My Skill Bar is Full of Monster Skills-Chapter 42: Abandoned Mine Tunnel

[Task Number]: Mill Town 0298

[Type]: Investigation

[Reward]: 50 Silver Coins

[Task Description]: Recently, Simmons Squad of White Porcelain Level 1 went to an abandoned branch line of the Azure Mine, southwest of Mill Town, to clear out a small group of Kobolds. However, according to Azure Mine, the squad has been missing for two days.

[Completion Proof]: Need to submit proof—discover or contact any member of Simmons Squad. If they are unfortunate, any member’s remains or belongings.

[Time Limit]: 3 days.

(Note: Preliminary judgment suggests a large group of Kobolds or mutated Kobolds might exist in the abandoned mine. It is recommended that Adventurer Squads of White Porcelain Level 3 or individuals of equivalent strength take this task.)

....

In Raine’s mind, Robin’s slightly round but rather earnest face, the sunny smile often on his face, and his last words appeared—

’Well, after this task is over, I should have saved enough money. I’m planning to take my sister to Dorne City to find a Priest for her eye treatment.’

"Captain, let’s take this task." Raine said.

Chris originally wanted to tease Raine for being so considerate, but when he saw Raine’s eyes, he swallowed his words.

"Investigation task? Kobolds?" Reya asked with some confusion.

Although Chris had just been speaking, she hadn’t really listened.

But now that Raine suddenly wanted to go, she paid attention, and she was also a bit puzzled—wasn’t Raine not particularly interested in Kobolds and goblins?

"There is a friend in the missing squad, I want to investigate the situation." Raine did not hide anything.

"I see, I have no objections." Reya nodded.

"No objections." Grande remained concise.

"No objections either, if I had to choose, I would definitely choose Kobolds! Drilling holes is far better than sticky spider caves." Fabian said with a laugh.

However, as the captain, Reya, before officially heading to the counter to take the task, carefully reviewed the task again.

As the captain, she naturally had to consider more.

When her gaze skimmed slightly over the last line of the announcement, she relaxed.

Just Kobolds, even in large numbers, or even mutated individuals, in Reya’s view, their squad wouldn’t face too much danger.

...

An hour later.

Prepared, Raine and his party boarded the rented big carriage heading towards the Azure Mine.

As the wheels rolled over the gravel road, Raine’s gaze involuntarily slipped through the gaps, looking at the sides of the road.

The wheat fields at the base of the slope had already been harvested, revealing the reddish-brown furrows, with wheat straw stacks neatly piled on the edges, sun-dried into a golden yellow.

In the distant hills, the grassland was still green, like undulating green silk spread out toward the horizon.

Further afield, the hills were sparsely dotted with trees, resembling a mottled blanket—beech leaves transitioning from green to amber, with sporadic maples splashing vibrant red.

A gentle breeze blew through, bringing the unique mature scent of autumn.

Inside the carriage.

"Do you think the missing squad was in trouble, or they got lost in the maze-like abandoned mine?" Fabian asked, turning his knife in his fingers, while posing the question.

Such cases where an entire task squad goes missing are quite rare.

Most of the time, even faced with tricky Demons, an Adventurer Squad might suffer casualties, sometimes severe, but they would manage to escape one or two members.

Plus, the Azure Mine has been mined by the Soladin Kingdom for hundreds of years, many branch mines are abandoned yet increasingly occupied by Kobolds.

Just the occupation wouldn’t be much of an issue, but Kobolds specialize in chaotic digging, making the internal situation of many abandoned branches complex over time.

Thus, Fabian had his above-mentioned doubts.

"Getting lost is unlikely, even without a map, after two days, they would find the exit. I suspect they might have encountered a mine collapse." Chris said.

Grande, who wasn’t usually fond of speaking, suddenly spoke:

"I heard a rumor. There have been multiple surges in Azure Mine, indicating underground water networks, possibly even subterranean Dark Rivers."

Hearing this, Raine and his team raised their eyebrows.

