—–
“H-Hamadryad? Yeah sure…” Said Darg while laughing a bit at my comment. “Hamadryads went extinct-”
“Darg stop being so skeptical, everything they will tell you is the factual truth. She’s a hamadryad, I saw her evolve with my two eyes.” Titania reprimanded the grumpy gnome.
“E-Eeeh?! Really?!” The gnome asked. 𝒷𝒹𝓸𝓿𝓁.𝒸ℴ𝓶
“Yes…” Sighed Titania.
Darg looked at me while opening his eyes wide.
“Y-You’re really something else…” He said. “Hamadryads are beings from ancient times when the gods created them to fill the world with nature… They went extinct due to the damage provoked by the Seven Demon Kings.”
“So that’s what happened…” I said. “Well, they’re no longer extinct, I guess!”
“R-Right….” Darg still was skeptical, but whatever. “More importantly, that potion…”
“We could share the recipe later.” Acorn said. “I don’t really mind.”
“We’ll pay you as much as you want.” Said Darg.
“Ah, no, don’t worry. I am not a doctor for money, if I can save another life with my medicine I’ll give away any recipe.” Said Acorn.
“You’re such a pure hearted boy…” Sighed Darg, as he was almost in tears. “Thank you.”
“More importantly…!”
Rita was already tired of waiting, slamming the table.
BAAM!
“Let us inside your mines ASAP! We got a friend there and if something happens to her… you’ll pay for it!” She said furiously, pointing her staff at the gnome with black magic surging from it.
“HYEEEEE…!” Darg cried in horror as he stepped back. “T-That dark magic…!”
“Achlys behave yourself!” I said angrily, quickly forcing her to sit back again. “I am sorry, we are a bit desperate.”
“A-Ah…” Darg muttered. “We were afraid, I am sorry but we closed the mines. She said she was going to hold the beasts until the mine were closed… She was a player, apparently. She said she could die as much as she wanted or something. I’ve heard players are immortals. Is this… really true?”
“Yeah but dying too much can still be rather annoying or might be tiring for her mental health.” Said Titan. “We have to quickly get to her. May we have permission to enter the mines?”
“N-No! You definitely can’t! If you try to enter the mines the entrance will be opened and countless Miasmic Beasts are going to rush inside! Everyone might die!” Darg said. “You have to wait a bit longer until things calm themselves… Give it a week.”
“You’re insane or something?!” Asked Rita, slamming the table again.
BAAM!
“GYAH!”
The gnome fell off his chair in fear, he really feared dark magic.
“Is there no other entrance to the mines afar from the village?” Asked Titania.
“Y-Yes, there is one outside the village, near the river, it is abandoned though. It is covered in vines and trees so it is almost impossible to get inside, and I bet monsters use that hole as their home…” Said Darg.
“Can you lead us there?” I wondered. “If you don’t want us to enter through the entrance to the mines from here, we’ll have to take that route… Unless you want us to force our way inside?” I asked with a smile, trying to act a bit intimidating like Rita, although I am really bad at that.
“S-Sure, whatever… It’s your choice if you want to go there and throw away your lives.” Sighed Darg.
“Darg don’t be like this to the people that just saved your people’s lives!” Titania reprimanded him again.
“Ugh… But they seem to have no common sense, Miasmic Beasts are extremely dangerous, anybody that fights them most of the time dies!” Said Darg.
“We have fought and killed multiple miasmic beasts, too many to count.” I said.
“Yep.” Acorn said. “Their dropped items are the major ingredient to the potion I used.”
“Eh? It is?!” Asked Darg.
“So please… let us in.” Said Achlys with a malicious smile, quickly intimidating Darg again.
“F-Fine, sure, okay! I’ll send a guard to guide you there… Please come back safe with your friend…!” Darg quickly agreed at the end, as we made our way outside the village where the same Brownie guard guided us there. His name was Rosetta, and she was a tomboyish girl with red hair, brown skin, and bright green eyes. She held a big hammer.
“I am surprised you were able to heal all those people so fast and easily! You’re really our heroes already!” She said happily. “Ah, this is it.”
In front of us a large hole in the middle of the forest appeared, but it was covered by grass and other plants, and the roots of several trees had gotten inside and seemed to be deep in there, making the entrance very convoluted.
“Can you even get inside?” She wondered.
“We can try something.” I said. “Sunlight Spirits, can you help me?”
FLASH! FLASH! FLASH!
I used [Dragon Vein Detection] and [Sunlight Spirit Call] together, bringing forth several sunlight spirits as they shone bright red, like small little stars.
“Please, burn everything so we can get inside easily.”
“Foo!”
“Fofoooo!”
“Fueheheh…”
The last one laughed a bit maliciously-
BOOOOOOMMMM!!!
All three of them unified and exploded inside the hole, flames erupted into the sky and consumed all plant life within ten meters around us…
“T-THAT WAS A BIT TOO MUCH, DON’T YOU THINK?!” Rosetta asked, as I protected everybody using Spiritual Barriers.
“Ahahah… I didn’t thought it would be this chaotic! I-I swear! The tiny spirits never had this much firepower before… What just happened?” I wondered.
“It is due to your INT, if you increase it you deal more magic damage, that also applies to magic spells.” The Guider Spirit told me.
“Yeah, what your guider said.” Titan said. “We all are rather high leveled now so even our lesser magic is powerful.” He looked down into the clean stairs leading down. “But I guess that’s more convenient. Let’s go everyone.”
“Alright!” I said, moving down, everyone followed our lead.
“Wait a second, I also need to go, the chief told me to guide you through the mines! Agh, don’t be so reckless, there might be monsters in here too!” Rosetta said while chasing us down.
—–