Chapter 506 - 505: Past Failures

Chapter 506: Chapter 505: Past Failures

Perhaps because of that Bullywug tribe, the group encountered no other difficult opponents on their journey and soon arrived at the passage to the next level.

Colin looked at the entrance leading to the level below.

It was a tunnel over three meters in diameter. There were no pickaxe marks on the surrounding walls, nor were there any wooden beams or mushroom stalks for support. It didn’t look as if it had been excavated by intelligent beings.

"Looks like the trail of a purple worm," Langgrin said, walking to the side of the tunnel and touching the rock wall.

"A purple worm?" Kase sniffled. "Sounds like there are a lot of those worms, to be able to dig a hole this big."

Langgrin corrected him, "What do you mean, ’a lot of them’? This is the trail bored out by a single purple worm."

"When those worms reach adulthood, their bodies are nearly three meters in diameter. They’re creatures that travel underground," Colin explained to Kase. "Many of the underground passages we see today were bored out by them."

"A worm that big... it’s practically a Giant Dragon," Orelia exclaimed.

Ale coughed lightly and said, "But those worms are stupid. Nowhere near as smart as the Dragon Species."

"Alright, enough of this pointless chatter." Donkexes placed his hands on his waist, gave it a hard twist that produced a series of cracking sounds. "We finally made it somewhere dry. Let’s rest for a bit, for the sake of my poor back."

That opened the floodgates, and the surrounding Dwarves all began to complain.

Durkin, who had been silent until now, spoke up. "We’ll rest for today."

"By Moradin!" "My toes can finally get out of that stinking water, damn it."

The Dwarves cheered and set down their luggage in front of the tunnel.

"We’re not done yet. First, go get some firewood. We’re eating those giant frog legs today." After speaking, Langgrin dragged a few reluctant Dwarves to a nearby spot to find firewood.

Just then, Dorn came over. He took out the food he had made a few days ago from a gray ooze and handed it to the others.

It was a palm-sized, grayish-white rectangular block. The surface of the block was damp and looked quite strange.

Colin took a piece and bit into it.

The moment it entered his mouth, a sour taste like unsweetened yogurt spread out. After a small taste, a powdery substance within the "yogurt" coated the inside of his mouth. It felt like low-quality, chalky yogurt that made him want to choke.

Colin quickly took a swig of light beer to wash it down.

"What on earth happened to the first person who discovered this was edible?" Orelia frowned, looking at the thing in her hand. "It’s even worse than spoiled black bread."

"I think it’s alright," Kase said. "It’s a bit like cheese that’s gone bad. At least it doesn’t stink."

"You got it, Kase. This stuff is called gray cheese," Dorn said with a smile, breaking off a piece of the gray cheese and popping it into his mouth. "Some soldiers living in remote Gray Dwarf outposts love this stuff."

"They must have a really hard life, then," Colin said, looking at the piece in his hand. "If this can be considered a favorite food."

"Besides this, there’s mushroom hide stripped from the stalks and some other strange mushrooms. Trust me, those are far more terrifying than this."

At that moment, Langgrin and the others who had gone to find firewood returned.

They piled the mushroom stalks on the ground and started a few campfires. Then, the Dwarves began to place the thick giant frog legs over the fires and sprinkled them with salt mixed with a pinch of powdered spices.

While the meat was roasting, a few Dwarves took out their treasured beer from their packs and started to sip it slowly.

After a while, a few Dwarves brought the cooked food over to Colin and his group.

The surface of the roasted frog legs was golden-brown, with some charred parts turning black. There wasn’t much grease on them, making them look a bit dry.

Colin held a huge frog leg, and for a moment, he wasn’t sure where to start.

He took a tentative bite.

The outside of the frog leg had been roasted to a crispy shell. With a CRUNCH, he bit off a piece of meat. Colin chewed it carefully a couple of times. It felt like very lean beef tenderloin, and was quite chewy.

As he chewed it thoroughly, he found it lacked the rich, greasy feeling of beef. All it had was a hint of clean sweetness.

Just as Colin was heartily enjoying his meal, alternating between bites of gray cheese and giant frog leg, Balende, the Dwarf who had been a troublemaker earlier, walked over carrying two waterskins.

Seeing this, Dorn silently got up and walked to the side, it was unclear what he was off to do.

"Hey, you youngsters," Balende said, handing over one of the waterskins. "Your performance a while back was quite good. As expected from the squad that took down a White Dragon."

Colin popped the rest of the gray cheese into his mouth, took the waterskin, pulled the stopper out with his teeth, and took a swig to wash the food down. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ

Colin said, "If I’d been able to use Magic a few more times, I think my performance would have been even better."

"This is my family’s private brew. Consider it a thank you for your brave fighting." After saying that, Balende made to turn and leave.

Colin asked curiously, "You don’t seem to approve of Durkin and his lot. Can I ask why?"

Balende glanced at the noisy Dwarves sitting on the ground in the distance, then turned back to Colin and said, "It’s a long and troublesome story, kid."

"Just tell it like a story," Kase interjected.

"Never in my life did I think I’d be telling a story to a Half-Orc, a Half-Elf, and a Half-Demon," Balende sighed.

The old Dwarf’s unapproachable aura completely dissipated. Only then did he truly feel like an old man, worn down by age.

Balende sat down next to Colin, holding his waterskin, and said, "Our clan was destroyed countless years ago. Of course, many believe the Shadow Anvil Clan still exists. In all this long time, they’ve never given up on reclaiming their homeland."

"But no one ever succeeded?" Colin asked.

"That’s right. No one succeeded," Balende continued. "But we were always making steady progress on our plan. We sent out clansmen to explore the Dungeon, sought out Adventurers who had reached the deepest levels to buy information, and gathered all knowledge related to this place. Until, more than a hundred years ago, we thought we were ready."

Hearing this, Colin could already guess where the story was going.

Balende looked at Durkin in the distance. "Durkin’s grandfather, Soladin Shadow Anvil, gathered the clan’s mightiest Warriors. He promised them a share of supreme glory and the riches in the treasury, and led them into this place."

"And then?"

Although he asked, Colin had already guessed the outcome.

Balende took a drink of his beer and continued, "And then... they vanished. More than a dozen of our most powerful blacksmiths, Mages, Mechanicians... all of them, gone. Among them was Donkexes’ son. He was a genius who could cast seventh-circle Magic at a young age. Vanished just like that, without even a body left behind!

This whole ’reclamation plan’ is just a damned furnace! Those descendants of kings are just tossing us into the fire like lumps of black coal! This expedition was a mistake from the very beginning!"