kscans

Chapter 135 - Cave Exploration and an Encounter with an Earth Dragon

We made our way back to the spot where I'd left the corn cob. I shouted for Famu again, but there was still no response.

"So, should I examine your body here, Cecily, or should we check the other direction?"

"Why would you examine me?!"

"We need to strip you naked and check if you got injured when we fell!"

Cecily crossed her arms over her chest, as if to protect herself.

"Then you should have done that right when we fell!"

Since she was refusing, I reluctantly decided we'd investigate the other path.

"Honestly, what were you planning to do if a monster showed up while we were at it, or if Aira and the others came to rescue us and caught us in the act?"

"You've got a dirty mind, Cecily. I wasn't planning on going that far. It was strictly a check for injuries."

"That's a total lie!"

"You got me!"

We had just started walking in the opposite direction when, in the darkness, the lantern light illuminated the figure of a monster. It was a four-legged beast about knee-high, with enormous claws on its front paws. An Earth Dragon. Its low, crouched posture made it look slow, but was this monster really as it appeared? The monster remained perfectly still, as if observing us.

"Let's just burn it,"

Cecily said, starting to raise her staff, but I shook my head. It was probably pointless to worry about it now, but we were in a narrow cave. It was better to be cautious.

"What if the shockwave causes the cave to collapse?"

"Then what if a big brawl causes the cave to collapse?"

I couldn't answer her question.

"...Fine. In that case, let's just burn it. We'll worry about the rest later."

"...Actually, let's not. I'll leave it to you, Mash."

Which is it? I wondered, handing the lantern to Cecily. I slowly drew my katana.


The ground was soft, but stable enough to step on. I checked my surroundings. There was enough height to swing my sword overhead. A horizontal slash might hit the side walls. A thrust seemed most effective, but I hadn't been taught how to do it properly, and it would be difficult to react if I missed, so I wanted to avoid it if possible. I took a low stance, pointing the tip of my blade at the monster as I closed the distance. But for every step I took, the Earth Dragon retreated. Its movements were surprisingly smooth and quick. I pressed closer, but the result was the same.

"A feigned retreat?"

"What's a feigned retreat?"

she asked in response to my mutter.

"It's a tactic used in group battles. First, a decoy unit engages the enemy. Then they pretend to be routed and retreat. The enemy, thinking it's a rout, gives chase, and is then surrounded and counterattacked by another unit hidden along the retreat path."

It was a strategy for luring the enemy into a situation or location favorable to your side.

"So if we chase this thing, we'll be surrounded and attacked by hidden monsters?"

Cecily scanned the surrounding walls. In this place, covered by earthen walls, Earth Dragons could be hiding anywhere. If they burst out from the ground and ambushed us, it would be impossible to defend. Should we go back to our original spot and wait for Famu and the others? But our opponents were Earth Dragons. I didn't know how fast they could dig, but as long as we were in this cave, they could create their own paths and surround us. I had a feeling the Earth Dragons could dig faster than humans could rescue us. And they might have already prepared ambush tunnels. If we were going to be attacked, we could at least fight in this spot, but if Famu and the others were attacked while digging, they'd have no escape. In that case, it seemed better for us to act as the decoys.

"We're taking it down here."

I broke into a run to close the distance to the Earth Dragon at once. The monster reacted, beginning to retreat quickly.

"Wait up!"

Just as I was about to close in on the monster, its claws shot out from the ground beneath my feet. They caught my leg, and I stumbled.

"Mash!"

Cecily held up the lantern. I managed to brace myself and narrowly avoid falling.

"I'm fine! There's a monster in the ground, be careful!"

But how were we supposed to be careful? Cecily held up the lantern and scanned our surroundings. Our shadows danced wildly in the faint light.

"It's okay. I don't see anything."

There didn't seem to be any monsters around her. The Earth Dragon that had shot its claws out seemed to have burrowed back into the ground. I once again faced the monster. The Earth Dragon was still standing there, maintaining a constant distance. I tried pulling back. The monster moved forward toward me. I took a step forward; it retreated.

"This is hopeless. It's so frustrating. Just burn!"

Cecily launched a fire magic fireball at the monster. The monster used earth magic to create a wall of dirt, blocking the fireball. I took that opportunity to once again lunge forward and try to cut down the monster, but that attack was also blocked by its front claws. I prepared for a counterattack, but the monster just backed away, once again putting the same distance between us.

"..."

Cecily and I exchanged a look.

"I guess earth magic really is the way of the future."

"Stop joking around. More importantly, it feels like it's luring us somewhere."

When I stubbornly took another step forward, the monster again backed away to maintain the distance.

"You think it has some purpose?"

"I don't know, but maybe it's being controlled by a Tamer or something."

