The next morning, I woke up to the sound of someone urgently looking for me.
The owner of the voice was Aila.
“We need to hurry and get out of here!”
There was no time to properly put on my armor, so I just grabbed it and rushed outside the building.
Creak!
Not long after Aila and I exited the building, it began to tilt and then collapsed into the ground.
As I surveyed the village, it seemed many houses had met the same fate.
“Did an earthquake happen?”
“No, this is not an earthquake.”
The villagers had all come out of their homes, trembling in fear.
With their houses collapsing overnight, they were understandably anxious.
The village guards who had gone out to investigate returned and announced that they would report on what had happened, instructing everyone to gather in the plaza.
The plaza was a chaotic mix of villagers and the raid team.
A man, who seemed to be the captain of the guards, stood before the crowd, and beside him was Tenji.
It appeared that Tenji was affiliated with the village guard.
Then the captain of the guards spoke up.
“Everyone, what just happened is the work of monsters.”
“Can you explain properly? Is it serious?”
One villager, visibly frightened, pleaded with the captain.
“There are monsters moving underground. They are larger than small ones but smaller than medium-sized ones. They seem to travel in groups. Please move to the shelter.”
The village of Phaison had a shelter used in emergencies.
A cave in the rocky mountains with a floor made of stone.
If the villagers were moving to the shelter, it meant they were giving up their homes and the castle wall.
In the end, they had concluded that the monsters had crossed the castle wall and decided to take the last resort.
“What’s the situation outside?”
“Fire is still falling from the sky.”
Since it had consumed a considerable amount of mana, its duration was quite long.
If it was still active, that essentially meant the outside was engulfed in flames.
The guards guided the people to the shelter while the raid team stayed behind.
“Since it’s a sea of fire outside, is there no possibility of the monsters getting in now?”
When Isaac asked the captain of the guards, he nodded and replied.
“There are no living creatures around the village anymore.”
Even if they approached, they would burn to d*ath.
“There’s something I need to convey to the raid team. Please follow me.”
As I followed the captain of the guards, we entered one of the houses.
“Over here.”
Upon entering the house, there was a large hole in the middle of the floor.
“There is a path down there.”
“So, there are monsters that made the village like this underneath?”
“That’s likely.”
Going down without knowing if there were monsters underground was quite dangerous.
We didn’t know where the underground was connected, and in the worst-case scenario, there might be no exit.
“Let’s do this.”
Isaac assigned a few members of the raid team to gather some items.
Hearing this, Tooler gave the same command.
It seemed the two were thinking along the same lines.
A short while later, the raid team members returned, each holding ropes.
They intertwined the ropes together to create two thick lines.
“Some of you will stay behind to hold the ropes.”
Two members from each assigned team remained to secure the ropes.
The others were leaning into the hole where they could barely see the end.
The advance team would be the first to go down, followed by the rest.
Once the advance team arrived at the bottom, glowing lights spun around below.
A mercenary who could use simple magic went down to signal.
“They say it’s safe. Let’s go down.”
Grabbing the ropes, we slowly began to descend into the dark hole.
Inside was more spacious than expected, so it wasn’t uncomfortable as we descended.
When my feet hit the ground, the advance team that had arrived first was waiting nearby.
Below was a large, open space.
There was a path leading somewhere, much like a cave.
One of the advance team members called out to Isaac and spoke quietly.
However, since this place was underground, even quiet conversations could be overheard with focus.
Their discussion was extremely simple.
They were talking about an unidentified creature existing down there.
They suggested it would be wise to turn back.
Isaac wasn’t the type to be persuaded into retreating at this point.
Ignoring their suggestion, he led the advance team deeper inside.
As we followed the path, a massive building came into view.
The pyramid-like structure had a large gem sitting atop it.
There were very long and steep stairs leading down.
Given the torches installed at intervals, it was clear someone lived here.
We all began to tread quietly and carefully down the stairs.
Reaching the bottom of the stairs, there were two bizarre-looking creatures standing guard, holding something like spears.
They were slightly smaller than orcs.
Two mercenaries quietly approached and subdued the guards.
“Ugh!”
One mercenary who had taken down a guard hurriedly began rubbing his hands against the ground.
When another mercenary created water with magic and poured it on him, he finally showed a look of relief.
“What’s going on?”
“When I touched his fur, it felt incredibly prickly and my hands got hot.”
Although it was too dark to see clearly, the creatures had short fur growing on their bodies.
