Cherreads

Chapter 470 - Follow-up quest

Eventually Black Rat agreed to the offer. Liam was not surprised. He threw the crown into the air and Silent Acacia shot it with an arrow. The crown was surprisingly brittle, shattering from a single attack. The temperature in the tunnel dropped for a moment as dark fumes escaped in all directions. Only the red gem survived. Liam caught it skillfully before handing it to Black Rat.

The thief sighed inwardly. Feeling somewhat humiliated after his failure he didn't stay any longer. He said goodbye, went into stealth, and ran away. But after only a few steps he let out an annoyed snort as Bleary Mirage's friend request appeared before him. Black Rat was not one to go back on his word. He accepted before finally getting away from Hotpot.

Liam and his friends didn't linger much longer. They went back to Zeuerch. As they got closer to the cave, they could already hear joyous laughter. Uplifting violin music was playing. The friends approached slowly and peeked into the cave. They had to hold back their laugher as they saw the Arachne dancing through his cave, his four eyes radiating immense joy.

A few seconds later the friends had enough and entered the cave. Zeuerch quickly noticed them. He wasn't embarrassed, shouting in exhilaration:

"Adventurers! You did it! You… you saved me! The curse has been lifted! Great! Great! Look, I can even admire myself in the mirror again!"

The Arachne skittered over on his eight legs, stopping in front of the mirror which had been uncovered and looking at himself from all sides.

"Does he think he's a peacock? What's there to look at?", murmured Cyclone to herself. Liam could see Zeuerch's mouth twitch. It seemed the Arachne heard what Cyclone said, but luckily he was too happy to care.

Liam waited a few more seconds until it looked like Zeuerch calmed down a bit before coughing.

"Sir. Aren't you forgetting something?"

"What? Oh, right. You adventurers deserve a reward. Let me see what I got here… here, that's it!"

Zeuerch threw a small bag at Liam and the quest was officially completed. The party was rewarded with EXP, gold, gems to be used in the upgrade of equipment, and herbs necessary in the production of upgraded food and potions. All in all, the rewards were quite generous as the party finished the quest perfectly.

However, they didn't receive the reward Liam originally brought everyone here for. Thus, he tried to goad the Arachne:

"Now that you are able to go out again, don't you want to see the world and talk to many people? How about you join our guild? We will surely make a great team!"

"A guild? Hmm. This is not impossible, but I still have something to do here…"

Liam was somewhat disappointed to hear this. It seemed his championship ring was not strong enough to instantly convince Zeuerch. They had to finish another quest.

"Why don't you tell us? We will help you."

"Haha, that was my plan anyways."

Zeuerch laughed, clearly looking as if everything was going according to plan. The friends could only roll their eyes and wait for him to explain the next quest.

"Adventurers, I have already told you that I saw something I shouldn't have when I accidentally ended up in the territory of those damned dark elves. But I haven't told you what it was exactly.

The dark elves are creating a monster! It looks like it's stitched together from multiple bodies. Utterly disgusting. And certainly extremely dangerous. My tribe also lives in these tunnels. I can't let the dark elves succeed and possibly endanger my family! We need to stop them! Thus, I ask you if you are willing to help me?"

"Of course! You can count on us!"

"Great! So, here is what we will do. I accidentally dug a tunnel towards the room where they are creating this monster. We can take it to sneak in. The man you stole the crown from is the dark elves' Indey'min, which is basically a tribe chief and a spiritual leader. He is in charge of this dark abomination. We will ambush him and take him out quickly. Afterwards it shouldn't be difficult to destroy the monster."

"Go in. Win fight. Got it!"

Cyclone concisely summarized the plan. Zeuerch felt that it sounded too easy in her mouth, but he couldn't really refute her. Thus, he sounded somewhat annoyed as he asked the adventurers if they were ready to go.

Liam and his friends had nothing left to prepare. They agreed and stepped to the side, allowing Zeuerch to take the lead. The Arachne quickly disappeared into the tunnels.

"Hey, why is he this impatient?!"

