I frown as I stare at Eraina with my Avatar. The group is looking pretty weak after a few days of interrogations. I've gained quite a bit of general knowledge from them, all the while keeping them hopeful that I'll let them go. However, the reason I'm frowning is because Eraina finally mentioned there's a town nearby.

Not only that, but they submitted a report to the Guild there explaining they were coming to explore the ruins here. That means that soon the Guild will likely investigate their disappearance. If they haven't already dispatched another group to do so.

Well, that's not good. The last thing I want to do is fight off another group of invaders. Even if I could take them all, it's not something I want to risk. But I don't think I can trust the group to keep silent if I let them go now. I can't help but groan at this headache. My prisoners have now become valuable as hostages if this second group turns out to be more powerful than they are.

It's not like I've been lazy. My golems have increased in number to fifty now. Plus, I've upgraded them with the Armored and Medium Mana Core options. But you can never be too careful. There's no telling if my traps and the webbing spread around will actually slow down another group. I flex my Avatar's fingers a few times as I stare at my hand.

The multitool upgrade came in handy. That arm the golems gained leans more toward delicate work. So they were able to fix up some minor damage. Unfortunately, there are other problems that I don't have the knowledge or means to fix for now.

"Adam?" Eraina says with a complicated expression. I can sense her fear at my annoyance. "Please... Just let us know what's going on. I know it's not much, but I'm willing to share anything you need to know about the outside world if it helps you."

Hmm, well, that's what I've been doing with these interrogations. At this point, it'd be better to try another source that may have different knowledge or world views that could give me a new perspective.

"Why?" I ask as I study her expression.

"Excuse me?"

"Why do you want to help me?"

Eraina stares at me with wide eyes before glancing at the others.

"Well, it's... The way I see it, it would be wrong of us to leave you trapped down here and isolated after you've lost everything you know."

I frown at this answer. She seems pretty confident in her statement. But, I'm not really sure I buy it. I can see the others giving her an incredulous look. However, they quickly glance away from me to avoid eye contact. Hmm, something about this is definitely fishy.

"We're really only adventurers in this line of work for the experience. And to get a promotion if we find something interesting. But the Lord of this area is the one who started all this. He's been after a dungeon for a while and has been funding dig sites all around the territory."

She goes quiet for a moment before she looks back up at me. "But that isn't all he's after. He's obsessed with finding out what happened to the ancient civilization, and he wants the knowledge of how dungeons are capable of having so much mana. I don't think he's up to anything good. If he finds you, he'll most likely kill you to find out if you have the knowledge he needs."

She sighs as she closes her eyes for a moment before continuing. "If you release us, we'll do our best to help you. Please... just let us go."

I can tell that she's not lying. Not completely, at least. I can see the truth in her eyes, even if the others aren't telling me the whole story. That means it's better to keep them as my prisoners until I know more.

"If you really mean that, there is something you can do for me," I say as I consider her.

"Anything! Please, just let us out of these cocoons."

I shake my head, sorry but it can't be helped.

"Then please, what do you want from us?"

I grin as I slowly explain my plan to the group who wear horrified expressions. Well, you did ask.

***

Two days have passed since I explained my plan to the group, and I finally sense movement at the edge of my boundaries. I guess it's time to put on a show! All actors are in their places, and my Avatar is hidden in the secret room in its pod. Now, let's hope my little helpers stick to the script.

"Hello! Eraina! Are you guys back there?" A rough voice shouts from the other side of the rock I collapsed into the entrance tunnel after manipulating my body a bit.

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"Grix? Is that you?" Eraina calls from a nearby room I designated to them for this performance.

"Hah! You guys are alive! Don't tell me you got yourselves trapped in there." Grix chuckles. "Give us a moment, we'll soon get you out of there."

I hear Nana shout as the rock falls away to reveal a warbeast, and an elf, along with some dwarven mercenaries I spotted among them the moment they entered my area of perception. I turn my focus on the warbeast named Grix and study him through my senses. Hmm, he looks like a bear that gained human qualities like proper hands and prefers to walk on two legs. He's definitely the tallest of all the invaders, including my prisoners.

He has brown fur and green eyes. His facial features are pretty rough, with his muzzle and jaw being more square than what I'd expect from a bear. I have to admit, I was pretty shocked to learn about warbeasts from Nana. Turns out she's a half warbeast, with the other half being elven. That's why she looks a lot like a human with only a few animalistic traits. Apparently, she takes her looks from her mother.

