Dungeon's Final Boss: Banished by My Boss, the Goddess, to Earth—So I'll Continue My Past Life - 64

Chapter 64: The Unparalleled Pickaxe

ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー

We proceeded through the tunnel, which was supported by wooden frames. A winding main path stretched ahead, with occasional branching side paths. If this were a mining tunnel, it would be natural to assume that a large ore vein awaited at the end of the main path. However, so far, we had yet to come across anything of the sort. Instead, we discovered several small ore veins at the ends of the side paths.

That said, with Mio’s capabilities, she could dig them up completely in no time. For video content, this wasn’t ideal. It didn’t have much visual appeal either. The catharsis of watching a large ore vein slowly get chipped away over time was one of the key charming points of Mio—Mimimi Amanokawa’s videos. At Ira-san’s suggestion, we created short videos focusing on that aspect, posting them not only on YouTube as usual but also on TikTok, where they were well received. That kind of catharsis couldn’t be achieved with such small deposits of ore.

We ignored them for now and continued forward.

The monsters appearing in this dungeon were primarily aquatic creatures capable of venturing onto land, such as Sahagin, a fish-man species. Besides them, there were Orkannugars, crocodile-like creatures with thick torsos, and Armor Slugs, which resembled sea slugs with a sturdy, horned, and scaled helmet fused to their bodies. These three types frequently attacked us.

Mio’s pickaxe effortlessly took them down. She was wearing her usual Mimimi Amanokawa outfit, and in addition to the filming drone, I had my camera set up as well. Although this was only a scouting mission, we could still gather video footage while we were at it.

“Wow, this is amazing!”

About thirty minutes into our exploration, we had reached the fifth floor.

“With Jiro-san’s support magic, even I can fight like this!”

“If you keep engaging in combat, your skill composition will eventually adjust accordingly.”

“Skill composition?”

Oh. So that information hadn’t spread widely yet? Or… Had she not realized the existence of status screens? It seemed she was aware that certain skills could be acquired, such as Samejima-san’s Water Phantom Blade, but she might have dismissed subtler, supportive abilities as mere personal growth.

When would people figure out how to display their status screens? Was that something humanity was meant to discover on its own? As someone who was once just a dungeon monster, I had no way of knowing. Piroane… She probably didn’t know either.

“Think of it as growth.”

“Growth, huh… I’ll do my best!”

Mio’s status was already quite refined in mining-related skills, given her awareness of her miner-based starting point. She was in a good place as it was, but since I hadn’t heard of any hard limits on the number of skills one could possess, there was no harm in acquiring more.

Perhaps I could enable status screen displays through DC Ring expansions? It wouldn’t be difficult. If people could see their own status, they would naturally become aware of their skills. Once they realized this, they would likely start seeking ways to acquire new ones on their own. That would lead to further growth for the awakened individuals of Earth. I couldn’t see anything wrong with that.

Even those stuck at low ranks, disheartened by their lack of progress, might find renewed motivation if they realized they could refine their skills. That would be a good thing.

As I pondered these thoughts, we continued through the dungeon. The relatively low number of encountered monsters suggested that Rock had passed through ahead of us. I could also sense the presence of other awakened individuals.

One hour after we began, we arrived at the fifteenth floor. Since the number of monsters had visibly decreased along the way, we were able to cover more ground. Yet, we had yet to find a significant magic stone vein.

“Hmm, it looks like we should go a bit deeper.” 

“Yeah, at this rate, we may have to go much further to find anything substantial.”

The tunnels maintained a mostly consistent width and height, but every so often, they opened up into large caverns before narrowing back into the same structured tunnels beyond.

“Most likely, magic stone veins form in these caverns, but they seem to be constantly mined out by other awakened individuals.”

It was possible they had precisely calculated the respawn cycles and were harvesting in a planned manner. If that were the case, even if we happened upon an active vein and started mining, we might face interference.

“What should we do?”

After hearing my thoughts, Mio nodded in understanding. Apparently, similar situations occurred in Japanese dungeons as well. Since no parties had monopolized the Kichijoji Dungeon, Mio frequently used it for her streaming and video recordings.

“We either remove the interlopers or go deeper.”

Since our ultimate goal was to conquer the dungeon, heading for the deeper layers, where no one could interfere, wasn’t an issue.

“In that case, I think it’s better to go deeper.” 

Mio suggested, opting for the more peaceful route.

“Understood. Then for now, let’s head back and prepare for an overnight expedition.”

Recording videos while progressing through the dungeon wasn’t something we could finish in a single day. I, personally, didn’t need rest, but Mio would need sleep, meals, and camping supplies. As we were making our way back, something unexpected appeared.

A Sahagin blocking our exit fell to Mio’s pickaxe and crumbled into a magic stone. Among the dropped items, something caught Mio’s attention.

“Jiro-san, what’s this?”

“Ah, that’s Orichalcum.”

A fragment no larger than half the tip of a pinky finger. A deep green mineral—that was Orichalcum.

“For something like this to appear at such a shallow depth…”

Wasn’t this dungeon being rather generous? No—considering we had only found one, perhaps the drop rate was just extremely low. Was this… Bait? A way to lure people deeper?

Dungeons, by their very existence, were already achieving half their purpose. That purpose was to generate energy for higher beings—entities referred to as gods. Dungeons served as extraction mechanisms for this energy.

Even just existing within a world allowed them to gather energy, but the process became far more efficient when native inhabitants entered and interacted with them. On Earth, this meant that the more awakened individuals entered dungeons and engaged in battles, the more efficiently they could extract energy. The deeper they went, the greater the output.

In other words, the more people they lured in, the better the “drill” would function. That was why dungeons didn’t merely exist—they actively lured people in with incentives like Overloads, which posed a constant threat, and magic stones and other valuable drops as rewards. This dungeon, it seemed, wasn’t just relying on the standard bait of magic stones—it had thrown Orichalcum into the mix as well.

“With this small amount, it wouldn’t even be enough for a knife, but… Would it still hold value as a rare metal?”

For mass production, they would need a large quantity of Orichalcum. This was far from enough. 

“I wonder what the higher-ups are expecting from this..”

“Who knows?” 

Mio tilted her head, responding to my rhetorical question with a genuine curiosity. I smiled at her reaction, and with that, we withdrew from the dungeon.

ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー