I Level Up Dragons with My Evolution System-Chapter 84: Mission in the Silver Mines of the South
Inside the Armed Forces Headquarters.
Aurora and Edward went to meet with the general, while Arnold and Lander got ready.
The general was an older man, strict, with deep-set eyes and a face slightly worn by age, but still looking strong.
"I had heard that Miss Ashford did not want to join a regiment, so I did not expect to see her in a temporary group with rookies," said the general with a slight smile.
"General Lawyer, it’s been a while since we last met." Aurora greeted him without much formality. "I’m not aiming to join just any regiment, so I prefer to be in a temporary group while I get stronger."
"Any?" General Lawyer laughed. "I’m afraid that, with the exception of Regiment 03 and 101, everyone would be interested in having you in their ranks."
"If it’s not the regiment I’m aiming for, even if it’s 01, it’s still just any regiment." Aurora was frank.
"Hahaha." Lawyer sighed. "I think it’s better for your future to join one of those ’any’ regiments than to be in a temporary group with only rookies with bad reputations."
"I’d rather be in a temporary group with people I know than in a meaningless regiment, Mr. Lawyer. As a friend of the family, you should understand that," Aurora replied. "Although we didn’t come here to talk about that. Instructor Mervan told us we should meet with you before going on the mission."
Lawyer shrugged and decided to drop the previous topic. "There are several things I must tell you before you attempt this mission. Starting with the fact that this mission is genuinely dangerous."
"There are several Death Knights, and they lead a group of powerful undead, among which are several dangerous mages. In addition, a Lich also escaped from the Cemetery," said the General. "We are still searching for him."
"A Lich?" Aurora frowned. "Did he enter the mine?"
"We’re not sure about that. That Lich is quite dangerous; he’s the leader of the Death Knights. But most likely, he didn’t enter. Liches are intelligent; they’re unlikely to enter a place where they’re so likely to die."
"Even so, there’s still a chance, isn’t there?" Edward asked.
Lawyer nodded. "Although it’s very low, it shouldn’t be a problem," he replied. "But that’s why we wanted a more powerful group... you guys... Well." He fell silent only because Aurora was part of the group.
"What is the terrain like inside the mine?" Edward asked.
"Normal, there aren’t many dead ends, so you shouldn’t get lost. Although it is damp, it is unusual for this mine to have cave-ins, it has quite a lot of rock."
"What about the trapped miners? Have you received any information about them?"
"So far, none, mainly because they can’t send it and we don’t have enough staff to go in and look for them. The higher-ups have practically given up on all those miners."
’...’
Aurora and Edward continued with their questions, and then Lawyer proceeded to give them a more detailed map of the mine and explain the situation better.
The meeting lasted an hour, until they finally went to meet Arnold and Lander in the city.
"What did they tell you?" Arnold asked.
"We may have to face a Lich," Edward replied frankly and nervously.
Honestly, he couldn’t confirm if his father was there. Although there was attendance data, it was to control entry to all of Count Hazzard’s silver mines. It was unfortunate that they had such poor organization.
’Although it’s strange, in the end, I’m in a world that’s not so advanced. I guess it makes sense,’ he thought.
"That’s really dangerous," Arnold said, frowning. "Facing several Death Knights might be easy, but a Lich is a whole different ball game."
"I know. Their death magic is genuinely dangerous, not to mention the curses they can cast and their impressive rate of fire," Edward nodded. "In an environment like a mine, it would be dangerous. What we were told was that there was that possibility, but that the greater likelihood is that we won’t encounter one."
A sigh of relief could almost be heard from Lander... Edward could understand it.
"Even so, we must be prepared in case we have bad luck," Aurora said, causing them to become alarmed again. "This will be a truly difficult mission, but we can do it. A Lich is dangerous, but it is quite weak against swordsmen, so we have the advantage."
"Should we talk about the plan then? Although we’ll basically be walking forward as if our lives depended on it. Once we make sure the miners are okay, we can proceed to kill the undead, which is the main mission," said Edward.
They then began to discuss the plan, and in less than 30 minutes they set off for the Silver Mines.
There were personnel in charge of protecting the entrance, but none of them had any more information than what they had been given in the city, so Edward led them inside.
Once inside, they used Lander’s magic and walked through the mine carefully.
It was a mine, so the corridors were not as large as in dungeons, but they were still large enough for several people to walk through at once.
This place was immense and terrifyingly lonely. There was not a single miner in sight, but there were no undead either.
What they did have were too many footprints on the ground. Even Lander had trouble finding the right path because there were so many, and they weren’t all going in the same direction. It looked like people had recently entered the mine and then turned back, as there were footprints going in all directions.
"This is one of the intersections," said Edward when he found a place where there was more than one path in sight, between rocks. "We have to be careful in these areas. The undead have many rocks to hide behind to attack, and due to the humidity in the environment, it’s difficult to simply sense them in time."
No sooner had he finished speaking than he had to jump to the side with his sword in his hand.
CLANK!
The force of the impact pushed him backward, and an undead creature armed, with a level of approximately 10 appeared from behind some rocks.
"True word." He quickly fell to the ground to find stability, and Aurora simultaneously moved behind the undead with terrifying speed.
Immediately, wind vines formed at the undead’s feet, and it fell forward.
Edward attacked the undead several times with force, until he cut off its head and it fell to the ground, "dead."
[You have killed a level 10 undead.]
[Fire Butterfly has gained 260 Experience Points.]
Edward looked at the system, in shock. ’260?’ His body trembled...
260 Experience Points... For a level 10 beast, that was an astonishing amount. No beast outside the Cursed Lands gives out such amounts.
’Impossible. Didn’t they say they came out of the cementery? How can they count as beasts from a Cursed Land?’ His heart raced.
Beasts such as the undead are very territorial and will not usually leave the territories they occupy unless someone orders them to expand their territory.
Therefore, although it is well known that many undead are found in cemeteries and are an important source of training, and although they have good cores, they are not hunted frequently.
The cores they provide, while good, are likely to be mostly corrupt and would have to go through a long process to detoxify the energy of death. Meanwhile, being so territorial, they are quite problematic.
Therefore, unless someone pays a lot of money for them or a revolt occurs that makes it mandatory to kill them, no one would want to do so.
Even so, it is likely to see undead straying outside their territories, especially if they do not belong to any dungeon.
But, undead from a Cursed Earth, escaping their territories? Unless it’s because they’ve gone mad and want to kill, as happened when he killed the Death Knight, they don’t usually leave.
Suddenly, Edward was genuinely concerned about the situation, but he couldn’t say anything.
How could he explain to them that he suspected they came from a Cursed Land? It would cast doubt on the viability of the mission and raise the important question: How does he know? A question he wouldn’t know how to answer.
It’s not like he was going to reveal to everyone that he could level up and that he had just noticed that this beast gave him twice as much experience as normal beasts usually give him...
He looked at Aurora... he could tell her.
"Edward, is something wrong?" Aurora asked, noticing his frown.
"Ah, no." Edward smiled and shook his head. "I was just curious that this undead creature was here alone. They’re usually in groups," he replied.
She nodded... "You’re right, maybe there aren’t that many of them," she said vaguely, although she suspected that something else was going on, but she didn’t ask.
"Let’s keep going," he said.
If they were beasts from a Cursed Land, then his father and all the miners here were in danger... or dead.
He couldn’t delay any longer.
He didn’t even think about the danger of entering a place where there could be a Lich and several Death Knights from a Cursed Land... in fact, he forgot about it completely.
