Chapter 31: Mechanical Bugs

"Good! Lucky it's wartime. They keep sending troops and supplies out of the tunnel. The entrance isn't well guarded. Since they can move so many reinforcements, the tunnel must be quite spacious. We might be able to sneak in... Let's quickly mix in with them. Remember to watch where the leaves are!"

Like Adrian said, the tunnel entrance was in bad shape. Imperial soldiers' voices were everywhere. The battle was close by, at the forest edge. The supply soldiers looked very nervous. They kept hurrying reinforcements to the front line. Of course, they couldn't notice if someone invisible snuck in.

"Wait for the right time. Don't bump into soldiers coming out. Even perfect invisibility won't help if you do!"

I quietly reminded Cyra on my right. She was the most troublesome. I could sense her light element, so I knew where she was. Adrian was trickier. To help us find him, he stuck a leaf on his foot.

"Now's our chance. Go!"

As a big group of Imperial soldiers rushed out of the tunnel, Adrian gave the order. We three quickly snuck into the cave during the chaos.

"It's so dark. I can't see anything!"

The tunnel was worse than we thought. Seems the Imperial army didn't have time to put lights inside. Our eyes couldn't adjust at first.

"Shh! More people are coming. Don't let them hear us!"

I quickly kicked Cyra. The noise from deep in the tunnel was as loud as outside, but with an echo. I wondered if sending so many troops would really help the Empire hold the exit. But that wasn't my concern!

As voices got closer, we quickly pressed against the wall and slowly moved deeper, following Adrian's hints.

As we guessed, the underground tunnel was quite wide. After the Imperial army found it, they made the narrow parts wider, so lots of troops could move easily. Even when soldiers passed us head-on, there was still room for one or two people between us. Unless something strange happened, we shouldn't bump into each other.

After that big group of Imperial reinforcements left, no more sounds came from deeper in the tunnel. Maybe they stopped sending help for now. It got very quiet. As we went deeper, the noise from behind got softer. The light from outside got dimmer. Soon we couldn't see or hear anything.

"Is there nobody here now?"

Cyra whispered a question. Now we could only hear our own breathing and footsteps. We were afraid to use magic for light in case someone saw. Even the bravest person would feel nervous.

"I think... maybe... nobody else is coming for now?"

To be honest, this reminded me of being stuck in the Suilde volcano cave. I felt scared again. Back then, I was all alone, with weird noises following me. It's still scary to think about!

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At least this tunnel is better than before. The path is wider. Most importantly, I'm not alone anymore. I have others with me!

"Feliciana, it's okay. Where are you? Don't be scared, I'm here!"

Adrian must have heard the fear in my voice. He quietly comforted me. But in the dark, I could only tell he was somewhere in front of me by his voice. It was hard to find him by touch.

"What are you waiting for? It's pitch black. This is your chance!"

Suddenly Cyra came close and whispered in my ear.

"Huh?"

I didn't understand what she meant.

"Dummy! Don't you like him? Go for it!"

She pushed me hard. I almost fell, but then I heard Adrian's voice from behind.

"I found you, Feliciana. Is that you?"

"Eh?"

Cyra sounded surprised, but she didn't clear things up. Instead, she copied my voice and said sweetly: "Of course it's me. I'm so scared! Can you hold me tight?"

Damn! I thought you were my friend, but you dare to steal my man right in front of me!

This was too much. I didn't know where Adrian was, but I could sense Cyra's light element. I rushed over and kicked her hard, then grabbed Adrian's hand and said:

"Don't listen to her. I'm over here!"

"Huh? What's going on? Then who was that just now......"

Adrian was clearly confused about what just happened in the dark. Cyra, who I kicked, groaned in pain for a while before she could speak.

"Ouch! Feliciana, was that necessary? I was just teasing your husband a bit. I wasn't serious. Did you have to be so mean?"

"Hmph, you asked for it!"

I held Adrian's arm tightly to claim him. But suddenly we heard a rustling sound coming closer from far away. Soon it was all around us.

My back felt cold. My trauma came back. I quickly pressed closer to Adrian.

What was that sound? Was I back in that cave? I remembered in the Sulide volcano cave, that rustling was actually a kind of machine voice, but the playback device was broken because the tunnel was so old.

But this was just an underground tunnel dug by the Light Elves a few years ago! It couldn't be the same as before.

But if we listened carefully, this rustling was a bit different. The sound didn't change at all. It didn't sound like the machine voice I heard before. It was more like insects crawling...

"Damn! Something's crawling on me!"

Suddenly Cyra shouted loudly. She couldn't take it anymore. A bright light rose from where she was. It was a light spell!

We had been in the cave for a while, so our eyes had adjusted to the dark. The light wasn't very strong, but it still hurt my eyes at first. It took a while to get used to it.

"Waaaah! What are these things crawling on me?!"

Cyra screamed in fear. She must have seen something. She ran towards us, waving her arms and legs.

Adrian and I looked where she came from. We saw that Cyra wasn't overreacting! There really were things all around us. It was very strange!

The tunnel walls were covered in huge bugs, as big as plates, not counting their legs!

"What kind of bugs are these?"

Even Adrian was sweating. He held my arm tighter. He's seen a lot, but never anything like this!

The weird rustling we heard earlier was from these bugs. They were all over the ground around us too! In the magic light, they shone with a metallic glow. It was scary to see.

"Strange, these bugs... seem to be made of metal?"

Adrian didn't know, but I noticed something. The bugs were quite big. We could even see screws holding some joints together!

There were lots of these bugs, but they didn't attack us. Even though we were surrounded, none of us were hurt at all. When we tried to take a small step forward, the bugs moved out of the way. They were very polite! We didn't feel threatened at all.

"Weird, they really are machine bugs!"

Cyra looked very curious. Now that she knew they were harmless, she wasn't scared anymore. Like a curious kid, she squatted down to look closely at the mechanical bugs passing by us. She even poked them a bit.

"Be careful! We don't know where these things came from. Don't provoke them!"

Adrian tried to stop her. But it was too late. Cyra had already picked one up. She said excitedly:

"Look! They're actually very dumb. They don't even fight back. This one isn't moving at all!"

"Damn! Are you crazy? Put it down quick!"

I was scared too. I didn't expect her to be so rush, touching them so soon. I kept telling her to let go.