If the monsterfied humans realized that their current approach was an absolute failure and employed more sophisticated approaches that maximized the effectivity of their numerical advantage, they would have been vastly more problematic than they currently were to him.
POW POW POW!
Kane took down a monsterified human with lethal attacks to her vitals, before becoming visible.
"Huff…" He panted. "Let's take a break."
This was the last monsterified human in the area, thus two of them saw no problem with just sitting on two rocks.
"It's actually easier, but for some reason, it feels way harder than killing ordinary monsters," Kane sighed.
"Probably has to do with the fact that they resemble humans pretty closely," Rui remarked. "It does feel like we're committing acts of genocides, which we kinda are, technically, even if it is for a good reason. So it feels pretty messed up."
"That, it does,"
This whole floor had unlocked a new fear for Rui, of a giant dungeon spawning in the Kandrian Empire and swallowing the Quarrier Orphanage up. That would be something that he found to be too disturbing, and something that he was disturbingly powerless against. If that did happen, then they were as good as screwed. Even if they somehow survived, Rui highly doubted that they would be well by the time he found them.
That was assuming that the dungeon was a Squire-grade dungeon that he could enter. If it was a Senior-level dungeon then he decided that he might as well give up.
He shook his head, putting aside his silly paranoia. The two of them consumed rejuvenation potions, before getting back to work. They would rather finish this quickly rather than drag it out any more than they needed to.
It wasn't too long before Rui and Kane had hunted down every single one of them.
"You sure there aren't any more left?" Kane wiped sweat off his brow.
"Yep, they're all dead," Rui noted.
"Great," Kane sighed. "Let's proceed with the harvesting then,"
"Yeah, about that…" Rui smiled awkwardly.
"What?" Kane glanced at him nervously.
"The floor unfortunately doesn't have as much of a harvest as a normal floor does," Rui replied. "The reason for that probably has to do with the fact that the land did not have the dense vegetation that could absorb from the esoteric mine and bring it to the surface needed for the esoteric substances to reach the surface. The amount is much less than a normal floor, but still far beyond any individual Martial Squire or even a party would normally get their hands on."
"Hm, so we're still short then," Kane hummed. "What do you want to do after we harvest all of the esoteric substances on this floor?"
"I think we still have plenty of energy left, also plenty of potions. We got a good nights sleep last night so we can handle mental rejuvenation potions for quite some time," Rui replied. "Let's continue exploring the dungeon deeper and see if we can clear another floor today."
"Only you could possibly say that and not be joking or lying," Kane laughed. "Soloing two floors in a single day? Oh if only the Shionel Confederation saw us right now. They would all lose their minds."
"They would, before killing us after having discovered our identities," Rui snorted.
"We have masks on," Kane pointed out.
"Masks are too useless beyond a certain point," Rui reminded him. "It's the whole reason I wanted to avoid getting a snap of me taken when the Voidhunter operation had been planned out by Chairman Deacon."
The two of them quickly proceeded with harvesting the fewer deposits of esoteric mineral resources on the thirteenth floor. Given that they did not need to maintain Void Step as they normally did when harvesting esoteric deposits, meaning both Rui and Kane could work independently and gather esoteric deposits simultaneously, doubling their speed.
"Look," Rui gestured to a structure as they reached the edge of the other side of the floor.
It was a giant gate at the edge of the floor, and the town.
"Is that…?" Kane squinted as he inspected it. The structure had a board with words of a language Kane didn't understand inscribed into it.
"It's the entrance gate to the town," Rui replied. "It says 'Welcome to the town of Veril'. It must have survived being absorbed into the town. I have an idea what to do with it."
"What to do with it?" Kane frowned.
"Well, if we were normal adventurers, then we would just have to inform the Adventurer Guild of the floor. But we're not. That would instantly give us away. Even if I used the discrete letters that I communicate with Guildmaster Bradt through, it would give away too much. That man is exceedingly sharp, he might glean something I don't want being gleaned. Still, I'd rather convey to the Shionel Confederation what happened somehow, I imagine that the destruction of town has ruined lives and caused untold suffering that gets swept under the fortunes and the boons of the Shionel Dungeon."
"That's a nice sentiment," Kane remarked. "What do you plan on doing though?"
"I can take the board and place it on the first floor," Rui replied. "Maybe even mark a way to the thirteenth floor by digging up a deep line all the way to the thirteenth floor to indicate a path to get there so that the world finds out. It won't take much time at all. We can immediately resume our exploration of the Shionel Dungeon."
"You know," Kane paused. "You can be a pretty good guy sometimes."
Rui snorted. "Thanks, I guess. I like doing what I can with things in front of me as long as its practical."
He went through with his word, marking a path all the way from the thirteenth floor to the first floor while dropping the board in a place that could not be missed on the first floor. Beyond that, he did not intend to do anything.
The two of them immediately resumed their adventure.
