The deep blue light of the bluish flames continued to flicker while at the same time giving a warm light amidst the darkness. I once again heaved a sigh as I slapped my cheeks gently.
Even though I have a lot of questions regarding the dream I had a few moments ago. And I have a lot of things I'm worrying about in the future, right now, the most important thing is to complete the quest.
I turned my head and saw Alya tending to Ben, who had just woken up and walked back to them leisurely. Nikita silently followed behind me.
"Alright, let's get going. Kill any goblins you see and find the kidnapped villagers."
I said calmly. Hearing my words, everyone nodded their heads with eyes brimming with determination.
At that, I also nodded my head and moved along swiftly, passing the flicking blue flames that, even though I was currently twenty feet away, I could still feel their intensity.
I then pulled out my sword that had been stuck into the ground and sheathed it back inside my scabbard.
A click sounded as my sword was sheathed.
We walked through the dark and serene cave for roughly thirty minutes; during that time, we did not encounter another monster or any other beast living inside the cave.
"This cave is quite strange, don't you think?"
The one who asked that question was Nikita, who was on high alert since the last attack.
Hearing her sudden question, Alya nodded along.
"I agree. There definitely is something strange going on here. First, the black serpent and then the four-eyed spider, two powerful monsters that are well-known for their powerful poison abilities."
"Yes, I also noticed while I was fighting that the four-eyed spider seemed really intelligent, which is something I find quite strange. Monsters aren't like beasts that can gain intelligence over time. They focus more on their instinct than their brain."
Nikita explained as her round, shaped eyebrow narrowed into a frown. She placed her hand beneath her chin and hummed to herself, apparently lost in thought.
I also found it quite strange that after all that, the four-eyed spider was not only really powerful but also really smart.
The moment it notices that someone is going to use some kind of attack, it promptly attacks using its sticky web in close range. It made use of its multiple legs, making it quite difficult and risky to face in close range.
"Here's a thought... what if this cave wasn't created naturally but was made by someone, and the monsters here are also monsters put here by that person? What do you think?"
Alya spoke up, giving her own hypothesis based on the situation.
At that, Nikita slowly opened her crimson eyes and stared into the emerald eyes of Alya as though pondering it deeply.
"You notice it too, didn't you?"
Nikita's crimson eyes flashed faintly as she asked Alya this question.
"Fufufu, you mean that this cave was probably made by human hands, you mean?"
"Yes, I noticed this while we were walking. I honestly thought I was reading too much into things. With all the strange things going on inside this cave, I believe there is more here than meets the eye."
Nikita said, then turned her face towards me. I stared into her crimson eyes for a few seconds before sighing.
"Hmmm.... come to think of it, the adventurer guild should have had at least some information about this cave. I don't remember seeing anything about this place while reading. Did any of you?"
I asked, turning my head, looking at both Alya and Nikita, before coming here, we each read the quest paper, so everyone understands what they are supposed to. Seeing their blank faces, my face contorted into a sullen frown.
If they also didn't see it, then what was going on here?
"U-Umm, I'd like to inform you of something very important."
Ben, who had been silently listening to us converse until now, decided to interject. At that, we turned our attention to him.
"T-This cave actually wasn't here a month and a half ago."
He said somewhat nervously. Silence filled the air as everyone tried to comprehend the words Ben had just muttered.
A cave that wasn't there a month ago just appeared. Was such a thing even possible?
I wondered as I glanced around the interior of the cave.
Everything was well-made and decorated with refinement as far as the eye could see. Building such a thing within a month or so was impossible, unless...?
"Hey, does anyone know of any earth-type spell that allows the user to create something like this?"
I inquired curiously.
"Is such a thing even possible? You'd probably have to be the greatest earth user to do something like that. Maybe if it were the goddess of earth or the great spirit of earth, a human."
Alya said, shaking her head in clear denial, refusing to believe a human could do something of this scale.
Nikita also seems to share the same sentiment, as she had a blank expression on her face.
"Perhaps, I remember the spell 'Earth dome' is kind of similar, as it allows the user to easily create a dome of earth to shield themself from danger, but to create a cave, I honestly don't want to imagine how much mana it would take to do something like this."
I folded my arms, pondering that when creating shields or barriers, the user can freely change the size or shape at will. However, depending on the size, the mana consumption can either be small or massive.
Usually, I would only create a small barrier for protection, which takes up a small amount, to create an entire cave and maintain it for a long period of time would be impossible even for me, who has a massive amount of mana.
"Another thing is that the monsters here seem extremely intelligent and are more dangerous than normal."
Alya informed, as her emerald eyes shone sternly.
I narrowed my eyes as I saw the wariness in her eyes. For some reason, I couldn't help but feel a bad premonition if something could let someone like Alya feel wariness, then it wasn't something to take lightly.
I folded my hands into a fist before turning my back to them.
