Chapter 0075: A New Mission

Returning to the depths once more, Grimm no longer felt the anxiety that had plagued him before; instead, a faint sense of anticipation stirred within him. At the training camp, every step of an elite apprentice’s advancement was built upon the bleached bones of their fallen peers. If Grimm wished to rise quickly, he had no choice but to draw strength from the flesh and blood of his kindred lurking beneath the earth.

After gathering in the mission hall, the nine-member squad once again embarked on their perilous subterranean journey.

Matthew’s unexpected death and Leo’s grievous injuries had made the dangers of the underworld abundantly clear to the team. During their brief respite at the outpost, heated arguments erupted over how best to accomplish their mission.

Leo’s wounds still plagued him. Though his flesh wounds had long since healed, the insidious curses entwined deep within his organs had tormented him without mercy. It was only after more than ten days of meticulous care that he managed to dispel the last of these curses. Yet, his body, greatly weakened, was still far from its former strength.

This meant that, for this descent, the mission squad was short one advanced apprentice; Leo, though a quasi-wizard, could only perform at the level of an advanced apprentice.

With their strength diminished, there was no sign of the bravado they’d displayed before. Now, caution reigned. They all advocated for traveling as a single group, even if it meant taking three or four times as long to complete the task—safety was paramount.

Surely, those dark little fiends of the underworld wouldn’t dare ambush a team boasting three quasi-wizards and five advanced apprentices.

This suggestion, put forth by Isaac, was immediately seconded by most of the advanced apprentices.

The hastily lit campfire cast flickering lights upon each team member’s face, carving shadows across their sharp, uneven features. Hidden in these shifting shadows, each guarded their own expression, leaving only Isaac’s impassioned speech to echo through the camp.

“…We cannot withstand another loss of strength. If there’s another casualty this time, our next situation will be even more dire. So if we must waste a bit of time, so be it—it’s the only way to ensure we complete the mission!…”

“Agreed!”

“I think Isaac is right!”

“I agree!”

The other three advanced apprentices—Sheila, Leander, and Bruce—quickly voiced their support. The only one who remained silent was Mary, standing in the shadow of a rocky outcrop beyond the firelight, her presence all but invisible.

Inevitably, all eyes turned to Sabrina, who had always acted as the leader of the group.

Sabrina raised her head and swept her gaze around, her eyes whirring with a mechanical sound unique to her. Since last time, her head—clearly augmented by mechanomancy—had changed in subtle and uncanny ways. Yet, what exactly had changed, and what made it so strange, none could say. It was more a vague, unsettling impression than anything concrete.

Sabrina withdrew her gaze and, just as she was about to make an announcement, an unfamiliar voice rang out in the camp.

“You can form your team if you wish, but Mary and I will only take on one mission.”

The voice was clear and resolute. Everyone turned, startled to discover that the speaker was none other than Grimm—the one they had always considered a useless burden, not even a true member of the squad.

No, he could no longer be called novice apprentice Grimm, but intermediate apprentice Grimm.

Yet no one cared about his advancement.

In this eerie, treacherous underworld, even advanced apprentices struggled to protect themselves. An intermediate apprentice, newly promoted, would be hard-pressed even to escape the fallout of a battle among true powers. Thus, their earlier discussions had simply excluded him.

Mary, hidden in the darkness, remained silent, tacitly agreeing. This only deepened the others’ confusion.

“Are you sure you know what you’re saying?” Sabrina’s strange, low voice filled the space—not threatening, but carrying an unmistakable aura of authority.

“Kid, just stay out of the way. This isn’t your place to speak. If you really want to act on your own, then go to the deepest cave!” Isaac, far less tactful, barked his threat.

“Fine. We’ll go to the deepest cave,” Grimm replied crisply.

“Wha—what did you say?” Isaac’s face filled with disbelief.

“I said, Mary and I will handle the farthest cave. Once we’re done, we’ll return straight to the wizard’s tower. You can take your time with the other four mission sites.”

“You…”

Now, it wasn’t just Isaac—both of the other quasi-wizards also raised their heads, scrutinizing this brash intermediate apprentice. Yet, no matter how they probed, the youth’s psychic fluctuations were faint, nothing like a master in disguise.

