The digger charged at us with its arms wide open. This thing looked like it wanted to give us a free hug from the way it runs. We dodged as soon as the digger came nearer, it was a little dumb because it went past us and had hit a wall.

"Flame Lance!!" [Maria]

Maria shoots a fiery lance at it and pierces its thigh. The digger yells in pain as it wriggles on the ground, we then heard more roars from the direction that it had came from. We were already expecting more than one when Irvine said that we are dealing with a nest.

When I shone the light on them we see ten small glowing eyes a few dozen meters inside the tunnel. There were five of them all huddled together running towards us.

"Flame Thrower!!" [Irvine]

Irvine sears three diggers that were at the front, they scream as the fire engulfs their bodies.

"Pierce!!" [Mooly]

Mooly pierces the chest of the digger, her pike makes a mess as she withdrew it from its body. Blake ducks when one tried to grapple him and he makes a quick V-slash on its chest with his fire-enchanted jian. It reminded me of a robot show that I used to watch when I was a kid. {1}

I had gone and dispatched the digger that Maria has hit earlier. I kicked it in the head and it was indeed hard, the head resembles that of a hammerhead shark. Ah, so that's why it was easy to dodge its attacks, there was a huge blind spot when you were near the middle of its head...

After the first attack, I asked Maria and Irvine to change their spells to wind element magic. When they inquired why I pointed at the wooden support beams that were slightly charred. Even though fire element spells are effective, it is dangerous to be used here in the tunnel. Using it too much may also starve the place of oxygen leaving us unable to breathe.

The reason why I told them to use the wind element specifically is that it's less damaging, to the environment wise and does not deplete the air. Unlike water element magic which can flood the tunnels or make it slippery and muddy turning a simple escape to a difficult feat and earth element magic which typically uses the surroundings as a base for its spells, which is bad if you suddenly changed the landscape and the support beams couldn't handle the extra stress of the weight leading to a collapse.

We encountered a few more diggers on our way to find the nest, but other than that it was somewhat uneventful. We easily dispatched them one after the other, there were mostly just two to three and sometimes four of them.

Continuing into the tunnel I noticed that a part of it has recently collapsed leading to a fall. I marked it on the map just in case and we'll go update the guild and miners about it later. I picked up a pebble and threw it down. Six... seven... eight...

(Tick, tick, tick)

Eight seconds... man that's deep...

Meanwhile, we also passed a huge mound of mud, it is still wet and fresh. We are clueless as to why this is wet because there aren't any nearby water sources.

When I placed my ear near it I can hear some form of racket going on from behind.

Not knowing how thick the mound is I just used my fire enchant and carved a hole big enough to fit two people.

Inside were diggers two of whom were banging their heads at one another and two more that are banging with their... er... um... whatever you want to call it... there are also those that were nearby that were just doing their business digging.

Even if it's quite dark, and the space here is vast and dome-like. I don't see any more support beams so we are now most likely at the nest.

(Whistle)

I whistled to see how the sound would bounce, and it was a baaaaaaaaaad idea...

As soon as I did that the room was lit. Lit up with lots and lots of eyes that is... I couldn't count on how many the diggers were, but I can clearly say that it is a cause for a concern...

"Maria, Irvine. I authorize you to use your deadly spells." [Angelica]

"There's no need to tell me that." [Irvine]

Before I even finished my sentence Irvine was already casting a spell. When Maria saw him, she followed casting soon after.

"Cyclone!!" [Irvine]

Irvine's spell pulls a couple of diggers that was close by and twirls them around like being in a blender. Their claws, heads, and tails randomly hitting the other diggers in the vortex of wind.

"Flare!!" [Maria]

In the center of Irvine's cyclone, a ball of fire appears that radiated intense heat. This spell is almost the same as Fireball, the only difference is this one doesn't explode on contact.

When the diggers grazed it a part of their body disintegrates.

When the diggers saw their friends being turned into ash they ran away into the darkness. They ran very fast that we couldn't even keep up with them until we cannot hear their footsteps anymore.

After walking for a few minutes we caught sight of the eggs and there were a lot of them. They were like small rounded boulders, each neatly separated as if it were a cabbage field.

