*Cling*

*Clang*

“Whew… it’s done!”

A certain half-dwarf looked at a piece of armor that he had created. He placed it to the side while grabbing a small monocle. After holding it out in front of the item that he made he could see floating words above it.

“Good, next I’ll make the greave, then it will be time for the poleyn… But first things first! He he…”

Bernir stepped out of the secret workshop and sat himself down on a wooden rocking chair that he made himself. In his hand was a dark bottle filled with beer he had previously brought over. Thanks to Roland’s runic fridge he was even able to keep it cool through the day.

“Working for a Runesmith sure is great!”

He cheered to himself while taking a swig. It had been about a week since his boss had gone out on the expedition. From what he knew, it would last for at least two more weeks before they returned so he had the whole place to himself.

‘Should I bring that girl over…’

Bernir smirked a bit after remembering a certain waitress that he met at the local tavern. She was a similar mix to his own race and he was getting good vibes. Then he recalled his young boss and how he had told him that he would know if there were other people here. Bringing over guests that he did not approve of, was strictly forbidden.

‘A wench is not worth losing this job over…’

The idea was quickly shelved after he remembered the previous months. He was finally able to reach a tier 2 class and the future looked bright. What if his boss decided to kick him to the curb after finding some knickers stashed behind the couch.

“I need to finish this armor before he comes back, with runes on it will sell for a high price!”

Since Roland had gone away Bernir had been busy with work. He didn’t sleep much and the drinking of alcohol had also gone down slightly. His intent was to surprise his boss with an intermediate deep steel suit of armor of his own making.

From his calculations and current speed, he would have it ready in about ten days. His fast pace was all thanks to several runic tools that he was able to use now. Soon he was back at it but unbeknownst to him, he was being watched by an unknown guest.

“...”

A shadowy figure was hidden away upon a faraway tree. He had a portable telescope in hand and was looking through it at the only person present in the walled-off house. The person on a tree continued to watch until the half-dwarf ducked back into the house before leaving.

At a steady pace, he returned to the city and headed over to the part of town that Roland had his second run-in with Armand. In a similar-looking establishment, he found a group of three people sitting at a table.

“Okay, what did you find out?”

One of the men asked.

“As I suspected he is living by himself there, no signs of that Wayland character. How about you?”

The man answered while all of the people present here smirked.

“Yeah, I've dug up some information from the guild. Listen to this... A week ago a large expedition into the dungeon was started, it wasn’t officially posted but that bastard should be gone for another week or two…”

“So, are we going to move? I've heard things about that Wayland… remember the boys from Dread End? No one has heard from them ever since they tousled with that guy, he even broke their legs...”

Another person from the group commented while downing an alcoholic drink.

“Yeah… if we do this, we will have to skip town, the guild is also getting involved with him.”

“I agree, there might not be a chance like this ever again. He must have many magical contraptions stashed away along with gold! We can leave the island and sell them off at the mainland guilds.”

“That will be best, the guild doesn’t have a strong presence here yet, we can always come back later when things calm down. We need to prepare the escape route first, check when the ships are leaving, we’ll then join the caravan and head to the port town...”

The group of four chatted for a bit more before leaving. Their faces were covered by robes so no one could really get a good look at them. Even without it, most people knew to evade these thieving types that could slit your throat for a silver coin.

…

“We should have enough water to last us for a while.”

Roland showed off a leather water container that he brought onto the trip. It was a regular spatial bag that was filled with only water. Thanks to the spatial magic the amount of water that it could contain was truly immense.

“As for food… It’s mostly bread and dried meat…”

On the other hand, the rations of food would be limited. He only had an emergency portion for himself while most of the rest was left with the porters.

“Oh my, what will we do?”

Lucille panicked a little bit, the group of three and a wolf were now around each other. Roland had asked them about their belongings as they might have to stay in this cave for a while.

“Don’t worry My Lady, you can have my share!”

Robert quickly replied while Roland rolled his eyes. He was the only one with any food or water but his older brother didn’t even think about asking for it. It was as if it was a given that he would need to share it with the group of three.

