C148 - Resuming
The group made a point of the situation after regrouping, and Zeliha even mustered the strength to give her professional opinion on the fauna.
It turned out that the situation of Doku's group had been similar to Khan and the others. The fall had brought the four Niqols into the underground structure's lower floor, and they had found themselves after exploring the area for a while.
Bashir had been unlucky enough to meet a big leech while he was inside the rivers of terrain, and the other aliens had found him when a monster had already devoured most of his body. His short sword had remained intact during the process, so the Niqols didn't have doubts about the consumed corpse's identity.
Doku's approach to the exploration had been thorough, and the two Niqols had followed his example after regrouping. They inspected every cave and cavity, marked each hole, and even reached the end of the path that seemed to lead right under the intact regions.
Their exploration had featured far more dangers. It seemed that the big leeches liked the deeper areas of the structure, so Doku and the others had ended up facing many of them. Zeliha's injuries came from a surprise attack suffered when she had yet to confirm the efficiency of her sensitivity to mana. Luckily for her, her companions had been quick enough to save her shoulder and arm.
Zeliha's explanation provided Khan, Azni, and Liiza with a greater understanding of their opponents. She had actually recognized that species after inspecting it during those hours. The Niqols knew the leeches as "[Silent Groundsuckers]", words that they could translate only partially. Still, their meaning sounded fairly obvious when the aliens tried to explain it.
According to Zeliha, the main issue in that environment was that the simplicity of the leeches had favored stable mutations and had granted a high survival rate. A similar diet had even led the transformations toward similar fields.
The size, the corrosive saliva, and the overall sturdiness were common aspects that the transformations affected. The amount of energy diverted to those features changed from monster to monster, but Zeliha was almost certain that each big leech would have those three enhanced abilities.
The changes between monster to monster were in the additional features that they gained due to the mutations. Most of them were simple aesthetic transformations. Some developed hair, other scales, a few would even obtain simple teeth, but none showed abilities with power that could match spells. Doku spoke of a specimen capable of generating strong noises, but that was it.
It seemed that their simplicity went against developing powerful abilities. Their species could only go so far unless more mana came into play, which was almost impossible for creatures that spent their lives eating ground, plants, and rare worms.
Those features put the [Silent Groundsuckers] above normal Tainted animals due to how easily they could mutate. Still, they also placed them under average monsters since their transformations weren't too threatening. The major issue with that species was the number of its specimens, which didn't seem troublesome in front of Khan's destructive power. Yet, Zeliha ended up contradicting him on that point.
The leeches' soft bodies were troublesome to handle for the Niqols since their martial arts focused on inflicting internal injuries. The aliens in the second year could switch to a more brutish fighting style, but they would lose a significant amount of efficiency, which made their normal attacks better.
The problem was with their manipulation of mana. The students could make their energy work for punches rather than palm strikes, but they wouldn't be able to express its true power, and their attacks would suffer from heavy delays.
Liiza turned out to be the only one among the group with proficiency in manipulating mana high enough to change the nature of her energy without suffering heavy delays. Yet, she had always used palm strikes throughout her life, so her battle prowess would inevitably fall when switching style so abruptly.
Moreover, most of her proficiency in the manipulation field went toward her ice. That spell was a powerful ability that could kill tens of big leeches in a single attack at the price of a short preparation, so the group felt that they had gained a trump card after the reunion.
Of course, Khan's gained a lot of attention after his previous feat. He had killed four monsters in mere seconds since his martial art was ideal for those creatures. He risked touching the corrosive saliva only when his feet pierced the leeches' skin, which made him perfect for the frontlines there.
Khan and his group didn't hesitate to share their experiences of the superior floor, but their story didn't have much except for Elbek's death. The trio had gone through many tunnels and small leeches without ever getting closer to an exit. The rope left behind could work as an escape route and second path if everything down there failed, but that was as much as they could tell.
Doku had forced Asyat to throw her backpack away when he saw that four monsters were chasing them, but the group retrieved it quickly. Learning that Khan and the others had left a pile of flowers on the higher floor didn't tempt him at all. Finding a way back to the surface had the priority. Doku felt terrible that his decision to proceed with the mission had led to the death of his companions, so he didn't want to take risks anymore.
The march eventually resumed, and Khan's group could experience how thorough Doku was when he was in charge. He even made them peek through every hole they could reach when exploring small cavities and similar structures.
The lower floor really ended up having many monsters, but the students only met them in groups of two at best, and Khan was more than enough to take care of them. His kicks were deadly weapons against those creatures. The only problem was with his shoes and what the corrosive saliva did to them, but his companion gave him theirs whenever he needed a new pair.
Khan ended up running out of available shoes after fighting his twentieth monster, so he relied on pieces of fabric from their companions' robes. Those were bound to vanish too, but he could only hope for the exploration to end before he had to fight barefooted.
The hours passed, but the group continued to find nothing useful. The faint thought that a path that could bring them back to the surface didn't exist at all tried to make its way inside their minds, but everyone suppressed it. Their situation was already awful. Worsening it with negative ideas wouldn't help at all.
