The ground shook as if there was an earthquake inside the dungeon.
Eiko had zigzagged across the underground Labyrinth, with the angry Giant Worm hot on her heels. Her Dig [EX] skill allowed her to keep digging as long as she had Mana, and that was what the baby Slime was doing at the moment.
However, just as she was running away from the Indus Death Worm, she felt some kind of attraction that pulled at her from the Eastern Part of the Labyrinth.
Following her instinct, Eiko headed in that direction in a straight line as she pushed through the ground like a hot knife cutting through butter.
Five hundred meters…
Three hundred meters…
A Hundred meters…
Finally, after almost running out of Mana, Eiko's body came to a complete stop as she bumped into something that was radiating a silver light.
Eiko didn't know what it was that she bumped into. All she knew was that she couldn't dig through it.
Suddenly, the ground under her body rose as the Giant Worm closed its massive jaws in an attempt to eat her.
"Pa!" Eiko shouted and her body glowed before the Indus Death Worm swallowed her whole.
After triumphantly eating its opponent, the Indus Death Worm tunneled towards the surface. Behind it, a silver gate that was buried deep underground glowed faintly in the darkness.
—-
"Pa!"
"Sorry, Eiko. Were you scared?"
The baby Slime shook her head before smiling at her Papa. She had the skill, Family Bond [EX], which allowed her to instantly teleport to Lux's or Iris' location, wherever they may be. This was also the reason why she was confident she could escape the Boss Monster, even if it chased her to the far end of the Labyrinth.
Lux knew this as well, but he still couldn't help but feel guilty about what had happened earlier. It was an unexpected bodily reaction, possibly from anxiety due to the sudden appearance of the Boss Monster that he thought was busy chasing his Summons around the Outer Grotto of the dungeon.
"None of this would have happened if you held it in!" Cadmus growled in anger, but he kept his voice very low. "Can't you even do something so simple?
The red-headed teenager wanted to argue that it just happened out of the blue and had been completely out of his control. Everyone farts, which was a perfectly normal thing.
Unfortunately, it happened at the wrong moment, which almost caused their demise. Even so, he knew that he was in the wrong, so he didn't bother arguing with the Draconic Kobold. He just busied himself with comforting his baby Slime, who was happily chugging a bottle of Mana Potion.
After drinking two bottles of Mana Potion, Eiko telepathically told Lux about the thing that she found underground.
The Half-Elf then expanded the map that was located on the upper right side of his vision. Earlier, he had been looking at the map in order to follow Eiko's escape underground. His heart had almost jumped out of his chest when he saw Eiko's green dot get swallowed by the giant red dot that was chasing her earlier.
It was also at that moment when Eiko suddenly landed on top of Lux's head, after she had used her skill to teleport to his location. Because of this, Lux had completely forgotten about the silver blinking dot on the map that was accidentally unearthed by his baby Slime, while she tried to escape from her pursuer.
The Half-Elf clicked on the silver blinking dot to check its information.
—-
Entrance of the Inner Grotto of the Forbidden Guardian.
Requires a key to enter.
—-
Lux wanted to curse out loud due to the absurdity of the situation. The gate that they were looking for had been buried deep underground. If not for the fact that Eiko had done what she did, they might be trapped in the Outer Grotto forever since they wouldn't have been able to find the exit.
What he didn't know was that after the Ancient Civilization perished, the Dungeon Core of The Grotto of the Forbidden Guardian was damaged as well. This prevented it from adding more floors to the Dungeon or fixing its damaged parts. The only function that it had retained was spawning monsters.
Due to this uncontrollable cycle of death and rebirth, the Indus Death Worm ended up changing the topography of the Outer Grotto, burying the entrance to the Inner Grotto deep underground.
The cycle repeated over and over during the past hundreds of years, and if it weren't for Lux's appearance, the cycle would have continued indefinitely.
After calming down, Lux praised Eiko for doing a wonderful job in finding the entrance, which made the baby Slime very happy. He then ordered his skeletons to look for the other Kobolds, and told them to bring them back to where he and Cadmus were staying.
An hour later, all the Kobolds had returned, while the rest of the Skeletons were still busy luring the Giant Worm to the far corners of the labyrinth.