"After we find the survivors, I'm destroying this cave regardless of whoever built it or whatever reason they might have."
I said before walking off, and soon after, the others started following me from behind.
The pathway of the cave became narrow to the point where we had to form a horizontal line while making our way deeper down inside the cave.
The walls of the cave had small green gemstones embedded inside them on either side, which faintly illuminated the darkness, even though not completely.
Sniff...sniff, Nikita's nose twitched as her adorable fox ears suddenly stood up abruptly.
"Hm? Master something is coming."
Nikita warned in a serious tone as she gazed into the dense darkness.
At that, I narrowed my eyes as I tried to see up ahead while holding out the flare in my palm. Soon, a pair of red eyes could be seen in the distance, and at the same time, the sound of footsteps could be heard getting closer.
A humanoid creature with green skin wearing shabby clothing came out of the darkness, holding a spear in one arm.
"A goblin, it's about time."
I uttered as my lips were upturned into a fearless smile.
At the same time, I slowly reached for my sword sheathed at my waist.
Once the goblin had noticed our presence, it ran towards us while readying its spear in a firm stance.
Swoosh!
A silver flash flickered amidst the darkness as I swung my sword. The sound of metal clashing sounded as my sword met with the spear of the goblin head-on.
The dainty body of the goblin was easily pushed away and rolled across the ground helplessly as it let go of its spear.
I swung my sword vertically, and the hand of the goblin was cleanly removed from its body; droplets of blood stained the ground.
"Garagag!"
The goblin cried in pain as it rolled across the ground. With its remaining hand, it tried to get up off the ground.
But freeze in place as I released some killing intent.
I glared coldly at the goblin as it tried to forcefully drag its body towards its spear that was lying a short distance away. Before it could get close, I instantly appeared near its body and raised my right leg before bringing it down.
BOOM!!
My leg landed on the head of the goblin; a cloud of dust was raised as its head exploded dramatically.
A large crater of five diameters was formed beneath my feet. Green blood stained the ground as its inners became visible. Suddenly, I felt two pairs of curious eyes peering at my back.
When I turned my head, I saw Alya staring at me with a dazed look on her face.
"Is something wrong?"
I inquired curiously.
"Haruto... are you okay?"
Alya asked worriedly. I tilted my head in confusion as I heard her words. 'Am I okay?' Of course I'm okay, why wouldn't I be?
Seeing the confusion on my face, Alya sighed before opening up her mouth.
"Well, you just brutally killed that goblin just now, even if it was just a monster, usually you would show some kind of hesitation when killing."
"Isn't it against your morals to do so? And even if you had to kill a monster, you would do it without making them suffer. The way you killed that goblin just now wasn't something you would usually do."
She explained. Nikita also looked at me strangely while blinking her crimson eyes repeatedly as though she was greatly surprised.
Hmm... now that they mention it, I don't particularly feel any discomfort about killing my enemies anymore, as far as I was concern this was a necessary means of accomplishing my goal.
I narrowed my eyes as I stared at the blade of my sword that was covered with the goblin's green blood.
Strange, even my mind seems so clear, even though I once disliked killing for some reason, I no longer feel repulsive about it.... could it also be because of that dream I've been experiencing lately?
It's like every time I dream, my body receives a new experience. I guess watching that war on that hellish battlefield must have changed something within me.
I sheathed my sword back inside its scabbard before moving forward, even though I could still feel Alya and Nikita's curious gazes on me, I pretended not to notice them.
Though I would be lying if I said that I wasn't anxious, after all, what if it wasn't simply experienced, I was gaining, but that all those scenes' memories and emotions were slowly changing me mentally, and eating away my current self?
A human mentality isn't unbreakable after all; witnessing something like that could easily break a person mentally.
Or rather, because I was experiencing the memories of my future self, my current self was being overwritten by the other me.
Does that mean that my current self will eventually disappear someday?
And that dream just now was about my past life, the 'God of Creation', wasn't it?
Why do I keep having those dreams? What does it all mean?
"Haruto, are you sure you're okay? You don't look so good."
"Yeah, you're really pale."
Alya and Nikita voiced their concern.
"No, I'm fine, don't worry about it."
I said while showing a wry smile.
We continued walking forward on the way, we ran into more goblins, but those were easily taken care of either by my sword, magic or Alya's wind and Nikita's ice and lightning.
Eventually, we came to a stop at a big entrance that was the only path to continue walking forward.
The entry was completely shrouded in darkness, with a diameter of twenty meters, and with stone tiles going across it.
"This seems to be the end of the pathway; there is no telling what lies ahead. Everyone, keep your guard up and kill any goblins you find. Don't spare a single one of them. I'll also survey the area using 'Magic sense', so no need to hold back."
I informed. Alya and Nikita nodded their heads while Ben nodded nervously.