Kingdom Building: Civilization Starts with Divinity-Chapter 85: I suppose I am the bad guy

"You expect me not to question this... Thing?" Gravana questioned.

"I’m telling you, it’s not worth it. If you DO keep doing it and manage to get any secrets out of it, tell me your secrets. Right now, we have a bigger issue." Alchemy sighed, pointing at the tunnels.

While they were talking, a large number of monsters appeared, attracted to the light.

|<Name: N/A>|

|<Species: Adult Dire Tooth>|

|<Inclination: Omnivore, Evil, Hungry>|

|<Thought: FOOD FOOOD FOOOD!>|

|<Estimated Level: 33>l

|<Highest Stat: STR>|

|<Estimated Danger: C->|

"Evil aligned creatures? Not to mention, they’re stronger than the Mint Lions. This isn’t what I was expecting."

As Alchemy spoke, the large rabbit-like creatures with their massive drills on their forehead lunged forward toward the group.

Of the few that launched at Alchemy, she grabbed the first one in her hand, her middle and ring fingers holding the horn centimeters away from her face before slamming it into the ground with all her force.

If the force from having its head smashed into the ground didn’t kill it, the blade from Razor Surge, which decapitated the creature, sure did.

|<Notice: You have killed an Adult Dire Tooth and earned 13,200 EXP!>|

|<Notice: Congratulations! You have leveled up! You have skipped levels 8 through 11, leveling up to 12!>|

|<Notice: STR has increased from 100 to 117, INT from 128 to 142, and CON to 186. FAI has remained the same!>|

"But as long as they’re not fire, they’re fairly simple to deal with."

The other two Dire Tooths made an abnormal creaking noise before attempting a similar assault. Naturally, they met a fate similar to that of their friend.

|<Notice: You have killed an Adult Dire Tooth and earned 12,400 EXP!>|

|<Notice: You have killed an Adult Dire Tooth and earned 13,600 EXP!>|

|<Notice: Congratulations! You have leveled up! You have skipped levels 13 through 16, leveling up to 17!>|

|<Notice: STR has increased from 117 to 130, INT from 142 to 154, and CON to 197. FAI has remained the same!>|

Around the same time, the Dire Tooths that attacked Gravana and Nera also fell.

"The Monsters in here are of an extremely high level. Be careful, Mother Goddess."

"Back at you. These tunnels are too small to use your Gigant Form properly. Shall we split up and each take a passage?"

"Mother God-"

"Nera. You don’t need to babysit me. Here. System, is the Dungeon Map available?"

|<Notice: Dungeon Map function can be used. Would you like to turn it on? Y/N>|

The Dungeon Map was a tool for tracking progress in dungeons. It remained empty until areas were explored, but everyone in the party shared it.

"There. Now you can keep tabs on both my location and vitals." Alchemy smiled.

Nera frowned due to how quickly her Mother Goddess shot her down. She was clearly prepared for this.

"Grahahaha! Isn’t the Mother’s job to worry about her children? Not the other way around?" Gravana laughed, pushing the matters of the system to the back of his mind for now.

"That’s what I keep trying to tell them! So, shall we get going? Which paths do you two want?"

"I’ll take the Middle," Nera answered begrudgingly.

At least this way, she’d be slightly closer to Alchemy if something went wrong.

"Then I’ll take the largest tunnel!" Gravana added.

"Cool. If you find the boss’ room or anything that looks particularly suspicious, mark it, and we can go back to look after we regroup. To mark, just tap the map, and it’ll ask you to name it.

"How will we know exactly what this "boss room" looks like?" Gravana questioned.

"It’ll glow like the entrance."

Gravana hummed while he took one of the flaming sticks from the fire pile.

"Fighting while protecting a light source will be a new experience. This should be fun!"

Alchemy did the same. While she could see, fighting in the dark against several enemies around her level was less than ideal.

’You can say that again. How long has it been since I’ve gone dungeon crawling?’

"Alright, see you two later~."

Waving goodbye, Alchemy was the first to dash into her selected tunnel. Occasionally, she glanced at the map, which she pushed to the side, to check on the progress of the other two.

While pushing forward, Alchemy began hearing a rumbling from the walls beside her. She began to slow her pace to pinpoint the sound of the location, but the moment she stopped moving, four more Dire Tooths came flying at her from the walls.

Their horns were spun like drills.

She reacted quickly enough and jumped back, a curious smile appearing across her face.

"So that’s how the tunnels were made."

"Ke’ek!" The Dire Tooths shouted before rushing toward her.

Meeting their challenge, Alchemy pushed forward. When they were about to group, Alchemy jumped over them and punched down, allowing one of the range attacks from Razor Surge to hit one of the monsters.

It wasn’t enough to kill it, but Alchemy didn’t think much of it as she turned and kicked the second one into the first, sending them both crashing into a wall.

"Bleh. They’re actually quite durable if you don’t strike a vital." Alchemy frowned.

That was going to be a pain in the ass for her since they seemed to be coming in groups. Being swarmed while trying to aim for vitals probably wouldn’t be a walk in the park.

"But I finally have a challenge that won’t result in me getting two shots for a single mistake.

One of the remaining two unharmed Dire Tooths dug into the ground, with the other unharmed one lunging at her. Alchemy ignored them both for the time being, sidestepping the lunging one and dashing straight at the two discombobulated ones.

Before they could react, she slammed down on them with an Ax Kick, causing the entire passageway to shake slightly.

|<Notice: You have killed an Adult Dire Tooth and earned 12,550 EXP!>|

|<Notice: You have killed an Adult Dire Tooth and earned 12,900 EXP!>|

Before Alchemy could turn her attention to the other Dire Tooth, the burrowing rodent flew up from deep beneath the ground, hitting straight into Alchemy’s arm.

The force wasn’t enough to push her back, but it did make her grit her teeth as the drill tore through her skin.

"Do you know how expensive that’d be if I still had my original body? Die!" Alchemy scoffed, stomping on the Dire Tooth the moment it landed.

|<Notice: You have killed an Adult Dire Tooth and earned 13,300 EXP!>|

|<Notice: Your opponent Adult Dire Rat has been inflicted with Fear(Minor)!>|

"Yeah, I suppose I am the bad guy here." Alchemy sighed.

|<Notice: You have killed an Adult Dire Tooth and earned 13,400 EXP!>|