With cautious steps, the group now in an arrow formation, advanced toward the stronghold at a calm pace, not hurrying to get closer.
Elizabeth, the elected leader for this operation, paid attention to their surroundings, especially to the ground. Her eyes have been shining ever since she landed and her mana was ready to hurl a spell at the slightest disturbance.
'It seems your friend was right.' – Her master's voice echoed in her mind – 'There's something strange underground.' – She added.
'I knew it.' – Elizabeth wasn't even surprised and calmly accepted her master's words – 'Is it dangerous?'
'I'm not sure since I can't pinpoint what it is but I can at least say it's not something you encountered before, so proceed with caution.' – Was her master's answer.
'Understood.' – She didn't blame her master for the lack of details in her explanation – "I have confirmed that there's something underground. Maintain some distance from each other but don't go farther than 5 meters. Mages, be prepared to reinforce the ground or make a platform at any moment's notice." – She spoke in through the comms.
"Roger." – The group replied and adjusted their formation slightly, widening the distance between each other a little.
As they neared the stronghold's main gate, the group could now spot some details they weren't able to see previously while on the helicopter.
There was a clear line dug on the ground, seemingly circumventing the whole structure. Apart from this, there were also some flags with a pickaxe and a skull, hanging some distance away from each other.
Those were just minor details but they gave a weird feeling to the group, almost as if those were signs for them to turn back.
"…" – Elizabeth's glowing crimson eyes turned to the ground and she noticed some traces of life deep underground – "There's something alive down there." – She shared her finding with the others.
"Do you think they are inside the stronghold too?" – Monica asked.
"I can't affirm but the possibility is high." – Pondering about this situation, Elizabeth clicked her tongue – "Aki, Nyza, I will need you two to go with what we planned before, however, we will also follow you, so please open that door. Also, take this rope, when you get there, send this down for us to climb. Mages, make platforms, I think it's better to avoid contact with the ground until we are sure we won't be ambushed from underneath us." – She moved her mana and made a small platform with her, Darlan, Olivia, and Bianca on it before making a long rope and throwing it at Akihiko.
Eric, Melissa, Melody, and Beatrix swiftly followed the orders and also made their platforms.
Akihiko put the rope around his shoulder and under his arm before walking in front of Nyza and motioning for her to get on his back.
A light blush appeared on her cheeks and her tentacles swayed a little. She shily got on and wrapped her arms around his neck, her legs around his waist, and even used some of her tentacles to make sure she wouldn't fall.
"…" – Elizabeth glanced at this and turned her face away, not wanting to see it anymore.
"…" – After confirming Nyza was ready to go, Akihiko tapped her arms twice, to signal he was going.
Right after, his figure vanished.
Soundlessly stepping on the ground, he was already dozens of meters past that line on the ground.
"Go to the left, Akihiko." – Nyza spoke after recovering from her stupor.
Throwing himself forward making use of the moment, Akihiko started going to the side, to reach the designated wall.
After 2 seconds, Nyza's blurry surroundings revealed to be the wall they were aiming for.
"The wall is here, now you just need to c-" – Her words got stuck in her throat when she suddenly felt lighter.
Akihiko put strength on both legs and jumped 20 meters in the air before landing on the wall. As soon as he landed, he quickly climbed up the wall at astonishing speed.
Using his hands and feet, he appeared to be almost running by how fast he was climbing, and without even making any sound.
Nyza observed this with awe and felt a tinge of admiration for his skills.
A few seconds later, Akihiko arrived at the door.
"Leave it to me." – Nyza's tentacles condensed liquid metal on their tips before changing the shape to form blades. She then thrust the blades on the narrow openings of the doorframe and dragged them, slicing the door out like cutting a piece of cake.
After she confirmed that the door could now be removed, she carefully pushed the door inside and set it against the wall.
Akihiko used his senses to scan the inside and confirming it was only an empty corridor, he climbed up.
Setting Nyza down, he grabbed the rope and took out a metal rod hidden behind his knee.
Making a purple talisman, he put it on the rod. Checking the floor with his hand and giving it three light knocks, he raised the rod before bringing it down and thrusting it on the floor.
Thanks to the talisman, no sound was made despite the action.
Akihiko then wrapped a small part of the rope around the rod and pulled it hard, tightening the rope and also checking the rod's stability. The rod didn't even budge.
Nodding, he then walked toward the entrance and threw the rope down before turning to look at Nyza.
The latter understood the message and quickly conveyed the situation to the rest – "Nyza here, we sent the rope. There's no enemy in sight." – She reported through the comms.
