Kerius led the way through the tunnels, a map in one hand and a lantern in the other.
They left the most densely roamed place and traveled deeper underground towards the uncharted territory.
Kerius gave a simple explanation for his actions, "If we stay with the group we probably won't get even a single Minecrawler."
The stone walls changed color the deeper they went, from light brown to a more light-gray color. A slight draft was pulling air from the surroundings, making the already-cool environment quite chilly.
The tunnels branched in all directions, but Kerius was walking forward confidently without stopping once. They traveled like this when he suddenly stopped. "The map goes up to here, the rest is still unknown."
He stored the map and took out a spiked mace, "We were lucky to have a peaceful road, but be on alert from now on! We are in the enemy's territory now!"
Following behind their leaders, the members of Iron Hawks and Silver Phantom carefully walked forward, with weapons and shields in hand. The light from lanterns hanging from their hip threw creepy shadows on the stone walls.
"There is something to our right!" Gerald said with a hushed voice, but still loud enough for everyone to hear. He could see through the stone and an outline of a few Minecrawlers was clearly visible.
"Get ready to fight!" Kerius said and ordered the two shield carriers to go first. The twins, Ermaz and Armaz, wordlessly walked forward, with their tower shields held tightly to their bodies.
Gerald secretly drank a Greater Mana Potion and quietly chanted, "Stone Armor!"
Rumble!
Stone walls around them shook and cracked, and flakes of stone floated from it, sticking to Gerald's clothes and face, making him look like a certain rocky superhero.
"Oh, is that a new spell? Nice!" Owyn, the mage from Silver Phantom gave him a thumbs-up. As a fellow mage, he could better appreciate the intricacies of such a spell.
Right then they turned the corner and three Minecrawler Workers detected movement with their antenna.
The stone-like mandibles clashed together, producing ear-piercing scraping sounds.
"Watch out!"
The front Minecrawler swiftly attacked with its climbing-ice-pick-like front legs, making dangerous stabbing motions.
Bam, bam!
The beast struck the tower shields and pierced through the layer of metal on the surface. Luckily, the wooden board underneath was thick enough to protect the guy behind it. Only a tinny point pierced through, not even enough to scratch him.
"Beat them down!" Kerius shouted and launched himself at the beast with his mace.
"Ha!" the men shouted in unison and surrounded the ant-like creatures and started beating down on them.
Gerald gladly joined them and used his metal hand to pound on them, while being completely protected in his stone shell.
He, of course, had the Stone Body active just in case.
In a few short minutes, the Minecrawlers were completely crushed, barely leaving any part of their body intact.
Although the youngsters were weaker than their opponents, they had numbers to spare. As such, five of them could focus on a single Minecrawler.
"Good job!" Kerius took out a sack and stored the heads inside, and then gave the sack to someone else to carry.
The fighting was mostly done physically by warriors as magic was considered valuable and should be saved for when they needed help.
Only about an hour went by and they already bagged three kills. The expedition was going great and Gerald was having fun.
With his Magic Eyes, he could see the danger in a thirty-meter radius and could give casual directions to avoid getting surrounded.
The guys thought they were lucky, meeting at most five Minecrawlers at once. That was about the most they could deal with without exerting too much effort or getting injured.
Similarly, Gerald didn't have to do much and simply enjoyed the free Mind Energy that came from the beasts.
Luckily they progressed slowly enough so he could completely digest it and make it his own, at most feeling somewhat uncomfortable at times.
"This is great!" Kerius crudely scribbled down the road they took, while Derrick marked the tunnels they visited, just in case.
"I bet I can sell this information for some extra money! Our progress is way faster than I expected!" Indeed, as he said, warriors traded the maps they drew to get a better understanding of their environment.
Some even bought all the pieces and combined them into a big map, selling it to everyone for profit.
"Let's take a break, I'm hungry!" Kara said after they just finished another battle. She was an Archer, but underground she had to use a powerful crossbow instead of her favorite bow. It was an arduous effort pulling the string back, even though she had a mechanism for it.
"Good idea! Let's take a breather, guys!" Kerius backed her request and nobody had any issues with that.
Owyn and Nina sat together, apparently, they became even closer from the time Gerald last met them.
Eneth, the Spellcaster from Iron Hawks, came and initiated a conversation with Gerald, discussing magic spells and better casting ways.
While giving him some small suggestions, Gerald came to know that magic knowledge was actually quite hard to come by.
Even in the Magic Academy, the first years focused on bare basics and not much more. It then depended on the individual to explore and grow, while keeping deeper knowledge locked away.
Depending on their talent and perseverance they would either become good enough to get access to more advanced information, or they would stagnate and fall behind, being mediocre for the rest of their lives.
Those that decided to join a Warrior's Guild before reaching the rank of a Wizard were usually those failures that didn't grow.
