"There was nothing to be seen on the crystals that we put down as bait. That means we are heading inside now. I want Su to lead the way. I don''t know what could be down there but the earthquake out here must have disturbed some underground monsters with how the mana is fluctuating." The entire group had eaten, woken up, and were fully geared up. They wanted to get in to the ravine and investigate. They hadn''t needed to travel far but there was a lot of excitement to help out Onyx with his overall goal.
There was a soft growl of support from Midnight. They all felt the same way and stood just a little taller. "Down we go." Walker pushed the ropes they were using to head down over the edge of the ravine.
"We will be here with an eye out. If anything goes wrong use those fancy magic skills to warn us and we will send notice to the guild before wee and start bashing any monster that bothers you to a pulp." The guards that the guild had assigned here were not weak by any means. The only reason the party could be considered as stronger was the simple fact that they had more unique and fusion skills. They had developed their skills at a lower level to a slightly higher degree evening out their strength. The guards had higher levels from long term escort quests but a little less real battle experience in varying environments like a cave.
Sliding down the ropes was not as fun as the party could want. The ropes were rough on their hands. Even Remey felt it through her gloves which Su had made sure she would wear in case she tried to use her new alchemy me gauntlet skill again. Their feet hit dry and soft dirt. "It seemed like this was pretty well sealed. I would have thought that there were more underground rivers or streams in this area." The theory that Gil had was seeming wrong at the moment.
"This might just be off to the side of one. The cave looks carved out a while ago. Hopefully, it wasn''t monsters that carved it out…or maybe we hope it is." Walker wasn''t sure if it would be better for it to be a monster tunnel or an ancient ruin carved tunnel. If it was a monster there may have once been an abyssal serpent that was the cause, or some worm type monsters. There were too many possibilities. However, if they were ruins then it could be anything from hidden treasures to traps and monsters. Overall it was a tough gamble.
"Walker, can you use the light elemental crystals to make a light orb that won''t dissipate for hours?" Onyx had the idea some time ago and thought it would work very well since it was always better not to light a torch or anything in the caves.
"That should work. I have never had to but I should be able to make that work." The crystal he chose was a little on the smaller size. After creating a light orb in the sunny open part of the ravine, he directed the mana from the crystal in to the light orb. It caused the light orb to float directly on top of the light elemental crystal and remain alight without too much of Walker''s mana maniption.
"Perfect. That will also attract any of the abyssal serpents that might be around." Su liked the idea of having a more consistent light source. It was a risk to alert monsters within the caves but it was better to be able to see and defend against them since the monsters already had the advantage over them." Alice should carry it though. She will be able to use the light better than the rest of us." Thement was immediately supported by the rest of them. Alice didn''t even hesitate. She didn''t need to carry a staff anyways. The high priest had given her one but for the boosts that came with it, she just had to have it near her.
Gil had prepared light elemental arrows specially for this. They were not the arrows that could heal by shooting people which were still a more experimental arrow since it also hurt the target. Gil had to retire those after he spoke more with the enforcers. The arrows he had made were special because they contained some flint and steel dust on the ends. They would cause small sparks that damaged the arrow head. It would cause the arrow to break every time but also cause the stored light elemental mana to escape at once in a sh. It was perfect for the caves if they wanted to blind something or create an environment heavy with light elemental mana temporarily.<sub> </sub>
"Come on, let''s go find Onyx some students!" Remey pushed Su ahead. Onyx didn''t even say a word. He was too happy to hear how excited Remey was to do this. He was holding his hopes high. He knew even if they didn''t find anything that they might discover something interesting. Their lives always seemed to fall toward amazing events whether they liked it or not.
Their feet kicked up dust as they moved in to the cave. The light became dim since the sun was no longer providing them with anything. They were in the darkness. The only sound seemed to be them as they moved. Even dropping water which they had heard in other caves waspletely missing from the surroundings.
"I can tell this was carved away by something." Walker ran his hands over the nearly uniform scrapes on the walls. He just wondered what had done it and how long this had taken, the size of the cave was not small. It was many times taller than they were.
…..
? ….