It didn't take long before Ebony stood ahead of another not-so-different hill where their tracks ended. He found the cave entrance that was a little hidden from plain sight. The entrance was full of green grass growing inside for some reason so it was not easily spotted from afar. It was pretty large though, the caravan supposedly entered as well.
The cave slowly darkened and grass was almost non-existent other than weeds as Ebony delved deeper.
In less than 5 minutes of travelling and following the one way straight tunnel of the cave, he started to see it brighten and hear some movements.
"Who's there!" a familiar voice echoed in alarm.
"Ebony." Ebony replied calmly as he stepped into the light of a single phoslamp. That's when Ebony realised something was off. There was only a single phoslamp and Ebony only saw Rowent sitting there with Top laying on the side.
"Ebony! You're alive! That's great! How did you escape?" Rowent seemed genuinely glad Ebony was not dead.
"She let me go like she said." Ebony replied.
"Who's she?" Rowent was confused.
"The Nascent Cysaru." he answered.
"You really managed to cause it damage and it really let you go?" Rowent's jaw dropped. He looked really exhausted with how he was staying limp there, only moving his mouth and facial expressions.
"She. and yes. Where are the others?" Ebony insisted on how Obsius should be referred to.
"Oh. We don't know…we stopped here for Dina to treat Top but most of our supplies are kept on the wagons. We still keep the most important stuff on us so she had some blood clotting salves and bandages. Top has mostly stabilised with the pill at work he's out of danger for now.
Fergus and Dina confirmed that it was mostly safe around here, we found the tracks going deeper but then it stopped at the end of a straight path, a dead end. Only this phoslamp was found on the ground where their tracks ended.
Both of them went to scout the other split paths to look for them, none of us sensed any presence of monsters so I stayed here with Top." Rowent explained the circumstances.
How did three large wagons with just as large rams disappear in a cave?
Ebony didn't manage to ask before another voice echoed from the other side where he came from.
"Hey Ro, did they come back through here? I don't see them anywhere." Fergus slowly stepped into the range of the phoslamp's warm light.
"Ebony! You're alive thank goodness!" he continued, surprised as he saw Ebony.
"Yes, I'm alive."
"Rooo. Is Fergus back? I searched every other path on the right but they aren't there." Dina's called out before showing herself.
"...E..Ebony?" Dina was stunned.
"...Did none of you think I wouldn't die or something?" Ebony got enough of their reactions like they expected him to die.
""...""
They quickly went over their situation. Ebony didn't die. The monster and bandit threat was temporarily gone. Top was heavily injured but he'll survive. Rowent was down for the count for any battle for a while, his stamina seemed to be recovering slowly and his mana apparently was rock bottom and would regenerate a lot slower for days due to a side effect of a pill.
Fergus was tired and his mana was low as well but could still fight. Ebony showed Dina his fingers, surprising himself when he unfroze the layer of ice sticking together that, though barely, the bones actually connected again. It'll heal was all she said but her mind seemed to be elsewhere the entire time. Dina was in the best condition physically, not including her diminishing stamina.
Then there was an entire caravan missing with all its passengers in a cave where there weren't many paths. Leaving just a single phoslamp with their tracks ending in a dead end.
"What on ell… where the heck did they go?" Rowent complained while pushing himself up, using the dirt wall to support his body. Fergus and Dina were silent, thinking deeply. Wondering if there were any tracks they missed or paths they didn't see.
"Didn't you say that mud marmots use these hills as their dens?" Ebony broke the silence.
"...ELL!"
"Crap…"
"Let's go… Fergus, stay here with Rowent and leader. Ebony… could you help me?" Dina stood up but realised the condition of her teammates. Though they haven't seen a single shadow of a monster she couldn't just let Rowent and Top here, knowing a mud marmot could pop right out of the ground anytime anywhere now. Ebony had long proven his capabilities and mud marmots shouldn't be too high levelled, they had strength in numbers and another pair of hands and eyes would help greatly.
Fergus wasn't in the best of condition though he didn't show it, Dina knew him well enough to know he was already pushing himself. The skilful Elf still had his ways of protecting Rowent and Top if it comes down to it, even without much mana.
Ebony on the other hand, didn't even seem like he had been in a fight or had been running around. Though he always had that look on his face, Dina didn't think he was tired at all.
"Of course. Where to?" Ebony still needed directions to Plainston, helping them would speed things up.
Dina brought Ebony deeper into the cave, her perception was probably much higher than Ebony's as it was starting to get dark enough that Ebony couldn't see past a few metres. She might have skills that helped seeing in the dark for all Ebony knew.
A three-way split appeared in front of them as Dina continued forward through the middle one. Her speed was higher than Ebony's but he could tell it was just normal running maybe with a stealth skill to reduce sound or footprints in the ground but he didn't see any special footwork so it was probably just her higher base Agility.
