Chapter 226: Rock vs Flying 1
TL/Editor: Raei
Schedule: 5/Week Mon-Fri
Illustrations: Posted in discord.
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The hidden cave staircase on the 41st floor was much darker than the cavern on the 40th floor, to the extent that one couldn't see ahead.
Han Se-ah, creating a source of light with her light magic, began to descend the stairs while talking to her viewers.
"It seems this space was created after the harpies got smarter. We're on the 41st floor, but other adventurers haven't discovered it. Maybe there are too many caves, or everyone just quickly passed through the 41st floor on their way down from the 45th."
Understandably, it was because it was boring.
From right to left, left to right.
The simple staircase, seemingly zigzagging through the mountain's interior, looked as if apartment stairs had been copied and pasted in place.
Just going down, then turning 180 degrees to continue descending.
Walking through the mountains on the 41st floor without a single battle, and now, descending stairs from one cave to another.
It was the most boring and dreadful situation, the kind most disliked by regular viewers of Heroes Chronicle.
Thinking they had stepped on hundreds, maybe a thousand stairs, they finally saw the end of the staircase.
"Another cavern? It looks like the cave on the 30th floor."
"Who could have carved out the inside of a mountain like this?"
"Well we did, of course."
As the seemingly endless staircase concluded, a very short passage was revealed.
Beyond this passage, a vast cavern was visible.
The cavern, carved inside the mountain, was incomparably larger than the caves on the 30th floor.
Overwhelmed by the grand sight, Irene murmured softly, only to be answered in an equally soft whisper.
"Wh-who's there!"
"Ah, ahhhh!"
"Hehe, me?"
Even Grace, now a 5 scout Archer, hadn't noticed the stealthiness.
Startled more than Irene, Grace quickly notched an arrow on her bowstring, aiming behind her.
Katie and I didn't feel any hostility or murderous intent, so we just fiddled with the handles of our weapons, but it seemed Grace and Han Se-ah were genuinely surprised.
The camera had whirled around over 360 degrees, spinning in the air like a blender.
-Ugh, dizzy. Is this what shaking off ants is like?
-They must have been really startled, shaking and freaking out the auto-flying camera, LOL.
-So this is why they recommend horror games before playing virtual reality games
-Stop shaking it and show us what happened.
"That's a question I should be asking, you squishy young ones. How did such soft and squishy beings manage to get through those feathered creatures and come down?"
The figure, who had fooled Grace's senses and had been hiding silently, casually started a conversation.
With a slow and rich voice, reminiscent of someone telling an old tale and likely to hand out scorched rice candy, the intriguingly charming and low voice spoke.
Grace, who had aimed her bow towards the source of the sound, became flustered and lowered her arrow.
Of course, it was because the one who had spoken was a stone dwarf.
Not a dwarf, but a stone dwarf.
Lately, those feathered creatures have been quite a nuisance Are you squishies surprisingly skilled, contrary to your appearance?
Not a dwarfish figure with a bushy beard, but more like a stone-carved little monk shedding bits of rock as he scratched his chin.
Standing about 140 cm tall, he resembled a walking fake stone statue, or a stone troll fairy from the ice queen animation I saw in a past life.
One thing was clear: he appeared to be an NPC friendly to players.
Lacking murderous intent, the entity had suddenly appeared from behind, fooling both me and Katie, who were supposed to be close escorts, and even startling the scout Grace, now jokingly throwing questions.
You seem strong for squishies, but its been so long, I can't quite gauge it.
Eh, um brother, who might you be?
Brother, huh? Do you serve a god, little soft one?
Yes, that's right. I am a nun serving the Goddess, Irene.
"I am Bobo, just call me Old Bobo. Quite a well-behaved soft one for a servant of a god."
Irene was the first to regain her composure, apparently finding it intriguing that perhaps in the world of the stone dwarf who introduced himself as Bobo, religious people were more like fanatics.
Bobo's head tilted curiously, making a grinding noise like rolling stones, which was a bit fascinating.
With his soft, non-threatening demeanor, the group began to join the conversation one by one.
