"Obliterate! Kill them all!"
I gave the order mentally.
The next instant, the Hunter Knight mounted on the Giant Shark King charged forward.
The enormous clay body slid across the damp terrain, kicking up dirt and water as its jaws opened.
The creature seemed invincible.
It was important to mention that the construction of this golem already fell into the category of large creatures.
In comparison, the Murmuring Toads that had surrounded Ruby and me were merely medium-sized creatures.
And, in the underground world, size meant a lot.
Fights between magical creatures often came down to physical strength.
The larger the body, the greater the strength, resistance, and ability to overpower the opponent usually were.
And that difference became evident immediately.
The same toads that had managed to withstand Ruby’s claws now looked like terrified rabbits in front of a colossal predator.
CRASH!
The Giant Shark King charged forward.
Its enormous jaws closed around one of the toads.
BANG!
The impact crushed the creature against the ground.
Another tried to leap to the side.
The golem twisted its body and struck it violently.
At the same time, the Hunter Knight sitting atop the shark raised a clay spear.
Zosh!
The spear shot forward.
It struck a Murmuring Toad directly in the eye.
The tip pierced its skull.
The creature fell to the ground before it could even complete its leap.
I watched carefully.
The Murmuring Toads also belonged to the Earth element.
This meant they possessed a natural resistance to earth damage.
My golem’s spears were, in essence, earth elemental attacks.
But that didn’t mean the toads were capable of completely ignoring the physical force behind the attack.
A spear was still a spear.
If the force behind it was sufficient...
It would pierce the skull.
As it advanced, the Giant Shark King continued crushing the toads.
CRASH!
BANG!
THUD!
Some tried to leap onto its back.
Those were more intelligent.
Or perhaps simply more desperate.
Their claws struck the thick clay armor.
Buzz...
Pow!
Pieces of clay flew through the air.
Bites tore off fragments.
For a few seconds, it seemed like they might be able to cause some damage.
Then...
A ring of yellow light appeared on the golem’s body.
Whoom!
The earth’s energy spread out.
The damaged layer of armor was reconstructed.
A new layer of clay formed over the previous one.
The golem’s regenerative ability made those creatures even more helpless.
The toads continued attacking.
But the result was always the same.
They destroyed one layer.
The golem created another.
And the Hunter Knight didn’t allow them to remain on its body for long.
A spear was fired.
Zosh!
Another skull was pierced.
A toad tried to bite the golem’s shoulder.
The Hunter Knight simply twisted its body and threw another spear.
PAM!
The creature fell.
The Shark King charged forward again.
Ten minutes.
That was all we needed.
Ten minutes to completely eliminate that group of Murmuring Toads.
When the last one fell to the ground, the tunnel finally returned to silence.
I looked around.
There were corpses scattered everywhere.
— Let’s see if at least something was worth it.
I jumped off the back of the Giant Shark King and began searching the battlefield.
After a few minutes...
My expression became increasingly worse.
Seriously?
You were such a large group...
I turned over the corpse.
And you didn’t even have a core?
Ruby landed beside me.
She looked at the bodies.
— I highly doubt you will find a spiritual core inside these creatures.
— I know.
I continued searching, but unfortunately, I only found a few venomous tongues that were still intact.
I tore out a few and stored them.
At least those might have some value for alchemy.
We climbed onto the Giant Shark King again.
The enormous golem began advancing.
We continued deeper into the underground world.
Behind us, we left nothing but corpses.
But I knew those bodies wouldn’t remain there for long.
In the underground world, food was extremely scarce.
Nothing was wasted.
Within a few hours, the smell of blood would probably attract other creatures.
Natural scavengers would appear.
They would eat the bodies.
Then other creatures would be attracted by their scent.
And then others.
It was an endless cycle.
A survival system based on devouring anything that could be digested.
That was why it wasn’t wise to remain near corpses for too long.
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Pov Underground World Observing Creature
I watched them disappear into the darkness.
I didn’t move, breathe, or blink.
For a long time, I remained completely motionless.
My body looked like a small rock formation.
A simple stalagmite.
Nothing more.
But I wasn’t a stalagmite.
I was a creature.
A lifeform created to observe.
My skin had the appearance of stone.
