They listened through the gates, and opened them one by one. Most of them had a security tunnel and the second gate intact, so they just renewed the alarms. Their objective was to check the safety of the nexus, and reinforce it if necessary.
Only two of the gates, not only weren’t working, but were totally destroyed, something that seemed to have happened a long time ago, perhaps during the wars. While Eldi was invoking a Rock Wall every time it was exhausted, they sealed the tunnel of the first one, waiting for, in the future, being able to reopen it and place a gate. For now, they had to guarantee security.
The second one was a bit more complicated, because they first had to get rid of a level 50 snake, which tried to invade the nexus. It had detected beings of a lower level than it, but it didn’t expect their weapons’ strength and their coordination. So, the snake and the eggs it was watching became raw material and supplies, after which they also completely sealed that tunnel.
Finally, they decided to open the main gate, something that was easy, since it was closed from their side, and they had already greased the lock and the hinges, cleaned it, and prepared the opening spells. It looked like that the inhabitants of the city had left the city through that nexus, towards one or some of the other settlements, closing the gate behind them.
Some warriors had joined them, and others had stayed to watch the first works in the tunnel. While conditioning was already begun in the first tunnel, the second one still had to ensure safety, beyond the preliminary efforts of the expeditionary group.
The security tunnel to which the gate opened was much wider than any of the previous ones, as it was the place where sometimes large caravans had had to wait. After inspecting the gate, and being sure they could open it, they heard the other door closing behind them. It was a strange feeling to face the one they had in front of, huge, behind which an abandoned city was waiting for them.
Eldi didn’t need to be there. He could wait for their return to begin the exploration of the tunnel that led to the other side of the mountains, and to a settlement that in the past had been very close to the one he now knew. It was an area of similar level, and they didn’t expect to suffer more troubles than they had found before. There were other tunnels which could lead to greater dangers, those that ran through the interior of the mountain.
The mole-people had decided to try to contact them first, before going further, but it was also important to explore the city. Perhaps they could find important documents and other treasures. Of course, securing it was currently beyond their means, as they didn’t have enough strong troops.
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On the other hand, Rock Wall had risen to 8 during that long exploration, and hadn’t been the only one, especially the blessings he had been applying to his fellows-moles. Steel Body at 10, Projectiles against me? and Essence of Mana at 8, Stove at 4, Air Conditioning at 5, Javelin at 7, Boomerang and Shred at 8, Magic Mirror at 9 and Sharpening Senses at 6, the latter because he was training it while not fighting, always making sure to not lower from the 80% of his available energy.
“There is something behind, at least there are two. They are some kind of caterpillar,” announced Toco, one of those responsible for detecting and interpreting sounds.
They couldn’t know their level, or to what extent they were a threat, except for Bat’s Hearing, which barely reacted. They opened the gate slowly, because those doors can’t be opened faster either, and they found two huge cream-colored caterpillars, which sported several green and red stripes, and that seemed to want to flee from them. They were level 30, but a thick wall made of their own silk didn’t let them escape. They attacked the group as a last resort, but had no chance.
“So low levels, and hidden. Not good,” valued Fita, who had rejoined the group.
“Why?”
Eldi was surprised. It seemed good news to him that there were low levels in order to explore, although not to level up.
“The levels are too low. That means that there is something that hunts them, something they hide from, that doesn’t let them reach higher level. And it has to be something dangerous,” Tica explained.
“Now I see…”
He hadn’t even considered that possibility, but none of them was going to stop there. From the beginning, they had been ready for the unknown.
They advanced towards the city through the wide tunnel, finding only beings of levels between 20 and 30, which were trying to hide. It wasn’t until they reached the first houses dug in the ground that Bat’s Hearing was activated.
“There’s something to the left!” he tried to warn them.
But it was too late. With a speed that makes very difficult for a human eye to see it, a long tongue caught a man-mole and brought it to the mouth of a huge toad of the same brown color as the earth. Totally caught by surprise and unable to react, he could barely scream as he was swallowed by an amphibious level 48.
Eldi threw himself without hesitation toward it, as did six of his teammates, while the rest took a little longer to react. He arrived first, using Earthquake to reach the toad, and Provoke to make it face him and turn its back to the others. He then took out the spear, and dropped the hammer to be picked up by his assistant.
Eldi used Colander, pointing mostly to the face, and that was very effective against slippery skin beings like this one. He was afraid to pierce the man-mole who had already been swallowed, and whose life was hanging by a thread, so he didn’t aim at the body. Soon, the frog’s gastric juices would begin to dissolve him, or perhaps he would first run out of air, so there was no time to lose.
And while the toad was stepping back in front of the unexpected attack, and was preparing to fight back, its back also began to be pierced. It reacted with Shake, vibrating and throwing its poisonous mucous in all directions.