Maxi stared dazedly at Kuahel before her legs gave out.
She landed on the ground with a thud.
All around them, goblin torches were scattered across the cave floor, still burning.
An eerie silence hung over them like a dark cloud.
Kuahel scanned the end of the hallway.
Satisfied that there were no more imminent threats, he put away his sword, a curved, elegant crescent-shaped blade.
“This hallway must lead somewhere.”
His calm voice brought Maxi out of her trance.
Doing her best to gather her strength, she said:
“I-I think… we should look for a way to open the door first.”
As he stood up with difficulty, using the wall for support, something hit his heel.
Surprised, she looked down.
A goblin's head stared back at her.
She jumped, holding back a scream.
The flickering torches cast a harsh light on the monster's dark red face, contorted in pain.
Fighting the urge to vomit, she looked away.
It felt like I had once again had a traumatic experience with goblins.
“Leave it to me,” said Kuahel, sighing.
Maxi looked over his shoulder to see him kick the goblin's head with his armored boot, sending it rolling towards the decapitated body.
He threw the cloth he had used to clean the sword onto the corpse.
Soon, blue flames began to consume the monsters' bodies.
She covered her face with her sleeve in horror.
The flames devoured the bodies in a matter of seconds, leaving only ashes.
After scattering the remains with his foot, Kuahel raised an eyebrow.
"Why are you still there?
Didn't you say you were going to open the door?"
“I-I was almost…”
Maxi hurriedly turned around to re-examine the snake head.
Clearly, this activation mechanism worked differently than the ones they found in the ruins.
No matter how much I tried to maneuver it, it wouldn't move.
Biting her lip, she studied the rune on the wall.
He supposed it wouldn't be difficult to understand, after all the goblins had managed to use it.
But as the time she spent staring at the rune lengthened, she realized it was more complicated than she imagined.
Feeling defeated, Maxi frowned.
Kuahel Leon approached her from behind and said dryly:
“Is there a problem?”
“I… I can’t understand how this works,” she admitted, feeling the blush on her cheeks.
Frowning, Kuahel tried to pull the snake's head away.
When that failed, he went to the steel door and knocked with his fist as if he was assessing its thickness.
“We could break down the door, but I’d rather not leave evidence of our intrusion.”
“R-Ruth… maybe I can figure out how to open it from the other side.”
Maxi joined him and pressed his ear against the steel.
She could vaguely hear Elliot's distressed voice, as well as Ruth's frantic efforts to dissuade him.
It seemed like they were both quite agitated by the sudden turn of events.
She bit her lip anxiously.
"I think the others are worried about us.
W-What should we do?"
“It’s your worries,” Kuahel corrected dryly before turning away abruptly.
He took a torch and set off down the dark corridor.
Maxi, who had been feeling around the wall for other devices, looked at him in alarm.
“W-Where are you going?”
"We can't wait here forever.
Surely this leads somewhere.
And wherever that is, I need to find out."
“A-Are you crazy?” shouted Maxi.
She quickly covered her mouth as her voice echoed off the rocks.
She ran after him and scolded in a whisper, "What can we two do?
It's too dangerous!
We should figure out how to open the door first, so we can..."
“We have no time to waste,” Kuahel said firmly, without slowing down.
"And if my assumption is correct, this corridor is likely linked to the monsters' base.
It is vital that we confirm this."
Maxi's eyes widened.
“Do you think this leads to the monsters’ base?”
"The goblins were not armed, nor were they wearing armor.
It is unlikely that they traveled here from the city so unprotected.
Which means… they used a safe route, free from outside threats."
He summoned a fireball in his hand to illuminate the dark and seemingly endless tunnel.
"Or they might have another hiding place besides the city.
Either way, we need to confirm."
"B-But...
it's too dangerous!
If something goes wrong..."Kuahel stopped to look at her intensely.
He seemed to be pondering something.
Instinctively, Maxi recoiled at the flash of brutality he saw beneath his cold façade.
Fear began to eat away at her.
Was it safe to be alone with this man?
She barely knew anything about him.
It was possible he didn't care much about his safety“or his life.
During the journey, he had made it clear that he was willing to take any risk, make any sacrifice, to complete the mission.
As if sensing his fear, Kuahel's expression turned cynical.
"I doubt asking you to trust me will be a comfort to you.
I'm not suggesting we follow this tunnel all the way to the end.
If I'm right, you should be able to use your tracking spell again when we're some distance away from the basilisk farm.
We'll only go there.
Then you can tell us where this tunnel leads with your magic."
"I-It's...
a good idea.
Surely...
they wouldn't place magic-suppressing runes further than necessary," stammered Maxi, her face flushing.
He felt a pang of guilt for his unfounded distrust.
"We'll come back here as soon as we're done.
If the other wizard can't open the door by then, we'll open it by force."
"R-Okay.
Let's do this."
As soon as Maxi agreed, Kuahel resumed his march through the shadowy tunnel.
Maxi followed awkwardly, scanning the dark walls, sturdy support columns, and slightly muddy floor.
