Chương 63: Chapter 60: The Deep Settlement

I walked back over to the dense thicket and began transferring the leathery eggs into my Ring of Holding. As I cleared away the top layer of the extensive clutch, my fingers brushed against solid wood. I peeled back the remaining foliage, revealing the top of an iron-banded storage crate that perfectly matched the one we had discovered on the first floor.

"Found it," I called out to the group. Mike drifted over, his eyes shimmering with that faint blue arcane light as he ran a preliminary sweep over the latches. He blinked, looking up in mild surprise.

"That's strange. No active triggers. The chest is completely clear."

"Perhaps whoever rigged the last chest didn't want to take the risk of disturbing the adult rattlesnake while she was nesting over her eggs?" Mike mused.

"Can't say I blame them," I replied, looking down at the heavy frame.

"But let's not get complacent. Go ahead and utilize your Mage Hand to flip the lid from a distance just like last time." Mike nodded, and the team fell back several yards toward the camp circle, keeping our weapons low but ready in case a proximity ward flashed.

"Opening now," Mike reported. We paused, watching intently as he focused his mana. The translucent, blue spectral hand materialized over the nest, gripping the heavy iron latch of the chest and lifting it forcefully with a sharp flick of his fingers. CLICK. The heavy lid swung wide on its hinges, slamming against the back frame. Fortunately, his assessment held true—the air remained completely clear of mechanical darts or poison clouds.

Once the dust settled, I walked over to peer into the open compartment where a familiar, soft luminescence radiated from the floor of the box. I reached down to tally our rewards. [Sub-boss Defeated. Loot Chest Generated.] > [Loot Identified:] > 1x Mana Crystal (Uncommon Tier - High-Density Earth Aspect) 1x Artisan's War Hammer (Uncommon Tier - +10% Smithing Success Rate) 60x Gold Coins (System Minted) I recovered the pulsing mana crystal first, slipping it safely into my ring alongside the first one.

Next, I lifted a compact, single-handed war hammer forged from dark, heavy iron. While its raw physical combat attributes were relatively low, the system's runic description text made its true purpose crystal clear.

"Here, Pete. This one has your name written all over it," I said, turning and tossing the heavy hammer across the cave. Pete snatched the handle out of the air, his eyes widening slightly as he processed the stat overlay. A genuine grin broke across his rugged face.

"Yeah, it sure does," he said, sliding the weapon securely into a heavy leather thong on his belt.

"I can put this to work the second we get back to the school forge." Reaching back to the bottom of the chest, I pulled out a significantly larger leather pouch. Tipping the contents onto the crate's lid, I counted out exactly sixty gold pieces—double what we had recovered from the hive. I divided the coins evenly among the five of us. With the treasure securely split, the team returned to maximizing our resource harvest.

Joe and Pete finished butchering the massive serpent carcass, slicing away dozens of thick, pale steaks before packing the raw meat and the pristine, heavy hide into their storage rings. Across the cavern, Alex was methodically parsing the flora. He harvested several clean patches of the edible mushrooms for our immediate supplies, alongside a few specialized varieties meant strictly for his alchemy bench.

He also used his survival knife to carefully detach a few long, fibrous strands of a pale green lichen hanging from the overhead roots—a growth I recognized from my wilderness training as Usnea, commonly known as Old Man's Beard. If it functioned the same way under the system as it did in the real world, the lichen possessed potent natural antibiotic properties perfect for treating infections and cleansing toxins.

When thoroughly dried, it also served as an incredible, high-velocity tinder once dried out, excellent for starting fires. This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. Once the chamber was entirely swept of valuables, the five of us gathered around the crackling oak fire to enjoy the meal Joe had prepared. The roasted snake meat was incredible. Joe had lightly salted the steaks and mushroom caps as they sizzled over the open flames, rendering the fat perfectly.

The reptile meat possessed a clean, slightly gamey flavor very similar to lean chicken, while the dense subterranean mushrooms carried a rich, succulent texture that tasted exactly like a prime cut of beef. Chewing on a hot skewer, I felt completely at peace. It was an astronomical upgrade from the stringy, unseasoned wild squirrel I had choked down on our very first morning after the initialization.

The moment our hunger meters filled and the stamina buffs locked into place, Joe thoroughly smothered the embers with a few shovels of damp dirt, and the team reformed our intervals to resume the dive. Mike advanced toward a hidden recess at the back wall of the cavern, utilizing his perception to trace a concealed seam before carefully pushing open a heavy, iron-reinforced wooden doorway. The frame wasn't trapped.

It opened directly onto a wide stone landing that gave way to a massive, sweeping spiral staircase boring deeper into the lower bedrock. The stairs were intermittently illuminated by a series of small, crude iron braziers mounted to the walls, casting a flickering orange light and throwing off a heavy, greasy scent of burning animal oil. We initiated our descent down the steps in a silent, single-file line, with Joe in front, followed closely by myself, Alex, and Pete covering our rear.

Mike immediately activated his sneak proficiency, his physical form dissolving into the dim shadows as he ranged well ahead of our vanguard. The march down the stone staircase was significantly shorter than the long, spiraling tunnel above, but we maintained a tight, deliberate pace. We had made an immense amount of noise using our firearms to drop the adult rattlesnake, and we operated under the strict assumption that whatever populated the lower layers was actively waiting for us at the base of the structure.

As we approached the bottom of the flight, Mike suddenly materialized out of the absolute shadow of a pillar, his hand raised in a flat gesture to halt the party.

"We've got a situation," Mike whispered, leaning back against the masonry as we crowded around him.

"There's an open archway at the foot of the stairs that opens into a massive subterranean cavern ecosystem. The entire floor looks like an active encampment—a small fortified settlement."

"Are we looking at beasts or intelligent occupants?" I asked quietly, checking the string of my bow.

"Intelligent, or at least highly organized," Mike whispered.

"They look like some kind of bipedal hybrid between humans and reptiles. They walk upright on two legs, but they're small—only standing about four and a half feet tall. My Inspect labeled them as Kobolds."

"How's their defensive posture?" Joe asked, shifting his weight behind his heavy shield.

"Are they alert?"

"Definitely. They have a permanent guard detail posted right outside the archway, and they're rocking actual gear. They're wearing crude leather and bone armor. Some of the front-line sentries are carrying iron swords and shields, while the ones on the flanks are armed with long hunting spears."

"What about the numbers inside the perimeter?" Joe pushed.

"I spotted a dozen more moving through the main thoroughfare between the structures, but from my vantage point, it was impossible to get an accurate headcount," Mike admitted.

"Needless to say, we are about to kick a massive hornets' nest. It's going to be a prolonged fight."

"What are the logistics of the camp?" I asked, trying to visualize the layout.

"What kind of cover are we looking at?"

"From what I could map out, the structures range from basic wooden lean-tos to rough timber shacks," Mike explained.

"Nothing structurally reinforced, and the craftsmanship looks pretty primitive. I didn't want to risk pushing past the entry gate to check the far side of the cavern, so the back half of the floor is still completely grayed out on my map."

"That's fine, we can work with that footprint," Joe said, a hard glint entering his eyes as he looked down the remaining steps.

"If they're bunched up around a narrow entryway, we hold the choke-point. Here's exactly how we break their line." Joe rapidly outlined a clean defensive strategy, detailing the exact positioning for our shields and casting lines while the rest of us quietly adjusted our gear, checking our quivers and loosening our blades. Once everyone was fully locked in and the parameters were set, we lowered our center of gravity and slowly approached the bottom of the stairwell, our boots silent against the stone.