"Does anyone have anything to add?"
"No," Aaliyah shook her head.
The others had no opinions either. They had discussed the plan preliminarily last night, and Gauss’s inquiry this time was just a symbolic procedure.
After putting away the collapsible house, and making all psychological and spell preparations for departure, the group headed towards the surface entrance of the third passage.
The mining site was as silent as ever.
Except for Ying, Gauss and the others were covered with the dust of Aaliyah’s scale butterfly, quickly becoming invisible, and their complex aura gradually hidden.
The team walked in this desolate land.
The marks of time’s erosion became increasingly evident.
Dry stone wells, broken pottery half-hidden and half-exposed in the soil, the large wheel of some facility had completely decayed, scattered haphazardly.
It was like a graveyard.
"Stick close to me," Ying whispered ahead.
Soon they arrived at a passage entrance half-covered by weeds and fallen stones.
The group, invisible with the butterfly dust, relied on the shared particle effect to discern each other’s position.
They nodded to each other, their figures slightly distorted in the sunlight, and then silently entered the darkness one by one.
...
"The tenth one."
"Done,"
Gauss silently recited in his heart.
His hand pressed down on the long snout of the Kobold, using slight force, and its neck, resembling a crocodile head, was easily snapped by Gauss.
The Kobold died in unknown attacks without any response.
This is the pitifulness of the weak, but also a blessing.
Dying quietly, painlessly.
He shoved the cold body of the Kobold into the storage pouch, while others sprayed odor-removal potion on some bloodstains on the ground.
Soon the scout monster camp was wiped away from the cave by an invisible hand.
Being careful is never wrong.
The group pulled out several nodes in succession without triggering any special situations.
As long as they’re careful enough, this process of clearing scout monsters isn’t difficult.
It was some mechanisms and traps that required them to ponder slightly.
But not enough to delay the team’s progress.
It has been about an hour since they formally entered the mine, walking along the underground path.
Gauss and the others finally reached the predetermined location.
"Is this spot okay?" Ying asked in a low voice.
"If it’s not, we can continue forward a bit."
"No problem, let’s stay here,"
Gauss had left enough error margin.
Going further in would be unwise.
The monster density inside would only increase, and casting magic might prematurely attract attention.
Now is the perfect spot.
He took out the White Magic Wand, a small piece of clay flew out from his sleeve, then the tiny magic power from the tip of the White Magic Wand quickly merged into the clay.
After a brief transformation, the clay, no bigger than a fingertip, squirmed for several seconds, then turned into a tiny spider.
In the dark, it’s almost impossible to see its presence.
"Go,"
Gauss activated the embryo of the Nest Consciousness talent, projecting part of his consciousness onto the small spider.
The spider stretched its legs, bouncing towards the depths of the mine.
Good time without sharing this micro creature’s perspective.
Gauss felt somewhat uncomfortable; everything in his view became extremely large.
But the advantage is, it truly seemed invisible, can brazenly jump past the Kobold scouts in the passage.
Though its size is small and its strength is not high, the moving speed is not slow; after all, it’s not a real spider.
Soon, upon arriving at the fork marked in advance by Ying, the small spider stopped, then entered.
"Buzz!"
Crossing the entrance, the surroundings suddenly became incredibly spacious.
In this enormous underground dome, faint green phosphorescence scattered from all directions.
The first to catch the eye were the buildings constructed with wood and stones.
Black smoke faintly rose in the distance.
But when Gauss looked toward the nest’s depths, he could only see a hazy scene, clearly a result of barrier protection.
Arrived!
Kobold town!
Suddenly, Gauss felt his vision go black.
He quickly jumped aside.
"Boom!!"
A giant claw roared down where he had just been.
Looked up to see a Kobold soldier with a spear patrolling, it caught the small spider in the cave’s dim light, seemingly intentionally stomped.
But after Gauss jumped away, it did not continue to care, just sped up to catch up with its partner ahead.
"I remember you,"
Gauss glanced at its back.
Then headed towards the nest’s depths.
Shortly after, he truly sensed the mysterious energy barrier Ying mentioned.
It was a special energy floating in the air like invisible mist.
Gauss, experimenting, controlled the small spider to approach it.
Crossing the invisible energy barrier, his shared vision seemed to penetrate a sticky water membrane, and the scene in front of him suddenly became clear.
"Many Kobolds...."