Chapter 1171: Dungeon Worm Nest

Chapter 1171: Dungeon Worm Nest

Above Gamma, the first battle of the war had started catching Spatia off guard. Their own henchman had decided to attack them from behind. There was another party, who had not expected this sudden turn of events, but they quickly set out to spread the news...

“Seth!”

The unlocked door of the workshop slammed against the wall, as Fin and Mina kicked it open. Despite the grave situation they were in, they were laughing with excited smiles. They found the blacksmith over an assortment of chains and hooks, meticulously engraving his handiwork.

“What is going on, you two?” he asked with a warm smile. Seeing them this excited in this kind of situation made him happy, too. Once all this was over, he would take the two to a peaceful vacation, he thought wistfully. Just the three of them fooling around.

“Good news!” Fin exclaimed, flying a few loops in the air.

“We asked Leana to let us deliver the news,” Mina added, smiling brightly at his questioning gaze.

“Spatia god kicked in the back!” Fin broke out, revealing what happened with concise words.

“Idyllin Mo sent an update from Gamma. Spatia’s troops are currently locked in battle with the undead that pushed back Arget Nore,” Mina elaborated, Fin’s short report. The master of space magic had stayed close to Gamma after seeing the first signs of spatial activity. She explained the space magician’s report in more detail, sharing with Seth what was happening in Gamma.

“But weren’t they allies?” Seth asked a little confused. They had long since come to the conclusion that the army of undead that defeated the undead empire was manipulated by Spatia. Why would their own collaborator attack them?

“T-That wasn’t part of the report... But it’s a fact that they are being held back and keep losing numbers,” the fairy focused on the positive aspect of this situation. Who cared about the why, if the outcome was good for them? Right, why overthink things?

It was kind of fun, to think that Spatia already got their first setback before they were even able to leave Gamma. According to the report, they did not try to subjugate the Undead of Gamma, leaving the district as quickly as they could instead, to aim for Delta.

This meant that the betrayal had not bought them a lot of time, but it also meant that Spatia couldn’t expect any support troops from Gamma. Imagining how foul their mood had to be right about now, he joined the two in excitement as he thought of what else they were going to face on their journey ahead.

---Outside of Gamma---

They had left the boundaries of the district far behind them before they landed to take a rest. What a heinous betrayal, after all the resources they had invested in that man. Her Fingernails dug into her palm, as she clenched her fist at the sight of her army.

After they reached the mountains, Natina opened the gate to her undead dimension. Stepping out were 200 humanoid undead, most of them the promising talents of various worlds, all of them in the late lv. 90s.

Apart from their pale skin and lacking emotion, they were hard to distinguish from the scouts. Yet, the soldiers of Spatia had a cold shiver run down their spine. Sometimes, they could see the soul flame glint in their eyes, radiating the cold of death.

It was hard to say whether they were supposed to protect them or make sure they didn’t run away...

...

The perfectly circular tunnels were dark and damp. The magic light hovering above their heads didn’t help him calm down, as the reason for his growing anxiety was the gazes of the undead behind him.

On a conscious level, he knew that they were here to protect them and wouldn’t harm them, however, on an instinctive level he just wanted to stay away from them. Soldier or not, the breath of death was a heavy burden on anyone’s mind. To distract himself, he concentrated on his map and the path before them.

“Weird, this an uncommon copper ore,” a member of the scout teams mumbled, as they touched the wall on the right. The vein of copper glittered in the magic light. This was weird indeed. Dungeon Worms created long and winding tunnels in the process of devouring the natural ore veins in mountains. Usually, they would only go for minerals of high purity and ignore others.

It was only when several individuals stayed in a single mountain for mating, that they created this kind of complicated nest structure. To not starve, they had to manage with what was close to the breeding ground.

The weird part was, that it was still here. Uncommon ore could be refined to rare materials, as such it would be one of the first things the dungeon worms would devour. But the nest was still fresh. It was hard to believe, but maybe the worms had eaten something better up to now?

However, looking at the map slowly filling in, he couldn’t help his suspicions grow. He found this nest weirdly systematic for something created by worms in a breeding frenzy. He had visited two or three worm nests before, or dungeons that grew in them.

“This nest is too well structured... Do you think someone made it?” he suggested a preposterous idea.

“Why would anyone do something like that? If they were able to tame a dungeon worm, they would have better things to do,” his teammate denied his idea.

He wanted to argue further when the magic light suddenly flickered. It was a magic ball of light, how in the world did it flicker? The words he wanted to say were stuck in his throw, as the light of the magic receded, barely leaving them in a dim twilight.

“Oh no...”