Cthulhu Gonfalon

The exploration after crossing the safety line was much more difficult and dangerous than before, and of course, the efficiency of the exploration was worse.

This was guaranteed because, after all, safety was the most important thing. Even Divor, who explored underground caves all the time, did not dare say that he knew these deep underground areas well. In his adventurous past, accidents and dangers were abound; not to mention the terrifying four-armed bull-headed man.

There was no day or night in places where people did not see the sun. They could only judge the time through the pocket watch carried by Divor. In order to avoid the risk of fatigue, they took a break every three hours, half an hour each time. They camped on the third break, adjusted the schedule, and greatly increased the time for rest and sleep.

Strangely, at first glance, it seemed that the method that should have been useless had produced unexpectedly good results. It was not until one week later that everyone began to feel weary.

“Generally speaking, ordinary people would be uncomfortable living for three to five days without seeing the sun.” At the camp, Palin sighed in his sleeping bag as he read his adventurer guide to prepare in advance.

Normally, his book was correct, but the fact was that many of the records were completely different from his experience this time.

This made the young mage, who was accustomed to drawing knowledge from books, feel uneasy, and wonder if what they normally learned was useful or useless.

He worried for a while, put back the book, and silently prayed to Sui Xiong. With the link of faith, he easily contacted him and raised his questions. Sui Xiong looked at the book a little and found the problem.

“This ‘Guide for Young Adventurers’ is for novices,” he said. “It was used to give young inexperienced people universal risk-taking experience and common sense so that they would not be ignorant, and get killed as soon as they embarked on an adventure journey. That’s all.

“What you are undertaking now is a very high-level adventure. Even senior adventurers rarely perform this level of adventure. Only Divor, a true professional master, could safely lead the team along the way. His experience and judgment of the situation are far from novice, so he can adjust the schedule according to the actual situation, so that everyone maintains a good state. But if any newcomer takes an adventure in accordance with his practice, I am afraid he not only wouldn’t get benefits, but it would be unlucky!”

Palin nodded and pondered for a moment. He could not help but secretly sigh: learning really must be combined with practice!

At this moment, Reid, who was responsible for the investigation, rushed back to the camp and brought a piece of bad news.

In a cave not far ahead of them, fresh corpses were found.

Because he was not good at investigating traps and identifying magic, he did not go to investigate rashly. Instead, he chose to return, to report and discuss, and let others decide what to do.

“If I’m to judge, I’m inclined to head back now,” Divor said. “Everyone is almost exhausted. Although it’s won’t be serious if there are only one or two fights, nobody is guaranteed safe underground. Going back when we are tired is the safest method.”

“But what we’re looking for hasn’t been found yet,” Palin said, sighing.

Laver once again expressed his loyalty. “If you want to continue looking for it, I will go with you!”

“But you don’t have a clear target for yourself,” Reid said. “Going underground to find the right mushroom; what mushroom is right?”

Palin sighed, and was convinced.

So this adventure came to an end. They returned above ground, recovered for a few days, and then set off again.

With the experience of the first exploration under their belts, this time they had a smoother journey, and without spending too much time and energy, they arrived at the camp where they had been before.

But at the camp, they saw signs of fighting and killing.

“Although the bodies have been removed, it is obvious that there was a team of adventurers attacked here.” After carefully studying these traces, Reid made some judgements. “There should have been a team of four: one heavily armored warrior, a bard, a ranger, and a priest. They were supposed to be eating, but first, maybe a fire element jumped out of the bonfire; and some monsters may have come from underground. Later someone used spells…”

He took a few steps and came to a dark corner. “The man should have been standing here. His spells were of negative energy. His blow hit the priest severely.

“Then from that corner, a very powerful monster rushed out.” He pointed to a corner in the distance, and used special spears to circle the ground with a few conspicuous depressions. “Not very big, but very heavy. It might have worn heavy armor.”

“With the participation of that guy, the team collapsed. The next thing was a slaughter,” Reid sighed. “In theory, a sophisticated bard should carry a fixed transmission scroll with him with Rye Town as the target. But we hadn’t heard the news before. I’m afraid they must have been completely destroyed; not even one could escape.”

Everyone’s face was downcast. They could not help but admire Divor.

