Kron and I swung the last lizard-dog body and released, sending it flying into the gap. With a hole to the lower levels there, it sure was convenient to dispose of dead bodies — something I never believed that I would think.
“Finally!” I said, stretching my back. “Now we can get out of here!”
The two hours had passed, and it was time to escort our miner out. For the most part, the area had been quiet aside from Val’s pickaxe rhythmically striking against stone. Every once in a while, a brave but dumb lizard-dog would make its way into the cavern and only to swiftly die by our hands. Fortunately, the crab hadn’t come back yet, but we weren’t taking any chances. Actually, it was a bit strange for such a strong monster to be this close to the front of the dungeon in the first place, but we figured the lower levels had become overcrowded due to the lack of adventurers willing to delve its depths.
During the few fights we had, I kept thinking of ways to attack just the aura defenses of a creature, but everything I tried ended up failing. I would have to find a higher-level tank to talk about how to create a skill like that.
Val handed over a bag to Murr. “As promised, 25% of what I mined.”
He glanced over it and frowned. “It’s not as much as I’d hoped, but you did only have two hours.”
He grinned. “Don’t you worry. There is something good in this mine. I can feel it. You take care of that crab and let me swing my pickaxe at closer to this dungeon’s end and we’ll all be eating the guild hall’s gourmet food by the end of the week!”
The catfolk smiled. “Then that’s our plan.”
He patted the rogue’s shoulder, causing the small teen to step forward. “Hey, you guys may have had a rough start, but you did better than I expected! When we reach the Adventurer’s guild I have a surprise for you all!”
***
“And this here is Samalrune, an elven tank.” Val patted my shoulder, then pointed to an older miner who grimaced. “Hey, don’t look at him like that. He fought with a giant crab and held its attention long enough that I could get away.”
I awkwardly nodded to the large group of strangers Val was introducing us to. They were apparently other miners, non-combatants and new adult adventurers. Some looked battle-hardened, like they’d gone through a hell year or two already, while others appeared to be fresh faces like our own.
“Now, I won’t tell you that you should go and give these guys some compliments so they can get into a better dungeon once they reach level 11, but I’m not saying you shouldn’t.”
Then he gave them a big wink.
I almost groaned. That was way too obvious.
“Actually, I’m good,” I said. “I’d rather not receive any reputation, positive or negative, that I don’t deserve.”
“Look at this guy. So modest!” He punched my shoulder hard. I did not take a step forward, but only just. The strength of miners was no joke. “Anyway, I’m sure they have things they have to do today, including giving out compliments of their own.”
I took the hint and nodded. “It was good to work with you, Val.”
“See you tomorrow, like we talked about.”
We agreed to clear it out first during the morning hours. Then in the afternoon, he’d show up and mine for a few hours. But that also meant that we had to take care of that giant crab if it returned.
Murr, Kron, and I stepped over to the reception desk and submitted our compliments for Val. I wanted to hand in a complaint about those adventurers who tried to harm him, but he said he’d take care of it. He didn’t even tell us their names, so there wasn’t much we could do.
As we left, Val was still talking us up to his friends, exactly like he said he would. I was pretty impressed by the dwarf’s hustle.
Well, as long as he really felt we deserved those official compliments, it should be fine. Maybe it was because of all the undeserved bad ratings I would sometimes receive as an Uber driver in my past life, but receiving something I didn’t earn made me feel uncomfortable. Especially because, early on in my driving career, I’d met a few customers who refused to give anyone a full 5 stars — probably because they were saving it for the drivers who treated them like monarchs or something. Their low scores almost dropped my rating far enough to make me unemployed again.
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And that was when we ran into a group of obviously high-level adventurers. One of them was a familiar golem tank.
“Mrs. Kronus?”