The Dark Continent (Underdog Book #3): LitRPG Series

by Alexey Osadchuk

  The corridors were replaced by tunnels, narrow passages – caves. And all the while we were going down. We didn’t see anything alive the whole time. Dust and oblivion were everywhere. Just once, as we crossed a fairly broad cave, we ran into an old skeleton. It was so ancient that its bones had turned black. Its clothing had already long turned to dust. To my great disappointment, we found nothing lying among the bones. No rings, no amulets – nothing. Even though I scoured every inch of the cave. Someone must have gotten to this body before me.

  When I started thinking the underground passage was never going to end, the arrow brought us into a spacious cave and disappeared without a trace.

  Here, unlike the cliff entrance, the door outlines were immediately apparent. I looked around for a keyhole, then groped for the indentation and marker with my fingers. After accepting its blood “tribute,” the door started giving off a dim blue glow.

  “Let’s go!” I said.

  And as soon as I crossed the threshold, my nose was struck by the scent of shit, sweat, rot and blood. I looked around in a daze. We were standing at the far wall of a huge colonnaded hall. As far as the eye could see, its entire fairly large interior was filled with halfling prisoners.

  In the very middle of the hall there towered a massive pillar made of an unknown material. Surprisingly, I guessed correctly that this pillar was none other than an otherworldly portal. But that was not all. My hunter senses were telling me this portal had transformed into a constantly open Gateway a long time ago. However, I couldn’t detect the telltale bitter flavor in my mouth, nor was there a horde of bloodthirsty monsters streaming out.

  What the Bug is going on here?!!

  Chapter 29

  WE WERE IN THE SHADOWS, so no one reacted when we entered. Neither the halflings, nor their drak guards. Instantly throwing a Canopy over myself, I tried to calm down and make as sober an evaluation of the situation as I could.

  First of all, I turned and felt for the magic door’s lock. Great! Now we can slip back into the tunnels at any moment. While I handled the door, Gorgie gave me a breakdown of the draks. The whole crowd of beaten-down halflings was guarded by ten lizards. The beasts were standing at the main entrance, which was the farthest section from us.

  I looked around. The hall was rectangular. Forty yards long, twenty wide. I raised my head. I couldn’t see the ceiling in the darkness.

  Lengthwise the hall was divided into eight sections by the columns. Every column was crowned with a six-foot snake-headed statue. I’d seemingly started to guess what the local monster hunters were. I wouldn’t be surprised to discover that all these half-savage lizards were none other than the descendants of the vanished hunters.

  The ancient statues stared down at the proceedings below with a somber almost reproachful look. On the floor skeletons, skulls, dried vomit and shit, dark brownish-red bloodstains. If not for the tiny bits of patterned marble slab peeking out from beneath the layer of filth, I’d have thought I’d just found the lair of some fell beast. The incredible stench made tears well up in my eyes.

  Amongst all the filth, there were half-living halflings sitting and lying on the floor. I looked at the unfortunate souls and understood – their spirits had been broken, crushed. I clenched my teeth in anger and clenched my fists until it hurt. I could already tell what I was about to do.

  The halfling nearest me was seven paces away. He was sitting with his back against a column, his hands on his bent knees. He stood out to me right away. Seemingly, not all the halflings had been broken just yet. This one is just boring into the lizards with his eyes. And the short sharp-tipped bone that just so happened to be right beneath his hand said a lot. Overall, my choice was obvious.

  I ordered Gorgie to stay put and, walking slowly and placing my feet carefully with every step, came closer to the column. Walking up behind the wee fellow, I whispered in halfling tongue:

  “Stay quiet and don’t turn around.”

  The halfling twitched in surprise. His right hand reached for the bone. But I must give him his due. He quickly got himself in hand.

  “Who are you?” he rasped.

  “A temporary ally,” I said, and then decided to bend the truth a bit to make it more plausible: “I am an explorer. I was hired by Edal and Lem. Know ‘em?”

  The halfling shuddered in excitement and gave an overly violent nod.

  “Don’t move,” I whispered.

  “Sorry,” the halfling whispered guiltily.

  “Your name?”

  “Elun,” the halfling answered and added: “Edal is my older brother.”

  I chuckled.

  “Now that you say it, you do have similar faces. Just you have chestnut hair.”

  The halfling breathed a sigh of relief, and his mouth stretched out into a smile. Looks like he bought it.

  “How is he?”

  “Okay,” I answered, looking around. “He just took a slight beating. But he’ll live.”

  “How did he survive? Did the other clans come to our aid? Is their warband already outside?”

  Questions were gushing out of the halfling like a burst water main.

  “Shut it!” I hissed. “There is no warband outside. All your messengers were intercepted during the assault. The draks and their guide who stayed behind to guard your wives and children were killed by me.”

