Chapter 606 Discovery (1)
It almost looked like Billy was trying to find ways to keep himself busy all the time. So, he decided to put the plan of rails on the state in the back of his mind. Instead of that, he asked Jean to select people that they could trust all over the state, and Billy would make tunnels that would connect to their taverns. That meat was of high quality, so it would be a waste not to give others the opportunity to eat it. Regardless, the golems would make the tunnels, so he wouldn't have to waste more time. Profit would only be a side goal now... things would be different if his powers were related to that, though.
"Things are proceeding well, but I guess I need to need to the issue of keeping an eye on the maker…" Billy thought when he was returning to the dungeon the next day. "Since I can use Light Speed Sword, perhaps I can avoid that Cannon while I tan around to check things, but it also might be troublesome if I incite him to make his move."
Billy wasn't afraid of a fight, almost all of his pieces were in place, but he might put Meryl and her people in a bad spot by going there now. The best option would be to go there once they finish moving. In the best-case scenario, they will need a month to change their base, so Billy will have to wait until then.
"I suppose a month is a time I need to make the rails inside the dungeon… Perhaps we can gain something by clearing it, something that will help in the next fight," Billy thought.
As usual, Lucyna was bored out of her mind when Billy found her near the dungeon. It seemed that she and Icarus had a hard time arguing about who would help Meryl since they thought that the task of crossing the continent and driving some vehicles would be a pain. Still, in the end, only Icarus could do that. However, the task of guarding the camp alone was also quite boring.
"It seems that they didn't have anything to report, aside from the fact that the vehicles were leaving quite the trail," Lucyna said when they entered the dungeon.
"Is that so… Well, she was aware of what would happen when she asked for my help. Not everything would be so convenient," Billy said.
Billy could have made a magic aircraft, but in the end, it would take too long, and it wouldn't transport that many people. Besides, he didn't want to reveal that he could make such a thing, even though those three probably knew that he could.
"It is just me, or are they spawning faster than yesterday?" Lucyna asked after they fought a few times.
"... I didn't notice it," Billy said and then frowned. "Let's mark the time just in case."
Around the time they defeated the maker, the tyrants were spawning once per minute. However, now, they were spawning every fifty-five seconds. It was much of a difference, but it was a sign that the core was regaining its strength. Billy had the idea of checking the entrance of the dungeon, and then he saw when he used magic eyes that the mana of the environment was coming to go the dungeon. He never felt or imagined that…
"It seems that dungeons are some kind of whirlwind that sucks mana from the environment… I suppose the core is using the mana to make the monsters spawn faster," Billy said. "We will be busy again on the lower levels of the dungeon."
"Wait, really? How can you tell that?" Lucyna asked.
"I have a skill that lets me see the flow of mana… Regardless, this isn't half bad, but if we get lenient, this dungeon will break, and tyrants will take over the continent," Billy replied.
"What you can't do with magic?" Lucyna asked. "Well, I suppose I will have to pick the pace then. Still, even when you have two groups of monsters working for you inside the dungeon all the time… How is it possible that this dungeon can spawn so many of these powerful creatures so fast…"
Billy thought that his summoning skill was similar to the one that the dungeon cores have. However, he recalled that they had to capture some monsters and use them as a basis to spawn the guardian and its minions, so it was essentially different since Billy didn't need a catalyst. Using an absolute monster as a basis instead of its mind… What the core could do was close to cloning.
"Copy the data of something and reproduce it… It should cost less mana than just summoning from memory, but still…" Billy thought.
If dungeon cores have some skills like Mana Magnetism or Magic Absorption, then those skills must be at a pretty high level, or they were like Billy's innate skills. It was hard to be sure, but Billy used Appraisal on a dungeon core before, and he didn't see anything.
In any case, Billy was taking the dungeon seriously, so he decided to summon more spiders to hunt the tyrants. Placing them on the third and lower levels would be more efficient, but Billy had to finish the rails on the second level as well.
"We don't have to hurry. Meryl people will help hunting the Tyrants eventually, so a dungeon break won't happen," Lucyna said.
"Even if that is the case, I will sleep better knowing that I controlled the mana level of this place," Billy said. "Most likely, no one cleared this dungeon yet, so a single mistake in the mana levels might cause it."
Lucyna nodded, Meryl never mentioned much about the dungeon, but she had confirmed several things. The dungeon being cleared wasn't one of them. If a dungeon breaks happen now, they would have to deal with a problem that might last for months, so all caution was welcome.