Chapter 432 - 351: Taking the Lion’s Share

Chapter 432: Chapter 351: Taking the Lion’s Share

With a sweep of his hand at his waist, Kilian collected the bundles of Snake Scales, sinews, and Demon Cores.

’So Kilian has a Storage Pouch, too...’

’And by the looks of it, its capacity is even larger than mine.’

"Everyone!"

Kilian raised his voice.

The squad members quickly gathered.

"The joint extermination mission is now successfully concluded."

"Now that the Nine-headed Dragon Snake has been eliminated, we’ll head into the cave to see what’s inside. We’ll also be looking for the light curtain that serves as the entrance to the third level."

"Those who don’t want to come along can leave now."

The squad members exchanged glances. Not a single person chose to leave.

’How could they possibly leave?’

’We’ve come all this way and finally taken down the Nine-headed Dragon Snake. Of course we have to find the light curtain and see what the third level of the ruins is like.’

This was especially true for Zelir’s squad.

They exchanged glances, a silent understanding passing between them.

Excitement began to bubble up inside them.

’The third level of the ruins...’

Zelir clenched his fists.

’The mark on the Hill Treasure Map is on the third level!’

’I finally have a chance to see what kind of treasure is there!’

’I hope it doesn’t disappoint.’

"Good!"

Seeing that no one was leaving, Kilian nodded slightly, his voice firm and resonant.

"Then let’s go find the third level’s light curtain together!"

"One last thing. None of us have fully recovered yet, so our primary objective is exploration. We should avoid combat as much as possible."

"If we encounter danger, retreat decisively. I don’t want any unnecessary casualties in the team."

"We’ll stick to the same three-squad formation as before, each with its own leader."

With their objective clear, everyone began to pack up camp and prepare to move out.

"Speaking of which... the spoils from the Nine-headed Dragon Snake."

Gray asked while packing his sleeping bag, "How much money is it all worth, roughly?

"So many Snake Scales, and sinews, and nine Demon Cores... it must be several hundred Gold Coins, right? Maybe even a thousand."

Marcus quickly did the math in his head. "Plus the eight hundred Gold Coins bonus from the Adventurer’s Association..."

"Whoa!"

Even Valles couldn’t help but gasp in a low voice, "Wouldn’t that be more than a thousand Gold Coins? That’s a [Cruelty]-rated Demon for you..."

"And this was just a juvenile. An adult one would probably be worth even more," Hill chimed in from the side.

She was also getting a taste for adventuring.

’It seems more profitable than assassination.’

’Assassination requires you to be so careful—scouting ahead of time, casing the location, sneaking in, finding the right spot.’

’Sometimes you even need a disguise.’

’And if you get exposed, you end up wanted by the Security Team.’

’Such a hassle.’

Zelir did a quick mental calculation.

’Let’s be generous and say it’s all worth two thousand Gold Coins.’

’My cut would be the largest, five hundred Gold Coins.’

’As for the others...’

’Adrian, Rolin, and Shaman—the three Middle Level Mages—would definitely get a larger share.’

’Among the remaining people, Kilian’s contribution was the highest, so he’d definitely get a bigger cut as well.’

’And Gray’s performance was commendable this time; he basically solo-killed a regular Dragon Snake. He should get a larger cut, right?’

"Gray, how much can you get?" Zelir nudged Gray with his elbow.

"Heheh..."

Gray proudly made a "six" gesture at Zelir. "Six percent of the total reward!"

’6%...’

’That’s still one hundred and twenty Gold Coins.’

’For a Warrior like Gray, this is probably the biggest haul of his life, isn’t it?’

"Zelir, are you still holding up?" Marcus asked in a low voice.

"I probably couldn’t handle an intense fight."

Zelir shook his head gently, sensing the emptiness in his reserves.

"But we’re just going down for a look, a preliminary scout, it should be fine."

’With a 20% Magic Power reserve, I could handle an emergency, just barely.’

’But if a major battle broke out, I’d be in serious trouble.’

