In the darkness of the Eternal mines, the sound of a pickaxe striking metal echoed over and over.

  — Clang!—


  — Clang! Clang! —


  — Clang! Clang! Clang!—


  — Thud!—


  The Demon King's student had defeated yet another group of monsters. Jack's knowledge had made Derek the bane of these creatures.

  The "Sword Genius" barely ever touched his sword anymore. He only used his pickaxe. He used it so much that it was about to shatter from the wear.

  He showed incredible courage, so much that Jack actually couldn't get rid of him even if he tried.

  "I'll stay by your side, Master. I may not be immortal like you, I may not be wise either, but I won't let you struggle alone!" His foolish student had declared.

  Jack wasn't sure whether to be proud or facepalm. What was up with that level of devotion?! Had he raised affinity that much?!

  "Fine, let's journey back to the meeting spot and leave a message for the MTG's scouts. Then we can head deeper."

  As Jack led the way, he could feel his disciple's shiny eyes resting on his back. Somehow, just navigating a maze was enough to impress him.

  But as they arrived, they realized the mining squad had never left this place.

  It was a scene of carnage, with skeletons all over the place, many in pieces. But there was no Iron to be seen, either extracted or in the ground. The cause of their deaths was obvious: Iron-Devouring Snakes.

  "M-master, back then those were all Iron-Devouring Snakes, right?!" Derek shuddered as he recalled. All the Iron they had seen had been creatures laying in ambush?!

  "Let this be a lesson. The miners' familiarity with the creatures has been their demise, making them overconfident. Do not make the same mistake." Jack remarked.

  He could almost picture the changes in his pupil in real-time: + 10 humility, + 20 trust!

  Jack had quickly scribbled what had happened with a bold: PLEASE SEND REINFORCEMENTS! It was a long shot, but it was better than nothing.

  Still, this didn't change the issue that they needed more information. Even if an MTG army came here, they wouldn't follow him in the abyss without any reason.

  Thus their quest resumed, one filled with the sound of mining.

  — Clang! Clang! Clang! —


  Killing individual monsters was easy. The hard part was evading the swarms. Luckily, Jack could still leave Demonic Energy Marks even in his currently weakened state.

  He left them everywhere, allowing him not only to navigate the mines but also to warn them whenever a swarm was coming. The marks would be destroyed, and he would know.

  That's how they headed deeper and deeper until the environment changed. The darkness was no more as the surroundings became bathed in a soft orange glow.

  More and more shiny crystals started appearing.

  "It's so pretty!" Derek's eyes glowed at the sight.

  He had seen plenty of magical crystals in his life but never raw like this. It was the difference between seeing wood and seeing a bountiful green forest. It felt way different!

  "Also, very deadly. Look over there." Jack whispered as he pointed.

  It appeared to only be a crystal, just like the others. Derek observed it more and more yet couldn't find a difference. What was it?!

  Jack simply waited by the side, showing incredible patience. After a few minutes of silence, Derek finally jumped in shock.

  "The patterns?!"

  "Indeed."

  There was only one way to know that this was actually a monster disguised as a crystal: the way the resource had spawned. All clusters in the tunnel had three crystals, but this one had 4!

  For what felt like the thousandth time in the mines, Derek shivered. Had his Master not been there, he would have most likely perished to a sneak attack!

  "Alright, this one is impossible to avoid. You'll have to fight it. Here's how—" Jack briefed his disciple so well that he was in awe again.

  Jack appeared confident and relaxed, but he knew that this very moment would determine their fate.

  Could Derek fight the creature? Logically…no.

  Was a miracle possible? Perhaps.

  His so-called sword genius title only meant that he had potential with the sword. Would this apply to a pickaxe? Probably not. Did potential equal current strength? Also no!

  "Wish me luck, master!" He charged forward, his pickaxe streaking mightily in the air.

  — CLANG! —


  The hit was heavy and instantly revealed the large crystal for what it was!

  This thing was both simple and incredibly hard to handle. The classic hit-it till it dies applied as usual, but chances were that anyone actually trying this would perish!

  The creature swung a powerful crystal arm toward Derek, almost flattening him entirely. The man dodged, but the shockwaves were enough to make him grimace.

  — BAM!—


  Luckily, he had trained a lot in the previous days! Derek instantly counterattacked, striking the creature head-on and successfully…chipping a small corner of it. That was it!

  The hardy in its name wasn't for show. Even if it didn't move one bit, it would still take an eternity to kill. Sadly, it was far from immobile!

  — Slam! Slam! Slam! —


  The creature was relentless: elementals did not know exhaustion. Seeing it fight, it was clear that this one was a Tier 2 creature.

  Tier 1 —> Iron Area

  Tier 2 —> Crystal Area

  Tier 3 —> Gem Area

  Every hunting field near Sprigfield actually had something similar. Going from one tier to the other was harsh, very harsh! It was simply his first time venturing that deeply.

  For now, Jack stayed behind as he cheered.

  "Careful, it's about to use its AoE slam!! GTFO!" He suddenly screamed.

  Derek's face twisted as he ran out as quickly as he could. A second later, the creature's powerful strike sent orange shockwaves all around.