Still, I can't help but mentally frown when I study Grix. According to Nana, Warbeasts are descended from the monsters created in dungeons. Yeah, that was a shock. It seems my brethren that this era knows of spawns monsters by mutating the wildlife living in them using their mana. Tying their fates to their own. Warbeast races come from evolved boss monsters that were freed from their dungeons and later multiplied with their own kind and other races.

This is the worst-case scenario. Nana briefed me that full warbeasts like Grix are sensitive to a dungeon's mana signature due to their origins. I've got to hope he doesn't become suspicious enough to realize this isn't an ordinary ruin.

"So, what happened?" Grix asks as he cocks an eyebrow.

I mentally nod at Eraina's explanation as I focus on the elf named Aym. He's the one with the mana sight ability that Litharian mentioned. He's apparently been trying to get a mana reading from this area for several months now at the behest of the territory's Lord. I guess he got here before the rescue team did. That's the first good sign so far.

"There's a mana source somewhere deep inside of here," Aym says as he shakes his head. "I assume the ruin is still active?"

"Yes, we tried to get out a few times, but we were exhausted after fighting the golems inside and the exit caved in behind us."

"How long have you been inside?"

"A few days, maybe? It's hard to tell without any sunlight."

I nod as I sense them looking around. Aym seems to be trying to get a better sense of the area while Grix studies Eraina.

"Did you happen to see anything related to the ancient civilization? Apart from these empty ruins, of course."

"No. The ruins are empty as far as we've seen. The only thing we found was a room up ahead guarded by spider golems with some kind of altar in it." Eraina's voice is strained as she replies.

"Hm, I wonder if the place was cleared out. There aren't many ruins that survived through the previous eras after all. The few that are left are all heavily guarded, well-hidden, or void of anything useful. It could be anything of worth was removed long ago. If it were me, I'd have had them looted of all their resources."

I grin at this. He sounds just like me when I tried to reason what others would think! I'm guessing I must have been right to assume the kingdoms of the past were responsible for taking care of these ruins. That's a bit of good news, at least. Hopefully, it means my status as a dungeon can stay hidden a little bit longer.

"Now, don't be too hasty, Grix." Aym sighs. "Since it's still active, there's a chance there's something worth recovering here. With our numbers, I'm sure we can handle a few golems. Just to be sure. It will greatly please the Lord if we can complete the exploration. Besides, this altar sounds interesting."

Damn! I guess it was too much to ask for this to go smoothly.

"Hmm," Grix seems to be considering the idea as he eyes Eraina's group. "You guys don't look so good. Are you up to it?"

"Some food, water, and a bit of proper rest wouldn't go amiss first," Eraina says with a weary expression.

I mentally flash her a thumbs up as I prod Arachea with another order. It's time to get everything else in place since plan A failed. I really hoped they would buy the group's performance and just leave. Even if the group blabbed later, with the way I'd set things up and the things they'd told me, it was likely others would think they'd hallucinated or something due to the lack of food and water.

Well, at least they bought me some time. As they eat, drink, and sleep I go over my preparations. I double-check my pitfalls, and the spiders I've placed in hidden compartments I dug in the floor and walls. I've left about ten of my golems out in the open so they don't become suspicious.

Arachea is waiting silently inside the altar. Creating that hidden space had taken a bit of work. That damned altar seemed to be resistant to my manipulation. Ok, I think everything is ready. I settle in and keep an eye on the new group while Eraina's lot sleeps for a few hours. Fortunately, nothing exciting happens by the time they wake up.

"Alright, let's see what we can get from this place," Grix says with a smile as he watches Nana and Lorithian. "You guys look pretty exhausted. Just sit back and relax. We've got it covered."

He sends the dwarven mercenaries into the tunnel to clear it out while Aym starts examining their surroundings. Once they clear the webbing in the hall and make it to just outside the altar room, Aym turns his attention to my spider golems wandering around inside. He mutters something about them not being made of normal materials as he seems to check the room for traps.

"Oh! It looks like there are a few hidden pitfalls and more golems hidden under the floor from what I can see."

I listen in as Grix formulates a plan on how to tackle my golems. I have to admit, I'm pretty impressed. His experience and leadership skills really shine through as everyone listens to him with serious expressions. Well, not that it will do them any good when their opponent is literally listening in to everything.

I can't help but smile at their confident expressions as they draw their weapons. My group of turncoats all look especially nervous here since they know what they're really dealing with. However, I did promise them if it go to this point I wouldn't make their battles too difficult and they'd have a chance to retreat.

Oh, looks like they're ready. I grin in my mental space as the group charges into the altar room.