The Runesmith

Roland's party had to squeeze through a small opening that the miners made. This opening was then covered up and only a small head-sized hole remained. When the party returned they were supposed to communicate with the people on the other side through it. They were also told to knock on the wall in a sort of morse code so that the workers knew it was them.

On the other side, guards were stationed to keep the miners safe from harm. The adventurers were supposed to follow the map and slowly clear out the tunnels from any monsters. Along with the other adventurer teams, they would slowly get rid of the monster infestation. It was unsure on how long this would take but they were given simple clocks so that they could tell the time spent there and go out within five hours of going in.

A blue sphere of light illuminated the tunnel. This tunnel was wide enough for three people to fit in side by side, small railroad tracks were lined up on the hard rocky floor. There was also an empty minecart standing there on those tracks. It was probably used by the miners to carry iron ore and minerals to and from the exit.

“Handy tae hae a mage aroond.” ( Handy to have a mage around. )

Dalrak said while moving forward, the magic light hovered above his head, Roland could position it there as it had a targeting function. This spell didn’t take much mana to sustain and Roland's mana regeneration outperformed it. Thanks to this, the party could enjoy a well-lit tunnel while having their hands free of torches.

They spotted some of those torches on the walls but they were all unlit. They probably burned out after the tunnels were sealed.

Selanar was holding onto the map, he was a tracker but his strengths lay in the wilderness and forests. He wasn’t that good at distinguishing rocky mine walls and remembering the tunnel layouts. He stopped and so did the others with him as he frowned.

“Can I take a look? I’m good with maps.”

Roland called out to the elf as he saw him narrowing his eyes while looking at the parchment. Selanar didn’t mind and just handed it over to Roland as he was more than willing to shift responsibility. The scribe class and his high intelligence helped him with maps, it was as if he had an internal GPS. He had also gained a map reading skill that probably made everything possible.

“Okay, we are here…”

He had looked through the map before but was still surprised that someone could dig in so many tunnels without modern drilling equipment. Supposedly a miner was also a class and their skills made tunneling and digging a breeze.

“If we follow this path we’ll come to a fork, the right path will lead to more tunnels that are a dead-end…”

Roland proposed to check out the tunnels that were a dead-end first before moving on to the other ones. This way they could see if the monsters were tunneling any further and would also let them cut off the monster’s escape route. This would also help them cross out already searched sections from the map easier.

The others didn’t really care that much, the faster they got through this the faster they could get their rewards. So they all nodded and followed the directions that Roland proposed. While going past the first fork in the road Selanar noted that no monsters had gone through here as he could only spot the miner’s footprints going this way.

Without making any shocking discoveries they marched through these tunnels. Just as the elf said there were no monsters found in these unfinished tunnels. Helci made sure to observe the beautiful looking male elf as he examined the path, she was also someone that was aiming for a tracker role as him.

Roland marked the dead ends on the map a bit disgruntled that he didn’t find any type of loot to take with him. He wanted to nab some metal ore samples for himself as he was going to be working with metals in the future.

They backtracked to the fork and went further each time taking the path that placed them at a dead end. This trudge continued for an hour until they finally spotted their first enemy, revealing the true appearance of the insect monsters to them.

‘Ugh, it just had to be those…’

What stood before them was a troublesome foe. It wasn’t troublesome due to its strength, it wasn’t even a particular hard enemy to kill. The troubling part was that it rarely was seen alone. It was a giant ant monster and they were now looking at a worker type.

This ant was the size of a large dog breed. When it spotted the party its feelers started wiggling about and its mandibles started gnashing in their direction. Before it could act an arrow buried itself into its eye. The monster was stunned and practically dead which allowed Selanar to finish the job with another well-aimed arrow to the head.

“Fucking Myrmekes!”

Orson called out after the Myrmeke worker drew its last breath. Everyone from the adventurers knew that this type of monster was tricky. They came in droves, there were always more giant ants around if you spotted one.

“They must have burrowed from their nest here, might be even in the process of making this mine their new lair…”

Roland said while looking at the dead monster. Depending on the level of the ant queen this could be dangerous. Though if she wasn’t above a certain level then the ant monsters would be quite weak and they would be fine. The worker ants weren’t that strong but if they piled upon you, it was certain death.

“What’s so scary about these ants? They don’t look so tough”

Helci called out, she didn’t see a problem in this as the ant was easily dispatched by two arrows. The other adventurers gave her dumbfounded gazes as if they were looking at an idiot.

“What are you looking at me like that for!?”

