Chapter 100 – The inhabitants of the underground

Even in the depths of the earth, where no light reaches, there are diverse forms of life. Some species lived underground from birth to the end of their lives, while others did their best to keep warm in winter. The goblins that had established their settlement in the square were among the latter. Rats, lizards, snakes, scorpions, spiders, worms. There were even shrimp and fish in the underground water ponds. And some of them had been affected by the miasma and had turned into demons.

There was less food underground than on the surface, and the beasts had to eat each other. In most cases, it was a world of the weak and the strong, where the bigger eats the smaller. Even they too found themselves in a predator and prey relationship in this lightless world.

At first, they were the weaker creatures living on the abandoned mine road, and could only feed on the carrion of dead creatures and demons in the struggle for survival. But that situation changed one day. A strong miasma emerged from the depths of the abandoned mine road, and coincidentally, it just so happened that their nest was near the site. When they were exposed to such intense miasma, their body composition changed and they became demons. The demons multiplied rapidly and devoured the various creatures along the abandoned mine road. They gradually spread their power from the depths of the earth to the entrance. The goblins in the square were very biting prey. They had rapidly expanded their power on the abandoned mine road, but to continue to do so, they needed to find more prey. Off the abandoned mine road and into the world where there was sunshine, that’s where they would look for more nutritious prey. But before they could do so, a bipedal prey, different from goblins, appeared in front of them. There were only nine of them. Not enough to fill everyone’s bellies, but they were larger prey than the goblins themselves. It was the perfect prey to pounce on.

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The church bells announced the time in the city, and the rising sun, moon and stars told the time outside. However, there was no way to tell the exact time on the way to the abandoned mine deep underground. Oort, who was the guide, calculated the strength of the entire group and decided when it was time to rest and sleep before continuing. Two days passed as they made their way deeper into the abandoned mine.

They had come a long way from the square where the goblin bodies lay. The wooden reinforcements that had been collapsing earlier had been pulled back in time by Leticia’s magic, so there was little danger of collapse. What Leticia was curious about was where her magic seemed to have been blocked, but from the map, it appeared to be at the end of a different path than where Wynn and the others were.

“If you’re curious, you can send a research request to the Adventurer’s Guild after you get to Lyon.”

That’s what Oort and the others said when they heard Leticia’s story. Deep down the abandoned mine road, there was something that had inhibited the Brave’s magic. They had not encountered any demons along the way, and fortunately they had not encountered any poisonous scorpions or vipers trying to get into their luggage either.

Due to the viscosity of the groundwater mixed with minerals, it was difficult to know how harmful it might be, and if they drank it without regard for it, they would lose their lives, but if they proceeded with caution, they would be fine. It would be a good job for a young adventurer. They talked about these things as they carefully made their way down. Finally, they came to a distorted crossroads. The intersections of the road were circular and wide, and if you went straight ahead, the slope was downhill, while the roads on the sides were uphill.

“It looks like we have to turn right this way.” Louis, who was looking at the map, turned and said.

Lino made a marker with the charcoal from the campfire.

“Hmm… now we’re going uphill.” She wiped the sweat from her face with a hand towel and took a sip of water.

The slope of the tunnel was going up and down quite frequently. As he stopped to check the map, Wynn pulled a nut from the leather pouch slung around his waist and popped it into his mouth.

“Want some, Letty?”

Wynn offered to Leticia, who was standing next to him, but she didn’t respond and stopped, gripping his arm tightly. Leticia looked around with a look of fierceness in her eyes.

“Something’s coming!” Leticia drew the sword she carried at her waist.

Hearing Leticia’s warning voice and seeing her drawing the sword from its scabbard, everyone put their hands on their weapons. Cornelia, specializing in granting magic, and Eliza, a mage, illuminated the entire square with Magic Light, and the other seven people around them wielded their weapons. Thanks to the wide-open space at the intersection, both Oort’s axe and Luis’ spear could be wielded without any problems. Like Leticia, Wynn drew his sword and looked around for any sign while reinforcing his sword with magic.

…Can’t they feel any presence?

Not only Wynn, but also Oort and the others, Locke, Wedge and Lino, looked around, searching for the enemy. It seemed that Leticia was the only one who felt the presence. But there was always something lurking in the background.

“…Lino-san! Up!” Leticia warned quickly.

“Up!?” When Lino looked up, something was thrown at her.

“…Gaaah!” Wedge, who quickly extended his left arm to protect Lino, let out a cry of pain.

“Wedge!”

“You bastard!” At the same time as Lino’s scream, Louis threw his spear towards the ceiling. There was the sound of something being crushed and a crunching sound, and the sound of a spear point piercing through and sticking against the rock wall.

“Ants!?”

The object that was pierced by Louis’ spear and fell to the ground was a giant ant about 50 centimeters long.

“Wedge-san, come here!”

Wedge, his face contorted in pain, clutched his arm and dropped down to where Cornelia was. Formic acid had invaded Wedge’s leather gloves, and the skin under them was sore as if it had been badly burned.

How terrible… Cornelia quickly washed away the formic acid with water and immediately began chanting healing magic. If she didn’t do it in a hurry, the flesh on his arm would melt and reach the bone.