Lux informed them about Eiko's discovery and told the Kobolds that they needed to reach the gate in order to escape the Indus Death Worm's looming threat upon their heads. However, there was one problem.
The Gate of the Inner Grotto was located at the very center of the dungeon. It was highly possible that during their journey, they would meet with the Giant Worm along the way.
"How about you let that slime lure that Monster away again?" the oldest of the Kobold Mages proposed.
"How about you do it instead?" Lux angrily replied. "I'm not sacrificing Eiko for you guys."
"But she can instantly appear by your side, no?"
"So? No is still no."
The oldest Kobold Mage glared at the Half-Elf who couldn't understand the situation they were in. "You fool. Doing this would ensure that all of us will be able to pass safely. Why don't you let her do it?"
"Because I don't want to," Lux answered. "If you have a problem with that, I'll just leave you guys here and go to the gate myself. Let's see how you escape that giant worm on your own."
Lux would never tell anyone that Eiko could only use this skill twice. Since she had already used it once, she could only use it one more time. The Half-Elf had no intention of letting the baby Slime use her life saving skill another time because he didn't know what lied in the Inner Grotto of the Dungeon.
If Eiko were to lose her only means of survival when her life was truly in danger, Lux wouldn't be able to forgive himself for letting such a thing happen.
"Tell us your plan then," Cadmus said with his arms crossed over his chest. "Since we can't use her to lure away the Giant Worm, we need a major distraction that will prevent the worm from sensing our presence."
Lux nodded. "Actually there is no other way than to head towards the gate as fast as we can. Thanks to the tunnels that the Indus Death Worm made, we can reach our destination in ten minutes if we all run at full speed. However, we are bound to get noticed if we do that."
"Then, why don't we travel slowly?" one of the Kobold Shamans asked. "That way, we won't be noticed."
Lux shook his head as he summoned two Skeleton Fighters and ordered them to go to the corners of the Dungeon and create noise. "We can't do it slowly. The Indus Death Worm moves very fast, and my Summons will all die before we can reach our destination. If we want to survive, we must make a run for it."
All the Kobolds had troubled expressions on their faces. Lux's plan was too risky. Even though Lux could summon his Skeletons underground, the chances of them getting buried had a high possibility if the Indus Death Worm started to chase them underground.
"So, it's an all or nothing sprint?" Cadmus asked. "Either we do it, or we die?"
"Yes," Lux replied. "How confident are you guys in running?"
The Kobold Shamans, and Mages glanced at each other with bitter smiles on their faces. They weren't built for running, and they would definitely drag everyone down if they did. This was why they felt very reluctant upon hearing Lux's idea of running non-stop for ten minutes and suggested if they could do it slowly.
"I can carry the Kobold Shamans, but I cannot carry the Mages," Cadmus admitted. "The Raiders are good at running, but if they carried the Mages, they would be encumbered."
Lux then looked at the older mage with disdain, and gave him the "You're just baggage" glare, which made the latter avert its gaze.
"If it's only the two of them, I can take them with me," Lux said. "However, we only have one chance. If any of you lag behind and the Indus Death Worm is upon us, I will not hesitate to open the gate and leave you guys behind. Do I make myself clear?"
"Talk about yourself, Half-Elf," one of the Kobold Raiders replied. "Do you really think your puny legs can take you that fast?"
"No," Lux answered. "My puny legs can't take me that fast. But, he can."
Lux then summoned his mount, Jed, before glancing at the Kobold Raider. "Problem?"
The Kobold Raider's jaw hung wide as he looked up at the Rank 3 Warg which was stronger than it.
"Enough," Cadmus stated. "We only have one chance. If anyone lags behind, you will have no one to blame but yourself. Do I make myself clear?"
The four Kobold Raiders nodded with serious expressions on their faces.
Lux then commanded Jed to allow the two Kobold Mages to mount his back, so that they could safely reach their destination with one death-defying sprint.
Lux and Eiko then summoned their Skeleton Fighters and ordered them to go to the farthest corner of the map in groups of four. They only had one shot at this, and no matter what happened, they had to make it count.
Or die trying.
