2 Hours later, 3:00PM—
Inside the long cave that were shaped like a maze, Varnis and his party kept walking while keeping a safe distance with the walls, they moved as they grazed the cave walls with caution, their weapons was ready to be pulled out incase of a sudden ambush from a monster, but despite their cautions, they never expected that they would not only discover 0 monsters, but they also found out that the cave was not as exactly as they thought.
Step!
Step!
"H- Hey.. Are we really still not at the end yet!?" Bragghen said as he took a couple deep breaths, it seems like his leg was starting to cramp, it made his walking speed slower than before.
"Why is this cave looks like a maze!? What kind of cave is this!? there's not a single ore, not a single moss, not a single monsters, and DEFINITELY not a single dungeon core.." Jose said angrily, his voice almost echoed throughout the darkness of the cave.
"Varnir, are you certain that we're getting closer?.." Zahir asked.
"I have a theory in my mind, but i don't want to get into a conclusion before i see it with my own eyes.." Varnir replied calmly, his eyes still locked towards the front, he doesn't seem to even bother turning his head to see his party.
"Theory?" Zahir was confused by what Varnir meant.
"I think i also have the same thought." Cailou suddenly interrupted from the back.
"Huh? What do you mean?" Zahir then shifted his attention to Cailou as he seems to be willing to share what he had in mind.
"This cave- Is indeed a dungeon.." Cailou said, he was about to say the next line and Zahir interrupted him.
"A dungeon?! Then, where's the monsters—
"Be quiet! I was about to continue my speech!" Cailou furrowed his eyebrows and felt a bit irritated at Zahir. "Like i was saying, it is a dungeon, BUT.. Someone already cleared it."
"Cleared!? You mean someone found it first and cleared the dungeon themselves?" Jose's attention was caught as he looked at Cailou with curiosity.
"That.. Makes sense actually, considering that this cave doesn't look natural at all.." Bragghen added.
"That's right.. This cave, its structure, and how it stretches this far down– We've been here for probably 2 hours at this point, and we haven't reached the end yet.. There's no way a cave can be formed like this naturally, at most.. even if they're natural, the walls should be filled with rocks and ores, not soil and dirt." Cailou said.
"The problem is, who could've cleared the dungeon.. A dungeon this large, and considering if its an orc dungeon, should be filled with orcs to the brim.. With this much space, the dungeon core could create hundreds of orcs or more— The most plausible reason is that there's a party of 20 or maybe 30 people that raided this dungeon, those human corpses we see at the entrance might just be one of their friends." Varnir suddenly joined the conversation, he unknowingly just exposed that he was indeed thinking about the dungeon having been cleared by someone.
And before anyone could give their opinion on it, Varnir himself continued his speech as he came across another crossroads.
"And if that wasn't the case.. Then there's only one more possibility, this dungeon was cleared by only a few people, or perhaps maybe even a single person.." He said.
"A- a single person cleared this dungeon!? Th- then, if that's true, how strong would that person be?!" Jose stuttered as he tried to imagine what one person versus a thousand battle would be like.
"Even if im considered an A-Rank, fighting that much enemy alone seems doable, but that is if my stamina can keeps up, though orcs are only a D-Rank monster, when its in group, it can even take down a strong adventurer.. If there's someone that can clear this dungeon alone, they're probably within the A-Rank too, and stronger than me." Varnir responded, his face looked stale and focused.
"That means if it were a B-Rank adventurer, it would take around 10 of them to clear this dungeon huh." Zahir said while waiting for Varnir to choose a path.
"But i don't remember knowing anyone that is an A-Rank except the guildmaster.. Who could've cleared it.." Cailou added as he looked down and grabbed his chin with one hand.
"Who knows.. But whoever that someone was, i have to give my thanks to them, since they cleared this dungeon before it could grow even larger." Varnir said, he subtly smiled before he took a step forward and walked towards the right path of the crossroads.
His party then followed him closely, they moved deeper into the cave with each crossroads and was left with more questions, the only thing that they can do to find the answer was to find the end of the cave.
.
.
A few minutes later—
Step!
Step!
Varnir and his party arrived at a large room after walking between a curvy path, they traversed across the soft soil and the occasional dirt mound that sometimes required them to climb up, when they reached the end of the path, they were met with a spacious room, if the cave were an ant nest, this room would be the place where its queen reside.
"Looks like we finally arrived." Varnir said. "Good work Cailou, is your mana still enough?"
"I can probably last for about 30 minutes, after that it'd be hard im afraid." Cailou replied, he could feel his sweat started to drop from his forehead.
"Alright, you can stop there now, thanks for the help." Varnir said, he urged Cailou to diminish his fireball so that he can refill his mana.
"Okay." Cailou responded before he closed his fist and made the fireball disappear into smokes.
Varnir and his party soon was engulfed by the darkness, their vision dimmed and they almost couldn't see more than just a few centimeters, although their eyes quickly adjusted to the sudden change in lighting, they still weren't able to see most of the things around them.
"Thankfully it seems like this room doesn't have that much stuff that we could possibly trip upon, so.. Just rely on your hearing for now, and if you're lost, simply call for the others– Hm!?" Varnir was trying to make the other split up so that they could check every corner of the room when suddenly, he came across something within the edges of his eyes.
"Guildmaster, do you see what im seeing?" Zahir's voice was heard, yet his figure was hidden.
"I think i do.." Varnir replied, his eyes were focused at something in the distance.
Hidden between a couple mound of dirt, was a glowing liquid that seems to not have been absorbed into the ground yet, the liquid puddle was small, less than 10cm in diameter, but it was glowing so bright that Varnir and Zahir could see it even if most of its body was hidden behind the dirt mound.
"Huh? What's that glowing thing?" Jose also seems to found the liquid puddle.
"That's– The mana residue from the dungeon core.." Varnir said, his appearance might be hidden by the darkness, but beneath the blackness of the cave, his jaw was slightly opened.
"Mana residue? What's that?" Bragghen asked, he looked oblivious with what Varnir was saying.
At first, Bragghen thought that no one would answer him, but after a few seconds, Cailou suddenly spoke to him from behind.
"When a dungeon core was destroyed, all of the mana that was stored inside of it will mostly dissipate into the air and turned into wild mana that we mages all absorb to increase our mana storage– But in rare cases, the dungeon core mana residue can also turn into liquid, though im still unsure what causes it to turn into liquid. Those who came across it usually stored the liquid into a vial or bottle—
"Then, they can either drink the pure mana liquid or sell it at a high price.. It's an instantaneous way to increase your mana storage, but it also comes with a heavy risk, there's a high chance that your mana veins wouldn't be able to handle the mana now that its a liquid, in the worst case, your mana veins can tore open, causing you to be unable to use magic again forever." Cailou explained.
"T- that's dangerous isn't it!? Why do people still want to collect or drink them?!" Bragghen said, he nodded at Cailou's speech.
"They wanted to test their luck, drink one vial of pure mana and you will instantly become a full pledge mage, someone who only awakens their mana can go from summoning small flickering flame to a giant flaming spear that can pierce and burn anything in its path– Take it like an F-Rank mage instantly turning into a C-Rank mage, that's how powerful mana liquids are." Cailou once again explained, he looked proud to have given his knowledge to Bragghen.
Then, as they ended their brief conversation, Varnir suddenly ran towards the mana liquid.
"Quick! we need to see it closer." Varnir said, his footsteps echoed throughout the room as the others soon followed, though they couldn't really see him, they still knew where to go, so it didn't matter.