NOVEL NEXT Chapter 364: Barrel Mole's Alpha?
Lillian stared into the man's uncovered green eye before flickering her gaze to the black eyepatch over his left eye. She squinted at it with a sliver of realisation.
Millis, noticing Lillian's gaze was settled on the captain of the guards, pulled the girl's focus back onto her and said:
"That day over there was the one that had kept everyone on this side of the cavern safe by making them hidden. Real handy ability, huh?"
Lillian nodded slowly, watching as the man lifted his eyepatch, revealing a mechanical prosthetic eye.
A moment later, she watched as his muscles tensed and stiffened slightly as he gazed at her figure. The captain's face paled as the eye settled on Millis, who waved back at him casually.
Watching as he slowly lowered his eyepatch, he wandered over to them and spoke in a highly professional but hushed manner:
"We must leave quickly. With the addition of you two, my mana is quickly running out."
And after saying that, he strolled past them, followed by both miners and guards, who tightly clutched their firearms.
Seeing this, Lillian quickly wrapped an arm around Millis's and pulled her along. The captain's spell [Transparent Curtain] was an effective spell that would keep a target's smell and presence hidden as long as they were in range of the mage.
As they made their way through the cavern with efficiency, they stumbled into an open clearing.
Machinery of various sizes was strewn across the ground, their sides either half-eaten or picked apart for what she could only assume to be out of curiosity.
Lillian couldn't help but cringe. These mining tools weren't cheap at all. Luckily, she wasn't the one who bought it, and she knew that the Blackridge family wasn't going to be overjoyed when they heard about this news.
The group then paused as they found a mole strolling from an exit around a corner.
The guards slowly raised their guns and waited for the captain's hand gesture to fire. However, right as he was about to swing his hand down gently...
Something followed behind the mole. And just like all monsters they had encountered, it was by no means friendly.
Coming out from behind a corner was a large, elongated head of a horrific beast. It had sharp, yellowed fangs that were protruding out from its pink gums at an unnatural angle.
And what she could only describe as thick metal platings covered its head like a protective headgear with eyes dotted across it like freckles.
Not only that, but whiskers as long as 6-10 metres fell from its protected snout, dragging along the ground as it moved its body, which had reached the height of about 15 metres.
Just like its head, its entire body was also encased in a highly protective shell of metal-like material that shone a shiny polish, despite the dirty environment.
Its armoured forelimbs were ridiculously bloated to fit claws of unimaginable sharpness and size, with each finger appearing to be a cross between a pickaxe and a shovel.
Lastly, it ended at its tail, which was about 8-10 metres long, causing its overall body length to be at least 25 metres.
It was the Barrel Mole's Alpha.
And...
It was an abomination that exuded a frightening presence.
Everyone around Lillian froze as a supernatural aura washed over them. They were experiencing the primordial fear of death, even though they hadn't yet experienced it before.
While the miners were frozen in place, the guards fared slightly better. Having undergone training and experienced the Alpha's aura more than once, they were able to keep hold of their weapons this time.
The captain, noticing the group stricken with fear, commanded his guards to break them out of it as he continued to move onward with the path back.
While he, too, was frightened, he also knew that the longer they stood in place, frozen with fear, the protective curtain he had placed over them would disappear.
Lillian, watching the captain, took a brave step forward, couldn't help but glance back at the monster and found it placing a pair on top of one of the large machinery and—
SCREECH...
—Forcing it down into the form of a flat metal plate.
It then held the large metal disc to its maw and...
CRUNCH... Crunch... Crunch...
Began eating it.
And after it was done with that, it moved onto the next, which coincidentally caused it to move towards their rough location.
Lillian, also frightened by the beast, looked back at Millis and found her smiling at her with her usual smile—she was completely unafraid of the abomination.
Millis gave a sigh before whispering to Lillian:
"That thing doesn't even look hurt from the sunflowers... Can ya believe that?" She shook her head, disappointed.
Seeing that the Heroine was unafraid or scared, Lillian put on a brave expression and nodded slowly, feigning bravery and disappointment:
"You'll need more than that to bring it down after all..."
As they continued moving, Lillian couldn't help but recall the trail they were moving through. It wasn't the one she and Millis went through, but another path, which was highly visualised in the game.
She then recalled that at some point, the captain would be stricken with something unfortunate.
After reaching a certain distance, Lillian watched as the captain's back shivered slightly and his arm twitched as though he was holding back a powerful urge.
The guards that followed behind him stiffened as well, knowing what this meant. And this could be said for Lillian as well.
Due to the captain's prosthetic left eye, he had contracted the unfortunate curse of a flaw. And it was all because the eye held magical properties.
Lillian slowly glanced back, finding the monster to have already eaten another machine and gaining on their location hastily.
Lillian felt her heart drum loudly inside her chest, beating against her ribcage. She could even make out the pungent smell of the Alpha.
She could feel the group's overall walking speed noticeably increase as they had fully shifted into a full-on sprint.
Lillian then heard whispers near the front, telling the ones at the back to hurry and that the captain didn't have enough time left.
Luckily, they had managed to make their way around a corner to successfully allow the captain to spasm and regain control over his body.
Lillian watched as the captain leaned his side against the wall before raising a hand towards his guards and nodding slowly.
She frowned slightly, 'What an unfortunate Flaw...'
The captain's flaw was like a form of Tourette's, except boosted by several folds, which would prove rather fatal in battle. Luckily, the man didn't have any other enhancements to make the flaw worse.
After the captain got his bearrings, he wrapped everyone in the [Transparent Curtain] once again.
They weren't far from the site, just a little while longer, and they could escape.
Lillian, who was facing the direction of the captain, felt something pat her shoulder. And looking to the side, she found Millis smirking at her.
"Look at this."
Lillian raised an eyebrow and turned around. What could be so interesting to her at this very moment?
Scrape... Scrape...