Regarding the survival-rate of this adventure, Gustav was surprised that he was still alive. He considered this trip as a bad idea before they even entered the tunnels, but now after he almost kissed a monster, it seemed certain that death lurked nearby.
He had no idea why this pile of carcasses were so angry before, as each and every one of them attacked on sight. Their rage was more perplexing than their abnormal bodies, and he didn't understand those very well either.
"They're demons… right?" He asked.
Since they got a break now from that gruesome battle, It was a good idea to talk some things over. He threw up a couple of times through the past couple of minutes, and couldn't pronounce some words all that well for a moment.
The last enemy that Arila killed, had an awful stench which encouraged a portion of all those barfs and pukes.
Furthermore, Gustav was still awfully disoriented, because he got struck on the face with a blood-colored ray of light. Apart from all the dizziness, it also upsetted his stomach to a limited degree.
Anyway, after a few quick breaths which inflicted silence, his friend worriedly answered. "They're supposed to be demons, but I wouldn't know. They never actually attacked our village, so it's a dumb idea to even be down here."
That didn't stop them however, regardless of how much they hated the thought of being here. They put the prime goal as the first priority, and forced their legs to walk towards danger regardless of how they felt. It was brave to say the least!
While they slowly walked deeper within the tunnel, Gustav logically agreed. "It is a very dumb idea, but we just gotta survive until we get some of those demon crystals. But, those weird bodies there got me thinking…"
There was a lot to think about, and perhaps his mammothian brain wouldn't catch up with everything. He never saw anything like this before back on the home island, so there weren't many profound examples to use for comparison.
Yet he still formed a theory, and said. "Maybe all the cunts here aren't demons. Monsters probably, but it feels weird to call them demons because they're not puking fire and shit. We didn't get burned at all."
"We didn't get burned, but why spare their feelings? Some of them don't have legs, some look like walking boulders and they all want to kill us… totally demons." Arila added, as the overall stench around here, fueled her disgust.
"Well… my kids or whatever, are eating all those dead demons now. They aren't getting sick from those, and are getting pretty fat instead. Isn't demon meat supposed to be poisonous or something?" Gustav emphasized.
"What makes you think that?" She asked.
The crunches against bones and flesh were difficult to ignore, even now when they had walked ten meters away from the grand feast. He continued to use that as an example, and was right to do so.
"Well I wasn't allowed to eat humans before, so I'm guessing that 'demons' taste even worse. But look, uh, the crawlers ate half of those carcasses already and they're okay." He insisted.
"You think too much! Let's just kill whatever bothers us and get over this, we'll find your precious crystals." Arila snapped.
She was ignoring this debate, mainly because she was hesitant to explore the unusual dangers. However, such loyalty was great regardless, so Gustav didn't see her either as a barricade or a problem.
Instead, he continued to think. "If they aren't demons… then what are they?"
He was unable to shake this question away, and was given quite some freedom to think about it. As they ventured deeper below the ground, and switched between a couple of tunnels already, it felt like all life was eradicated across this vicinity.
Nothing bothered them or crossed their path, which ironically raised the overall feeling of intensity. In one way they expected to get jumped, but in another way, they've felt exceptionally free of burden for a little while.
The several friendly, demonic moles which followed them around, acted as a great layer of security as well. They were bigger than ever now, and had devoured those several carcasses with ease.
Even Gustav, as a large mammoth, was hesitant to carry them all on his back now. They weren't as light as they were a couple of days ago, and were clearly over two-feet wide, each!
Anyway, about ten minutes later, they got an example of why every other creature here had been so cranky. Or more specifically, just what they tried to protect.
"Wow… did you hear anything about this? I know my questions are getting annoying, but are demons supposed to build stuff like this?" Gustav asked, after they shared a few surprised gasps.
They walked in a cavern now, which had more than a few stone-carvings. No random adventurer could ignore them, and any overly-curious person would pee on themselves out of joy!
"You are getting a little annoying, yes, but this time it's okay." Arila first said.
After that, she added. "Also no, I had no idea that stuff like this was down here. Maybe that's why a bunch of adventurers were stupid… or brave enough to come down here, and get themselves killed."
The couple of friends were here now as well, and their intelligence was questionable. It sounded stupid to tamper with any bit of history, which the three stone statues here represented.
"They all look like humans… but, not quite." Arila said.
That was the only thing on her mind when she glanced at the statues. There were certain portions of these stone carvings that seemed deformed, which signalized an unusual leg or arm; One statue even had a weird, pyramid-like head!
Although the statues captured most of their attention in the beginning, the cavern featured a few other interesting things. The place was spatial, stretching about twenty meters wide!
Likely so for a reason, as there were words and weird scriptures carved across the place, which stretched from the ceiling and all the way down to the cavern's right wall.
In any normal situation, Gustav would skip these carvings after a minute or so. His previous primal life didn't encourage curiosity, as back in that island, they had everything that a mammoth needed.
Now however, he was curious for a solid reason, and anxiously thought. "I need to learn more… Maybe the demons I'll hatch will be as weird as the bastards we just killed. Gotta learn what to do with them."
"Papa! Papa!" One of the crawler demons suddenly called out.
Naturally, he paid attention to them right away, even though he was horrendously stressed out at the moment.
What was uttered out next, crossed leaps and bounds beyond the logically expected. "Terranidan, papa! Language, Terranidan!"