Chapter 316 - Cursed City (3)

The hole that Auron entered previously led into an underground tunnel. He followed the path hurriedly.

Although Auron didn't know where this tunnel end, he had no choice. Behind him, five bandits were chasing him. He just hoped that this tunnel could lead to the outside world.

There seemed no end to the path that Auron took. He already moved for 15 minutes, and he still could not find the exit. He already gulped some mana potions to prevent his health from being decreased. He also didn't forget to help Semial and Remus.

Auron looked behind him. He could not see the bandits who were chasing him. However, he was already deep inside the tunnel. He had to move forward.

What Auron didn't know was the bandits were on the verge of death. As they were an NPC, just like Semial and Remus, they didn't get any notification about they would lose a mana point each second.

As they chased Auron and his group blindly, they already went deep inside the tunnel as well. The pungent smell made them didn't realize that they lose their strength. They just realized it when one of the thieves, suddenly fell down, feeling weak.

Unfortunately, they didn't have any recovery items as they just came back from a sudden order from their superior. They tried to go back to where they came. However, they were already deep inside the tunnel. Before they could exit the tunnel, all of them already died.

[The pungent smell became stronger. You will lose 2 mana points each second]

[When you run out of mana, your health point will start to reduce]

A notification appeared in front of Auron.  The deeper Auron went inside, the stronger the pungent smell. It was really awful. However, he braced himself and continued on.

If the smell became stronger, this means that he was closer to the source of the scent. Although he had the urge to turn back, however, Auron's instinct told him something else.

A suddenly appeared hole, a pungent smell that could kill, a mysterious dark power from the notification. All of these usually would only appear when there was something big going on.

Five minutes later, Auron arrived at a fork. There were two paths. A path to the left and a path to the front. Without thinking for too long, Auron chose the later. It was easier to go forward rather than turning left.

Semial and Remus were still in good condition thanks to Auron's potions. Except for the discomfort in their nose because of the smell, there was nothing else that they could complain about.

Another five minutes later, Auron, who was at the front, suddenly frowned and signaled Semial and Remus to slow down. It was because Auron sensed something from the front. He heard a small noise.

Auron, Semial, and Remus took out their weapon just to be ready. Then, they approached slowly to the source of the weak sound.

The tunnel was dark, but Auron was a mage. So, he could still light up a fire to light their way. Slowly and slowly, the weak sound became closer.

Semial, as a swordsman, changed place with Auron and took the lead at the front. He raised his sword in front of him and ready to attack anytime.

Several steps later, from far away, Auron and his group saw a silhouette. Moreover, it was more than one. A tense atmosphere could be felt at the place as Auron, and his group approached closer to the silhouette.

There were 10 weak-looking silhouettes. Some of them sat down while panting out of breath. While the others laid weakly on the ground. Auron tried to look carefully at the silhouette, and he recognized two of them. It was Patricia and Felice. 

Auron immediately went forward and gave them mana potions and health potions. He also carefully helped the other eight. Since they came here with Patricia and Felice, they must be from the military as well.

Felice, who had a pale face and dizzy, with Auron's potions, her face color began to change. Some of her strength had come back. She also saw Auron, and tears fell from her eyes. She had thought that she would die here, who would have thought that she could still be alive.

However, that emotional moment didn't last long as Felice realized that she had something more important to do. She stood up and chanted the area heal spell to all of his teammates. With Felice's help, the other also began to feel warm and regained some of their power back.

Unfortunately, not all of them were lucky. It was too late for three of them as they had died long before Auron came. Slowly, the groups regained back their strength with Felice's heal and Auron's potion.

Auron asked how they could be here. Felice briefly explained how they could be here. After the assignment with Auron's group. She was assigned back to her previous task to look for the ancient ruin.

In a group of ten, they searched meticulously. Their effort bore fruit. They found the ruin's entrance and entered it. As they walked deeper, they smelled the pungent smell. However, they still chose to continue.

Then, they came to a fork. A path to the left and right. In the end, they chose the left path and continued on. The smell became stronger, and they also realized they were closer to something. Until they arrived here and found the source of this pungent smell.

As Felice said, she also pointed at the end of the tunnel. Auron looked at where Felice had pointed. Not far from where he stood, there was a strange plant that emitted this pungent smell. Auron only just realized that there was a plant here. Previously, he was so focused on helping Patricia and Felice that he didn't realize there was a plant.

Semial was about to go forwards to destroy the plant. However, Felice shouted, "Stop! Don't attack it!"