Chapter 144: To The Lightning Dungeon

POV Eliza

The other recruits and I rode to Mineton without incident. Mineton was the town of blacksmiths, located below the mines in the northern mountains. Apart from the mines, there were only small settlements where the miners lived. They had a population of about 50 to 100 people. Mineton itself was a sizeable town with over 2,000 inhabitants. Most of them worked in the town's metal smelters and forges, as well as in associated businesses such as trading and transport. A large part of the empire's metalworking industry was located here.

The heroes were traveling with a large group, which included many carts. This made them significantly slower than us, so we were able to catch up with them. We had pushed the horses to the limits of their physical endurance in order to catch up with them in time.

The heroes had taken up residence in the better of the two inns and occupied it completely. But even then, several of us recruits had to share rooms and sleep on the floor. Well, better than outside. According to the plan, we only stayed one day, as the heroes had already completed their preparations when we latecomers arrived. Then we went higher up into the mountains to one of the mountain villages. From there, it was another two days to the Lightning Dungeon.

Cornelius came up with the idea of dividing us recruits into three groups and leaving the division up to the respective group leaders. However, I was lucky enough to end up with Ezekiel, whom I already knew. I also knew two of the others in my group by sight. They were both warriors and had also been part of the failed expedition to the slave camp. One of them had been one of the leaders at the time and had apparently fallen out of favor, as he had not been given his own group. I was told to keep an eye on him to see if he was overmotivated. If so, he could put us in danger. He was not happy about his demotion and grumbled most of the time. However, I didn't feel like playing babysitter.

The next day began with Ezekiel making a short announcement. He told us that we should keep an eye on the surroundings during the day and that we would have one of a total of four night watches. We were positioned at the end of the entire group. This made us the rearguard and we were supposed to cover everyone's backs. We didn't get a speech from the heroes, so we could act as Ezekiel saw fit.

Over the course of the next day, we saw large birds flying in the sky in the distance. In addition, all kinds of animals were romping around on the slopes of the distant mountains. There were hardly any large wild animals left in the central empire, so the animals here were a welcome change. I was curious to see how well the heroes could adapt to this.

In the evening, we found ourselves in a wooded valley. In the woods, I could spot numerous animals, some of which were larger than rats. Most of them kept their distance from us, but one animal was very close by and seemed to be watching us. I estimated it to be about half a meter long, and it was lurking in one of the treetops. Was it a bird? I was curious to find out what it was.

Our night watch was the last one, so we were still asleep when the alarm went off. There was an attacker in the camp, and I quickly realized who it was. At the edge of the camp, I sensed the bird I had noticed before. It was flying away from us. It turned out that one of the servants had been attacked and lost a good chunk of flesh. Had the bird torn off a piece? It certainly looked that way after I heard the information circulating around the camp. Unfortunately, I couldn't share what I had noticed because I didn't want to explain how I knew. I couldn't give up my cover, so I remained silent. It was therefore not surprising that no one found out who the attacker was. Obviously, no one had sufficiently trained senses to have noticed the bird.

The next morning, no one else still knew who the nighttime attacker had been. Fear spread among the servants, especially the victim. The heroes ignored the uncertainty and gave the order to continue the journey.

However, we traveled on with increased vigilance, but nothing happened. No one noticed that the bird was following us at a greater distance. So I was not surprised by what happened the following night. We had once again set up camp next to a forest, which offered the bird excellent opportunities to hide. I could have waited to see when the bird would strike again, but I preferred to sleep and leave the problem to the guard. When the alarm went off, I noticed that the bird was focusing on the same servant and had surprised her again in her sleep. Was this the bird's hunting behavior? We would find out in the near future if the bird attacked again. However, the heroes were no longer calm, especially Cornelius. He didn't understand why his countermeasures weren't working, but they just didn't work against birds. But I didn't care as long as the bird left me alone. I had enough other problems to worry about.

