Chapter 215: A Moving Reunion

I entered the underground passage with Mofu-mofu, but due to the sudden cave-in, Mofu-mofu and I got separated.

Fortunately, thanks to the marker I embedded in Mofu-mofu’s horn ring, I was able to tell that Mofu-mofu was moving around energetically, which was good.

I’m glad Mofu-mofu didn’t get caught in the cave-in.

“Well then, shall I go meet up with Mofu-mofu?”

Consolidating the earth with earth magic while digging forward through the ground with excavation magic, I emerged into a large underground cavern.

“Kyu kyuu!”

Then, I saw the figure of Mofu-mofu rampaging energetically against monsters.

Thank goodness. I knew it was alive, but seeing it doing well in person is a relief after all.

Then, first things first, let’s repel the monsters swarming in the underground cavern!

“CHASE THOUSAND JAVELIN!!”

So as not to cause the underground cavern to collapse, I fired countless homing magical spears towards the monsters.

The spears flew towards the monsters and relentlessly chased after them even as they tried to dodge.

Fortunately, Mofu-mofu had defeated quite a few, so the subjugation of the monster swarm was completed before long.

“Mofu-mofu!”

Confirming with search magic that there were no more living monsters, I headed towards Mofu-mofu.

“Kyu… kyuuu~”

It must have been anxious with me gone.

Mofu-mofu let out a weak cry.

“There, there. You were scared, weren’t you.”

Saying that, I patted its head to reassure it, and Mofu-mofu’s loneliness seemed to reach its limit, as it ended up peeing itself.

It must have been really scared. It can’t be helped, Mofu-mofu is still a baby, after all.

Having soothed Mofu-mofu, I used magic to clean Mofu-mofu, who was stained bright red with monster blood.

And next, I collected all the monster corpses in the underground cavern into my magic bag.

If I left this many corpses alone, it would be a disaster if they rotted, and it would be troublesome if they turned into undead.

Besides, if I collect them, they can be used as materials later.

“Kyu kyuu~”

Perhaps relieved that the scary swarm of monsters was gone, Mofu-mofu rubbed against my leg.

“Then shall we explore this place?”

I deployed multiple light magics to illuminate the interior of the underground cavern.

“Hmm, as I thought, it’s unnaturally wide.”

Illuminating it with light, I realized that this underground cavern is unnatural after all.

Despite the scale of the underground cavern, there are no pillars supporting this space.

At this rate, it wouldn’t be strange if a cave-in occurred at any time.

“It really seems like an artificially processed space.”

Touching the wall of the underground cavern, I realized from its smooth texture that these were processed with magic.

“It was probably reinforced with magic to prevent cave-ins. But I can barely feel any traces of magic, so it must be from a long time ago.”

That’s exactly why the cave-in earlier occurred, probably.

This underground cavern, whose reinforcement magic effects have run out, could cause a cave-in at any moment.

“It doesn’t seem like the boss of the swarm is here.”

The monster Mofu-mofu was fighting last looked a little stronger than the other monsters, but even so, it undeniably felt lacking in power to be called the boss of the swarm.

Looking around, there are large side holes opening everywhere on the walls of the underground cavern, and I can tell that monsters come and go to the surface through those holes.

“Is the boss somewhere else in the underground cavern, or is it out on the surface?”

If so, there’s a possibility the boss will return later.

In that case, it’s better to avoid fighting underground where I don’t know when a collapse might occur.

“But it doesn’t seem like it’s nearby.”

Based on searching with search magic, there’s no reaction of a monster that seems like the boss nearby.

“Hm?”

While exploring the underground cavern along the wall, I noticed a small side hole opening in the direction I was heading.

Even though I say small, that’s compared to the many large underground passages opening up; in reality, it’s large enough for a human to pass through.

Curious that only that one was human-sized, I stepped into the hole.

Then, I heard the sound of something light being crushed under my foot.

“This is…?”

Bringing the light closer to check, the thing I stepped on became clear.

“Bones!?”

Yes, they were bones. Moreover, only the bones of the upper half of a body.

“Could this be someone who escaped from the monsters!?”

Most likely, this person evacuated into this side hole to escape the monsters.

But they didn’t make it in time, and were attacked by a monster and split in two.

And ironically, perhaps only their upper half was left behind here.

“Poor thing.”

At least I can offer a prayer so this person’s soul can rest in peace—it was right as I thought that.

“Kyuu!”

Mofu-mofu grabbed something near the skeletal corpse in its mouth.

“Mofu-mofu?”

Looking closely, it was a bone.

Thinking it was making a toy out of a dead person’s bone, I hurriedly took the bone away, but I immediately felt a sense of incongruity from that bone.

“Huh? What part of the body is this bone from?”

The bone I took from Mofu-mofu had a shape different from any human bone.

Wondering if perhaps the bones of a different animal were also lying around, I looked at the ground again, and there I finally realized my misunderstanding.

“…Are these not human bones?”

Yes, they were not human bones.

I misunderstood because the upper half looked exactly like a human’s, but among the bones scattered on the ground, large bird-like wings had fallen in the position of the upper body, and furthermore, large horns were growing from the skull.

“Could these bones be…”

When it comes to a race with wings growing on their back and horns growing on their head, only one comes to mind.

“Demon bones!?”

Yes, what was scattered inside the side hole were the bones of a Demon.