“You…!” Lino swung his sword at an ant that was trying to pass behind the group through the opening Wedge had left. The tip of the sword struck the ant’s outer shell[1], but did not pierce through, only scratching the surface.

“These things are very tough!” Louis shouted as he attacked in rapid succession with the spear. His attacks reached the heads and bodies of the advancing ants with speed, but did not seem to be effective, as the tip bounced off the outer shell at the wrong angle. “Use your magic, Eliza!”

‘Obey me, sword! I who know the truth of the sword, reveal thyself!’ Eliza used granting magic.

The tip of Louis’ spear received magical power and lit up with a faint glow. Louis’ spear, whose blade had been reinforced with magical power, managed to damage the ants without being repelled by their hard shell, though this time it was only slightly deflected.

“Ha!”

In this case, Louis’ spear, with its long extension, was an effective weapon against the ants. It penetrated those coming at him from the ceiling, which was a place where any other weapon would have trouble reaching.

On the other hand, Oort was having more difficulty than Louis. Oort’s weapon was a battle axe. This heavy weapon had a short range. But, being heavier, even the heads and abdomens of ants with the hardest shells were easily crushed by the axe swung downward. However, due to its slow maneuverability, Oort’s arms and legs had been bitten by the ants’ razor-sharp teeth, causing him to lose blood. Still, he avoided the dangerous formic acid emitted by the ants from directly hitting his body by using the axe as a shield, probably due to the experience cultivated over time.

‘I, who know the truth of wind, be a shield to block the sword of evil!’ After magically reinforcing Louis’ sword, Eliza skillfully prevented the formic acid that had been thrown towards them by reciting a series of wind barrier magic.

Right next to Eliza, Lino kept the ants away from her.

Meanwhile, Wynn and Leticia were also swinging their swords side by side. Next to them, a wounded Wedge was being tended to by Cornelia. Leticia stood out more than Wynn as she wielded her sword. It was not the “Holy Spirit Sword” that destroyed the Demon King, but a mere knight’s sword, but the golden glow that enveloped Leticia and the sword cut through the supposedly tough outer shell of the ants as if it were paper. She cut through the ants, which moved nimbly along the abandoned mine road without any difficulty, but, even so, the ones she failed to kill came close to Wynn.

“They’re endless!” Cutting off the head of one of the ants and kicking it away with his foot, Wynn looked around the square for a path.

The place where the ants came out like water through a faucet was the middle path at the intersection. It was from the path going down. There was probably an ant nest up ahead. The ceiling of the road, the walls on both sides and the floor were covered with ants, so many that he couldn’t find any holes, and they seemed to sprout endlessly. The ants were approaching from the ceiling, out of Leticia’s reach, and shooting formic acid from their abdomen. Wynn, who was being slowly pushed back by the ants that kept coming, did not have enough room to dodge the formic acid, so he quickly used his sword to block it.

The group was gradually splitting in two, from the center towards the left and right paths, as the ants were coming from the middle path going down. On the right side of the road, the one said to lead to Lyon, were Oort, Louis, Eliza and Lino. On the left side of the road were Wynn, Leticia, Cornelia, Locke and the injured Wedge.

“Onii-chan! It’s too narrow here, they’re overwhelming us! Maybe we should run to the back!” suggested Leticia as she cut off three ants that had jumped off the roof with one blow.

“At this rate we won’t be able to move! We’ll go ahead!” Oort shouted. “There’s also a road that leads to Lyon from there. But it’s longer!”

“All right! Letty! Locke! We’ve got to pull back! Cornelia-san, can you give us light?”

“I’ve got it!”

“All right! Then there’s no time to waste!” Wynn leaned Wedge on his shoulder and lifted him up.

“Sorry, Wynn.”

“Letty!”

“Onii-chan!”

When she stepped off the path and into the plaza, Wynn was waiting for her. She jumped into his arms. Wynn hugged her protectively. The roar that shook the air was even more intermittent, and the leather armor on Wynn’s back was struck by small pieces of rock. Finally, the debris stopped flying and the sound subsided.

“That was crazy…” Wynn muttered as he hugged Leticia. The end of the path that Wynn and the others had climbed up was completely blocked by boulders.

“Onii-chan… it hurts…”

“Sorry.” He said, realizing that he may have put a little too much force into the hug.

When Wynn let go of Leticia, she didn’t immediately disengage from his body, but remained in the same position and let out a small snort of air.

“Wedge, are you all right?”

Wedge was cowering in the center of the square, holding his left arm, which had been exposed to formic acid. His wounds would not heal anytime soon.

“I will reapply the healing spell immediately.” Cornelia hurried over.

“I don’t think those things can come after us now.” Wynn cautiously approached the path that had been buried by the fall and touched a large rock that was more than handy. “Will Lino, Oort and the others be all right?”

Even if they were safe, surely they would have heard the sound of the landslide. I hope we’re not worrying them, Wynn thought.

“What’s wrong…?” they heard Cornelia’s small, anxious voice as she tried to cast a healing spell on Wedge. “My magic… I can’t feel my magic…”

[1] I’m pretty sure that Shell is not the right word, but…