Ebony noticed the ground sloping downwards ever so slightly as they turned around many corners and turns. The size of the 'cave' in the hill surprised him a little. In a minute or so, they stopped before a dead end.
Dina punched the wall. Hard. Producing a 'thud' sound and the wall shook.
"It's thick but I think it's hollow, I can hear it. Quick, help me. Aim lower, It should go downwards. The others probably fell in one of their fake mud covers which they quickly covered up and hardened. Damn, they're in deep trouble. It's been quite some time already. Chris should be able to handle a few marmots and the boss should have no problem helping with the stat difference. Marmots should be like cute pets to him but they are on their last legs now with their stamina, if they are still alive." Dina said as she continued trying to punch through the wall. She didn't have any ways of dealing blunt damage to break a wall.
Neither did Ebony, but it didn't stop him from dissing out kicks and thrusts. The wall or ground wasn't that hard and his blade was able to stab through. With enough holes where Dina said feels the hollowest, the force from Ebony kicks and Dina's punches start to crack it.
One final punch from Dina broke a large hole spanning from the wall to the ground under them. They fell.
'Hot damn. That's deep and wide.' Ebony thought. They landed tens of metres down where he saw the 5 lights spaced out around him, 2 phoslamps hung on the back of each wagon so all the wagons were here minus the lamp they left as a clue up there. The fall didn't hurt too badly as their feet and legs stabbed into the muddy ground.
"Haahh.. Haa..haaah. Fi..finaally. Sa..save me." a weak panting voice called out.
Ebony looked around, the phoslamps were bright enough to give him enough vision. The wagons were half sunken into the ground, the 3 coachmans were struggling to keep the rams to calm down and keep their heads up and above the mud as they sank together. Andel was fending off 4 dark brown marmots about the size of a corgi or bulldog, body sunk to his thighs. Behind him was Chris who only had his head and neck above the ground.
Dina already pushed off to help Andel when she got a hold of the situation. Ebony plucked his feet out of the mud and took 2 steps to reach Chris who was dozens of metres away. The consistency of the ground was weird, magic was obviously at play here.
"Hang on." Ebony dug his hand into the ground to look for a part where he could pull Chris from.
"..Lower to the left." Chris weakly said. He was trying to catch his breath at the same time. Ebony reached somewhere he thought to be Chris's armpit and quickly grabbed and pulled. Pulling caused himself to sink as well but Ebony quickly froze the mud where his feet were with what little mana he regenerated in the meantime, increasing the surface area he had to step on.
"Watch out, mud marmots are lurkers. They're only about level 38 to 45, we took about 15 of them down. Many are under us, trying to drag the caravan down. The others are just watching us and waiting for their peers to drown us out before taking a bite. Ahh! My leg! " Chris now had his chest above ground. Mud marmots had surprisingly hunting tactics of letting others do the work and taking credit for it when the time was ripe.
"The ground is actually only ankle deep, some will distract you while others pull you further down. Don't stand in the same spot for too long." Ebony carried Chris out and brought him to the top of the wagon. Chris was covered in mud but the mix of blood and mud on his legs and tears in his leather armour was enough to show his bad condition and exhaustion.
Thud
Dina landed beside them with Andel in tow. He actually wasn't injured much, as expected of his level but he was tired as well.
"Wh..where are the others?" Chris finally noticed.
"Alive. Up there. Top's injured, Rowent and Fergus are not in the condition to look for you." Dina succinctly explained. She quickly swung into one of the still half above ground wagons and back out. With a waterskin and another bag in hand, she uncapped the waterskin and pointed the cap at Chris. Water streamed out and she washed away the mud and blood cake, giving first aid to Chris.
"That's good you all made it out. Haa… and now we're stuck here. Mud marmots live in groups of hundreds if not more, with us here for so long their pack is probably on their way here from wherever they went hunting." Andel sighed. He should have been more vigilant in a hill with a cave in Bubble Hills, it was his mistake thinking anywhere was safer than out in the open with an aberrant around.
There were no movements. 19 dead marmot lay around them, the wagons and ram stopped sinking but they had to keep the rams from struggling. They were underground with walls all around, perhaps a little smaller than a football field and had no way up dozens of metres to the only entrance or exit they saw.
"I should be able to get us up there but without the caravan." Dina said. With her physical stats and wires she was able to carry them and jump out but there was no way they could move the heavy, bulky wagons and rams. They couldn't even pull them out of the mud.
"No! You're going to leave Polly here?!" Larry called out from where he was. Polly was the ram under his care, he was obviously concerned for it.
"Get Chris out first, there should be another way out. A merchant never leaves his merchandise." Andel ordered. Chris could hardly stand and grip his weapon anymore.
