Chapter 167 - Lenny Steel
Although Ray sounded full of confidence and wanted to carry on moving forward, the others were a bit worried. The beast was powerful and it looked like even if Ray was alone, he wouldn't have been able to do much to deal with it.
But they felt like they had no choice. They had agreed to help Ray and Ray had already helped them all so many times in the past before.
"Do you remember who that book was written by Gary?" Ray asked.
"I think it was by some guy named Lenny Steel."
Suddenly the name jogged a memory of Ray's. A long time ago when he had first arrived at Avrion, Ray went to try to find information about the Dragon knights. That was when he came across a book written by Lenny Steel that stated the Dragon Knights had special abilities.
Slyvia had told Ray that many of Lenny steel's books were widely discredited due to how much fiction he would write about and how he would exaggerate tales but rather than an exaggeration, it looked like this Lenny Steel author had experienced it all before.
If he remembered correctly, Wilfred had said he used to be a knight at Avrion academy who had been kicked out long ago.
"Did the book say anything about the Green slime?" Badger asked.
"It seems it just has a knockout effect, there's no poison so you don't have to worry," Gary replied.
Before heading further on deeper within the cave, Sloth discovered another body that had been hit by the green slime. The body had been there longer than a few days and it looked like the man was already dead. In his hand, the man held a letter.
Gary spotted the letter and immediately opened it and started to read and as he did, he had a concerned look on his face.
"What's wrong?" Jack asked.
"Ray I think you better read this." Gary then handed the letter over to Ray.
The letter's contents read.
This letter is an urgent one as it seems one of the red-haired children named Ray, is the boy spoken about in the prophecy. The boy could ruin our entire plans, it is impossible to expel the boy as he has the backing of the other elders and master knights but don't worry, we the Purebloods shall deal with his life before the Dark guilds attack. I have handed this letter to one of my knights to pass on to you.
When looking at the equipment the man was wearing even closer, they noticed that the man was wearing a white sash indicating that he was a knight of Avrion.
"Doesn't this letter prove that someone in the city is working with the Dark Guild and Purebloods?" Gary asked.
"Yes, but what is it doing down here?" Jack said.
"There's a possibility that the mines were used as a secret messaging service," Ray explained. "Maybe the beast wasn't a guard after all but had always lived down here."
"Can we use this letter to prove that maybe one of the elders or master knights are working against the academy," Sloth asked.
"Maybe not, it might be best to give the letter to Wilfred or Sir K, heck even Von and see if any of them recognise the handwriting," Gary said. "If not, there's no way to prove who wrote the letter in the first place."
The group continued to move forward and tunnels started to branch off once again in different directions. They were no longer underneath the Dragon knights Statues. Ray could only assume that the Red aura he had seen underneath was the Slime Snake they had encountered.
But Ray was determined to carry on through the tunnels in hope, he could find something. If the man who had died holding the letter regularly used these tunnels as a route, it meant he had to be heading somewhere.
Ray's dragon's eyes worked as normal down the tunnels which suggested that the Slime Snake had an ability to conceal its aura which meant it was indeed a powerful beast. Even Ray wasn't sure if he would be able to defeat it with his current power.
As the group continued to move forward, they went past many mining tools laid out on the floor.
"These must have been left behind from the people who made these tunnels," Gary said.
"Yeah but the question is why were they left down here?" Badger replied
As they continued walking, they were met with several more Iron doors. They had learnt from Wilfred that these doors were created once Beasts started to navigate through them and started to attack towns and cities.
But after unlocking another iron door instead of the cave-like wall that they had been seeing so far, they now were looking at a hallway that had been carved out perfectly using stone. The floor was no longer bumpy and was made of stone slabs similar to the wall.
Jack with no hesitation started to walk through.
"Be careful Jack, we don't want the same thing happening again," Ray said.
Jack nodded and this time the group started to walk through the stone tunnel carefully. As the group started to walk forward Badger managed to walk on top of a wobbly tile.
In that instant, a creature with a monkey-like body and fangs of a snake burst up from the loose slab. Gary immediately sliced the creature's head off with a single swing of his sword. The beast's head continued to roll on the ground while its body was now lifeless.
Badger's eyes looked like they were about to pop from his head.
"You're welcome," Gary said.
As the group continued walking, they encountered many small creatures through the cave but none of them were higher than a basic tier and they dealt with them easily.
Finally, they had come across once again another Iron door. Ray placed his hand on the door and the Iron door opened to reveal a large round room.
Light crystal technology had been used in the room so they were able to see everything clearly.
"Just what in the world is going on here!" Gary said as he stared at multiple human bodies, that had been chained down to tables.