"Okay."

Marcus nodded gravely. "If you feel like you can’t go on, just tell me. We’ll pull back and come back another time."

After making some brief preparations, the three squads gathered in the clearing.

They stood before the enormous cave in the rock face, looking up.

The same invisible, oppressive feeling washed over them again. The inside of the cave was as pitch-black as ever.

The nine bodies of the Dragon Snake had stretched out from those depths, a vision of the immense danger that had lurked in the darkness.

"There are three caves..."

Gray looked left and right. "So which one do we take?"

"To be safe, our three squads should all enter the same one."

Kilian pointed forward. "Let’s check the middle one first."

The three squads formed an arrowhead formation.

Kilian’s squad took the lead, with the Adrian Squad and Zelir’s squad covering the rear on the left and right.

They advanced cautiously, entering the cave one slow step at a time.

Upon entering the cave, the sounds of the outside world seemed to be cut off.

After the Dragon Snake died, its remains turned into a thick layer of dark-colored ash that covered the ground.

The group advanced slowly, leaving footprints in the ash with every step.

Adrian waved his Magic Wand lightly and cast a Lighting Skill.

His ball of light seemed different from that of a normal Lighting Skill; its glow was exceptionally soft and could penetrate deep into the distance.

The light orb floated up, illuminating the inside of the passage.

The passage was just as spacious as the cave entrance.

Countless stalactites hung from the ceiling. The rock walls on either side were damp and covered in a strange-looking moss.

After advancing a few dozen meters, a pungent, acrid stench hit them.

"What’s that smell..."

Zelir covered his nose and mouth with his sleeve, frowning as he looked ahead.

The passage opened up ahead into a vast, cavernous space.

Under the light of the orb, everyone clearly saw the source of the foul smell.

In the center of the cavern, a large, tumor-like spherical mass of rotten flesh was piled up, several meters high.

It was entirely a sickly bluish-purple, its surface covered with huge, pustule-like bumps that constantly oozed a viscous fluid.

"So this is the fleshy mass that the Nine-headed Dragon Snake grew from..."

Kilian said softly.

The nine bodies of the Nine-headed Dragon Snake all extended from a single spherical fleshy mass.

Now that the Dragon Snake was dead, the fleshy mass had also lost its vitality and was beginning to completely decompose.

The group entered the large chamber, and everyone looked around.

There were also exits on the other two sides of the chamber.

They must be the passages connecting to the left and right caves outside.

The three seemingly separate caves actually all led to this one chamber.

’Thinking about it, it’s as if this Nine-headed Dragon Snake was specifically imprisoned here to act as a guard.’

’The fleshy mass was too enormous to fit through any of the passages, so it was trapped here.’

’It could only stick its nine heads out of the caves to fight.’

’It could neither move nor retreat.’

"This thing..."

Valles’s expression was a bit off. "It reminds me of the Life-Devouring Blood Boil..."

’His memories of that mission were far from pleasant.’

"I wonder if there’s anything valuable inside this pile of rotten meat," Gray said thoughtfully.

"You want to dig?" Zelir took a shovel from his Storage Pouch and handed it to Gray.

"Never mind..." Gray waved his hands dismissively.

"We should report this to the Adventurer’s Association when we get back. Let them send someone to deal with it," Kilian said, unable to keep from frowning.

’Otherwise, we’d have to face this disgusting thing every time we come and go...’

After the team carefully skirted around this large pile of rotten meat, they arrived behind the fleshy mass.

Finally, they saw what they had been hoping to find.

An oval, glowing blue light curtain appeared in their view.

The entrance to the third level of the ruins!

"We finally found it..."

Everyone let out a sigh of relief.

The light curtain stood quietly in place, looking no different from the entrances to the first and second levels.

"For safety’s sake, we shouldn’t all go in at once."

Kilian instructed, "I’ll take my squad in first. Once we confirm it’s safe, you can follow."

"Shaman, you come with our squad too."

’Having another Empowerment Mage in the party would provide an extra layer of security.’