As cracks spread, shattered rocks began to rain down from above.
The tunnel also trembled endlessly amid the sounds of fracturing, as if the entire underground would collapse in the next second.
If this dragged on any longer, the situation would only worsen!
Without hesitation, Zoe leapt down from the Ore Dragon's corpse and directly plugged his body into the stone wall shattered by the Ore Dragon.
High-speed Regeneration!
In an instant, Zoe's magic power was rapidly consumed as his body began to hyper-proliferate without restraint, growing swiftly along the fissures in the rock wall.
This was precisely a special application technique of [High-speed Regeneration] Lv.4: controlling the body to break past its limits and proliferate uncontrollably.
As a price, an unimaginably massive amount of magic power would be consumed.
Straining with all his might to seal the fissures, he bonded the shattered parts back together.
Within the crumbling tunnel, the purple slime grew like vines, filling and bonding every single crack that had split open in that instant.
This astonishing sight even startled Dark Wolf, who had pursued them into the tunnel.
At the cost of 6,000 magic power, the collapsing mine was propped up by the proliferating slime.
“Lord Zoe, are you all right?”
Dark Wolf looked at the slime within the fissures of the stone wall, asking in both awe and anxiety.
In response to his question, a small dialogue box popped up from the slime.
“Puji.”
[I'm fine. Drag the Ore Dragon's corpse outside immediately; I can't hold on for much longer.]
“Yes, Lord Zoe!”
Upon hearing this, Dark Wolf swiftly rushed toward the Ore Dragon's massive body. His form melted into a large pool of shadow, swallowing the Ore Dragon's massive corpse before moving out of the tunnel the dragon had desperately excavated.
Zoe, on the other hand, began to focus his mind once the Ore Dragon's corpse was completely moved out.
Among the purple slime filling the cracks of the tunnel, a small clump of slime seeped out from the main mass within the fissures.
Like a giant droplet of purple water, it landed on the ground with a plop.
“It hurts so much!”
Zoe wailed internally as [High-speed Regeneration] activated once again, rapidly restoring Zoe's body using his remaining magic power.
The large purple droplet quickly began to reconstruct Zoe's previous form.
Meanwhile, the remaining purple tissue that had grown to bond the fissures began to degrade at a slow, barely perceptible pace.
To prevent the tunnel from collapsing again, the restored Zoe did not linger, swiftly departing the hazardous passage.
Outside the tunnel, in the cavern billowing with acidic fumes, the Ore Dragon's corpse lay piled atop the cooled lava.
Dark Wolf was guarding the side of the corpse, quietly recovering his magic power.
The Ore Dragon's corpse contained a rich concentration of magic power, but directly eating it as cultivation material would clearly be a terrible waste.
The majority of the Ore Dragon's body was composed of extremely high-purity iron ore. The ore making up its body was far stronger than average ore, already reaching the realm of magic ore.
Using Corrosive Gas Slash, Zoe sliced open the Ore Dragon's belly to clear out its internal organs.
The Ore Dragon's liver and heart were both excellent magical ingredients and highly valuable.
Activating [High-speed Regeneration], Zoe separated a portion of his body to envelop the Ore Dragon's liver and heart, letting it grow over them.
Like keeping them immersed in a nutrient solution, this preserved the viability of these internal organs and prevented them from spoiling.
Next, he dug out the stomach, which Zoe valued the most.
Land Dragons lived underground year-round, feeding on hard ores and solid matter. Certain peculiar, indigestible items would accumulate in their stomachs.
Because of this, a Land Dragon's stomach was like a treasure chest, harboring various surprises.
And this was a specially mutated Ore Dragon among the Land Dragons, feeding on rare Iron Earthworms year-round; its stomach might very well yield even more unique surprises.
Zoe slit open the stomach. Accompanied by highly acidic gastric juices capable of corroding ore, chunks of ore digested into muddy dregs and an irregular ore nodule rolled out.
The ore nodule had very few impurities and possessed a pink color, containing an extremely high concentration of magic power.
Zoe wrapped his body around the pink ore. It was slightly larger than a basketball and weighed around 25 to 30 pounds.
“Good stuff. This might be the most valuable material I've ever obtained.”
The finest forging material Zoe had seen in his previous life was the material the blacksmiths used to craft the lord's personal sword.
It had used orichalcum as the core and mithril for the blade.
Yet even orichalcum and mithril did not feel as extraordinary to Zoe as this pink ore.
Zoe put the pink ore into his Reincarnation Space, storing it carefully.
The Reincarnation Space was only one cubic meter in size, but the items within could be carried over to the next reincarnation. Zoe had never stored anything in it long-term before.
Zoe approved of this precious ore.
Continuing his check of the stomach, Zoe found nothing else, so he gave up his search and walked toward the Ore Dragon's head.
During the battle, Zoe had noticed the rusty sword lodged in the Ore Dragon's head.
This Ore Dragon must have fought some intelligent creature in the past, leaving this sword embedded in its forehead.
For some unknown reason, the Ore Dragon had ignored the sword, actually letting it remain wedged in its head.
Zoe extended a tentacle, wrapping it around the decayed hilt, and then pulled the entire sword out.
'It's corroded to this extent, yet it hasn't shattered. What kind of principle is at work here?'
Looking at the rusty piece of iron in his hands, Zoe found it a bit of a stretch to even call it a sword.
Of the entire sword, only the red crossguard remained perfectly intact.
The crossguard extended straight out to both sides, sharply defined. One side was engraved with: “The flames of the crucible bestow power upon steel.”
On the other side, starting from the center of the crossguard, was an exquisite acanthus pattern carved symmetrically toward both ends.
In the center of the acanthus pattern, there was also an empty circular groove, where the gemstone once embedded seemed to have gone missing.
While the rest of the sword was shattered beyond recognition, this crossguard remained perfectly whole, its uniqueness glaringly obvious.
Zoe detached the hilt and removed the red crossguard from the blade.
And as the crossguard was removed, the rest of the sword seemed to lose whatever force was sustaining it, crumbling into several fragments in Zoe's grip and clattering to the ground.
The hilt had also completely decayed into charred dust.
Is this... a magical effect?
Was it the magical effect of this crossguard that maintained the sword's state, allowing it to stay wedged in the Ore Dragon's head for so many years?
Items possessing magical effects had only one name.
Magic item.
Magic items were extremely precious. Zoe had only ever seen two from a distance, but had never actually touched one.
This was his very first magic item!
Delighted, Zoe stored the crossguard into his Reincarnation Space. He did not ignore the rusty fragments on the ground either, carefully picking them up piece by piece and storing them all away.
He admitted he lacked experience, so just in case, he collected all these fragments to prevent any missed opportunities.
Having tasted sweetness in rapid succession, Zoe inspected the Ore Dragon inside and out once more.
For a treasure Land Dragon like this, spending ten years of lifespan to dispatch it was not a loss at all.
Afterward, they transported the Land Dragon's corpse out of the mine. Following the dismantling process, a large quantity of Ore Dragon materials was hauled back to Slime Mountain.
Rate on N.U.
