Chapter 5
Clatter.
I pushed aside the rubble at the construction site and gathered up the mana stone and loot the bastard had dropped.
The shiny, fist-sized gem and the teeth hanging from the bastard's maw seemed to be the loot.
"Ugh, the smell..."
My stomach churned, but I forced myself to take them.
This alone made dropping the train from the sky worth it.
I left the construction site, picked up the trolley again, and returned to the tracks.
Using my skill, I resummoned the train onto the tracks.
Flash—thud!
The train landed neatly on the tracks, and its exterior looked perfectly fine.
It had fallen from dozens of meters up onto a concrete floor, yet there wasn't a single scratch on it, let alone a speck of paint missing.
So the claim that it had high durability apparently wasn't a lie.
"The problem is the inside."
I carefully opened the door and went inside.
"Damn..."
As expected, the interior looked like it had been hit by a bomb.
Kitchen plates were rolling around on the floor, and sofa cushions were flying everywhere.
Fortunately, the furniture had been fixed to the floor, so a total disaster had been avoided, but it was still a mess.
But plates weren't what I cared about.
"Donggeul!"
I sprinted madly from Car 1 to Car 2.
My precious roommate, whom I'd just adopted.
If that little glass tank had shattered, I would never forgive the monster.
The monster had already been turned to pulp and scattered into smoke, and dropping the train had been my own choice, but still.
The table beside the armory.
The tank was there.
"Phew..."
I let out a breath of relief.
The water had sloshed a little and spilled onto the table, but the tank itself was fine.
Peering inside,
the green cotton ball was floating there, startled.
"Looks healthy."
I tapped the tank lightly, relieved.
I wiped up the spilled water, added a little more to the tank, and then hurried to tidy up the train interior.
After putting the scattered items back where they belonged, it was clean again before I knew it.
"Now, time to check the armory."
As soon as I finished cleaning up, I headed to the armory.
I stacked the rebar and lumber I'd picked up at the construction site neatly in one corner of Car 2. Now I had enough materials.
I stood before the silver crafting machine.
[Weapon Crafting - Blunt Weapon ]
[Special Materials : Steel Teeth, Mid-grade Mana Stone.]
Since these were hard-won materials, I added the monster's teeth and the mana stone as extra ingredients.
It was a mid-grade mana stone, after all, so I did consider turning it into fuel. But since I was already making a weapon out of even the stronger-looking monster parts, I decided to invest it.
This was a weapon to protect my body, so I figured I shouldn't skimp on it.
[Begin crafting?]
[Time required: 10 minutes]
"Let's go!"
Bzzzt—clank, kkeek-kkeek!
The machine began to whir and spin with a racket.
Sparks flew, and the sound of metal being shaved away filled Car 2.
I sat beside the tank and watched the process anxiously with Donggeul.
Donggeul was shaking around in the tank too.
At least, that's what I decided to believe.
And ten minutes later.
Pssshiiik—
As the steam vented, the machine door opened.
[Crafting Complete: Tooth Mace]
"...Oh."
I lifted the heavy blunt weapon.
I'd never learned to use a sword, and I wasn't confident I could hit anything with a bow, so I had chosen a blunt weapon.
It seemed like a good choice.
Its weight sank into my hands, as if I could smash a concrete wall if I brought it down.
Whoosh!
And yet it was still surprisingly easy to swing.
If anything, it felt like the weight vanished the moment I swung it, rather than while I was holding it.
"Feels solid."
I nodded in satisfaction and hung the weapon on the armory display rack.
My next target was armor.
The clothes I was wearing were comfortable enough, but one claw strike from a monster would tear them to shreds, no question.
A safety helmet I'd picked up at the construction site wouldn't even come close.
When I opened the armor crafting tab, it required materials like leather, iron, and wool.
I filed that away in my head as my next goal.
"Huh...? Oh, this."
Something was shining on the floor, so I walked over and picked it up. It turned out to be a single silver ring.
It was the old silver ring I'd obtained when I first fitted the spike and shoved the monster aside.
Back then I'd just shoved it aside carelessly somewhere nearby.
On a hunch, I slipped the ring onto the index finger of my left hand.
"Huh?!"
The instant the ring fit around my finger, my body became suddenly light, as if I'd thrown off a heavy winter coat.
I gave a light hop in place.
My movements grew nimble enough that even my hang time felt longer than usual.
"So this was really an item?"
Come to think of it, with monsters and skills already showing up, items made sense too.
I took out my smartphone and logged into the Survivor Gallery.
When I entered keywords like 'item,' 'drop,' and 'equipment' into the search bar, dozens of posts came flooding in.
---
[Title : Did you guys get anything after killing monsters? ]
I killed some goblin-like thing earlier, and only the necklace it was wearing was left behind; the body disappeared.
Looks like monsters really do drop items when you kill them.
Something other than mana stones drops too.
[Comments]
ㅇㅇ : What, stuff besides stones comes out too?
