43 The Unkown Underground

They took only a few hours of rest before they heard the sound of a key opening a door nearby. A very dim light was showing the dark silhouettes of a few men, including the shady innkeeper. Even with such a low amount of light, neither Meridiana and Davion had any problem noticing the lustful eyes staring at the bed where they were supposedly sleeping. The effort at being silent made by the humans was pretty pathetic and even a normal woman could have been awoken by it. What would have followed would have been a dagger in the throat of Davion and a terrible, and maybe last, night for Meridiana.

Instead, the succubus decided to waste a few minutes to reduce the potential noise that otherwise, would have been made. She quickly seated and put her hands on her chest, like she was protecting it. Her entire attitude was reminiscing of a small rabbit cornered by a fox and that made the men very excited.

"What are you … no, please … don't do anything to him, I beg you … I … will do anything you want!" Her small speech allowed Davion to retreat to the back of the room and appear less menacing. Both of them saw the incoming thugs speaking among themselves and soon, the innkeeper approached Meridiana with a very big smile.

"Ok, if you do anything we want, I will let you go." His eyes were showing a totally different story, however, and only a fool would have believed his words. Right after that, the man tore apart the clothes of Meridiana, immediately angering her. She had taken great care of them and now, she will have to cross the mountains with even less protection than before. She showed nothing of her immense hate and still looked like she was a shameful young girl that fell at their mercy.

THOMP

The innkeeper fell right in front of Davion. He had already lost his ability to speak but was still conscious enough to see the hood falling. A blue head appeared right in front of him and the last thing his pathetic eyes ever saw was the two large hands coming near him. The rest of the group was laying dead around the succubus that was desperately trying to fix her clothes. The state of the corpses was similar to the one of the soldiers, mere mummies. Without any other choice, Meridiana took the upper garment of one thug, even if it was less comfy than the one created by Malakov.

They left the building in flame soon after and heard the numerous shouts resonating in the silent night. But since they were in the poorest area of the city, they had no trouble leaving the crime scene without getting caught. By the time they arrived at the eastern gate, the fire was easily visible and spreading even more, turning the dark night red. The guards were so preoccupied with the incoming disaster that they barely checked anyone leaving the city.

Right after they met the first snowy peak on their road, they noticed a cavern nearby. Since they were still unsure about the deadliness of the underground, they approached carefully the place. Inside they saw numerous colorful paints and totems encroached on the stone walls, proving that a more or less intelligent race was occupying that part of the cave.

"Goblins?" Meridiana asked Davion about the nature of the threat since he was older than even Leilade. He also was the one recognizing the trolls and even being able to talk with them quite easily. However, the number of intelligent monsters that liked to live in a dark environment and building such items was not that high and the most common was the goblins.

The orodil nodded at her words and carefully kept walking. They were not using any type of light but had no problem noticing the forms and even some colors. Because of this, he noticed that while the presence of paintings was important, they were always very old and slightly washed up. Meaning that whatever tribe was living nearby was gone since a year or so. Noting in his mind the tunnel they took, they finally arrived in a large room. Inside it, they saw a good amount of broken barricades, torn clothes, and bones laying around.

None of them were stupid and they realized that the goblins didn't leave because they wanted it. Davion called Meridiana and made her look closer to one of the mark left on a wall. Four deep ravines were shown, probably caused by four big claws. To be able to even impact the stone wall was impressive and this caused the two demon commandants to reconsider walking under the mountains. At least, in the above, they were capable of easily escape those threats and even see them from afar.

The succubus got closer to the marks and began to touch them. Raising her head a bit, she noticed that similar deep pits were pierced on the wall, leading to the ceiling. She kept looking on the ceiling and saw the same marks all over it. As she began to lower her head, however, she noticed that something was stuck on the stone and was definitely not natural. Touching her companion and showing him the deformation, both of them examined it. Even in the dark, they were barely able to differentiate it from the environment but that form had a black form with a dark purple mixed in it.

They were extremely silent during their investigation, meaning that it was entirely possible that this monster was sleeping or not aware of their presence. To prove that point, the succubus cast a small flame in her hand and waited. For a while nothing happened, but then, they saw an enormous green eye with red veins in it looking at the flame. To their surprise, the monster only looked at it, without moving. Getting in front of the succubus, Davion approached it without any fear.

