Pond of Acid

A silence can be felt. They realize that this is the rare occurrence where they can rest. As so much had happened during their first dungeon expedition without any help from the Adventurer's Guild. Niva can only savor this moment and not rush into everything.

If the flow of time is normal, they had spent 2 hours in this dungeon. Lynel on his side looks especially droopy. His journey until now is not that easy either. He also dragged into this mess because of Niva. Maybe this is Nature's karma he gets in return for operating illegal business. Still, it's not a kind remark to think that way to his helper.

All that they can do is escort him to Elian Island as of the agreement.

Their rest is interrupted with the growling of Niva's stomach. He suddenly feels hungry from growling.

"Wow, you're hungry already? That's what you get from eating less in that carriage," teases Lynel.

However, Niva ate until his tummy was full. But somehow he feels his hunger rises after using [The Puppeteer] perks. He opens two circular paper wraps in his bag. He took the 4 paper wrap covered breads as a convenient food while doing the expedition.

He offers one to Lynel, even though the Foxtren had his food as well. Lynel immediately raises his palm towards Niva. Refuses the offer.

Niva cannot distract his eyes from Lynel. The relaxed Foxtren stuffs his ranger hat onto his face, revealing his fox-like ear.

Looking at him however, makes him somewhat proud to befriend nonhumans amid the stigma from the humans that they are never loyal to the humans, primitive, and dirty creatures.

The reality is that they don't have to be loyal to their colonizer, as they are the first one occupying Faroo since thousand years ago. The primitive part is because they are more attuned to The Nature, even more so than humans. They have better grasps to the Slate system much more than their human counterparts. And the dirty part, that is just plain ridiculous.

'Wait, what are human ears doing in Lynel's temple? He already has fox ears, did he grow human ears as well?' Niva cannot hold his urge to poke the unnecessary human ears in Lynel's. But somewhat discouraged on the prospect that he values his life dearly. He can imagine Lynel waking up and slicing his hand without any second thought.

Niva begins his first bite to the bread. Delicious. And there is a chocolate filling inside. The Cocoa is exported exclusively from the Divinia region in Gewjory. Too bad that because of the dispute, they threaten to stop the trading agreements towards Voltingen completely.

After a while, he is energized again. Wakes up Lynel from his slumber. He grabs his hat and touches his fox ears with a surprise on his face. And quickly puts on the hat that hides his ear. Seemingly unaware he is the one that reveals his Foxtren feature.

He exhales deeply. "Would you mind turning around for a bit?" asks Lynel with a forced smile.

Niva turns around. A nasty thought occurs to him. 'Is he going to stab me in the back for letting his guard down?'

"Done."

Niva turns around to find him already packed his bag and ready to go. The difference is that he is now revealing his ginger fox tail. The combination of red ale in its tails body with its white tip is really beautiful but somewhat not as Niva thought it would be. He always imagines Lynel's will be yellowish in color. His lean muscular build somewhat fits with the tail.

"No, not another question until we are halfway finding Lula. I am not in the mood to answer any of them right now," exclaim Lynel, seeing Niva raise his hand. He retracts his unnecessary question.

He is somewhat relaxed with Lynel traveling with him. Hopefully he can search Lula better than Niva does.

They walk downwards. Occasionally peek their head from the cave mouth to give them better indication to where they are currently. While at the same time avoid direct confrontation with the golems. Lula might be across where they were previously.

"Found her!" declares Lynel as he inspects the room. "She went up to the room above." He points to the upward slope next to them in the corner.

They found a mind-boggling view above. Two golems were found dead. Something drips from their limbs. A green thingy that eats the stone remains from the golem. There are some that have already formed puddles. The liquid does have a sinister color.

"There were 5 golems here. But 3 of them have already been eaten by that green liquid," says Lynel as he is inspecting. He picks a pebble from one of the golem's fractured limb and puts it slowly on the green puddle. The rock sank in just 15 seconds.

"This is acid," exclaims Lynel. He looks terrified.

Niva thought so too. She must be at least level 5 [Acid Maker] from the looks of it. Onto this day, she can't believe the timid Lula is actually this strong. She can actually kill every golem in here if she wants to.

Niva's gaze is concentrated on the green blob. He seemingly wanted to dive in. He gets up and runs towards the room below. And starts peeking from the slab above. "The liquid has not dropped to the floor below."

"It might only affect living creatures," concluded Lynel hastily. Not long later, there is a drip from the slab where Lynel is. It quickly pours down. Emptying the slab above.

"Where should we go next?" asks Niva quickly. They spend so much precious time with the green liquid.

"She is near. Be careful and don't run!" Once again Lynel is taking charge. It is his job as an offensive class to make quick judgment calls.

More and more golem are found dead and more green liquid can be seen. Some of them even gather and make a small pond. Pond that consumes everything.

There is something afar. Niva sees a silhouette of a four legged animal on the upward slope. The creature peeks from above and sees them walking towards it. It's Shervo.

Alerted. She then ran to the floor above.

"O-oh." Niva mumbles. It is not rocket science to whom they are going to face after this.