Chapter 56: Abandoned Mine
Taking advantage of this moment, Gauss’ gaze wandered around the Adventurer’s Hall.
He could feel that the number of adventurers in the hall had increased slightly recently, with many unfamiliar faces.
Moreover, the change in bottom adventurers wasn’t the most obvious; the most direct difference was the increased number of adventurers of Professional Level who could step onto the second floor.
Is it the surge in missions around Gray Rock Town that has attracted adventurers from elsewhere?
After all, Gray Rock Town is adjacent to the Jade Forest, and describing the interior of the Jade Forest as a Monster Kingdom is not an exaggeration.
Gauss usually heard from others in town that the Jade Forest served as a barrier between the Carlos Kingdom and the non-human races’ southern ruling area.
And deep within the Jade Forest, a rich variety of monster groups live, such as Green Dragons, Lizard People, Gargoyles, Ogres, Minotaurs, Two-legged Flying Dragons, Polycephalous Snakes, among other terrifying creatures.
Gray Rock Town initially began as an outpost stationed on the edge of the Jade Forest and gradually developed from there.
However, the Jade Forest seemed relatively stable for many years.
At least in Gauss’ memory, no large-scale wars were ever heard of.
Retracting his gaze, his other teammates had already chosen a mission.
"I think this one is good, what do you guys think?"
"Eradicating the kobold group entrenched in the abandoned mine, with a group number of about 20."
Compared to Gauss’ old friends the goblins, kobolds are even weaker in combat ability.
They are burrowing, reptilian humanoid creatures, oviparous, and naturally worship Giant Dragons, taking pride in being the claw and tooth under a Giant Dragon’s command.
Moreover, the scale-covered kobolds often claim to possess a very thin bloodline of the Giant Dragon.
Besides being servants of the strong, kobolds are naturally excellent diggers and builders, often blending into various caves and modifying them to establish living environments suitable for kobolds.
Compared to their construction and excavation talents, their combat skills are not outstanding, with most kobolds finding it hard to live healthily past the age of ten. They rely on their numbers to fight predators but often suffer heavy losses as a result.
Gauss had no objection to the mission target his teammates chose.
Most kobolds are about 1.2 meters tall, and their frontline combat ability is not very strong. The main thing to watch out for is their trap-setting.
In their team, not only is there Medvedeva, who is skilled in traps and mechanisms, but Gauss, who has silently learned from Medvedeva during several missions and mastered the magical ability Mage’s Hand.
As long as they are careful, kobold traps won’t cause much trouble for the team.
Gauss can completely use the characteristics of the Mage’s Hand to inspect potential danger areas one by one.
The other teammates likely chose the kobold commission for this reason as well.
After confirming the accepted mission, everyone went back to rest and gather their equipment.
Then they quickly gathered at the town entrance.
Because there were more missions to choose from, they could select some closer ones to reduce travel fatigue.
This time, the mission was less than half a day’s journey away.
The mission location was an abandoned mine to the west of Gray Rock Town; many years ago, the mineral resources there had been completely extracted.
This task was issued by the Adventurer’s Guild of Gray Rock Town. The Guild occasionally issued some monster-clearing missions, even in uninhabited areas.
"It’s a pity it’s an abandoned mine; otherwise, with the kobolds’ habit of hoarding shiny things, there might be a big haul," Daphne sighed.
"If that were the case, this task wouldn’t have fallen to us, right? It would have been taken by someone else already," Levin comforted.
There are quite a few clever adventurers who can think of this. In the bottom adventurer world, tasks with "high returns" are most likely to be snatched up.
Some larger teams would even hire people specifically to stay in the Adventurer’s Guild Hall to accept high-yield tasks as soon as possible, and what’s left are often tasks that don’t promise many profits, at least from the task details shown.
"That’s true."
The group traveled for about a few hours to reach their scheduled task destination, a certain forgotten-name abandoned mine.
By now, it was just after noon.
Besides the team, the mine was eerily quiet and empty.
Knee-high bushes grew sporadically along the road.
The wooden support at the entrance of the main mine tunnel had collapsed, with severely decayed wood fragments scattered all over the ground.
Pale green sewage dripped continuously from above the mine tunnel.
The "drip, drip" sound could be heard from afar.
"This is the place."
Gauss noticed that not far from the mine entrance, there were piles of fresh soil and rocks.
Considering there’s no one living here, it’s only this task’s targets doing the digging work.
The master diggers, kobolds.
Wherever they go, they transform caves to their liking.
After collecting some basic information, Levin and the others did not act rashly.
Instead, they walked a distance away to camp, rest, and eat to restore their strength.
This task differed from any Gauss had undertaken before, as he needed to enter the cave interior to fight the kobolds.
Compared to the open wilds, the deep, unknown mine was certainly riskier.
Thin oxygen, cave-ins, fallen stones, the lack of a light source, easy disorientation – these are all hidden dangers in the cave environment.
Therefore, even though the target’s combat strength wasn’t high, the team took no chances.
Careless adventurers rarely stay safe in this field for long.
After fully recovering their strength,
Medvedeva and Gauss first set out to scout for information in the cave.
Before officially entering, Medvedeva sprayed both herself and Gauss with Deodorant Potion.
This could help suppress their body’s scents to some extent, preventing them from being exposed prematurely in the enclosed environment.
Gauss cast an invisible Mage Armor on himself.
The reason he didn’t give Medvedeva one too was, firstly, because using Mage Armor consecutively left him with little magic power, and secondly, he hadn’t practiced casting "armoring" on others yet.
Interpersonal spell-casting is significantly more difficult than self-casting.
"Drip, drip."
Upon entering the cave, the environment was very dark, barely visible enough to see the surroundings.
Fortunately, Gauss had a mental map, recording the mine’s surroundings systematically.
He didn’t have to worry about getting lost, and with an agility attribute of 6 units, he could keep up with Medvedeva’s pace.
The two carefully scouted around.
Through winding cave tunnels, there was a distinct strange musty smell from the kobolds, a peculiar scent like stale sheep tallow burned with a faint sulfur corroded odor.
Upon entering the mine, Medvedeva activated her skill.
Thus, they would occasionally stop for her to clutch her head, easing the discomfort of the smell being intensified.
The two moved cautiously through the cave, occasionally pairing up with Gauss to utilize Mage’s Hand for reconnaissance.
Finally, after a meticulous exploration lasting for tens of minutes, Gauss emerged from the cave with a pale-looking Medvedeva.
"It is indeed kobolds; about twenty adult individuals are present, with a few young ones."
"Their weapons are daggers, mine picks, and some other wooden weapons, no ranged weapons, but traps are set at several entrances."
"The air circulates in the mine; there should be hidden paths and ventilation ducts inside."
"The paths are complex; be careful not to get lost when going in."
"You’re amazing, Medvedeva!" Doyle praised the intelligence agent without reservation.
"No, actually, it’s Gauss’ credit." Medvedeva shook her head, looking at Gauss.
Not to mention continuously using Mage’s Hand for intelligence gathering, even when leaving the cave, it was Gauss who led the way out; otherwise, in the complex, dark mine, she would have wandered longer.
Thinking about Gauss claiming to have a natural sense of direction,
she felt amused and even slightly envious.
It seems he might be more suited to becoming a Wanderer.