Even if that monster was twice his size, the orodil was no ordinary warrior. To managed to hurt him would be possible, but only a few powerful attacks would prevent him from escaping. Since that was the case, he could see how strong that creature was. Perhaps it felt that the giant walking toward him was strong or maybe it was absolutely not related, but the black and purple monster extended its limbs and escaped in on the numerous tunnels. They saw that the fleeing enemy had a body similar to a giant ant, only with an enormous eye in the middle of its face.

Because of that encounter barely thirty minutes after they entered the cave, they decided to return to the surface that was safer. None of them had any knowledge about this monster and only the expert duvodiad could inform them about it. Both of them only dealt with civilized enemies in proper battle, not monster hunting. Because of this, they realized that they clearly lacked in that department and they hoped that the adventurer guild or whatever that building was called will have everything they needed. It would be impossible for them to not have a proper bestiary or at least some records of powerful monsters.

They took more or less the same road from a few days ago and met again the two troll hunters. They had a small issue and were chased by a group of ice wolves. The pack was harassing the two sturdy trolls and while the damage done against their incredibly sturdy skin was minimal, they had no rest for the last day. The two trolls were incredibly tired and their movements sluggish. Feeling bolstered by the weakened state of the two hunters, the pack of predators was launching a full-scale assault when Davion appeared.

The moment they smell the orodil, the entire pack buggered off like little kittens. That sight scared the two trolls and they feared that something even more terrifying was coming. But when they realized that it was their hooded friend and the female uhanz, they were relieved. They invited Davion and Meridiana to their tribe for eating, but the latter refused since they were in a hurry. Also, the clothes from the thug were clearly not adapted for the cold environment, provoking an endless flow of complaints from the succubus.

Three days later, they reached the location of the base and met nothing but an empty space. While they didn't know about the numerous magus roaming around, they were still capable of understanding that an illusion was casted. And a few seconds later, they saw a lich floating toward them from nothing. Following the undead, they entered the small passage formed in the heavy defenses casted by Malakov.

In that week or so since they left, the previous normal hill was turned into an impressive entrance of a catacomb. Or at least, that's what the two felt. They had no idea what that Envoy of Leilade was thinking, but he built an enormous double door entrance, at least 5 meters tall, engraved by a huge amount of inscriptions and two stone statues near it. The statues were representing Ymir in his complete armor, back on Artosis. One of them had two big axes and the other four power gantlets on his hands. They also noticed the spell engraved on the two stone sculptures, making the eyes of the two Ymir red and granting them a dark aura.

They wondered how much mana that damned Malakov wasted just for those two things. That was rarely seen from him to be so wasteful but they had to admit that for a normal human, just that entrance would send him running away, shivering in his entire body. However, unlike the initial impression, the rest of the base was barely built. They saw numerous skeletons carrying stone and digging around, following a precise pattern. Following the lich that opened the path previously, they arrived in a room where they heard the grumbling of a dwarf.

Master Agnil was admonishing the undead near him and repeatedly complaining at the three liches around. "More fire, Hit ten times there, NO, NO STOP! Not there, there exactly! Yes, lower the fire! QUICKER YOU INCAPABLE UNDEAD!" The obviously calm and collected soul was so noisy that even after they left the room where he was forging their future equipment, they still heard him for a good minute. The liches were responsible for the heating that the fusion of the mana and the minerals while four giant skeletons were hammering at the instructions of the dwarf.

In another room a lot calmer, they saw the Akûl and the Herald discussing around a projected map. When they noticed the arrival of Davion and Meridiana, they were greeted them. Soon, the four of them were sharing all the information at their disposal. It was enjoyable until Meridiana asked about the whereabouts of Kardel. The answer to her question was unsatisfactory.

"Unlike you or the Mistress, Kardel has no ability for dealing with magic. Meaning that it is highly improbable that I ever managed to establish a mental connection with him. What will probably happen will be him coming back one day without any prior notice. However, even if his wild temperament will probably cause some issues, he won't be in real danger. I was more worried about you two, especially since you were totally naked without any weapons. But that will change in a few days, right now, Agnil is working on it."

"Yeah, we heard it. Very loudly." Ymir laughed at that remark. Unlike the two other, he was stuck here without any possibility to leave the perimeter outside. That was the plan devised by him and Malakov, that he will be the bait for the moment. The entire base was based on him being the strongest being of it and the demon king ruling those undead. With that, they will be able to both pressure the humans from the outside with his threatening presence and infiltrate them. But because of this, he was incapable of quelling his hunger.

After that, a lich appeared and indicated that master Angil was asking for them. Because there was nothing else to do, everyone followed it, to see what that angry and talented dwarf managed to produce.