Chumo and Thrax's figures disappeared as they fell into the large hole. Thick dust blew upward and stung their eyes. They swatted away the dust and once they regained some of their visions, Emery and the rest then rushed at the large hold.
"Thrax! Chumo!" Klea called.
The only response they received were the shrieking dumas closing in on them. Klea simultaneously cast her [Lightning Bolt] and [Aqua Lance], stopping a couple of dumas in their tracks. After her spells were released, Julian immediately followed with his [Mudwall], blocking the crawling dumas.
Emery shouted, "Chumo, Thrax, if you can hear me, say something!"
Then hard coughing from the hole resounded. Emery was somewhat relieved hearing they were still alive. However, the dust was so thick that even if squinted his eyes hard, he couldn't see them.
Seeing the situation Klea used [Gust of wind - rank 2 wind element]
As soon as she started her spell, the wind picked up the dust and converged it on the top of her palm. The dust-filled cavern began to clear up and Emery could see Thrax and Chumo stuck under a pile of rocks, coughing. The moment Klea's spells burst toward the sky, Emery said, "They are alright! Let's go down there, they need our help"
Klea and Julian nodded. Julian made another mudwall to block the dumas that had just appeared behind them before following Emery and Klea down the hole.
The moment Emery landed, he didn't waste time and pulled the rocks away from the stuck Chumo and Thrax. All five hastily readied their stances, however, after waiting a while, the dumas didn't appear. It looked like the mudwall had served its purpose or when it dissipated, since they were no longer in sight, the dumas became uninterested and started eating the hundreds of carcasses of the skyglazers in the area.
"Are the two of you alright?" asked Klea.
"Well other than my pride, everything is fine," said Thrax dusting himself off. "Thanks again, Chumo."
Chumo nodded as he also cleaned himself of the remaining dust.
Julian said, "You barbarians really need to learn to think with your brains not your swords."
"And you roman pigs should learn how to fight with your swords and not with pretty words," retorted Thrax.
There was still some dust floating around. Klea casted another gust of wind toward the sky and once the dust had cleared, their surroundings were filled with black rocks that had large veins of silvery substance which they presumed to be titanium.
"Now this is unexpected fortune," said Emery, looking at the place.
It was quite dark but, due to the light coming from above and reflecting on the silvery substance, they could somehow see the area. Still, Julian used his [Flash Fire] and the area revealed quite a number of tunnels. They didn't know what lay ahead there but, to avoid any bad surprise, Julian once more covered up the entrances with his [Mudwall].
Now that they were inside the hill, Emery tried mining. He struck the titanium with the pickaxe and the whole place echoed with the clash of metal against metal. They waited a while and since they couldn't hear anything coming from the tunnels, all five of them started mining after convincing Klea that they didn't need to fight for the meantime.
Since they were inside the hill, the sound that escaped up the hole didn't reach the skyglazers, so they were able to mine with full focus, no longer having to worry about the skyglazers that swooped down. The dumas above as well didn't seem to hear them and because of these, they were able to work unhindered and gather the titanium at a much faster rate with all five of them.
While mining the mineral, Klea wiped off her sweat and said, "Hey, do you guys think it is possible to sell titanium for some spirit stones or trade it with higher tiered equipment? Clearly Master Tahoggum didn't see it as a loss when he offered us a larger amount of contribution points and provided us tier two weapons in advance. So, I think we can get away with tier three equipment if we gathered more than enough titanium. Just look at the amount of titanium we have here!"
The others considered that for a moment. Maybe they should really try that, since they did in fact need better equipment if they wanted to compete in the Magus Games.
A couple of hours passed. They were all taking a break and Emery, who was taking a look at the tunnels, said, "Guys, look at that."
In the distance, they all could see a bright red light shining. Emery's curiosity got the better of him and asked Chumo to accompany him. Emery still hadn't mastered the spell [Blink] since it had proved harder to even activate. However he had his spell [Black Smoke], which he could use at a moment's notice in case there would be any danger, while on the hand Chumo had the spell [Shadow Step], which could pull them back like what he had done for Thrax twice.
As the duo neared the end of the tunnel, the red light revealed itself to be some grass of sort that was stuck in between two huge chunks of titanium. They peered on the edges to check if there was anything and indeed they saw hundreds of dumas. The two noticed the gooey bodies of the dumas to be contracting and relaxing in a rhythmic manner, they seemed to be asleep since other than that action, they weren't doing anything.
Emery's eyes beamed while staring at the unique plant. He said inside of him, 'Please be a rare plant, please be a rare plant.'
Then, Emery had an idea. Since the dumas were sleeping soundly, walking in the middle would still be stupid. However, he had Chumo with him. He looked at Chumo with a cheeky smile and said, "I'm glad that you're here with me, Chumo. Do you want to test if your hide in shadow spell would work against these sleeping dumas?"
"What?" Chumo said in a surprised voice. Emery hastily made a gesture at Chumo to lower his voice. In a quieter voice, Chumo asked, "Are you sure about this, Emery?"
Emery nodded. He said, "The dumas seemed to be asleep right now. I really need you to grab just a few of that plant there. If they took notice of us, I'm sure we can outrun them. They're quite slow. Lastly, we can have Julian close this tunnel with his mudwall.
After that convincing explanation from Emery, Chumo reluctantly covered himself with his [Hide in Shadow] spell. He became darkened and appeared to be covered by some sort of smoke that blended with the shadow of their surroundings.
Emery saw the moving shadow figure cautiously make its way toward the closest plant and grab a bunch of it. The noise somehow woke up the closest creature which made the shadow figure quickly return to the tunnel.
After making sure none of the Dumas followed Chumo, Emery didn't waste time in using his apothecary spells.
[Analyze]
[Caracas Flower - Tier 3]
Emery became even more excited seeing the tier three label on this flower. He then used his other spell from the Plant Institution.
[Need universal fauna and flora rank 2]
Emery cursed in silence reading this information. Why couldn't things just be more simple for him, he thought. He signaled to Chumo that since he had gotten what they had come for and there wasn't much they could do unless they were ready to fight dozens of Dumas in a close space. They went back to where the rest were.
Once they were back, Emery had mentioned that he and Chumo had found a lair of dumas and that there were hundreds of them. The group became worried, so they checked for more tunnels around their area, and once they believed they'd found all, they asked Julian to also use his [Mudwall] spell on the tunnel entrances.
Even if the dumas were still asleep it would be dangerous if they let them open. The inside of the hill and these tunnels must be the things the dumas were using to navigate the hills. Nevertheless, once they had made sure everything was all good. The group once again focused on mining.
Klea was starting to complain why a woman like her had to do such heavy labor, so they allowed her to be the person to handle the counting of the titanium. All the boys knew she was just being lazy to do the chores, but, for their peace of mind, they allowed her to do what she wanted. Apparently, Emery's prediction that Klea would be the queen among them turned out to become true faster than he had expected.
Because of the lucky site, it took them only 18 hours to finish twice what they did yesterday. To get out, they placed the rocks of which they had mined as well as the rest of the ones that fell with Thrax and Chumo on top of one another, making a mountain. Fortunately they were able to get out and the dumas seemed to have finished eating the hundreds of skyglazers, since there were no longer any carcasses, just some bones left here and there.
The group quickly returned to the portal. It was time to plan the next step to prepare for the game.