Knowing its location, it was easy for Angor to find the entrance covered behind a screen of tree vines. The spot stayed well-hidden thanks to the heavy snow. But now, there was a giant rupture on the screen, which was probably caused by the escaping apprentices.
He crouched lower and walked inside the tree trunk.
After passing through a narrow path, he reached the rumored underground cave full of the smell of sulfur and puffs of steam escaping through the fissures along the cave walls, which indeed looked like floating ghosts.
Other than these, there was nothing particular in sight.
He saw many more routes and forks ahead and was not sure which one to enter, so he remained around the entrance to look for the traces left behind by the apprentices.
Following the footprints, he moved across the heated area and came inside a side passage where the air smelled rather salty, and a bit stinky.
With the help of a luminous stone, he saw more bloodstains all around him.
By the end of the passage, he heard the sound of flowing water and saw a “flying fish” ahead, which was probably the culprit who attacked those two apprentices. This creature had a long, slim body covered in glossy scales. It used a pair of large fins growing on the sides to stay afloat. Someone who looked at it from afar would easily mistake it for a whip instead of a fish.
Angor had his Infinite Reticence on, so the monster did not see him coming at first. But as soon as he moved closer, the fish stopped moving and suddenly released a screen of vapor around its body. When the vapor reached Angor’s position, the fish’s eyes glowed in red. It then spat a sharp water arrow at Angor.
One of the biggest problems of Infinite Reticence was that, once Angor’s presence was detected, he wouldn’t be able to hide again.
Angor was expecting the monster to use some kind of ability to stay alert, but he didn’t think it was so effective. He quickly side-stepped the incoming arrow, took out a white sword from his bracelet, and slashed at the fish.
The sword attack failed to connect with the fish’s slippery body. Though Angor wasn’t planning to kill the fish this way. His sword was aimed right at the vapor screen.
The weapon was enchanted with a powerful freezing effect. As soon as it reached its mark, it rapidly turned the water lingering in the air into an ice wall that engulfed the flying fish inside.
Thud! The fish landed on the ground as an ice sculpture.
With another swing of the sword, Angor slammed the now helpless monster into pieces.
He kept walking and ran into a school of flying fish that might mean serious trouble to ordinary apprentices, but not to him, when he had all kinds of alchemy weapons to use.
After wiping out a good number of the not-so-intelligent creatures, he stepped out of the passage and entered another big section of the cave, where he found the underground river.
Listening to the sound of dripping water in this peaceful place would have helped him relax, if not for the giant swarm of flying fish gazing at him in hunger, after they sensed the light of his luminous stone.
In the next second, the monsters rushed at him like a tidal wave while unleashing more water arrows or simply tackled him using their spear-like bodies.
He didn’t feel threatened in the slightest as these things were way weaker compared to the flying fish he encountered in the Purification Garden. Using his good old strategy, he used a simple illusion to confuse the monsters before using a small trick to start a fight among them.
Their number fell rapidly.
When Angor felt comfortable to join the fight, he used his ice sword to clean up the battlefield. Under twenty minutes, not a single flying fish remained alive.
He moved to the edge of the river and looked into the water. Among groups of ordinary fish, he saw glittering shrimps swimming about. Lots of them.
He immediately recognized these shrimps as Silver Stripes, valuable cooking material sought by both Gourmets and gentlemen who wished to last longer during bedwork. From a quick glance, he saw enough shrimps that would get him at least thousands of magic crystals.
The shrimps themselves were defenseless. Using Hand of Spell, he easily rounded them up.
“This is where the Abyss is fun, I guess. I can pick up money from the floor that will otherwise take others years to earn...”
No wonder such a deadly place was never short of eager adventurers.
He stuffed the shrimps into a random bottle and put it away in his bracelet. He had no use for them, but he could share them with Sunders and Kanter later.
He kept walking upstreams. According to the female apprentice, that was where she heard Toby’s call.
He was bothered by more flying fish on his way. When he was beginning to wonder whether Toby would use such a dangerous route at all, he finally found another clue.
It wasn’t Toby, but the corpse of a strange monster. It looked like a giant hermit crab with an equally large anemone growing on its shell. From the adult-sized crab, Angor sensed the particular energy signature left behind by the sequence of gravity, so it had to be Toby who killed the crab.
Toby was probably looking for a better fishing spot when he discovered this nice “restaurant” and forgot to return in time. This also explained why Toby didn’t sense Angor’s recall signals—the signals couldn’t reach underground.
Thinking about this, Angor sighed in relief. As far as he could see, all the flying fish and big crabs were no match against Toby.
Though he still headed deeper inside the cave on faster steps just in case.
After passing through what seemed to be a maze of passages, he came to yet another wide area. Here, he felt something was off. It was as if the air was getting thinner. He found it hard to breathe, and he sensed an unknown burden blocking his throat.
The salty smell in the air was replaced by the stink of blood, sided with a particular odor exclusive to certain reptilian creatures. More importantly, he recognized the smell. It was almost the same as the scent in Akeso’s home.
“There’s a snake monster here?”
His theory was soon proved when he saw twisting traces on the floor caused by a crawling snake. And telling from the size of the trails, it was no ordinary snake.
Toby’s faint voice in the distance suddenly drew him out of his thoughts.