my inventory, pot and all. Besides this, I have red chili paste stew, ground soybean stew, soybean paste stew, seaweed soup, crab soup, and seafood stew by type, so just say the word if you want to eat them.”

“…Since you are like this, Hyung, isn’t that why other people rely on you?”

Eun-shin could only shake his head at the inventory list that had developed further than during the tutorial, to the point where he could open a restaurant now.

Moreover, didn’t the dishes he made even have special effects?

Even without knowing for sure, even if he opened a restaurant in the middle of the imperial capital, people would come to eat while offering gold coins.

—This is also all thanks to the contractor and me working hard together.

—Kii…

“…No, Ur. I know what you want to say, but Lucy actually did contribute a part.”

Ur directed a half-lidded glare at Lucy, who was boasting with her chest puffed out.

Gi-jun took Lucy’s side as he recalled when he evolved his cooking skill into Cooking of Light, but he had no intention of saying how she had contributed specifically, even if he died and woke up again.

“Then, shall we enter the dungeon now?”

“It seems to be this way-nya. Follow me-nya.”

Nabinya, who was active as the party’s scout, stood up with a rice ball in her mouth.

Seeing her pick out and eat only the rice balls with stir-fried anchovies made him think that a cat was indeed a cat.

“Ah.”

“This is definitely the place-nya.”

Before long, the Lumen party, arriving at the dungeon entrance, could see the cave entrance exposed wide open under the ground, unlike Glittertoss’s words that the dungeon was hidden.

Not only that, the fact that the entire area was completely collapsed seemed to be due to the volcano erupting on a large scale this time, with the divine beast and the eyes bursting out all at once, causing extreme changes in the terrain.

If the Lumen party had not hurried, they might have been preempted by others, so the dwarves’ urging had ultimately worked out in a good direction.

“Shall we go in?”

“Since lava is flowing, everyone move carefully.”

After letting the party members inside the cave, Gi-jun first moved nearby rocks to naturally block the entrance.

“Honestly, I’m not worried about monsters, but…”

“I think I’ll be fine as long as it’s not a divine beast, too.”

Having succeeded in facing and taking down the divine beast, even though it was in a weakened state, Eun-shin seemed to have gained quite a bit of confidence.

Fiddling with the coin he held in one hand, Gi-jun contemplated whether to tell him the cruel truth.

Noticing this, Tilla tilted her head and asked.

“Is that also obtained from the divine beast? It looks a bit different from the one you showed me earlier.”

“The coins obtained from Skoll and Hati merged into one, completing the pass for Jarnvidr. Although I don’t know for sure, it seems to be a place teeming with divine beast-grade wolves and giants.”

“Uh.”

Knowing that Gi-jun did not lie about such matters, Eun-shin shut his mouth tightly.

If he kept bragging, it would be troublesome if Gi-jun pushed him into that very hellscape right away.

However, Tilla clapped her hands in joy at those words.

“It’s an admission ticket to a ‘secret realm’?”

“A secret realm.”

“Yeah. Usually, dungeons and ruins associated with at least the Legendary rank or higher are called secret realms. A secret realm that has never been discovered is extremely rare—and I’ve never heard of Jarnvidr either. If you put that up for sale, powerhouses of Legendary rank or higher would probably all scramble for it.”

Of course, there was no way Gi-jun would put this up for sale.

Although he had no intention of entering right away as Eun-shin feared, he would have to use it someday for his and the party’s growth.

Tilla clenched and unclenched her fists for no reason as she continued.

“Once you reach the Legendary rank, it’s not easy to level up even once.”

“As expected?”

“It is also the reason why the strong gather in the infinitely dangerous, uncharted lands. Although in my case, I was very lucky to keep leveling up even after my rank rose.”

From the Grand Quest related to the fall of the giant civilization Kudlak, to the evil dragon, the false god, and the hunting of the divine beast.

Rather than saying she was lucky, it felt more accurate to say she had suffered, but the perspective of Tilla, who was indeed a veteran, was exceptional.

“If what we went through became known right now, there would be so many Summoned who would regret missing out on the Grand Quest. There aren’t many opportunities to attack the Dark Faction from a favorable position with the full support of the Letans.”

“Right, which is all the more reason for us to be careful from now on… Ah.”

Eventually, the narrow passage ended, and a fairly wide cavern with a high ceiling welcomed them.

As they tensed up in an atmosphere where something was bound to appear, the smell of rotten eggs faintly drifted to the tip of Gi-jun’s nose.

Sure enough, Nabinya, who had been scouting ahead, came rushing back and shouted.

“Golems are coming-nya! A golem with a strange smell and a golem with lava dripping from it-nya!”

At the same time as she ran over with her tail standing straight up and hid behind Gi-jun,

Thud, thud.

Along with the sound of heavy footsteps, two massive figures completely collapsed one side of the passage and revealed themselves.

One was a golem whose body was made of yellowish rock, and the other, just as Nabinya had said, was a golem with a body that was a half-and-half mixture of glowing red lava and rock hardened to black.

“It’s sulfur. It might be better to fight with a pickaxe rather than a shield.”

“Uncle Su’s mining skill is really amazing, though…”

There was no use looking for someone who wasn’t here.

Gi-jun coated his two shields with light mana as thickly as possible to make them easy to handle as blunt weapons.

“A non-living creature and rock that is hard to cut with a blade. My compatibility with them is terrible.”