A swampy stench seemed to be seeping in from somewhere.
“What happens… if other monsters come to check on the goblins from before?”
“It’s a possibility,” Kuahel replied, without concern.
"Who knows what those goblins planned to do at the breeding farm?
But their absence may cause enough concern for others to come looking."
“T-Then we should abandon this plan and turn around…”
“However, this seems to be a rather long tunnel,” he interrupted impatiently.
"If it's connected to the city, it should take at least half a day to get there.
That will be more than enough for us to investigate.
And even if we come across something, I'll deal with them like I did now."
Unable to come up with any further objections, Maxi pursed her lips.
Even if she gave a hundred reasons to abandon this investigation, she was certain that this man would not back down.
She swallowed a sigh.
If he wanted to leave this place safely, he would have to complete the task as quickly as possible.
Every few steps, she ran her fingers along the wall to check if her magic was still trapped.
As the Temple Knight had predicted, their mana began to flow freely when they were about ten minutes away.
She exhaled in relief and placed both hands on the wall to begin the tracking spell.
Connected to the mana path of an earth spirit, she extended her mana into the tunnel.
He wove his mana net as loosely as possible to search a wider area.
But even so, the tunnel seemed to extend beyond the limits of its reach.
When the edges of her perception began to blur, she focused her mind as much as possible.
Finally, he reached the end of the long tunnel.
She shouted breathlessly, "Y-You were right, Sir Kuahel!
This leads to the monsters' base."
"Excellent."
Kuahel looked thoughtfully through the dark tunnel, and Maxi could imagine what he was thinking.
With this corridor, they could infiltrate the city without having to tear down the walls.
This discovery could turn the tide of the war in their favor.
However, monsters would certainly render this secret route useless if they discovered that it had been discovered by humans.
Becoming anxious, Maxi insisted, "I really think… we should go back soon.
If the monsters“"
“Shhh.”
Kuahel wrapped an arm around her and placed them behind one of the columns.
Maxi's eyes widened above the hand covering her mouth.
Meanwhile, his gaze was fixed on the empty wall ahead.
A moment later, the wall opened and something came out.
Maxi held his breath.
The creature had a wrinkled face, a hawk-like nose, strangely bent joints, and limbs covered in long hair.
A kobold.The hyena-like monster charged down the corridor and started moving towards them.
Kuahel made an instant decision.
He released Maxi and snuck up behind the kobold, his dagger drawn.
With a single swift strike, he sent the creature falling to the ground in a fountain of blood.
He didn't even make a moan.
Kuahel then turned the body to ash with his divine magic.
“I stained my clothes.”
He looked in disgust at the bloodstains on his habit before nodding toward Maxi.
“Can you check where that tunnel leads?” he asked, pointing to the entrance where the kobold came from.
Maxi immediately ran to the door and used the tracking spell.
This time, it didn't take long to reach the end.
This newly discovered tunnel was quite short and led to the open air.
“T-Looks like it leads outside.”
“That certainly seems to be the case,” Kuahel replied, picking up the spear the kobold had dropped.
He quickly burned the weapon to ash as well, then nodded toward the door.
“We can leave this way.”
“B-But the others are“”
“We will tell them that we found another way out and that they should leave too.”
With that, he began to head back the way they came.
Maxi had to practically run to keep up with his long strides.
As expected, Ruth hadn't been able to figure out how to open the door.
When Maxi pressed her ear against it, Elliot's anxious voice echoed.
Kuahel stood facing the door and called out to his subordinate in a clear voice.
It was surprising how he could be heard without shouting.
“We found another exit, so you and the others should leave immediately as well.”
His subordinate replied that he understood.
"And before you leave," Kuahel added, "wake up some basilisks.
We need to make the monsters believe that they went berserk and killed the goblins."
"T-That's very dangerous.
The basilisks could hurt“"
Ignoring Maxi's protests, the Temple Knight turned around.
She stared at his back in disbelief.
Was there anyone more self-righteous than him?
She glanced worriedly at the steel door before reluctantly following behind him.
When they exited the tunnel, they were greeted by a raging snowstorm under a purple sky.
Maxi took a deep breath.
They were in a wide clearing.
Beside it was a mound of basilisk heads, their fleshy crests standing out in the snow.
Goosebumps ran through his entire body at the macabre sight.
“First a breeding farm, now a slaughterhouse?” muttered Kuahel.
He set off through the snow.
"We need to seek shelter first.
Let's go."
Maxi ran after him as he led them out of the clearing with quick steps, barely giving him time to be afraid.
As they began to descend a rocky path, she panted and used her last reserves to continue.
The Temple Knight moved so quickly, with so little regard for her, that she began to fear he had completely forgotten about her existence.
He moved forward without looking back.
After what seemed like an eternity, Kuahel pointed to a hollow rock.
“That’ll do.”
Maxi panted like a dog under a scorching sun.
Her breath seemed to catch in her chest, making her feel dizzy.
She sank to the ground without even paying attention to the shelter Kuahel had chosen.