  Elun’s brows crept upward.

  “By yourself?”

  “Not exactly,” I answered and said: “Turn your head slowly to the right. Just don’t even think of making a peep.”

  The halfling did as he was told, tilted his head at first, then turned it to the right. Two green animal eyes stared back at him from the darkness.

  Elun froze for an instant, but very quickly got his fear under control. He turned his head back just as slowly and quietly asked:

  “How did you get in here? The corridors are infested with draks.”

  “You’ll see for yourself soon enough,” I assured him and asked: “Why are you all being held here? What is going on here?”

  The halfling frowned, clenched his fists and hissed with malice in his voice:

  “Every few hours, the poisonteeth come and sacrifice a few of us at the foot of the towering pillar in the middle of the hall.”

  I’d seen something like this before.

  “What are they getting out of this?” I asked.

  The halfling shrugged his shoulders.

  “Nobody knows.”

  “Why are the lizards only guarding the front door?” I kept asking.

  “What other door should they be guarding?”

  The halfling’s answer came as a complete surprise.

  “That one there, opposite you,” I said. “Can’t you see?”

  I could make out the outline of a fairly wide door on the opposite wall between two columns. The fact that the halfling couldn’t see it took me by complete surprise.

  Hm... Now this is getting interesting. I’ll have check quick before I leave. My hands started physically itching. Was I really gonna get to dig through the bins of the local hunters?

  And while I checked, I’d have to explain to my new friend what he should do.

  “I see you aren’t planning to just give up so easy,” I said, hinting at the sharpened bone under his hand. “Are there any more halflings like you?”

  He turned his head and looked over all his kin as if with new eyes.

  “There are,” he finally answered confidently.

  “Excellent!” I smiled. “Seven steps away, right behind you is the entrance to a secret tunnel that leads to freedom. The passage is safe. But only I can open it. Your mission is to tell your more unwavering buddies about that without drawing attention. We need to try and get as many of your kin out of here as possible. They should be ready to get underway at any moment. Can you handle that?”

  The halfling nodded confidently. Without saying another word, he unstuck from the wall and slowly crawled toward a large halfling lying a few paces away from
the next column.

  I then, not wasting time, walked along the wall toward the uncanny door. Gorgie started after me, but I ordered him to stay put. I couldn’t bring myself to recall him though. His senses would be useful.

  A few minutes later, I was standing next to the “invisible” door. When I noticed the hunter symbol keyhole, I realized why nobody other than me could see this door.

  After sharing a droplet of blood with the marker, I hurriedly stepped into the bluish gray haze. Before that, I looked around attentively. Neither the draks nor the noticeably invigorated halflings had noticed a thing.

  After I crossed the threshold, I stopped to get accustomed to the dim greenish glow of the walls. The omnipresent gnomish moss seemingly ignored all barriers, including magical ones.

  When my eyes got used to the light, and I saw where I was, my lips stretched out into a satisfied smile.

  A hunters’ armory!

  In comparison with the Stonetown and Fort Stout armories, the dimensions of this room came as a pleasant surprise. But its contents were a letdown. I took a grim stroll along the barren dusty shelves and muttered curses at whoever had plundered this place before I got to it. Everything on the shelves was turned inside out or upside down.

  Those elongated chests are supposed to contain potions of satiety. And over there are smashed trays that should hold Blots. I walked over some haphazardly strewn boxes with rounded edges. I found Ticks in similar boxes in Fort Stout.

  What dirtbags! They didn’t leave anything behind!

  Running my gaze over the thoroughly looted arsenal, I sighed in disappointment. Based on the state of disarray, my “associates” were in a hurry and not planning to return.

  Turning away from the empty shelves, I started examining the walls. I activated Sixth Sense and my efforts were immediately crowned with success. My fingers hit upon a hard, protruding pattern. Behind it, there was something clearly magical deep inside the wall.

  It was a small steel door. Already tasting all the interesting stuff I was about to discover, I pulled on the small patterned ring.

  The neat indentation exhaled dust. Hurriedly sticking my hand into the opening, I felt a hard, elongated object. Well, at least it’s not empty!

  A rectangular case made of an unknown coal-black material. Secretly hoping I’d just stumbled upon more stones confining highly dangerous spells, I opened the lid.

  Damn! Inside it lie two thin scrolls, giving off a familiar pale blue magical glow. Just maps. Probably of the surroundings and interior of the cave. What earthly use could I possibly have for maps of a place that’s already been looted?

  Giving a muffled curse, I walked along the wall a bit longer, feeling around on the stone surface but, alas, my luck had run out.

  A-hem... Not a great haul, to put it lightly.

  With a heavy sigh, I decided to activate what I had found. Just as I activated the first map, I suddenly realized that the system had not asked me to pay for either scroll. That must have been one of the advantages of my increased reputation with the order.

