Heavy Metal [ A Monster Evolution LitRPG ]

Chapter 17 – Looking For Copper.

‘Woah, I gained a level!... But I better keep on running!’

Rusty said to himself while trying to put more power into his metallic legs. The ground underneath was quite uneven and his body was not suited for such a fast pace. His metallic legs clanked against the rocky ground as he sprinted through the twisting tunnels of the cave system. The echoes of his footsteps were mixed with the angry hisses and clicking sounds of the pursuing ants.

‘They are really angry, well I don’t blame them, I did kill quite a lot of them this time around…’

As he navigated the passages, Rusty continued to glance at the glowing light insects on the walls. These creatures just like the monsters here needed water to survive and would remain close to their source. The main watering hole in this dungeon attracted a lot of glow bugs and this was where he was heading.

However, the large ant monsters didn’t relent and kept on pursuing through the series of tunnels he had memorized. It seemed that these tunnels were not the same as the dungeon that he came from. Each mark that he left behind remained and allowed him to maneuver back to his lair. There was one problem, just as he could place markings on those walls to create lasting holes, so could the ants.

He quickly made a discovery about these pesky creatures that slowed down his exploration attempts. These strange ants liked to tunnel through the rocks and left smaller passages through which he couldn’t fit through. They all connected to larger corridors like the one he was running through and allowed his enemies to come from various directions.

It was the same now, during his sprint one of the little buggers jumped at him from above. It came through one of the many openings in the walls that were hard to make out and sometimes blended together with the scenery. The ant lunged itself onto Rusty and landed on his helmet which it promptly started chewing on.

‘Get off me!’

He wanted to shout but failed to have the vocal cords to do so. The monster trashed around and tented his marvelous visage slightly before he could wrestle it down. Soon after the monster found itself without a head after he activated his power slash skill. His sword started glowing red and increased in speed to deliver a devastating blow to the monster.

‘Huh? Eight not Ten? Was this one different from the others or something?’

Rusty found himself perplexed as he noticed a decrease in the amount of experience points he received. All the little ant monsters were giving him ten experience points each but now for some reason, he was receiving less. On his way out he confirmed this number change by dispatching a few more of the troublesome insects.

There was little time to dwell on this issue as Rusty had to navigate through another obstacle first. Eventually Rusty managed to outmaneuver his pursuers and finally arrived at the glowing oasis where the other monsters gathered. The gentle sounds of flowing water were interrupted by his clacking and the screeching insects behind him.

A whole battalion of drones swiftly surged through the cave opening and entered the watering hole area. This was all according to Rusty’s well-thought-out plan and the moment he arrived here, there was nothing to worry about anymore. As the Myrm Ants displayed their aggression, the other monsters within the cave began to react. Even in the dim confines of the cave, certain rules governed these creatures, and engaging in combat within this space was one such rule they couldn't breach.

‘Oh, they are fighting! I need to use this chance to get away.’

The acidic slug creatures spat at the approaching ants while one of the large beetles used its mandibles to fend off the invaders. They took the outburst as an unprovoked attack that went against the unwritten rules here. Rusty took advantage of the chaos and slipped away from the battleground. He moved silently, avoiding the attention of the battling monsters, and made his way back to his own lair where he was certain to find peace.

Finally, he reached the entrance of his newly claimed lair which he now named ‘Rusty’s Twilight Cave’. Thanks to his memories he was able to produce true letters and decided to scribble over the entrance to mark that it was his. To make things more serious, he also included words like ‘Do not enter’ and skull symbols. If adventurers found this place they would think twice before entering.

‘That could have gone better but I did it, I leveled up again now I’m one step closer to evolving but not quite there either…’

There was one big problem and it was visible on his status screen, his health points were going down. His only weapon which was a slightly corroded blade kept breaking and he needed to restore it with the help of his old bronze resources. Living beings could restore themselves by just sleeping but he was different, his health pool would not regenerate by itself, he needed to find a metal deposit and he needed to do it quickly.

‘At least I don’t suffer any negative effects from low HP.’

Though unable to regenerate like humans, Rusty enjoyed certain perks of his unique physique. One of them was that he didn’t really feel pain nor would he slow down with holes in his armor. As long as his joints functioned, he could persist in continuous movement without experiencing fatigue or succumbing to statuses like bleeding.

‘I’m level six now, in four I should be able to advance to a new form again and restore my body then, but will it be able to hold out for that long?’

He had a sinking suspicion that such a feat would be somewhat difficult. The monsters he faced had an inclination to swarm and attack from all directions due to the holes in the tunnels. He was receiving small dents and gashes while fighting, this would probably lead to his demise as a more crucial part of his armoring gave out. Losing a leg or an arm would likely make further leveling impossible.

‘But how will I find bronze or other metals? Think Rusty, think! Where do metals come from besides from adventures?’

Rusty started straining his empty brain to find an answer to his problem. He had ventured into the caves but had not been able to find much. The insect creatures were made of other materials than metal and he could not integrate their carapace into his metallic armor. Even after searching around he was unable to discover any bronze deposits and he had a few options left.

