“Whose idea was to walk through the forest in a big group like this again?!”

The Aradian warrior shouted as he was running.

“If you have time to talk you have time to help!”

Phoebe yelled at him as she was often turning around while running to fire arrows back at the kobolds chasing them inside the narrow cave tunnel entrance they rushed in desperation from the earlier ambush.

“Krieg I’ll block their passage but I need you to defend me!”

Leona shouted as she stopped and turned around to focus on the chant.

“On it.”

He did a hundred eighty degree turn as the others ran past him before he pointed the blade forward in a long guard, covering the young woman behind him.

“Northern winds hearken to me-”

Despite the sounds of approaching footsteps, clanking of metal and intimidating growling she kept focusing on chanting the spell as Krieg kept the shabby jagged kobold blades away from her as each enemy that came too close was cut down without hesitation by him.

“Die! Outlander!”

One older kobold shouted in anger and was about to make his way past Krieg but he managed not only to block its way, but he used his strength to grab it by its face and violently throw it against the incoming horde.

“-freeze those who oppose me, Ice Wall!”

Upon hearing the end of the chant, Krieg quickly jumped sideways as Leona released a burst of cold wind that coalesced into sharp spikes that blocked both the way and the light that came from outside. Not a second passed and she evoked a small fire on her left hand to illuminate the former pitch dark cave tunnel.

“Hah… ha…” Charlotte was a bit out of breath holding her knees with each hand. “Who would’ve thought I’d be running from kobolds.”

She took a while to unload the spent casings of her revolver and load it with new ones as she pocketed the empty casings.

Luka quickly took out a torch ready for use and excused himself before using the small flame that she had evoked earlier.

“Thank you Lady Leona.”

“No, thank you for being ready.” She opened her palm and the fire slowly diminished until the only light left was from the torch. “Let’s keep the same formation and continue moving forward. The wall behind us should last long enough, but I rather not take any chances.”

There was an eerie sound coming from below along with a faint breeze that carried the smell of wet fur, metal, rot and salt water.

“Ugh…” Charlotte wrinkled her face when the foul smell hit her nose. “What is this smell?”

“Kobold and rotten blood most likely.” Luka was sniffing the air for a bit. “And… spoiled food.”

“Here you go my lady.”

Percival handed Charlotte a handkerchief and then turned to Phoebe, Leona and Cecile. However all of them replied with either a silent shake of the head or a hand gesture, rejecting the offer. Further down the tunnel, the dirt and loose pebbles slowly gave place to a darker stone floor made of basalt which at a glance, it was possible to tell it was shaped that way from tools as opposed to natural erosion.

“Phoebe.” Leona called her from the backline. “Can you lead the front to keep watch for traps?”

She nimbly made her way beside the tactician before nodding and pushing through between Krieg and Khalid.

“Excuse me.” She gave a brief look over the path and turned around. “Hey you with the torch, Luka wasn’t it? Bring it here.”

“Ah, right away.”

He also made his way through the group beside Phoebe who kept a close eye on the floor as they continued walking at a slower pace. Minutes passed without anything of note happening, however Leona’s methodical approach did yield results in the group avoiding multiple traps like tripwires, covered pits with spikes and one very dangerous mechanism that was made to hit someone in the head with a rusted mace upon triggering a rudimentary pressure plate.

“Are you certain this den only houses kobolds?” Phoebe asked out loud while carefully inspecting a sharp right corner of the tunnel. “The traps we passed through seemed a bit too complex for kobolds.”

“The scouts only sighted kobolds.” Gregor answered her. “Even the complaints of merchants that were able to pass through the roads without being abducted only spoke about them.”

“It does seem too complex for them.” Percival muttered. “Beastmen don’t normally have a knack for things like these.”

“Not with this amount of precision at least.” Phoebe said as she disarmed another tripwire trap which this time had a crossbow tied to it, aiming around the chest area for a human’s height. “Rudimentary traps like pitfalls is one thing, but projectiles like these…” She plucked out the bolt from the crossbow and disarmed the aforementioned weapon. “...not quite common.”

She stood up with the crossbow in hand and used the stirrup to hold it on her belt while also pocketing the bolt in her pouch that was previously filled to the brim with poisons.

Not too far from where she had disarmed the trap the tunnel began to widen bit by bit until they reached a circular tall dome, similar to a main hall of a mall, it had a few corridors of mined stone in five different directions. Sound of pickaxes could be heard in the distance but it was difficult to say from which passage it came from since the sound echoed so much in such an enclosed space.

“So.” Khalid asked. “What now?”

“Stick close.” Leona warned. “Last thing we want is getting picked off one by one. Phoebe, take point again, we’ll clear each corridor slowly and carefully.” She glanced at Cecile who was beside her. “Do you know how to use a crossbow?”

The woman nodded while answering.

“Yes, it’s somewhat similar to handling a gun.”

Hearing all of that made Phoebe take the weapon off her belt and hand it over to her with the single bolt that she had. Leona reached for Cecile’s shoulder.

“I want you to support Phoebe, should anything happen. I’d prefer if you could avoid using firearms while in here since it’ll be too easy to hear it, given how this place echoes.”