It was for that reason that Eneth was extremely grateful to Gerald for willingly selling them a Spellbook that contained so much information.
In the recent weeks and months since he got it, he almost mastered the spell of Stone Bolts and was quite capable of sustaining many spells at once.
"Keeping knowledge locked behind different ranks? I met that problem myself, and I think it's stupid! If the whole point of magic is to use it to fight against Demons, why not share it with everyone and then build a massive mage army?" Gerald grumbled.
The elites were basically shooting themselves in the foot by keeping the knowledge for themselves. Gerald already tasted the strength of an average warrior, and regretfully, it wasn't that high.
With just a few magic spells they could be taken down, so it was clear that magic was superior. Too bad the mages were much rarer and more expensive.
"I know, right? But that's how it is… The elites want to keep all the advantages for themselves." Eneth agreed with a sigh. But what could he do? He was just an average scrub that struggled to make ends meet.
The food came in a form of dried bread and meat again, so Gerald offered some of his delicious Warg broth. It was nice and warm, perfect for a cold and damp environment like this.
"Well, we got thirty-eight trophies already, that should be enough for today! We will rest for an hour and then go back," Kerius said, leaning on a rock and sipping the warm broth with pieces of bread floating within.
The sacks were full already, so there was no point in continuing the hunt.
Gerald tried the meat of the Minecrawlers, but to his disappointment, it tasted like crap. The beasts fed on Demon Mushrooms, and although their flesh was not poisonous, they tasted horrible.
"No wonder the restaurant up there is so popular!" Gerald exclaimed in realization. As a guy that could appreciate good food, he understood how depressing traveling rations could be.
Having eaten his fill, he closed his eyes and rested while meditating.
His Mana regeneration increased further, up to 32 MP/h.
'Not bad! I'm slowly getting better!' In the darkness of the tunnel, his lips curled upward slightly.
"We got company!"
A shout woke him up from his thoughts, and using his Magic Eyes, Gerald noticed at least seven beasts approaching in the darkness.
"Ah, crap! I completely missed them!" Gerald silently cursed.
There were too many for an easy fight, and three of those Minecrawlers were bigger than the rest.
"Minecrawler Warriors! Get ready to fight!" Derrick and his brother took their hammers and shields and formed a defensive line with the twins from Iron hawk.
"It's time to get serious! Owyn, Nina, make the tunnel smaller!" Derrick shouted.
"Eneth, you too, get ready to cast spells!" Kerius echoed the order.
Eneth squeezed his staff tightly and nodded seriously, "I'm on it!"
Meanwhile, Gerald calmly took off his hand and stuffed the barrel of his cannon with ammunition and gunpowder just in case. The beast's chitin armor was quite hard and the stronger beast was probably going to be a pain to kill.
'Better to be safe than sorry!'
Skreee!
Rubbing the mandibles together, the Minecrawlers produced an annoying high-pitched sound. They detected the movement of humans and immediately went on the offensive.
Five people stood at the front, blocking their advance.
The mages did as they were told and reformed the tunnel to make it smaller, but that did little to stop them. The Minecrawler Warriors just barged through the stone, ripping it apart as if it was play-dough.
"It's no use, they are too strong! Prepare to fight!" Kara lifted her heavy crossbow and took aim.
Pah!
The bolt left the crossbow with a loud pop and collided with the chest of one of the beasts at the front. After scraping it slightly, the metal bolt harmlessly bounced off.
"It's so hard!" she exclaimed in shock.
"Save your strength and only aim on the weaker ones," Gerald said, placing a hand on her shoulder to motivate her. "Just take out the small ones and we will take care of the rest."
He fixed his hand back up and cast a Stone Armor and Stone Body spells. His defense shot up significantly.
"Let's do this!"
Bam!
Minecrawler Warrior collided with a human warrior and after a second of struggle, it won.
One of the shield carriers at the front had his shield smashed apart and his arm broken, all in a single swing of the beast's front legs.
"Ah!" the man shouted and fell to the floor. The bone pierced his skin and blood started to flow out of his wound.
"Die beast!" The rest, of course, didn't appreciate the fact that one of them got injured and attacked aggressively. They banged on the beast with all their strength, with hammers and maces, but to no avail.
The Minecrawler Warrior had armor five centimeters thick and its toughness was comparable to iron.
Gerald tried to help and he kept punching the beast, but he was the weakest of them all and his fists barely did anything.
Clang!
Suddenly, when he least expected it, the Minecrawler Warrior turned its head and clamped down on his left hand with its strong mandibles.
Gerald tried to shake it off, but the beast was at Iron 7-Rank and was way stronger than him. His hand felt as if it was in a metal vise. He couldn't move it at all.
Crack!
"Shit!" His hand suddenly cracked from the pressure and broke apart and he stared dumbfoundedly at the metal stump. "Son of a…!"