CHAPTER 56: 056 THAT EXPEDITION

Throughout the journey, Reiger and his group had adhered to the strategy of avoiding combat as much as possible.

Their goal was merely the water from Cadmus Spring, and they had to fight a Lv.6 Strong Dragon, so they saved every bit of energy possible to focus all their efforts on battling the Strong Dragon.

Reiger even instructed Rephia not to use magic unless absolutely necessary, to avoid wasting spiritual power.

Although Rephia had many potions for restoring spiritual power, considering they still had to reach the 59th floor and would face many battles along the way, it was best to conserve resources wherever possible.

This was also a policy promoted by Finn—after two weeks of expedition, the clan’s resources were almost depleted. In order to have supplies for the return journey, minimizing the use of items and medicines was of utmost importance.

In such circumstances, even Ais obediently refrained from charging at monsters on sight, Theona kept her twin blades sheathed and followed quietly, and Theone, needless to say, was especially diligent in following Finn’s directive, reacting strongly against anyone who caused unnecessary waste first.

Of everyone, only Reiger was somewhat unrestrained; although he didn’t recklessly rush at monsters, he continually maintained the effect of "Lamu," enhancing everyone’s protective magic.

"You’re wasting too much spiritual power,"

Theone had once complained about Reiger’s extravagant behavior.

However, with a light comment, Reiger blocked Theone’s dissatisfaction.

"No worries, I have the ’Soul Heal’ ability."

His indifferent words immediately silenced Theone.

"Freak."

Theona muttered under her breath, frustrated.

Ais and Rephia felt a mixture of emotions.

The highest level of ’Soul Heal’ ability, this unprecedented development ability, probably restored a massive amount of spiritual power every second, right?

With such a development ability, even if Reiger continuously used magic, it was likely that he would never run out of spiritual power.

How could the female Swordsman and the rear Magic Guide, who primarily use magic that consumes a lot of power, not feel mixed emotions?

The thoughts of the two were the same.

"I really wish I had that."

Unfortunately, that was a vain hope.

Thus, the group only faced a few unavoidable fights and otherwise progressed smoothly.

Thanks to the map, even though the terrain and road conditions were poor and the paths were complex, like a labyrinth, they constantly advanced towards their destination.

Walking like this, the group suddenly felt that there seemed to be fewer monsters.

"Why does it feel like there are fewer monsters?"

Theona was the first to express this doubt.

"Could it be because we deviated from the main route?"

Comparing their current location to the map, Rephia voiced her suspicion as well.

The location of Cadmus Spring was deep in the 51st floor, quite off the regular route leading to the 52nd floor.

Rephia meant that perhaps because they had strayed from the regular route, there were fewer monsters in this area.

"But last time we went to find Cadmus Spring, there didn’t seem to be so few monsters in this area."

Theona’s remark caused Theone to furrow her brows as well.

Ais also lowered her eyelids.

Reiger appeared thoughtful, yet a thrill ran through his heart.

"I feel like, this situation was mentioned in the original story?"

Once this thought occurred to him, Reiger’s extraordinary memory played a crucial role.

He carefully recalled the plot of the original story, and suddenly, a flash crossed his mind.

"Could it be that?"

Reiger couldn’t help but mutter aloud.

"What?"

Including Ais, all the women heard Reiger’s murmur and were stunned.

At that moment, Reiger suddenly turned to Rephia.

"Rephia, how far are we from the Spring?"

Reiger’s sudden query took Rephia by surprise.

"It’s, it’s just at the end of this path, inside the chamber. It shouldn’t be far now."

Though a bit flustered, Rephia still answered Reiger’s question.

But almost the moment Rephia’s words fell, Reiger dashed out.

"Mr. Reiger!?"

Rephia cried out in shock.

"Reiger!"

Theona and Theone, the two sisters, were also stunned.

Only Ais, seeing Reiger dash out, her eyes sharpened, and she instantly turned into a gust of wind, following him.

"Wait!"

"What are you doing?!"

"Miss Ais!"

Theona, Theone, and Rephia finally couldn’t stand still any longer and hurriedly ran after them, rushing forward.

By this time, Reiger had already rushed into the chamber at the end of the road.

Upon entering the chamber, Reiger immediately halted.

"Reiger."

Ais quickly followed and stood beside Reiger, then her eyes widened suddenly.

"What’s going on with you all?"

"Why are you running?!"

"Huff, huff...."