Andel got all of them except Chris to pull the front ram with the one behind pushing to get rams and wagon out of the sinkhole. Andel had insane physical strength, Ebony bet he could carry the entire ram up himself. When one freed itself it was easy to get them to pull each other out with reins.
"I'll be back soon." Dina put Chris's arm over her shoulders, threw a few throwing knives towards the opening, jumped and pulled themselves out. 'What did the knives secure themselves to?' was something Ebony didn't bother asking.
"I'm sorry you had to deal with this even though I promised a safe journey as a guest, Ebony." Andel apologised.
"It's okay, I said I'll do my part to help. More importantly, back up and stay together." Ebony replied, confusing Andel. He looked up and cursed.
"Shit! They are here!" the exit sealed up. The ground, walls and even ceiling had heads popping out as more dog sized marmots climbed out.
[Mud Marmot Lvl 41]
[Mud Marmot Lvl 39]
[Mud Marmot Lvl 40]
[Mud Marmot Lvl 41]
[Mud Marmot Lvl 42]
…
More and more popped out and surrounded them. Ebony pushed Icebody Enhancement to the max as he swung at the mud balls aimed at the people behind him. It had only been about 20 minutes since he emptied his mana, he didn't even regenerate enough to cast another Layered Ice Carapace. He had left the 2 remaining shield up above because they didn't fit through the hole
Since he could only rely on physical close combat now he might as well use body enhancement. Ebony moved to the closest marmot and hacked. The muddy ground did nothing to slow him down as Treading Steps didn't let him sink into the ground before moving off from that spot.
The mud marmot's weapons were their 2 front fangs and claws.
Ebony gripped hard, making sure his fingers didn't fall off; he was starting to get the hang of using a greatsword normally. Two hands or one didn't matter, he was sure his mastery skill was going to mutate or evolve sooner or later.
Ebony flashed and circled around the wagon blocking and countering any marmot before they had the chance to land a hit past him. Their bodies were not tough, projectiles slow and only their strength was higher than Ebony. Their favourite evasive measure was to hide underground.
An upwards swing flew towards a leaping marmot going after his head, decapitating the offending marmot.
'Ting' 'You have killed [Mud Marmot Lvl 40], experience is gained.'
The ringing was only the beginning of Ebony's massacre. Surrounding him proved useless as he danced around them, his greatsword always finding its way to separate their heads. Treading Steps trumped their attempts at trying to sink him as he never stayed in the same spot.
The marmots didn't stop appearing, for every 1 Ebony slew another 2 seemed to take its place. Ebony had their blood all over him, their numbers didn't matter. They focused all their efforts on Ebony when they realised they couldn't get to the rams or coachmans.
It worked out even better for Ebony that he didn't have to protect the caravan. Heads flew as they littered the floor but the marmots believed they could take a single prey down sooner or later when it tires out. It always worked, they had the numbers for it.
Just not this time.
Ebony was ceaseless. Unslowing. Taking them down one by one as if he was chopping cabbages. In time, the ground had more corpses than land. The rate at which marmots appeared greatly slowed and then there were none. The toughest, most likely alpha was level 47 with 3 lackeys by its side. But it was nothing special either, same old moves and tactics. Boring.
'Do I have a thing for decapitation? Nah it's just such a sure and easy way to make sure of kills.' Ebony thought as he wiped the blood off his face. Over a hundred mud marmot laid dead around them. Ebony only gained 3 levels and he was pretty sure he was close to levelling at 33 already so it was only 2 and a bit. He held on to the 30 stat points for now.
"All of you alright? That should be all of them." Ebony checked on the non-fighters, he was sure he didn't let anything hit them but it couldn't hurt to check.
"..ye..yeah." The 4 of them had similar reactions. Shaking in fear, they had the expression of dread on their face. Seeing an almost unending amount of monsters showing up and surrounding them must have been frightening as they had little to no capabilities at fending themselves from monster attacks. At least, that was what Ebony thought they were afraid of.
❅❅❅
'What the…freaking ell! What kind of beast is he?! How is he completely unwinded fighting for such an intense and extended battle? Every single one of those marmots are higher level than him! Just how?'
Andel tried to stay composed but the way Ebony fought scared the crap out of him. He didn't understand how Ebony could move like that in this environment. Chris and him kept getting stuck and even tripped in the mud. Just after taking 5 down was impressive enough for Chris who didn't have a Sub-Class. Even with his higher level than the marmots.
Chris took 8 down while Andel himself 7, yet that left Chris gasping like he was catching his last breath. Andel had very high stats compared to these low level creatures but he didn't know how to fight. Even his sword mastery was the weakest and he didn't have an active skill for it.