"I guess this makes our work easier then." [Angelica]

"?! Sis! Above!!" [Mooly]

As soon as Mooly said that the diggers dropped down from the ceiling.

I was surrounded by them. They were trying to separate all of us.

"Sister! Run towards me now!!" [Mooly]

I did what Mooly said and ran to her. When I was almost beside her she thrusts her pike near my head up to the point that I could feel the wind as it whizzed past. I was totally surprised when she did that.

A millisecond later there was an impact behind me. When I turned to check I saw a digger with its mouth wide open only a few inches away from my head, gnawing on Mooly's pike.

It had four rows of teeth, two on the front that is thick and blunt which is what they use when eating hard stuff, and two at the back that are serrated like those of sharks.

"Mooly, your pike?!" [Angelica]

"It's alright sister, it could take a few more hits!" [Mooly]

I gripped her pike and enchanted it with the earth enchant. Her fragile pike suddenly became rock-hard.

Wait.... did that just sound kind of sexual?

"Mooly, now!" [Angelica]

"Joint Break!!" [Mooly]

(Crack!)

When Mooly twisted her arm, the pike turned inside its mouth breaking the joints in the digger's neck and dispatching it instantly. I then slashed the digger that suddenly appeared behind Mooly.

"Thank you Mooly! Nice save!" [Angelica]

"Un!" [Mooly]

"Ahh!!" [Maria]

"Maria!" [Angelica]

"Iron Skin!! Lightning Bolt!!" [Irvine]

Maria fell down when she was caught off guard during mid-cast when a digger has swung its tail at her. Irvine quickly used a support spell to protect her from further harm with its claws and roasted the digger with his spell.

Another digger went to pounce Maria but was stopped short by Blake, where he kicked it up in the air as it was in the middle of its pounce.

"Flight!!" [Irvine]

Irvine used a spell to crush a digger on the ceiling. When it died, he let it fell on another one that was in front of him, but he was pulled at the leg when a digger suddenly emerged right below him.

He was going to get gangbanged by them diggers. I better stop with these innuendos...

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"Bladestorm!!" [Angelica]

All of my blades hit their mark except for the one in the ground.

"Eat this! Rock Bullet!!" [Irvine]

A rock of some sort was fired in an extremely high speed into the diggers mouth and it exited out from the back of its head, killing the digger that was burrowed.

Wow! I didn't know that a spell like that existed. I may as well ask cane boy to teach me about it.

These guys are surprisingly organized. They are coordinating their attacks well, its like they're a pack.

Could being in a group make them more dangerous? Well, as they say, the more eyes the better right?

Out of everyone, Blake is the one who is most perceptive. It's like he has eyes on the back of his head, that he can even stab a digger from behind him without looking.

"Avalanche!!" [Maria]

"Icicle Edge!!" [Irvine]

Maria and Irvine are making short work of these monsters. I bet that in the near future, these two wouldn't even need our help when doing quests.

I dismembered two diggers that were simultaneously attacking me. Their arms flew in the air spraying blue blood.

"What are we going to do Angelica? There's too many of them." [Blake]

"Big brother is right sis. I can still hear more of them coming straight ahead." [Mooly]

"..." [Angelica]

"Sis?" [Mooly]

"Cane boy, use that earth igloo of yours." [Angelica]

"It's called •Earth Fortress• you idiot!" [Irvine]

"Whatever just cast it on our position. Maria, please cast •Chain Mine•" [Angelica]

"Alright. Give me a few secs." [Maria]

"Cast it in quick succession so that they wouldn't notice." [Angelica]

"Okay!" [Maria/Irvine]

These two can really be a couple they are in perfect sync.

"Earth Fortress!!" [Irvine]

"Chain Mine!!" [Maria]

Chain Mine - Expert level, earth element. Huge multiple floating rocks that explode after a few seconds, sending shards of rocks in every direction. Very dangerous if you don't have adequate protection or cover.

Explosions rang from the other side of the wall, we can also feel the vibration from here. Just in case I covered Mooly's ears before it started. I wouldn't want her to go deaf from my carelessness...

After the explosions there was silence...

