Having kept watch until late into the night, I finally closed my eyes to get some rest while Mika took over. As usual, I conducted control training for fighting spirit and spiritual power while entering light sleep.
Throughout the night, nothing out of the ordinary occurred, and the morning sun gradually rose without any incidents. Once everyone woke up, Mika swiftly got to work preparing breakfast. It was a simple meal of the leftovers from his catch yesterday, sandwiched between the bread we had brought with us.
The juice flowing from the meat helped soften the bread, making it easy to consume. It was impressive how Mika was able to take such factors into consideration while cooking. If it were up to me, I would have simply grilled it like we did for yesterday's dinner… Actually, come to think of it, I would probably skip the grilling altogether and just eat it raw, as the hassle of cooking it would be too much for me. While cooked meat was undoubtedly easier to eat, raw meat was also fine by me.
"Are you ready? Well then, let's go."
Under Marcellus's orders, we headed into the forest instead of returning to the main road. Despite the fact that it hadn't been maintained recently, the forest wasn't too overgrown, thanks to it being a planted one. We had no trouble walking through it.
As we headed east through the woods towards the mouth of the river, the scent of the sea grew stronger. It was only natural, considering how close we were getting to it. We continued onward, the four of us making steady progress, until we finally emerged from the woods and arrived at the river's mouth.
The shore of the river mouth was a rocky area filled with rocks of various sizes, ranging from large boulders to fist-sized stones. There were also sandbars in the middle of the river where tall grass had grown.
"Well then, let's start looking for the entrance to the cave. I know it exists, but I don't know its exact location. It's supposed to be a cave large enough for humans to hide in, so we should be able to find it quickly," Marcellus said.
(You're only now going to look for the cave?)
I wanted to say that they should have investigated the cave's location beforehand, but that was probably impossible. If a large group of people were to investigate this area, they would be at high risk of being discovered by the invading army.
I knelt down on the riverbank, aligning my fingers on my right hand and driving them into the ground. I hoped to detect any large cavities by sensing the resulting sound and vibration with my right hand and both feet.
But even with my keen senses, I had my limits. The unstable footing among the rocks made it difficult to get a read on the ground. Nonetheless, with a few repetitions, I felt like I might be able to figure it out. Understanding that, I withdrew my hand from the riverbank.
"…Is it over there?"
At that moment, Mika walked towards a single point. Did he just get an idea of the cave's location through my actions? If so, he must have far better hearing than me. What kind of beast was he synthesized with?
Mika went to a large rock near the boundary between the planted forest and the riverbank. He patted the rock and knelt down to examine something before standing up again.
"Mr. Marcellus, the cave is possibly this way." Mika said.
"Oh! You've already found it! Show us the way!"
Mika guided Marcellus to the exact location he had previously inspected, and upon removing the obstructing stones, they stumbled upon a corroded metal trapdoor that had been buried underneath.
Marcellus enhanced his strength with his fighting spirit and opened the door with a grunt. Inside was a straight ladder leading down. The ladder was longer than I had anticipated, and the bottom was barely visible even with my eyesight.
"This is the place, the one to take the lead…"
" I'll take the lead." Mika replied.
"Understood. Let's move in a single line."
After descending the ladder, we formed a single line and followed the narrow cave according to Marcellus's directions. Mika led the way, followed by Marcellus and Rinne, with me taking up the rear.
The area just past the ladder seemed to be a man-made tunnel reinforced with wood. The path was so narrow that we had to walk sideways, and the height was only as tall as an average adult human male.
While we were traversing the cave, Rinne seemed to be struggling with the narrow tunnel, feeling the pressure of the walls against her chest, and the rest of us, males, had no choice but to lower our heads and press on. As expected from an emergency exit, it was inconveniently designed for regular use.
The cave was pitch black, but the lantern held by Mika, who was taking the lead, illuminated our path with its convenient light emitting abilities. This thing was brought by Marcellus and was a useful tool that emitted light when infused with spiritual power.
"Is this where the man-made cave ends…oh, it was so narrow!"
After trekking for a while, we finally emerged from the man-made cave into a wider cavern. Marcellus stretched out his body while exclaiming with relief, and Rinne grimaced while clutching her chest in discomfort. Mika and I were fine, so we stood motionless.
In the meantime, I took a look around the cave. The ceiling was high and adorned with thin, pointed rocks, and the width was spacious enough for five people to walk side by side. The temperature was slightly chilly, and the sound of trickling water could be heard from a nearby source. Although the ground was predominantly exposed rock, I spotted patches of moss and mushrooms sprouting in certain areas.
The presence of living creatures could be felt, but they were all very small and feeble. They were probably insects or small animals that survived by eating moss and mushrooms. I didn't feel any sense of danger from them.
"Phew! Give me that for a moment. The next direction is... Whoa, it's exactly as he said."