A Tamer... I remembered that the transmigrator Emma was one. She had summoned a Hekatonkheires with her special skill, but she hadn't used her abilities as a Tamer.

"Can that profession control monsters like this?"

"Beats me."

"..."

When I stayed silent, her cheeks started to puff out.

"What! You don't know either, Mash. So it's okay if I don't know, right?!"

"I didn't say anything."

"But you were thinking, 'If only Myra were here,' weren't you? Unbelievable!"

She'd hit the nail on the head, so I couldn't say anything back. I was about to hug her to smooth things over, but she had just called me out on that earlier. I poked her puffed-out cheek instead.

"A-Anyway, I'm thinking of following that monster."

"But you said it might be a trap, right? I mean, it's definitely a trap."

"I think so too. But if their goal was to defeat us, they could have had the hidden Earth Dragons attack and swarm me when I was about to fall earlier."

"That's true. And if the Earth Dragons just needed a hole to pass through, they wouldn't need one this big. It's more logical to think that someone who isn't a monster had them dig a hole like this..."

I nodded. I relaxed my stance, but kept my weapon in hand and started walking toward the Earth Dragon.


As always, the Earth Dragon backed away in time with our steps. I felt like we had walked a considerable distance, but the surroundings were dark, making it hard to judge distance and warping my sense of time. I had been plucking and scattering corn kernels at regular intervals, but I wondered if Famu and the others would notice. They might have become food for Earth Dragons or other creatures by now, but I didn't have anything else suitable for a marker. I took my smartphone out of my storage.

"So bright!"

The light from the OLED screen stung my eyes. Squinting, I saw that the time was 8 PM. Famu and the others might have stopped digging for the day. I tried flashing the light at the Earth Dragon we were facing to see if it would have any effect, but there was no reaction. When I turned off the phone's light and put it back in my storage, the surroundings felt like they had been plunged into darkness. The lantern's light was indeed faint. I started to miss the bright lights of Longhorn Street. As we walked, I used water magic to rehydrate and took out some dried meat from my storage, which Cecily and I took turns eating. After walking for a long time, the thread of tension had completely snapped, and Cecily nudged me with her elbow.

"Stay more alert!"

"S-Sorry."

I was impressed by her diligence. Eventually, the cave widened, and we arrived at a stone-paved corridor. A space about three meters on each side continued further into the depths.

"It's like a dungeon,"

Cecily murmured. No way, I thought, looking around, but I couldn't find anything to either confirm or deny her words. If this was a dungeon, we couldn't expect a rescue from Famu and the others. We'd have to escape on our own. I tried going back to the earthen part, but there were no changes, and we were able to return without issue. If we had wandered into a dungeon, it must have been when we fell, but I hadn't felt that unique sense of wrongness that came with entering a dungeon. Just then, the Earth Dragon, which had been walking backward, turned around and dashed deeper into the cave. We hurriedly chased after it so as not to lose sight of it, but when we rounded a corner, the monster was gone. In its place, we could see a door illuminated by torches at the end of the corridor. It was a heavy-looking door made of stone.

"Don't tell me, an Area Guardian!"

"No, it's too simple for that."

It wasn't the usual giant door leading to an Area Guardian's room. As we hesitated, the door began to open on its own.

"Cecily, get ready for battle!"

I hurriedly readied my weapon. Cecily also raised her staff with one hand. The door opened completely. Inside, about ten warriors clad in leather armor were waiting. I turned to run, but several Earth Dragons were waiting there, blocking our retreat. We were trapped.


The warriors were about a head shorter than me, around Cecily's height. They seemed to be slightly hunched over. Their most distinctive feature was that their forearms were like the front legs of a beast, with long claws growing from them. One of them stepped forward from among the knights.

"We are the knights of the Southern Earth Dragon Kingdom. And I am the commander, Yanan."

It was a young woman. Her face looked no different from a human's, except for a few hard, long hairs like a cat's whiskers growing on her cheeks. Similar long hairs were mixed in with her eyelashes. Her black hair was tied into a single ponytail at the nape of her neck.

"Are those arms and claws your own?"

"They are. We are the Earth Dragon Race."

Yanan's thick claws retracted. Her arms were those of a beast, but her hands, though a bit rough, looked no different from a human's. Then, claws extended from her hands again. It wasn't like human nails growing, but more like her fingertips were hardening and extending.

"You can extend and retract them at will? That's so cool!"

Seeing their claws reminded me of Rylie of the black panther tribe. I wondered what she was doing now.

"Hey, that's not the first thing you should be asking,"

Cecily scolded me in a small voice as I was reminiscing about her.

"...Were you the ones controlling the Earth Dragon?"

"We were,"

Yanan replied.

"Then you're the ones who called us here."

"That's right. I have something I'd like to ask you as well,"

she said.

"What is it?"

"Are you adventurers?"