The hole wasn’t as deep as expected.
Edelmar, who had landed smoothly at the bottom, called out.
“It’s safe to come in.”
Ian, who had landed beside Edelmar, looked around and commented.
“It looks like this place was built a long time ago. It seems like all the missing people were captured by Venquel.”
“What are the chances they’re still alive?”
“It’s hard to say without knowing how long they’ve been here.”
Ian carefully examined the path Venquel had carved out.
Then he noticed a thin thread, barely visible unless looked at closely.
“We should follow this thread.”
Edelmar nodded.
“I’ll take the lead.”
“Yes.”
The two began walking cautiously.
As they proceeded deeper, the light gradually disappeared.
When complete darkness enveloped them, they had no choice but to stop.
“We need to go back and hold onto the thread.”
“That’s impossible. It’s connected to Venquel, and if it senses movement, it’ll signal its tail to attack us.”
“Right now, it’s a straight path, but as we go further, multiple passages will appear. To find where Venquel is, we’ll have to follow the thread. Even if our eyes adjust to the darkness, we won’t be able to see the thread constantly.”
“Don’t worry about that.”
Ian opened his inventory and pulled out a glowing item, the body of a firefly monster.
The blinking light briefly lit up the cave before dimming again.
“You carry things like that around?”
“Rose likes it.”
The firefly monster, which glowed like a firefly, was spherical and not too hideous, making it useful for shadow play with Rose. It was a monster material.
“Let’s go.”
Following the flickering light, they continued walking.
As Edelmar had said, the once-straight path split into multiple branches, like a spider’s web.
But since only one path had the thread, they didn’t have to worry about getting lost.
After passing a few forks in the road, they heard a buzzing sound.
Edelmar whispered softly.
“Looks like it’s had offspring.”
Ian nodded.
Venquel, in its juvenile stage, had a short tail but thin wings.
Once its tail fully developed, the wings would fall off.
So, just by hearing the flapping sound, they could tell Venquel had given birth.
“Can you handle the offspring?”
Ian, who couldn’t use magic, aura, or sword energy, was just an ordinary swordsman.
“I could handle a few, but Venquel usually gives birth to at least a hundred offspring.”
If Edelmar faced Venquel, Ian would have to fend off a hundred young ones on his own.
“Don’t worry.”
As long as it wasn’t a dark mage, Ian was unbeatable against monsters.
Seeing Ian’s confident response, Edelmar nodded and added a remark.
“Don’t die on me. It’s hard to find something entertaining.”
“Stop talking nonsense; I’ll go ahead.”
Edelmar smirked and stepped back.
Ian opened his inventory and took out a monster carcass.
“Is that…?”
Ian, instead of replying, lifted the monster carcass above his head and split it in half.
With a ripping sound, transparent blood poured out of the monster’s body.
The blood, carrying a pleasant musk, soaked Ian’s body.
He dipped his hands into the blood pooling on the ground, spreading it over any remaining dry areas on himself.
Watching with a curious expression, Edelmar asked,
“How many monster carcasses do you carry around?”
“It’s a secret.”
While Ian’s inventory seemed to have 100 squares, in reality, it was limitless.
Ian, who had the habit of collecting anything that could be useful based on the constellations’ philosophy of ‘anything has value when living on Earth,’ would gather monster carcasses whenever he went hunting for them.
And today, that philosophy finally proved its worth.
Ian, now thoroughly coated in blood, gripped his sword and said,
“I’m going in.”
“Go ahead.”
With Edelmar’s response, Ian charged toward Venquel.
—Flutter, flutter
The flapping of wings signaled that enemies were approaching, and the young Venquels rushed toward Ian.
However, the musk scent prevented them from getting too close, keeping them at a certain distance.
Young Venquels, with their short tails, couldn’t attack without latching on.
With a grin, Ian swung his sword.
Every swing of his blade brought down the young Venquels circling around him.
The young Venquels were unable to attack or retreat and had no choice but to fall to Ian’s blade.
Seeing that all the young Venquels were converging on Ian, Edelmar quickly rushed at Venquel.
—Thud!
Noticing a new opponent, Venquel raised a sharp leg and struck where Edelmar had stood.
However, Edelmar vanished in an instant, reappearing to swing his aura-clad sword at Venquel’s mouth.
—Thud! Thud! Thud!
As Venquel thrashed in pain, stones began to fall from the ceiling.
“A few are heading your way!”
At Ian’s shout, Edelmar pulled back and swung his sword.
