Chapter 296: Return to the Cave

The Death Knight certainly wouldn't refuse such an invitation. A chance to fight a Caster up close? It couldn't ask for more. Jilannis could keep it busy for a whole day, but it could keep this Elf busy for an entire century—or even longer!

But because of this, even the Death Knight, long dead and unused to thinking, couldn't help but feel a flicker of doubt: 'On what grounds does a Mage dare to fight me like this?'

The answer, naturally, lay with Ron and Delaford, who had already teleported away.

"Damn it, this has to be that Elf's power, right? It has to be!" Even as they sped away from New Green Swamp Town as fast as they could, the two could still see the small-scale natural disaster Jilannis was causing. The Goblin Hunter's jaw was about to hit the floor. "By Magrubi! That woman's a monster!"

"The real monster is that Death Knight. I reckon even an attack like this won't be enough to kill it," Ron snorted. "We need to go even faster. Let's hope the mastermind isn't too far away."

"Mastermind?" Delaford blinked, then had a sudden realization. "I know! We're going to that village to take out that Pollution Worm Demon, right?"

"Right... Right my ass!" Ron, who was flying, nearly got snagged by a tree branch. "What does this have to do with the Pollution Worm Demon?"

"Of course it's related!" Delaford, being carried along by Ron, counted the clues on his fingers. "Look, the Death Knight was guarding the monument with her before. She can command those Undead Creatures. The Teleportation Array, she definitely knew about it but never told us. The Last Queen, the relationship between those two is murky. And the Purgatory Saddle means she's already sided with Purgatory. When you add it all up, isn't it obvious she's the one pulling the strings?"

"..." Ron was silent for a moment. "You make a good point, but I have to say, it's probably not her. And even if it were, we wouldn't need to go that far."

"Those Teleportation Arrays are ancient. The one we used recently ran out of power after a single use. Unless the person hiding in the shadows is so lazy they'd rather let their plan fail, they're definitely going to be watching over things here to make sure nothing goes wrong."

"So!" Delaford had another sudden realization. "We're going to the Kobolds' cave to find the previous Teleportation Array!"

"Exactly..." Ron flew a little higher. From this position, they could already see Dogman Canyon. "Look over there! Someone's set up camp!"

"The Kobolds here have been almost completely wiped out!" As they got closer, Delaford noticed more details. "Beastmen, and Centaurs... What a shame. I quite liked those guys who worshipped Aiksuuri."

In the Goblin Hunter's logic, Delaford plus Aiksuuri equaled the Barbecue Knight. Kobolds worshipping Aiksuuri was equivalent to worshipping the Knight's mount. Therefore, it was approximately equivalent to the Kobolds worshipping Delaford.

"Something's not right," Ron said as he and Delaford landed brazenly in the middle of the camp. He scanned their surroundings but found that their arrival from the sky hadn't drawn any reaction from the creatures there. "Are they asleep?"

"They're sleeping pretty soundly then. Yikes!" Delaford hopped onto a Beastman and checked for a breath. "They're all dead!"

"And they've been dead for a long, long time," the Goblin Hunter added, poking the Beastman's cheek. His finger immediately left a hole. "It's like they're made of paper-mâché. Besides the skin, everything inside is almost completely rotten."

"Just like in the town. Undead Creatures," Ron said, his eyes glinting. "But why would they suddenly die? Is the mastermind that confident in the Death Knight? Why do something as stupid as killing the donkey the moment it's off the grindstone?"

"Or maybe they just lost control of them?" Although his use of Magic was sloppy, Delaford was at least half a Caster and could grasp a few things. "Do you remember which one was their cave? Let's go in and take a look."

"I don't remember," Ron said, releasing the Weaving Introduction. As his vision shifted, he quickly discovered that among the caves on either side, one possessed a Magic Radiance far stronger than the rest. "But it looks like someone left us a clue."

The path formed by this Magic Radiance was clear and continuous. As he followed it deeper and deeper, Ron even began to suspect it might be some kind of trap. But thankfully, after squeezing through another hole in the cave, the scene before Ron suddenly opened up.

"A cliff! This is where those Ratmen were—" Delaford exclaimed excitedly, then quickly clapped a hand over his mouth and asked in a hushed voice, "Ron, how are we going to get across?"

"The same way as last time, of course. We jump," Ron shrugged. He cast a spell on both himself and Delaford, took a few running steps, and leaped across. "This is much easier than before."

"Well, you're definitely in better shape than before," Delaford said as he also jumped across. Before the spell's effect wore off, he leaped up and patted Ron on the shoulder. "See? Exercise is good for you. You must have spent all your time cooped up in a lab before!"

"Stop messing around," Ron said, swatting his hand away while scanning their surroundings. "This is strange... The residual radiance becomes chaotic here. It looks like someone was in a fight."

"A fight? Between who?" Delaford scratched his head. "Ron, we killed all the Ratmen here. Who could possibly be fighting?"

"I'm wondering the same thing," Ron shook his head helplessly and took out his bow and arrow. "In any case, stay on guard. Maybe the Ratmen came back from the dead."

Elsewhere, that might have been a ridiculous joke, but here, it might just be true.

Soon enough, however, their doubts were dispelled. As they ventured deeper into the cave, the sound of violent, successive explosions echoed from up ahead. In the lulls between the blasts, Ron and Delaford could hear what sounded like two or three creatures chanting spells in turn. And the voices sounded somewhat... familiar?

"Mazarino! It has to be that old man!" the Goblin Hunter leaped up in excitement. "Ron, let's hurry and meet up with him! The radiance that led us here was probably left by him!"

The Goblin Hunter hadn't bothered to lower his voice, so a not-so-friendly response quickly echoed from the depths of the cave: "Are you suddenly trying to attack me with memories? And with a Goblin Ranger I've only known for a short time? If you think that's enough to affect me, you sorely underestimate Mazarino!"

Delaford was not about to take that. Ron reached out but couldn't grab him in time as the goblin shot forward. "Mazarino! Who are you looking down on, you old coot?!"