A Large Mineral Vein Far Beyond Expectations

Only now did Lawson truly acknowledge Lister's strength.

His father's judgment of people had indeed been right.

His mindset quickly changed. He no longer saw himself as the main damage dealer in this battle, retreating several paces into the distance and willingly taking on the role of crowd control.

The vines on the ground kept feeding on the hot blood from the Cyclops's legs as they wrapped around them.

They continued to tear at the wounds Lister had cut open.

"-11, -12, -11..."

Judging by the damage numbers alone, the bleeding effect the vines inflicted on the blade wounds was nearly five times stronger than before.

"Hiss... ugh...!"

Muffled cries of pain came from the Cyclops one after another.

The huge pupil on its forehead grew moist. Even though they were not of the same race, the others could feel the Cyclops's pain.

The three of them grew even more vigilant. If a fourth-tier elite monster counterattacked when it was on the verge of death, there was no need to say how dangerous it would be.

Sure enough, the Ghost-Eyed Giant had only just been crying out in pain when it fired three beams of Laser Eye again.

Simmons, standing at the front, had no intention of dodging.

As a fellow fourth-tier warrior and pure tank, Simmons had neither retreating nor dodging among his combat options.

He raised his giant shield in front of him and let the Laser Eye beams strike him. The paralysis effect took hold instantly.

Seeing that only Simmons had been paralyzed, the Ghost-Eyed Giant clenched its fists, which already bore two blade wounds, and the muscles and veins across its arms bulged.

It smashed down at Simmons's head with a charged blow. Lister could even hear its fists slicing through the air.

"Boom!"

Simmons took the charged punch head-on with his giant shield, and his expression abruptly changed.

Even he had to admit that this Cyclops boss's attack was much stronger than he had expected.

Even with his shield raised and in good condition, he could not say how many of those charged punches he could take head-on.

Just as he was thinking that, the Ghost-Eyed Giant's next punch came crashing down.

Simmons was still stiff from the paralysis and could only block it with his shield again. This time, however, the impact sent him reeling several meters back.

Before he could regain his footing, the third punch came straight at him.

The Ghost-Eyed Giant's signature three-move combination was to immobilize its target with Laser Eye, then follow up with three consecutive charged Heavy Strikes.

If Simmons, the shield warrior, had not been here today, Lister reckoned even taking two punches head-on would have been difficult.

Just as the third punch was about to strike Simmons again, the bulging muscles in its fist suddenly contracted, and the attack stopped.

Lister had appeared in front of the Ghost-Eyed Giant at some unknown point and had already leaped into the air.

The blade in his hand was like a crescent moon. A cold light flashed, and a huge gash opened across the Ghost-Eyed Giant's eye.

"Critical hit: 2,309 damage dealt."

"Remaining health: 1,898/10,313 (continuing to bleed)."

Lister did not relax after that strike either. As the Ghost-Eyed Giant clutched its eye, he immediately slashed its thigh.

Without deliberately using Iai Slash, Lister's normal attacks now dealt only a little less damage than the skill.

In a one-on-one fight, an enemy had to treat every one of his normal attacks with caution.

Unfortunately, the Ghost-Eyed Giant was in no condition to dodge.

It was, after all, a D-rank (rare) minor boss, not a true boss in the full sense of the word.

Naturally, it did not have the second- and third-phase bursts of power that bosses encountered later on had.

With Lawson's vines restraining it as well, Lister saw that its health was nearly depleted and feared Lawson would steal the kill.

He timed his move and delivered the final slash to the Ghost-Eyed Giant's chest.

"Congratulations, you have slain the Ghost-Eyed Giant. Experience gained: 33,981."

It was a higher level than Kailina, after all, and a fourth-tier elite monster also gave far more experience.

With the battle over, Lawson and Simmons moved back toward Lister.

"Catch."

A bottle of milky-white potion came flying from Lawson's hand.

"Congratulations, you have obtained the Church's Intermediate Healing Water."

[Church's Intermediate Healing Water (E-rank): Slowly restores 20% health over three hours.]

"Thanks! But I don't need it."

Lister had come through both fights today almost completely unscathed.

In this kind of small-team battle, his personal offensive ability had been brought to its full potential.

