Exploring the Cave

"Boss, we finally got out of that damn place. Do we really have to go in again?"

Archer Warrior Kru stared at the dark mine before him, still shaken by the experience.

Hart, clad in leather armor, was oiling the longsword in his hand. "Baron gave the order. If we don't dig up any gold, we're all dead."

Scarface, the Barbarian draped in bear fur, said unhappily, "What Baron? He's just some brat. What right does he have to send us to our deaths?"

He snorted. "If it weren't for the gold, I would've quit long ago!"

Kru chimed in, "Exactly. We should've taken the gold and run back then."

Having finished wiping down his sword, Hart rose to his feet and said sternly, "He's no brat. Who can survive in these lands after offending the Eagle of the North Wind? Do you think you can outrun the Eagle Guards?"

Scarface snapped, "I don't care what kind of eagle he is. Even if a dragon came, it couldn't treat us as cannon fodder."

Hart merely said, "Save your breath. We've always lived with our heads on the line. We finally have a legitimate identity and found ourselves a powerful patron. We can't waste that."

"That accident was just an accident. Even if there really is some monster, after eating so much, it should be hibernating by now."

"Besides—" His tone shifted.

"I also got quite a few serfs from Baron. Ah, no, according to the Kingdom's official wording, they're 'honest and hardworking farmers,' brought in as miners."

He looked behind him. More than a hundred frail humans carrying wicker baskets were gradually arriving, walking numbly beneath the overseers' whips. Their recruitment pay amounted to only a few words—meals included, no starving to death.

Yet what awaited them was not work where they would avoid starvation, but a deep, dark mine and the unknown monsters lurking within.

"Pick up your spears," Hart called out.

"These are specially bestowed by Baron for your protection."

"If you encounter a monster, retreating means certain death. Don't be afraid. Just throw your spears at it."

"If anyone dies, don't worry. Baron will remember his contribution, reduce his family's taxes, and compensate them with grain."

"Oh, right. Take your pickaxes too."

He had specifically recruited these serfs from Baron as cannon fodder. In such a dangerous place, he naturally could not send his own men in first, much less lead the charge himself.

From his years of experience roaming the wilderness, the best way to deal with large monsters was with thrown spears. So long as there were enough people, even a massive Mammoth could be easily killed.

And even if they failed, these cannon fodder could hold the monster off long enough to fill its belly, and it would not pursue them afterward.

"Get in!"

"Move! Get in there! Stop dawdling!"

The deceived miners picked up their weapons and shuffled messily into the cave.

Even if some realized something was wrong and tried to flee, the overseers' merciless whips forced them to obey.

But why did dozens of armed people offer no resistance against just a few men?

Perhaps it was something deeply ingrained in their hearts...

Faced with an unknown place, those forced to lead the way raised their torches with trembling hands and explored onward under the threat of whips, blades, and swords.

Following behind the column of serfs, Scarface clicked his tongue in admiration. "When it comes to selling slaves, these Noble Lords are still the best."

"They don't even need to stock goods before selling people off."

"Enough nonsense. Get inside."

Soon, Hart and his group had all entered the mine, leaving only a few soldiers at the entrance to receive them.

Yet they did not realize that something else had quietly followed them into the mine.

Nor did they realize that there was a spell called the Invisibility Spell, which could completely conceal one's form from ordinary creatures.

"Boss, I have a strange feeling."

Kru's senses were fairly sharp. He kept feeling that something was off, but when he looked around, he found nothing.

"Stop being so suspicious. We haven't even gone in that far yet. We've got a long way to go," Scarface said disdainfully.

Hart only lightened his footsteps behind them and said in a low voice, "Keep your voices down. Watch what's ahead."

Following the crude signs they had put up earlier, the group gradually descended into the depths of the mine.

The space inside was very spacious. This was where the Kobolds had once worked tirelessly. Broken pickaxes, mining carts used for transport, and ore that had fallen out by accident were scattered across the ground.

One "miner" could not resist picking up a piece of gold ore from the ground and secretly stuffing it into his coarse burlap clothes.

However, Scarface's sharp eyes caught the act.

The Barbarian strode over, lifted the man's frail body into the air with one hand, and shook him twice. The glittering ore fell right out.

"Filthy trash, as lowly as a Kobold."

Scarface viciously threw him to the ground, then stepped forward and expertly stomped on his arm, breaking it. The man let out a scream of pain.

"Remember this. Everything here belongs to Baron."

"You're here to mine, not to steal.

"If anyone breaks the rules again..."

"Heh. You can forget about ever leaving this mine alive."

Scarface grinned. He enjoyed the feeling of holding others' lives in his hands; it was one of the few pleasures in his life as a slave trader.

At the rear of the group, however, Hart was carefully observing the damage throughout the mine—a wooden door violently smashed open, a furnace crushed out of shape, human limbs and corpses, railings torn apart by immense force.

Looking at those traces, cold sweat began to bead on Hart's forehead.

"A terrifying monster."

"Its strength may be no less than that of a Frost Giant."

To him, that was already extremely high praise. After all, the giants that arrived with the Cold Wind were among the Northern Kingdom's most terrifying enemies.

Hearing Scarface loudly boasting nearby, Hart grew furious. He rushed over and said to him in a lowered voice:

"That monster may still be here."

"If you want to die, just say so. Don't drag me down with you."

"But, Boss, our gold..."

The Barbarian, who spoke without thinking and worshipped brute force, was about to respond when a strange sound came from within the cave.

"Don't talk. Listen carefully," Hart said with a frown.

"Thud... thud..."

"Thud... thud..."

A heavy sound resembling footsteps echoed through the pitch-black mine, making everyone's hearts pound.

The sound is coming from the rock walls, Hart thought.

He looked around at the cliff walls, but everything remained dark.

"It's ahead."

"It's on the left."

"No, it's above us," Kru said in a low voice.

The sound seemed to dart and circle through the mine from every direction, making it impossible for the group to determine where it came from or where it was headed.

It only seemed to be getting closer...

The crowd grew chaotic and noisy. Soon, someone suggested returning to the surface, and this time even the overseers began to panic involuntarily.

"Don't panic. Pick up your weapons."

Hart's back was already soaked with sweat. He had never encountered that "monster" at close range before, and the chaos before him was far beyond his expectations.

"Don't be afraid. Raise your torches."

It's over. This is definitely no ordinary monster, but a terrifying hunter. It's creating panic because it wants to wipe us all out, Hart thought.