I frowned at this news, because my visit to the Crystal Hills didn't help me in any way in understanding what to do next.

"And another interesting consequence of this miracle was the appearance of the zugs.” - Monk continued his story. - "They say that these creatures originated from the original Dwarves themselves. The Filth has changed them, but the blessing of the Weak Gods still supports their descendants. When the gods built the wall, the zugs hid from the light of the Great Sun in the dungeons of the Crystal Mountains. Even the First People could not eradicate this infection. But after the mountains had shrunk almost fifty times, the zugs had shrunk along with them, becoming small but no less dangerous creatures. Moreover, by shrinking in size, they were able to reproduce quickly. In just a few years, they filled all the surrounding land and since then have been a real scourge of these places. To get from one city to another, people have to rely on help of magicians, who are distant descendants of the First People who have preserved their power. I have heard rumors that the number of zugs attacking caravans has increased recently. Perhaps some new threat is driving these creatures away from the dungeons.”

After these words came to mind cthulhanoids who attacked the caravan. That's who could push the zugs, absolutely without straining. They were all magicians. Although, there was still the question of how effective their Chaos magic was against the Chaos creatures that were the zugs.

“So, the dungeons of the underground people are located under the Crystal Hills.” - I summed up my interlocutor's speech.

"Yes, indeed.” - He nodded. - "But you won't be able to get into these dungeons.”

"Why?" - I frowned darkly.

"Hordes of zugs is not problem. What are they can do to magician? The fact is that the dungeons have also decreased. The largest passageways of the Zug are used as burrows, in which they live. And in those passages that were used by ordinary dwarves, now only worms can get through.”

Yes, such an incident made it impossible for me to enter the dungeons I needed. Even if I dug through the hills and found the passageways I needed, it wouldn't help.

"Interestingly, I remember family history of a hunter whose home is near the Crystal Hills. His father's grandfather claimed that his father went hunting one day and returned a week later as a tiny man. According to him, he passed through some kind of cave and shrank. After that, the hunter left the house to go through the cave in the opposite direction and return to his true size, but did not return.”

The idea that there is a way to become a 'little finger' has given me back my former confidence in the future.

"Where does this hunter live? What's his name?" - I asked the monk.

"I don’t know you where he lives. This family has some secret methods of hiding from the zugs, so they built a house not far from the Crystal Hills and hunted, so to speak, the rare mushrooms and plants that grow in those places. And the name of each member of this family is Ingeus son of Ingeus. Ask around town about him. Maybe someone can tell you how to find him.”

When I got a purpose to search, my spirits rose and I jumped to my feet. However, before going further, I could thank the monk, especially since I already had a suitable gift.

"Brother Senan, you have been very helpful in my search. So please accept this small gift as my gratitude.” - With that, I gave to the monk the Soul Dream which I had bought in the Sanagar. It will be waste if I throw it away. Actually, I don't need it.

"That's it...” - The monk was speechless. - "Are you sure? This thing is worth a thousand gold coins.”

“Sure. For wizard like me, a thousand coins is nothing.”

"Well, then, I accept your gift. An extra hundred years of life has not hurt anyone yet.” - With that, Senan took the stone and hid it in a small wooden box taken from a desk drawer.

After saying good-bye to the monk, and then to the abbot of the monastery, whom I had favored with a dozen gold coins, I went to the city. Like Sanagar, Harshuta belonged to the luminous haze of the Great Wall, beyond which was the Great Desert, illuminated by the Great Sun. The gods who created all this heresy clearly suffered from megalomania. However, judging by the description of these creatures, they did not suffer from it, but enjoyed it.

As soon as I passed through the gates of the city, I encountered an obsequious guard, who immediately expressed a desire to help me with any issue. And since he even knew my name, it was clear that the caravanners had already spread rumors about my greatness.