“It’s Sir. Wayland’s food… he should decide …”

On the other hand, this girl had more sense, he was even questioning her noble routes. She didn’t act as one of those stuck-up girls that he saw on some of the noble get-togethers he had to attend. Most of them were more similar to the young woman that liked to stick close to  Percival.

“Before we divide anything we need to decide if we are moving or staying...There are monsters inside… they could also be a source of nutrients.”

Even though most people didn’t eat monster meat it didn’t mean it was not possible. Most monsters were just too wiry, some poisonous and some not even made from flesh in the first place. If they found any monsters that could be eaten remained to be seen.

“Monsters inside? Shouldn’t we just wait for the rescue party? Sir Robert?”

She looked to Robert who looked a bit troubled. None of them had much experience with dungeons.

“Lady Lucille… I’m not sure if they can form a rescue party this fast… we might have to remain here for many days…”

Roland was a bit surprised that Robert didn’t sugarcoat it but this would hasten the process.

“He is right, the main camping area wasn’t that far from that location. They will probably return there and have some of my party members go through the lava lake…”

Roland wasn’t sure if the exam would be abandoned just like that. Now with the important noble lady trapped here, they would probably send for help but might also remain here and wait. They had all the provisions so they could wait it out till a proper rescue party formed from the adventurers outside.

“H-how long will that take Sir Wayland?”

“How long?... If they are fast, three to four days… if not it could take weeks… finding adventurers that can climb the chasm down won’t be that easy… they might have to bring a specialist from an outside town which might push the rescue operation further back…”

He continued talking and with each theory, the rescue became farther and farther away. In a worst-case scenario, they could be stuck here for even a month. With only food for a couple of days, it would be hard not to starve.

Roland and Robert had higher vitality stats than Lucille, which would allow them both to last longer than the mage. She on the other hand would feel it the worst, then there was also the hot stuffy air which only made them sweat. This would make them lose precious water and also salt plus minerals with it.

“Sir Robert… I think Sir Wayland should make the decision…”

“Lady Lucille?”

“He has the most experience from all of us and we would have died if he didn’t rescue us… I just froze...”

Lucille dropped her head in shame as she recalled her clinging to Robert while they were outside of the cliff.

“If that is what the Lady wishes…”

Robert looked at Roland in a strange way, these were not the eyes of the young boy that liked to punch him whenever they came across each other. Then he did something even more unexpected by walking forward and bowing.

“As a Knight of Arden, I must thank you for saving the Lady and Myself. We from the Arden estate always repay our dues!”

“Ahh… me to…”

Lucille for some reason moved right next to Roland and started bowing as well. These two were truly strange, they did not know his noble routes yet they still lowered their heads. This was something unfathomable, even less for someone like this lady who was from a viscount family and was also a magician.

“You don’t need to bow… I’m just following my contract…”

Rolan coughed into his palm awkwardly and quickly turned around. The detection device that he previously used was still in one of his hands. He tried to forget about the embarrassing situation by activating it. 

This item didn’t go unnoticed as Lucille quickly looked over his shoulder. What she saw was an illuminated map of some sorts with various dots of different coloring.

“Oh, what is that Sir Wayland?”

“Ah… it’s just the map of this area… do you see the red dots, those are monsters…”

He gave her a short explanation of this map while also pointing that not far from here there was some kind of monster lurking. There weren’t that many red dots there, only two. This also meant that the swarm of volcanic worms was not here.

“Monsters? Where are they?”

Robert on the other hand looked at the map but then quickly moved in front of the two. He looked into the dimly illuminated cavern by Agni’s forehead gem.

“The monsters haven’t noticed us yet, we should be able to surprise them but first, tell me about your weapons…”

Roland could see that Robert was missing his shield, he only had a one-handed sword with him along with a hidden dagger as a backup weapon.

Their frost mage had lost her main magical staff during the fall but her satchel was still there. In it, she had some magical items along with potions and a backup one-handed rod. Roland even contemplated giving her his oversized rod of frost magic but due to the peculiar operating system it was running on, it would be hard to control for anyone other than him.

“Let us head out.”

