Sitting against the cavern's wall, facing the ceiling with closed eyes, I eventually lowered my head after several minutes; opening my eyes, I ignored everything before me and glanced at Trina and Zartha resting on my lap.
"Haa, fucking love you guys." 'Aw, we love you too, Master!' I would've kissed my swords if they weren't coated in the disgusting blood of monsters.
Gripping their hilts, I engulfed them in flames, burning away the brown blood before using them as a cane as I rose to my feet; standing upright, I looked at the corpses of the monsters I'd fought against—the Rat, Worm, and Specter.
"These Vampires are freaking meticulous; they really didn't want anyone snooping around to survive." The three monsters were mighty; I was even forced to use [Rebirth]. Of course, I didn't want to do so; using my life-saving skill was always a last resort; however, I'd been partially suppressed while facing the trio of monsters, so there was nothing to be done.
To ensure no one could escape, they've locked the space inside this cavern, meaning I wasn't just unable to escape with [Teleport], I couldn't use my space mana in general; no [Blink], [Spatial Lock], [Shrink], [Expand], or [Void Slash]. I was basically fighting with an arm tied behind my back.
"I don't like the feeling of being decapitated." Rubbing my neck while eyeing the Specter, which was the monster that killed me, I clicked my tongue and approached my former body, a sight that I will probably never grow accustomed to.
Removing the armor and clothes from my body, I put them on before burning my former body with a large [Fireblast]. Watching my former body slowly turn to ash under the raging fire, I shifted my gaze to the monsters, stuffing what I could of each into my space pouch to sell for later before spending the rest of the time burning every splotch of my Ichor in the cavern.
Speaking of those monsters, if I had normal greatswords instead of Zartha and Trina, I would've been a dead man; a normal weapon wouldn't have been able to do significant damage to that Worm. As for the Specter, I would've never been able to touch him; the Rat would've just melted my weapon.
"When I return home, maybe I should switch to normal greatswords." As I gazed down at my swords, Trina instantly accused me. 'W-What!? No, a-are you planning to cheat on us, Master!? H-How could you!?' "T-Trina, calm down; that wasn't my intention." 'S-So you still plan to do so!? I-I can't believe you, Master! Stupid Master, I never want to talk to you again!'
After throwing a fit, Trina's voice faded from my mind, causing me to wryly smile as I shook my head. 'She jumps to concussions too fast.' Absorbing my swords into my body, I glanced at where my former body previously lay, which was now a pile of ashes, and waved my hand, summoning a gust of wind that scattered the ashes throughout the cavern.
'Okay, now that I've finally got a chance, let me look for the exit.' Using [Heroes Gaze], I scanned the cavern, quickly finding a fake wall blocking the entrance path. Clicking my tongue, I punched through the stone wall, forcing my way through it as I stepped into the path.
Shaking my head, removing the dust and debris from my hair, I glanced at the long hallway, raising an eyebrow when I spotted no traps. "Wow, no traps? I was expecting to be assaulted instantly." Sounding half-sarcastic and half-serious, I walked down the pathway, still cautious of unseen traps; after all, I never saw that explosion in the bunker.
'I'm still confused where it came from.' After a while of walking down the hallway, I eventually arrived at the end, where a boulder was blocking the exit, prompting me to push it away, only to finally exit from the underground and step out into the sunny world.
'Well, not sunny, but at least I'm outside.' Looking up at the full moon, I leaped into the air, using [Air Jump] repeatedly so I could get an aerial view of my surroundings.
'So, I'm still within the forest, that's good, I suppose.' Glancing at the mountain I'd exited from, I fell back down, landing on a tree branch while removing the map from my pouch. "Alright, Zartha, you know what they say, third time's the charm." 'Head further North, to the Juglar Mountain Range. When an Important meeting would be held, they'd do so there.'
Hearing Zartha, I faintly smirked while stuffing the map down into my pouch. "Important meetings? Sounds very promising." Leaping from the branch, I headed North, causing the monster below to chase me, though I paid them no heed.
___
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Zuxi Town
Having received a detailed report from the Captain, Marston nodded before turning around, walking away from the sinkhole that was previously Zuxi Town, and approached a reddish-black carriage drawn by four skeletal griffins.
"Mistress, the soldiers have discovered minimal clues left behind by the Human; the Human is most likely still alive. Considering how not even any blood was found, it's likely he is decently strong; normal Crusher Corps members may struggle capturing him." Deeply bowing, Marston silently awaited his Mistress's words.
"I received word from Mother, our Grand Teleportation Array in the Everglades has been discovered." Brushing aside the curtains, she glanced at Marston through the window. "Everglades? If I'm not mistaken, it is the closest base to Zuxi Town; it seems the Human has wasted no time."
"What is the next closest base of ours from the Everglades, Marston?" Marston initially furrowed his brows, confused, only for him to briefly widen his eyes, quickly understanding what his Mistress was getting at. "That would be the Juglar Mountain Range, Mistress. Shall I arrange for the Crusher Corps to head there in advance?" "Do so." "Understood."
Bowing once more, Marston walked off, while his Mistress glanced at the sinkhole and faintly smiled, displaying her beautiful yet deadly fangs. "What a delicious aroma… I want to taste this Human." Licking her fangs in hunger, she pulled the curtains back into place, isolating herself from the outside.
___
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A Week Later
"You know, I didn't think my first time encountering a Griffen would be like that." Scratching my head, I turned around, waving at the family of four while the Griffens flew off, returning to their nest. 'What were you expecting?' "I don't know. I thought I'd have to kill them… Well, I'm not complaining. Because of that encounter, I saved a lot of time scaling the mountain."
Who would've guessed saving a griffen cub would've resulted in me making some friends and getting a free ride up the mountain? Wasn't me, that's for sure.
"Anyway, do you know exactly where that conference room would be?" Standing at the peak of the mountain, I gazed upon the numerous mountains of the Juglar mountain range. 'No.' "But didn't you go there?" 'Not often, Master.'
Clicking my tongue, since I didn't have a direct lead, the only thing I could do was search on my own, which was going to be very time-consuming as the Juglar mountain range was the second biggest in Daemon.
"Welp, let's just hope I'm lucky." Muttering softly, I stepped forward, scaling down the mountain as I proceeded deeper into the mountain range.
Days passed as I searched the mountain range, scaling over a hundred mountains in that time, yet I was still coming up empty-handed; however, on the fifth day, I discovered something interesting.
Hiding behind a random boulder, I looked through it, staring at an ice-demon wearing a black cloak with two red V's; the Viz was searching the area before heading in a different direction. 'Tsk, they caught up pretty damn fast.' I thought I would still have some time, but it seems I was mistaken.
"Looks like I've got to speed things up; no more resting at night, I suppose." Clicking my tongue, I looked away, turning around and increasing the distance between the Viz and I; continuing my search for the conference room.
However, the situation was worse than I anticipated; as my search continued, I'd spot several other Viz's, totaling over ten in just a few days, though I was confident there was far more. Luckily, I was always able to spot them first, so I could avoid being caught; though when I encountered a flying demon, I was nearly caught.
The only saving grace was that, despite their large number, they were weak; even if they all ganged up on me, I was confident I'd be able to kill them all. 'Finley overestimated them a bit; he's stronger than every single one so far.'
With the threat of being discovered looming overhead, I pressed on with my search until, on the eighth day, I found a serene lake in the middle of a valley. Logically, it was nothing out of the ordinary. I'd come across several of these lakes, though unlike the others, I couldn't see the bottom of this one.
'Bingo. Found it.'