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Raei Translations
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The stone dwarf Bobo was not alone.
It didn't seem plausible that a mere 140 cm tall dwarf could carve out this vast cavern beneath the mountains alone.
Accompanied by the rumbling sound of rolling stones, more stone dwarfs appeared.
Bobo, followed by Popo, Lolo, Lala, and Lulu their names seemed rather casually chosen rolled towards us in a cascade.
Just like Old Bobo said!
There are so many squishies!
How did they get here? It's been ages since we've seen squishies!
The stone dwarfs, rolling down like a landslide on a steep hill, came tumbling towards us.
From round and flat to jagged and pointy, these little stone creatures, expressing their individuality through texture rather than appearance, gathered in a noisy crowd, making it quite chaotic.
Setting aside the wonder of how these stone faces without mouths could produce human voices, the large clearing seemed to be their village or city.
As their numbers grew to dozens, nearing hundreds, it became difficult to understand their speech.
-When all the tiny ones gather, it gets chaotic LOL.
-Why are enemies always so impressive-looking, but our allies are just rocks?
[Chat deleted by the mod]
[Chat deleted by the mod]
"Hey, hey, if you say something bad now that there's an opportunity, you'll have to pay a price. Our evolved Snipper MK.2 has gotten quite powerful. Very close~ Watch your words, or it will cut off your head,be careful."
"Guys, let's go inside. These squishies don't seem bad, and it looks like they have a bad relationship with those noisy flappers above."
"By flappers, do you mean the harpies?"
"Squishies call the winged ones that."
Surrounded by the stone dwarfs, I felt like a shepherd dog.
Listening to the various voices resonating along with the sound of rolling stones, we moved towards the clearing.
It was dark, and I hadn't noticed before, but as we approached with the light magic on, I realized that what looked like dark rocks in the wide clearing were actually houses made of stone.
Round and varied in shape and size, these stone houses looked like illustrations straight out of a fairy tale.
Old Bobo, who first noticed us in this scene of a rock-style collapse, where stone dwarfs living in the mountains had carved out the interior and built stone houses and furniture near the stone clearing, spoke to us.
"First of all, how did you squishies get here? Outside, there are a bunch of flappers running around on two legs."
"We're quite strong, so they didn't attack us."
"So, you have the ability to reach the top despite being soft."
The stone dwarfs, while appearing to be real rocks, acted similarly to dwarfs.
They were an underground race, not blacksmiths, but experts in gem cutting and metal refining.
Born deep in the earth from rocks, they lived by eating stones, mining metals and gems from within those stones, crafting and refining them for sale.
It felt similar to how earthworms consume soil and produce fertile earth.
And, of course, it seemed that the world of these stone dwarfs had also been destroyed by the Demon King.
They were a race that lived by digging into the mountains, so while they didn't directly encounter the Demon King's forces, their world was wholly destroyed, burying them underground and seemingly replicating them inside the tower.
"The world was destroyed by the Demon King, and now we're inside this tower? Oh, the jokes of you squishies are hard to understand."
"No, it's not a joke"
-Chit-chat-chat-chat-chat-chat-chat-chat.
-Can't you just agree with the NPC instead of trying to outsmart them?
-Why is she always so serious with NPCs?
-She's also serious about plunging public sentiment into the abyss.
-Crunch-crunch-crunch-crunch-crunch-crunch.
[Tooth Thief Dentist Han Se-ah donated 10,000 won!]
This stream is supported by the National Association of Dentists
It was clear from Han Se-ah's conversation with Old Bobo about the tower that she was learning to keep her mouth shut.
The black naga warrior, who was left below, knew of his own death and burned with hatred towards the Demon King's forces, seeking the Goddess's mercy.
However, the stone dwarfs in the rock city within these mountains couldn't believe that they were inside the tower.
Thus, they dismissed Han Se-ah's story about the tower as an incomprehensible joke from another race and moved on, then mentioned that they had a favor to ask of us.
Naturally, it would be about the main quest and side quests.
So, does this mean the 41st floor is about a racial conflict?
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