-Vol 3: Enemies in The dark-

-The Hidden Cave Path!-

The hole was not as deep as it seemed from the outside. It was just about six meters or so, considering all these children are hunters in training, a six-meter hole was nothing to them. Due to lack of vision inside the cave, they only suffered some minor bruises from the fall. Otherwise, they were all okay.

The monster hoard was getting nearer and nearer. After making sure that everyone was inside, Kenshin jumped in last. Although, the children couldn’t see inside the dark cave, as a hunter with magic, he could see clearly.

The hole acted like an entrance. From this place, there was a path extends to a hidden location of this place. That path was hidden behind a rock right now. Generally, nobody could see it, but with his map, he could pinpoint the location of the path’s entrance.

*swoosh!!*

With a flash, Kenshin conjured a small fire flame, that lit up the otherwise dark hole. The light enabled the children to see what was inside the hole they were in, and it was just a normal hole. They felt underwhelmed.

They were expecting something more exciting than these boring rock walls.

“What now!? Are we going to wait here?” a boy, who was a few years older than the rest asked. He was the one who had the biggest expectations about this hole than others, and also got the biggest disappointment.

Kenshin didn’t answer him, he instead checked out the map, trying to pinpoint the entrance to the hidden path.

Seeing the man ignoring him, the boy felt his ego hurt and ground his teeth in anger.

“Mister, I am asking something!” he shouted again.

“Shiii!!” Kenshin signaled him to remain quiet by placing his index finger on his lips. His eyes were still looking to virtual map. To others, it looked like he was staring at the rocky walls blankly.

“Io, would it hurt to stay silent for some time?” a girl, who was of the same age as the boy, Io, scolded angrily. After that she anxiously looked at Kenshin, trying to see if he was angry. She was afraid that Kenshin would become annoyed with them and abandon them here. If that happens, then they will all die here.

Thankfully for her, Kenshin wasn’t the type to take extreme actions on trivial matters.

She took a deep breath of relief after noticing this.

Kenshin walked around the whole, with his hand touching every nook and cranny of the wall.

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“Gotcha!!” he muttered after finding out what he was looking for.

“Everyone, take a step back!!” hearing him, the children immediately huddled together and moved away from him. Nodding his head, he took a deep breath. Then clenching his right fist tightly, he gave a heavy punch to the wall.

Boom!!

With a booming sound, spider wave cracks appeared all over the wall, before completely breaking off. Rock particles and debris began falling off to the ground. A cave passage revealed after the rock was cleared off.

Seeing this; the children’s eyes began sparkling like the stars in the sky. Finding a hidden passageway inside a hole, how cool was that?

Seeing their sparkling eyes, Kenshin couldn’t help but smile a little. He somehow understood their feelings. When he was of the same age as them; he also had thirst for finding out hidden locations like this.

“Everyone, follow me!” Kenshin ordered before going into the cave hidden path.

The young girl whom he had saved, was the first one to follow him. Behind her, rest of the children’s also followed. One by one, everyone entered the cave.

Kenshin was mindful of his surroundings, although the map showed 0 presence of monsters, there was still the threat of caving in. Although he could survive, it wasn’t possible for these children.

“Brother, where does this path leads to?” the girl who had scolded Io, earlier, asked. She was holding a dagger in her hands tightly, looking everything around her like a vigil bunny.

“Well, this path does lead to the coast, but, it goes through a hidden place. That place still remained undiscovered for many years. You guys might be the first ones to discover it.” Kenshin said with a cheerful tone. What he said was partially true. This place does remain undiscovered, but that was for a good reason.

From what he deduced, and from his previous experience, this path leads to a hidden floor. Every hidden floor had some treasures and a powerful monster. His map didn’t show him any treasure, but it did show him a monster. Right now, it was way further away from them, but if they continue through this path, they would eventually meet it.

He didn’t even know what monster was that or if his power were enough!

He could have remained in that hole, not moving an inch, until the fire crisis was over. But this was a dungeon. Who knew what would happen in the future? Besides, there was a huge beast hoard was coming, what if some of the monkeys fell through the hole?

Moving on was their only option.

The children curiously looked around, trying to find some hidden treasure or unique thing inside the cave. But to their disappointment, except for polished rock walls, they found nothing else.

XXX

The children were getting tired. That’s why Kenshin allowed everyone to have a few minutes break. Right now, they had already walked halfway around the island. The hidden path does lead them out to the coast, but it wasn’t a straight path. The road was paved all the way around the island, in a round concentric manner.

To get away via this path means, one has to walk around the whole island twice.

But this was the only safe path available.

The children took a few minutes of break, before resuming their walk again. During this time, Kenshin constantly kept an eye out for that big green dot in a corner of the map. According to the map, this winding path would eventually lead them to that monster.

He would have to ultimately fight it.

But, being too careful wasn’t a bad thing. By having a careful eye on it, he could prevent himself from being ambushed in the future.

Unknown is the worst kind of enemy.

XXX

Following the winding path, although the children didn’t find any special treasures, they did find some unique and shining gems and rocks.

Collectively, those gems and rocks could fetch a market price around 500 Golds. It made the children very happy.

But Kenshin couldn’t share their enthusiasm, because, with each step, they were getting closer and closer to that monster.

And right now, it was just beyond the next twist.