Chapter 27. Lizardmen colony (1)
Gasp!
Three people gasped as they came out of the water. Their faces were pale as they tried to suck in air into their lungs.
'Well, they did a good job swimming here so quickly.'
Ian thought as he stared at Wayn, Ria, and Clara who were gasping for air to breathe, sitting on the cold surface of the cave.
Today was the day they had decided on to venture into the Lizardmen colony.
As they only had 5 minutes to swim to the cave, Ian had hurried them. It would be a big problem if any of them were left out.
"There's really an entrance here."
Wayn said as he stood up from the ground and looked at the door with strange green characters inscribed on it.
There was still some doubt inside his head previously, but now, he was sure that they would strike rich here.
They had found the entrance of the Lizardmen colony and solved the mystery of the golden statues. No one was able to solve it before them.
If this was revealed to the general populace, then they would receive fame and money, but Wayn was not a fool to do it.
The guild that had previously found the Arth's sewer had also found some sort of treasure as they were the first person to find the dungeon.
'I wonder if there's some sort of treasure inside the gate too.'
Wayn was sure that there must be some treasure inside the Lizardmen colony.
It was a colony hidden till now, so there must be a reason why it was hidden for so long. At the same time, he couldn't help but think about Ian.
'He's the most unconventional guy I have ever met.'
Ian was classless, but he was extraordinary in combat. Moreover, his observation skills were at the top. He even solved the mystery of the golden statues.
Wayn had never met a guy like Ian. So, he couldn't help but think about him.
'Just who is he?'
"Let's go in quickly. The door will close in 30 seconds. We have to hurry."
Ian hurried them, but Clara and Ria's faces were still pale. It was a game, but they had still swum around in sewers water.
They would need time to become normal, especially because they were girls.
"I, I'm fine."
The first to get up was unexpectedly Ria. She was a shy and timid girl, but Ian could see that she was the most courageous among the bunch.
"I'm fine too."
Seeing Ria, Clara also stood up, and they walked to the door.
It was really the entrance of the Lizardman colony, and it was also a hidden dungeon.
They had indeed struck gold this time!!
As they were in a party, the message was shared by all of them. It was the second time Ian had found a hidden dungeon, but it was the first for the rest of the party.
The hidden dungeon was completely different than the rest of the Arth's sewer. It was not an arch-shaped passageway.
There was not even water flowing here, but Ian realized one thing, the moment he stepped into the dungeon.
'The surface is damp.'
The whole hidden dungeon was made out of a damp surface, and it was hard to walk on it. Fighting on it was a completely different thing.
In a battle, skill is one of the main factors, but one of the other factors is the surrounding area.
You have to know how to take advantage of your surroundings or change a disadvantageous surrounding into a useful one.
Here, the surrounding was unfavorable to them.
That's why Ian said.
"Be careful of where you step."
"What do you…ahhhhh??"
Thud!
Wayn said as he took a step ahead, but before he could finish his sentence, he slipped on the surface and fell on the ground.
"Ahhh, why is the ground so slippery?"
He groaned as he rubbed his back, which was experiencing a pull of pain.
"Look at the surface carefully; it's full of moisture, which means that it's damp. We will be at a huge disadvantage when fighting here."
Ian explained all of this, and the faces of the other three were not looking good as expected.
"So, what will we do?"
"We will have to find a hard ground that is dry and fight within its radius. Although the surface is damp, there should be some dry spots here."
It was not Ian's first time in a damp area. He had already experienced it in the fantasy world.
His master had trained him to keep his surroundings in check, and he had a vast experience of fighting on various types of battlefields.
It would be tough to fight here, but Ian would not have any problems with it. Unfortunately, the same thing couldn't be said for his other three companions.
Their faces were already pale.
"Don't worry about it too much. You will slowly get used to fighting in the damp surface."
"Yeah, we have Ian with us."
"We just have to follow him."
Ian's earlier words had already made him the leader of the party. Clara and Ria were already accustomed to having Ian as the leader.
Wayn also didn't have any problem with it.
His earlier animosity towards Ian was already long gone, and he could also see that Ian wasn't interested in Clara at all.
Moreover, Ian was the strongest out of them, and he was also the one most familiar with the surroundings. It was only natural for him to be the leader.
"Let's go then."
Ian himself didn't have any problems with it. Their hunting speed would naturally increase if the three of them listened to him, and that's what he wanted.
* * *
The Lizardmen inside the Arth's sewer were around level 28-30, and they used swords to attack the players. Still, it was different in the Lizardmen colony.
First of all, the level of the Lizardmen was higher. The average was around 32.