After he finished stretching his body, Marcellus took the lantern from Mika and shone it around the area near the man-made cave's exit, searching for something. Eventually, he found a sign covered in thick moss.
He cleared the moss away from the sign until the letters were visible. On the sign, there was a right-facing arrow with "Other side of the shore" written above it, and a left-facing arrow with "Underground lake" written above it. Ah, now we knew which direction led to the exit.
Marcellus returned the lantern to Mika, and we continued walking in a single line towards the right. The cave gradually sloped upward. Maybe it was connected to the ground surface.
However, since this one was a natural cave, it was very difficult to walk through. There were many high steps, and the ground was uneven and slightly damp. It was fortunate that there were no side tunnels or forks.
"Are you okay?"
"Y-yes, thank you…"
Out of the four of us, Rinne seemed to have the lowest physical ability and sometimes couldn't climb over high steps. Mika would always lift her up by embracing her waist and jumping upward. Although Mika acted as usual, Rinne's face always turned red.
Marcellus watched the two of them with a smirk on his face. I couldn't understand why Marcellus was doing that, so I just tilted my head in confusion.
"Mr. Marcellus, that over there…"
"Oh, that must be it."
After trekking for a while in the cave, Mika, who was leading the way, suddenly spotted something and gestured for us to take a look. It turned out to be a small lateral passage on the wall, similar to the one we had descended from earlier. Although the cave itself could potentially lead us to the surface, this seemed to be the right way to get to the exit we were aiming for.
We crawled through the narrow passage, making scraping noises as we went. Ahead of us, there was another ladder that led up. After climbing it Mika reached for the ceiling hatch and tried to push it open….but it wouldn't budge. Something seemed to be blocking it. Even after strengthening his body with fighting spirit, he couldn't lift it. Consequently, we had no choice but to descend back down the ladder.
"Hmm, what should we do now…Oh, that's right… What's your name?"
Marcellus turned to me and asked, but I had no name to offer, so I simply shook my head in response. Seeing how Marcellus was baffled by my reaction, Mika intervened in order to explain.
"Mr. Marcellus, he doesn't have a name," Mika spoke up.
"No name? But he must have had a name when he was still a human, right?" Marcellus questioned.
"Well, that's…guhh" Mika wanted to say something, but then suddenly clutched his chest and collapsed to the ground. Kneeling and gasping for air, Mika looked to be in intense pain. Rinne rushed over to him and gently rubbed his back, trying to offer comfort. The situation persisted for a while.
"What happened? Are you okay?" Marcellus asked.
"I-I'm fine… I've calmed down. I apologize. It seems to be related to information I was forbidden to divulge. I cannot speak of it,"
"I see… Sorry about that. Then how about we call you 'Mr. Scorpion'? I heard that you were able to slice through the armor of a white knight with your power. Can you use that power to destroy the door and whatever is blocking it?" Marcellus proposed.
I nodded at Marcellus' curt order and quickly climbed the ladder. Standing in front of the door, I drew my black sword, crafted from my own pincers, and struck the door with all my might. The sword sliced through the metal door and embedded itself in something on the other side. When I pulled the sword back, I saw small wood chips sticking to the blade.
Perhaps a fallen tree was blocking the door from above. Did a tree in the planted forest fall over? Anyway, there seemed to be no other way to open the door but to destroy it and the fallen tree with this sword.
I struck the door with my sword again and again, hacking away at the door and the fallen tree on top of it. After striking it about dozens of times, I heard a cracking sound from the fallen tree above.
Now all that remained was to push through with brute force. I pressed my body against the ladder and flicked my tail towards the battered door.
With a deafening boom, the door was blown away, and the fallen tree on top of it got shattered into pieces. The bright sunlight streamed in through the exit where the door used to be, causing me to squint my eyes involuntarily.
The three noticed the light and started to climb up the ladder. Before they emerged from the hole, I stepped outside and checked the surroundings for safety.
The exit seemed to be in the middle of the planted forest, surrounded by trees. The door was apparently located in a cabin or something similar within the forest. It seemed that the fallen tree had blocked the door and trapped it inside.
"Wow, you did quite a number on that. Let's hide the evidence and head towards the occupied territory," Marcellus said.
Because of my forceful approach, everything on top of the door had been blown away, and it would certainly attract attention. So, I took the initiative to gather the debris of the door and the broken tree and dug a hole to bury them.
While I did that, Mika and Rinne were busy placing branches over the entrance to the hole, covering them with soil, and topping it off with leaves until it blended in seamlessly with the surrounding environment.
We then spent the rest of the day hiding in the planted forest until sundown before making our way towards the northern side of the forest. After we made our way through the trees, there we saw it: a sprawling field of golden wheat shimmering under the warm glow of the sun.