The cave was far darker than the teenagers had expected, without a source of light the only thing they could see was the tiny reflection of water drop dropping above them.
Luckily some glowing fungus provided them just enough light to let them see their path. Igor now knew why the pathfinder was usually the most well-paid person among the soldiers.
The tunnel was wider than they expected, it allowed several people to walk side by side, although it will be dumb stuff to do.
The teenagers tried to control their breath, the air in the cave was extremely moist, they found no difference between breathing in this place and diving in the water. The sweat stayed on their body and was soaked by their cloth, it failed to evaporate in such a condition hence their body was completely wet.
"Why do you want to come in here? I feel like staying here was a violation of the direction of your God?" Asked Igor.
"Selania only asks us for staying pure and neutral in our heart and mind, the purity of our mortal body was universally required." Answered by Vaterian, while he holding his necklace tightly.
"I had no interest in your religion, you didn't need to explain so much to me." Igor shook his hand and walked continuously until they hear some cry in the deep. They arrive at a small and narrow entrance, behind it was a huge hall, sound of a flowing stream could be heard from it.
"It seems like they did survive, just not sure how was their situations." Vaterian talked about the situation of those citizens, he doubted they would have a good time here.
"Silence," While Vaterian focused on solving the puzzle, Igor heard something slowly approaching them, he give Vaterian a sign to hide.
The approaching creature start closing their distance, they pulled out their daggers and prepared to strike. They could feel the sweat in their hand covering around the handle of the blade, giving them some difficulty to hold their blades.
The approaching creature finally walked beside the teenager, the reptile-liked head appeared in front of their sight, the ugly face paired with some saliva flowing out from its mouth give the teenagers a horrific experience, the skinless body only enhance that feeling.
Vaterian jumped up to the air and fell on top of the monster, who was quickly being pressed down to the ground by the brutal force. Vaterian put his hands on the monster's jaw to prevent it from opening its mouth and pinned its hand on the floor with his dagger.
Igor held his blade with both of his hands and pushed the dagger into the monster's head, he could feel the blood spilt out and saturating his sleeves. He hammered the pommel, letting the blade go deeper for another inch. He heard the crack of the skull and some soft solid start flowing out, he knew this monster was completely dead.
"Just in time " Vaterian looked at the monster's hand, the dagger was being pulled out from the wall of the cave and held in the monster's hand.
"This bastard was really tough, even you had the hardship to limit its movement." Igor looked at Vaterian's hands, the muscle turned red because of the force being placed on them.
"No wonder those slaves would be slaughtered so easily, they are too weak even for us." Stare at the body of the monster, said Vaterian.
"But we better move, the others might already notice what happened here, might by their ears or by their nose, it didn't matter." Vaterian walked into the narrow pathway and entered the large interior hall.
It was a large volcanic cave, it might be formed earlier than the writing system, the ceiling of the hall was filled with glowing fungus, providing the teenagers with some vision A running water flowed past their feet. It was freezing cold. apparently, it had come from outside the caves.
There were a lot of people laying on the ground, maybe a hundred. They barely survive under such conditions, the thin air and the tiny stream was the only thing that prevented them from dying.
"What awful conditions, could you smell that awful smell?" Igor asked Vaterian over the stink all around here, he gain no reply, he turned his head and saw Vaterian covered his face with his cloak.
The people trapped inside it noticed them, they put up their head, lay it back down and said, "another one."
The heartless reply drenched into Igor's heart, he unable to control himself and yelled at them, " We came to save you, and that's your reply?"
"You were not the first one to come here."
Igor was unable to give a reasonable reply, he stood there and stayed silent.
"What happened here? How did so many people get trapped here?" Asked Vaterian, the most important thing was to find out what happened.
"The mayor was missing and Rolf told us the mayor might go to help Kaspar to escape from this cave, all of us were furious and ran into this cave. Looked at us now." The man gave the answer to Vaterian, but he stilled laying on the ground and not even looked at Vaterian.
"Those monsters will soon be back, no matter how many of them you killed, as long as Kaspar still survives, they will keep on spawning." The man fell asleep as soon as he finished his words, his eyelid dropped down and he started mumbling some words that unable to understand.
Vaterian and Igor suddenly heard a huge roar coming from the other side of the cave, the sound pierce through their eardrum and kept echoing in the cave, but neither of the persons on the ground was being woken up.
A monster, at least twice in size than the others they had seen, holding a body in his hand that Igor saw previously.
The monster threw the body on the ground and picked up a huge log beside it, it was the one being used to block the city gate.
"How did this creature even come in?" Looking at the size of the creature this question popped out from their brain.