D.E.M.O.N.S: Getting Summoned Weekly isn't so Bad - Chapter 2084 Deep in the Hole

Chapter 2084: Chapter 2084 Deep in the Hole

— Gareth —

Gareth carefully regulated his breathing as they stopped for a moment. The explosions hadn’t gone off for a few moments and none had gotten close for a while. Gardor was drinking a potion himself while carefully patting Fluffes. “What’s the plan?” asked Gareth.

“Er… my ears are still healing but I think you asked what the plan is? I don’t know. Fluffles here is still quite shaken from the explosions but it’s not quite serious enough for me to use one of his special potions. He could sleep it off easily… but I agree it might not be safe to do so. I want to head deeper but… I can feel you have a different idea?”

Gareth sighed, “My first instinct is to go up to the surface so we have a better area to move around in. Down here we’re pretty well locked in place, but at the same time we don’t know who was attacking us so I can see why that’s a risk. Do you think going further down will keep us safe?”

“Seems like the best idea…” muttered Gardor with a shrug. “That might just be because I’m used to the underground. The threat is above us, so digging down seems like a good idea…”

“Well we better decide swiftly,” said Gareth. “We probably don’t have that long…”

“You’d be right,” said a vaguely recognisable voice. It echoed from all around them and made it harder to work out exactly who it was that spoke. “Sadly, you didn’t move fast enough,”

They’d stopped at a moderately sized cave for a rest. There had been a chest inside but it wasn’t a fancy one with Thyme’s rewards, instead it looked more like someone had buried it there a long time ago with and left a bunch of gold coins behind. Tempting perhaps, but they’d take up way too much space.

The cave itself was most useful because they could spread out a bit to rest. Gareth had used the chance to drink some water and Gardor had obviously used some potions to heal himself. The problem was, the sound didn’t seem to be coming from the tunnel they’d just been down nor the tunnel that led the other way.

Gareth was looking around trying to work out where the voice was coming from or where the next attack would be… but even after five full seconds of frantic searching nothing stuck out. For all that the voice was taunting them with its ability to attack, five seconds was a long time in a fight and they didn’t seem to be taking the chance. Gareth debated what he could do. There was a chance to use his pit trap enchantment to drop them downwards, bypassing the obvious passages…

Or push them upwards. Fluffles would need to break the stone above them but the molebear should be able to manage that. The issue was not knowing where the voice was coming from or WHO it was. That was important as well. If it was another dwarf then they could be quite comfortable fighting underground but if it was an archer from any of the teams they could be trying to bait them up into the open air.

Gareth kicked the ground and sent a pulse of mana through it, creating a large hole and dropping the three of them downwards. Fluffles didn’t seem surprised, and was even ready, moving to the side and sliding down the edge of the hole with claws ready for when they got to the bottom. Gardor seemed less prepared but had simply grabbed Fluffles.

At the bottom of the pit, Fluffles roared and started to tear into the stone, ripping a path downwards for them at maximum speed. Gareth knew it wasn’t something the familiar could keep up for long but clearly he was just as worried as Gareth about the whole situation. “Oh? Running away? Are you sure that’s the best plan?” taunted the voice as it filled the tunnel.

“Well that’s not good. Apparently they can see us,” mumbled Gardor.

Gareth wasn’t entirely certain about that one. Theoretically, if the person making the noise was just doing so remotely… they could claim we were running no matter what direction they took. Gareth didn’t bother to voice his suspicion out loud though, it was far more important to keep an eye out for issues.

Their rapid downward descent was interrupted by a second tunnel intersecting their own. Fluffles claws scraped through the air as the molebear fell into a roll to even himself back out, with Gardor still clinging to his back. Gareth was aware enough to land on his feet, and took a glance down both tunnels. Neither direction seemed obviously correct and the tunnel was fairly large.

Not wanting to stick around, Gareth gestured for the other two to follow him as he took the lead. He didn’t have a good reason for picking this direction, he simply picked the one he was facing and moved forward. Sprinting along the ground and keeping an eye on Fluffles to ensure the molebear didn’t tire out too much seemed like the best plan for the moment.

After a few minutes of running along the tunnel, Gareth spotted an orb challenge room off to the side. It was promptly ignored in favour of gaining more distance from their attacker. Whoever it was had bombs, and other large scale implements of destruction. There was no reason to think that all of their weapons had been used, especially not when they’d been so free with the explosions earlier.

Just as Gareth was thinking that another explosion went off in the distance, causing Gareth to frown. Something was wrong. Something HAD to be wrong. They were being actively taunted and then the bombs were missing? What was going on here? Gareth shook his head as he kept running unsure of what the enemy’s plan was. No reason to make it easy for them by standing in place an worrying about it.

When they passed by an underground river, Gareth nearly leapt inside. It would hide many things, scent trail, footprints, even the sound they were making to an extent… but he was still an earth mage and Gareth had no idea of Fluffles could swim. Still… *Hmm… do we want to find a spot just around the corner? Perhaps waiting against the wall while standing in or next to the river while waiting for whoever is trying to take us out to catch up?*

Gareth decided to take the chance, he glanced behind them to ensure that nobody was obviously following them, and when nothing happened he moved slightly of course. Just as the wall rose up to separate the river from the tunnel, Gareth moved to the river side. Keeping his foot was a bit awkward and he knew Fluffles would struggle, but a little further up was a big rock sticking out from the wall. A perfect place to hide behind.

Contrary to Gareth’s worries, Fluffles simply barrelled into the water and ploughed upstream for a bit. It apparently wasn’t that deep and the molebear’s large bulk prevented him from being swept away through the current. The three of them made good time to the outcropping. Fluffles made a small bit of extra room to hide them properly, but that was done swiftly and quietly, at least compared to the rushing water.

The three were crouched down and hidden as best they could, with their ears straining to try and pick up on anyone following them. “Oh? You really think that will work?” asked the voice. Still echoing from all around them. Gardor looked ready to move but Gareth held up a hand and gently cast his gaze around the area.

“Can Fluffles sense or hear them?” whispered Gareth.

Gardor frowned and looked at his familiar, causing Fluffles to shake his head in return. Apparently Fluffles couldn’t hear them… “But can Fluffles hear the taunting?” continued Gareth.

Gardor raised an eyebrow when Fluffles shook his head once again. Gareth frowned at that, unsure what the best course of action to take was. *So Fluffles can’t hear the taunts? Then that means it HAS to be long distance in nature and probably magical. When did they tag us with it? Was it the mist and it just doesn’t work properly on animals?*

Gareth waited, silently listening and trying to hear any sort of movement outside of the rushing water. A sign that someone was following them… but there just wasn’t anything. Yet the fact that the voice knew they’d stopped, or at least, could still comment at them implied some level of understanding of where they were. Perhaps just that they were still in range of the magic that connected them.

*The question is. Do we stay here? My first plan was run, and my second plan was ambush… but can we even ambush them? This is a safe enough spot. We can break through the wall back to the tunnel, continue down the river or maybe even risk digging vertically in either direction if needs be… but I don’t know what’s needed. I just don’t know.*