Chapter 186: Hunting for the Forest Spirit Seed Part 24
Since there were no monsters blocking their way in front, Kayn and the others were able to quickly reach the end of the tunnel where the huge open cavern lay.
"So, this is the place," Gilbert muttered to himself as he looks around, trying to see signs of tentacles that looks like stalagmites.
Everyone else also did the same as they stopped swimming and observe their surrounding.
Just like everyone else, Kayn was similarly observing his surrounding as well. But he wasn't looking for the boss's tentacles, but the specific tentacle that they'd cut yesterday.
As expected, the stalagmite blocking the entrance of the tunnel yesterday can no longer be found in front of them.
However, there is now a huge tunnel at its original place. Clearly, this tunnel was drilled by the tentacles of that octopus monster when it tried to block the entrance.
Kayn warns everyone. "Be careful, there was no tunnel here yesterday,"
After saying so, he decided to enter the cavern before the others. Other than he wants to make sure that the area is safe, he also wants to see if there are stalagmites nearby.
Just a simple glimpse to his right was all it took for him to see a group of stalagmites. But unlike the one they encountered yesterday, there was nothing special with these stalagmites.
"It is safe,"
Hearing Kayn's confirmation, everyone swam inside one after the other.
The instant they entered the cavern, all of them started marveling at the beauty of the place. It was like staring at the sky covered with stars at night. Though the thought that there's an unknown danger lurking under the dark still remains in their mind.
"Let's go," Kayn doesn't want to stay in one place for long since there's a possibility the boss monster is moving around to find prey.
If he remembers correctly, not far from their location to the right, there is a tunnel leading to the center of the Slumbering Forest.
After swimming for around five minutes, Kayn finally found the tunnel.
"Are we going this way?" Gilbert asked.
"Yes," Kayn nodded.
Everyone immediately heaves a sigh of relief.
Gilbert and the others didn't waste any time as they quickly swam to enter the tunnel. And as if receiving heaven's grace, their nervousness and tense body instantly disappeared.
With the change in atmosphere, everyone peacefully swam to explore a new area of the underwater cave system.
It didn't take long for them to start encountering different monsters along the way.
Although the members of the new party were relatively weaker compared to Friedrich, Roshan, Cedric, and Kimberly, they were still capable enough to easily take down the monsters.
As they continued to swim, everyone started noticing something strange around the wall of the underwater cave system.
"I don't know why, but the walls around every tunnel look almost the same. It is as if they are carved by a driller or some sort," Gilbert expressed.
Kayn and the others also agreed.
Unlike the others though, Kayn has formed an even clearer assumption in mind on what kind of drill was used to make these tunnels — tentacles.
Earlier ago, the tunnel that replaced the stalagmite also had the same pattern over its wall. Now, seeing that almost every tunnel is the same, he is suspecting that these tunnels weren't supposed to be here from the start.
The owner of that tentacle most likely drilled all of these tunnels. As for why, he has his own guess, but he isn't one hundred percent about it yet. He'll just think about it later once he has enough proof to back his assumption.
All of a sudden, Gilbert and the others came to a halt right in front.
"What is it?" Kayn who was still studying the surrounding walls went to approach Gilbert and the others.
As soon as he saw what everyone is currently staring at, Kayn instantly became surprised.
In front of them was another huge cavern.
It wasn't the same cavern that they came from though.
"I think I know where this place is," Jude interjected as he entered the cavern without any hesitation and started swimming up.
Kayn and the others quickly followed behind to assist Jude.
Jude stopped at the ceiling of the cavern and motioned his hand for the others to retreat a bit farther away from him.
In the next moment…
Boom!
A loud explosion erupted as everyone was sent retreating a few meters away due to the huge force of the water's current.
As the bubbles cleared out, everyone soon saw a ray of light penetrating the cavern from the ceiling that Jude had blown up.
Jude climbed up the ceiling before signaling everyone to follow him.
Kayn and the others came up one after the other and were soon surprised to see dozens of handmade explosives laying nearby.
"We should be close now to the north," Jude muttered while looking around. "And not far from here,"
Jude leads everyone a bit farther to the north direction around a hundred meters.
It was a small pond and around the small pond covered in dense greenery were more handmade explosives.
Jude blasted the small pond and soon after it revealed a tunnel.
"Can anyone please tell me why we are doing this again?" Gilbert was confused.
"Jude doesn't want us to go through another cavern, I believe," Jericho expresses his assumption.
"That's right," Jude nodded. "This tunnel here should also be connected to that cavern, considering that it is very close,"
"Let's just get in to check,"
Kayn leads everyone to enter the underwater cave system again.
Following the direction of the cavern, they soon confirmed that the tunnel indeed leads to the same cavern as before. In other words, they just made a small detour.
"As long as we do it this way, we should be able to navigate this place safely," Jude explains to everyone the reason for the detour.
The caverns were where the true danger of the underwater cave system lies as there is no telling if they would find another tentacle or perhaps another boss-rank monster. If it is the former, it means that the boss monster has already noticed them and is just waiting for the right time to strike. And if it is the latter, it implies that there is more than one boss monster in this place, and obviously they can't risk entering the cavern while completely not knowing what it is.
However, they can eliminate those two risks as long as they make a detour to the surface every time they encounter another cavern.
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