Aetheric Chronicles: Reborn As An Extra

Chapter 81: The Thunderflies Nest

"O-Oh, in that case, thank you." Adrian nodded, remembering who she was once again. 'Right, why did I forget that again?'

"We will take your help then." But he wouldn't reject her kind offer. "Let's go. Ardel can you find another group?"

"Ok." (Ardel)

About two hours later.

Adrian and his team have hunted down more than 50 Thunderbeasts, and 43 Thunderclap Hypers. They also managed to acquire some useful herbs along the way.

However, they didn't meet any Thunderflies till now.

And Adrian already knew the reason why. It was because the Thunderflies were territorial monsters and didn't go out of their territory like other monsters.

And now, they must have entered the territory, they found a cluster of Thunderflies buzzing around a large cave entrance nestled among the rocky cliffs.

Moreover, it wasn't them who found the nest first, there were several groups of students circling around the nest but not going near the monsters or the cave.

'So, this little event has already started, huh.' Adrian thought to himself.

From what he knew, a team of students would find themselves in this cave searching for an opportunity - a treasure. They will even find one but it is when they would discover thousands of Thunderflies, their leader, and be attacked. Fear of losing their life taking over, some of them will directly use the Return crystal while the others will somehow manage to get out.

And, they will quickly spread the word about the artifact being in this cave.

Yeah, they will lie by saying it isn't a treasure but an artifact.

And those who want to get their hands on the artifact will quickly gather and raid the cave.

"Hey, Adrian, look nearly everyone is here," Ardel called out, pointing at the swarm of the students at the entrance of the cave. "Should we go as well? They are saying the artifact is probably in the cave."

"..." Adrian observed everyone near the entrance. The most noticeable group among them was Emeric's Group who arrived not long ago and a group who discovered the cave first.

"Adrian?" Getting no response, Ardel called out again.

"No, let's leave this place." Adrian turned to Ardel, shaking his head. "It will be hard to get the artifact with this many people, not to mention we would have been wasting our time if there is no artifact."

"Oh, y-yeah..." Arrdel nodded slowly understanding the reason. "Then what will we do?"

"We will of course use the the correct choice," Adrian replied. "We will search for other treasures hidden in the Ruin. "Come on, let's leave this place for now. Then I have a few words to tell you."

"Oh, ok."

____ ___ __

"Woah, who knew there would be another cave not far from the first one!" Ardel exclaimed as their team arrived in front of another cave, similar to the first one. "Your words were true, Adrian."

"Right, how did you know there was another cave?" Lila joined the conversation.

"Well, that's easy. I knew Thunderflies are similar to Ant in their living nature. That's when a thought came to me. If there is really a nest of Thunderflies in the cave, then there would be other entrances from that one as well." Adrian replied, with half truth, half lie.

"Oh, should we enter it then? Others might have already entered the first cave." Lila suggested, not wanting to fall behind.

"Yes, can you make a fire to light the way?" He asked her.

"Of course, just a small fire is nothing to me." Confident, Lila replied.

Then, the group entered the cave, their footsteps echoing in the dimly lit passageway.

As they ventured deeper into the cave, they encountered more than three groups of Thunderflies. They quickly took care of them and continued further.

Then, about ten minutes later, they came across many paths which were diverging in different directions.

"Hmm... Which way should we go?" Adrian asked, looking around at the multiple paths in front of them.

"This... I-I can't tell exactly either." Ardel replied awkwardly. "My ability isn't working here."

"Oh, that's understandable... Then we have to go in the right direction. If there is nothing, we will return and check the other paths." Adrian quickly thought of a simple idea. "We should also leave signs so we won't get lost before we start too."

"Does anyone have any other ideas?" He didn't forget to ask his other teammates' opinions. Kairen and Aria who had been quiet for a long while just shook their heads, while Ardel apologized for not being able to help. Lila, well, she boasted about her other skills but didn't give an answer.

Then, they left three signs and headed straight to the right path.

As they proceeded down the chosen path, the cave grew darker and the air became cooler. The walls seemed to close in around them, and the only sound was the echo of their footsteps.

After a few minutes of walking, they reached a dead end. There was nothing but a solid wall of rock in front of them.

Adrian frowned, feeling a sense of frustration. "Looks like this path was a dead end," he remarked, disappointment evident in his voice. "Let's return."

Unfortunately, the novel didn't describe the nest in very detail, nor he would have remembered it all if it had been detailed. So, he could only use the most crude method - gamble.

After returning to their previous location, they decided to go left this time, leaving the two paths in the middle for their next tries.

After five minutes of walking, they arrived at many paths being diverged.

"Wait? Isn't this our previous spot?" Ardel suddenly exclaimed, it seems he noticed one of the signs they left.

"Then, the left path will take us back here, huh." Adrian nodded thoughtfully, at least it wasn't a dead end.

"Then, let's go to the right-middle path."

As they ventured down the right-middle path, the air grew thick with the buzzing of Thunderflies, indicating they were getting closer to the nest.

After walking for more than seven minutes, they finally reached their destination. Before them lay a vast chamber, illuminated by the soft glow of bioluminescent fungi clinging to the walls. In the center of the chamber, a large, pulsating mass of Thunderflies hovered, their wings creating a constant hum that filled the air.