[Inside Estel]

[Ray point of view]

As our group are going to the designated area, I can see that the people are actually helping each other out. Some ant beastman who knows a preservation technique for meat offer his storage room so that the community can keep the meat supply for long. Other, who have extra flour, rice, corn and other staple foods start sharing it with each other who are less fortunate.

"Hope this will all be over soon"

"I hope what the old elven hero said will not happen"

"One can only hope..."

"This is hard, and I can't imagine how much harder will it be once the devil and the fallen god awaken"

"Let us pray to Goddess Achalasia that everything will be alright"

"Alright, time to see if the house over there need any help"

Seeing them like this further motivate our group

Of course, there are also other that try to take advantage of the situation, but they're soon getting questioned by the merchant guild for raising the price without thinking twice. Price surge is to be expected, but for them to increase it by ten folds of normal price at this stage is something unacceptable

"It's you guys. Good luck out there" [Alice's dad]

"Pleass come home safely" [Alice's mom]

"Thank you" [Ray]

The area we are designated is somewhere near Alice's parents inn. A peek at their inn and we can see that there are foreigners who are basically stuck here, inside the country. Stress as they are, they try their best to help other as well, especially Mrs Alice's parent as they're all getting their daily basic needs from them. Still, it's not as rowdy as usual. Situation aside, the usual sight of Mr Seraph who will usually make his daily "concert" here as the traveling angel bard is there no more. It feels strange but I'm sure Rean and the other are trying their best right now, and for that, so should we

"This is Liyana talking through Serpie from the orphanage, do you guys hear me?" [Liyana]

Liyana voice can be heard, as we made ourselves into the underground drainage system.

"This is Mile here, I can hear you pretty well" [Mile]

Mile, in response, answer the call, representing us all. All of us can hear the force transmission from Liyana's call, but to make thing simple, we only let Mile answer her, since there are other 10 groups answering her as well

"Good. I confirm that all ten groups are able to communicate seemlessly. The next periodic call will be an hour from now, so make sure to answer the call whenever possible. Also, if you think that the line will be unstable in certain area, please ensure that you call me so that I can relay it to other as well. Please also ensure that whenever you are going to split into a smaller group, you inform the other as well as me. Last but not least, stay safe and don't be afraid to make a call if you think you're in trouble. Liyana out" [Liyana]

With that, we uses the light magic stone and illuminate the damp dark drainage system. It's horrid in smell as one would expect, but a use of adaptability magic should do the trick.

Giant rats, giant flies start to swarm us all, as we begin scouting the area. Of course, us adventures, Valkyrie and knights alike can take care of it easily but

"Seeing the cute bunny golem dismantle them all sure is something..." [Valkyrie Junior A]

"Agree, but I'm just glad it isn't us on the opposite site of the attack" [Knight]

"Another thing we should be grateful for" [Ray]

"Should I burn the corpses?" [Young adventure]

"Please don't. You will make the carbon dioxide accumulate here. Will be dangerous" [Ray]

"As such, please refrain using any fire magic. Even earth as manipulating the structure around here can make it more unstable, or worse, collapsing" [Mile]

"Mrs Alice, Mrs Lisa, Mr Flinar and Mr Erinmorlin do warn us about it. As such, we should approach it just like how Mr Ash does back then" [Ray]

"Right"

Of course, it isn't to say we need complete restrictions when it come to using those magic, but it serve as an extra strong precaution for us all. Except Bobunny who can shoot earth magic, most of us who use earth magic manipulate the earth surrounding us, so we should be extra careful not to do that

Seeing as they are intersection up ahead,

"This is Ray speaking, we will be splitting up into two groups" [Ray]

"This is Liyana speaking, roger that. May I know further details" [Liyana]

As such, we make the update before splitting up.

Along the way, we encounter more rats and flies which is easily handle by Bobunny. As some of us have their mana run low due to the constant need to apply adaptability magic, we take rest here and there, drinking mana potion. Of course, we also ensure to answer the call from Liyana for her periodic update. So far, there are at least 25 smaller group after four after of underground exploration.

(The underground drainage system sure is a large one...) [Ray]

Plus, the group that went to the site where Lou Carcolh were spotted by Mr Ash seven years ago reported that there are none of them this time around. A good news and bad at the same time. Good since that mean we won't have to worry about the endemic to come once more, and bad since we are going in with the assumption of finding monster, particularly Lou Carcolh so that we can trace from where they're coming, and use the same route so that the adventure, Valkyrie and knights that are stuck outside can come inside

As we are down to our last four

"!" [Ray]

"Ray, what's wrong...!" [Mile]

"Did you hear that?" [Young adventure]

"A meow?" [Valkyrie Junior A]

"Let us take a look" [Ray]

~Firm Chuckling~

And what we see once we get there is

"A group of snow cat!" [Valkyrie Junior A]

"What's a monster from Ice Dungeon doing here?" [Young adventure]

"Doesn't matter. Mile, I'll mark this spot, so please call Liyana" [Ray]

"Already on it" [Mile]

A glimmer of hope for us all