She stomped her foot on the ground as she noticed those spiteful gazes.

“That’s why bronze newbies are...”

Orson snorted while the half-gnome girl glared back at him. Roland took this chance to educate her about the dangers of organized monsters that actually had a leader. The ant workers and soldiers would give their life for the queen and they could communicate with each other. The biggest danger lied in their organized hive mind-like behavior.

“I bet we’ll be seeing more of them coming here now, get ready…”

“I think the miners might have lied about this, probably to save some coin.”

Everyone beside Helci nodded as they knew that a monster ant was considered a more dangerous enemy. The commission they would have to pay would increase accordingly. They could always lie if the first expedition turned out to be a failure and if the job wasn’t completed they wouldn’t have to pay the entire sum. The one in charge was probably willing to endanger the adventurers lives just to save a couple of silver coins.

“More are approaching.”

Selanar called out to the party and everyone got ready, even Helci pulled out her short bow.

“Git behind me.”

Dalrak moved to the front, the corridor was a bit wider so they had enough space to move around. Roland shifted his hand to his belt where one of his binder-like scroll grimoires was attached to. It was quite plump with a lot of the smaller versions of the scrolls. He held it forward and pretended to be muttering an incantation before firing off a deep blue colored bolt of mana.

An unlucky giant ant monster that was first to appear got the brunt of the hit. The blue bolt of mana energy slammed into its head that promptly exploded into many chunks, green blood leaked everywhere.

Roland wouldn’t let this chance slip by. He had a large quantity of these lesser mana bolts and mana arrows with him, he brought them just so he could level up his runic mastery skill. The only problem was that he wasn’t alone, he still wanted to at least make the people think that he was a regular mage.

The German shepherd sized ants continued to pour through the corridor towards them. They all looked the same and they tried to swarm the party of five with their superior numbers. Luckily the party they were facing was prepared.

Orson backed up Dalrak at the front while Helci and her elven companion used their bows as support. These smaller worker ants didn’t seem to have a hard enough armor to protect themselves from the arrows. They were held off at the helm by a large halberd and shield along with a two-handed sword that the human warrior was wielding.

Just as Roland expected Orson was having trouble swinging his large sword around. He even found himself having to shove an ant away while using his thick sword blade as an impromptu shield. Fortunately, he had a robust dwarf by his side that could thrust his polearm weapon as well as swing it around thanks to his high strength and thick arms.

The most shocking part of this encounter was the young mage in the party. He revealed himself to be quite the credit to his team. Each of his spells landed on an ants head, killing in one shot each time. With his help, the surge of ants was safely dispatched and soon twenty or so corpses lay on the cold mine floor.

“Damn, ah didnae even git th' chance tae shaw of,guid goin laddie.” ( Damn, I didn't even get the chance to show off, good going boy. )

Roland scratched his cheek a bit, he might have overdone it with the mana bolt spam. He moved himself all the way to the back so his party members probably didn’t see him using the scrolls instead of casting himself. Luckily everyone was far too busy with focusing on the monsters than on the boy caster. They also probably didn’t have enough experience with having mages in their party as those mostly appeared after finishing the magic academies and were at tier 2.

“No shit, was killing monsters always so easy with a mage in a party? No wonder everyone wants one around.”

Before his party could examine his battle style any further he gave out a cough.

“I think we should gather up the mana stones, I can feel that there are five of them here…”

Some of them recalled that mages were able to feel the monster cores in the slain monsters thanks to their mana sense. They quickly dissected the monster ants, their feelers and mandibles could be sold for some coin to alchemists. Even the armor could fetch a penny and be made into some lesser armor.

These adventurers were mostly driven by monetary gains so they started gathering the loot. They had to give up on the ant armor as they were just too many of them and no one had a storage bag large enough to fit all of those carcasses in. Helci was the only one from the party without one of those bags, so she pouted while seeing her temporary companions packing up everything.

“Don’t worry, if you work long enough you’ll be able to afford one of the cheaper ones.”

Roland gave the half-gnome a reassuring look as he noticed that she was feeling down. The bags cost a lot if you were a bronze rank but were somewhat affordable after getting through that hump.

“Who is worrying?”

She turned her head embarrassed about her lack of adventurer gear and that she was considered poor. Her companions didn’t really care as they all were in similar situations when they were starting out. Some of them even had to work as regular hired help when they were starting out as no one wanted them around without any combat experience. There weren’t really that many people that could evade the simple labor missions like Roland did when he started out. The ones that tried too soon, ended up as goblin food.

