Reychard's investigation team had now transformed into an execution team, and they've ventured into the cave not only to investigate but also to put an end to whatever was controlling the monster waves from behind.
As they delved deeper into the cave, the air enveloped them, heavy with the stench of decay and rot. The surrounding air was enough to make your nostrils flare in distaste.
Chloe covered her below face with a soft cloth, unable to stand the smell inside the cave.
Nikos handed Reychard and Liriel another magic lamp to aid them in navigating the darkness of the cave, but also cautioned them to keep the light to a minimum to avoid attracting the monsters.
At the front of the group, Liriel and Thalion scouted the area ahead, moving quickly and efficiently.
Liriel returned to the formation, reporting back to Nikos.
"Sir, we've found that the cave ahead is filled with complex branching paths, like some sort of labyrinth or a maze," Liriel reported to him.
"I see."
"Let's stop for a moment," Reychard ordered, as he also received his own report from Thalion.
Reychard approached Nikos, who was positioned at the back with Jarek. "Sir Nikos, do you have any suggestions on this situation? I only see that the thing we can do is try every branch, but it's definitely going to waste too much of our time. What do you think?"
Nikos thought for a moment about their options in this situation. A thing that could control a monster wave must have strong magic power, maybe we could use this to track the source of the thing behind all of this.
He turned to look at Chloe, "Lady Chloe, since you're an elite mage, I recall that you can detect a wave of magic power better than any of us. So could you use your magic to help us choose the right path?"
Chloe came closer to Nikos, "Yes, darling, I could definitely do that. But monsters also emit a wave of magic power, so maybe the path we choose could be misled by that."
Nikos nodded, understanding the limitations of her magic sense, "That is better than nothing, Lady Chloe. We'll still save more time by doing this."
"That is a nice idea you got, Sir Nikos," Reychard said.
"With this, we can skip some paths that lead to a dead end," Nikos explained, "we should keep going now, we can't waste the time."
"Right, let's move forward," Reychard led them again.
Everyone began to prepare again to continue their journey, but suddenly Jarek speak something up. "Masster, wait a minute."
Nikos turned to him, "What is it, Jarek?"
Which make everyone turned to look at Jarek.
"When we were going through this cave, I heard small strange noises and muffled sounds like whispers," Jarek explained what he had been hearing since the first time they entered the cave.
Thalion also added, "I think I heard those things too, but they were just faint sounds. At first, I thought it could be the sound of dripping water or other natural sounds. But now that you mention it, maybe it could be something else."
Nikos turned to Liriel, wanting to know about her part, and she nodded in agreement, indicating that she too had heard the sound.
"I see, so in the worst case scenario, let's think of this sound as a sign that there are monsters ahead. That way, we'll be ready against any monsters." Nikos said.
Reychard agreed. "Okay, let's proceed with caution, and be ready for anything we might encounter ahead." Reychard gave his instruction.
The team nodded in agreement, tilting their heads, and continued their journey inside the cave once again.
Outside the mysterious cave, in the Oakheart town, several hours had passed. The third wave of attacks was different from the previous ones, which had been all-out assaults.
This time, the monsters retreated back to the forest, but they didn't leave; instead, they took cover behind the outside trees.
Mesa, who was observing this, felt perplexed. Did they fall back to recover their wounded allies? Since when did the monsters become this intelligent?
The monsters could be seen tending to each other's wounds inside the forest. I can't believe this, they tried to wearing us down of our forces and morale, rather than going for a decisive victory. How did they know how to wage a battle of attrition?
As Mesa stood there in disbelief, watching the monsters, he heard the cries of the wounded adventurers inside the Oakheart town.
"Medic!" Guild Master Mesa gave the order.
Immediately, staff from the adventurer guild arrived, carrying a bunch of potions, and began helping the adventurers to mend their wounds.
Some healer adventurers also drank mana potions to recover their mana, and then, without resting, they helped in healing their comrades.
Mesa gazed around at the weary and wounded adventurers. Since the monsters were employing a battle of attrition strategy, it meant that this would be a long and grueling fight. Maybe, just maybe, we could hold the town for at least five to seven days.
He fixed his gaze on the distant forest, his eyes burning with a mixture of determination and desperation. Reychard, Nikos, I hope you kill the things behind these monster waves soon, before all these filthy creatures obliterate our town.
Back inside the mysterious cave, Reychard's execution team was making their way through one of the paths that Chloe had directed them towards.
The surrounding air was even more pungent than before, with the smell of decay and rot hanging heavy in the air.
The strange noise was also growing louder, with mumbled whispers and occasional hissing sounds echoing through the cave walls.
Marielle, who was in the middle of the group, was holding her staff tightly, and she whispered to her master, who was behind her, "Master, I feel anxious about this."
"You can do it, Marielle. We're supporting each other in here, and we'll do our best to slay whatever monsters reside in here," Nikos assured her.
Just then as the two have small conversation, Chloe's voice came from the front, "I sense a large amount of magic power throbbing ahead of us, I think—"
But before Chloe could finish speaking, many red eyes suddenly appeared out of the darkness ahead of them, then its moving quickly towards them.
"Get ready to fight," Reychard gave the order.
Everyone quickly drew their weapons.