Chapter 27 Into The Cave

Arad landed at the bottom of the well, water reaching his knees. "Can you get down?" He looked back at Aella clinging to his back.

"Of course," Aella hopped into the water, "Cold!" She cried.

"Don't like cold water?" Arad stared at her with a smile.

"Who likes swimming in cold water?" She stared at him.

"You're going to be a pain to keep. No wonder they wanted to let you go easily." Arad sighed, remembering how the slave market let go of Aella.

"I'm not that useless," She stared at him with a sharp glare.

"I never said you're useless, but prove it to me by killing some monsters. That we adventurers do, right?" Arad stared at her and then turned around to follow Alcott and the rest.

"AW!" Jack hit his head on a stalagmite, bruising his forehead. "Can I light a torch?" He said, looking into his bag.

"Don't. You will get us all killed." Alcott said, looking back, "Salamanders sometimes can control flames. Your torch will explode into a fireball."

Jack sighed, pushing the torch back into his backpack, "So, how do we see?"

Alcott stared at him, "We don't," He said and then started clicking.

CLICK! CLICK! CLICK! CLICK! CLICK! CLICK! CLICK! CLICK! CLICK! CLICK! CLICK! CLICK! CLICK! CLICK! CLICK! CLICK! CLICK! CLICK! CLICK! CLICK!

"What are you doing?" Jack stared at the S-rank adventurer, making weird noises.

"Using sound to understand my surrounding," Alcott replied.

"No way, echolocation? Humans can't do that," Aella stared at him, "Even we elves find it hard to learn,"

Alcott stared back at her, "If getting trapped underground after a cave collapse for a month, eating slugs, and drinking your piss to avoid drinking the poisonous sulfuric water doesn't teach you how to do it. I don't know what will."

"You got stuck underground?" Alcott stared at him with a puzzled face.

"Yeah, we were chasing a stone worm in a mountain range. Nobody told us the area would have an earthquake a few hours after we ventured down."

Aella looked at him, "You weren't alone?"

"Yeah, David instantly died when we fell after the cave collapse. He was a fearless warrior." Arad looked back at Aella.

"Lisa, our elf wizard, died after drinking the poisonous sulfuric water. She didn't take kindly the idea of sipping on her piss." Alcott growled, "I should have forced her to drink it,"

"Alice, our cleric, died to monsters. She was too exhausted to run away." He sighed, "I didn't have enough strength to pull her out,"

"You seem to be blaming yourself a lot about them. You did nothing wrong." Arad stared at him.

Alcott smiled, "That's what I like to tell myself, but the truth is that I'm the only one who survived."

Ginger stared back at them, "One last detail," She smiled, "From what I heard, this idiot dragged their corpses with him till he reached the surface."

"Dragged them out?" Jack gasped, "Do you know how much three people weigh?"

Ginger stared at him with a smile, "Tell that to sir Alcott here. He doesn't understand what that word means."

"You've been through a lot," Arad said from the back.

"I've spent over thirty years in this job, after all," Alcott laughed.

"Thirty years? How old are you?" Aella stared at him with a surprised face. He looked no older than thirty years.

"The stronger you get, the longer your lifespan will be." Alcott looked back, "I might look young, but I'm in my late forties. I started adventuring when I was eleven when the guild had no rules about it."

Ginger turned, "I heard he joined a party of two wizards. That didn't end well for him."

Alcott stared at her, "Don't even remind me. Who knew those two women were witches? I was elven, and they wanted to milk me to create ghouls!" He cried.

"What did you do?" Aella asked.

"Of course, I killed them in their sleep, then sold their heads for a bounty and got myself nice armor and weapons." Alcott smiled.

"OW!" Jack hit his face again, "How are you not hitting anything?" He asked.

"I'm an elf. I can see even with a small amount of light. And I also have excellent hearing. I'm avoiding the sound of dripping water." Aella replied.

Ginger looked back, "I have experience."

[Vampires can see in complete darkness. I bet she sees as good as we see in the sunlight.]

^I'm seeing as well,^

[You have your void eyes. You can even navigate in a complete void.]

"And you, chief. How can you see?" Jack looked back, missing Arad's location.

"I'm holding Aella's hand," Arad replied, immediately grabbing Aella's hand.

"Can I hold her hand as well?" Jack asked, trying to look at them.

"Here!"

When Jack grabbed the hand, "This feels a bit rough to be a girl's hand. This palm is your's Arad." Jack laughed, "You can't deceive me,"

"What are you saying?" Aella said, clenching her fist.

"AAAA!" Jack cried, "You will break my hand, sorry!"

Arad laughed, "Aella might look sweet, but she is a fighter, be careful when dealing with her."

Alcott approached them, "Come here, Jack. I need you to scout ahead," He grabbed him by the hand and pulled him away.

"But I can't see," Jack cried.

"Then try learning. You're a skilled rogue, aren't you?" Alcott stared at him.

"A rogue that can't work in the dark is a bit problematic," Ginger stated with a smile.

After the short walk, they reached the first split course. "Which way do we go?" Arad asked.

Alcott looked around, "The left one," He said, "That will lead us toward the salamander cavern in a relatively safe route." He explained.

"Relatively safe?" Arad glared at him.

"Of course. Will face some monster, hard and small cracks to walk through as well," Alcott replied, and he then spotted Aella.

"The cracks might be a problem," Alcott said with a stressed face.

Arad and Ginger looked toward Aella, "He might be right," Ginger added.

"What?" Aella asked, "I can cut my load if needed. My bag isn't that big."

Arad sighed, "It's not about your bag. It's about your chest. It might not be able to follow us," He scratched his head.

Aella stared at him for a moment. She wanted to get angry but then immediately calmed down.

"Alcott has a bigger chest than mine. How can he fit?" She asked the real question, and Ginger stared at Alcott, scratching her chin.

"She is right?" Ginger touched his chest, "Your chest is far larger than hers."

Alcott smiled, puffing his chest even more, "You need large lungs and strong chest muscles to be a decent fighter." BAM! He smacked his chest.

Arad looked at Aella, "But you are a fighter as well,"

"I specialized as an archer. We use a different muscle group." She replied, pulling her bow out, "You will find a lot of different fighters depending on their fighting styles." Aella smiled.

"We're one of the most versatile classes, as we can wield all weapons." Alcott informs them, "If we used bows, we're rangers, but without the tracking skill. If we used daggers, we're assassin rogues. We can even be mistaken for monks when we hold quarterstaffs."