Chapter 26 – Lucky You

“Huff… huff…”

“How are you holding up? It’s more manageable than you thought, right?”

“Uh, huff, um, I’m not really sure…”

I chuckled as I looked at Sua, whose entire body was glistening with sweat. Despite her answer, she was keeping up remarkably well.

No matter how much her body had been strengthened by mana, she was currently in a situation where she had to continuously consume that mana for combat. In other words, in a way, she was expending even more energy.

Looking at her, I spoke with a smile.

“Oh, here comes another one. 1 o’clock ahead.”

“Ah, seriously!”

Sua snapped.

Whoosh!

In an instant, she used her ability to shake off the sweat from her body and gathered nearby water vapor to create a rugby-ball-shaped water mass. Then, with a deep frown, she thrust her hand forward and opened it.

Taaaang-!

A powerful sound of crashing water.

Along with it, two or three water spears shot out at once.

Thwack! Thwack-thwack-thwack!

“Kweeeeeeek!”

It was truly remarkable growth.

Thanks to her, I didn’t even have a reason to use the Assault Cannons or Magitech Armor; I was simply using the Worker Bugs to snatch up the mana stones.

“Heek. Heek.”

The Assault Cannons were following reliably behind us.

I had brought a considerable amount of steel scraps, thinking about their maintenance, but it seemed they wouldn’t be necessary for now.

Still, they served as reserve power for Stompers, which were still far too overwhelming for Sua to handle.

Of course, large-class Stompers could be spotted from a distance via the Observation Probes. The moment they were identified, the Assault Cannons quickly linked up and sniped them out of existence before they could even approach us.

‘I should test the new weapon too.’

I glanced at the new weapon held by the Magitech Armor.

It was something Seongjae had made as a ‘hobby’ during his ‘break time,’ and it was a vicious piece of equipment on a completely different level from the crude thing I had made. I had brought it today for test firing.

‘But I haven’t had much of a chance to use it.’

It was thanks to Sua, who was performing far better than expected.

Meanwhile, perhaps feeling hungry again from using so much mana, she tore open another bag of corn chips. This was already her second bag today.

Rip—

On the day she first came, Deokchan mentioned there was a snack she liked, and it seemed this was the one.

Crunch—

As she popped a handful into her mouth, Sua finally seemed to relax, wearing a bright smile. I laughed as I watched her.

“Don’t you get tired of eating those?”

“These are always the best.”

“Should I try to get more of those for you?”

“Omg, yes!”

She looked thrilled.

* * *

Looking at the Observation Probe, the Adamantite Mountain Range wasn’t actually that far. If the roads were clear, it would be a distance one could traverse on foot in six hours.

The problem was that there was no way the roads would be clear.

To begin with, forget the roads—we had to constantly clear out the monsters in the vicinity, so there was no way to maintain a marching pace.

However, my mind was at ease.

‘Well… I only have to suffer through it once.’

This was because the Worker Bugs were following behind us, clearing the monsters, and steadily carving out a path.

This wasn’t just a matter of convenience; it was something I was doing with the intention of harvesting adamantite and transporting it back to the main base.

It wasn’t anything grand—just using the Worker Bugs’ teeth to cut through twigs, brush, and small trees—but that was enough. This was also because I was in the middle of a new Worker Bug upgrade.

[Worker Bug: Researching Inertial Movement System… 12%]

To use this upgrade properly, I needed something heavy to act as a counterweight.

Adamantite happened to be perfect for that.

‘It’s not like I can use gold or lead.’

There were many metals denser than iron, but they were all awkward to use comfortably. Gold goes without saying, and then there was toxic lead, or mercury, which was not only toxic but also liquid.

That was why they were things rarely found in modern society.

‘I hope the research finishes soon…’

As I was thinking that—

“Ms. Sua. 3 o’clock, to the right.”

“Aaaaah! I haven’t even finished my corn chips!”

I put Sua to work.

However, this time was different from before.

“Kweeeek!”

Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!

“Huff, huff…”

Sua gasped for air.

