Chapter 9

Lunchtime ended amidst the dwarf's revelations about Henry's childhood. Jetty looked at Henry with a smile. The dwarf had recounted a series of representative and glorious events, such as Henry climbing onto the roof to block the chimney at the age of three and setting his hair on fire at the age of five. The dwarf's familiarity with these stories clearly indicated that this was not the first time he had told them.

Henry felt his face burning. His over a decade of work experience in the real world before his穿越显然不足以应对目前的状况。He felt a bit uneasy under the female druid's gaze. After dinner, the cave exploration team packed their gear and returned the cart to the old man at Brown's farm. The goods on the cart were also stored in the barn.

Just past noon, the three arrived at the cave entrance. The entrails of the bugs they had dealt with yesterday were buried in a pit, but there was still a strange smell around. Kegan tied a rope to a tree and climbed down the cave, followed by Jetty, and then Henry.

"From now on, no talking, no making any noise, all communication through hand signals. Move as quietly as possible. Don't give the bugs any chance to discover us." After descending into the cave, Henry set the tone for the operation: a secret infiltration. The other two nodded in understanding, and the light spell was cast on each of their weapons. The bugs had zero vision, so adding more light was not a problem. Although the half-elf had night vision, the light still provided a sense of security for those accustomed to living on the surface.

After entering the cave, the female druid led the way, followed by Kegan, and Henry brought up the rear. They slowly explored deeper. After advancing about ten meters, the cave forked. On the left was a round hall filled with numerous white eggs. Jetty turned and mouthed to the others that it was a hatching room, all the eggs of the burrowing bugs. They then continued down the right path.

After advancing another forty meters, the cave opened up into a large hall. The ground was littered with the bones and corpses of humans and other animals. Adventurers' armor and weapons were scattered everywhere. Henry even found a pile of gold coins in a corner. This place was clearly where the bugs stored and ate their food. After a brief exchange of hand signals, the three decided to kill all the bugs first before sorting through the items.

The path leading to the deepest part of the cave became increasingly narrow. A few minutes later, they reached the end. Jetty's pupils contracted rapidly as she saw five large bugs lying on the ground. The largest one had jaws a third larger than the others, and its body color was not the usual green but a dark green.

This was no ordinary burrowing bug. A normal burrower could only spit acid once every six hours, but the one in front of them had clearly evolved into a bug king, capable of multiple acid spits. Fortunately, it was sleeping. The other two also noticed the bug's abnormality.

The three retreated very cautiously, only relaxing once they reached the food storage room. "What do we do? That bug king is clearly tough to handle. The tunnel is so narrow, we can't avoid the acid spray." Jetty whispered. They were far enough from the bugs to speak softly.

"We'll concentrate on poisoning it. We have three spears, which we'll immediately coat with poison. When I give the signal, we'll all throw them at its lower jaw. Then we'll drink speed potions and quickly retreat here to prepare spells for a direct battle." Henry quickly formulated a feasible plan, and the dwarf immediately agreed.

"Alright, there's no other way. Let's start coating the spear tips with poison." The female druid took the spears off her back, took a deep breath, and carefully opened the poison bottle, evenly applying the poison to the spear tips. Henry and Kegan followed suit.

Returning to the entrance of the bug king's lair, the three looked at each other and drank the speed potions. This powerful potion allowed them to move, attack, and cast spells at double speed for thirty seconds. After drinking the potion, Henry quickly raised his spear and began counting down with his fingers: three, two, one.

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh" The sound of the spears flying through the air woke the bugs. The bug king stood up alertly, and "thud" the three spears pierced its soft underbelly. "Squeal, squeal, squeal, crack, crack, crack." The intense pain made it let out a series of agonized cries. The other bugs also woke up and began crawling toward the group. "Run!" Henry shouted and was the first to dart into the tunnel. The dwarf and druid also realized the danger and turned to run.

Henry was the first to reach the hall, where he took a deep breath and began casting a spell. Just as he finished, the dwarf and druid ran in. "Grease" The floor of the hall was immediately covered in oil. Kegan took up his shield and axe, watching the tunnel. The female druid also began casting and entered a focused state. After successfully casting Grease, Henry began casting another spell.

Before he could finish the second spell, the bugs burst out of the tunnel, with the dark green bug king leading the charge. "Thud" The bug king's massive body slipped and fell, tripping the other bugs behind it. "Entangle" The second spell was cast, and grass sprouted from the oily ground, entangling the burrowing bugs' long, sharp legs.

