Chapter 1-54 : The Girl And The Dark Elf Have Arrived At Sance Cave
After continuing while taking breaks in between, they arrived at their destination, which was a cave in the middle of a dense and humid forest.
It would take days to arrive if they rode a carriage, but thanks to the fire dragon, it only took them three hours.
「So this is Sance Cave.」(Elle)
「It looks creepier than I thought.」(Ingrid)
「Mr. Fire Dragon, thank you for taking us here.」(Elle)
「Thank you. You’re free to go now.」(Ingrid)
「Grauu.」(Fire Dragon)
Ingrid and Elle got off the fire dragon’s back and thanked it.
They told the dragon it was free to go, but the dragon shook its head. It stayed in a prone position and tapped the ground.
「Hm? I wonder if it’s telling us it’ll wait for us here.」(Elle)
「That’s weird. The contract should have ended here.」(Ingrid)
「Umm, Mr. Fire Dragon, are you sure you want to stay and wait for us?」(Elle)
「Grau!」(Fire Dragon)
「Looks like our friend here has gotten attached to us.」(Ingrid)
「Yeah. That’s a good thing, right?」(Elle)
Elle took out a loaf of bread and put it in front of the dragon. She thought it deserved extra food.
「Mr. Fire Dragon, if you feel unsafe, you can leave anytime, okay?」(Elle)
「Graauu~!」(Fire Dragon)
It replied to Elle with a nod and began eating the bread while wagging its tail.
Elle couldn’t help but chuckle as she watched its cute behavior and stroked its forehead.
「Fufu.」(Elle)
「It’s a dragon, but it looks more like a dog.」(Ingrid)
「Yeah. I didn’t know dragons were tame.」(Elle)
「They’re not. This guy is special. Well, shall we go now?」(Ingrid)
「I’m right behind you.」(Elle)
Leaving the fire dragon outside, Elle and Ingrid entered the cave.
The inside was pitch dark, so Elle took the initiative to take out a light magic stone and activated it to illuminate their path.
「Thanks, Elle.」(Ingrid)
「You’re welcome.」(Elle)
「You know, I used to rely on my helmet magic lamp when I explored dark caves like this.」(Ingrid)
「Helmet magic lamp?」(Elle)
「One of the magic tools I made. I couldn’t hold a lamp since I fought using a bow, and I didn’t have anyone with me to hold a lamp since I was solo, so I came up with that magic tool. To put it simply, it was a helmet embedded with a light magic stone you could wear on your head. However, it was kind of tiring to wear since the magic stone was heavy. I couldn’t explore for a long time because my neck would get sore pretty quickly.」(Ingrid)
Ingrid was a dark elf and wasn’t good at light magic, so she couldn’t use light magic stones efficiently. Therefore, she had to use a huge chunk of light magic stone for her helmet, making it heavy.
「I see.」(Elle)
「But I don’t need to worry about it now since I have you.」(Ingrid)
「Un. You can leave the lighting to me.」(Elle)
The ground was uneven and had many rocks that could make you trip, but thanks to Elle, they could see the path and proceed safely.
However, the path wasn’t the only problem. The temperature inside the cave was higher, and it was even more humid than the forest outside.
They were still in the outer part of the cave, but they had already begun to sweat.
The deeper they went, the hotter the air was.
「This is weird…」(Ingrid)
Ingrid realized there was something off.
「The inside of a cave is usually cool, but this one is hot.」(Ingrid)
「Now that you mention it.」(Elle)
「There’s definitely something wrong about this cave… ーHm?」(Ingrid)
While she was wondering about the abnormally high temperature, Ingrid heard something.
She noticed several red eyes in the darkness ahead.
「Elle, stay behind me.」(Ingrid)
「Some monsters appear?」(Elle)
「Looks like it.」(Ingrid)
Ingrid positioned her hand near her quiver and held her bow firmly with the other hand, ready to shoot arrows anytime. Meanwhile, Elle put some more mana into the light magic stone she was holding to make it shine brighter.
Thanks to that, the monsters were now visible. They were lizard-type monsters with blue scales and a body length of about two meters.
