Chapter 101: Encounter with a Pack of Level Two Earth Lizards 2

“Looks like this is the safest way.”

Kent thought for quite a while before finally settling on a plan.

There was really only one method he considered reliable.

He would plant two land mines at the fork in the tunnel.

They were the only two mines he had brought with him, and Kent had made them using the finest magical crystal powder available.

Once Kent made up his mind, he rarely hesitated.

If the path he chose led him straight into the Earth Lizards, then he and Daphne could retreat back here, and the mines would serve as a defensive measure.

If they were lucky enough not to encounter the pack at all, then everything would depend on whether the Earth Lizards decided to pursue them.

And if they did...

Kent certainly would not mind giving them a little surprise.

“Daphne, which way should we go?”

After carefully planting the mines and marking their positions so that they would not accidentally trigger them later, Kent turned to her.

Truthfully, he had no idea which route was the better choice.

“I—I don’t know.”

Daphne answered in a fluster.

There was no way she dared make such an important decision herself.

In the end, Kent chose the passage leading upward.

His reasoning was simple.

He was worried that the downward tunnel might lead to the second underground level.

That possibility might sound unlikely, but in this world, who could say what was truly impossible?

This time, Kent and Daphne moved much faster than before.

Even so, they did not run at full speed.

They still needed to conserve their strength in case they encountered danger.

“There’s running water ahead. Let’s rest for a while before we continue.”

Kent noticed beads of sweat forming on Daphne’s forehead.

At the same time, the sound of flowing water had become increasingly clear.

So he decided that they should stop, recover their strength, and eat some dried rations.

After walking a little farther, the tunnel finally came to an end.

Beyond it lay an enormous cavern.

Jagged rocks were scattered across the ground, while stone pillars and stalagmites rose from the darkness in irregular clusters.

The sound of running water came from somewhere on the far side of the cavern.

The chamber itself was enormous, roughly two thousand meters across.

For the moment, Kent could not see any other tunnel entrances around its edges.

He carefully surveyed the surroundings.

Nothing appeared dangerous.

Only then did he and Daphne begin moving toward the sound of water.

But after they had gone barely fifty meters, the situation suddenly changed.

Kent heard a faint scraping sound.

Something was crawling across the stone.

At almost the same moment, he sensed fluctuations of earth-element magical power.

“Move! Back!”

Kent shouted.

He spun around, grabbed Daphne, and immediately started running.

Daphne had sensed it as well.

But just as Kent turned, an even stronger surge of earth-element magic erupted behind them.

His expression changed at once.

They had fallen into a trap.

Kent swept his gaze across the cavern in an instant.

There was no time to hesitate.

He immediately pulled Daphne toward the direction of the running water.

The earth-element fluctuations there were noticeably weaker.

“Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!”

The moment Kent rounded a massive boulder, he spotted two Earth Lizards crouched ahead.

Both were already gathering magical power, preparing to cast.

Kent reacted without hesitation.

Several Wind Blades shot from his hand.

The two Earth Lizards were in the middle of concentrating their magic and had no chance to dodge.

They could only watch helplessly as the razor-sharp blades tore into their bodies.

Yet the creatures’ defenses were far tougher than Kent had expected.

The Wind Blades ripped open their hides and left both badly wounded, but failed to kill them outright.

Kent was just about to finish them off when a powerful magical fluctuation suddenly erupted from behind him.

His body stiffened.

There was something else back there.

And judging by the intensity of that magical aura...

it was much bigger.

“BOOM!”

Just as Kent rounded another massive boulder, an enormous Earth Spike slammed into the ground behind him.

The cavern shook with a deafening roar.

Kent cursed inwardly.

These Earth Lizards were far smarter than he had expected.

The cavern was filled with scattered boulders and jagged rock formations, providing perfect cover for an ambush.

Kent was only a Level Two mage, so the range of his magical perception was still extremely limited.

Daphne was merely Level One.

And although the night-vision goggles allowed them to see clearly in the darkness, they could not see through solid stone.

The rest of the Earth Lizards had hidden themselves among the rocks, while their leader had positioned itself on the opposite side, cutting off Kent and Daphne’s retreat.

Judging from the power of that last Earth Spike, the leader had to be at least a peak Level Four magical beast.

If that was true, then this Earth Lizard pack probably contained several dozen members at the very least.

It was already a fairly large colony.

“Boom! Boom!”

“Whoosh! Whoosh!”

For several thousand meters around them, violent magical fluctuations rippled through the cavern.

Huge rocks crashed against one another.