"Grande, are you suggesting they fell into an underground Dark River?" Chris’s eyes widened in surprise.

"Then they don’t know if they are dead or alive, and there would be no remains or belongings. In that case, how do we complete the task?"

"We’ll see when we get there." Reya remained calm.

...

After half a day’s journey, the destination approached.

Gradually appearing in Raine’s sight was a tumorous area of earth yellow among vast green hills.

This was because the vegetation here, whether tall trees or low shrubs, or even green grasslands, had been entirely felled, exposing the bare color of the soil.

From a distance, it seemed only as large as a palm-sized area.

But as the carriage moved forward, Raine realized that this place covered at least the size of ten football fields. At a glance, there were seven or eight mine entrances, many with miners wearing hard hats laboriously pushing mine carts in and out.

"No wonder it’s the largest copper mine in the Soladin Kingdom."

Raine was quite amazed looking at the scene before him.

"Let’s go, we need to find Foreman Old Johnny to understand the situation."

"Does the captain know the foreman here?" Raine looked at Reya and couldn’t help but ask.

"Yes, we came to Azure Mine for a task last year." Chris nodded beside him.

...

"Old Johnny?" A miner who was stopped looked at Reya with a strange expression and said, "If you’re a friend of Old Johnny, wouldn’t you know he died three months ago?"

"Huh? He passed away?" Reya couldn’t help but be taken aback.

The others in the team, including Raine, couldn’t help but look over.

"He slipped and fell into the underground dark river and drowned." The miner seemed to recall something and sighed.

"Old Johnny was a good man, we all admired him, but unfortunately, he’s gone just like that."

"Now, Bonds, the one managing us, is just a bastard." The miner said angrily.

"Mike, you old fox, lazing around again!"

"Crack!"

The sharp sound of a whip echoed!

"I have to go! That’s the new foreman, Bonds."

Clearly, the miner was very afraid of the owner of this voice.

They saw a brawny man with a slanted scar on his forehead walking out of the mine. He seemed about to say something more but saw the graceful Reya and immediately approached, saying:

"Who are you people?"

"We’re adventurers responsible for an investigation. Two days ago, a squad of adventurers went missing while clearing out kobolds." Reya looked at Bonds and said.

"Yes, two days ago a group of young people came by. I warned them the task was dangerous, but they didn’t listen." Bonds shrugged, his gaze greedily sizing up Reya.

"Which specific mine?"

"There, the easternmost one."

Following his direction, Raine saw an entrance on the far east side of the mining area, with many wooden boards still intact, only a small opening barely big enough for a person to enter.

"That’s where they went in before."

"Did you investigate after the incident?" Reya continued to ask.

"No, it’s too dangerous inside."

"Alright, thank you, we’ll take a look." With that, Reya didn’t want to converse much with this hooligan-like new foreman.

"Be careful then." Foreman Bonds glanced at Reya’s posterior and swallowed, but quickly averted his eyes, wary of the exaggerated big bow she carried.

....

Chris muttered softly as they walked towards the abandoned mine shaft, "Didn’t Old Johnny know how to swim? He shouldn’t have drowned."

Since Raine hadn’t met Old Johnny, he wasn’t too affected.

Soon, the group lit torches and followed the rusty minecart tracks deeper into the abandoned mine.

After walking a while, Raine’s nostrils flared. He turned his head to ask Reya:

"Captain, did that foreman named Bonds say they haven’t gone inside again?"

"Yes, why?" Reya nodded.

"Oh, nothing, just asking." Raine nodded.

With the Sensitive Smell Lv2 he gained from the Wild Boar People, even within this closed abandoned mine, he could smell the faint body odor of foreman Bonds.

Indeed, it was in this abandoned mine.

This indicated that the foreman must have come here within the last couple of days.

As for Robin’s scent, it seemed almost indiscernible due to the passage of time.

After all, scents have a lingering duration.

But this at least showed that the newly appointed foreman Bonds was lying.

He had been inside.

Moreover, it was after Robin’s squad had their incident.