Everyone drew their weapons. Weasley, the director of the Luigi Chamber of Commerce, unsheathed his scimitar, while the accompanying guide unsheathed his shield.
But before everyone could draw their weapons, Sacred Samurai Alfreid rushed in front of everyone, raised his paladin longsword, and shouted angrily, "Let's fight!"
"Holy Light!"
The intense white-gold radiance carried a powerful holy energy as it shot towards the dense swarm of vampire bats. The vampire bats with blood-red eyes melted into ashes as soon as the radiance touched them. The other vampire bats scattered and fled in all directions, quickly disappearing without a trace.
"What a powerful Holy Light." Weasley sighed and sheathed his weapon.
"Mr. Paladin, can you let me know the next time you're going to do something like this? I'm almost blinded by the flashing lights, "Astaire grumbled.
"I don't want to do this either, Mr. Astor. But these vampire bats are very smart. They will remember our figures after being attacked. They will not attack us again because they are afraid of death." Alfred Frey's face was full of seriousness. "We're going to check out the anomaly, not to kill time with these vampire bats."
"Well, I don't like to team up with paladins," Astor muttered, reluctantly agreeing with Alfred Frey's point of view.
"There are vampire bats in the mine all the time?" Laing noticed something unusual. Normally, there shouldn't be so many vampire bats in a mining cave.
"Normally, there wouldn't be so many miners, but we've already stopped mining this vein for close to three months. Perhaps these damned beasts thought that the humans had left, so they've popped out again?" Weasley couldn't make heads or tails of the situation, so he made a guess.
This guess was quite reasonable, so Laing didn't ask any more questions and continued to move deeper into the mine.
The passageway of Mine One was very long. Laing held his warhammer in one hand and a light blue psionic blade in his right hand. Relying on the faint light of the psionic blade, Laing found that many of the walls were very wet and covered in ice. "Is there an underground water leak here?"
"Yes, Mr. Laing. There is an underground water leak here." Weasley nodded and pointed to the top of the wall. "When Viscount Casanova sold this vein to us, he told us that there was an underground water leak here. This is one of the reasons why he sold this vein to us cheaply."
"In order to prevent the underground water from flooding the mine, we've strengthened many places." Weasley pointed to many areas that had seeped. "Although there are still a few places that leak, it doesn't affect mining. The only problem is that the cost of mining has increased."
"Okay." So they continued to move deeper into Mine Number One.
Noticing that the candles were used quickly, Laing sighed again. It would be if Veronica was here. her torches, of her torch had a wide range of light, and lasted for a long time... was of this kind of candles Was used. could's's's candles?
The deeper they went, the narrower the path became. The ground and walls became slippery. Weasley wiped away the ice on his head and pointed to the turn in front. He whispered, "That's the end of Mine One. At the end of Mine One is an underground lake … What's the matter, Mr. Laing?"
"Wait … I think I heard something." Laing signaled for them to be quiet.
Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! A series of strange noises came from the corner at the end.
Knowing what was going on, everyone took out their weapons and prepared for battle.
The half-elf poked his head out from the corner. He could see in the dark as if it were daytime.
When he saw clearly what was happening, Astaire's eyes widened.
Rats! What big rats!
A few rats taller than humans were gathered on the frozen surface of the underground lake. They were gnawing on something. They had blood-red eyes and huge bodies. They also had sharp claws and teeth. Astaire couldn't see clearly what they were gnawing on, but the bones and flesh that kept flying out showed that it was definitely something alive.
The half-elf turned around and whispered, "Rats. What big rats."
"Are they the Skaven Ratmen?" Laing asked in a low voice.
"They don't look like them … They look like ordinary rats." The half-elf was experienced. He immediately recognized that they weren't the infamous Skaven Ratmen. They were just ordinary mutated rats.
"Then let's get rid of them!" They nodded and prepared for battle. Laing's light blue psionic flames burned continuously. He found a position and stretched out his right hand towards the rats that were eating.
Psionic Storm!
The light blue lightning struck the large rats that were feasting on the food. They were in great pain from the burning of the lightning. Two of the large rats that were attacked were killed by the psionic storm on the spot. The rest reacted quickly, dodging the light blue lightning and rushing toward the exploration team.
