Chapter 20 Not BS?

After hearing Neph's response I began to think about it deeply and that it was highly likely that this was indeed the case. I started to think back to all of his fights and realized that I've always been a lot stronger than my opponents even when I'm in the lower spectrum for E Rank.

The group continued down the Main Street towards the city center once again after having encountered the drive spiders. After an hour goes by, they finally see the center square ahead of them. The group got excited because they're finally reaching their goal for the day, and they hadn't encountered as many spiders as they had initially expected to. Although this is weird, they didn't think too much about it because they've been able to kill all of the spiders with ease.

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As the group reaches the central plaza after traveling up the main road, they all stopped and stared dumbfounded with their mouths hanging loose. I look over my shoulder at all of them and the stupid looks on their faces and smirk. The only thought that crossed all twenty-seven of their minds at the exact same time was, "no fucking way, he wasn't lying about a giant hole in the central plaza."

As his guild members are all standing there in shock, the guild master walks up to the hole to take a closure look. Standing at the edge of the hole he confirms that it's roughly forty feet in diameter and that is does in fact have a gradual slope heading deeper into the hole.

Soon every member of the party started talking to each other trying to digest what they're seeing in front of them and what the guild master had told them a couple hours ago. They all have a horrified look on their face and the ones that were convinced by the others that everything must be a lie started to get angry with the other members.

"You said that he was lying!" yelled a few of the expedition members at seemingly no one in particular.

"All of you insisted that there was just no way someone could send their clone that far, several members shouted back.

Well, what the hell do you make of this giant ass hole that looks oddly like the one he described too the guild master!" some of the members kept yelling as their anger grew.

While the expedition members were all arguing with each other and throwing blame around Damian and I walked up to the guild master.

"So what are you thinking?" I ask him as Damian examines the hole up close for the first time.

"Well judging from this hole, it seems like it was made by either the queen herself or she had her workers make it and they made it big enough for her to fit through should the need arise. As it stands, I'm going with the latter since I haven't seen the queen yet but judging from what you described I don't think she has left her web in quite a while," The guild master says deep in thought.

"I've never seen a hole this big before, I don't even want to imagine the size of the monster that can fit through this," Damian says worriedly as his face is drained of all color.

"There's nothing to worry about right now, I doubt that the queen even knows we're in the city. Also, we've only killed a handful of spiders so it's only a minuscule loss to their entire population", I say reassuringly as I see how shaken Damian is.

Damian looks at me and smiles, knowing that as his Familia head, I will protect him and not put him in any unnecessary dangers. Even though they're in this party before they had set out from Marbelium I had told him something important.

"If at any time on this expedition you don't feel safe or your life is in danger, I want you to teleport back to Rinascita, understood? Your life is more important than some monster hunting expedition, and I want you to not hesitate to teleport no matter the situation," I tell Damian in a serious tone, making him swear that he'll abide by what I say.

After the guild master was done examining the hole, he went back to the group who of course were still arguing with each other and pointing blame as to their current predicament.

"That's enough! You all chose to come here, whether you believed what you were told or not you decided to come so now you're stuck with that choice. We will be heading down into the tunnel towards the spiders underground territory. From here on out we will truly be inside the enemies lair. So, stay sharp and watch out for those around you, like I said before I want everyone to come back from this mission alive and well," the guild master yells at all the bickering and squabbling group members, feeling like he's surrounded by children.

"From here on out James will be leading this group due to his continued proof of his capabilities in not only scouting out this place before hand, but also his ability to sense when there are monsters nearby and their numbers. Those of you that have a problem with this decision, too damn bad," the guild master tells the entire expedition.

I am take a back because I wasn't expecting to be put in charge of this expedition and doesn't really have a lot of experience leading people. Although I do have the advantage in detecting monsters due to my awareness, I don't know how well I'll be able to lead this group of ruffians.

"Umm, are you sure guild master? I don't really have any experience leading people especially not into a giant monster nest full of high-level creatures. I don't want to mess up and any of your people end up hurt or worse killed," I respond hesitantly.

"That's fine, it's true that I'd like all of these idiots to come back alive, if some of them happen to die they'll only have themselves to blame," the guild master says back with a sigh.

"Is that supposed to make me feel better? I'm saying I don't want to be responsible for anyone's death," I retort feeling like the guild master doesn't care as to how I feel about this situation.

"Fine if you want me to lead these guys their going to have to listen to me and do as I instruct, it's the only way I'll be able to try to keep casualties down to a minimum," I say to the guild master and the rest of the expedition members.

All the guild members are stunned because their guild master has never in the time that he has been in charge of the guild allowed anyone to take charge when he is present. This just goes to show just how highly he thinks of James and his abilities to make sure this mission is successful. Everyone is standing quietly while looking at James signifying that they'll listen to what he tells them without any fuss.

"Alright, as we enter the tunnel keep in mind that the entire thing is covered in webbing, so the spiders could come and attack us form above us as well as from the walls. Now it's going to be a several hundred feet decent through the tunnel until we eventually come out onto a ledge that overlooks the spider's underground city of webs," I order everyone in a serious tone making sure they're all listening and taking this seriously.

Everyone listened to what I had to say as I explained what they were about to encounter as they delve into the tunnel. None of the members had anymore doubts about the validity of what I am saying.

"Ok everyone, we're going to head into the tunnel now, make sure you maintain the original formation we've been using, it's going to be dark in the tunnel so before we head down everyone needs to make sure they have a primary torch and also a secondary torch in case something should happen to your main," I tell everyone as I stand before the edge of the tunnel preparing to head into the belly of the beast.

Ten minutes later every member of the expedition had in their possession two torches made from fire crystals. As they got into their formation, they slowly made their way into the underground tunnel leading them towards the spider's underground city.

The expedition slowly made its way through the tunnel with their torches illuminating the web covered tunnel. Every single member is maintaining their guard in case I sense any spiders coming so they can react in an instant with lightning-fast reflexes.