Chapter 64 - Second Expedition

The expedition was larger and much better prepared than the last one Max had been a part of. Sixty dwarves, most of them warriors, but with a few support crew members sprinkled in. They were nervous as they descended. Max couldn’t blame them. The enemy had killed over a hundred of them last time, and those had been more experienced, higher level warriors than they were.

But Max wasn’t there the last time. And Max had never been stronger. High-King Durum had of course told the dwarves all that with animated excitement. Some of it had grafted off, but it didn’t stop the expedition from rumbling to each other fearfully.

They delved deep within the first floor, Max walking at the vanguard. He had no fear of the twisted little things lurking about. They met a few strays, which Max shot with a few well aimed bullets. The +10 he had gotten in Strength and Precision had really improved his natural ability to handle the unwieldy gun.

Mostly the floor had been cleaned up of threats and treasures. As far as Durum told him, it had been mostly gold and gems, so nothing Max would be interested in. But Max suspected it was a strong possibility that was what Durum knew Max wanted to hear.

The corridors were well lit and cleaned of corpses and rubble. The place looked almost habitable if it weren’t for the creepy eeriness that still hung heavy over the ruins.

While the dwarves had been antsy during the time they traveled through the first floor, when a massive, wide corridor carved into stony steps leading into an impenetrable darkness came before them, they all halted to a stop.

Max looked down, trying to listen. Just darkness. The steps weren’t steep, but it seemed like they would extend quite far below them. Max exchanged a few words with the aide, and they agreed to stop for a short rest here to gather their strength and nerves.

As they descended, they saw dead dwarves prone on the stairs, clothes crusty with dried blood. It prompted quiet muttering in the expedition, which one of the High-King’s aides, Torgukkuminomorrok, quieted. He was nervous too, Max could see, but it seemed like the dwarf possessed some poise.

As Max suspected it took them a while to descend. The scope of those stairs was massive. Their march echoed through the dark corridor, as they passed more dead bodies of the previous expedition, all lying on their stomachs. They had been running.

After ten or fifteen minutes they saw the stairs end. The corridor split into three different directions. Max motioned for them to stop to discuss their next plan of action with Torguk.

“Which direction should we go?” Max asked

“There is no answer,” Torguk said. Max thought him a curt and proud man, but he was competent and communicative.

“We need to establish a base. A room that is defensible and close enough to these stairs.”

“Agreed,” Torguk said. “From now on, you watch the back.”

Max shook his head. “I’m the strongest here.”

“All the more reason to keep rear safe. You are ranged fighter. No reason to be at helm.”

Max couldn’t argue with that. He started moving backwards and passed dwarves who nodded or bowed at him. They were all stiff and wide-eyed. Max was nervous too. Through their link Maverick assured him, but it was clear his heart wasn’t in it.

It’s make it or break it. We will just have to see how this goes.

Their helm moved twenty yards forward to the corridor straight ahead. They stopped when they heard a tight snap.

Some whiff of intuition warned Max. Maybe it was some movie he had seen. “Look out!”

It was no use. Only Torguk could understand him. There was a rumbling sound before a crash. Max watched the torches of the two dwarves at the front wink out as a pile of rocks fell upon them.

They were dead, it was clear. Two men lost already. And that was just an appetizer. One trap meant there were others too.

Worse yet, they know we are here now.

It didn’t matter if the enemy had heard them just now. The one who had laid these traps had just gotten experience.

Max told Torguk this and he grunted.

“I’m more worried about more traps.”

Max nodded. “It will be mostly tripwire and maybe door traps. Doors will be hard, but tripwire can be dealt with as something as simple as a long stick.”

“We have carts,” Torguk said. “We can get a stick there.”

The carts were made of polished wooden beams, the width of a man’s wrist. They were good work. Max made a mental note of trying to get Durum to teach his people some basic crafting skills. But now was not the time for that.

Torguk barked a few orders and his men took off the side railings of the carts. Three men were placed at the front to poke around with their sticks in the dark like blind men.

It was crude but effective. They sprung a surprisingly large number of traps. Classic tripwire all of them, like the first one. Someone had made them in such an amount that it was clear it helped him level. Despite their slow pace, care and stick-tactics, six more dwarves fell to the traps before the end of the day. Three only got injured, but they were such injuries that a person was sent to escort the three back home.

Max wondered why the dwarves died so easily to the traps. Not that heavy falling rocks or a metal spike spearing you wouldn’t kill a normal person. But these were warriors that could access the Framework. Max could only guess that the other person had skills or talents that made his traps more fatal.

That was not what concerned Max the most. The traps were bad news. At least one of the enemies was a trapper, and the closer they would get to the enemy, the more traps they would surely face. Bad news, but manageable.

What was truly concerning was the lack of enemies. Oh they heard things skulking around in the darkness. Something was clearly watching them. It was most likely the twisted ancestors of the dwarves. But why weren’t they attacking? Were there only so few left?

If that was the case, the enemy had killed scores of them. Max didn’t like the idea of that. Depending on how many people had shared that experience, they could have leveled a lot. Max could only hope his advanced Cultivation was enough to make a difference.