It seemed the endless swarm of monsters was reaching a volume that was difficult for her to handle alone.

Of course, that wasn’t a problem at all.

‘It’s a mana stone harvest!’

While I was at it, I decided to test the new weapon.

“Ms. Sua. That’s enough. Good job.”

I raised my hand to stop her.

“Phew…”

She let out a sigh of relief.

She must have been exhausted.

“Now, please sit down and rest for a bit.”

It was my turn.

* * *

Four units of Magitech Armor came with us.

If anything, that was a small number.

Between guarding the main base and patrolling my territory, which now encompassed the entire Redevelopment Zone, I was severely short-handed.

Furthermore, since the monsters near the outposts and the main base had been completely wiped out, the efficiency of mana stone collection dropped the further we went, so I was satisfied with four units for now.

‘Anyway… they aren’t the core.’

I thought as I looked at the two Assault Cannons that accompanied us.

Moreover, considering the new weapon for the Magitech Armor…

Click—

They could faithfully fulfill their duty of clearing out the fodder.

“Commence firing.”

Thud- thud- thud- thud- thud-

In that instant, the monsters began to be torn into shreds.

It was clearly a stronger power than before.

‘As expected of Seongjae.’

I smiled with satisfaction.

Meanwhile, Sua seemed surprised by the firepower.

“Whoa! Siwoo? I think the guns got stronger?”

“Ah, that’s right.”

According to Seongjae’s explanation, the original gun I made didn’t have very good efficiency.

Well, in truth, it was something I had cobbled together in a few days with very little relevant knowledge, so I had been satisfied just that it worked.

First, he put a lid that fit the funnel perfectly.

Previously, the explosive pressure would leak back into the bullet intake, which not only lowered the firing power but also hindered reloading. In severe cases, beads would occasionally fly out.

He solved all these problems quite simply by using a tight-fitting lid to regulate the internal pressure to some extent.

And he decided to change the type of gun itself.

‘Why bother firing only one shot at a time?’

His logic was this:

If it’s for clearing fodder, wouldn’t a shotgun be better than a regular gun?

Previously, only a small hole had been drilled so that bullets would flow in one by one. He had drilled a large hole so that multiple smaller bullets could enter at once.

Thanks to this, 5 to 8 bullets were loaded simultaneously.

Since the hole was wider, the loading speed was also much faster.

‘Before, I had to shake it once between shots to make sure the bullets went in.’

Now, there was no need for that.

Having shifted the direction toward a shotgun, he even attached a ‘choke’ to the end of the muzzle to make the pellets cluster more densely. Thanks to that, we now had a ‘rapid-fire shotgun’ as our standard weapon.

Thud- thud- thud- thud-

Along with the blunt sound of gunfire, the fodder vanished in an instant. Of course, there were limits, but it was firepower worth admiring—especially since it was the early game.

‘At this rate, I might be able to use this as anti-air power later.’

He claimed that even this was just a temporary measure and that he would make it properly once the power plant development was finished, but I declined for now.

‘You… you have a mountain of other things to do, Seongjae…’

There was no need to put that much effort into something that would only be used in the early stages. However, this alone seemed more than enough to impress Sua.

Swoosh-!

Thwack-thwack-thwack! Thwack-thwack!

She tried projecting several water spears simultaneously, like a shotgun, and smiled, looking pleased.

“Wow, this really is great!”

It was also the sound of the monsters in our vicinity drying up.

* * *

After the battle, we took a short break.

It was more for Sua than for me.

Crunch- crunch-

She was munching on the corn chips she had left over from before the battle, then suddenly made a sad face.

“They’ve already gone soggy.”

“You can just remove the moisture.”

“Omg, Mr. Siwoo, are you a genius?”

I laughed as she immediately tried it, looking excited.

Of course, that wasn’t the only reason I was in a good mood.

“Beep-beep?”

The Worker Bugs began to wiggle around and collect mana stones from the monster corpses. At a glance, a substantial harvest was expected.

‘Phew… now I can start gathering mana stones again.’