"…" – For a few seconds there was no response until a sizzling sound was heard – "Elizabeth here, good work. We're climbing now, stay there until we arrive."
Hearing the answer, Nyza heaved a sigh of relief. If the communications were working despite them being this far, then it means that there aren't monsters in the surroundings, at least not many or strong ones.
Meanwhile, Elizabeth and the others approached the platform to the rope.
Darlan grabbed the rope and gave it a few hard pulls. Noticing it was stable, he turned to Elizabeth who nodded at him, he then started to climb.
Waiting for him to be at some distance, Elizabeth turned to Olivia – "Olivia, you can start climbing now."
Olivia nodded and did as told.
The group took a few minutes before they all climbed until the door.
"I'm here." – Melissa was the last one to arrive.
"Good, let's move with the discussed formation. Our goal for now is to see if the stronghold is being occupied." – Elizabeth stated.
At her command, Olivia, Darlan, and Lathz formed the frontline before starting to advance.
The mages divided themselves in half between the rearguard and the center of the formation.
Roxanne and Diana also remained on the rearguard while Bianca, Melody, and Monica were close to them. Akihiko and Nyza remained on the flanks.
The corridor was made purely of metal and had several wires and pipes visible along the walls and ceiling, though most of them had holes or were torn.
There was no light, so deep inside was pitch-black, and not even a silhouette was visible.
The scene resembled a sci-fi horror movie from Melody's past life.
Elizabeth produced a ball of light and shot it into the darkness.
As the ball illuminated the darkness, it revealed a door at the end of the corridor. Aside from the wires and pipes, there was nothing else.
"Let's move." – She gave the signal to move forward and the frontline advanced toward the door.
When they reached the door, Elizabeth glanced at Akihiko just to see him nodding – "Nyza, can you open this door?"
"Yes." – Nyza quickly replied and repeated the same process, swiftly cutting the door from the doorframe and setting the door aside.
Behind the door was a destroyed room with smashed machines lying all around and some humanoid skeletons.
Some were shorter than others, and some had a tail with thin bones or even wings, but all of them were somewhat similar.
Elizabeth and Akihiko's group didn't find it too disturbing and promptly ignored it before setting some small devices on the walls that produced light.
However, Melody, Bianca, and Monica found the scene very uncomfortable as shown by their expression. They quickly turned away and avoided thinking too much about it to not affect their performance.
"This room is clear." – Elizabeth related after scanning the room with her mana – "Let's proceed." – She pointed to the only door in the room.
The group started moving again and verifying that the metal door wasn't stuck, they pushed it open.
*Creak*
With an annoying creaking sound that echoed throughout the room, the door slowly opened just to reveal another hallway going to both sides but with debris and skeletons lying everywhere.
"Aki, Nyza, anything?" – Elizabeth scanned the place with her mana but still found nothing, the place seemed truly abandoned.
"I couldn't find anything." – Nyza was also unable to find anything.
"…" – Akihiko shook his head.
"Okay, let's check this floor first." – Elizabeth commanded and they started moving again.
Advancing toward the left, the group didn't hurry and took their time to make sure they didn't let something escape their attention.
Aside from broken and rusty tools, debris, and skeletons, they also spotted some doors on both walls at regular intervals, possibly rooms.
As time passed, the group spent around 10 minutes searching the whole floor but didn't find anything alive or worthy of attention.
"Melissa, Eric, Melody, Beatrix, help me set up some explosive spells just in case we need to destroy this place. We will repeat this same process of cleaning the floor and setting up explosives until we arrive at the ground floor." – Elizabeth explained.
The others nodded and using their discussed strategy, the group separated into two groups, one went with the mages to set up the spells, and the other remained by the set of stairs, holding the point to avoid any unexpected situation.
Things went smoothly and a couple of minutes later, the group that went to set up the spells returned without any problem.
Checking everyone, Elizabeth also verified the mages' mana and confirmed that they still had enough to keep going.
Turning to the stairs, she made another ball of light and shot it down the stairs.
"We still have more than a day and a half remaining, keep calm and don't hurry." – Elizabeth reminded them before motioning for the frontline to advance – "Let's go down to the next floor."
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
--------------------
A/N: Hello there, I hope you're having a wonderful day!
Sorry if this chapter was lacking in action or appeared a bit boring, I wanted to show how the group was proceeding in a more methodic and military-like manner instead of just breezing through it.
So, what do you think? Was it lacking in detail, too simplistic, or something else? Please comment, I'm always open to feedback.
Also, join our Discord community if you want to. There I ask from time to time which novels you prefer I write, what things you want in those novels, and other things along those lines.
Well, that's it from me today, see ya.
Peace out~🍷😎