생존왕 : They drop items sometimes.
ㅇㅇ : What, the body disappears? I killed a slime-like thing and the body didn't disappear; it just stayed there. Could that have been an item?
---
"As I thought..."
My hunch was right.
I clenched and unclenched the hand with the ring on it while looking out the window.
I'd turned into a woman and my physical abilities had weakened, but it seemed like there might be a way to overcome that with equipment.
Clatter.
I was sprawled on the sofa browsing the gallery when a cheerful sound came from the ejection chute next to the driver's cab.
It was the sound of our dutiful Spike, automatically shoving monsters aside and bringing back mana stones.
"Auto-hunting really is godlike."
I marveled.
Once I'd tasted this, going back outside was starting to feel like a hassle.
But greed has no end.
I brought up the hologram panel and scanned through the exterior modification list.
If one Spike was already this useful, how much more convenient would things be if I attached other equipment?
[Automatic Interception Turret] : Required fuel - 3 months
[Drone Hangar]: Required fuel - 5 months
...
"...Not easy."
I clicked my tongue.
I did have plenty of fuel right now, but I still didn't have enough to spend that much without hesitation.
The cheapest option by far was upgrading the Spike I already had attached, which cost about two weeks' worth of fuel.
Even if I upgraded it, I had no idea what would change, so I didn't really feel the need to, though...
"If I want to strengthen auto-hunting, I'll eventually have to go out and kill monsters myself."
They say you need money to make money; looks like that rule applies in the apocalypse too.
Spike was convenient, but if I fought myself I seemed to get a mana stone almost 100% of the time, so in the end—
I bitterly refreshed the Survivor Gallery again.
Then one eye-catching title flashed past.
---
[Title: Could this be a dungeon?]
(A photo of a black crack rippling across a collapsed building wall)
I was walking by, got curious about what it was, went closer, and got sucked in.
The space suddenly changed into some damp cave-like place. I freaked out, backed away right away, and came back out, and luckily I was able to escape.
Be careful, everyone.
[Comments]
ㅇㅇ : So this thing actually exists;
각성자모집중 : Were there things like treasure chests or boss monsters inside the dungeon?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(작성자) : No idea. You go in and find out.
---
"Dungeon."
I zoomed in on the crack in the photo.
It looked just like the kind of portal or dungeon entrance you'd see in a game or novel.
A place where monsters far stronger than normal appeared, but where the rewards were just as certain.
I quietly turned my head and looked toward Car 2.
There was the tooth mace I'd made with a considerable investment.
'There's a limit to what I can get from Spike alone.'
My heart started pounding.
I had to take the risk.
"Maybe I can do this?"
I burned the crack in the photo into my mind and got up from the sofa.
The mace and the ring. And, if need be, the skill to ram them with the train.
Dungeon.
If I found one, it looked worth challenging at least once.
And that dungeon was easy for me to find, since I could move dozens of kilometers quickly by train.
***
I was traveling along the Incheon Subway Line 1 tracks.
Beneath a streetlamp, an eerie black crack was wavering.
"Found it."
I slowed the train and stopped near the dungeon entrance.
The same kind of crack I'd seen in the community post, like space itself had been torn open.
"Phew."
My heart pounded.
Getting off the train was always nerve-racking.
I fidgeted with the silver ring on my left index finger and took the tooth mace out of the armory.
"Let's go."
I took a deep breath, got off the train, and approached the crack.
Wuuung-!
A bout of dizziness hit me, as if my vision had flipped upside down for an instant.
When I opened my eyes again, I was standing in a strange cave surrounded by damp, moss-covered stone walls.
Silencing my footsteps, I ventured a little deeper into the cave, and soon sensed something.
"Kirik! Kikikik!"
What burst out of the darkness were green-skinned goblins.
Three goblins.
They were holding rusty daggers and crude clubs, and they were huddled together, snickering among themselves.
As I stared blankly at them, our eyes met.
"Kieek!"
The one in front raised its dagger and charged at me, attempting a stab.
Before, I couldn't even judge my stride, let alone run—
Pat-!
I took a light step to the left.
My body sprang up like a feather, as if there were springs attached to the soles of my feet.
The goblin's dagger cut through the air, missing wildly.
"My body..."
was light.
It was thanks to the ring.
My confidence surged. This time, I was attacking.
"Hup!"
In one motion with my dodge, I twisted my waist and swung the blunt weapon slung over my shoulder.
The vicious mace studded with sawlike teeth split the air.
Whoosh-!
Even the sound of it cutting through the air was different.
The goblin that failed to evade my attack hurriedly raised the wooden shield it was holding.
But that was a mistake.
Crack-!
It wasn't a dull thud.
It was the bursting sound of something exploding apart.
The sawteeth embedded at the end of the mace ripped through the goblin's crude shield like paper and crushed straight through its head.
"Kee, kkeek!"
"Aaaagh!"
The goblin's death scream and my own horrified cry at the unexpectedly brutal scene overlapped.