Over the course of the next day, we arrived at our temporary destination, the last settlement before Lightning Dungeon. This mountain village was mainly inhabited by miners who dug for ore in the nearby mines. Therefore, there was no inn or anything similar, and we had to set up a stationary camp.

From here on, the rest of the journey became much more difficult, as there was no longer a well-trodden path. In addition, the dungeon was located in a valley where the weather was permanently bad, which is why it was very unpopular with adventurers, even though it was one of the two publicly accessible dungeons. Cornelius ultimately decided to leave the servants behind on the way, as the dungeon could be reached in half a day and it would not be possible to set up a permanent camp in the bad weather valley. Therefore, another temporary camp was to be set up along the way. The injured woman was left behind in the mountain village to recover.

The next two nights were quiet. The bird seemed to have given up after we reached the camp. While most of us had set up camp outside, the injured woman was allowed to lie in a bed. This reinforced my suspicion that the bird was choosing a victim and pursuing it. Unless it had stopped pursuing us, because I couldn't sense it anymore. Perhaps we were outside its territory.

We continued our journey and set up a more permanent camp that evening as planned. In the distance, we could already see the valley that was our destination. It was full of low-hanging clouds from which rain fell steadily and lightning flashed regularly. The plan was for the servants and the soldiers who were not needed to stay behind here. Then there was a final briefing.

"Listen carefully, I will not repeat myself. We will form different groups, each of which will proceed separately. The three recruit groups are around level 25, which means you should be able to defeat the first four bosses. You will first take care of the first levels to gain experience with the locations. From then on, you will take care of leveling up at your own pace. The soldiers accompanying us are around levels 30 to 45, so you can immediately fight your way through to floor 21 and level up from there. We will follow and then mostly go our separate ways from floor 21 onwards. Only three of the soldiers will come with us to collect the mana cores. Understood?" <Cornelius>

Everyone nodded, and I had to think about how I wanted to approach the dungeon. I couldn't really afford to waste too much time on the first floors. I could injure myself right at the start and then officially withdraw. That should allow me to act unhindered.

As it turned out, however, the problem solved itself. We had survived the night in our new base camp without incident and then set off in our groups toward the dungeon in the morning. The closer we got, the worse the weather became, which is why the terrain became increasingly muddy and treacherous and our visibility increasingly poor. Our group had joined forces with another group, but one of them suddenly screamed and then fell silent. We were alarmed and approached the incident. I couldn't sense any large animals, but I could sense the person who had screamed earlier. Because of the rain, it was difficult for all of us to hear.

“He's in that swamp hole over there! That's where I last saw him.” <Recruit 1>

“I'm already there. AH! Something bit me!” <Recruit 2>

“Get away from there! Watch out for snakes, they can be poisonous! And throw a rope to the missing person!” <Ezekiel>

Another wizard froze the area around the swamp hole so we couldn't sink in anymore. That way, we managed to rescue the man who had sunk in. We were also able to rescue the man who had been bitten. It turned out that it was indeed a snake bite, and the man who had sunk in had several bites as well. They had to get out of there urgently. According to their status indicators, they had been poisoned, but fortunately not fatally.

“Ezekiel, I'll take the two injured back to camp. You guys go ahead, I'll catch up with you. I have enough experience in nature not to fall into a swamp hole.” <Eliza>

“All right. Hey, everyone else, let's form a group together for now. Let's go.” <Ezekiel>

Ezekiel continued to make a name for himself as a leader. Meanwhile, I brought the two injured back to camp. Then I went to the dungeon alone. Now that I was alone, I could move freely. The snakes didn't bother me because they only had a mild venom and I now knew what to watch out for. I found the way to the dungeon easily because it was magical. It was located at the bottom of the valley, about 2 meters under water. The constant rain had formed a large lake. In addition, the temperature was only a few degrees above freezing, so the water was very cold. I arrived just in time to see the last group disappear into the dungeon. As luck would have it, they were the heroes.