As for taking damage and controlling the enemy, Simmons and Lawson had handled those respectively.

In front of the two of them, he first retrieved the turquoise-associated crystal that had been embedded in the back of the Ghost-Eyed Giant's right hand.

"Drink it. There's no telling what we'll find inside the mine."

"Stay in your best condition. Your attacks are indispensable to us."

Compared with when they had first met, Lister could now clearly sense a little more warmth and respect from Lawson.

Sure enough, a family alliance was one thing, but strength was what it really took to make people see you differently.

The three rested where they were for an hour, mainly because Simmons took a long time to recover.

He had been the main tank in both fights, withstanding Kailina's attacks and the Ghost-Eyed Giant's Heavy Strikes. At the most critical moment, his health had fallen below 30%.

If they had really relied on Lawson's vines to attack, they could have slowly worn the Ghost-Eyed Giant to death without a problem, but whether Simmons would have survived would have come down to luck.

The original baron's castle had long since collapsed completely, and Lister and the other two spent more than two hours shoveling.

They did not dare dig too aggressively, for fear that the area the Ghost-Eyed Giant had excavated would collapse again.

Fortunately, all three were professionals, and Simmons was unquestionably the main force when it came to this sort of work.

Before long, they had dug a passage extending inward, just barely wide enough for one person.

As the three went deeper, green specks began appearing in the earth and rock they dug through, though none of them knew exactly when they had started.

Needless to say, this was a sign of turquoise, though the concentration was still low.

After digging farther in for a while, their mine tunnel seemed to connect with another.

The three did not hesitate and immediately entered the new tunnel.

Judging by its appearance, the Cyclops was unlikely to have dug it.

It looked like the original Baron Lai's family had excavated it. Broad stretches on both sides of the tunnel now shimmered with green fluorescence.

A long, straight green passage led downward before them, so deep they could not see the bottom.

Lister was a little better off. He did not have much feeling for the mineral vein itself and could not estimate exactly how much a turquoise vein of this size was worth or how many bottles of potion it could make.

He could only sense that Lawson and Simmons beside him were breathing much faster.

Simmons in particular had his eyes wide open, looking as though he could hardly believe what he saw.

"Th-this is all turquoise ore? At this high a concentration?"

"Lord Lawson, this vein is at least medium-sized!"

Lawson had activated the Lookout spell long ago. His usually solemn face was now visibly excited, even flushed.

"Whew...!"

Only after several minutes did Lawson let out a long breath. He canceled the Lookout spell and explained to the other two.

"More than that. Judging by what's been excavated so far, it definitely qualifies as a large mineral vein."

"And the original Baron Lai hadn't finished excavating this vein. A considerable amount remains unexplored."

"Even excluding the unexplored portion, the size of this mine has already far exceeded... expectations."

"How much is it actually worth? As for the share promised to me, would it be enough to support ten professionals?"

Lister had no concrete idea what medium-sized or large meant.

Although he had been the first to discover this turquoise vein, the prior agreement gave him the associated crystal, and his agreed share of the vein itself was the smallest.

He had originally only hoped that the remaining share would be enough to support two or three professionals. Lister's main priority was still his own development.

Now that he had heard it was a large vein far beyond expectations, he could not help thinking about training a few more.

If the Merick Family wanted to restore its former glory, it needed some professionals to uphold its standing.

He could not have Baron Merrick himself step forward to handle every matter.

"Ten...? Heh heh..."

Lister's words made Lawson laugh. He shook his head and gestured with his eyes for Lister to guess again.

"More than ten? Then how many could it support? A hundred?"

In fact, even the returns from the medium-sized copper mine that was Lister's reward for the Ghost-Eyed Giant mission would not be enough to support ten professionals.

Lister did not want Lawson to look down on him now, as if he had never seen the world.

Putting on a show of composure, he raised his estimate to a hundred professionals.

But Lawson still smiled without speaking, and Lister, who had been calm all this time, began to breathe heavily himself.

Only now did he truly realize that the reserves in the turquoise vein before him were extraordinary by any normal standard.

Before Lister could ask again, Lawson finally spoke plainly.

"Based on the reserves explored so far, it could support at least all the professionals in the entire Duchy of Will!"