Chapter 186: An Encounter Near the Exit (1/2)

After leaving the spider web area their journey was rather peaceful.

They were occasionally attacked by undead and huge spiders, but these were all put down easily by Ritz’s party. Loren’s party didn’t need to intervene at all, so he uttered:

“Exactly what’s expected from a party of silver rank adventurers.”

“Don’t know why, but I feel like we’re getting too much praise.”

Ritz responded with a wry smile. An adult huge spider appearing alone should have been a formidable enemy due to its sheer size, the thread it spat out, and the poison transmitted through its bite. Yet just Ritz and Jack were able to kill those lone spiders as if it was their routine work.

Jack stood in front of the remains of the one such spider they had killed and grumbled:

“We don’t have time to collect raw materials, right?”

Hearing him, Loren asked, just for the sake of future reference:

“Which part of this spider can be used as raw material?”

“Shell and poison gland. The thread sacs too.”

“What’s a thread sac?”

“It’s an organ storing the fluid that will become silk thread when spat out. I don’t know its official name either. I can cut it open to show you, but if we stop, the next one will come soon.”

Jack explained that the shell was used to make armors and such, and the poison gland were often used in medicine. The thread sacs would be used as a fiber after being treated. Despite the body size, each huge spider only had few of them, making it difficult to collect them in quantity. Huge spiders’ thread sacs were actually fairly valuable.

“Can we collect them on the way back?”

“That reminds me, what will we do on the way back?”

Their two parties were working together due to circumstances, but they had originally come here for different purposes. If collecting intel was Loren party’s only purpose and if the situation allowed, continuing to work together like this was indeed an option. But collecting intel was only an excuse for Loren’s party, their actual purpose, was to visit Lapis’ house. They definitely couldn’t bring Ritz party there.

“We’ll go a bit deeper into the demon territory… What about you?”

“We’re fine at the outer edge. We don’t want to go deeper.”

Loren believed such an answer would be sufficient for a party of iron rank adventurers, and Ritz nodded:

“In that case, maybe we should part ways after exiting this tunnel…”

Loren was puzzled at Ritz’ vague choice of words. Ritz looked towards Dig, who was leading their group, and told Loren in a small voice:

“There should be another dwarves’ village by the exit. Originally, we plan to ask them to guide us on our way back…”

“In the current situation, the chance of the village still being safe is slim.”

The number of spiders inhabiting the tunnel was too large to have been bred solely inside it. And no matter how frequent people passed through this tunnel, the number of travelers wouldn’t be able to provide food for all those spiders. And considering the dwarves’ village by the entrance side was still safe, the chance of the village on the exit side becoming preys was exceedingly high.

“It’s still possible that some stupidly big game was inside the tunnel.”

Ritz was being overly optimistic. If there was such a creature inside the tunnel, the dwarves would have noticed it.

“Well, it isn’t.”

“Right, it isn’t.”

“So, you want to leave Dig with us?”

To Loren, Ritz’ words sounded like a subtle offer that wasn’t really helpful.

Dig’s original role was to guide them through the tunnel. Since they would also have to go through the tunnel on their way back to human’s territory, he was someone they needed to have, no matter what. Without him, they wouldn’t be able to go back. Ritz’ offer actually came off one-sided and high-handed in this case.

But Loren’s party would have to go to Lapis’ house after this, and Loren wasn’t very willing to have Dig accompany them, as he didn’t know what would happen. It was actually better for them if Dig went with Ritz’s party, but then the return trip would be a worry.

When Loren was still wondering how to answer him, Ritz continued, seemingly knowing beforehand what Loren was thinking:

“We’ll collect intel for about two days before going back. Then we’ll wait in the area near the tunnel for another day. If you can survive those three days, we’ll pick you up.”

“I see.”

Loren looked at Lapis, who was walking beside him, to ask for her opinion. Since he didn’t know where her house was, he wasn’t sure if the three days Ritz mentioned would be enough or not. Only Lapis knew.

“It’s probably alright.”

Lapis answered as if it was just a trivial matter. Loren looked at her, it seemed like it would really be alright. He nodded at Ritz:

“So we’ll leave it in your hands.”

“Ah, don’t worry. We’ll definitely pick you up if you’re alive.”

Loren was grateful for Ritz’s offer to look for them, and he presumed on it. Loren’s party didn’t have any rogues, but Ritz party had Jack the thief and Nim the elf hunter, so they were obviously more skilled in terms of searching and exploring.

“We still have to get out of here safely first.”