Chapter Eighty-Four: The Underground Mine

After Zhao Xu agreed to join the mission, the four members of Maple Leaf, already itching for action, immediately raised their hands in support. In the end, it was decided that Royer would bring his three trusted subordinates—the Wanderer Hill, “Expert” Locke, and the Fighter Gale—along with them. The rest, including Zack, were tasked with guarding the smuggled goods at the entrance of the mine.

Zhao Xu and the Poet Frog each conducted a knowledge check and an “Erudition” skill check, but neither could uncover any rumors of anomalies in the area. The dilapidated traces at the mine’s entrance indicated it had been sealed for many years. This was also why Royer hadn’t brought many combatants; in such a dungeon, traps posed a greater threat than any creature lurking within.

Nevertheless, everyone replenished their gear from Royer, and Zhao Xu dutifully accepted twenty bolts for his hand crossbow. Maple Leaf, Royer, and Gale took the lead, approaching the mine entrance slowly, weapons gripped tightly. Maple Leaf frequently hefted his newly acquired two-handed greatsword, testing its balance.

According to Royer, the weapons lent to them were theirs to keep, whether they found the secret treasure or not. This piqued Zhao Xu’s interest; the content relayed by Maple Leaf was heard by all, but only Royer knew the details of the limited “Sending” spell. Perhaps the message contained phrases like “at any cost”; otherwise, Zhao Xu doubted any underground faction would be generous enough to simply gift a fifty gold piece greatsword.

“Shall we break it open?” Maple Leaf asked, glancing ahead.

Now that they had formed a team, Royer naturally assumed leadership.

The mine entrance was nailed shut with layer upon layer of wooden barricades, supplemented with canvas inside. Though time had left it tattered, it was enough to prevent them from peering through the gaps.

“Break it down. You two, come here and use axes to chop it open,” Royer ordered.

The two subordinates who had originally been posted as guards fetched axes and began hacking at the barricade.

Thud. Thud.

Within moments, they had opened a gap wide enough for a person to pass through. Still, they continued, reducing the barricade to chunks mingled with canvas scraps, which fell to the ground. Royer and the others waited for over ten minutes to let the interior air out before entering with torches.

The two who had broken the barricade tidied up the debris and stood guard at the entrance, paying little attention to the faint, indistinct runes scrawled on the canvas.

Royer and Maple Leaf led the group, followed by the two Wanderers, then Zhao Xu and the other non-melee members, with Gale bringing up the rear. The shaft was deep and shadowy, the floor littered with fragments of ore and several broken pickaxes.

Suddenly, the Wanderer Rainbow raised his voice, directing his torch at the natural stone wall, where a line of blood-red script glowed eerily in the firelight.

“Expert, what does this mean?” Royer called out urgently.

Though the script was crooked, everyone could tell it wasn’t written in Common.

Locke, Royer’s subordinate and support specialist, stepped forward, magnifying glass in hand. He examined the writing and murmured, “It looks like Infernal. I need to check.”

He began rummaging through his backpack.

“Traveler, turn back!” Yoyo gazed directly at the writing, her face pale. “I studied Abyssal; both Infernal and Abyssal use this script.”

Her words unsettled the previously composed group.

“Yoyo, are you sure? Couldn’t it be a prank?” Rainbow asked awkwardly.

Infernal was the language of devils and demons; besides wizards and clerics, few would bother to learn such a tongue. Even Zhao Xu, with three extra languages to choose, had opted for Draconic, Celestial, and Elven.

But seeing Yoyo’s expression, everyone knew she wouldn’t lie about something like this.

“Let’s keep moving. It’s just meant to scare off unwary adventurers,” Royer said, though his own face was grim as he pressed on with the mission.

The party continued through the mine tunnel, wide enough for four or five abreast.

“Did you choose Abyssal as your bonus language?” Zhao Xu whispered to Yoyo, the cleric beside him.

Normally, clerics didn’t prioritize Intelligence, limiting their bonus language choices; most picked Celestial, the lingua franca of the divine realms.

Yoyo shook her head. “I’m interested in languages, so I invested skill points in ‘Languages’.”

Zhao Xu regarded her with renewed respect. There was a first-level spell, “Comprehend Languages,” which let one understand unknown tongues, so most didn’t spend scarce skill points on languages—unless forced by being a Barbarian, who often had to invest in “Languages” due to their illiteracy.

Mages and clerics typically had only two skill points per level and rarely invested in languages; only Zhao Xu, as a “Monastic Cleric” variant, had six starting skill points. To devote some to languages, despite their scarcity, marked a true devotee of Arthur’s world, eager to understand everything. Such focused players often reached the pinnacle.

Zhao Xu, having adventured, experienced the value of spells and knowledge skills, and began to adopt a mage’s mindset: not everything that boosted combat power was necessarily meaningful.

He tried to recall Yoyo’s name; it didn’t match any famous players from his previous life. But Maple Leaf reminded him of “Red Maple Leaf,” a druid from back then.

After about five minutes, the party reached the end of the tunnel, and their vision opened up dramatically.

Ahead lay a rugged, excavated vein, forming a sunken pit—the main site of the miners’ former work.

To proceed, they had to descend to a large platform four or five meters below. Dangling from the edge was a frayed mechanical cable, once used by miners to haul ore up to the tunnel.

No one trusted the cable’s integrity, so Royer secured a grappling hook in a crevice at the tunnel mouth and lowered it down.

After checking the surroundings, he had Zhao Xu and the others descend one by one.

When Gale, the last member, reached the platform, Royer counted heads, and they continued according to plan.

But after only a few steps, everyone halted. Even Maple Leaf clutched his greatsword, trembling.

On the wall they had just descended, less than five meters away, beside the abandoned cable, several faded, rust-red handprints marked the stone.

It looked as though someone had once desperately tried to climb their way out.