IGTL Chapter 19

Chapter 19 – The Elementals I Paid Are Super Strong! I’ll Treat Them to a Peroperosaurus TKG Next! 

I opened the menu in front of the Transfer Gate “Yggdrasil” and selected the dungeon I wanted.

“Transfer. Volcano Cave.”

The moment I called that out at the gate, azure light wrapped my body and I warped into the sprawling volcanic-cavern dungeon “Volcano Cave.”

By the time the blue glow faded, the transfer had already completed. The bustle of the city was gone; in its place came the roar of boiling magma and the cries of the cave’s denizens.

A quick look at the map showed a boss monster on the field. A brighter, round marker roamed freely across the map.

“Oh? Jackpot.”

Bosses did not only appear on the deepest floor. Very rarely, one spawned on a lower layer too.

The boss found in Volcano Cave was the Volcano Dragon, a dragon that lived among volcanoes. Its movements were not particularly fast, but with an intimidating, mountain-like frame and a breath attack packing absurd firepower, it was not something a level-30 solo should pick a fight with. That said, I had Elementals with me. After circling me once, they hovered near my shoulders, urging me to get moving.

As expected of Elementals, they were spoiling for a fight.

So they wanted to defeat the Volcano Dragon already. Fair but hold your horses.

Would you really be satisfied after slaying one Volcano Dragon? It was still just a mid-tier dungeon boss.

If I were an Elemental amped to the max by a “Elemental Enhancement Ticket” worth several million, I would not be. To flaunt our power, we had the confidence to enact overwhelming carnage even against a boss.

You want to rampage, don’t you? I get it.

Murmuring that inwardly, I popped a set of paid items: “Rare Drop Rate +500%,” “EXP Gain +500%,” “Booster Pack,” and “Monster Respawn.”

“Heh heh… perfect.”

A red ring spread from my feet, and monsters began spawning one after another. A glance at the map showed a wild Volcano Dragon barreling toward us, courtesy of “Monster Respawn.”

Just as planned.

With Elementals at max level, I was untouchable.

The freshly spawned mobs bared their fangs and drooled.

Heh… no. You’re mistaken. You may see me as a tasty morsel, but remember the 19th century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche once said: if you gaze long into the abyss, the abyss gazes back.

If you think I look delicious, I likewise think you look like you have delicious experience points.

“All right, my Elementals, teach them a lesson.”

Light flared around the Elementals.

The genocide began.

“Ggyyaaaaaa!!”

The monsters charged, howling. Four orbs of light blazed in answer.

When the red orb shone, a thermal beam lanced through the mobs. When the earth orb gleamed, the ground beneath them split and magma gushed forth. The blue orb unleashed a torrent that sliced foes clean in two with water-jet precision, while the green orb sent blades of wind that shredded them to ribbons.

Elementals, they’re reliably overwhelming. Sublime.

“Now then…”

I should probably join the fray… or so I thought, raising my Mob-Fenrir Bazooka, when a massive dragon dropped from above.

“Ggyyaaaaaa!”

The boss of Volcano Cave, the Volcano Dragon, had arrived. Its presence was like an active volcano given form; its roar thudded in my gut.

A level-30 me could not beat that.

Yeah… a bit premature. Even with the Mob-Fenrir set buffing me head to toe, staring at that thing did not fill me with confidence. My legs balked; I nearly wet myself. And I am a twenty-three-year-old man.

Even if I landed a shot with the Mob-Fenrir Bazooka, I would just draw aggro. Best to leave the whole thing to the Elementals.

Settled.

I turned to the loot scattered across the ground. MP-restoring “Basic Mana Potions” and “Intermediate Mana Potions,” plus “Little Dragon Fangs” for accessory crafting, lay everywhere.

“Right! Leave the loot sweep to me!”

Calling out to the Elementals, I sprinted through the battlefield, scooping drops and tossing them into my item storage on repeat.

I am good at this: drop pickup. You just snatch and stash.

I once did warehouse picking for a part-time job. This was the same thing, indiscriminate picking.

Once it hit storage, the auto-sort did the rest. Easy work. Basically squats and stretches.

Let specialists handle what they do best. Brawling was the Elementals’ job.

Go, Elementals! Don’t lose, Elementals! My life depends on your performance!

A sidelong glance at the Volcano Dragon caught a streak of incandescent red across its body.

The air shivered. That was the Fire Elemental Salamander’s thermal beam. Bathed in it, the Volcano Dragon crumbled away like melting black ash.

Elementals delivered. One-shotting a mid-tier dungeon boss, huh.

And those same powerhouses floated placidly around me? Kinda terrifying, no?

N-No… think of them as bodyguards sworn to absolute loyalty, guarding me around the clock. Then it is fine… right?

Conclusion: maxed Elementals were too strong.

I should start pampering them. Standing guard over me 24/7 had to be stressful.

More to the point…

Where the Volcano Dragon fell, a bracelet-type drop shone.

“W-Well, hello…”

Among the dragon’s rare drops, one of the top-tier pieces, “Move Yggdrasil (Uses: 5).”

I already owned the paid “Move Yggdrasil (Unlimited Uses),” but this would sell for a lot.

Magnificent work, Elementals. I might not be able to live without you anymore.

If I remember right, their favorite snack was “Peroperosaurus Eggs.” In DW lore, those eggs were so good you could not help but lick them the moment you saw them. When this was over, I would buy some at the Adventurers’ Guild or a merchant house and let them feast.

Wait… come to think of it, the Guild tavern had a TKG (egg-over-rice) made with Peroperosaurus Eggs. When I drank there with Kyle before, the menu blared “A Must-Eat for Peroperosaurus Egg lover! Peroperosaurus TKG*.” (TN: Tamago Kake Gohan, a Japanese dish of raw egg over rice.)

TKG was unbeatable. I would treat my Elementals to that.

I stored the “Move Yggdrasil (Uses: 5)” and stood, scanning the ground. An absurd quantity of drops carpeted the area; an unholy synergy of “Rare Drop Rate +500%” and “Monster Respawn.”

Looks like the Elementals kept culling while I was thinking.

They really were exceptional. Peerless output. But that very excellence hid a problem.

I had to pick all this up… alone.

Let me say it again: a sea of loot lay at my feet. And the Elementals were producing more by the second.

Yes, I did brag that “I’m actually good at drop pickup,” but this? Come on.

It was too much. Like stocking a mega-store at midnight when a magnitude-6 quake knocks everything off the shelves, and your boss tells you to put it all back by tomorrow. Also, even with so much on the ground, the dropped items remained undamaged, just like in the DW game.

Apparently the exception applied only to me, though…

Still, I could not make light of the Elementals’ hard work.

“No helping it… let’s do this.”

I started the mindless loop of scooping every last drop into item storage.

“Ggyyaaaaa!”

The final mob fell, the “Monster Respawn” buff expired, and a glance at my status showed I had climbed to nearly level 100.

Elementals, you monsters. The trove in storage easily exceeded a thousand items, which meant they culled over a thousand mobs in about an hour.

They one-tapped a boss. Sure, that tracked.

Finally, level 100, huh. If I had known Elementals were this strong, I would have bought them sooner… Spending five years grinding to the level cap felt silly now.

Then again, raising Elementals clearly guzzled money. In that light, maybe my old approach was not wrong.

With steady play, I had proven you could hit level 300 in five years. This time only felt wild because paid items were unlimited.

Current time: 10 p.m.

“All right, to the Adventurers’ Guild.”

Pocketing the last drop, I headed for the Transfer Gate “Yggdrasil” to treat my Elementals to that Peroperosaurus TKG.