For now, Robert and Roland both stayed in the front while Agni was given guard duty with Lucille. The Ruby wolf was tasked to make noise if he spotted anything creeping up from behind. Even though this was still only a one-way cave it didn’t mean that monsters couldn’t burrow through the walls or use some sort of stealth skills. Lucille was given Roland’s mapping sphare as he had to pay attention.

“Looks like it's a volcanic variant of a Skolopendra…”

Roland peeked out of the corner and saw an insect-like creature that looked close to what a centipede would look like. Its hide was covered in dark red carapace and it had many legs.

“These types of monsters can’t see well… watch out for their spit, it’s hot magma.”

The common variant of this tier 2 monster mostly spat out poison at their opponents. This poison if inhaled would slowly seep into their victim's body rendering them immobile. Thus it was quite the troublesome creature, luckily this volcanic cousin didn’t possess this attribute.

“There are two of them… stand back for a moment. When I give the signal, we’ll attack together, Sir Robert was it?”

His true identity wasn’t revealed yet and he was still resolute in keeping it this way. Robert only nodded at the question while slowly moving his sword into position.

Roland grasped his magical rod and pointed it at the creatures. They had remained silent so they hadn’t been spotted quite yet. This monster was practically blind and would mostly use its antennae to locate its prey.

Soon it felt something but it was too late as a basketball-sized ball of ice collided with its head. The monster didn’t suffer much damage from the ball of ice but was rendered paralyzed due to the sudden drop in temperature. Its friend that was to the side suffered the same fate.

“Now!”

Robert and Roland dived in for the kill. Roland switched out from his magical rod to the arming sword that was attached to his hip. Both of them quickly severed the insects' heads in one strong slash, killing them instantly.

The two men didn’t drop their guard just yet as they observed the surroundings. Luckily for them, Roland’s detection device was working as intended and now the two red dots were gone and no monsters remained.

“Good work, Sir Robert, Sir Wayland.”

Robert smiled at Lucille that peeked her head out of the corner while Roland just nodded his head. He pushed the creature over with his rod and looked at the spot that he cut off its head.

“Don’t think this one’s edible....”

The two nobles looked like he was a madman for even considering such a thing but they didn’t voice their thoughts. There was one member from the party that saw this as an opportunity to feast.

“Woof!”

“You sure you want to eat that…go ahead then...”

Agni started nibbling on the monster meat that was now exposed after the slicing. Everyone looked at the ruby wolf with slight disgust after witnessing him feasting on giant insect remains. At least this meant that they had one less mouth to feed, the wolf would even be able to consume raw monster bodies to sustain himself.

“That spot is…”

“So you can tell?”

Lucille being a mage had the mana sense skill as well. She could clearly tell where the mana stones were hidden inside of the monster's remains. Agni could do this as well and he was in the process of devouring one of the mana stones as they were speaking.

“It’s a special skill he developed, he can’t eat too many of those stones though.”

“Fascinating…”

Robert looked between the two without knowing what they were talking about. Before he could mope for being left out of the conversation they continued deeper into the cave. The plan was to see if it led anywhere with an exit while remaining vigilant.

They scouted further into the cave, after about two hundred meters they came across more monsters. This time around it was a strange slug-like creature that was crawling on the ceiling. It had a red tint to it and the mucus it was soaked in looked quite hot. Like the other monsters in here, it could not handle ice magic at all, dropping dead after a single hit from an ice ball.

Thanks to Roland’s detection device they were able to avoid any hidden monsters and luckily no traps were along the way either. After fifteen minutes of walking all of them halted, in the distance, they saw some kind of strange light. It looked green at first but then switched to blue.

It was in the distance and the mapping device showed a larger open area there, along with a couple of red dots. It looked like a more open battle was approaching them with more enemies this time around. Roland stopped in his tracks and looked to Robert and after a moment of silence, he handed him his runic shield that he wore on his back.

“Here, it’s set to an ice shield if you activate it.”

“Ah… you have my thanks.”

Robert had lost his shield during the fall and with only a one-handed blade he would not be at his best. Roland on the other hand had his magical rod along with his sword, plus his armor that could also cast some shielding spells.

Before entering they quickly discussed the combat strategy, then they headed towards the light. Maybe after arriving in that bright room they would be able to figure out where they dropped down to...