The bodies of the young Venquels, sliced by the aura, dropped to the ground.
Without paying attention to the carcasses, Edelmar aimed his blade at Venquel’s leg.
—Crash!
There was a hard impact, similar to when the tail had struck.
Hearing the sound, Ian yelled out.
“Attacking its legs won’t work. You need to knock it down and aim for its chest!”
“Understood.”
Dodging the leg that tried to stomp him down, Edelmar swung his sword again.
But having been wounded once, Venquel quickly dodged the sword.
“The tail’s coming!”
Edelmar glanced behind him.
The tail was coming toward him at great speed.
“It’s faster than I thought.”
Edelmar swiftly dodged, positioning his sword to block the tail as it changed direction.
“I’ll assist you!”
Having dispatched the last of the young Venquels, Ian opened his inventory.
Quickly scanning, he pulled out another monster carcass and a magic stone.
“It’s a bit wasteful, but it has to be done.”
Believing that being stingy was a waste, Ian inserted the magic stone into the monster’s body.
The carcass began to swell in response to the mana.
“When I count to three, run toward me!”
While managing the tail, Edelmar formed a circle with his fingers as a signal.
‘He seems calm enough.’
Watching the monster carcass, which seemed ready to explode at any moment, Ian shouted loudly.
“One. Two.”
And just as he counted ‘three,’ he hurled the monster carcass with all his strength.
“Three!”
Edelmar sprinted toward Ian.
As Venquel’s tail struck in Edelmar’s direction, the massively swollen carcass dropped under Venquel’s belly.
—Boom! Boom! Boom!
The monster carcass exploded like a bomb.
The ground shook, and rocks began to fall from the ceiling.
Edelmar sliced through the falling rocks with his aura to protect both of them.
“We don’t have time for this.”
Ian tapped Edelmar on the shoulder and dashed toward Venquel.
Pushing through the dust cloud, he saw Venquel lying on its back, struggling with its belly exposed.
Once flipped over, Venquel’s tail was immobilized, hanging limply.
Ian leapt up and drove his sword into Venquel’s belly.
However, without aura, his sword only scratched the surface, failing to deliver a fatal blow.
“Let me handle it.”
With a fierce, silver aura coating his blade, Edelmar struck where Ian had stabbed.
—Thud. Splurt.
Venquel’s blood spurted like a fountain.
“You need to stab even deeper.”
Edelmar extended his aura, pressing it further.
“When you feel something hard, break it.”
Following Ian’s instructions, Edelmar felt his aura hit something solid and focused it to the tip of his blade.
—Crack.
With the sound of something breaking, Venquel’s thrashing stopped.
“Grand Duke, could you cut off the tail?”
Edelmar asked, puzzled.
“Why the tail?”
“To save as many people as we can.”
Ian pointed to a passage connected by a spiderweb.
“Is there another passage?”
“It’s a storage area.”
Ian hopped off Venquel’s body and gestured to a pointed area on its tail.
“Just cut here.”
Edelmar smirked.
Most people would be reveling in their victory or boasting about their efforts after defeating a monster, but Ian was different.
Without fanfare, he just continued doing what he needed to do.
‘Interesting.’
Finding Ian as intriguing as an onion with layers, Edelmar willingly cut the tail.
Ian cradled the massive tail and walked toward the passage linked by spiderwebs.
“Let me carry it.”
Ian grimaced.
“I may be drained, but I’m not weak.”
‘Just because I cough up blood, does he think I’m frail?’
Edelmar chuckled quietly.
Seeing this usually calm person show a reaction was amusing.
“It’s just courtesy.”
“Please do that for the ladies.”
Ian responded firmly and halted his steps.
At the end of the passage, the cave was filled with cocoons.
“Are these the people from the estate?”
“Yes. Fortunately, not many have perished.”
The number of torn cocoons was minimal.
Using the tip of the tail, Ian sliced open one of the intact cocoons.
—Swaakk.
With the sound of fabric tearing, the cocoon split, and a man, dried and frail, collapsed to the ground.
Edelmar laid the man down properly and checked his condition.
“He’s exhausted but should recover with a few days of rest.”
“That’s a good news.”
Ian continued slicing open the remaining cocoons with the tail’s end.
Since they hadn’t all been captured at once, the conditions of the people emerging from the cocoons varied.
Edelmar tapped the cheek of the person who seemed healthiest.
The man winced in pain, grimacing before opening his eyes.
“Save me! …Where am I?”
“Are you awake?”
