The pitch-black secret passage was dim and narrow, and could only accommodate one person at a time. Those who were slightly taller had to lower their heads to pass through.
But they didn't care about such trivial matters.
Under Nadia's lead, they sprinted forward along the pitch-black, narrow secret passage into the depths of the cave.
Just as Nadia predicted, they encountered several ambushes along the way.
Just like the other monsters, the monsters returned to their human forms after death.
It was apparent that most of them were believers, and there were a few women among them.
This should be the group of people who fled to the secret passage to seek refuge when the mutation happened.
But from the looks of it, there were quite a number of them.
Therefore, it could be concluded that this wasn't a family, but more like a group.
But no one was in the mood to care about such trivial matters. These monsters couldn't stop them at all, nor could they stop them from moving forward.
And under Jenn's guidance, the others also found a way to deal with these monsters. Although they couldn't tell if the monsters would self-destruct due to their strange appearances, it would be fine as long as they froze them.
Therefore, the high-level mages quickly enchanted everyone's weapons with a layer of Ice Blade spell, so that they could freeze the monsters while attacking them.
They could also cast similar spells. As for the holy knights, they walked in front and acted as meat shields. Anyway, they had the protection of holy power, so they wouldn't be injured that easily.
The path beneath their feet became steeper, and the secret passage that extended forward began to spiral downward. It seemed that this place used to be an underground river, and the flow of water had formed such a smooth and round passage.
Of course, if they were ordinary people, they would have lost their footing and rolled down in such a place.
But for this group of elites, as long as they didn't have to do disco dancing on a vertical cliff of 90 degrees, they didn't feel any pressure.
But danger was still everywhere.
"Squeak — — —!"
Just as everyone followed the secret passage and turned a corner, suddenly accompanied by a scream, and at the next moment, a monster that looked like a humanoid spider screamed and jumped down from the ceiling.
Its body was still in the shape of a human, but its limbs were like arthropods, and its head looked more like an insect like a bee. It was disgusting to look at.
It swooped down without hesitation, opened its mouth, and revealed its sharp teeth, trembling as it rushed towards its prey.
"Damned monsters!!"
Looking at the monster pouncing on her, Nadia let out a snarl and raised the shield in her hand to block it. At the next moment, along with this action, an even larger golden shield appeared out of thin air, blocking the humanoid spider and knocking it back.
The monster slammed heavily into the stone wall, causing a lot of dust to fall.
On the other hand, the monster seemed to be dazed. It shook its head, widened its mouth, and let out another sharp screech. Then, it blasted a series of invisible, vibrating sound waves at the young lady.
Nadia's reaction to the monster's sudden attack was a step too slow. That wasn't surprising. After all, when facing monsters with different abilities and characteristics at the same time, it was difficult to react in the shortest time possible.
The Divine Shield of Protection shattered under the attack of the ultrasonic wave. Then, Nadia felt a heavy blow on her shield. She screamed and fell backward.
But at that moment, Nadia felt a palm pressing on her back to help her regain her balance.
She looked up in astonishment, only to see Jenn walking out from the side silently. Then, the sword in his hand flashed in a cold glint. The aquamarine blade slashed forward in a series of violent, chilly winds.
But to everyone's surprise, in the face of Zayen's attack, the monster suddenly shrieked and dodged Zayen's attack. Then, it disappeared into the depths of the dark corridor.
"Hmm?"
Looking at this scene, Jenn was taken aback.
Even though he only used 70% of his strength in that attack, it wasn't a problem for him to deal with ordinary monsters.
However, the monster in front of him not only dodged his attack, but also ran away?
Not only that, when Zayen tried to access its thoughts and manipulate this monster, he found that its brain was in a mess, even a little complicated. It was obvious that although it had been transformed into a Chaos Daemon, it still retained a part of its own consciousness.
This isn't an ordinary transformation. It might even be a presence in the Legendary Stage. Could it be that it was once a Holy Knight?
At this thought, Jenn puckered his brows. This wasn't entirely unreasonable. The people in the Ice City were definitely all dead.
