NOVEL NEXT Chapter 79. Mine Investigation
While the human territory is at peace, some areas in the dwarven territory have been enveloped with the fog of war.
Since the moment the NE infected giant ant colony has caused several dwarves miners to go missing. The dwarves have sent investigation teams to check the situation.
The investigation team has indeed succeeded in finding the ant colony that has killed some dwarf miners. But as they had entered too deep within the ant colony, the giant ants successfully annihilated the dwarf's investigation team.
Even the few Peak Level 0 blessed within the investigation team failed to escape.
After annihilating the investigation team, several ants successfully raised their level by absorbing the NE generated by the dwarf's death. Two giant ants that have long been on the verge of advancement have even reached Level 1.
Although the ant colony has successfully annihilated the first squad and allowed many ants to level up. But the investigation team's failure to return has raised the dwarf's concern.
This time, the dwarf city decided to seek reinforcement from nearby cities before sending another investigation team.
But just like before, the investigation team failed to return.
Sensing massive trouble, the city's council representative requested support from the capital city.
Because of the limited travel speed during the era, it took two months before another investigation team was created.
Because the place they're investigating is inside a mine full of tunnels. The investigation team is made up of a small number of elite dwarves.
There are dozens of Level 0 blessed with one Lower Level 1 earth element blessed called Voden. He has been sent by the dwarf council from the capital city together with a few Level 0 blessed to help the city's case.
Voden led the investigation team into the mine and quickly found the extra tunnels that had been reported.
After telling his teammates to be careful, Voden walked in front of his teammates and prepared to use his ability any second.
The team continued to advance until they met dozens of giant ants.
Upon seeing the ants, Voden moved away so his ally could kill the ants without injuring him.
While his allies were killing the ants, he always kept his eyes on the battle and on the surroundings.
Once the investigation team had killed all of the ants without any injuries, they continued forward while leaving behind the ant corpse.
It didn't take long before another group of ants arrived. This time, there is a giant ant that's one size bigger than the others.
Luckily, although that ant was slightly bigger and had a higher defense, the investigation team entirely consisted of blessed and easily killed that ant.
While feeling nervous, Voden commanded his team to continue forward.
When he found a third group of ants soon after, Voden commanded his team to kill it while he observed the battle with a frown.
"They're getting stronger and there are more of them." He concluded after his teammates finished killing the last ant in the group.
After some thought, Voden pointed at two dwarves, "I want both of you to return along our path and report our finding to the surface."
Once the two dwarves left the group, Voden led the others to continue forward.
As they continue to advance, the team passes through many branched paths while trying their best to remember every path.
They also occasionally met a small group of ants and found that the deeper they were, the more mutated giant ants there would be in an ant group.
After defeating several groups of ants, the team felt exhausted and looked for a safe area to rest.
But considering they're located inside a tunnel deep underground. Except for the size of the tunnel and whether there is a branching path, there is no difference at all among all the tunnels.
So, the team just continued forward slightly and rested in a relatively flat tunnel.
As it's deep underground, the dwarves didn't light any fire and only ate the rations they had brought.
Except for watching, a dwarf blessed with wind element power also used his ability to create fresh air for everyone to breathe and relax.
While his teammates rested, Voden didn't relax.
As the strongest, he rarely took action except for emergencies. That made him not as exhausted as the others.
With half-closed eyes, Voden constantly sensed the earth around him with his power. This way, he'll be able to sense any ambush from the enemies.
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Luckily there weren't any giant ant attacks while they rested.
Once everyone felt refreshed, Voden commanded, "Let's continue our investigation. We'll just continue for a bit more, then we'll retreat and report it."
The other dwarves became even more lively upon hearing it. They cleaned the mess around them and continued their investigation.
As they marched further, the ants became stronger before finally, the ant group they met became weaker.
At last, they didn't even meet any ant group for a long time.
"Hmm? These last few groups of ants felt weaker. Have we passed by the center of this ant nest and reached the other side?"
Although Voden muttered so, he somehow felt a bit uneasy.
Considering the time they've spent in the underground, Voden decided to stop their investigation.
"Let's retreat for now. We'll report our current findings and wait for reinforcement before starting another round of investigation."
His word led to complete approval from the other dwarves.
Fighting against the giant ants while keeping the alertness has made the dwarves extremely exhausted.
During their return journey, the dwarves traced back their steps and followed the path they used to investigate the tunnels.
But midway through their travel, Voden paused and frowned. The others who saw Voden's sudden change in expressions also became nervous.
Without trying to comfort them, Voden touched the tunnel's wall with both of his palms while trying to strengthen his earth detection ability.
Soon, his expression changed, "There's a massive group of ants in front of us. Those ants are blocking the road we used to reach the surface. They're currently slowly walking towards our direction."
Vode quickly commanded, "Let's move deeper into the ant nest and look for a branch road to escape from the ants."