“Th' ants weren't that tough, think we kin continue.” (These ants weren'tthat tough, think we can continue ) 

Dalrak proclaimed while getting some of the ant juices out of his halberd. It was a surprise to find out that this mine was overrun by ant monsters. This didn’t mean that they should retreat just yet. The more of these buggers they slew the more money they would get. They just needed to gather up their feelers and mandibles as proof.

“Yeah, we also have the mage kid with us, it should be a breeze.”

Orson was somehow invigorated after seeing the spell-slinging capabilities of his new party member. The elf also nodded and Helci just shrugged as she was here to gain some experience points. She could already see that it was increasing at a rapid pace while they defeated these weak monsters. She had already gained one level just after this quick battle.

“Don’t see a reason not too.”

Roland also nodded, the path behind them was mapped out by them. They had a clear path to retreat and the ants didn’t seem to be digging up new tunnels that much. With the current strategy of the two warriors in the front and three range attackers in the back, they felt reassured. They still had enough time to backtrack as the five-hour time limit wasn’t up.

They continued on, Roland spotted a larger cavern on the map. This cavern was probably some kind of larger mining area that the people dugout. He expected to find some minecarts along with more paths opening for them to investigate.

They followed the railroad tracks all the way to it, while heading forward they encountered more of the worker ants. Roland was still quite greedy and was sure to always aim for the head. The other party members didn’t really need to do much besides blocking the ants path while their backline fighters pelted them with arrows and spells. The archers of the group were sure to gather up the arrows as they could be reused.

The path ahead continued to be bathed in darkness, Roland even brought out a second orb of light. The ants kept appearing periodically but in small numbers as if guided by the smell of their fallen brethren. It was rumored that the ants communicated with each other by pheromones or some kind of chemical trails which made a lot of sense.

The party finally came to the end of one of the long corridors and was greeted by a large cavern. There was abandoned mining equipment scattered here, pickaxes on the ground, and minecarts filled with raw iron ore. The bright blue light illuminated the whole place and they could hear the familiar sound of clicking mandibles of the ants.

The smaller worker ant variants weren’t the only ones there. There was a slightly bigger variant of those monsters but luckily it wasn’t a tier 2 soldier variant. This was just an advanced version of the worker. It’s larger body size brought an increase in the size of their mandibles and also another deadly aspect.

“Mana shield!”

Roland was quick to react, during his times in libraries he had studied about the various monsters in the kingdom. He knew about some of the ant monster types having acid-like spit. This acid was now sizzling and dripping down from a shield that he placed on Orson. He was slow on the uptake as he was wrestling with three smaller ants.

“Watch out for their spit! It has limited uses, duck for some cover until it runs out!"

Roland shouted while using up one of his mana arrow scrolls on the other larger worker ant. This one didn’t go down after one hit, the mana arrow only managed to leave a deep crack in its carapace. It already showed more resilience than the basic worker ant.

Helci and Selanar ducked behind the large minecarts while Dalrak and Orson backed away their gazes focusing on the acid-spitting ants. One of the acid shots connected with the cart Helci was hiding behind, fortunately, it wasn’t quite strong enough to eat through the thick iron. With a couple more mana bolts and mana arrows, the two long-range attackers drew their last breaths. The party members then jumped in to clear out the easier workers.

“Fuck…”

Orson leaned forward while panting, the battle was over but the stuffy mine air was getting to him. The other party members were also tired, the time they spent here was already over two hours. A decision about retreating, for now, would probably be the best course of action.

“Aye, think we shuid return laddies.” ( Yes, think we should return guys )

Everyone nodded and looked to Roland to point out the mana stones of the ant monsters. They would quickly gather up the loot and go back, they feared that more ant monsters would be coming. No one knew how the other parties were doing either, they needed to return and ask their expedition leader about a new plan of action.

Things wouldn’t be going their way as the moment they were finished with taking their spoils they heard a rumble. The whole mine began shaking around as if some kind of explosion occurred, they could even hear some kind of loud noise.

Everyone started jumping around the wider cavern as the ceiling started falling apart. Large rocks were dropping all over the place and everyone was doing their best at evading. The rumbling and sudden earthquake didn’t last for long but when the smoke cleared they saw a large problem.

“By Solaria’s tits, the passage collapsed!”

Orson was the first one to notice the corridor through which they came was now blocked off by large boulders. This was an amount that they couldn’t clear out in a short amount of time. The miners outside wouldn’t venture inside and help them either, they were trapped with the only choice of moving forward into the ant-infested tunnels that lay ahead.