It took their support a few minutes to copy our map.
The three of us gathered together as we let them have a breather. Reina's hand was curled tight. The fierce undercurrent of anger in her demeanor was evident even if the only indication on her face was the sharp glare she had.
"I feel kind of uneasy just letting them go back on their own."
Reina pursed her lips at my words. "They have to at least be able to make the trek back."
I turned to them, "Do you recall where they exited through?"
"There." They pointed to an entirely different passageway ways off to the side of the cavern. Its entrance, smaller compared to the others.
My concern was the chance of the team, who caused the chain, waiting around and looking for an opportunity. It was impossible for them to not know the consequences of causing a chain. It was possible they would try and prevent the news from spreading out.
While the professors did say that they could observe the things happening inside through certain magical equipment, I honestly didn't have that much confidence in their words. They said it was noticeable devices, yet I didn't see any at all.
I got closer to our huddle. "Reina, do you trust the professors when they said they'll be observing us inside?"
"No. The only reason I asked that question in the first place was to dissuade any attempts like this."
A muted sound of astonishment left my lips. That explained why she's furious.
"How likely is it that that team would interfere with them while resurfacing?"
Reina tilted her head down in thought. "They went there, right?"
"We can go there for now, if you'd like. We still have three hours to spare. As long as we get to the checkpoint in time, we can just hurry back to make it."
She nodded. "I'd like that."
"We're done. Thank you so much! We'll make sure to repay you!" All five of them walked up to us and bowed in gratitude as they handed us our map back.
We waved off their thanks and watched as they entered the passage we came out from.
With us being on our own again, Vera spoke up. "Let's go. I'm a bit worried too."
With everyone in agreement, we walked into the small cave passage.
I held out my lantern to check for tracks. There were some traces of indented steps. It seemed like not many people took this path. The passages we've been through so far all had numerous tracks of people going by. Some of the tracks were recent so it at least confirmed that they went through here.
The path was long and narrow with twists and turns, but no forks. The manaliths giving out ambient light grew scarcer and scarcer as we trudged on this path until nearly none remained.
We eventually came upon a sunken dark empty cavern. I moved in front of Vera, placing her at the rear.
The scent of iron was heavy and distinct. Reina and I got on our guards.
The only sound present was the pitter-patter of a liquid as it dripped down into the floor. The light from our lanterns weren't enough to lit up the cavern in its entirety.
The coppery tang of the air warranted severe caution. A pain-filled groan sounded out and was quickly silenced by a smack.
That confirmed something was here.
I whispered under my breath. "Vera, keep the exit clear in case we need to run."
Reina and I shared a look before we started walking forward, ever so slowly. Whatever those things are, they most likely already knew we were here and were just not attacking, waiting for us to fully enter the cavern.
"Vera, light please."
There was no response.
I looked back at her. She was a bit zoned out. I tapped her cheek to wake her up.
"Oh?!" Her eyes widened as she shook out of her shock. "Are you okay?"
She took a big deep breath and smiled. "Yeah. What is it?"
"Light up the cavern please."
She nodded. Since it was a field magic, a partly methodical magic would work best at her current level in this situation. It would also free her up to do something else in the interim.
"10 Mauss, Convert to light at a rate of 5W, end of mana thread." I couldn't feel it, but I knew she extended a thread of her mana into the cavern and placed it over the entrance so it wouldn't blind us. She had to maintain enough concentration to maintain the mana thread while keeping our exit clear.
The cavern lit up. There was a sudden steep decline right at the cavern opening. But, more importantly, we found the source of the smell.
Streaks of fresh blood painted the decline red. The edge of the pseudo-cliff was marked with bloody fingerprints.
Reina and I walked closer to the edge and looked below.
There, we saw a contingent of goblins walking around aimlessly. They showed no indication of noticing our presence even though we were literally above them with a bright light source.
I saw four men scattered around, two of them heavily injured. One had lighter injuries, while the last one had little to no visible injuries at all.
The one with least injuries was huddled up in a far corner of the cavern, quietly looking right at us with tears in his eyes. Visibly shaking, he placed a finger over his lips.
I shared a look with Reina again. That probably meant they were blind and could only hear. That would explain why one had little to no injuries at all. Luckily, the chests of the two heavily injured guys were still moving, indicating they were still alive.
I caught the guy's eye as I pointed at the goblins below. I made a walking motion with my index and middle fingers, and then pointed out the decline.
He lightly and hesitatingly shook his head, and did a little shrug.
I nodded at him and motioned him to keep safe.
We reconvened with Vera and started whispering.
"We'll save them."
Reina's whispered voice was filled with conviction. I gave my okay and started talking.
"If it's true that they can't climb up the decline, we can make as much noise as we can at the bench crest and gather them below us. Vera can then use magic to take them all out."
It was a very rudimentary plan and hinged on a completely unreliable piece of information.
"If they can climb the decline, we can pick them off one by one as they come up by killing them or pushing them back into the cavern. Let's start with something quiet for now."
"Are you ready Vera?"
She took another deep breath before she nodded.
This time, all three of us walked up to the crest. There was a goblin wandering aimlessly directly below us.
I started out with a whisper. "Test."
The previous lethargic goblin suddenly jerked and lunged up into our direction. It quickly hit the slanted wall and tried clawing into it, trying to climb up higher towards the noise it heard. Its initial distance covered was a lot, but it gradually started sliding down.
If I had to eyeball the steepness of the incline, it was probably around 60 degrees and with a height of like 6 meters. It made sense that they couldn't scale up towards us. This also meant that we had to find a way to give them first aid and transport them up the cliff.
Having learned enough, I shouted once. "COME HERE!"
Immediately, all the goblins languishing around sprinted and ran over each other as they raced towards us.
Ah shit. I forgot to take into account the possibility of them climbing on top of each other.
"Vera, conserve mana and chant. Now!"
Vera had to conserve her mana since she was the only one who could cast a simple healing spell between the three of us. Reina was staring off to the side, looking back and forth between every member of the 4-man team trapped below, her fists clenched tight.
"Small, extend and pierce with force."
Most of the goblins were now right by the wall, and they were gradually climbing up on each other wildly.
The inclined wall jutted out spikes all over, piercing and killing most of the goblins.
Vera slumped down in exhaustion. While it might not have been mana intensive, it was incredibly intensive in terms of concentration especially when you consider just how many spikes she created.
Looking back at the entrance one last time to check if our rear was clear, Reina and I jumped down into the leftover horde.
We used the spikes as footholds as we descended down the slope, making sure to strike at the surviving goblins still on the wall. It wouldn't do to let one slip and climb up to meet Vera.
We landed on the floor with our backs turned to each other.
Maybe we should've thinned them out more before jumping straight down.
Reina nudged me. I took the hint and roared.
The horde swarmed in.