Astaire quickly drew his bow and nocked an arrow.
"Whoosh!" The first arrow hit the rat in the left eye. It rolled on the ground and immediately stopped breathing.
The second arrow was nocked on the half-elf's longbow. This time, the sly rats knew how to dodge. They immediately scattered. One of them rushed towards Alfred Frey, while the other two rushed towards Laing.
"Whoosh!" Alfred Frey raised his shield and slammed it into the rat's head. The rat tried its best to dodge, but it was still hit by the paladin's shield. The rat's face was bleeding profusely from the paladin's attack.
"Whoosh!" Astaire took advantage of the time when the rat was knocked unconscious to shoot another arrow at its face. The rat fell to the ground and immediately stopped moving.
On the other side, two rats rushed towards Laing. Laing raised his Gryphon Warhammer and smashed one rat's head open. The other rat saw this and felt that something was wrong. The sly creature immediately turned and ran.
"Get rid of it!" A few people wanted to chase, but the ice in the underground lake was very slippery. Weasley hurriedly ordered the half-elf.
"I don't need you to say anything!" Astaire replied impatiently. The half-elf nocked an arrow on his bow. He narrowed his eyes and calculated the distance. Then he raised his longbow and shot an arrow high up.
How did this half-elf shoot an arrow? Weasley, the director of the Chamber of Commerce, frowned. But what happened next made his eyes widen.
The large rat slid across the ice at an extremely fast speed. When it reached the edge of the ice and was about to jump onto the ground to escape, the arrow in the air changed direction, fell down, and pierced through the large rat's skull, bringing it the final judgment.
This was Projectile Shooting. Laing nodded in approval. "To be able to calculate the distance so precisely, it's no wonder it's a citizen of the forest."
"Every citizen of the forest can Projectile Shooting. This is just a trivial skill." Astaire didn't care about this kind of praise at all. The others couldn't respond. Only Laing shrugged. "Alright, alright. A trivial skill is still a skill. Let's see what they're eating."
The few of them carefully came to the surface of the ice and looked at the corpse being eaten by the rats.
"This is … a kobold?" Relying on the weak candlelight and the light in Laing's hand, they discovered that this was the corpse of a kobold. This kobold had already been gnawed to the point that it was unrecognizable.
"Are there kobolds in the mine?" Laing asked Weasley.
Kobolds were loathsome creatures that liked to live in damp underground environments. At the same time, they were also excellent miners and treacherous slave traders.
Weasley gestured for the guide to answer, and the guide replied without hesitation, "Yes, ever since we started excavating this vein, the kobolds have never stopped appearing. However, they are generally more afraid of humans. After a few exterminations, as long as a human figure appears, they will take the initiative to hide."
The muscles on Laing's face twitched. He thought to himself, there's always a reason for everything.
Why on earth did the miner go mad?
"Do you drink directly from the underground water here?" Looking at the thick layer of ice, Laing thought of another explanation.
"No. We used to. Ever since the miners went crazy, we thought it might be a problem with the water, so we let the miners bring their own water." The guide shook his head again.
"… Alright. Anyway, it looks like there's nothing left in the first mine." Laing found that this was the end of the ice lake. There was no road ahead. There were only a few holes dug by the rats and a dark ceiling. "Let's go to the next mine!"
"The place where everything begins will also be the place where everything ends."
"What?" Laing frowned and turned to ask Astaire, "Astaire? When did you learn to make these strange predictions? "
"Hey! Laing, what are you talking about? I didn't say anything. "Astaire looked at Laing strangely." What prediction? "
"Ah? You didn't say anything? "Laing was puzzled.
"I really didn't say anything." Astaire was a little dissatisfied. "We didn't say anything. Are you hallucinating?"
"Yes, good friend. We didn't say anything just now." Alfred Frey also testified.
The few of them looked at each other and immediately realized that something was wrong. Laing immediately asked, "Wait! Mr. Weasley, you said that many of the miners could hear low and muddy voices? "
"Yes … Yes. You heard it too, Mr. Laing?" Weasley's eyes lit up. Inviting Laing to investigate was indeed effective.
