The Exiled First-born of the Noble House. Rising to the Top With the Worthless Skill [Null Poison] - CH 302

Strategy Meeting

After defeating the black slimes, I quickly turned around to check on the others, only to see that the winged wolves and golden monkeys that I had ignored had been already massacred by Ralf, Esta and Snow.

I had defeated the slimes swiftly so I could quickly switch back to helping them but it seems, that the poison had weakened those monsters so much that they were not even a threat anymore.

“Thanks for the help. This’ll make things go much faster.”

“You had already weakened the monsters a lot anyway. Most of them died from just a single [Fireball] honestly.”

“Seriously! All we did was deal a killing blow to monsters who were already on the verge of death and nothing more! That aside,……….can we now finally go in and explore the cave?”

Here I was giving my sincere thanks yet Ralf only had the cave in his head and didn’t care much for anything else.

Well, no point wasting more time, and although we’ve only just killed the monster herd, we really should begin the exploration of the cave without further ado.

“Ralf’s right, let’s begin the cave exploration shall we?”

“Chris-san, what formation are we going to use? The miasma inside the cave is very obviously thick, and if the entrance alone was like this, I can only imagine that a lot more monsters are going to show up further inside right?”

“The chance of that are high, yes.  Ralf will be the vanguard as always, with me and Snow right behind him as the enemy detectors. Since he’s gone inside the Dungeon alone, you can handle holding back multiple monsters on your own right?”

“The strength of monsters here isn’t exactly the same as the dungeon but, well, I’m up for the challenge! But instead, I’ll be counting on you two to give me exact info of whatever’s coming at us okay?”

“We’ll make sure you’re never caught off guard so don’t worry and trust our skills.”

With the formation decided, we entered the cave of Bahamut with Ralf as our vanguard.

Unlike the cave in the east area of the Roza forest, both then entrance and the insides of the cave were wide and huge.

Furthermore, like the area where the Fruit of skill grew, this cave also had shining crystals growing on the walls making the entire place so bright it was hard to believe we were inside a cave.

The insides of the cave were not complicated either, and it was basically a bright one way road so there was no worries about getting lost either but……….as if to make up for that, it also made it impossible to avoid any monsters, and since entering this cave, we had been in one battle after another.

Since the sound and noise reverberated and echoed across the cave, more monster would show up from hearing the disturbance, and it was getting really hard to continue forward.

“I know we were all excited to explore the cave but……….we’ve barely made progress. I mean I can still see the bloody entrance from here.”

“Hasn’t it been like an hour!? It’s been nothing but nonstop fighting! And not a lot of exploration!!”

“……….is it even possible to explore such a place? There’s no end to these monsters! They just keep on coming!”

“We might have to give up and regroup for now. Once we get rid of the monsters coming towards us right now, we’ll fall back and retreat from the cave for now.”

An hour since we started the exploration of the cave of Bahamut.

Having come to the conclusion that this current direct method was unsustainable, I had no choice but to reluctantly order a retreat.

We had only been able to proceed a mere 100m inside the cave and had nothing else to show for all our work.

I was not happy making this decision but, if the monsters started showing up from the entrance side as well, we’d really be in a serious pinch so I had to play it safe.

First we dealt with the monsters attacking us right now, and after that we ran back outside the cave.

To make sure that we don’t get attacked here as well, we ran back some distance away from the cave and hid in shade of  giant rock and opened an important strategy meeting.

“This was not quite what I had in mind when I thought of exploring this cave. I don’t know if it’s even possible to ‘explore’ that cave.”

“We might not have any other choice but to gather a big group of people that can go toe to toe with such monsters and force our way in, no? Especially if the miasma inside the cave is actually giving birth to more monsters, it might genuinely be impossible!”

“If at least the cave was a bit more narrow, I feel like we could have made it work. But when it’s this wide, it’s actually disadvantageous for us instead.”

“I agree with Esta. If it was narrower, we could funnel the monsters down in to only facing a few at a time. But when it’s this open and wide, and is also a straightforward path, I don’t see us clearing this cave.”

“Chris, so what next? This ended in failure but, we did make a lot of progress today so should we return for today?”

I ended up falling into deep thought when Ralf questioned me so.

We had been perfect in our preparations, and it’s not like we’ll suddenly come up with a great idea to succeed next time just because we returned back either.

But, like Ralf said, it might be necessary to gather a huge group of people to go through that monster infested cave, so we might have no choice but to depend on numbers and hire a bunch of adventurers.

Which would mean, we would have to give on exploration for today. But…

“…………..Nothing will change even if return. And also, I have been thinking but, I think it might be best for me to challenge the cave of Bahamut on my own.”

“HAHH!? This again?? No way you’re going to be able to make it through that cave on your own dude!!”

“………..no, actually he may have a point. Chris-san has [Black Mist], and he also possesses multiple stealth skills. It’s because we’re with him that he can’t really use any of those things. We have been aware of that weakness for some time now.”

“But still, what if he did get detected by an enemy while he’s on his own? No chance he can take a big group of monster by himself!”

“But I can. Inside a cave, I can do what I did before and poison them with [Effect Spread] if I’m on my own.”

I put up another strong merit against Ralf who was vehemently against this idea.

It seems Esta seems to have already realized that me going by myself was more efficient as her expression was gloomy and she was frowning but she didn’t object to the idea either.

“But, the risk is way too high man!? I can’t let you go all on your own like this!”

“Regardless, after a certain point,  the cave becomes filled with deadly poison anyway so, we had already talked about how it’ll have to be just me alone from there. This just makes that happen a bit earlier, not much of a difference is it? Also………to face a [Sword God], I need “Vendettatein” no matter what. You understand that as well, right Ralf?”

“Well………yeah, but..”

“Ralf. Let us trust Chris-san and see him off.——–it will be alright. After all, this is Chris-san, we’re talking about.”

Ralf was getting emotional as Esta said so with a smile.

Still, he refused to his approval but……….after thinking for some time, it seemed like he had made his resolve as he slowly nodded his head.

“Sorry, for making you both worry over me so much.”

“Seriously! Chris, if you end up dying, I’m going to hold a grudge for the rest of my life okay!!”

“Relax. I’ll be back with Vendettatein in my hands at all costs.”

“Yes, we’ll be waiting here for you!”

“Aurf!!”

I left them and Snow behind the rock, and this time made my way to the Cave of Bahamut alone.

Now I don’t want someone to hate me forever so I better not die eh.

I slapped my cheeks to re-energize myself and then began the challenge of clearing the Cave of Bahamut on my own.