Still, that idea became incredibly loud as more time passed and the group continued to fail to find anything that they could use to climb out of that empty place. It felt even reasonable for those paths not to exist in the underground structure since the leeches didn't dig while following human or Niqols' standards.
Those creatures didn't need to build something that led to the surface since they could crawl toward it while digging more tunnels. A landslide had even happened, so the group even had to be a bit lucky to find something remotely useful for their needs.
Most of the paths led downward, but the trend described by Zeliha worried the group about diving deeper into the underground area. A single difference in floors had increased the number of monsters exponentially, and the students didn't want to imagine what the depths contained.
However, the group ended up not needing their imagination at all since something finally appeared. They had ended up moving toward the intact regions again by then, and a peculiar structure that the student saw as the most beautiful scenery in the world eventually unfolded in their eyes.
Khan and the others found themselves in front of a diagonal wall that featured rivers of ground and protruding rocks. Still, the structure's inclination worked in their favor, and it went past the ceiling even if it didn't seem to reach the surface.
The group didn't care about going directly to the surface. It was enough for their Aduns to have a clear path, and the rescue mission would be a success. Crossing the ceiling and jumping on the first stable area that gave them a clear view of the outside world was everything they had ever needed.
Finding that diagonal wall brought immense happiness to the group, but the hard part came right afterward. They had to prepare for the actual climb, and that meant taking care of two issues.
The pink flowers left by Khan's group were still on the other end of the rope attached to the hole used to descend to the lower floor. Technically, they were in a safe area, so leaving them there felt like a waste, especially since two of their companions had died in the mission that involved them.
Moreover, Zeliha couldn't do the climb. Doku and Azni had alternated themselves during the exploration to carry her, but they couldn't cross that steep wall with her on their back. The ground that covered the many rocks made everything too slippery.
The group didn't need words, and Khan didn't oppose the suggestion that came out of Doku's mouth either. He would take care of climbing the wall with Zeliha on his back.
As for the flowers, Doku, Liiza, and Asyat could take care of them. Khan had to remain near the wall to defend their escape route, and Doku wanted to leave Azni in the safest position he knew.
Everyone could understand that Doku was giving unfair advantages to his girlfriend, but no one bothered to complain. Azni was the only one who tried to say something, but she quickly had to give up on it since her companions didn't support her complaints. After all, Doku wasn't endangering the success of the mission with his decision. He had just picked one Niqols over another.
Khan didn't like that Liiza traveled with students who couldn't do much in the fights, but he had to suppress those emotions and go along with everything that Doku said. Azni noticed his behavior, and she couldn't help but sigh when she saw that he kept his mask on even when the only stranger was a half-fainted Niqols sitting on the ground.
The second team didn't take much to come back. Doku had memorized every path in the area by then, so reaching the rope, retrieving the flowers, and coming up with a simple basket turned out to be rather quick since no monsters appeared on his path. His group had even left the cord in its place since an escape path could still end up being necessary.
Khan helped modify the basket so that it could become a simple backpack, and everyone prepared for the imminent climb. Khan made a few tests on his own before confirming the stability of the rocks and bending forward to make his companions put Zeliha on his back.
Seeing the closeness of the girl to his back, her legs wrapped around his waist, and his hands holding her thighs almost made Liiza's snap. Witnessing her companions watching such an intimate scene without batting an eye made her furious about her situation. Luckily for Liiza, Azni had expected something like that to happen after experiencing her deadly reaction.
"[Let's do our best]," Azni suddenly announced while taking Liiza's hands. "[Mind you. Skipping todays' party isn't an option, not even for you]."
Azni's surprising words left the group speechless, but it wasn't hard to guess that the two girls had grown close after spending the first part of the crisis together. They didn't expect Azni to invite Liiza to the parties right away, but they didn't hesitate to show their support through nods and smiles.
Holding grudges after experiencing such a tragic event felt pointless. Some still thought that the benefits for the whole species connected to her marriage with Ilman were too incredible to ignore. Still, that wasn't the time to talk about that. The mission had turned Liiza into nothing more than a companion, and she could remain that for the entire day and longer if she felt like it.
"Can we leave this place now?" Khan coldly commented as the Niqols continued to show their approval to Liiza.
Khan had performed a few squats and had jumped on his spot to grow used to Zeliha's weight, but the matter had been relatively quick since the girl was incredibly light, even lighter than Liiza. Her undeveloped body was actually working to his advantage in that situation.
The group could only focus on the mission at that remark. Doku was the first to stretch his legs before jumping on the wall and leaping among the various rocks to go even higher. The difficulties began when he had to cross the area where the ceiling almost touched the inclined surface, but he had found a decent passage already, and crawling for a few meters wasn't a problem.
Liiza was the second, and Asyat followed right after. Azni jumped on the wall after the girl, and Khan imitated her after she crossed the narrow passage.
Khan struggled a bit to find the proper position that could suit the task. Yet, the passage was too narrow, so his chest ended up sliding on some sharp rocks before actually moving to the other side of the ceiling.
To be continued