Meanwhile, as soon as Laura confirmed the giant bodies of the golems, she sighed, sheathed her sword, and pulled out her prayer book.

Since having poor compatibility with golems was the same for Eun-shin who wielded daggers, instead of bothering the two of them, Gi-jun and Tilla decided to handle one each.

—Woooonnggg!

As soon as it detected the enemy, the sulfur golem raised its two fists high, preparing to slam them down.

Gi-jun charged forward with the Silver Moon of Contradiction, slamming hard into its leg.

The struck area completely exploded, and having lost one of its legs, its body tilted backward.

“Uh?”

—You even took down one with divinity earlier!

Lucy spoke as if chiding Gi-jun, who stiffened momentarily, surprised by the stronger-than-expected destructive power.

“That was because of the items.”

—Can just anyone handle those items? Anyway, these guys are only at the high Unique grade at best. With the contractor’s current stats, you can kill them in one hit anytime, so there’s no need to be surprised every single time.

“If you say so.”

Hearing her words, Gi-jun thrust the Silver Moon of Contradiction straight into the abdomen of the falling golem, and the giant body made of sulfur burst to pieces like a firework.

That was the end of it.

Anyone looking might think it really had the hardness of ordinary sulfur, but the sulfur composing the golem’s body had been fully strengthened by the volcano’s magic.

Moreover, because it possessed the ability to disperse and dissipate impact throughout its entire body, to kill it in a single blow, one had to exert enough destructive power to crush the multi-meter-tall giant body all at once.

It was easy to forget since his growth was so fast, but currently, even Gi-jun’s lowest stat, Strength, was at the high Legendary rank, so it was not something to be surprised about.

“This side is finished too!”

At that moment, along with Tilla’s sharp cry, the whip slammed down like a guillotine, splitting the lava golem from head to groin.

Landing lightly on the floor, Tilla spoke with a look of disgust.

“The smell here isn’t very good. Whether it’s orichalcum or whatever, we should quickly harvest it and go back.”

However, if it were going to end at this level, there would have been no need for Glittertoss to warn them.

As if the first two were merely a taste, golems began to pour out after that.

Because many of them disguised themselves as ordinary floors, ceilings, or walls before attacking, Gi-jun had to continuously cast Luminescent Provocation.

“Hyung, I think my eyes are stinging.”

“It’s just your imagination. It doesn’t harm allies.”

“I think the tip of my nose is stinging too.”

“Maybe your nose hairs are burning because of the lava?”

“No, it’s not that, it feels like the smell of rotten eggs is coming from somewhere…”

“That’s probably the sulfur… Hm?”

The faint sound of flowing water reached them.

Water, not lava.

Come to think of it, the surrounding temperature seemed to have dropped a bit before they knew it.

It wasn’t that it was cool, but that it had dropped to a level where the groundwater would not evaporate.

“Could this be…”

“Come to think of it, I think I heard that this city is also famous for hot springs.”

“A hot spring!”

Hearing those words, Tilla’s expression brightened.

As her steps quickened and she began to stride forward, the other party members followed her, even while finding it absurd.

Soon, they faced a sight that met her expectations.

A natural hot spring, formed by moderately pooled groundwater, was sending up thick plumes of steam.

It was a sulfur hot spring, which was also good for the skin as sulfur was dissolved in it.

“Jun, let’s go in. You’re tired from dealing with those giant monsters, so you should relieve your fatigue even just a little.”

Tilla, holding Gi-jun’s arm tightly, blurted out words driven purely by her desire as she pulled him toward the hot spring.

Of course, Gi-jun refuted, finding it absurd.

“Didn’t you say you hated the smell of sulfur? And that we should finish quickly and go back.”

“But I think a hot spring is a different matter. Especially if I can rest back-to-back with Jun!”

“Ahem, men and women should keep their distance, so how could we…”

“Oh, they also sell modern swimsuits in the point shop! Wouldn’t it be fine if we wear these to go in?”

Eun-shin chimed in appropriately just then.

When Gi-jun cast a glance at him, Eun-shin slightly avoided his gaze and spoke apologetically.

“I just thought it would be fine once in a while…”

“I also think it would be good.”

Laura actively backed Eun-shin’s words.

“But you don’t need to buy swimsuits. Actually, having heard that we were coming to Uralta, I already prepared them… along with Scintilla.”

“That’s right. I even prepared Jun’s.”

“Then I only need to buy mine!”

—Contractor, I’m going to materialize too, so buy a swimsuit for me!

It seemed everyone except Gi-jun shared the same sentiment.

Gi-jun, who had briefly imagined something inappropriate at the suggestion of entering the hot spring, soon thought it would be fine if they wore swimsuits.

He also felt that the party members, who had gone through a tight schedule and suffered, deserved this much leisure.

“Alright, then once we hunt down that guy, we’re going into the hot spring.”

“That guy? Ah—”

Quickly turning her head to check the direction Gi-jun was pointing, Tilla gasped.

Beyond, something flashing in the darkness was seen approaching them.

It was incredibly massive.

A giant body composed of metal glittering with a golden light, the likes of which they had never seen in their lives.

A metal golem that boasted a magnificent dignity despite parts of its body having broken off—

“As expected, it would be better to fight with a pickaxe here.”

“Indeed.”

The orichalcum mined by Glittertoss’s father, Glitterfinger, was probably a part of that guy’s body.

It was the moment the master of this small secret realm, the Orichalcum Golem, made its appearance.