Starting home

After they explored the tunnels for a week, Leo and Iris returned to the surface to prepare for the departure. Thankfully Runa still let them stay with her, while her and lemmik were still mourning. They were pretty busy for the next several weeks as the word spread of the migration. Most of the dwarves rejected the idea, but eventually had to give in or they would have been left behind to starve or be enslaved. There were several that stayed behind, and some only agreed to leave because Leo mentioned the possibility of them returning one day.

There was also the fact that another full moon came, and Leo had to spend another night in the dwarves black cells. He also had to explain what they found in the labyrinth, and what might threaten them when migrating. The Chiefs were quite surprised to find that Leo and Iris managed to fight everything they came across, and they didn't block any tunnels, but merely left traps so they would still be useable later. In fact, after finding that most of what was down there was edible, Leo wasn't as proactive in killing them because the monsters could be emergency food supplies.

He then mostly helped with the preparation for the caravans and moving leave. They had carts that they were loading up, and surprisingly they could run on little tracks they made in the tunnels leading down to the labyrinth. Leo once again realized that the dwarves were truly amazing. After three weeks of preparation, they were finally ready for leaving.

{How many all together are going?} Leo asked Agmundr as he led the way down to the tunnels. Agmundr shook his head and replied,

{only about three quarters of us here, so about six thousand all together.} Leo didn't know what to think at the number. On one hand it was a lot of people to provide protection and a future for, on the other it wasn't enough to truly make a difference against the purge yet. He could only hope that they'll get the numbers they needed from the elves and beastmen. They would have enough to rebuild Asdarge though. But then Agmundr said something that surprised Leo,

{there's still caravans out there traveling, the ones who stayed behind will direct them to follow us, and we'll have at least a thousand more arriving, maybe more.} Leo felt this was promising though, since they would have more joining them, but will also give them more time to prepare.

Leo was thinking about future arrivals as he made his way down to the labyrinth. Once he made it down to the tunnels, he and Iris waited for more of the caravan to show up, and they started their journey. During the time they were down here previously, both Leo and Iris studied the maps and tunnels so that they could learn the way through.

As they traveled through the tunnels, it took several days before they ran into another monster. This time it looked like a giant insect, some kind of beetle with horn. This time instead of transforming, Leo wanted to try fighting it with his battle axe. As the beetle flew at him and Iris, he rolled to the side and swung at its legs. Though the beetles shell was hard, he managed to get through two legs with one swing thanks to his strength and chi.

The beetle roared in pain, and barely kept its balance with its third leg on that side. As it spread its wings to charge Leo again, Iris used her ability to leap over the beetle and severed one of its wings. It roared in pain once again, and Leo kept forward and swung his axe down on the joint between its head and body, effectively decapitating it.

Leo glared at the beetle, of course the first thing they killed this time wasn't something they could use for rations. He shook his head, and went back to escorting the caravan through the tunnels.