“Roger.”

“Krieg, stay behind us and make sure nothing comes our way, Percival, Gregor, I want you two to hold torches near our front and backline, Khalid, support the backline.” Leona gave out orders as they began to enter another narrow tunnel which only allowed a maximum of three people shoulder to shoulder. “Charlotte, Luka, I need you two to be ready with your weapons, use them should come down to it.”

“Got it.”

“Leave it to me Miss Leona.”

“Alright, remember, watch each other’s backs and don’t stray too far from the group. Our priority is to clear out each room and look for possible survivors.”

“I doubt there are any, nobody would be able to survive here of all places.” Khalid said with a skeptical voice. “Besides, don’t kobolds eat people or something?”

“You’re thinking about hyenas if that’s the case.” Leona cut him off. “And no they don’t eat people.”

They kept going in silence as Phoebe checked for traps with Cecile right behind her, keeping an eye out in front for any movement coming from the shadows. The way was thankfully devoid of any traps, but it was to be expected since at the end of the corridor was nothing more than a large pit for waste disposal, urine and feces mingled with the scent of blood lingering in the air as everyone backed away from the repugnant smell.

“Ugh.” Almost all muscles on Phoebe’s face tensed up as the terrible whiff hit her nose. “Gods what in the world have they been throwing down in that pit?”

“Poop, most likely.”

Luka mentioned while he took a few steps back as he was pulled by Leona.

“Don’t go too close to it. An open flame in a place like this could blow us all to bits.”

“Huh? Is poo that flammable?”

Gregor chuckled with Luka’s question but Leona warned with a serious tone.

“If left for too long it releases gasses that are flammable.”

“Oh…”

Most of the soldiers didn’t seem to know that fact, if anything she was probably the most knowledgeable of the group.

“Let’s just head back from where we came from.”

The group turned around and went to the direct opposite passage they entered. With the same strategy, Phoebe and Cecile made their way in front of the group while the rest took extra care, stepping softly in order to maintain a certain level of discretion. It was at around halfway in the tunnel that Phoebe felt a faint sensation tugging against her left thigh which she instinctively raised her left hand.

“Wait.” She sharply whispered. “Not another step.”

Cecile stopped her left foot midair and took half a step backwards as the high elf glanced around the floor to find where the thin tripwire was tied to.

‘This is worse than I thought.’ She thought as the dim torchlight reflected on the spider-like thin thread that was barely visible in the darkness. ‘Did they really use silk to make this?’

She carefully relieved the tension of her prosthetic shin from the string to avoid triggering whatever contraption was attached to it and backed away, aside from that one trap it didn’t seem like there were any other further ahead which made her cross one leg over the thread and motion to the others.

“I can’t disarm this one without triggering whatever is tied to the other end of it. Best if we just hop over it.”

Slowly, the entire group made their way through carefully avoiding the trap and after everyone was on the other side, Cecile and Phoebe continued onwards.

“Miss Phoebe.” Her frontline companion began to ask. “How did you become so proficient in spotting traps like these? I had a hard time with a few previously but this one specifically made me realize just how much I have to improve.”

“Time.” She answered shortly. “When you do this one too many times you’ll get used to it.”

“Even the last one?”

“That kind of trapping technique is common back in my hometown.”

“Your hometown had a need for this kind of thing?”

“You would make use of it if you also lived in a cave, trust me.”

Phoebe sounded annoyed by her, but mostly wasn’t because of her questions as those were to be expected from someone that barely knew her. But instead it was because of ‘what’ Cecile was.

‘Half elf…’ The high elf was grinding her teeth in silence. ‘Hiding your ears won’t do any good for you.’

Despite the clear disgust, she felt it was necessary that she didn’t let emotions control her decisions for the group’s own survival. Whatever or whoever was capable of making such an intricate trap in a place devoid of knowledge wasn’t someone to be taken lightly.

“Watch your feet, there is no guarantee there won’t be another one of those.”

Phoebe warned as they moved forward. The smell of the stagnant air changed as they progressed deeper into the tunnel, where previously damp, moldy, cold, scentless air gave place to a hint of sulfur that burned her nostrils slightly as she breathed.

“Gunpowder.” Cecile muttered under her breath as she glanced at her. “It must be stored up ahead.”

“Huh? How can you be so sure?”

“I have spent years loading ammunition with it. It’s gunpowder in high quantities, there is no doubt about it.”

Phoebe clenched her teeth and raised her hand which prompted the rest of the group to stop.

“Keep watch, I’ll go talk with Leona.”

“Understood.”

The high elf silently made her way beside the tactician and began to relay the information that she had.

“From what Cecile mentioned it must be a considerable amount.” Leona was holding her chin while frowning her eyebrows. “I’ll tell the others to be careful but we must keep moving, there might be a chance they are holding someone captive in there.”

Phoebe nodded and returned to the front and since Luka was staying about five steps behind them in order to avoid accidentally setting off any explosives, the dim light made it difficult to see much. However thanks to her acute senses, she heard a faint growling sound up ahead where the tunnel seemed to open a bit.