"Are they dead?" [Angelica]

"I could sense slight movement from the other side of the wall." [Mooly]

"Mmm... alright then let's finish them off and check if the eggs have survived." [Angelica]

When Irvine retracted his spell. We see that most of the diggers were on the ground twitching, some of them are dead others are in a mortal state. We finished off each one to make sure that there are no survivors and next are the eggs, which are now scattered.

(Crack!)

Before we got to the eggs they started hatching. One egg close to me hatched and a small digger emerged from its shell it was about the size of a chihuahua.

"Ah, how cute." [Maria]

It walked up to me curiously and brushed itself on my leg. As it did that I started petting it.

What Maria said is right, these guys are adorable and it looked much cuter when it turned its head while looking up at me.

"Uh... I think you shouldn't do that..." [Irvine]

"Why? How can these cute littl- ouch!!" [Angelica]

The little cunt bit me on the finger!

I flailed my hand to get it off and when it did I checked my index finger and it had four rows of bite marks on them.

"He-Heal!!" [Maria]

"Newly hatched diggers have a different diet. They mostly eat meat because their mouths still couldn't process hard matter." [Irvine]

Now a bunch of eggs also hatched near us. In no time the hatchings numbered more than all of the diggers that we had fought. All of them walking timidly near us.

"The parents also bring them a lot of food before they hatch because they can get really-really hungry." [Irvine]

So that means... they thought that we are on the menu?

"How the heck should I know that?! You could've said that much sooner!!" [Angelica]

The baby diggers steadily getting closer and closer...

"Run!" [Angelica]

"Eh?" [Blake/Maria/Mooly/Irvine]

We bolted the fuck outta there.

When we started running the swarm of baby diggers showed their teeth and hissed as they quickly followed us from behind. While we were running I swear that I can hear a certain song that was playing in the back of my head. {2}

"Crescent!!" [Angelica]

"Whoa?! Were you aiming that at me?!" [Irvine]

"Tsk!" [Angelica]

"Why did you click your tongue?!" [Irvine]

"Shut up! You had one job! One! Fucking! Job!!" [Angelica]

I rarely cuss out loud. Most of the time I only do it in thought, but this is a special fucking occasion.

When I was a kid I hadn't cussed even a single time in front of Michelle and Steven. It might've been just me acting like I'm being innocent and behaved as a child. Oddly enough I also wouldn't want Blake, to hear me cussing as much as possible.

Behind us were the swarm of baby diggers and at the front are the adult ones. Why of all the blasted places, the place that we have to be surrounded is by the damn cliff!!

The adult diggers roared as they charged. We prepared ourselves to be attacked from both sides.

Five adult diggers charged at us valiantly and they all... fell on the cliff...

(Splat!)

(Clank!)

(Ding!)

(Boom!)

(Bam!)

I shake my head. Quite the dumb ones I suppose. If I were charging like that all of the time and then hitting walls, I'll just probably go and settle with eating rocks too lol, but maybe from having too much rocks and always headbanging one another may have also been the cause for their... nevermind... I'm not criticizing their diet though... in fact, rocks have a lot of minerals in it!

We crossed to the other side of the cliff without any harm and waited for the baby diggers to come. I wish they'd fall on the cliff too.

The baby diggers walked on the same path we took and some clung to the wall...

Mmm... I was mistaken they were still quite smart.

"Maria, use •Barrage• at low output when they are about halfway into the cliff." [Angelica]

"But Angelica, even if I use it at low power it would still make this place cave in." [Maria]

"That is the plan." [Angelica]

I'm not a fan of luring monsters, but It'll be a problem if these guys manage to follow us back to the village.

"Barrage!!" [Maria]

Groups upon groups of them fell off the cliff, for each explosion the path was slowly getting destroyed. When it was finished I told Irvine to cover the path with •Stone Wall•

When we returned to the adventurers guild to report our findings, the miners protested when we told them that we had purposely destroyed the mining site. I just said to them that it cannot be helped because it was beyond our capability to hold them off, we did it out of self-preservation and for the good of the village.

Still, the guild deducted one-fourth of the money from our rewards, but we managed to recover some because of the additional rewards for destroying the nest.

Reference.

{1} Refers to Voltes V's signature finisher the V-slash. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25US1xFlTbY]

{2} [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U82TB6pSc10]