Feeling somewhat helpless, Irene reached out and nudged Christine, who was frantically rubbing the slimes. When he cast a puzzled look her way, she pointed at the blue slime in front of them, gesturing for him to translate.
“Ah... it was just saying that this is the shortest route for us,” Christine said, regaining his composure as he smoothed back his hair, which had been messed up by the slimes. “Should we go down? According to Poop Egg, that's the eighth floor of the Underdark. In the past, it was known as the Molten Night Stratum, and a large population of drow lived there.”
“Hmm...” Having received a definitive answer, Irene turned her gaze back to the fissure. “Although we don't know where the Subjugation Army is right now, they must be exploring downward as well, searching for the Mother of Mutation and Flesh. If we want to find them—or even join up with them—this is our only path forward.”
“So, are we going to fight our way through?” Standing to the side, Arthas gripped the chainsword on his back, looking entirely ready to act as the vanguard.
“No, that would be foolish—even more foolish than a marmot!” Irene immediately rejected his proposal, her eyes sweeping over the mutant creatures within her field of vision. “In enemy territory, preserving our strength must be our top priority.”
“These things are still creatures of flesh and blood, after all. Any movement requires energy. Without a way to replenish that energy, they have no choice but to hibernate.”
“Likewise, after observing them these past few days, I've found that even though they have mutated, their methods for locating 'prey' still rely on their original senses, like smell and touch.”
After a brief pause, she continued, “We can use levitation magic and suppress our presence as much as possible.”
“And then, we slip past.”
As soon as she finished speaking, Arthas immediately placed his right hand over his chest and offered a quiet, subtle bit of flattery. “Mother's wisdom fills me with admiration.”
“I agree with this method as well,” Christine nodded gently, but then added, “However, please let me scout ahead first to gauge the level of danger.”
With that, under Irene's watchful gaze, he took the slimes off his body one by one. Then, bringing his legs together, he knelt on the ground, closed his eyes in prayer, and cupped his hands in front of him.
Following a faint ripple of magical fluctuations, a leafless dandelion suddenly "grew" out of thin air from his palms.
Christine leaned forward and blew gently. The entire dandelion rose with the wind, drifting down the high ridge and floating slowly toward the fissure leading to the next floor.
At the same time, the scene reflected in Christine's eyes shifted, changing to the perspective of the dandelion.
Clearly, this was a detection spell.
Soon, the dandelion drifted into the fissure, failing to attract the attention of even a single mutant creature along the way.
A moment later.
“There are no mutant creatures inside,” Christine said as the vision in his eyes rapidly shifted back to normal. Letting out a long sigh of relief, he added, “The next floor seems to have been cleared. I didn't spot any mutant creatures there either.”
“Hmm... I think we must have ended up behind the Subjugation Army.”
“That's barely some good news.” Irene picked up the blue slime and stood up. She took two steps forward, then turned her head to look at the two behind her. “Let's go.”
...
“Phew...”
Feeling the solid ground beneath his feet, Christine let out a long sigh of relief.
Looking back, the narrow stone fissure was surrounded by a dense mass of mutant creatures outside. Their bodies showed no signs of movement, looking exactly like actual corpses.
But in the end, they were merely sleeping.
Just thinking about how he had boldly flown right over their heads moments ago sent a shiver down Christine's spine, breaking him out in goosebumps.
The slimes clinging to his body were still trembling slightly even now.
“Thankfully, nothing went wrong,” he muttered softly. Watching Arthas, who was bringing up the rear, slowly fly over using levitation magic, Christine reached out to gently stroke the slime in his arms and walked deeper into the stone fissure.
No fluorescent plants grew inside this stone fissure, so the further in they went, the darker it became.
Ahead of him, Irene's figure had already begun to fade into the darkness.
...
Rate on N.U.
