The Wizard Has A Biochip

Thank you to the user "Christomol" for donating a gift. I will be releasing several Chapters today.

...

Just when everyone was praising me, a red figure emerged from the darkness.

Ruby had returned.

Her arrival was so abrupt that some acolytes immediately turned their heads.

She said nothing.

She simply walked toward us and, with a satisfied expression, raised her arm.

THUD!~~

An ugly, bloodied head was violently thrown onto the ground in front of everyone.

I looked at the head.

Then I looked at Ruby.

She simply smiled.

— I got one too.

I couldn’t help but smile slightly.

— You really don’t know how to be discreet, do you?

Ruby bared her sharp teeth.

— And why should I?

The situation, however, left Rustil in a somewhat awkward position.

He was only a Consolidated Level 3 acolyte, but he possessed enough ability to command two Pseudo-Mages. That alone already demonstrated that he was no ordinary man.

Even so, the results of that battle had been unexpected.

The elite acolytes specifically trained by the training camp had only managed to get one head.

We, two new recruits, had returned carrying one each.

I could hear Rustil whispering to himself.

— These two recruits are far too aggressive."

In total, approximately half of the outlaw acolytes guarding Mine Number Seven had been eliminated.

It was quite a rare result.

But we had spent more than an hour fighting.

And that meant we didn’t have much time to explore the mine.

After all, that place was located deep within the Subterranean World.

It was difficult to protect a mine that far away.

As soon as reinforcements from Darkgem City arrived, there would probably be another round of capture and killing.

We couldn’t stay there and wait.

The miners themselves, however, showed no fear of us whatsoever.

On the contrary.

The queen of the green-skinned goblins even approached to negotiate.

She suggested that if any of the acolytes were willing to spend the night with her, she would waive all of our mining fees.

In addition, she would hand over a small "treasure" that the goblin tribe had stored for an entire year.

When I looked at her...

My face stiffened.

The queen had a small, misshapen face, tiny eyes, and a chubby body.

Her breasts were large and flabby.

And when those bean-sized eyes began to lustfully scan the acolytes’ bodies...

I saw some of them turn pale.

One of them even turned his face away and vomited on the ground.

"Urgggghh~~

I understood perfectly.

It was difficult to feel anything other than shivers.

The queen herself eventually looked at Ruby.

This time, there was envy in her eyes.

It wasn’t difficult to understand why.

Ruby, even covered in blood, was still absurdly beautiful.

After some negotiations, Rustil finally paid double the price in magical crystals.

In exchange, we received twenty-six Impiril Hearts.

If we managed to bring everything back without any problems, each member could receive many magical crystals, depending on their individual contribution.

And, naturally, those who had brought back enemy heads would receive more.

After a brief discussion between Rustil and the other two Pseudo-Mages, the division was decided.

Zanit received three Impiril Hearts.

Rustil received two.

I received two.

Ruby received two.

The three remaining Level 3 acolytes received one each.

The remaining twelve Impiril Hearts would be sent back to the training camp.

Nople had the support of Merchant Qalz, who would buy all of them.

The profit would then be divided equally among the team members.

As for the Impiril Hearts we had received directly...

We could decide what to do with them.

I had no doubt that some of those Mage families would appear to try to buy them.

Treasures of this level never lacked buyers.

But our work was not over yet.

The mission was complete.

Now came the truly dangerous part.

The return.

From the experience of previous missions, the journey back was generally the time when the most deaths occurred.

It didn’t matter how well a mission had ended.

It was perfectly possible to die after completing the objective.

The Subterranean World was too large.

And too dangerous.

Traveling together in a large group seemed safe at first glance.

But it was actually the opposite.

If we traveled all together, we could be ambushed.

Subterranean creatures could attack us.

Outlaw acolytes could discover our route.

Any enemy watching our movements would have a perfect target.

Therefore, we decided to split up.

Each person would follow their own path.

If someone died during the journey...

It would simply be because they weren’t strong enough to survive.

After dividing the spoils, we wished each other good luck.

Then each group disappeared in a different direction.

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.

.

.

.

.

Until I was left alone with Ruby.

She jumped onto my Shark Golem.

Her red eyes scanned the darkness.

Then she whispered.

— We’d better move quickly!

— I keep feeling that there’s some kind of danger in this mission.

— It’s as if someone is watching us.

— We’d better be careful on the way back.

My heart sank.

I never ignored a feeling of danger.

Especially when it came from Ruby.

Her mutant bloodline carried the characteristics of a species with senses and perceptions far superior to those of ordinary acolytes.

If even she was sensing something...

Then there was probably something truly wrong.

I pulled Ruby closer.

I held her in my arms.

Then I merged with the body of the Shark Golem.

My body disappeared into the mass of mud.

The magical energy of the Earth element spread throughout the surroundings, and soon I linked my consciousness to the golem’s Spiritual Core.

I began seeing through the ground itself, but in every direction there was nothing but Stones, Ores, Tunnels, Empty Spaces.

I searched for any sign of a presence.

But I found Nothing, so I simply accepted it and began moving forward.

This time, however, I wouldn’t follow exactly the same route we had taken on the way there.

Since I wanted to conserve the Shark’s magical energy, I would normally travel through the tunnel and only pass through the ground whenever I encountered a section that required a major detour.

But Ruby had warned me.

I didn’t want to take any risks.

The Shark sank.

SHLORP!

Its enormous body entered the earth.

We began moving beneath the surface.

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Three hours passed.

We had already traveled more than half the distance.

I began to relax.

Then...

The Shark’s body passed through a layer of earth.

For an instant, I felt something strange.

It was as if we had just passed through the calm surface of a lake.

The elemental energy of Earth within the Shark’s body became turbulent.

BZZZZT!

My heart raced.

The elemental particles around us began behaving abnormally.

My expression changed.

Damn, this IS a trap!

At that very moment, the pressure of the soil around us increased violently.

It seemed as if the earth itself was trying to crush the Shark.

I immediately controlled the golem.

"Go up!"

The Shark shot upward.

BOOOOM!

We emerged from the ground and entered an underground tunnel.

Earth and rocks flew in all directions.

The tunnel was dark, silent, and heavy.

My eyes narrowed.

Ruby appeared beside me.

— George?

— What happened to your golem?

— We’re being ambushed.

— There’s an Earth-element magical array altering the energy particles in the region we were passing through.

— It interfered directly with the Shark’s elemental energy.

— We need to get out of here as quickly as possible.

...

1301 Words