Was it that he had some hidden backing, or was Mary the one with a secret?

Finding no answers in Grimm, their gazes shifted to Mary in the shadows.

Hmph, that damned charlatan—always using me as a shield! Mary raged inwardly, but outwardly, she remained calm and composed. Cloaked in the faint crimson glow of her bloodline magic, even the three quasi-wizards couldn’t pierce her defenses to discern her true power.

“So this is your will as well?” Sabrina, though seated, let her formidable aura bear down on Mary.

“It is. Give us the mission item,” Mary replied, stepping from the shadows and extending her pale, dazzling right hand to meet Sabrina’s gaze head-on.

After a pause, a wand-like magical tool was tossed into Mary’s palm. She examined it carefully, nodded in satisfaction, and tucked it away, striding toward the winding, shadowy passage ahead.

“Wait. Take this as well.” This time, Sabrina tossed her a crystal sphere.

Mary inspected it, her beautiful face betraying a fleeting hint of surprise. She nodded to Sabrina with a look of ambiguous meaning.

“Thank you. I owe you one.” With that, she said no more, leading Grimm into the distant darkness.

Sabrina’s exposed right cheek, half visible beneath her silver mask, betrayed no emotion. Only the mechanical left eye blazed with a fierce, crimson light.

“Let’s move. We have a long road ahead.”

After a long silence, Sabrina’s deep voice sounded again.

By this time, Grimm and Mary were already threading their way through the pitch-black world below.

For the first time, the summoned Crocodile Hunter swallowed the two of them together, sinking into the dark soil, tunneling ceaselessly through one cave and passage after another, guided by directions stored in the magical artifact.

Thankfully, Mary was not a bulky companion. In fact, with her slight, supple form pressed to his chest, Grimm found her almost too delicate. Her touch was warm and smooth, her fragrance faint but enticing in the darkness—a sensation both pleasant and intoxicating.

There was no helping it: the earthen demon puppet offered little space, so the two had to squeeze together in an embrace. To an onlooker, their posture might seem scandalously intimate, but Grimm took no pleasure in it. Mary’s ten sharp nails roamed across his back, and her pointed fangs hovered at his throat. Should he entertain any improper thoughts, her instinct to act before thinking would surely leave him with an unforgettable lesson.

Ah, perhaps this was Mary’s personal creed: I may tease you, but if you dare make a move, you’ll remember it for life.

Despite their entwined limbs, Grimm could only grit his teeth, dreading that a single misstep would bring disaster upon himself. Fortunately, he had plenty to distract him. Immersing his mind in the Crocodile Hunter’s unique perspective, he soon forgot his embarrassment, focusing instead on steering their magical conveyance through the earth.

The crystal ball Sabrina had given Mary contained the route she had mapped during her previous reconnaissance, along with the distribution of underground creatures and monsters.

With such a clear, three-dimensional map and the chip’s precise navigation, the Crocodile Hunter bored through cave after cave, choosing to tunnel through soil or around impassable rock as needed. Only vast stretches of solid stone forced them to detour.

Thus, the journey that had taken Sabrina twenty-seven hours last time was completed by Grimm in just four.

Emerging in a small, silent cavern, Grimm finally leapt from the magical beast with Mary in his arms.

Another check of the mission item confirmed they were within two hundred meters of their target. Only then did they relax somewhat, though their vigilance soon returned.

The dark denizens of the underworld were masters of strange sorcery. Who could say whether they’d laid traps near the mission site? If their presence was discovered, the journey home could become ten or even a hundred times more perilous.

But Grimm remained calm.

For today, besides the wizard tower’s mandatory mission, he had another, even more important task.

The elite camp mission.

Beyond the scramble for precious resources, elite apprentices from both sides constantly sought to ambush and eliminate opposing squads whenever an opportunity arose—even outside times of open conflict.

In the deeper reaches beneath the earth, there were not only rare resources, but also special ores seldom seen on the surface. Most of these mines and resource points were held by the Fallen Wizards, each guarded by teams of five to ten apprentices.

Grimm’s elite apprentice mission for today was clear: launch a surprise attack on Mine No. 7!