I Became a 6★ Gacha Character
Chapter 576: Orc Run 1

The Orc Champion had vanished.

"...This direction leads away from the village?"

"It seems he's wandering without knowing the way. We probably stumbled upon the Great Night Bird tribe by accident."

After smashing tree trunks and tearing up the ground as if intending to clear the forest, the Orc Champion had destroyed the Great Night Bird village before disappearing somewhere in the distance.

He hadn't headed from the 70th floor to the 69th, nor had he gone toward a gate.

He'd just moved forward stubbornly in some random direction, without knowing the way. After destroying the village in what seemed like a fit of rage, he'd left clear tracks showing where he'd plowed through the forest beyond the village.

"At least there are tracks... Wait, how many days has it been?"

-Getting to be a dangerous timing, isn't it? lol The escaped orc with the Invisibility Helmet probably didn't come straight here

-What's dangerous? Why are you talking about stuff only you understand?

-If the Orc Champion destroyed this village around the time Han Se-ah was at the elf village, the trees would be growing back by now lol

-True, if he didn't just destroy it but wrecked it while we were still on the 65th floor, shouldn't the forest be recovering?

-Didn't Teacher Roland say three weeks? If it was three weeks ago, that would be around when we left the forest fairy village and set the fire, right?

The problem was that those tracks were on the verge of disappearing.

We'd breezed through the 65th floor after meeting the World Tree tribe who had rushed out to check on the forest fire, but what came before was the issue.

Before the Secret Terror had joined us, we'd spent considerable time dealing with predators filling the forest and wraiths disturbing our rest. The time spent visiting the Empire, talking with the enlightened orc, receiving the lich skull from the temple, and buying sticky oil from the stone dwarves to set fires.

That much time would be more than enough for the chaos on the 70th floor to be repaired, which explained why Han Se-ah's face had turned pale.

"Despite being ruins, the beast's rampage must have been so severe that predators don't approach. We should rest for the night and continue our search tomorrow."

"Everyone find a spot! Check for remaining embers before settling down!"

Regardless of our concerns, the beast-kin were busy cleaning up the ruined village. I'd heard that the Great Night Bird tribe, fitting for those who guarded the Invisibility Helmet, consisted of beast-kin closer to assassins. Perhaps that's why they'd been overwhelmed in a direct confrontation.

If the World Tree tribe were agile beast-kin, then the Great Night Bird tribe were stealthy ones. Since they were associated with animals that hunted silently like jaguars and owls, they probably couldn't handle the brutishly strong Orc Champion.

Once trapped in the Tower, both beast-kin and orc corpses would turn into mana stones, but seeing as there was nothing left in the ruins except ashes, the Orc Champion must have taken everything with him when he left.

"Let's set up our camp too. Hanna, could you clear away some of these ashes?"

"The map doesn't automatically restore itself when we wake up, does it? Please... Ashes? Oh, I can bury them with Earth Control."

No matter how impressive our superhuman strength might be, or how the beast-kin might match that strength, we couldn't challenge a boss without thorough preparation.

Though it was early evening, we carefully prepared for rest to avoid encountering the Orc Champion who might be wandering around until dawn. The beast-kin, who had built villages in the deep forest and patrolled the surroundings, were cleaning up the ruins with the skill of master craftsmen.

While we covered ash piles with dirt and set up tents from our inventory, the hundred or so beast-kin had already perfectly cleared the ruined grounds.

"...Where are the mages?"

"Yeah, where did they go?"

Han Se-ah was setting up a campfire for dinner preparation and taking out a pot. Since it wasn't yet time to eat, she was discussing the evening menu with Irene when she suddenly noticed something strange.

The mages were nowhere to be seen.

Of course, dozens of mages hadn't disappeared instantly. Some were helping the beast-kin clear the ruins, burying or freezing ashes to make the area more comfortable for dining.

But out of dozens of mages, only eight were helping with the cleanup. Judging by their smooth, unwrinkled faces, they appeared to be assistant mages—otherwise known as slave labor.

'These bastards, they dumped the grunt work and went off somewhere.'

