The Death Mage that doesn't want a fourth time

38 The Dungeon boss is disappointing

The seventh floor of Garan's Valley.

The reason the Titan population had grown to over five thousand and prospered enough to build a city-nation was in this place.

「The rock salt! Mine the rock salt!」(Titan)

『There aren't any monsters to hinder us, are there?!』(Titan)

「Searching for the enemy, all clear~!」(Titan)

Indeed, high-quality rock salt could be harvested from the cliffs on this floor.

Salt was an important product, a necessity. Talosheim had relied on this Dungeon as its salt supply.

In this land trapped inside a mountain range containing numerous Devil's Nests, there was no trading with outside nations until the tunnel leading to the Orbaume Kingdom was discovered, reaching the sea would have required the Titans to journey through multiple Devil's Nests.

Thus, the seventh floor of Garan's Valley had been the only place that salt could be obtained.

If the Titans had never discovered this Dungeon, Talosheim wouldn't have existed and the Titan population would have remained in the hundreds.

Of course, this was still a part of the Dungeon so monsters would still appear. And since the monsters appearing on this seventh floor were Rank 4, not 3, it was more dangerous than the sixth floor.

Monkeys that possessed rocky carapaces, Rock Monkeys.

Kobold Mages able to cast spells and Kobold Generals capable of using martial skills.

And Stone Golems that were even larger than the Titans.

All of these were monsters that would require at least middle-class adventurers to take them on.

The way the Titans had mined salt from such a dangerous place was to have the laborers become at least as proficient in battle as middle-class adventurers.

『I won't let you interfere with our mining!』(Titan)

The armored, pickaxe-wielding laborers fighting heroically against monsters had been a sight to behold, and later when adventurers from the Orbaume Kingdom came to Talosheim for trading, they were told that the miners didn't need escorts.

That hadn't changed even after the Titans had become Undead.

『UOOOOH! MISO! THE SOURCE OF MISOOOOOO!』(Titan)

『I want fish sauce!』(Titan)

『If any monsters get in our way, we'll fry them in miso and eat them!』(Titan)

No, perhaps they were even more ferocious than they had been in the past.

The idea that Undead do not eat is a misconception.

It is true that lowly Skeletons and Ghosts do not feel hunger or possess a sense of taste. However, Zombies and Undead of a certain Rank and above feel hunger and have a sense of taste.

Of course, as the biological processes of Undead have stopped, they do not need to eat. They have no problems continuing to function even if they do not eat for years at a time.

However, they cannot escape the restrictions of having once been living creatures entirely. They still retain some of their primitive needs.

Out of the three main needs*, the need for sleep is the one that disappears entirely. Undead do not tire, so they do not need sleep. If they try to sleep they can reach a state similar to being asleep, but this is in carried out in order to recover from mental fatigue rather than physical, and is done more for self-satisfaction.