"Things that spit silk?"
"Spiders?"
Zong Shen muttered to himself.
I can already roughly guess what it was that nearly wiped out Baron Bezos's entire force.
A squad of Tier 2 Avalon light infantry should be roughly equal in strength to ordinary Tier 2 wolf cavalry.
It seems this trip still carries significant risks.
"Will we encounter danger ahead?"
(Yes, ahead lies the territory of the Web-Spiders. They fear fire, which you should be able to handle. Remember, if you encounter a Web-Spider holding a scepter, flee immediately.)
Zong Shen saw the golden strategy prompt, took note of it, and with a thought, dismissed the subtitle.
The group walked toward the interior of the mine.
The path ahead sloped gently downward. The light from the torches could only illuminate a range of about ten meters; further out, there was nothing but shifting shadows.
There were many transport tracks distributed along the way.
On both sides of the mine tunnel, quite a few damaged metal mine carts were piled up.
The vast majority of the carts were empty.
However, some carts were still filled with ore, clearly abandoned when the battle suddenly broke out before they could be transported away.
The mine had shut down and fallen into complete disrepair.
Zong Shen, riding Bajie, came to a mine cart filled with ore.
He waved his hand, and to his surprise, he could actually collect it.
【Obtained Iron ×37】
【Obtained Copper ×12】
【Obtained Mithril ×6】
【Obtained Primary Elemental Crystal ×3】
【Obtained Primary Magic Energy Crystal ×3】
【Obtained Stone ×86】
...
Damn, this feels good!
Zong Shen was instantly energized.
This is just picking up money.
There were quite a few mine carts around, though not many had cargo; there were only four or five left in total.
Zong Shen took them all into his inventory, harvesting quite a bit more ore-type materials.
【Obtained Iron ×185】
【Obtained Copper ×65】
【Obtained Mithril ×32】
【Obtained Primary Elemental Crystal ×11】
【Obtained Primary Magic Energy Crystal ×13】
【Obtained Stone ×387】
This mine is a good place. Just picking up these few mine carts made the trip worthwhile.
Furthermore, among this batch of ore materials, a new material appeared.
【Primary Magic Energy Crystal】
【The power source for magic-tech, an essential material for driving magic-tech products.】
"Magic-tech?"
This was the second time Zong Shen had seen this term; the first was in the description of the 【Communication Crystal Tower】.
(Magic-tech: Scientific products powered by magic energy crystals, possessing epoch-making significance. Even now, magic-tech scientists are tirelessly developing the applications of magic-tech power.)
Where there is doubt, there is a strategy.
Zong Shen took note and continued forward.
After advancing several hundred meters, there were no more mine carts filled with ore.
At this point, sparse spider webs began to appear on both sides of the passage.
These webs occupied the corners of the tunnel.
Additionally, Zong Shen saw a large, oval-shaped egg about a meter high, covered in green spots.
This egg had already hatched; there was a large gap at the top, and eggshells were scattered all around.
Ahead, the first intersection of the mine tunnel appeared, which seemed to be a huge underground hall.
"Good grief, we've walked into the Cave of the Silk Web."
Bajie, beneath him, suddenly became restless.
It snorted repeatedly.
Its front hooves just paced in place; it simply refused to move forward.
It seemed very wary of the underground hall ahead.
Unfortunately, it couldn't speak, and it was pacing in circles, anxious.
"Corby, take two men and go ahead to check the situation."
Zong Shen waved his hand, arranging for the wolf cavalry to act as scouts. It was certain that this mine had already been partially occupied by spiders.
Since they could destroy Baron Bezos's exploration team, they could also pose a serious threat to Zong Shen.
Moreover, these spiders had clearly been entrenched here for a long time and had long since branched out.
If luck was bad, he might even run into three generations of their descendants...
The three wolf cavalrymen took two torches and set off on orders.
Under the torchlight, the three figures moved forward quickly.
The spider webs along the sides of the tunnel began to increase.
Some webs were damaged, hanging in strands, fluttering as the wolf cavalry passed by.
The three wolf cavalrymen entered the hall. Through the torchlight, Zong Shen could vaguely see that the entire hall was roughly divided into left and right sections.
The right side was covered in dense spider webs, almost completely blocking off half the area.
The other side was slightly clearer.
The wolf cavalry circled the hall once, did not act rashly, and quickly retreated.
They reported the situation to Zong Shen.
"Lord, there are two different passages in the hall ahead, one on the left and one on the right."
"The right side of the hall is almost covered by spider webs. There are many signs of battle in the left side of the hall, and a large number of skeletons and scattered weapons and equipment were also found."
"Some are from humans, and some seem to be from other humanoid creatures."
Corby reported seriously while riding his giant wolf.
Zong Shen frowned slightly.
"Humanoid creatures?"
He hated these kinds of forks in the road the most.
However, in such an ancient mine, branching paths were considered normal.
"So, where should I go first?"
Zong Shen asked himself secretly in his heart.
(There is actually no difference between the left and right sides; both eventually have multiple loops that connect to each other. This is one of the channels to the lower shafts.)
(However, I suggest you take the left side, because the entire section of the mine on the right has already been occupied by Web-Spiders.)
"Let's go, let's go in and take a look. Protect the mages and archers."
Zong Shen waved his hand, pointing to the end of this tunnel.
He patted Bajie's head gently.
The group moved forward again.
The atmosphere began to grow tense.
In such a dark mine, it could make one feel infinitely oppressed.
Zong Shen could feel the muscles on Bajie's back tightening gradually.
This was a sign of extreme nervousness.
Bajie was a captain-level Bloodtooth Boar, yet it was very fearful of the interior of the mine, clearly having suffered some hardships here before.
When the group stepped into the hall, they discovered that the situation was even more complex than the wolf cavalry had reported.
The entire floor of the hall was covered with a layer of spider webs.
These webs were very tough.
Everyone felt a sense of restraint under their feet as they stepped on them.
The right side was even more terrifying; everything was covered in webs.
In addition, there were many corpses. These skeletons were quite intact, forming strange protrusions after being covered.
What a Web-Spider nest!
More terrifying than a horror movie.
Just as the group was observing, a sound of fighting and screaming came from the left side of the hall, the side not completely covered by spider webs.
"Chi-chi!"
"Boom!"
"Hiss..."
Light and shadows occasionally flashed in the passage.
Everyone held their breath, ready for battle!
"Stay alert, watch your heads."
Zong Shen looked around, holding his shield and sword. He wasn't afraid of a frontal assault; his only worry was being ambushed!