CHAPTER 51: WHA THE HELL...

Lanz arrived at the foot of the mountain, staring up at its slope with the casual curiosity of someone who didn’t exactly have a plan but was still ready to pretend he did.

His first thought was to start walking to the top just to check what’s up — yes, pun completely intended and absolutely not regretted.

However, before he could take even a single step forward, the sound of approaching footsteps caught his attention.

Except, no, they weren’t really footsteps in the normal sense. They had a heavier, almost chitinous beat to them, which quickly made sense when he spotted the source.

A group of massive beetles — each one about the size of a car — was making its way across the path, their glossy shells glinting in the light.

To make things even better, because of course the day couldn’t just stay normal, kobolds were riding on top of them.

’I knew I shouldn’t have said something would end up riding these b*tches earlier,’ Lanz thought, his face twisting into a grimace. ’Now I’ve actually gone and f*cking jinxed myself.’

There were eight kobolds in total, each sitting upright on their own rhino beetle.

Without really thinking about it — and maybe with a little too much confidence in his own stealth — Lanz decided to follow them, keeping a careful distance as he trailed behind like the shameless stalker that he is.

From the looks of it, the kobolds were planning to head up the mountain.

That theory lasted all of ten seconds before they abruptly veered off to the left and continued along a completely different path.

This detour eventually led them toward what was very clearly an unnatural opening in the landscape, a pathway that looked carved and deliberate rather than shaped by time or weather.

They didn’t slow down.

The kobolds and their mounts kept moving until the group reached the far side of the mountain.

Lanz stuck to the shadows, keeping himself hidden until they came to a stop.

That was when his eyes widened and his mind stopped for a moment, because what he saw wasn’t just unexpected, it was outright absurd.

There, tucked into the mountainside and leading downward into a wide bright opening, was an entire village hidden inside the mountain itself, with the path sloping down into what was unmistakably the entrance to a deep cave.

Lanz carefully scaled a nearby tree, moving slow enough to keep his movements quiet but quick enough that the thought of being spotted kept digging at his nerves.

Once he reached a decent height, he tried to get a better view of the hidden village below, but the faint rustling of the leaves around him broke the silence.

The sound was enough to draw the attention of a nearby kobold, its head snapping in his direction with a sharp, alert movement.

Lanz froze instantly, pressing himself close against the trunk as if he could somehow merge with it, every muscle in his body tense.

He forcibly held his breath, willingly let his heartbeat to settle, though it felt like it was slamming against his ribs.

The kobold’s steps grew closer, each one deliberate, closing the gap to a point where Lanz was sure it only needed to look up and it would see him.

Then, from somewhere in the front, another kobold let out a low, guttural sound — it was a growl, and half whatever strange noise their kind made.

The one beneath him hesitated, turned toward the source, and after a brief pause, walked away to follow the call.

Lanz stayed still for several more seconds, not trusting the moment right away.

When he was sure the danger had passed, he slowly exhaled, the relief hitting him in a sharp, shaky wave.

Without wasting time, he climbed even higher, wanting a full view of whatever this place actually was.

From the higher vantage point, the scale of it became clearer.

"What the f*ck is that place," Lanz muttered under his breath, his voice low but filled with disbelief.

It actually looked... kind of cool, in a way that Lanz immediately hated admitting to himself.

The place almost gave off the vibe of a functioning little oasis, with a clear pond glimmering near a small farm set up on the left side of the village.

On the right, there were enclosures that, at first glance, seemed like they were meant for storage or fencing in random creatures — but no, after looking more closely, Lanz realized these were holding what could only be described as their "rides."

"Wait, are those their rides?! They’ve domesticated boars and wolves?!" he muttered in disbelief, his eyes darting between the animals and the goblins and kobolds that were tending to them.

The fact that these monsters were not just randomly existing but actually raising and maintaining mounts was an unsettling reminder that he wasn’t looking at some chaotic monster mess — he was looking at a community that knew exactly what it was f*cking doing.

At the center of everything — between the pond, the farm, and the enclosures — sat the main cluster of the village.

Crude houses made from whatever materials the monsters had scavenged were scattered across the area, mixed in with rough campsites and plenty of torches planted in the ground to light the paths.

Well, they weren’t exactly lit up, given that the sun can make its way to the village and light everything up.

None of the structures was particularly pretty or well-constructed, but then again, they were beasts. Expecting them to have modern architecture was about as realistic as expecting them to hand out welcome baskets.

Further beyond the houses and camps stood a much larger building.

It was made of sturdier material, reinforced with wooden beams and stone, and it loomed over the rest of the settlement in a way that instantly drew Lanz’s attention.

He didn’t need anything to tell him what it was.

"Yeah... that’s probably where the dungeon boss lives," he thought, his eyes narrowing as he studied it.

He tilted his head back to check the ceiling, half-expecting some sort of hidden danger or strange architectural trick.

Instead, all he got was the usual jagged view of a cave roof, lined with stalactites — or stalagmites, or whatever the hell those pointy rock things hanging from ceilings were called.

The sight wasn’t exactly useful, so his attention drifted back down to the village, scanning for anything else that stood out.

Lanz quietly counted the houses and camps scattered across the cavern floor, his eyes darting from one crude structure to another.

By the time he was done, he had tallied eighty-nine in total.

That number alone was bad news, because it meant there were likely hundreds of goblins, kobolds, and hobgoblins living in this cave.

And judging by the activity he’d already seen, they weren’t just squatting here — they were actually running the place.

While scanning the area again, his attention caught the familiar group of eight kobolds he’d been trailing earlier.

They were heading towards a smaller tunnel opening on the right side of the cavern.

"Yeah, that’s probably where they’re keeping those beetle motherf*ckers," he muttered to himself, filing the information away in the mental folder labeled "Stuff That Will Probably Try to Kill Me Later."

He was just about to keep observing and take a few more mental notes when something whistled sharply through the air in his direction.

Instinct kicked in before his brain — if there is one anyways — could even catch up, and he shifted to the side just as an arrow cut past where his head had been a second ago.

His gaze immediately flicked to the source, and sure enough, it was the scouts.

End of Chapter 51.

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ALT SYSTEM — USER PROFILE: ZERO

Level: 14

EXP: 74 / 140

Next Reward: Special Loot Box

Global System Tracking: DISABLED

World Rank Association: UNLINKED

Stats:

STR: 20 | AGI: 10 (Affinity) | VIT: 5 | DEX: 5 | INT: 14 | WIS: 5

[Available Stat Points: 0]

[Derived Stat — MANA: 70 / 70]

Skills:

[Crimson Slash Lv. 1]

[Phantom Stride Lv. 2]

[Instinctive Blade Lv.1]

[Predictive Guard Lv.1]

[Skill Fusion Menu: Active]

[Dev Tree: Tier 0 Access Granted]

[Developer Node – Fusion Core Anchor: Active]

[Skill Slot Available — Unassigned]

Equipment:

Aged Blade Fragment (??? Rarity) (Bound)

Training Ring (+1 VIT)

Bag :)