Balm complained as the Arachne made it difficult for the players to catch up. Balm almost reached her limit as she and her friends sprinted through the tunnel. Soon they found Zeuerch, who had realized that those two-legged creatures couldn't keep up and had kindly slowed down.

For a while Liam and his friends followed behind Zeuerch. The latter didn't take the same way the players took earlier. Instead, he followed some narrow paths. Well, narrow in relation to the Arachne's body. For the players it was just a regular tunnel. They had to suppress their laughter watching Zeuerch almost getting stuck at a particularly narrow passage. But when Zeuerch got annoyed and pierced the wall with his leg, breaking off a massive rock, the friends suddenly forgot how to laugh. From that moment on the atmosphere was somewhat tense but fortunately they soon reached their target.

The surroundings were becoming darker and darker. Zeuerch handed the players some luminescent crystals but even their light seemed to be suppressed by something. Soon, streaks of dark magic appeared, permeating the surrounding rocks. The group turned another corner and discovered their origin. It was a thick barrier made entirely from dark magic, which blocked their path, looking impenetrable.

"What should we do now?", asked Silver Blade.

"Perhaps we can destroy it?"

"No choice. Let's attack it together."

While the friends were still discussing, Zeuerch already went to action. Quickstep was standing closest to the Arachne. She noticed how the latter approached the barrier and watched curiously. Suddenly a chill ran down her spine as Zeuerch opened his mouth. It was like the maw of a monstrous shark, almost going from ear to ear with terrifyingly sharp teeth. The Arachne bit down on the barrier and ripped out a large chunk, absorbing it into his stomach.

Zeuerch smacked his lips. But this was only an appetizer. He swiftly continued, eating a way through the barrier.

"Now I understand how he could accidentally invade the dark elves…"

The others nodded silently as they watched Zeuerch feasting on the dark magic. Soon, a weak ray of light fell in the tunnel as they broke through. Zeuerch increased the opening until his body fit through. He didn't have his fill yet. However, he knew he had an important task to do and stopped eating, reluctantly stepping out of the tunnel.

The players quickly followed behind him. They appeared in a vast hall. The walls and ceiling were reinforced by a barrier of dark magic. The only light in the room came from various tall crystal pillars sticking out of the ground. The pillars surrounded something in the center of the room. It was a huge humanoid being lying on the floor. Its skin looked as if it was stitched together like Frankenstein's monster. A cloud of dark magic surrounded the monster, obscuring its features. It was attached to some empty tubes, and a lot of dust was scattered on the floor around it.

"It's you again, insolent spider!"

Suddenly a furious shout grabbed everyone's attention. The party looked towards the right, where a gate led into the room. A large group of dark elves were standing in front of it. In the lead was a male elf in red and black robes emitting an imposing presence. It was the Indey'min whom Liam stole the crown from.

Zeuerch turned towards the dark elves. He stretched his body, his imposing height baring down on the adversaries. His voice was a mix of anger and mocking:

"Indey'min Kiyarohl! Ha! This time you don't have your fancy crown! I will stop your nefarious plans. Whatever monster you are creating here won't be coming to life!"

"Haha. Little spider. Do you think I am as stupid as you?! You already intruded once, would I really not expect you to come again."

"Ehm…"

Liam and his friends got an ominous premonition. They stared at Zeuerch who suddenly sounded way less confident. Cyclone felt her eyes twitch and Silent Acacia directly facepalmed. The players carefully distanced themselves from Zeuerch.

At that moment the red crystal pillars suddenly began to light up. Their light first spread through the room before condensing into red beams directed towards the monster in the center of the room.

"Hahaha! It is time! The time for our resurgence has come! Little spider, thanks to you I was forced to awaken the Dark Mother early, but after killing you, you will be the perfect sacrifice!"

"We welcome the return of the Dark Mother!"

All the dark elves shouted in unison as they went down on one knee, worshipping the tall monster. The Dark Mather suddenly opened her eyes and two beams of red light shot towards the ceiling.

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