“Enemies up ahead. Don’t know how many.” Phoebe said. “It’s too dark to see anything…”

Shortly after saying that she also heard the familiar sound of creaking limbs of a bow and at that point she also quickly drew her longbow to the maximum and as soon as she noticed an arrow appear from the darkness she fired in the same direction as it came from.

“Gah!”

The high elf was hit in the left shoulder by the bodkin arrow and roughly at the same time the rest of the group heard a yelp coming from the darkness.

“Phoebe!” Leona noticed her holding the shoulder with an arrow shaft protruding out of it which made her quickly shout orders to others. “Krieg! Get her out of there! Cecile come to us!”

The knight nodded and swiftly grabbed Phoebe by the hip and carried her back and the sharpshooter jumped backwards before dashing towards the group. In that short span of time Leona lifted both of her open palms to the tunnel and chanted.

“Great power of the sea, drown mine enemies in despair, Maelstrom!” Not a second after Cecile and Krieg made their way behind her, a violent explosion of water erupted between her palms and began to flood the tunnel. “Luka! Khalid! Once I finish, head in and kill any kobolds you see!”

“Roger!”

“Leave it to me.”

The Aradian warrior dragged each of his scimitars against one another and with a swift twirl of both blades he was ready to sprint. Luka raised the torch on his left hand while he pulled the saber out preparing to go in.

“Ugh…” Phoebe was clenching her teeth while Krieg held the arrow shaft that was stuck inside her shoulder. “Do it now.” He nodded and with one swift motion he yanked the bodkin head from inside her. “Argh! Dammit!”

Blood gushed out of the wound but she quickly pulled the last potion she had and jammed the small glass neck inside it and the red liquid quickly began to drain from the vial offering a bit of relief.

“Enemies from the back!” Gregor shouted as he pulled out the rifle and started to shoot. “About five of them!”

He had to cycle through his ammunition by holding the stock of his gun between his armpit while pulling the bolt back with his right hand as his left held the torch. Charlotte quickly stepped beside him and quickly drew the revolver, firing multiple rounds before Gregor could even pull the bolt back and while she did land the shots, more kobolds were coming from the entrance like an endless swarm which prompted her to grab the rifle off his hand and fire all the remaining four shots that were inside of it.

“I can’t hold them off for long!”

She shouted which made Percival and Cecile to aim both of their weapons at the same time Gregor and Charlotte crouched before they fired above them.

While half of the group dealt with the flank, Leona had just finished her spell and with a thud she hit her left knee on the ground as she gasped for air while both Khalid and Luka charged deeper into the tunnel.

‘Dammit, this took more out of me than I thought-’

Leona’s mind felt hazy, her senses were blurred. She could hear shouts in the distance as if she was underwater and the pulsing of her heartbeat became more and more apparent.

Spells which created mass were intrinsically more taxing on the caster since they would have to pull more mana from their personal reserves rather than using existing ones in the environment.

“I can’t fall here…!” Forcefully focusing her mind she was able to temporarily shake off the dizziness and stand up. “Phoebe can you move?!”

“Y-yeah I’m- ugh, fine!”

“Krieg with me! All of you keep moving forward!”

“We can’t!” Charlotte shouted as she was desperately loading more rounds into her revolver but the horde of kobolds didn’t seem to decrease. “There are too many of them!”

“Move out of the way!” Leona shouted as she charged forward while drawing her frostburnt silver longsword. “Aaaargh!”

She remembered the swordmaster’s words and the familiar electrifying sensation running through her fingers passed onto the glowing pale blue blade. With a diagonal swing, a slash of light carved through the ceiling of the tunnel causing the rocks to suddenly collapse on top of the incoming kobolds while also blocking the only way out.

Charlotte and Gregor barely escaped being buried by the debris as she exclaimed.

“What was that?!”

Leona was panting and barely holding herself up with the aid of the blade against the stone floor. The silver longsword was emitting a weak pulse of pale blue light as she replied.

“Blade… energy…”

She had a confident smile on her face as she blinked a few times before passing out. The sword barely held her weight before Krieg swiftly supported her back before she could fall while also taking the weapon off her hand.

“Let’s keep moving!” He shouted as he sheathed her longsword back to the sheath on her belt. “We have enemies to deal with!”

His proactiveness was proving effective as the rest of them rallied behind him as he began to carry Leona between his arms. Phoebe rushed past him with both daggers out ready to kill but as soon as she entered the next room illuminated by Luka’s torch, she noticed both soldiers simply looking around the storage room with no kobold body to be found.

“Huh? Where did they go?”

She asked.

“I would like to know the same.” Khalid muttered while inspecting under the wet shelves which housed barrels of gunpowder. “I couldn’t find any secret entrances-”

“Something feels off…” Luka said as he looked down to his boots. “It’s as if the ground is moving.”

“Moving?” She didn’t notice at first since the pain in her left shoulder had dulled her senses but the moment she heard him mention about the floor her attention immediately shifted towards Krieg. “DON’T COME IN!”

She shouted on top of her lungs but it was too late. The moment Krieg and the rest of the group stepped inside the stone floor cracked and gave out to a free fall many meters below.

“Ahhhhhhhhhh!”