My presence was so faint that even much more powerful creatures could pass by me without noticing.
I had witnessed the battle.
From the beginning.
The human.
The red woman.
The strange clay monster.
And the knight mounted on top of it.
I memorized every detail.
I didn’t completely understand that technique.
But I didn’t need to understand.
I needed to observe.
And transmit.
After the two of them had completely disappeared into the tunnel, I finally moved.
My stone body trembled.
The small stalagmite began to deform.
The rocky surface opened.
My body slowly emerged.
A humanoid body appeared where there had previously been nothing but a rock formation.
Then...
I sent out a wave of energy.
Small.
Almost imperceptible.
It traveled through the underground network.
After a few moments, I established a connection.
A secret message.
I began transmitting everything I had observed.
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Pov Outlaw Acolytes of the Underground World
The cave was small, but deep enough to conceal our tracks.
A campfire burned in the center of the rocky chamber, casting dancing shadows across the damp walls.
The warmth was pleasant, but I barely noticed it.
My attention was focused on what truly mattered.
The four of us.
We remained silent around the flames, each one wrapped in their own black cloak.
No one there was particularly pleasant to look at.
I myself knew that my appearance didn’t inspire a good feeling.
My face had sharp and unpleasant features, and there was something in my eyes that usually made others uncomfortable.
At the entrance of the cave where my group and I were, a transparent barrier completely covered the passage.
To someone from outside, that place would look like nothing more than a stone wall.
To us, however, that barrier had a much more important function.
It concealed our mana.
We wouldn’t allow some intruder to sense our presence before we were ready to attack.
I stared at the fire while I waited.
Then I heard a sound.
— Sitssssss...
I slightly raised an eyebrow.
The sound came from the woman beside me.
Her slender arm emerged from inside the cloak, and crouched on the palm of her hand was a creature I considered particularly repulsive: a deformed-looking snake, with almost translucent skin and a long red tongue that repeatedly slipped in and out of its mouth.
The creature grunted again.
— Sitssssss...
The woman slightly tilted her head, as if she were listening to something none of us could hear.
Then she spoke:
— There is also activity detected in sector seven.
— Sectors four and five were activated moments ago.
— There are three sectors in total.
I stopped watching the flames.
Three.
Finally.
— We can be certain they are outsiders — she added.
A smile slowly appeared on my face.
They had really arrived.
— Jajaja...
The laughter came from one of the men behind me.
He seemed so excited that I could almost feel his excitement through his voice.
— We just received the news that a group of delicious prey is coming from outside, and now we’ve finally discovered their whereabouts.
— What a bunch of fearless rookies!
— Jajaja... Since the activation times of these few locations are so close to one another, they probably separated.
— That’s the best news of the day!
I couldn’t disagree.
I leaned slightly forward.
— Can you find out anything about the strength of these small teams?
My voice echoed through the cave.
— I heard rumors that there are some Pseudo-Mages among them.
My fingers slowly clenched.
— I only need one more soul from a Pseudo-Mage acolyte to complete my necromantic enslavement spell.
I didn’t hide my excitement.
I could already imagine the result.
A sufficiently powerful soul could fill the final gap in my experiment. After so many failures, I was finally close to completing my work.
The woman shook her head.
— It’s difficult to say.
She paused.
— Any espionage method that is too aggressive would be easily detected by them.
— The message I received only confirms that some creatures that met the predefined requirements passed through the sectors.
Her fingers slowly caressed the small snake.
— We couldn’t confirm the exact strength of each invading acolyte.
I remained silent for a few seconds.
But that changed nothing.
If they had separated, they were making a mistake.
Once separated, they shouldn’t be far from their own deaths.
I slowly stood up.
My cloak slid over my shoulders as I approached the campfire.
— By their tradition, most will probably form groups of two people. Three at most.
— We are four.
I let my gaze pass over each of them.
Three were Level 3 Acolytes at the peak of their abilities.
And I knew perfectly well the difference between numbers and experience.
— So tell me...
— Why should we fear a small group of two or three?
No one answered.
There was no need.
I had already made my decision.
— Let’s go to sector four.
— It’s the closest point from here.
— If we’re lucky, we’ll find a small group and capture them before they realize what’s happening.
...
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