Secondly, they wore heavy armors and had weapons like swords, spears, and halberds in their hands.
Moreover, they even encountered Lizardmen mages.
The difficulty was too high for a party with mostly newbies, and the disadvantage of the damp terrain proved fatal to them.
Still, the party kept going on ahead.
It was because of a single person: Ian and his leadership qualities.
"Clara, jump to the D point and attack the mage. Wayn, distract the Lizardman with fire arrows and Ria, buff me with speed up."
Ian gave orders to the other three, and they followed them diligently.
Clara jumped to the D point, which was a dry spot and slashed at the Lizardman mage.
"Kyaa!"
With a scream, the Lizardman mage was beheaded without being able to do anything.
Swish! Swish!
Wayn used the fire arrow skill, and arrows embedded with fire emerged and burned the ground with the AOE (Area of attack) damage.
He was distracting the Lizardman from coming close to Clara.
Standing at the back, Ria buffed her teammates from time to time. She also kept her mana in check and drank mana restoration potions from time to time.
In the middle of all of this was Ian.
"You are dead!!"
He shouted towards the Lizardman and attacked with his spear but the Lizardman counterattack and attacked Ian with his halberd.
Thrust!
Ian was faster than him because of the buff, and he quickly sidestepped and dodged it.
With a thrust of his spear, the Lizardman was killed on the spot, but it was not the end of it.
Swish! Swish!
With a swishing sound, a sword came at him, making a trajectory in air. It was another Lizardman who had attacked from behind.
Ian saw him from the corner of his eye and dodged by crouching.
Plunge!
Then, he plunged his spear into his chest, lifted him up, and threw him towards a wall.
"Aghhhh!!"
The Lizardman slammed into the wall and died on the spot.
That message appeared in front of him.
Ian wanted to take a breather, but before he could even think of it, another Lizardman attacked with his spear.
This time, Ian was barely able to dodge it, and the tip of the spear grazed his cheeks.
< There's a stinging feeling on your cheeks.>
Ian ignored the messages and focused on the battle. He swung around his spear, but it was blocked by the Lizardman.
Clash! Clung!
Both of them clashed with their blades for a while, but Ian managed to find a weak spot and quickly used his skill 'thrust.'
Thrust!
White light gathered on the tip of his spear, and Ian stabbed it in the Lizardman's ankles.
Then, he finished him with a kick and another stab into the neck. Blood splattered everywhere as Ian finally killed the Lizardman.
"It's getting harder to kill the Lizardman."
"Yes, I'm getting tired now."
"I need time to restore my mana too. We don't have much mana restoration potions left."
After the battle, his party members were tired as they looked at each other with pale faces.
They needed a break!
'It would be good to take a break.'
Ian thought as he cleaned off the blood from his cheeks. He could still go on, but his party members were not in a state to keep fight.
It was just like when he was a mercenary. In his mercenary band, he used to give a breather to the newer members from time to time.
It also worked well with the members of his party.
'It's just like the time I was a mercenary.'
At that moment, Ian reminisced about his past as a mercenary. His life as a mercenary wasn't that good, but there were some happy memories in his heart.
'George, Ely, Steve…and Elsa.'
Ian thought of the names of his comrades, but he quickly stopped himself from overthinking.
These thoughts would only distract him.
"Ah, my satiety is again below 40%."
"Mine is 43%."
As Ian was in his thoughts, he heard the voices of Clara and Wayn.
As they were fighting, their satiety had dropped far too quickly. Clara was fighting on the front, so her satiety had fallen even more rapidly.
It was the same for Ian.
The only person whose satiety was still above 60% was Ria, who was just healing and buffing them from behind.
Ian thought of something as he looked at Wayn and Clara talking about eating hard bread.
"If you are hungry, then why don't I cook you something?"
"Cook? Ian, you know how to cook?"
"When did you learned a skill like cooking?"
Ian didn't explain much to the both of them. He didn't want to talk about his meeting with Harun. So, he just said that he got the skill from working in a restaurant.
It was also the truth to some extent.
"What will you cook?"
"You will see."
Ian said as he took out a pot from his inventory. He also took out some vegetables like carrots and potatoes.
"Can you light up the fire with your fire arrow?"
"Huh?"
Wayn was confused when he was asked that. He had never thought of using his precious skill 'fire arrow' to light up a fire for cooking.
It was weird, but he still did what Ian instructed.
As they were in a damp area, regular fires could quickly extinguish, but the fire from the fire arrow skill was more durable.
It would not extinguish anytime soon.
'Let's see if I can cook something good or not.'