"Did any of the miners hear what the voice said?" Laing's frown deepened as he asked in a low voice.
"No. According to them, it was a language they didn't understand," the board member said helplessly. The director of the Chamber of Commerce said helplessly, "We once wanted the miners to record the language and find a linguist, but every miner described it differently."
"…" Laing already had an answer in his heart. He gestured for the group to explore the second mine.
The second mine was roughly the same as the first mine, but the mithril ore in this mine was purer, and the path was narrower. In some places, the group had to crawl forward. The damp underground environment was very uncomfortable, and as they went underground for a long time, they couldn't see the sun, so their concept of time gradually became blurry. Some felt that three to four hours had passed underground, while others felt that more than half a day had passed.
The dome of the second mine was even higher. It was hard to imagine that the ceiling of the cave was fifty to sixty meters above the ground. The few of them carefully advanced into the depths of the mine. Laing's right wrist extended a light blue psionic blade, illuminating the path ahead. The few people behind him held candles in their hands and checked the rock walls.
As the few of them continued forward, the path became narrower and narrower. It was almost only enough for one person to pass through. The rock walls on both sides of the path continued to press down on the group, accompanied by a strong psychological pressure. Darkness, depression, and dampness. Laing and the rest were fine, but the guide and Weasley who had brought a few people along could not take it anymore. The board member cleared his throat. "Ahem, Mr. Laing, we've been in the mine for a long time. Should we go up and rest? We'll come down tomorrow? "
Laing thought for a moment and shook his head. "Let's finish checking the second mine. If there's nothing wrong, we'll return to the surface."
"Okay."
After walking for a while, the half-elf Astaire felt a drop of water fall on his face. He looked up at the dome and found that at the highest point, something seemed to be shaking. "Laing? There's something at the top. "
"What is that? Astaire, can you see it clearly? "
"It looks like … something is hanging and swinging." Astaire observed for a while but still could not determine what it was. "I'm sorry, Laing. My night vision is not as good as my fellow wood elves. It's too far. I can't see clearly."
"Where is it?" Laing and the rest looked up, but they could only see darkness. "Is it something hanging? Can we shoot it down? "
"It should be possible. Let me try!" The half-elf drew his bow and nocked an arrow. Seeing this, the others stepped aside and waited for the result.
"Whoosh!" The first arrow flew into the sky and disappeared into the darkness.
After waiting for ten seconds, there was no response. Astaire took out another arrow. "This one will definitely hit!"
Sure enough, after five seconds, there was the sound of a sharp weapon scraping against something hard. "It hit!"
The sound of something heavy falling to the ground could be heard. Something very heavy fell about fifty meters in front of everyone. The sound was extremely loud, and Leon and the others hurried to the front.
It was a skeleton, a human skeleton. It was covered in dust and spider webs.
"What is this? Did someone die here? "
"There's nothing to be surprised about. How can there be no corpses in the underground tunnels?"
"He seems a bit different. This body should have been dead for a long time. Look, there's no flesh on the bones. This person should have been dead for many years."
Laing, Astaire, and Alfred Frey discussed. The appearance of the skeleton puzzled the three of them.
"After a normal person dies, if the body is exposed to a normal temperature and environment, it will take about a year and a half for the body to become a skeleton." Laing stroked his chin. "In this underground and cold environment, the body will take even longer."
"In this underground environment, it will take at least a few years." Astaire turned the body over. The skeleton was very big. It was about two meters tall. It was completely a skeleton. Many of the bones were broken. One could only see the outline.
"Wait, this is …" Laing noticed that the skeleton was different. He immediately reached out his hand and opened the skeleton's teeth.
Under the light of the candle, everyone noticed that the skeleton's teeth were different from a normal person's. His teeth were sharper.
It was like a wolf's teeth.
Laing's eyes opened wide. He opened his mouth. The geno prototype subconsciously pulled out a silver wolf head pendant. Under everyone's gaze, the silver wolf head pendant flashed.
"Impossible!" Laing was shocked. "Impossible! This is impossible! "
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