  — Attention! Would you like to use item: Map of Ess-Shar?

  Sure, if that’s what it’s called.

  — Tab created: Map of Ess-Shar.

  Seemingly, my guesses were not unfounded – this place was once a city of the monster hunters, and most of the beasts they encountered here were snakelike. But now it had turned into a mere den of half-savage bloodthirsty reptiles.

  Knowing approximately what I was about to see, I opened the new tab. A diagram appeared before my eyes. Exactly right. This place used to be a city of the hunters. Now it’s just a normal cave crammed full of inactive traps. Honestly, the main supply was still flickering with a bit of life. Around one and a half percent of its total mana. That wouldn’t even be enough to activate a golem. Yes, yes. The snakelike statues that crown every column in the hall were combat golems.

  But this energy is only enough to play around with a few doors, for example. The pillar in the middle of the hall, by the way, was not depicted at all. Must have been a later addition. A very strange structure, I found it eerily frightening. Although I sense no Darkness in it, my soul is bursting with an insurmountable burning desire to get as far from this place as possible.

  Driving off the sullen thoughts, I activated the second scroll.

  — Attention! You cannot use item: Complete Map of the Amber Continent!

  ― Reason:

  ― Requirement to use Complete Map of the Amber Continent: Rank of Senior Prior.

  At first I didn’t realize what I’d just read. But when it hit me, I spent a bit of time just staring at a fixed point unblinking.

  Amber Continent... Amber Continent... That’s it! The foxman had called his homeland the Emerald Forest, which in its turn was located in the Amberlands. And in its turn, on my continent, those lands were known as the Dark Continent.

  Oh gods! This is a real treasure!

  Honestly, I couldn’t use it yet, but reputation would come with time!

  Hold on! I need to calm down, get myself together and remember where I am!

  Breathe in, breathe out... Let’s go! Time to get out of this cesspit!

  When I got to the exit, while standing in the doorway, I accidentally kicked a dust-coated rag. That rag just so happened to be sticking out of a wide dark niche in the wall. I noticed the niche only because the glowing moss hadn’t yet worked its way inside. My Sixth Sense didn’t show anything either.

  I glanced into the dimly lit indentation and waited for my eyes to get used to the darkness. When I saw what was inside, I flinched sharply. In the darkness, I saw the dark eye sockets of a dead face staring right back at me.

  I think every single hair on my body stood on end. I was a hair away from shitting my trousers. Gorgie started to get worried on the other side of the wall, having sensed my fear. I mentally reassured my friend and glanced back into the niche.

  Based on its remaining clothes and height – this was the mummified body of a halfling. I pulled the skeleton out and started looking it over closely. Clearly not an associate of the old masters of this city. A newer arrival. The dry skin on his head and arms had yet to decay.

  And here’s the cause of death. The shaft of a thick arrow was sticking out of the dead halfling’s body. I have never seen an arrow with such a thick shaft before. Or maybe it’s a very long crossbow bolt?

  I’ll have to check. I pulled out the stick and took a closer look. Intricate carving. Unusual material. Either wood or steel. I can’t tell. The system identified it simply as a “broken arrow.” No level or other figures were indicated. For the record, it didn’t have a tip either. It must be stuck in the body still. But I wasn’t going to go digging around in a mummy’s guts.

  Turning the creepy arrow over in my hands, I thought.

  So then, this dead halfling had access to the armory? Maybe he’s the one who cleaned it out? But then where’s all the stuff he stole? I found nothing on his body. Searching visually, I saw something dark inside the niche.

  Ah, there it is! Looks like a bag!

  — Ephemeral Backpack of the Wanderer.

  — Type: Magical objects.

  — Rarity: Epic.

  — Effect:

  — +30 ephemeral inventory slots.

  — Items may be stored 5 times as long.

  — Carried items weigh 5 times less.

  — Note:

  ― After equipped, becomes part of wearer until death

  I gulped loudly. Now here’s a discovery! My hands shivering, I raised the backpack to the light and opened it.

  — Attention! Would you like to use item: Ephemeral Backpack of the Wanderer?

  After I gave my agreement, the backpack dissolved into thin air, and a new message appeared before my eyes.

  — Tab created: Ephemeral Backpack of the Wanderer.

  I opened the new tab and saw a few filled slots. Three of them contained money of various denominations and values for a total of two hund
red thirty gold. There was also a slot with sixty esses. No tablets though. And no wonder. Most try to use those things right away. Three slots left to check.

  It was three messenger amulets. Two of them were written in some garbled tongue. I couldn’t even read the description. Just pure nonsense.

  But when I picked up the third, I shuddered. I lost my breath. My heart started beating twice as fast.

  Messenger Amulet.

  — Type: Single-use artifact.