The Paladin in the Abyss

Chapter 44 - 39: Mine Entrance

"Gentlemen, welcome to the Demon’s Gut Mine," Barrend hopped off the carriage first, greeting everyone like a host.

"I think the name is terrible," Kalalin followed suit, jumping down. "Existing autopsy reports have proven that a demon’s digestive tract ends at the stomach, they don’t have intestines, let alone excretory organs."

Lancelot and Bruto were the last to disembark, as they unloaded a heavy backpack filled with various mining equipment and supplies from the carriage.

Watching Barrend struggle with the backpack, bigger than a dwarf himself, Lancelot curiously asked:

"Isn’t this thing too heavy? It would be hard to escape if we encounter danger down there."

"There’s a hidden miner’s rest room not far from the mine entrance," Barrend explained. "We can rest there, store supplies and mining tools, and only carry the equipment needed for exploration."

"I see," Lancelot nodded in understanding, the situation sounding much better than he had anticipated.

Lancelot’s experience with underground combat was not lacking, although it involved dealing with bandits occupying caves rather than entering mines.

The entrance to the mine in front of him was much larger than he imagined, big enough to admit five carriages, dark and gaping like the maw of a monster waiting for food to deliver itself.

Additionally, there was a small trouble lurking at the entrance of the mine.

His Spiritual Sense unequivocally told him that several entities were hiding in the shadows of the rocks and cliff walls, watching him expectantly.

"Get ready," he said in an offhand manner to his companions, whispering, "There’s an ambush at the entrance."

"What are the enemies?" Barrend, showing a bit of nervousness, managed to rein in his overly dramatic actions.

"I haven’t seen them, but they are humanoid, not demons. Should be five of them, as for their strength..." he carefully felt around, glancing at Bruto, "they should be a bit weaker than this guy."

Bruto said nothing, but by looking at his trembling hands and tense body, Lancelot was sure he was very excited now.

"Barrend, you and Kalalin stay in the back and just focus on defense," he instructed.

The Scholar and craftsmen nodded, as Kalalin opened up his pouch containing scrolls, ready to draw them at any moment.

"Unless it’s for self-defense, don’t waste precious spells," Lancelot shook his head at Kalalin, "Now, both you and Barrend pretend to discuss something here while Bruto and I will act like we’re scouting ahead. You can hold the shield, but don’t raise the hammer."

Bruto simply nodded without uttering a word. Lancelot shrugged, even if the ambushers noticed something amiss, it didn’t matter; they were merely standing in the way of their path.

Lancelot walked towards the entrance of the mine, and Bruto immediately followed closely behind.

"This mine is too old, I bet we won’t find anything inside," he purposely spoke loudly, hoping his unguarded demeanor would lower the enemy’s vigilance.

Bruto just nodded again, and Lancelot completely gave up hoping that he would play along.

Finally, as they were about to step into the mine entrance, a sharp whizzing sound burst forth.

The ambushers finally made their move, launching several five-foot Short Javelins from behind the rocks, hurtling towards Lancelot and Bruto with a piercing howl.

The round of long-range attacks would have thrown anyone unprepared into disarray, but of course, it was no problem for the two prepared individuals. Bruto repelled the attack with his Shield while Lancelot simply dodged all the incoming Javelins with agile movements.

The attackers finally revealed themselves. These humanoid creatures were over six feet tall, dressed in armor made from animal hide, dense brown hair protruding from gaps in their clothing, with a head crowned with a hook-nosed, bushy browed, and eerie-eared face.

"Goblin bears!" Bruto bellowed in rage.

Goblin bears were the large cousins of goblins, living off raiding and hunting. These creatures were cruel and arrogant, with equal passion for slaughter and treasure, hence sometimes they were also employed by goblins or other evil masters as bodyguards, enforcers, or robbers.

The group of goblin bears before them might have once been deserters from a Demon Legion, or guards of a slave convoy, but now they likely had no master. After throwing their javelins, three goblin bears, brandishing their weapons, charged out from their hiding spots.

"Can you handle one, no problem?" Lancelot asked Bruto.

Bruto pulled out his warhammer and responded by hammering it heavily on the ground.

Lancelot chuckled lightly and reached over his shoulder, habitually grabbing his great sword. But upon second thought, before facing a tougher enemy, he decided he’d better get used to a new weapon.

A pleasant hum sounded as Lancelot drew the longsword "Frostslash." Facing the charging enemies, he executed a powerful Horizontal Slash, but his purpose was merely to block two of the attackers. The other was left to Bruto to deal with.

The goblin bears’ major tactic of a surprise attack had failed. With the knight’s armor and treasured sword, they were intelligent enough to recognize the difficulty of their adversaries, but Lancelot’s attempt to provoke them one against two completely infuriated them.

Lancelot made a flourish with his sword, positioning the longsword horizontally in front of him, inviting his opponents to attack first.

The two goblin bears had not lost their minds completely, they carefully watched Lancelot while slowly sidestepping to occupy positions on his left and right, preparing to launch a pincer attack.

Meanwhile, Bruto was already locked in combat with his opponent. The dwarf initially took a defensive stance, calmly sidestepping the ferocious charge of the goblin bear, dodging the first strike, then quickly raised his shield to block the subsequent attack.

But he didn’t give the enemy a chance for a third strike. The attack he had just blocked made him realize the enemy’s strength was not greater than his.

When the rebound of the blocked weapon gave him the opportunity, he swiftly fanned his shield outward with his left hand, throwing off the enemy’s balance, followed by his right-hand wielding the hammer, accurately striking the goblin bear’s closest knee.

With a ’crack,’ the clear sound of breaking bones echoed in everyone’s ears. The goblin bear instantly fell to its knees, soon followed by a sharp scream of agony.

"Ah, the knee, my favorite target."

Having landed his blow, Bruto immediately leapt back, dodging the enemy’s aimless counterattack.

Lancelot’s attention was also drawn to Bruto’s commotion, and he glanced back.

Seeing him turn his head, the two goblin bears encircling him immediately launched their attacks from both sides simultaneously, but Lancelot, as if he had anticipated this, weirdly twisted his body backward, moving three steps back and causing the two attackers to crash into each other heavily without time to react.

"Don’t rush, ladies."

He stepped forward, and a torrent of sword light immediately enveloped the two goblin bears. Lancelot did not even use True Qi, merely relying on his swordsmanship to suppress both enemies at once.

He was not quick to deal the killing blow; each time his sword blade was about to slice through their bodies, he forcefully stopped, avoiding a fatal wound.

He was rapidly getting used to the new weapon’s length, weight, and balance. As his movements grew faster, the two goblin bears couldn’t keep up at all, just wildly swinging their nail-headed hammers in vain attempts to inflict some damage on Lancelot.

The knight finally felt the weapon had become a part of his body, his sword hand twisted, and almost simultaneously, the sword’s blade struck both enemies’ faces, sending them flying out.

Another lurking goblin bear peeked out, trying to throw a javelin to cover his allies, but a stone hitting right on the nose knocked it to the ground.

Kalalin flashed Lancelot a victorious sign.

Lancelot shrugged, turned his head to look at the enemies struggling to get up, and yelled with True Qi surging:

"Scram!"