Cave passage

The borders coincided with the border of the dangerous area.

"It is a map of the opal magic forest," I said to the puppet. I was right. The deceased here wanted to explore the opal magic forest.

Since the Mage Union knows about the magic gemstones here, it must be an important resource.

The other wizard forces must have heard about it as well. It must be a hot commodity. I have a feeling that I might come across other wizard groups as well.

"Master, what about the search? We have yet to find any treasure," the puppet said.

Hearing that, I looked ahead into the passage. Since we have come this far, it’s better to take the risk and search the whole passage. I might come across another special relic.

"Alright," I said.

Then we continued to explore the passage. I came across many miscellaneous items, but I found a couple of maps in the possession of the remains.

I gave the Zero Puppet the task to compare all the maps. A few of the maps have additional information. If we noted down the places, then our trip would be smooth.

The Zero Puppet reverted to its original form. It looked like a black-clad knight. The puppet is doing the work while following its master.

While exploring the passage, I noticed the cause of death of the remains. Most of the remains had intact skeletons, except the chest bones were pierced. There is a massive hole in the chest.

The spider monster must have attacked them. But the problem is, the size of a 12th-order monster is massive. The size of each leg is wider than the skeleton.

Then I asked the system to clarify my doubts.

[Ding! The death is caused by other spider monsters.]

I heard the system’s voice. My eyes flashed with understanding. So, where were the other spider monsters? I had almost missed the point.

The 12th-order monster is not alone. There must be other monsters under its command. Because of such monsters underneath it, the monster was able to trap others and kill them.

I collected my thoughts and continued to move forward. I came across fresh remains. They had mana stones in their possession.

Several low-level mana stones were found, but they were close to running out. I didn’t pick them up.

"Master, I have marked all the new places. From the database stored earlier, I found out some of the places are camps of different forces," Zero Puppet said.

Hearing that, I’m not surprised. My earlier conjecture was right. If this many remains are here, there must be a certain backer behind them.

My doubts were cleared right now. Then we continued exploring. We had come closer to the resting place of the 12th-order monster.

The underground cave passage was really massive. It’s enough for a 100ft monster to move around. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone built a small habitat here.

[Ding! 12th-Order Spider Monster detected]

The system’s voice reminded me again. Hearing that, I stopped the Zero Puppet. I don’t think it’s wise to let the Zero Puppet go near the spider monster.

The spider monster might be sensitive to the dark mana around the Zero Puppet, even though the puppet earlier said that it can hide from a Forbidden-Level Wizard.

I’m not going to take a risk this time. I put away the puppet inside the Gregor Mansion, then I moved forward alone.

Finally, the passage comes to an end. The area ahead was even wider. The ceiling was located sky-high, as if I’m standing at the bottom of a massive mountain. The space here is vast.

I swept my gaze across. I found many other passages connecting to the place. I found some sparkling eyes from those passages.

Seeing that, I raised my eyebrows. Clearly, those were monsters. I immediately used the system, then I got the response. They were indeed spider monsters.

My heart stirred. I tried to calm my heart. Then I got closer to the massive body. I raised my head and saw a 50ft-tall monster. The spider monster is resting. If it stands up, then it would be closer to 100ft.

I began to scan the place. Apart from the impurities, the place doesn’t seem to have treasure.

The 12th-order monster, which was sleeping, opened its eyes all of a sudden. It caught sight of the human wizard. But it couldn’t sense any mana coming from the human wizard.

The monster was puzzled. The next second, it shoots out spider webs at the target.

On the other hand, I felt a sense of crisis. The alarm bells were so strong that I cast a magic spell in response.

"Repulsive Force" 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

A powerful repulsive force burst forth from my body. It came in contact with the spider webs. It stopped the moving spider webs.

The rest of the force struck the walls. It awakened the other sleeping spider monsters inside the passages.

Boom!

The repulsive force was able to provide a pause for a second. Seeing that, I rushed towards the exit.

The next second, the spider webs resumed moving forward, but they missed hitting the target. The pause only lasted for a second.

The 12th-order monster was stunned. It didn’t expect the person to be real. The wizard was able to escape right under its nose.

It gave orders to the other spiders.

Boom!

They moved out from the passages and started going towards the exit.

On the other hand, I’m rushing back at fast speed.

I didn’t expect the monster to wake up all of a sudden. Not only that, but it shot spider webs at me. The webs were not that easy to destroy. I was only able to stop them for a second.

It shows the power of a 12th-order monster. Their strength should not be underestimated. My speed quickened.

A few minutes later,

I exited from the cave structure. Then I didn’t stop and continued moving forward. I didn’t turn back until I escaped from the area of the cave passage.

After some point, I landed on one of the branches. Then I turned back and saw the massive head of the spider monster. It’s looking for me.

Swoosh!

The next second, I appeared inside the Gregor Mansion.