  Anyone touching it would be stunned! Except for a few special life-saving measures, anyone hit by that would die for sure!

  "Thank you, Master!" Derek heaved a sigh of relief.

  "Tch— Focus. Don't just target the enemy." Jack rebuked.

  Derek nodded as he went back in. However, this time he targeted the surrounding crystals, shattering them to pieces as quickly as possible. Jack happily collected the fragments.

  Anyone not in the know would have cried seeing such a scene. Destroying the crystals would reduce their value tenfold!

  Whole —> 50 Gold

  Shattered —> 5 Gold

  But gathering them whole was only a pipe dream. As soon as the creature's HP went down, it would devour the surrounding crystals to heal.

  It truly was a perverse monster for many reasons:

  1. Near impenetrable armor.

  2. Requires a pickaxe to damage it effectively.

  3. AoE ability: extremely effective at melee range.

  4. High passive regeneration when out of combat + crystal devouring healing.

  Only an Epic miner or a Mythical Adventurer could efficiently dispatch such an enemy. Needless to say, anyone that strong wouldn't bother with crystals.

  Derek clearly was not having a good time. He would barely avoid the slams, ones that would have instantly defeated him. He spent every second of the fight in a near-death state.

  "Goddammit! I won't die here!!" He thundered as he fought.

  The current him looked pretty pitiful, with cuts and bruises from the aftershocks. He was half-naked, his clothes a complete mess. But so what if he was suffering hardships?!

  His Master was counting on him, observing his performance! This, along with the challenge, made his blood boil.

  He had the feeling of overcoming an unbeatable enemy. So what if it took thousands of strikes, ten thousand strikes even? He would crush this elemental!!!

  After an eternity, he finally managed to destroy…the outer layer of the creature's armor! At this rate, he would—


  "SHARDS!!!" Jack suddenly shouted, both of them throwing themselves on the ground. As the crystal layer shattered, tons of shards were sent flying!

  — Bang! Bang! Bang! —


  The projectiles flew right above their heads, puncturing deep holes in the rock. Had they not been lying flat on the ground, their bodies would have been destroyed!

  Derek got up while sweating, facing the creature that was charging at him once again. The fight resumed and lasted longer than an eternity, but the human finally prevailed.

  Derek grabbed the remnants of the creature, offering the crystals to his Master. "Thank you for your guidance, Master!" Jack had barely said three sentences during the fight, but each had saved his life.

  Jack nodded happily, knowing his disciple could face an elemental alone. The two proceeded deeper, and soon this earlier fight would be remembered as a joke.

  What was worse than a Hardy Crystal Elemental? Two, or even three! Derek turned completely white the first time they encountered a group of them.

  But even then, Jack didn't lose his calm. He even reassured his disciple:

  "You can fight one, right? Then do so. I'll take care of the others." He stated. How reliable was that!

  Derek would fight 1 v 1 while his Master kited the others. Never had he seen such marvelous use of a shield!

  Jack would block and use the enemies' attacks to propel himself toward the walls and ceiling, bouncing all over. He wasn't even fast. He was just at the right place at the right time!

  How long did they spend fighting crystal elementals? So long that both lost track of time. They also lost track of how many they had defeated. All they knew was that at some point, a new enemy had appeared:

  This one almost killed them many times over. It was an elite monster that had speed, power, cunning and was nearly as resistant as the elementals.

  But what truly made them strong was their swordsmanship. They would surprise careless mine delvers by suddenly showing technique!— Or that's how it was supposed to be.

  "Swordsmanship! It's swordsmanship!" Instead of despairing, Derek rejoiced. Finally, he was back in his element!

  He fought the creature in a sword duel, with Jack stalking in the back, his pickaxe ready. Whenever there was an opening, he would smash!

  — Clang! —


  As the knight shattered, they both smiled contentedly, especially Jack.

  [Congratulations! Defeated Elite Crystal Enemy!]

  [Detected Blessing from DYG! Bonus!]

  [Special Reward: Crystal Pickaxe!]

  [Level up! Reached Level 23!]

  The XP sure was great!

  ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━


  Rare Crystal Pickaxe! :small_orange_diamond:

  Rank E+

  IF Mining E

  ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━


  [Attack] 10-12

  [Speed] Slow

  [Range] Melee

  [Durability] Very High

  [Passive] + Mining!

  ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━


  Damn! This thing had 50% more damage than the level 20-ish Leaf whip! It was about twice the damage of his Cluckinator too! (Even with the passive)

  There was only one issue. Even after fighting so many monsters, his mining skill was only at the F+ Rank. He wouldn't be able to use it just yet.

  Derek couldn't help but stare in shock as he saw his Master draw a crystal pickaxe out of the remains of the knight. Where the hell had it come from?! #Just Brave Things.

  "Master, what is this?!"

  "Providence from the gods. This seems to be a gift from DYG." He nonchalantly replied, Derek already clamoring about a miracle.

  Thus they kept going, still searching for any sign of a lich, but none to be found. But, they did find something noteworthy, or rather it found them!

  — RAWR!!! —


  "RUUNNNN!!!!"