The monster that could destroy an adventurer’s team was definitely not easy to deal with. If they had stayed in place or even moved on, perhaps they would be facing the monsters.

With their state at that time, could they have dealt with a group of monsters?

The conclusion was: of course not!

“Now we have two choices,” said Divor. “We can move on; only senior adventurers can go, here. Even though they are completely extinguished, those monsters must have suffered tremendous damage. If we follow them, we might have time to catch up with them and destroy them.”

Reid laughed twice and looked around, seeming to say, “I don’t know anything.”

Palin was gloomy, and frowned. He could not easily decide.

“It seems that you all think this choice is not very reliable,” Divor sighed. “We could also return now. At least we could bring this news back.”

Palin frowned and said, “Isn’t it too negative?”

“I think so, too,” said Divor. “So I lean towards choosing the former. Adventurers must fight. Our reputation, wealth, and strength must be obtained through the fight against those dangerous monsters. Anyway, at least we only have to deal with a group of monsters that were damaged in strength.”

He swept everyone’s faces, and the burning in his eyes made everyone’s heart feel excited. As he said, adventurers were supposed to kill monsters. There was obviously a good opportunity in front of them, so why should they withdraw?

“A toast!” The priest who seldom spoke waved the light warhammer in his hand, and the enchanted weapon issued a faint white light, leaving a clear track in the dim air.

Reid hesitated, but when he saw Divor’s firm gaze, he took a closer look at the attitude of his companions, and he finally sighed deeply.

“If I had known, I wouldn’t have come!” he mumbled, his face sullen. “I’d rather kill the monsters on the ground!”

Palin smiled and gave him a golden scroll.

“I remember you also know how to use scrolls, right?”

“Yes, I learned magic. Although I couldn’t spellcast, using scrolls is okay.” Reid took the scroll and checked it with a bit of mental power. Suddenly his eyes widened.

This was a scroll for ‘Transmission of a Group!’

The technique of Transmission was one of the signatures of the mages, and not selling scrolls of transmission was their unspoken rule; not to mention a scroll of transmission that allowed the entire team to return to safety at once. Such a scroll should be more expensive than the sum of the employment fee of the four!

With this treasure, he suddenly felt a little more confident.

Can’t I beat it? I can run, at least!

But when thinking of the price of this treasure, he could not help but feel some irritability.

A poor man like me cannot understand the world of you rich people!

After the security issue was resolved, the team converted into combat formation under the command of Divor. Laver surveyed the land in front, as he was always aware of possible traps; Divor and Morton followed, ready to fight; Palin was behind them, but ensured that Laver was in his range of casting spells in order to support the use of magic at any time; Reid was at rear, because he needed enough distance to shoot arrows, and if there was any danger, he could activate the scroll to take everyone to safety.

Because there was no need to search for mushrooms in every dark corner, the team marched significantly faster. It took less than two hours for them to find a trace of the monster.

To be accurate, Morton found the trace of the monster.

“Negative energy,” he said. Suddenly, he stopped and raised his hammer to indicate it to everyone.

The warhammer engraved with the sacred emblem of the God of Glory was emitting a burning light. It was the divine power that emitted when the holy power encountered an adversary.

With his reminder, everyone stopped and approached him.

“I don’t feel the cold…” Laver murmured. “Doesn’t the negative energy make people cold?”

“When you feel cold, you’re not far from death,” Reid said. “The negative energy is not cold, but deadly. The reason you feel cold is that your vitality is being extracted. Believe me, you don’t want to really meet that situation!”

Laver was petrified by his words, and carefully looked around, as if the monsters would rush out in the next moment.

At this time, Morton had given everyone the use of resistance to negative energy. Whether for psychological reasons or not, everyone really felt that their bodies were warmer.

“It seems that the enemy is ahead of us!” Divor smiled and clenched his axe. “I just don’t know what to expect…”

This question was quickly answered. Morton could feel negative energy, and of course, their enemies could feel Morton’s holy power.

Just as Divor spoke, with an angry roar, a medium-sized, heavily-armored figure rushed out from the darkness ahead of them.

Its footsteps were unusually heavy, and the metal boots on its feet clanged on the stones, giving off a sound like hammering rock.

“Ready to fight!”