Theona, Theone, and Rephia all arrived, some complaining, some gasping for breath.

But the next second, the scene that met everyone’s eyes widened their eyes just like Ais.

For some unknown reason, the chamber in front of them had been mercilessly ravaged.

The walls, the floor, and even the ceiling, everything seemed to have been destroyed, either full of cracks or outright shattered, a complete mess.

Many trees that grew there were either broken or crushed.

This was nothing yet.

What truly astonished everyone was that there were signs of dissolution everywhere, with parts of some trees turned a deep purple, emitting black smoke, and giving off an indescribable stench.

"What happened here?"

"How did it become like this?"

Theona and Theone looked at each other.

"..."

Ais’s frown grew deeper.

"Ah, the spring water."

Although Rephia unconsciously stepped back, she caught a glimpse of a corner of the cavern from the corner of her eye.

There, a pool of water sat, exuding a mysterious, deep blue radiance that was exceptionally dazzling.

It was the Cadmus Spring, and the water inside it still looked plentiful, as if it hadn’t been consumed by the Strong Dragon guarding it.

"Wait, where is the Strong Dragon?"

Theone immediately noticed something unnatural.

Indeed, the Strong Dragon that should have been guarding this place was not there.

Or rather, it was no longer there.

Everyone involuntarily shifted their gazes toward the front of Cadmus Spring.

At that spot, a large amount of dust was accumulating.

"...Could that be the Strong Dragon’s remains?"

Theona’s unintended whisper silenced everyone.

Everyone stared at the large amount of dust, clearly the remains of a monster that exploded into ash after losing its magic core, and remained speechless for a long time.

Undoubtedly, the monster that had been guarding this place was dead.

The question was, who had killed this Level 6 dragon-type monster?

"Could it have been done by adventurers?" Theone whispered softly, "It seems like we’re the only family on an expedition at this time."

There were not many families capable of expedition to this layer in Orario, only a few at most.

And as far as Theone knew, none of those families had entered the underground city for an expedition recently.

So, it was unlikely that this was the work of other families here for an expedition.

Which means—

"Monster infighting?"

Theona muttered to herself.

A chill suddenly ran through everyone’s hearts.

Because they all knew too well that if this was indeed the result of monsters infighting, then things could get tricky.

Monsters generally do not attack other monsters.

That monsters attack each other, generally suggests two possibilities.

The first possibility is an accidental event.

A monster might become irrational due to some accident and start fighting indiscriminately, continuing until one side is utterly defeated.

The second is an abnormal situation.

In the underground city, some monsters enhance their strength by absorbing the magic cores of other monsters, crazily devouring their kin’s cores to grow stronger.

These monsters, usually referred to as enhanced species, gain tremendous power due to ingesting other monsters’ magic cores, far exceeding their original level.

This type of monster is even rarer than rare species, and can continue to grow stronger by consuming magic cores, eventually becoming a greater threat than even the floor master.

Because these monsters pose a huge risk, potentially attacking adventurers for their magic cores, crossing layers, and continuously causing disasters, they are immediately put on the wanted list by the Guild upon discovery and adventurers are even assigned to subjugate them.

Now, the question arises.

What kind of situation is this?

"Did you see any magic cores, Ais?"

Theone asked, controlling his emotions.

"No."

Ais responded succinctly.

"There are dropped items!"

Rephia, with sharp eyes, spotted a pair of wings among the dust and picked them up.

"No magic cores but there are dropped items?" Theona said, pressing the bridge of her nose, "I have a bad feeling about this."

"An enhanced type that could devour the Strong Dragon?" Theone’s expression slightly twisted, "This joke isn’t funny at all."

Before anyone could react, Reiger, who had been intently observing the whole cavern, turned around and walked away.

"Reiger!"

"What now!?"

Everyone turned around like startled birds.

"Back to camp."

Reiger had only one sentence.

If his memory did not fail him, and this expedition was indeed the Loki family’s first encounter with those things in the original, then things back at the camp were probably not looking good.

"Really."

Reiger sighed.

"My first expedition, and it happens to be the one where we encounter those things?"

This luck, he wasn’t sure whether to call it good or bad.

"Let’s go!"

Reiger picked up his pace, rushing toward the direction of the 50th floor.

The women looked at each other and eventually all followed Reiger.

The group charged out of the path and into the main route of the 51st layer, entering a spacious terrain.

Just then—

"Aaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh—!"

A chilling scream echoed through the air.