"What can run out, but never ends?"
Aldred and the snake woman looked at each other.
"I don't have a clue to answer that," Aldred said, "Maverick, what do you think?"
Maverick thought for a moment before he shook his head. "I have no clue either. And I don't want to try answering it unless I am ninety percent sure."
"Well, we can spend our time thinking about it, or we can look around for clues."
"Let's do that," Maverick agreed.
…
Mally whistled as she looked around, "For the armpit of my mother, where is everyone? All I see here is a goblin."
A goblin popped out of the rock and charged at her.
Sighing, Mally threw a bola, a weapon consisting of a number of balls connected by a strong cord. It entangled the goblin, making it fall.
The goblin wiggled ferociously, trying to break the rope.
"Disgusting little fella," Mally stomped on the goblin's head.
"Right, now where should I go? There are so many holes and tunnels in this cave."
Suddenly, the earth under her feet shook as the sound of something heavy thumping the ground echoed in the cave. Mally hid behind a rock with her arms ready.
The sound became heavier and closer. She became tense, muscles ready to jump out and attack whatever it was that came close.
After a few seconds of waiting, she decided to fuck it and come out of hiding.
Her expression changed when she saw a giant hitting the wall with a pickaxe. Dozens of mana crystals spilled out.
Stars filled her eyes. Because she became a pirate for a few years, she knew how much each of these crystals was worth and knew that Aldred would be very happy to obtain them.
She was thinking of a way to steal some of the crystals until the giant stopped mining, sat down, and opened a tiny bag in its hand.
Inside the bag was a Sea Fruit. The giant picked one and ate it before it shook the bag. "Empty. It's gone. Empty. Empty. It's gone!"
Mally got an idea after seeing that. "Hey, big guy. Sun's getting real low."
"What is the sun?" the giant asked.
"You know what. Ignore what I just said, and take a look at this." Mally showed him a Sea Fruit.
The giant's eyes lit up.
"I will give you this if you let me take the crystals."
"Agree."
"That was easy." Mally smiled before throwing two bags at the giant.
The giant happily munched on them, savoring the taste as Mally collected the crystals.
"See you later, big guy. I got someone to look for." Mally was sprinting away.
…
Stella, Sophia, Kiara, and Zafrina walked together.
Zafrina and Stella did not want to look at each other because of the argument they had earlier, and it hadn't been solved yet which created a headache for Sophia and Kiara.
"They never had an argument when Aldred was around," Sophia whispered to Kiara.
"Maybe Aldred is some sort of peacemaker for them."
Stella nudged Zafrina, and Zafrina nudged back.
They did this back and forth until Stella couldn't take it anymore.
"Can you distance yourself from me?"
"Why don't you distance yourself from me then?" Zafrina glared at her.
"Careful when you speak to me, child. I am much older than you. I have walked upon this land way before your great great great grandfather even began to suck on any tits."
"Oh, sorry. I did not know you were a great old hag."
"What did you say?"
"Did you go deaf as well? Aging must be doing a great job on you."
"You puny mortal! How dare you insult me!"
"I am the daughter of a powerful lord while you are simply an old hag."
"I am a Diamond Rank."
"I can have Diamond Rank prepare breakfast for me every morning, and massage my feet every single day if I wanted to. Diamond Ranks are nothing special."
"Guys, can we stop fighting?" Sophia said.
"Your Diamond Ranks are losers. I can defeat hundreds of them with one finger."
"They are much better than an old hag like you, and I know that for certain!"
"GUYS!"
Stella and Zafrina looked at Sophia.
"Calm down. Look what is ahead of you." Sophia pointed.
Stella and Zafrina looked ahead and saw the statue of a gargoyle.
The eyes on the statue cracked and crumbled, revealing a shining pair of eyes. "Solve this riddle, and I will answer your question."
"It's a riddle!" The four of them exclaimed.
…
Mira entered a tight crevice and saw the sign of battle here. The wall to her side was destroyed, and there were small rubbles everywhere.
"Someone was fighting here," Mira said.
"Does sister Mira know who?"
Mira shook her head. "It's impossible for me to tell. Anyway, where should we go next?"
"Keep going forward."
Mira nodded and entered deeper before she entered another vast cave. But a burnt smell permeated the entire place.
"Everything is burnt…"
She touched a burnt rock, and it crumbled into dust.
She also saw goblin corpses, snakes, kobolds, orcs, and ogres, all lying dead on the floor with charcoal skin.
"What a terrifying power. Who or what can do something like this?"
"Only brother Aldred can match this power," Krista added.
"Yeah." Mira nodded. "Whatever it was, we better pray to never encounter it."
…
Ivette took a sip of hot chocolate drinks before putting them down on the table. Next, she grabbed a cookie from the plate and munched on it.
While doing that, her eyes were already on the next food on the table. While still chewing on the cookie, she grabbed a bunch of other snacks.
"Did you like the food?"
Ivette turned around and smiled. "Un. Thank you, Mr. Centipede."
The giant centipede with a human face laughed as it approached the table with a tray of food. Placing it on the table, the centipede patted Ivette on the head. "If you want something, just tell me."
"Un."
…
Rachel trembled in fear when she saw that row of teeth, but after taking a closer look she realized that the creature had died.
Approaching with careful steps, she sent her orbs of light to get a clear sight of the creature.
It was dark everywhere. She could only see two meters around her, and the orb she sent further from her only lit the area slightly.
After the inspection, she realized that it was an eel. She took a step, and her feet sunk into the mud.
She frowned before sending the light orbs down. That was when she realized that the terrain here was muddy, and there were hundreds of eels with circular mouths, complete with rows of vicious teeth.
They were all dead. Seemingly killed with swords as stab wounds and slash wounds were all over their body.
"It's like an army was here, marching forward while killing these eels."
She wanted to go forward and meet this army.
"But can I trust them? What if they kidnap me and do something to me?"
One thing she learned from her adventure was that: Do not trust anybody.
She had seen a man kill his childhood friends before. Killing a stranger should be no pressure for them at all.
A footstep came from the side. Her heart thumped as she made all the light orbs vanished.