In other words, they'd assigned camp setup to the junior mages and then hurried off somewhere together.

The problem was that Charlotte Cavendish and maid Mari were among those who had left. Normally, those two would control the mages' wayward tendencies, but now they were moving with them. It meant either something urgent had come up or they'd found something that appealed to the mages' fundamental nature.

Charlotte Cavendish hadn't earned the title "Ambitious" for nothing, so I was curious about what was happening.

"Um, Roland? There seem to be some mages over there in the forest."

"Really? Can you see what they're doing?"

"Uh, well, that's..."

"What's wrong?"

When Grace, who had been scanning the area around the ruins with her sparkling eyes, spotted some mages, I couldn't help but ask.

"They're eating... um, they're eating dirt."

"...Dirt?"

I should have never asked.

※

In my previous life, there was a type of scientist called an ecologist.

Rather than studying just one species of plant or animal, they studied all the components that made up an ecosystem in nature. They researched a broad spectrum from animals and plants to soil, rain, sun, and other organic and inorganic materials.

By that logic, the mages who studied the Tower could be called Tower ecologists. They didn't just research monsters but also studied everything from the layers of ground, sky, walls, safe zones, and gates.

"So I tasted it, I tell you."

"Indeed. I was curious how different it was from the soil in the prairie and forest layers below."

The reason these Tower ecologists had scattered so quickly was obviously to investigate the traces left behind. The 70th floor boss, one of the Four Heavenly Kings serving the Demon Lord, a monster that transcended the limitations of the orc race—these titles were bound to make mages salivate.

Moreover, in the Empire, there were now orcs who had received enlightenment and returned to the Goddess's embrace. The temple was locked in daily theological debates about whether to classify orcs as monsters or as a different race.

There's a saying that some people would drink lye if it were free—well, mages were the type to eat dirt if they were curious. Of course, eating soil wasn't an official research method.

"Over here! Found something big!"

"Record the direction and make a rubbing, quickly!"

Most of the mages were storing mana-exposed soil in containers, making rubbings of footprints, and preserving the shattered marks left by weapons.

The strange thing was that Charlotte and maid Mari, who should have been stopping them, were caught up in this busy activity. Charlotte, though woefully inadequate as a 2★ combat unit, had talent as a researcher and leader, and was digging through dirt piles without concern for her robes getting dirty.

It was a bizarre scene—mages eating dirt, a noble lady digging through soil, and a maid assisting her.

"I mean, I understand wanting to secure research materials, but they're actually eating dirt. Can I eat it too? Isn't it weirder to identify mana by taste? While playing this game, people have discovered stealth or swordsmanship, but nobody has tasted mana."

-They're eating dirt like village idiots, are they senile? lololololololol

-The depths these staff holders sink to is bottomless lol I mean seriously, eating dirt lol

-Reminds me of how royal physicians used to taste the king's excrement back in the day lol

-Thought this was a horror film for a second—strange creatures crawling through a dark forest lol

-Old men crawling through devastated forest eating dirt lol Is this HAL-MK2?

Perhaps because she was a mage herself but couldn't understand eating dirt, broadcaster Han Se-ah rushed over with her camera and clicked her tongue at the commotion.

If Han Se-ah as the party's mage couldn't understand it, how could anyone else? The rest of our companions could only laugh awkwardly, while the Secret Terror, who had been scouting the area, fled in horror at the sight of human mages crawling through the forest eating dirt.

Even the shadow fang tiger, poking half its head out from Grace's shadow, seemed to be mocking the mages with an expression that said, "Even when I'm starving, I don't eat dirt..."

Wraiths and beasts alike circled the ruins, unable to comprehend the mages digging up and eating soil.

"But why is everyone moving so urgently?"

"Because the traces will soon disappear completely."

"...What?"

But amidst all the mockery, Han Se-ah couldn't remain still.

A mage who had casually brushed dirt from his hands dropped a shocking statement. As Han Se-ah slowly repeated the question as if denying reality, an even more definitive answer came—not from another reply, but from what happened beneath her feet.

Trees began growing at a rate of one meter per second, like a time-lapse video.

Enjoy the chappy!