And according to Enoya's previous report, they didn't find any corpses in the Goddess of Water's temple, which meant that the monster had moved away as soon as the mutation began.
However, it was useless. The earth could only weaken the [Eternal Night Canopy]'s spiritual pollution and couldn't completely isolate it.
In this case, even if these people were hiding here for such a long time, they should have gone mad or died.
It wouldn't be surprising if there were existences like the Archbishop and Holy Knight Captain.
But it was a pity that Enoya wasn't by his side. If not, Jenn would have chased after the monster and searched for information from its corpse.
He was sure that the higher-ups of the temple here would know what kind of secret the girl had. Although Zayen himself had a vague idea of what was going on, it was just a guess before there was any concrete evidence.
"Is that monster that powerful?"
This thought cropped up in Jenn's mind for an instant. At this moment, Carter arrived by his side and asked with knitted brows.
He was experienced in this aspect and could tell that it wasn't a fluke that the monster was able to escape Jenn's attack. If not for its strange appearance, in terms of strength, this monster wasn't weak at all.
"It's quite powerful."
Facing Carter's question, Jenn nodded.
"If it's a monster transformed from a human, it should at least have the strength of a Holy Knight."
"Oh?"
Carter raised an eyebrow and clenched his axe. It was obvious that he understood the hidden meaning behind Jenn's words.
On the contrary, Barty who was at the back was panting and stumbling along with everyone. The Alchemist's stamina was really worrying. If it weren't for the adventurer beside him who was holding him back, perhaps Barty would have already rolled down the cave.
But at this moment, everyone had reached the end of the secret passage.
At the end of the darkness, there was a glimmer of light.
When everyone walked out of the secret passage and looked up, they couldn't help but be stunned. In front of them was a huge, incomparably wide underground cave. It was at least the size of two football fields, and there were stalactite pillars everywhere. At a glance, only the huge stalactite pillars could be seen.
Apart from that, they also saw a waterfall flowing down the cave wall in the distance, creating a small stream and a pond here with a crashing sound.
Glowing nocturnal plants grew on the cave wall, and giant mushrooms fused with the strange underground plants, forming a magnificent scenery.
"This is …"
Looking at this scene, many of them were speechless. It wasn't surprising, as it was the first time for most of them to come to the underground. Looking at this beautiful and strange scenery, it could be considered as the first experience of their lives.
But soon, they gathered their thoughts and began to investigate the surroundings.
From the simple man-made path on the ground and the wreckage everywhere, it could be seen that this place had definitely been developed by someone. But now, the only thing left was a pile of ruins.
"There's no one here …"
Looking at the bush in front of him, Carter frowned.
In the image of the Water Mirror, the girl that they saw was indeed here.
But now, that girl had disappeared without a trace.
Although there were indeed traces of someone staying in the bush, it seemed that there was no longer anyone here.
He reached out his hand and touched the place lightly, then shook his head.
"She has been gone for a long time. She's not nearby for the time being. Of course, she could have been captured …"
Saying until here, Carter looked at Nadia.
"Paladin Nadia, what should we do next?"
"I suggest that we split up and search."
Facing Carter's question, Nadia hesitated for a moment and finally gave her answer.
"This place isn't big, and I think a child shouldn't be able to run too far. Let's split into two groups. Mr. Carter, you will lead one group, and Mr. Jenn will lead the other group. Both of you have experience in battles and adventures in the Underdark, so you should be more familiar with the situation here than us. If anything happens, we can respond accordingly.
Besides, we don't know if there are other hidden monsters like the ones from before, so it's best to be careful. "
"Okay, no problem."
Upon hearing Nadia's suggestion, Carter nodded, turned around, and beckoned to the adventurers behind him.
"Alright, kids, you've all heard it. Follow me.
It's best if there's a Mage and a Priest, and that Noan guy … Eh?
Where did that guy go? "
Upon hearing his words, everyone was taken aback. They turned around and realized that the half-elf assassin had disappeared without a trace.
Faced with Carter's question, they looked at each other in confusion.
Everyone remembered that the half-elf assassin was still behind them when they entered the secret passage. But now … Where did he go?