“There might be poison. Avoid contact with them as much as possible.”
As Isaac commanded, several knights retrieved their spears instead of swords.
The building seen from the bottom of the stairs was enormous in size.
“What in the world are these creatures?”
“Aren’t they monsters? Probably something like orcs.”
High-intelligence monsters can use fire and handle tools like humans.
Fire and tools are not exclusively human possessions.
We decided to inspect the building together.
Though the area was vast, there was only one place to search, so we didn’t bother splitting up.
“When possible, use magic from a distance rather than getting close.”
Tooler commanded the mercenaries to prepare for magic.
Isaac instructed those without spears to stay back.
As we reached what looked like the entrance to the building, several creatures similar to the ones we had just defeated were gathered.
“Grr…!”
They couldn’t speak but looked at us while making a hissing sound.
The weapons they held were made entirely of iron, looking rough yet sturdy.
The creatures began charging at us, brandishing their spears.
The knights in front parried their spears.
As spears clashed in battle, the mercenaries fired their magic.
Whoosh!
Several fireballs struck the creatures, but they didn’t cause major wounds.
The only one among us who was an archer, Tenji, lifted his spear and sword into the air.
His technique of launching weapons instead of arrows proved to be immensely powerful.
At Tenji’s gesture, the sword and spear flew toward the creatures and struck them.
“No, it didn’t penetrate?”
Tenji himself looked surprised.
The monsters suffered fatal injuries, losing body parts or having their torsos pierced by the attack.
“Wind Sword.”
I summoned the sword of wind and swung it with all my might.
A fierce gust of wind shot out, and just before it reached the creatures, one leaped forward and took the wind head-on.
Whoosh!
The creature hit squarely by the wind was torn apart.
“It seems magic works on them.”
It was a relief, but since using wind consumed quite a bit of mana, I couldn’t wield it freely.
The mercenaries attempted to see if other attack spells would be effective.
“They seem to be in pain when hit by ice.”
“Ice?”
I dispelled the wind sword in my hand and focused my mind.
I could create ice.
I could even shape it, but right now, I needed to ensure it didn’t break easily.
Clink!
I formed a large ice tower and used mana to levitate the ice.
“Go!”
Shooting objects using mana can yield extraordinary power.
As the chunks of ice shot toward the monsters, they began shrieking in panic and fled.
In the chaos, two or three were hit and fell down.
The fallen creatures perished from the knights’ powerful strikes.
“These aren’t monsters.”
A knight, examining the fallen corpses, prodded with his spear, revealing a magic stone from inside.
“Demons, huh?”
“The demons are living in groups.”
Even encountering one or two would be troublesome, the thought of them gathering in swarms brought a hint of fear.
They didn’t easily d*e from the knights’ attacks and could inflict unknown injuries if approached carelessly.
An extremely tricky foe to face.
At this point, a choice had to be made.
Should we turn back or continue further inside this building?
Coincidentally, Tooler and Isaac’s opinions diverged.
Isaac advocated for continuing the investigation, while Tooler suggested retreating.
“Isn’t the only real attack coming from Ririan dangerous?”
“If we set a proper strategy, we can manage.”
“What strategy? They are a group of demons. We wouldn’t stand a chance on our own.”
“Didn’t you just see? The attacks aren’t completely ineffective.”
The demons that fell had been handled by the knights.
If we formulated a good strategy, it might be possible to engage the demons.
“Ririan, can you teach that wind magic you just used to the mercenaries?”
At Isaac’s words, the expressions of the mercenaries slightly stiffened.
Wizards generally don’t share their magic freely.
Isaac, being a knight and from Latnia, made a statement without realizing this fact.
“If I teach you, the power won’t be the same, will it?”
The mercenaries practiced mana manipulation, but they couldn’t use refined mana.
If they could use refined mana, the magical attacks would have affected the demons even slightly.
“Ice worked, didn’t it?”
Indeed, the creatures seemed to panic and try to flee when confronted with ice.
The ice I created was merely launched using mana. Low purity ice.
The advantage of low purity ice is that it melts slowly and is quite strong.
“Ice, huh…”
Tooler pondered for a moment, then gathered the mercenaries.
After a brief discussion among themselves, Tooler cleared his throat and spoke.
“From now on, we’ll support with magic.”
“So we’ll keep investigating, right?”
“However, there is a condition. You must ensure our protection.”
“We’ll do that.”
An improvised magic unit was formed.