But the beast in human skin in front of him looked like he was coming back from an after meal walk. No exhaustion or emotion on his face. A fraction of the amount that he decapitated was enough to cause Chris and Andel to panic and stress about but this beast merely treated them like prey that delivered themselves to his doorstep.
Andel estimated that he would need at least all 3 of his senior escort members to deal with the horde. The entire party of 5 would be needed to completely protect the caravan and its goods and even then they would receive some light injuries. Rowent and Fergus the heavy hitters of his escort team would do well enough but they may not last with limited mana. 'I didn't even see him use any magic…'
"E..Ebony, do you think you can reach up there or at least break the wall from here." Andel calmed himself down.
"...I'll try." Ebony replied but he was doubtful. He couldn't reach up that high, with or without all the weight of his robe and greatsword bringing him down.
An icicle formed above his head as it flew towards where the exit was. It managed to hit but didn't do much but stuck there. Another icicle formed but its shape and size slowly changed to one of a spear like Rowent's. It flew and pierced deep into the ceiling. Another one formed but seemed to have the shape of a hammer and released to meet the butt of the spear.
A small hole broke as dirt crumbled down from above them. But it wasn't due to Ebony's effort as they could see Dina from above, desperately trying to break the wall or floor down.
"Wait up there Dina, we're fine." Andel called out.
"Huu. Fergus went to scout the perimeter of the hill, the thinnest or closest you are from the edge of the hill is on your right." Dina sighed in relief only to be shocked by the bodies she could see around them. She must have thought something bad happened when she returned to see a closed wall. She wasn't wrong though, something bad did happen.
She then pointed towards a wall where they found to be the closest to the edge of the hill.
They got the rams ramming at the wall and Andel complained about not bringing a shovel. More than half an hour went by before light broke in from the cracks and they freed themselves from the marmots' den. They reconnected the reins to the rams and pulled the wagons along.
It was a long day for the Z&Z merchants. They quickly found a spot to rest and wash the rams and wagons off all the mud. The waterskin with the cap that can produce water was such a useful thing to have. It was about to turn night soon so they made camp.
Ebony almost forgot that Boom was caught by him, he was actually laying in one of the wagons. His shields held, and Boom's mouth was gagged but was still unconscious for some reason.
Ebony scrubbed his robes off and found blood to wash off easily. He changed into a fresh set of clothes, thankful that he had 3 sets. The novels about these adventures that he read rarely seem to address this problem, clean clothing is a must for Ebony. He was glad he hardly sweated with the increase in stats.
They were eating marmot stew and Ebony can't say that he appreciates the strong flavour.
"Ebony…Thank you, for saving us. I don't think we would have been able to get the leader out without your help if the aberrant didn't let him or us go." Fergus bowed.
"Ayy we owe you a big one." Rowent added on.
Dina stayed silent throughout the meal while Top was still out cold. They asked Ebony how he got away to which he said that he just injected enough ice mana into Obsius to deal damage. She then accidentally sliced his fingers off but left as promised. He didn't really lie to them. Dina didn't ask about the many marmot corpses she saw and Andel didn't bring it up either so there was less for Ebony to explain.
Andel offered to stand watch in Top's place for the night.
Rowent still seemed badly affected by the after effects of the pill he ate and knocked out after eating.
Chris did his own light training, not enough to reopen his wounds, he left Ebony with his leather armour which Ebony wanted to try mending the tears.
Fergus went to meditate in peace before his watch and Dina was the only one up for a spar.
They crossed blades with daggers, Ice Spikes that shaped more and more like small swords with throwing knives. Metal hitting metal rang in the hills, any stray monsters taken down by one of them. Neither spoke as they sparred. Ebony hardly got his arms or legs wrapped up in wires anymore, getting used to avoiding where her throwing knives passed.
"...I'm sorry."
"What for?" Ebony tilted his head in confusion.
"For leaving you to fight our battles. Twice."
"You did what you could."
"I didn't! I ran from Obsius the moment you got it's attention. I escaped from the marmot's den right before they arrived and didn't even manage to go back to help in time."
"You were the first to rush back into the fight with a…monster that none of you thought possible to defeat to save your party members. First to rush desperately to Andel and the others when you found out they were in trouble."
"So what…I wasn't able to do anything."
"You stopped Obsius from killing Rowent and Top. They couldn't leave without your help with their condition. Without your first aid, Top and Chris would be in trouble. You killed the marmots so that I could get Chris out. Always standing out to be the first to face danger for your team is something I greatly respect you for."
"..." Dina didn't seem convinced but didn't continue arguing. She just let her mixed feelings out as they continued their spar. She seemed more and more pissed that she couldn't even decisively beat or tire someone many levels lower than her out. Other than forcefully pushing him around with pure strength and speed.