Henry noticed that Jetty's spell was not yet complete, which surprised him. It was at least a 4th-level divine spell. The higher the level of a spell or divine spell, the more powerful it was, but the longer the casting time and the more gestures required.

"Ice Storm" The half-elf's spell was finally completed. A massive magical hailstorm rained down within a ten-meter radius centered on her. "Damn, you should have warned us," the dwarf shouted, quickly retreating to avoid being hit. Henry, standing further back, was spared. The bugs trapped in place were not so lucky. The large ice chunks struck their long legs, and the sound of breaking bones echoed.

After the ice storm, Henry began preparing another spell. Before the bugs could recover from the cold, a Burning Hands spell sent them into a fiery inferno. The oil and grass were ignited. Two bugs struggled to stand and sprayed acid at Kegan. The dwarf used his shield to block the spray, but seeing the shield rapidly corrode, he decisively discarded it.

Jetty, seeing that the bugs still had the ability to counterattack, began recasting a spell. The bug king suddenly stood up and charged at the half-elf, who was preparing to cast. Kegan saw the danger and stepped in front of the bug king. The massive jaws clamped down on the dwarf, who tried to avoid the bug's head but was pierced in the leg by a sharp foot. "Ah, you damn bug. Let me show you the might of a dwarf warrior." Kegan swung his axe and severed the leg that had pierced him, rolling to the side. The bug king, now missing a leg, lost its balance and fell to the ground. Black toxic blood began to flow from its chest, and the poison began to take effect.

Jetty's spell was completed, another 4th-level spell, Summon Animal. Two large wolves were summoned, growling. "Attack" The simple command sent the wolves to surround the still-living bugs. Henry, seeing the dwarf's injury, hurried over. "Kegan, are you okay?"

"Just a muscle wound, no bone damage," the old dwarf said, his lips trembling from the pain.

"Bear with it, I'll pull it out." He tore a piece of cloth from his shirt and gave it to Kegan to bite to prevent him from biting his tongue.

"One, two, three." Henry pulled hard. "Ah," Kegan let out a cry of pain. At this moment, the female druid also came over and used a divine spell to create some water to clean the wound. She then cast a spell to heal moderate damage, and the large wound quickly shrank. The dwarf took a healing potion that Henry had given him a few days ago, and the wound was completely healed, though he was still pale from blood loss.

"Thank you for saving me just now." Jetty was deeply moved by the dwarf's bravery.

Kegan laughed heartily. "Ha, I just did what a warrior should do, but that damn bug almost took my life. Are they all dead?"

"All dead, didn't you see the summoned wolves stop attacking?" Henry pointed to the two wolves, their mouths full of green fluid, now idle.

"Then let's inventory the valuable items in this hall." Kegan stood up and began searching. "You're such a miser," the half-elf said, disapproving of Kegan's prioritizing money over life. Soon, the other two also began searching the hall, gathering all the valuable items.

After twenty minutes of effort, they collected the items. There were about 600 gold coins, two magic scrolls for 3rd-level spells: Rage, Charm Person, and Mage Armor. A magic potion, identified as a Cloud Giant's Strength potion, which temporarily increased strength to 23. A magic chainmail, more durable and less prone to wear than ordinary chainmail. A magic dagger, sharper and more durable than an ordinary dagger. Finally, a powerful Fireball wand with seven charges remaining.

After a brief discussion, Henry received the two scrolls and the Fireball wand, Kegan received the chainmail, dagger, and magic potion, and the gold was split evenly. Jetty took nothing. The other two waived the 2000 gold reward for the mission, and everyone was satisfied. After the distribution, they skinned the bug shells, tied them with ropes, and dragged them back to the surface.

After dropping the two off at Brown's farm, the half-elf druid bid farewell to Henry and Kegan and left. Pushing open the door to Brown's house, they saw the old man had just finished dinner. A large pot of stewed chicken, a few smoked fish, a bowl of mashed potatoes, and a small basket of bread.

"Smells great, I'm starving. Brown, you wouldn't believe how bad our lunch was. That elf only gave us fruit for lunch." The dwarf drooled and began complaining about the meager lunch.

"Oh my gods, what is that?" Old Brown was startled by the large head left at the door.

"The King of the Burrowing Bugs. Kegan almost got killed by this thing today." Henry briefly explained to Old Brown and then sat down to eat.

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