Moving through the forest was now second-nature to me. A bunch of grass here, some soil, bushes, and trees; all of them within my peripheral vision. Nothing could impede my movement within this forest now. I even had full confidence that if it was night, the dark could not restrict me.

Inside a cave though, now that’s a different can of beans. True, I own a dungeon, but was my dungeon ever cave-themed? No, it wasn’t. It was a forest theme, though a forest in a cave, but still a forest.

“Jionni, you stay here and listen carefully for this,” Lennon gave me a pallet-sized ball. I stare at the pellet in confusion until Kayla decides to give me the rundown about said pellet.

“This pellet is something like a communication device,” Kayla grabs a pellet from her pouch and lays it in her palm for me to see. “When a parent pellet is broken,” Kayla points at the pellet in her palm, “the child pellets will emit a high-pitched sound, then shatter. You hold one child pellet, as well as the others.”

“And when it does go off,” Lennon takes the parent pellet from Kayla’s hand. “I want you to seal this cave entrance, then go for the other entrance nearby.”

“We have got to thank Merethyl for that,” Kayla nods her head with a smile. “That scan of hers is really useful.”

“Indeed, it is,” Lennon grins in response, pocketing the parent pellet as he does so. “Now then, you know the plan, then let’s go.”

Lennon and Kayla walk away silently, away from this cave entrance with bloodstains scattered all around. There was a group of 4 Kobolds here earlier. Now their bodies are nice and cozy inside my inventory.

Too bad I didn’t get to kill any of them. What a waste of EXP…

I shake my head, ‘Job first, EXP later. Worry about getting stronger when you’re sure no one will interrupt you,’ I stand guard in the cave’s mouth, alert for any Kobold that tries to pass through.

The plan was relatively simple. We block entrances to the Kobold Nest, then we either storm them or smoke them out. We went for the latter option, as natural. It’s safer, and we don’t have to get our hands dirty!

‘Damn it… More waste of EXP…’

As for how we got a rough map on the Nest of the Kobold, that would be thanks to Merethyl. As it turns out, her scan isn’t only good for scouting potential threats, it can also give out a rough layout of an area, though as a consequence, Merethyl almost ran out of Mana.

Thankfully, we have a plentiful stock of Mana Potions in my inventory, courtesy of the Hunter team, of course. Why they allow me to carry their stuff is beyond me. I could just run away with it, but I guess that would set me up in a bad way…

Yeah, not keen on having a raid against my dungeon this early. I hate being bossed around, but hey, I’m trying to survive here with little to no information about the outside world, and staying cooped up in the dungeon while slowly raising my forces isn’t good enough.

I break out of my thoughts once I hear the loud wail coming from the pellet in my hand.

‘Holy… That’s loud!’ I grit my teeth. They didn’t say it would be this loud! That, and it sounds like nails scratching on a blackboard!

I endure the auditory torture and gather my Mana to seal the cave entrance with [Earth Manipulation]. A few seconds later, the noise stopped, and I sealed the entrance. I have to admit, my proficiency with [Earth Manipulation] is coming along well – even though the level isn’t rising – and the results are shown with the new [Earth Wall].

MP: 1520 / 1620

So, 100 Mana for a 3-meter-thick, and a 4-meter-tall wall. A major improvement in my control. I grab the pellet that was on the ground and toss it inside my inventory. Once done, I huff it to the other nearby entrance where we would all meet up.

It took little running to reach the cave entrance. I wasn’t even the first one there, as Kayla and Lennon were about to light something with a match. Upon closer inspection, it was gasoline that leads into the cave.

Surrounding the two humans were more Kobold corpses, their blood coating the grass red. All of them had various stab wounds around their body, but one, in particular, had a bullet hole through the head.

‘Huh, I guess that loud noise from the damn pellet masked the gunshot,’ I approach the two, who in turn shift their gaze towards my figure. The both of them then went back to their duty of lighting the gasoline on fire.

“Oi! Stop!” I rush at the two of them. They look at me in shock for a moment before they got ready to engage. Kayla points a gun at me while Lennon draws his sword and got into a stance.

I stop in my tracks, very confused at the sudden situation. I shake my head and ignore their hostile gazes.

“Let me light the gasoline,” I point towards the gasoline. Both of them didn’t break eye contact with me. Judging from how they reposition themselves, it was probably an attempt to look at what I was pointing at while still not breaking their line of sight.

I sigh and huff, conjuring a ball of flame from my palms. Kayla and Lennon realize my intentions, but they didn’t let their guard down.

“Then, go ahead,” Lennon said with a tense face. I didn’t go ahead with the fireball, though. There was one reason.

Gasoline explodes when ignited. Even if there is a 0.1 percent chance of it happening, I’m not risking it. They die, the deal is off, I get my head on the bounty board, and my life might be cut short because of a powerful adversary.

Not letting that happen.

“Move away from the gasoline first,” I use my other hand to wave at them, and they got the message. Once they were meters apart from the gasoline, I let the fireball go and into the black liquid.

It caught fire, then it spreads inwards into the cave, black smoke rising to the air. I conjure an Earth Wall around the source of flame so it won’t spread to the nearby trees and grass.

I don’t want to start a forest fire here.

While the fire was doing its work, the rest of the Hunters arrived, and judging from their faces, the entrances were blocked successfully.

Now, we wait for the magic to happen.

[][][][][][][][][][][][][][]

Turns out, the cave system wasn’t that huge. It didn’t even take a few minutes before Kobolds began rushing out of the damned cave.

They paid no heed to the fire, braving the flames instead of suffocating to death inside their home-turned-deathtrap. The flame was still going strong, and they consumed some Kobolds who dared brave the flames.

200 EXP gained!

‘… Oh?’ perhaps throwing that fireball was actually a good decision. Scratch that, it was a great decision! Now, all I have to do is wait while the Kobolds kill themselves.

[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]

1350 EXP gained!

More Kobolds dead to the flame. It’s a bummer that those that suffocated weren’t counted as my kills. All of us were still ready for a fight, though. You can never let your guard down, even when the enemy looks like they’re about to croak.

It was a few more minutes later that I noticed something wrong. I look behind me and saw something that would literally destroy all my plans for having some human relations.

“I’ll have yer head! Ye black-furred abomination!” Grurnuir raised his ax above his head and swung down towards me.