Unlike normal lizards, they had sharp fangs that could be seen peeking out from their mouths and blade-like claws on their feet that were ready to tear Ingrid and Elle’s bodies to shreds.
They were much smaller than the ferocious black wyvern they fought, but Elle couldn’t help but feel terrified by their appearance.
「Water lizards, huh?」(Ingrid)
「Water lizards?」(Elle)
「Yeah. They can be quite troublesome, but they’re not that strong. Their fangs and claws are a threat, but they don’t move that fast. They’re also elemental-attributed monsters, which means they have a weakness.」(Ingrid)
「Fire.」(Elle)
「That’s right.」(Ingrid)
Judging from their names, Water Lizards, and their blue scales, Elle could immediately tell that they were water-attributed monsters, which were weak against fire.
Noticing Elle and Ingrid, the lizards charged toward them. There were three in total, and the largest one led the charge.
Just as Ingrid said, they were not fast.
「Don’t worry, I’ll handle them. You just need to maintain the light.」(Ingrid)
「Alright.」(Elle)
Ingrid quickly drew three fire arrows and released them at once.
Each of them hit the head of each lizard, piercing through it, and immediately burning the lizards’ entire bodies.
Water lizards seemed to have a lot of fat inside their bodies, so they burned so easily.
They squirmed in agony for a while until they stopped moving.
Elle was impressed that Ingrid had successfully killed the water lizards in just one shot.
「Wow! Ingrid, you’re amazing!」(Elle)
「Hehe, thank you. Looks like my archery skills haven’t gotten rusty. Not yet, at least.」(Ingrid)
As she said that with a smug smile, Ingrid snapped her fingers, and then the fire went out as if she could control it.
「Mmm~ Elle, don’t you think they smell delicious?」(Ingrid)
「They do smell like roasted meat, but, Ingrid, you don’t seriously want to eat them, right? Eating monsters is taboo.」(Elle)
「Haha! Of course, I know that.」(Ingrid)
After confirming that the water lizards were really dead, Ingrid collected the fire arrows from the bodies, reinfused them with fire magic, and put them back in the quiver.
They then continued deeper into the cave.
「I’m sorry I wasn’t being so useful this time.」(Elle)
「What? No, your light illuminated my targets. You’re more than useful, Elle.」(Ingrid)
Elle seemed to feel bad that she couldn’t do much in the fight.
Understanding how she felt, Ingrid stroked her head. It wasn’t that she was treating Elle like a child, but rather she was telling her not to worry about that.
Elle answered Ingrid’s kindness with a smile.
「I hope we won’t encounter water lizards again. The air would thin out, and we would eventually run out of it if we kept fighting them with fire.」(Elle)
「You’re right. Well, if we encounter them again, I’ll think of another strategy.」(Ingrid)
While praying they wouldn’t encounter any monsters, they continued walking carefully on the uneven ground of the cavern while admiring the glittery rock walls surrounding them.
They found some magic ores on the way, but none of them were the ones they were looking for.
In order to fix Neige, they were looking for the ore containing crystal magic stones that could be used as Neige’s new core. However, they were rare materials. Even after exploring the cave for about an hour, they still hadn’t found one.
「Hahh… hahh… *breathing heavily*」(Elle)
「Elle, are you okay?」(Ingrid)
They walked deeper and deeper into the cave, and the temperature was only getting hotter and hotter.
Sweat didn’t stop dripping from their bodies, and their clothes were now completely drenched in sweat.
「I’m fine…」(Elle)
「No, you don’t look fine. I think we should go back for now. We can set up a camp outside and continue tomorrow after we get enough rest.」(Ingrid)
Elle felt she could still go on for a little bit, but the temperature was unbearably hot, and they were running out of stamina.
Elle thought it would be best to listen to Ingrid’s advice as she was an experienced adventurer.
「Alright, let’s go back.」(Elle)
「Good.」(Ingrid)
Ingrid was glad that Elle listened to her. She patted her head and turned around.
However, before she could even take a step forward, she suddenly got goosebumps. Her instinct as a fighter told her there was danger approaching.
「ー!!」(Ingrid)
She quickly turned around again and saw something glaring at her from the darkness.
Something dangerous, wicked, and thirsty for blood.
「No way…」(Ingrid)
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