Unlike the Composite, which was an Advanced Research, this Worker Bug research was Medium-Class. In other words, while it did consume mana stones, it was at a level where I could still accumulate some.

Of course, it wasn’t an amount that would satisfy me.

‘I can’t keep living like this.’

That was my thought.

‘The next facility will definitely be the Atmospheric Mana Refinement Facility.’

Literally, a facility that refines mana from the air.

I had wondered at first if I should build this first, but there were complex reasons why I hadn’t.

First, since I had a stockpile of mana stones at the time, I judged that it wouldn’t bring as much benefit as the Research Facility.

Another reason was…

The risk associated with the Mana Refining Facility.

Due to its nature, building it slightly lowers the concentration of mana in the vicinity, and for monsters, this is a cause for alarm.

‘Because it’s a sign that something is using that much mana.’

In other words… if I wasn’t careful, it might attract all the monsters in the area. If I hadn’t achieved sufficient efficiency through upgrades as I have now, it could have led to great damage.

‘But… it’s different now that I have the Assault Cannons.’

Normally, I would have had to maintain the front line using other machines besides the Magitech Armor and provide fire support with the Assault Cannons.

But now, I could maintain the front line with the cost-effective Magitech Armor armed with rapid-fire shotguns, and the Assault Cannons were scheduled to be upgraded with Adamantite Barrels.

Defense was more than sufficient.

However… a large mana stone was required to summon the facility.

I couldn’t afford to fail the summoning.

‘I wonder if there’s a huge mana stone somewhere…’

While having such idle thoughts, we slowly advanced toward the Adamantite Mountain Range.

* * *

Two days later, in the afternoon.

As a result of our daily efforts, we were able to reach our destination.

“Wow… finally.”

The target cave was covered by a large rock, and black ore was embedded densely in the walls. It was exactly as I had confirmed beforehand with the Observation Probe.

“We found it.”

“Is this why we came?”

“Yes.”

“Phew… then we’re all done!”

Just as Sua shouted in excitement.

“Kwooooook! Kwooooook!”

The sound of a Stomper was heard from somewhere.

“Assault Cannons, prepare.”

I immediately ordered the Assault Cannons to prepare.

But this time, it was a bit different.

“S-S-S-Siwoo?!”

With a look of horror, Sua pointed a trembling finger toward the inside of the cave. Something was moving inside.

‘Isn’t it just a Stomper anyway?’

I asked her with a puzzled expression.

“What’s wrong?”

And as the creature stepped forward.

Boom—

Black skin began to show.

‘Huh?’

A Stomper’s skin is apricot-colored.

“And it’s a Special Entity, too?”

It was practically a walking lump of mana stone.

“Lucky us.”

I grinned.

* * *

When I was young, during my time at the orphanage.

In the cartoons we used to watch huddled together, whether it was the villains or the heroes, they would always wait for each other to transform or stare blankly while the other charged their ultimate move.

“Assault Cannons, fire!”

…I had no intention of ever doing that.

Taaaang-! Taaaang-!

I didn’t know what the creature’s ability was. But if possible, the answer was to eliminate it quickly before it even knew. In other words, the first strike wins.

Thwack-! Thwack!

And the impact.

“?!”

But the result was not the bloody mess I had expected.

As the smoke cleared, a Black Stomper was charging toward us, completely unscathed. It clearly had a defensive ability.

In particular, I could get a hint from that black skin.

‘Did it coat its body in adamantite?’

This was a bit of a predicament.

Adamantite is not only hard but also has strong heat resistance.

The Assault Cannons would not be able to deal with this thing.

This was a simple matter of compatibility.

‘I have to use another method.’

“Ms. Sua. Please buy some time with the Magitech Armor.”

“What?!”

‘Deselect 2 Assault Cannons.’

Clang-!

With a metallic sound, two Assault Cannons collapsed.

Even if only temporarily, I had to summon a new machine capable of killing that thing.

‘A medium-class can’t pierce this.’

It would have to be a large-class machine.