Chapter 258 - The Two Explorers(1)

The Ratbug problem was tackled without any losses, the only thing bad about it were the slightly embarrassing situation the two ladies faced with each other. With Bittore resting and food secured for at least while and already under cooking by the two hunters, there is a lot of time for the group to know their surroundings.

Even the 42 people with no power, along with the 6 Fire Controllers up over the Carved path have made their way up this place and are congratulating the Grand Leader for a job well done and they were especially thankful for this new fancy home.

It became a bit awkward when they congratulated Bittore in front of Eric and Mogranius who fell victim to her plans, but she genuinely publicly admitted it that she was wrong to use them, even explained that Eric saved her life. As for Mogranius he has no guilt at all about giving her the idea to begin with, he considers it as vengeance well returned.

Mogranius and Eric were accepted warmly on a circle of dinner, they've all laughed and opened up after so much struggle but Eric being naturally curious, wanted to explore this place further now that there isn't an injured to worry about!

As for Osira, she too shared the same thought and her belly is already full with the smell of torched Demons and humans. To be more specific, she lost her appetite. So just after a few bites she stood up and announced that she will explore this place, Eric was too shy to stand up and follow at first but his curiosity got the best out of him.

This place is huge and at least half of this entire group of people has to put in an hour or two of exploring if they wish to know the ins and outs of this place, but for now just her and Eric are willing to explore. So to clear confusions they've decided to start from the very beginning, the first section!

Walking their way up, to fight off the awkward silence Eric asked. "Do you think that... rumble of dirt and rock can hold off Demons?" A question of which is a bit sudden no doubt, but at least now they have something to talk about.

"I don't know." Osira answered shortly, as she turned her head behind to see the rumble but it was too dark to see it at all. "Maybe."

She doesn't sound pleased, or she could be confused. Well she at least decided to clear something out. "Mother told us that you saved her with your tears..."

At such a sentence Eric got a bit embarrassed and of course had to fight it off. "I didn't cry, it was dusty in there."

"Sure..." She answered with a half smile and afterwards pointed out. "However you did it, I appreciate it. It's a bit weird to be in the same room with both of you now considering that we took you as enemies and tricked you a couple of times."

Well at least now the silence is fairly explained, it will take a while for everyone to become friends here. But I think that Mogranius doesn't have the same problem, he has already gotten all of kids around him with a couple of boys on his lap and was telling his crazy stories.

"And so! I found this weird stick, it seemed a bit like it was burned." He continued to tell another story, the kids were already listening in anticipation with their eyes shinning and ready to burst into laughter. "Then I remembered that I just woke up, afterwards realizing that I was holding a snake!"

"Hahahaahahahahahahahaha!" Echoed laughter through the room, not just from the kids but also from a few a.d.u.l.ts, the laughter became contagious.

"Oh uncle Mogranius!" A little girl reacted with a burst of laughter after.

"What uncle? He is a grandpa!" Added another boy, with no aims of joking or offending actually.

"I'm not a Grandpa, I'm only 59!" He urged, as he ran his fingers underneath his short Black Beard, its interesting how it is still black, he is old enough.

"Tell us more of your stories Grandpa Mogranius!" Asked another young girl, at this point he just sighed and just refused to argue about this little fact any longer.

Meanwhile, Eric and Mogranius made their way into the first section's left wing. More specifically at the entrance where the 3 ways first split! This tunnel is specifically 3 meters wide and tall, like a tunnel with its ceiling curved like half a circle.

As they walked about 15 meters deep, the scene they found wasn't quite nice to experience. Well, at this place it is barely out of the ordinary. "This looks like a dung..."

"Shhh!" Eric interrupted, why? Well as they passed through the tunnel a odd little sound got in his ear before Osira spoke. It was a bit hard to not notice, Eric figured that she couldn't hear it because of the fur hat she is wearing.

He tip toed his way deeper Dungeon, giving a small glance each cell or cage or however these Snow Ignites called it, looks tremendously small. Each cell is 2 meters wide and long, with a little hole to clear business on the left side and a nearly 2 meter rock slab on the right elevated a foot above the ground, chances are these beds were never accompanied by fur.

And as for privacy, anyone who wanted too could see the prisoners handle their business at the little hole, that's the only bathroom privilege any prisoner got. I suppose the Snow Ignites made it clear in this underground domain ages ago, crime isn't a good option at all. Physical torture here doesn't even sound necessary, the psychological torture could be equally bad here.

Moving down to the fifth cell they saw a little pink tail hanging out, chewing sounds became rougher the closer they approached. Once they managed to get a better view, it was made clear that this is a Ratbug even though its head was deep in a corpse or carcass... I'm not sure how to describe it.

It appears like a Demon bashed it self here through the little opening used for feeding prisoners, to feed on portions of rotten meat still left on one of the several skeletons here, on the process it accidentally cut itself with the Iron cells because it bashed through in the average beast like manner.

This carcass looks recent, and this Ratbug appeared to have made a good meal out of it. But as Mogranius told his stories down near the source a few times, Eric recalled that this is a totally bad idea so this critter has to be shot down as long as it is still a Critter.

As he held the Fire illuminating the room on his left hand, he focused his shot on the right. He could only shoot the Ratbug's behind, considering how hot his Fire burns and how fragile these rats are towards it, this shouldn't be a problem right?

Well the situation met with a little twist, even after the Rat wash shot it just rushed forwards with the Demon around its head and bashed against the close by wall. But there is the problem, it should have been dead until now instead of running around.

Pulling its head out of the Carcass, it took a peek towards the two humans in front of it and looked at them in not fear but out bursting anger, it doesn't look like it wants to die without putting up a big fight!

One thing that reflected against the light as it faced them, were the buck teeth this little Ratbug was carrying. They have stretched a foot long now, likely because of the meal it was consuming. That's the dangers of eating Demon meat, a mutation like effect would follow and it sometimes can be very bad for the consumer, but for this rat it worked for the best!

Charging towards the two humans in front, it found the cell as an obstacle now preventing its set of rage, so bitting one of the 3 finger thick poles and pulling back after it ripped it right out of its former position with ease.

Definitely not wanting to know what this Ratbug can do once it manages to get through that cell, Eric started blasting a huge continuously going Fire in the cell and swallowed the little enemy with it.

Squeaking sounds were at first common but after a few seconds became less and less. This is the sacrifice of survival, one always has to kill the other if cooperation isn't an option. This is an animal yes, but tens of lives can't be risked because of it.

Finally stopping his blasts, he didn't really find anything after but ash which in a way it is good enough. He definitely didn't want to see another burned carcass, he already lost his appetite once and it is the same case with Osira.

"I think I saw something else."