Chapter 84: Chapter 84: The Ghouls Set Out
"N-not really."
Ron carefully pieced the bones together, while also having Delaford and You continue searching the room. After carefully comparing a few bones, he made a new discovery:
"The owners of these skeletons weren’t old. I can’t say for sure how old, but they definitely weren’t elderly individuals. In other words, they didn’t die of old age."
"And I don’t see any signs of disease on them. I also don’t see any trace of the plague mentioned in that report."
Even though Ron was neither a medical examiner nor a clinician, he could still find a good number of clues on the remains. But now he was a bit dumbfounded. There were almost no signs of disease on these bones. ’Fungi? Viruses? Bacteria? If the owners of these skeletons had suffered from illness before they died, there should have been some evidence on their bones.’
"Maybe it’s just been too long? Or maybe this mine was never actually infected by the plague?" Victoria pulled a fragment of a jawbone from under the bed and casually tossed it to Ron.
As Ron absentmindedly caught it and placed it next to a piece of a leg bone that had teeth marks on it, his hand suddenly froze.
Sera, who was watching from the side, let out a cold laugh.
"I always thought... these teeth marks must have been left by Ghouls..." Ron, stunned, separated the bones in his hand and then brought them together again. The fit was perfect.
Although both the teeth and the bone were worn down to varying degrees, the way they matched was more than enough to serve as evidence.
"They starved to death," Silvia sighed. "And in the end, they had to resort to this."
"But whether they were the sacrificed or the survivors, none escaped death." Ron gave a bitter smile. "What on earth happened here? What made that last empress seal the mine?"
It seemed the clues provided by the gold dragon could no longer be fully trusted. The adult gold dragon had likely only been an observer in the kingdom at the time. The information it had was probably just hearsay; it had never personally entered the mine.
Ron hadn’t found any trace of a plague here, and the empress hadn’t even considered the people inside when she sealed it. ’So what could have been the reason for her to issue such an order?’
"There’s another strange thing," Victoria said. "Why did these people stay here? Even if their compatriots wouldn’t let them out, shouldn’t they have gone to the mine entrance to call for help?"
"Did they just accept their fate and wait here to die?"
"Maybe some did, but they were dragged back to lairs by Ghouls and wild beasts," Sera shrugged. "That’s not really that strange, is it?"
"Would a normally operating mine allow Ghouls and wild beasts to run rampant? They were clearly latecomers."
"Ugh, you smart types always love to overthink everything!" Sera scratched her scalp in frustration. "Why don’t we just go down there! There are bound to be more clues below than up here!"
"Come on, use your heads! A brain isn’t just to give your headbutts more weight—it’s so you don’t waste time in a place like this!"
"Alright, alright," Ron said with a smile, getting up and dusting off his hands. "Let’s go. We’ll head down!"
"Hey, you lot!" Delaford and You protested. "What’s the big idea! We didn’t call you over to play with dead people’s bones!"
The Goblin Hunter kicked open a chest by the head of the bed. The iron box’s lock was long rusted through and broke with a single kick. The gleam of Gold Coins filled the room.
"Gold! It’s gold! And you all just acted like you didn’t see it?!"
For Ron, the curiosity to explore deeper far outweighed any desire for Gold Coins. The goblin, however, didn’t care about that and insisted on stuffing all the coins into his money pouch.
"If you won’t carry it, I will!" Delaford huffed, trailing at the very back of the group with a cloth sack full of coins slung over his shoulder.
"Looks like this place is a gold mine itself." On their way deeper underground, Ron and his party occasionally saw scattered gold nuggets on the ground, but it was clear the creatures here were no longer interested in gold.
Delaford, on the other hand, took everything he could find. He left a trail of dropped Gold Coins, but the pile of large gold chunks on his back only grew larger.
With You helping to scout the path ahead, he was happy to take it easy and simply focused on picking up gold from the rear.
"Be careful all that gold isn’t cursed, Delaford!" Aive taunted him. "If you get corrupted from picking up gold, we’ll just have to put you down."
"Pah! Pah! Pah!" The goblin bared his teeth in a threatening expression. "I won’t be corrupted! I am the most righteous, most loyal, most indestructible Lord Delaford!"
"Alright, knock it off," Ron suddenly dimmed his Light Magic and led his companions into a side passage. "Do you hear that? There are dragging sounds and footsteps coming up from below!"
"It’s probably gotten dark outside," You said after scouting ahead. "It’s time for those Ghouls to start foraging and moving around."
"Should we wipe them all out? Ambush them right here?"
This was a relatively narrow tunnel. No matter how numerous or ferocious the enemy was, they would first have to get past the tower shield in Aive’s hands.
"I’ll help conceal your presence." Silvia softly chanted a spell, and a hazy gray curtain enveloped Ron and the others completely.
As they waited with bated breath, the chaotic footsteps grew closer. The Ghouls dragged their heavy, stiff bodies, winding their way up from the lower levels of the mine.
"Say," Delaford said, peeking outside. "Can Ghouls actually be multicolored?"
"Of course," Silvia explained with expert familiarity. "Normally, Ghouls have a rotten, gray color. But for various reasons—like consuming the flesh of Magic Creatures, or being exposed to radiation or other environmental factors—they can undergo different Transformations and become variants."
"One type of Ghoul’s skin becomes pale and translucent. Their strength and agility are greatly enhanced, and their claws grow larger. These white Ghouls are usually called War Ghouls. Necromancers, like the old man who taught me, are particularly fond of them."
"Another type’s skin becomes swollen and pustulent, taking on a moldy green color. Their bodies can transmit diseases, so they’re called Plague Ghouls—I’m guessing they’re the ’plague’ from the gold dragon’s report."
"And the third type has dark red skin and is known as a Famine Ghoul. They become so emaciated they’re nothing but skin and bones, but their bite carries a curse that slowly drains the victim’s consciousness. If this torment continues for a long time, the victim will be infected with an unholy hunger for fresh meat that is beyond their control. Afterward, they will transform into a common gray Ghoul."
Silvia finished her explanation in one breath. "That’s basically all of them. Which types do you see?"
"All of them."
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