As soon as I mentioned that I was looking for Ingeus son of Ingeus, the guard told me that he knew where to look for him, and took me to some slums. There, in one of the dirty pubs, He presented to me a man drunk in trash, unable even to stand on his feet. After I was sure that this individual was really responding to Ingeus's name, I applied a terrible punishment to him in the form of a sobering spell. And since I used the magic of Order, the effect was permanent and lifelong. From that day on, the hunter, unwittingly, became a confirmed teetotaler, because alcohol will no longer affected him.

After a brief educational conversation with the guard, confirmed by a preventive punch to the liver, the hunter appeared before me, ready to answer any question from the great magician. The life story of this hunter was not trivial. Like many generations before him, he was born and lived in a hunting lodge near the Crystal Hills. His business was neither shaky nor swollen, but the collected plants were enough for a very comfortable life. Only two months ago in his house appeared, as he said, 'disgusting worms with tentacles instead of heads', which literally ate his house, destroying the magical protection of that place. After that, the hunter and his family had to urgently flee to the city. They were able to take only the most necessary things with them, and all their hard-earned possessions were gone, being devoured by the hordes of zugs. Since then, the hunter began to roll on a slope to the bottom of society, drinking the last money

When I asked about the story of the shrunken great-great-grandfather, Igneus confirmed that such a family history really exists, but he does not know where the 'magic cave' is located. This information was so secret that it was lost a couple of generations ago. After that, I made the hunter to put mark of position of his house on my map, gave him a gold coin, and left him to make sure that he would never get drunk again.

After that, all I had to do is go straight to the marked point on the map. Along the way, I thought about how to find the coveted cave. According to the story, the main character was absent from home for a week. Taking into account his size, he has decreased by about fifty times. In a week, he could not walk more than three hundred and fifty kilometers, which at the right scale gives a circle with a radius of seven kilometers maximum. But most likely it is a circle with a radius of four kilometers or even less. In general, not so much. Of course, it would take a lot of effort to search such a territory, but I have magic. So, I hope I will not be stuck here for long time.

The hunter's house was lost between ravines overgrown with thick bushes. These plants were so bitter that even zugs refused to eat them. From a height of a couple of hundred meters, it was easy to find the right place. Of course, I had to fight off the zugs along the way, but my experience of traveling with caravan was not wasted, so no creature could get to me.

Already near the house itself, I noticed several cthulhanoids below, after which I abruptly dropped the altitude and tried to mask my energy as much as possible. After that, I crept to the ruins of the house and began to watch the creatures conducting some kind of excavation on this place. Now I have had enough time to observe cthulhanoids in 'natural habitat'. These creatures seemed to have no bones, their elongated bodies and limbs could bend at any angle in any place. In addition, their skin looked glossy, and it was covered with a disgusting slime. Because of this, the slime remained where they walked or touched something. Just by looking at those disgusting slimes I understood what I need to look for.

Hunter talked about the 'disgusting worms', but he described a typical cthulhanoids. By simple assumptions, it turned out that these creatures first entered the house in their true form, in the sense of size. And then they found a 'magic cave', with which they grew larger and became comparable to a human. So, I just had to follow the slime tracks on the ground to find the place I needed.

Around the house was 'trampled', so even from a distance I could see where these tracks lead. I went down to the bottom of the ravine a little to the side, found the less noticeable remnants of slime and followed them, carefully looking around. Usually, zugs flew in flocks, but sometimes there were solo ones. Such 'surprises' did not allow me to relax, forcing me to control the surroundings. Only fifteen minutes later I met a lone zug, with which there was clearly something 'wrong'. To be more precise, it was the size of an elephant.

As soon as the beast saw me, it leaped forward, crushing the bushes with a crash. At the end of this sprint, it flapped its wings, took a long jump, and was almost got me when I met it with magic. With the increase in size, zug's magic abilities also increased, so I couldn't kill it with the first attack, so I had to fly back and away. But then I got used to it and burned a hole in its stupid head, after which it stopped to think about attacking, because there was nothing to think with.