"Why are you so nervous, captain? How many ants did you see?" One of the dwarves asked while in doubt.
"Based on the surrounding earth's tremor, there are at least a hundred or even close to two hundred giant ants. Among them, there are around fifteen mutated giant ants and one incredibly massive ant that causes the dirt to tremble with every step."
"A hundred?!"
Everyone looked in shock before running deeper underground.
But before they even ran too far, Voden's expression changed, "Halt!"
He nervously placed his hand on the ground as his expression turned pale, "There's also a group in this direction. There are even more ants here than the one blocking our retreat!"
The others became pale when they heard the captain's words.
Although the amount of ants they have killed this far can indeed reach more than a hundred, those ants are spread in several groups.
After killing a group of ants and before meeting a new group, they have some time to restore their blessed power and fatigue.
But if they need to fight against close to two hundred ants continuously, they'll definitely get tired.
Getting tired mid-fight will certainly cause some casualties. Worst case scenario, their team might get wiped out entirely.
The dwarves looked at each other before Voden suggested, "Let's break through the ant group that blocks our retreat."
"I agree, it's better to try our best than waiting for death." One of the dwarves replied.
The other dwarves nodded and agreed with the idea.
The team quickly came to an agreement and moved toward the close to two hundred ants blocking their return path.
Once they saw the dense giant ant group, everyone in the team gulped.
Thankfully, the tunnel they're located in is quite small. It'll at most allow six giant ants to fight at the same time.
But that small tunnel is also a problem.
That means they need to kill most of the ants before they can pass the ant group and return to the surface.
There's also the group of ants slowly getting closer behind them.
If the two ant groups surrounded them in the middle, all of them would certainly die.
While taking a deep breath to calm down his nervousness, Voden commanded, "Attack!"
The dwarf blessed activated their abilities and easily killed the giant ants standing at the front.
While his teammates are busy killing the small fry, Voden keeps an eye on the overall situation and the supermassive giant ant looming behind the ant group.
Every time his teammates fell into danger, Voden activated his ability and summoned an earth spike from the ground.
Although the spike will encounter some resistance and occasionally fails to pierce the carapace of a Peak Level 0 giant ant, it can still knock the ant away and save his teammates from danger.
A few minutes quickly passes by and the dwarves have killed more than half of the ants. But the dwarves aren't happy at all.
During these few minutes, six of their comrades have died and some of them have run out of energy to cast their power.
At the same time, the other ant group has moved closer to their location.
Voden looked at the swarm of ants in front of him and gritted his teeth, "At least one of us must go out and report the situation!"
"Right now there are fewer giant ants than before. On the count of three, I'll try to open a path for you guys to escape." Voden said to his teammates.
"What about you, captain?" The others asked in concern.
"I'll make sure that big guy over there won't attack you guys," Voden said while pointing at the giant ant that hasn't made a move since the beginning.
When Voden saw his teammates still wanted to say something else, he immediately berated them. "Enough! The longer we dilly dally the lower our chance of success will be."
Voden immediately counted while preparing a big move, "1... 2… 3!"
The moment he said '3', Voden created several earth spikes that killed many ants.
Those spikes also separated the tunnels in front of them into two.
On one side, there are the massive Level 1 ants and several dozen ants. Meanwhile, on the other side, there are only less than tenants.
Volden felt incredibly exhausted to the point his knee trembled. This is also why he decided to stay behind.
If the team chooses to bring him, they'll be delayed and their chance of survival will be lower.
Volden's original team members, who also came from the capital, looked at him with sad eyes before running at the path he had created.
Together, they killed the few ants blocking their path.
Because they almost ran out of energy, the group mainly used their sword to attack.
Midway through the path, the Level 1 giant ant finally made a move.
When Voden, who was busy repelling the attack from several giant ants, saw it. He grinned and used the last bit of his energy to activate his power.
While the Level 1 giant ant crawled toward the escaping group, four earth spikes shot down from the tunnel's ceiling.
Two of them missed while one of them hit the back of the ant but failed to deal any damage due to the ant's carapace.
As for the last spike, it has coincidentally fallen right at the ant's eye.
Compared to the exoskeleton, the ant's relatively weaker eyes got injured from the falling spike.
While the Level 1 ants are twitching from the pain, the dwarves have finally left the tunnels Voden has made with his earth spikes.
The survivors looked at each other with a sad look while following the path to the surface.
Among the dozen dwarves who have entered, only four of them have escaped.
Initially, there were still nine of them who ran along the path Voden had created. But while they're running, five of the dwarves have either been killed by an attack or are too exhausted to move.
Luckily they didn't meet another ant group during their trip to the surface.
Once they escaped the mines, the dwarves took a deep breath. Some even cried when they felt the blowing wind.
Amidst the happiness of surviving a disaster, the dwarves failed to realize their strengthened power. One of them has even risen to Level 1 after absorbing a lot of Exp.