Hurried footsteps echoed from the cave entrance. The seven people raised their heads simultaneously, letting out a sigh of relief when they saw who it was. It was Bru returning. Before he even ran back into the inner chamber, Bru's simple, honest voice rang out through the cave:
“Boss, that guy is gone. There's only a bunch of Treants left outside.”
The Deep Diver's tense body relaxed visibly, but only for a split second. He immediately straightened his back and put on airs.
“Call me Lord Deep Diver!”
Bru scratched his head and repeated himself honestly:
“Lord Deep Diver, that guy is gone. There's only a bunch of Treants left outside.”
The Deep Diver paid no mind to Bru's repetition. He had long known how smart this subordinate was; arguing with Bru was just asking for a headache. He went on to ask:
“So, have the students arrived yet?”
“What students?” Bru asked, looking utterly blank.
The Deep Diver found himself completely unsurprised. He waved his hand and ordered:
“Go check on the ritual setup too. I'll go take a look outside myself.”
Bru gave an “oh” and turned to join his colleagues squatting on the ground. He mimicked them, inspecting this way and that. His movements were incredibly clumsy, but at least he was working.
The Deep Diver saying nothing more, lifted the hem of his black robe and walked toward the cave entrance.
Once outside the cave, he was greeted by the familiar, dim underground forest.
Yet to call it familiar wasn't entirely accurate. The forest, which should have been pitch-black, was now dotted with points of fire. They sparkled sparsely among the trees, standing out glaringly in the dark. It seemed that after Irene and the Holy Maiden, quite a few more students had made their way to the second floor. Moreover, they had all lit torches to grope their way forward through this dark forest.
Whether it was better to light torches in a dark environment or keep them extinguished was always a matter of opinion.
One could certainly support lighting them. After all, while a torch would expose your position to whatever lurked in the dark, it also provided vision. Even if it attracted magical beasts, it would just be a head-on clash—it wasn't set in stone who would fear whom.
But it made one easy to get surrounded and ganged up on.
On the other hand, one could just as easily argue against lighting them. In the dark, no one could see anyone, and magical beasts couldn't pinpoint you from afar while you were sneaking through the shadows. Hiding in the shade of the trees was no different from hiding in a fog.
Yet the drawbacks were also obvious. The darkness would inevitably hinder your movements. Tripping and stumbling was a minor issue; losing your way entirely was the real danger. Furthermore, the magical beasts in the dark were definitely more accustomed to it than you were. You were blind in the dark, but they were not.
In short, whether to light a torch in a dangerous, dark forest was a matter of debate. But judging solely by the outcome, many students ultimately chose to light them.
This played right into the Deep Diver's hands. Standing at the cave entrance, he could easily tell that the students had entered the second floor without having to exert any effort.
In that case, their target must have also followed them here. As long as they set up the ritual as quickly as possible, their plan could continue.
The Deep Diver gazed at the scattered firelight in the distance, as if looking at a swarm of naive ants crawling deeper and deeper into the forest. They had no idea what was hidden in these woods, nor did they realize whose territory they were stepping into with every stride.
At the thought of the great cause he was about to complete, the corners of the Deep Diver's mouth curled up uncontrollably.
“Hehehe.”
He took one last look at the forest that resembled a sea of fire, then turned and strode back into the cave.
Inside the cave, several of his subordinates had already begun repairing the remains of the ritual on their own initiative. Bru was also among them, squatting on the ground, touching here and picking there, looking quite diligent on the surface.
The Deep Diver walked over, pointing and gesturing.
“Here, here, and over there! Be more meticulous with your movements!”
His subordinates grumbled in their hearts. The place had been burned to cinders; what was the point of being meticulous? They still had to start all over again anyway.
But none of them dared to say it aloud. Their hands didn't stop working, and they were very quick to agree out loud:
“Yes, yes, yes, my lord is right.”
“We'll fix it right away, right away.”
The Deep Diver nodded in satisfaction. He quite enjoyed his subordinates' attitude. Although he knew they might not actually respect him in secret, so what? He only needed them to keep working.
He clasped his hands behind his back, paced around, and began pointing out the next spot.
In the forest outside, the light of the torches continued to spread bit by bit into the depths.
Rate on N.U.