‘Either I keep it safe and go at it slowly until I reach level ten, or I go in deeper…’

He was pretty sure that things like metal ores existed. They were rock formations that should contain the resources he needed and were usually found in places like this underground area. Rusty was also sure that he would need to find both copper ore and tin ore to produce bronze, as his body was an alloy of the two.

‘I don’t need as much tin though, so copper is the one I truly need.’

He retained some leftover resources from his previous scavenging endeavors, with a surplus of tin ore compared to copper ore. To produce one ingot of bronze he required three copper ingots and only one tin ingot. Due to this ratio, Rusty had managed to accumulate extra tin ingots during the period when he was absorbing weapons and other living armors.

Thus his quest for the precious metals continued. After bending some of the dents back into place he set out back to the watering place. Upon arrival, he noticed a lack of interaction among its inhabitants. He saw a few dead ants on the ground, likely a result of the group hastily retreating after being attacked by the larger insectoid types.

‘If I only knew what to look for…’

Rusty came to a halt and surveyed the various entrances, each harboring a different type of enemy. At this point, he opted to confront the lesser ants that were a rank below him in strength. The other monsters looked a lot tougher and his sword would dull rapidly if applied to their tougher carapaces.

‘Well this isn’t it…’

‘Not it either…’

Rusty found himself identifying various rock formations while combing through this underground lair. It seemed that the ant drones had dwindled slightly and did not appear as much at their usual spot. This allowed him to go further to attempt to identify the minerals on the walls. However, there was nothing besides rocks of various shapes, sizes, and colors that were of no use to him. That was until he encountered one of his friends. 

‘Eight again?’

If he had a face he would be frowning after defeating the monstrous ant. It was alone but he knew that eventually, new ones would appear. It became clear that these monsters could somehow communicate with each other through means he didn’t understand. After finding a dead ant, others would eventually appear so he knew that time was of the essence.

‘Wait, what's that rock stuck to the ant?’

He didn’t really have much time to identify his adversaries as they tended to swarm around him but this time around, he noticed something stuck to its carapace. 

‘Oh? It’s there!’

He quickly grabbed the small pebble that was stuck to the dead monsters and examined it further. This happy moment didn’t last for long as when he attempted to quickly absorb the copper inside this tiny ore fragment, he couldn’t. 

‘Too small?’

Rusty wasn’t expecting to get much out of this little rock but he wasn’t given even one percent to his copper stash. Not everything was lost, if this ant had this pebble then it meant that more was around here somewhere. After identifying the corridor that this monster came from, he made his way towards that location. 

As Rusty ventured deeper into the tunnels, he encountered more of the ant drones and to his delight, discovered additional copper ore pebbles clinging to their bodies. However, the amount of copper in each pebble remained minuscule, and putting them together didn’t show any results either. It was clear that to make this work, he would need quite a bit more and it needed to be in one piece. 

‘Should I continue or come back later…’

He started to weigh his options as he had pushed into the ant nest further than before. It was clear that he managed to diminish their numbers now and the other insects had also helped him in this endeavor. 

‘I guess going a little further than this shouldn’t be a problem, I’ll just run again if I have to!’

After making up his decision Rusty followed the trail of copper pebbles to a new location. The corridor he was following had traces of the same pebbles along with strange noises coming from the same direction. To not allow himself to be discovered, he slowed down his pace and finally peeked out into a seemingly large chamber within.

‘What is that? It’s a lot bigger than the others… but… it's stuck?’

Rusty almost retreated after seeing a strange insectoid creature within this chamber. It was many times larger than the ant drones but of similar shape. After a quick identification attempt, he was able to unearth its name along with some interesting facts.

‘A queen? So, is it their leader or is there a kind somewhere too?’ 

He started looking around but he did not discover any other large ants like this one. However, this didn’t mean that there weren’t some peculiar-looking oval-shaped things. They were all over this chamber and some of them were even moving around.

To make things even more interesting he could see how these eggs were being produced. At first, it seemed that the queen ant was stuck but this was not the case. It just had a really large rear part that was also white like the eggs it was producing. This large organ was connected to the ant queen and seemed to weigh it down. Once an egg was squeezed out from the rear, one of the ant drones would carry it away to a larger pile.

‘So that’s how these ants are created? But wait, I’m not here for this… where is the copper ore?’

Rusty realized that he was running out of time. He had not been discovered for now but that could quickly change. Finally, in the distance, he saw something interesting; it was a wall plastered with minerals, many resembling the copper that he was here for. There was one small problem, the wall filled with copper ore and perhaps other metals was right where the large ant queen resided. 

‘It probably won’t just let me take it after I’ve killed so many of her children, will she?’

This was quite problematic. He had potentially managed to discover a small mine that could help him restore his body. However, if he wanted to take it then defeating this large monster and all of its minions was a necessary task. He was severely outnumbered and the last boss was also the largest one that he had ever seen.

‘I can do this. I've leveled up, gained experience, and learned from my encounters. This is just another challenge on the way to becoming strong!’

Rusty pumped himself up while trying to take in the sights of this chamber. While he had decided to take the whole ant colony on, it didn’t mean that he would do it by himself. There were ways of lessening his burdens and tactical thinking was still key. Rushing in like a madman could always be done later but first, he would use his surroundings and tactics just like he did in the upper levels of the dungeon.