章節 108: Chapter 108

After paying their respects to Zack, the four people neared the room's door before one of them created a tiny ball of light that passed under it.

"It's clear," he said before they opened the door and left.

"Frankie, go with them and aid them in anything they might need:" the summoner said to his summon.

"Frankie, go, squawk!" the parrot repeated before traversing the door.

The four cultivators began to advance as sneakily as they could. They created a thin layer of air-energy under their feet so their footsteps wouldn't make any sound while they stayed alert to react to any sound they might hear.

The tunnels were claustrophobic, with just enough space for two people to walk side by side. From time to time, they found a door, but with the help of Frankie, they checked every single one without entering it.

But after checking five rooms, they realized that something strange was happening. Three of those rooms were full of bunk beds like the one they found at the end of their tunnel, but they only found a single dwarf in one of them while the rest were empty.

This caused the group to become worried. If there were so many beds, there should be a similar number of dwarfs in those tunnels, so they needed to be even more careful than before, as if that many enemies attacked them, it would be their end.

But those enemies never appeared, even after more than half an hour of touring through the underground tunnels.

After all that time, they finally left the tunnels and arrived at a much more open space. There were many levels, each with independent platforms and structures with stairs interconnecting them. In the middle of that area was a giant stone statue of a dwarf wearing armor with a crown on his head.

"Hey, guys. Is it just me or is the statue wearing the same armor as the undead dwarfs we fought?" the young woman asked her companions.

"I would bet my right arm that it is the same." one of them replied.

"They live close to the city." Another suggested, "Maybe they died fighting against the horde and became part of it, just like the snake."

The last one asked, "Didn't the snake become one because it began to eat them?"

"Well, if that beast could become undead, I bet dwarfs would be able to. I mean, we have seen them with our eyes, so I think we can already confirm it." the girl said again.

"I guess Sylda is right. Anyway, we shouldn't keep going around the topic. We have a mission, so let's focus on that." One of the men said

The group tried to continue exploring, but in less than a minute, someone opened their mouth again.

"I don't get it. Why are we enemies of these guys?" one of them suddenly said.

"What have I just said? Stop thinking about that and focus on the mission!" the other scolded him.

"No, I mean, think about it. Everything suggests that these people fought against the undead, the same undead we have already fought. And they look pretty normal to me. At least they sleep the same way as we do, so I'm sure we could try to talk with them, so there is no need to fight." the cultivator tried to explain his thoughts.

"But they tried to kill our allies, you idiot! Don't you remember what they said? They were ambushed, shot, and persecuted!"

"Keep your voice down. We are going to get caught because of you!" Sylda scolded her companions.

"Yeah. Let's stop this stupid talk and end our mission."

After that, the group continued exploring the open space they found. They decided to descend, as they were at the highest point at the moment, and they soon realized that there was a group of dwarfs at the feet of the statue.

As it was the first time they saw so many together, they decided to sneakily get close to them to hear what they were saying, but soon realized that the task would be impossible.

"Nemaitnas nu ne solaziuqanse somairedop sonodnaiopa nariuges sesued so es. Arof iha odnapmaca rarepse a naratse euq? Esrevom nes neuges?" One of the dwarfs said.

Seeing that they wouldn't be able to learn anything from eavesdropping, the cultivators decided to return to the tunnel to inform them that they had found a group of dwarfs.