Wind Blades tore through the darkness.

Kent needed only a single second to decide on a strategy.

The logic was simple.

Just like in the games he had played back on Earth—

clear out the small monsters first, then deal with the boss.

The maze of boulders had initially helped the Earth Lizards hide from him.

Now, however, those same rocks were slowing down their leader.

If they had been fighting inside a narrow tunnel, that powerful Earth Lizard would only need to cast a few spells in succession to force Kent into a desperate retreat.

Here, at least, Kent still had room to maneuver.

By now, he had already killed more than a dozen Earth Lizards.

Even so, his nerves remained taut.

Magical beasts possessed considerable intelligence.

Kent was not particularly afraid of these weaker Earth Lizards.

What truly worried him was the leader pursuing them from behind.

Fortunately, Earth Lizards were not especially noisy creatures.

Otherwise, the cries of the wounded alone might have been enough to drive anyone mad.

There was no helping their durability, though.

Earth-element magical beasts had always been famous for their defensive strength.

Yet in the middle of the fight, Kent overlooked one important problem.

The smell of blood.

Any experienced adventurer or mercenary would have known to leave the area immediately once so much blood had been spilled.

Blood in the Underdark rarely brought anything good.

More often than not, it attracted even more magical beasts.

“AOOOHHH! AOOOHHH!”

Kent had just killed his thirty-second Earth Lizard and was preparing to continue his deadly game of hide-and-seek with the pack leader when an unfamiliar roar suddenly echoed through the cavern.

The effect was immediate.

Every remaining Earth Lizard froze.

Then, in the span of a heartbeat, they scattered in all directions and vanished among the rocks.

Even the pack leader, which moments earlier had been driven nearly mad with rage, turned around and fled without the slightest hesitation.

Kent stared after them in surprise.

Whatever creature had made that sound...

even the Earth Lizard leader was terrified of it.

And that could only mean one thing.

Something far more dangerous was coming.

The Earth Lizard leader disappeared from sight in the blink of an eye.

Seeing that, Kent immediately grabbed Daphne and ran.

He had no idea what kind of magical beast had made that strange cry, but judging from the Earth Lizard leader’s reaction, it was definitely not something they wanted to meet.

Kent fixed his eyes on the traces left behind by the fleeing Earth Lizard leader and chased after it with everything he had.

“Why are we taking this passage?” Daphne asked as she ran beside him.

“Because we’d be idiots not to!”

Kent answered between heavy breaths.

“That Earth Lizard leader ran the moment it heard that sound. That means it knows exactly what kind of creature is coming.”

“If even it knows where to flee, why would we choose some other route?”

Kent was completely unfamiliar with the terrain of the Underdark.

Given the choice, he would much rather run into the Earth Lizard leader again.

At least against that creature, he still had some chance of surviving.

But something capable of terrifying a peak Level Four magical beast into fleeing without even turning to fight...

There was no way its level could be low.

The thought only made Kent more frustrated.

“Which bastard said the first underground level only had low-ranking magical beasts?”

Anything capable of frightening a peak Level Four beast to this extent was obviously far from weak.

Still, Kent did not slow down.

At a time like this, speed was life.

As he ran, Kent glanced at Daphne beside him.

She looked almost completely relaxed.

Seeing that, Kent secretly made up his mind.

Once he returned, he absolutely had to learn battle aura.

In an underground environment like this, a mage without physical enhancement was at a severe disadvantage.

Kent was already exhausted, but he did not dare stop.

Daphne, meanwhile, was still comfortable enough to wipe the sweat from his face while running.

Kent could only give her a grateful look.

At the same time, he felt thoroughly depressed.

His level was higher than Daphne’s, yet somehow he was the slower one.

Of course, Kent conveniently forgot one important fact.

He was a mage.

How many mages in this world would ever be expected to sprint through underground tunnels like this in the first place?

“AOOOHHH! AOOOHHH!”

Just as Kent was beginning to think about slowing down for a brief rest, the same terrifying cry echoed faintly from somewhere far behind them.

It was the very sound that had frightened away the Earth Lizard leader.

Kent’s heart immediately tightened.

He had no idea where the strength came from, but his legs suddenly moved even faster.

“AOOOHHH! AOOOHHH!”

Kent was beginning to regret his choice more and more.

This tunnel had remained a single straight path the entire way.

There had not been a single fork.

Not one side passage.

Nothing.

By now, Kent felt as though both his legs had been filled with lead.

Every step was becoming heavier than the last.

But the danger behind them left him no choice.

No matter how tired he was, he had to keep running.