Exploiting Privileged Knowledge for Profit – Part 2

“Woah. Yer actually right. This is amazing,” Yzara said, in a rather rare moment of awe from her. “It is a crystal cave for sure. Sorry for havin’ doubted ya.”

After opening up the peephole I had made using some more <Earth Destroyer>, I squirmed into the open space, with Yzara soon behind me. The entire cave, illuminated by that singular Light Orb, sparkled like a perfectly clear night sky. The gems sparked in all colors of the rainbow, making for quite the staggering sight.

“What did I tell you? I know how these things work.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll give ya this one. So now what do we do? Just wack ‘em out of the rock? These ain’t all precious, right?”

I didn’t know much about the gems in Arcforge themselves, but I did have some oversight into how they interacted with the skill system. Basically, gemstones were highly pure Magic Crystals. They could be used to massively boost your EXP in their specific magic, but that was considered a waste of a pretty rare resource. Instead, their main use was to craft accessories that could be equipped to boost specific magic or even melee skills in some cases.

Even I could tell that the majority of the gems sparkling in the wall weren’t of particular value, being essentially slightly purer Magic Crystals.

“Let’s focus on the bigger and purer gemstones, and bring as much as we can back to the surface.”

“Alright! The goal’s in sight now!”

Together, we began using our pickaxes to whack the wall gently—just enough to detach the rock containing the gemstones. The repeated sound of the pickaxes slowly filled the cavern, echoing against the damp walls—

“Griiiiiihhhhhh…”

What was that?

“Hey. Do you hear something?”

“Uh?” Yzara said. “I can’t hear anythin’.”

“No, there’s definitely something.”

I stopped hitting the rock and focused on the sound.

““Griiiiiihhhhhh…””

Yes, deeper from inside the cave… there’s something there!

Before I could understand what the sound could be, it suddenly became louder.

And louder.

And louder.

And then—

“GRIIIIIHHHHH!!!”

When I turned to the dark hole leading deeper into the cave, a black flying mass emerged from the bowls of the Earth. Only when they got close did I realize what it was.

“Screech Bats!”

There were—and I kid you not—hundreds of palm-sized bats invading the crystal cave like a tsunami. There were so many of them that the cavern was suddenly plunged into total darkness, despite the Light Orb shining up above us. Clearly, all the noise we made woke them up from their one-hundred-year slumber.

“Damn it! What’s all this?!” Yzara screamed.

Of course, it couldn’t be that simple!

I cursed my fellow developers for setting up such a trap. This was insidious. The damn bats were flying all around, hitting us with their wings and using their tiny mouths to bite us like oversized mosquitos. But the worst part was the sound—a deafening screech permeated the cave, the purpose of which was only to disorient their prey.

I soon lost my orientation in the cave. My mind itself was filled with the deafening noise. The world began to spin all around me, as I was pushed around by the bats. I desperately tried to find somewhere that wasn’t filled with the pests; eventually, I managed to find a wall, so at least there was one fewer direction to be attacked from.

“Ugh! Stop it! Don’t ya know I’m yer master?!” I heard the Demon Queen complain.

Right, bats are Dark Beasts too!

“Yzara! Use your Holy Magic against them!”

“Askin’ me to attack my minions again?!”

“If you don’t wanna die in this stupid cave, then do it!”

“Okay! Fine! Luminous Burst!”

From somewhere in the cave, a burst of light emanated in all directions, blinding me in the process. <Luminous Burst> was a relatively weak attack, but it had a large area of effect, so it was ideal for this type of scenario with multiple enemies.

Instantly, the screeching of the bats was replaced by an equally deafening shriek, as the bats fizzled up and died from Yzara’s attack. However, I couldn’t actually see anything yet, as my field of vision was completely blank from the attack.

“Is… is it over?” I asked.

“Yeah. I think so. Most of ‘em are dead. My poor bats…”

Instead of using my vision, I started walking along the wall in the direction of Yzara’s voice.

Or, at least, where I thought her voice was coming from. I didn’t have time to do anything when the ground under my left foot gave way.

“Ahhhhh!”

“Takashi?!”

I couldn’t balance myself. All I did was instinctively grab onto a ledge I didn’t know was there before, my fingers shredding on the damp rock. Soon, I was hanging, my legs and torso dangling above a drop of unknown height.

I put all my strength into my arms, but the damp rock was making my hands slip. I was sure my increased grip strength in this world was the only reason why I hadn’t fallen into the hole below me.

“Shit!”

My vision had since returned. I heard footsteps coming in my direction. When I looked up, all I could see was Yzara’s face. At first, all I saw was Chloe’s priestess façade I had become so used to.

But then, as her face clearly came into view, it made my mind stop.

She had a smirk on her face. The smirk of the Demon Queen Yzara, not the gentle priestess I had become used to.

Ahh, I forgot about it.

Somehow, I had forgotten my objective and ended up actually “playing” Arcforge like a player. But I was a fool—this woman, at her core, wanted me, a Hero, dead.

And what better situation than this? She didn’t even need to do the deed herself. All she had to do was leave me here, claim it was a mining accident, and then get the money from the gemstones all to herself.

Why would she ever share? Why would she ever want to “play” alongside me? All she ever wanted was her class back. The only reason she tolerated me so far was because we had the same objective. Now, she was free to do whatever she wanted, and I was in the way.

There was no doubt in my mind—she was going to drop me.