After Surviving the Apocalypse, I Built a City in Another World - Chapter 287

Chapter 287: Iron Bog (Part 2)
[Used Sword Slash (D). -10 Mana]

He slashed expertly at the monster, his stabs becoming faster and faster and more accurate. His hits were sharper, like a special sharp aura of sorts surrounded his attacks.

He really felt it—the difference, though primarily because his teeth didn’t hurt as much, as there was less screeching and more successful stabbing through the skin.

The new skill added another bout of passion in Ansel’s attacks, letting him take care of another monster, saving Amos from injury.

Their noise naturally attracted more monsters, however, and they had to fight those as well.

His eyes twitched as he saw the monster effortlessly get up from the muck. Their lower bodies were sharper, and their legs were sharp, similar to arachnids. This allowed them to move easily across viscous fluid as if they were swimming in clean pools.

Well, whatever, it was all just super gross.

Also, because of Eugene’s story, he thought that maybe monsters disliked the smell of metal. What was this now?!

Of course, it could only mean this wasn’t an iron bog at all, so how could there be the smell of metal?

However, he couldn’t think too deeply about, as he was preoccupied by not getting eaten by such disgusting monsters.

The fight went on for some time later until there was no more emerging from the damned mulch. Fortunately, these monsters were solitary and had low fecundity, so they managed to clear out the entire place relatively quickly.

Not to mention, the protection period expelled any monsters above level 3, which further reduced the enemies they had to face.

[Ghasa (Lv1), +30 copper, +30 experience]

[Ghasa (Lv1), +30 copper, +30 experience]

Ansel nodded and heaved a sigh. Congratulating the others and ordering them to get some samples of the monsters for study, a habit of his when he found his sister found joy in discovering new things even in this place.

Ansel wordlessly walked towards a collection of large rocks far from the action. He stopped in front of the largest one that had a flatter rock on top of it. Ansel then lifted it up, revealing a man squeezed inside.

He looked at the shaking bespectacled man underneath and pulled him up by the collar. He then dropped the man to stand on his own and he looked at them in embarrassment after he was able to do so.

His name was Kimura Johnson, a man with balding black hair, pale skin, and single eyelids. He also had spectacles on though it was filled with scratches.

“S-Sorry about this…” he said, genuinely guilty. He also wanted to fight with them, but he froze all the time.

This was one of the newcomers who came with Jun’s batch, and he was some sort of a metal expert.

Ansel sighed, rubbing his temple. “I don’t know how you survived so long.”

Kimura’s lips pursed. He also didn’t know.

In fact, how he survived for so long was more or less due to luck. It was just that he froze too much to absorb what was happening around him.

In Terran, he happened to be in the lab with one person, who turned into a zombie.

But they were working on a lot of sharp objects and with an accidental push from him, it basically skewered itself. He just ended its suffering, and at the same time the kill was counted on his head, activating the ‘system’.

And when they migrated here… he was still very lucky.

There were plenty of times he was almost eaten, of course. It was just that, when he was beside someone else, for some reason, the monster would definitely target the other person.

He actually mumbled this to Ansel, whose eyebrows rose. “Oh?” He asked, interested. He recalled Eugene’s story.

Apparently, his leg was indeed mauled by a monster back in the Royal Territory. However, it was eaten with… distaste and was thus vomited out afterward.

Eugene could now joke about it, saying it was such a waste of a perfectly good leg.

It seemed like these people worked so closely with metal smelled like it. And he knew his earlier theory seemed to have some merit, after all.

In fact, he wasn’t wrong at all. Most beasts really did dislike the smell. It didn’t mean they were afraid, however, only mostly disgusted.

It was just that this particular monster, which lived in the iron-filled muck, was an exception.

Anyway, after a short rest, the group proceeded on their trip to a very important (potential) resource point.

Kimura narrowed his eyes and looked carefully at the terrain as they moved, expert eyes watching for some landmarks like weird-shaped stones and terrain change.

When he was a refugee, they came across a large swamp with surface discoloration in stagnant areas.

He wasn’t able to confirm it because, well, life. He even forgot about it for a while.

However, an announcement of resource hunting was sent and he was reminded of what he could find.

Even if he was weak, he also wanted a better life for himself, which was why despite his cowardice he took a leap of faith and joined the ‘mass pirating’ activity the territory launched.

When the new missions were announced, he also took another step forward. He partnered with a higher-up, hoping to get good resources.

So… here he was.

He walked deeper into the muck, surrounded by guards on both sides in case of monsters suddenly appearing. Fortunately, all the monsters nearby had been dealt with, so he was able to finally focus on studying the terrain for clues.

A few minutes later, his feet stopped at a spot.

Kimura looked at the telltale sign of deep red and orange hues in the bog—indicating rich iron content on a spot a couple of meters away.

He dared not approach though.

“Over there,” He said, pointing at an area. Knowing the guy’s cowardly nature, Ansel gestured to walk over.

“Are you sure?” He asked Kimura, just for good measure.

He nodded. “Yes, iron bogs should be below.”

Ansel nodded and walked over to the more colorful waters, feeling the mushy ground below starting to get firmer.

However, before they could do anything else, they heard rustles of leaves, and the next thing they knew a new mob had been attracted.

Ansel looked at the others and sighed. He walked towards the rustles, ready to defend the spot with the others

The feeling of the gooey greenish-black liquid creeping upwards on his leg was extremely disgusting, but they could only push through.

Because they knew how important this place was!