I'm not a Witcher anymore.

Zoltan rushed forward first.

"Kling!"

A weak response came from beneath the rubble.

As Zig approached, he finally saw the person buried under the pile of stones.

It was a young dwarf, half his body buried under rubble and broken wood, his face pale.

One of his hands was still sticking out, clutching a broken pickaxe, which he used to strike the rock wall for help.

His fingers were covered in blood, his nails were cracked, and there was a blurry wound on his palm.

Zoltan squatted down beside him, his voice anxious.

"Hang in there, kid."

Klin barely managed to open his eyes.

"Watch out...they're nearby..."

Zoltan was taken aback.

Zig turned his head and looked into the depths of the mine chamber.

A piercing scream erupted from the depths of darkness.

Not just one.

Many.

The sound surged from the end of the mine shaft and crashed against the rock walls, like a pack of hungry beasts simultaneously smelling blood.

One by one, evil spirits crawled out of the shadows.

Their limbs were flat on the ground, their backs arched, and their grayish-white skin looked like dead flesh in the dim light.

The evil spirits at the front rushed forward the fastest, while those behind continued to squeeze out.

"Zoltan!"

Sieg sheathed Langrisser at his waist, and with a soft click as the blade went into its sheath, he took the yew longbow from his back.

With a flick of his knuckles, he simultaneously drew out three arrows with long, slender fletchings, wedging them between his fingers.

Sakia stepped forward, blocking the way.

Zoltan gritted his teeth, shielding the heavily injured Klin behind him, and gripped the handle of his battle axe tightly with both hands, the blade trembling with his heavy breathing.

hum-

Before the lingering echo of the bowstring's vibration had even dissipated in the air, the three arrows had already transformed into a series of afterimages.

The three demons that were the first to be hit didn't even have time to let out a complete roar before the cold arrows pierced their eye sockets with precision.

Their bodies fell backward, tripping and knocking their swarming companions into a heap.

Each time Zig's fingers reached for the quiver, it was accompanied by a short, sharp pop of the bowstring.

Arrow after arrow, the mournful screams were brutally silenced in her throat.

One after another, corpses with their throats or skulls pierced by bullets fell to the ground, and dark, foul-smelling blood quickly accumulated into small puddles on the slag.

But there were simply too many evil spirits.

Stepping over the convulsing remains of their companions, the horde of monsters finally approached, braving a hail of arrows.

They were met with Saki's greatsword.

The heavy greatsword brought with it a fierce gust of wind, sweeping out horizontally.

boom!

The massive steel object slammed violently into the three monstrous creatures.

A sickeningly loud crash of bones shattering rang out. The three monsters were as if they had been run over head-on by a galloping warhorse. Their breastbones collapsed instantly, and their bodies were sent flying, crashing heavily into the stone wall on one side.

Using the momentum of the sword's rotation, she spun around, the greatsword drawing a cold arc in mid-air before slashing horizontally in the opposite direction once more.

Thick blood mist exploded inside the mine.

Several more demons that had leaped into the air were cut in half at the waist, their mangled limbs mixed with black blood and entrails, splattering like rain onto the wooden beams and rock walls.

Zoltan stood guard in front of Klin, swinging his battle axe with both ferocity and precision.

The evil spirits that leaked in from the front were all cleaved in two by his axe.

The dwarf's rage was all focused on the axe blade; with each strike, it cleaved the ghoul's bones and skull.

But there are too many evil spirits.

Before the bodies in front had even settled, those behind climbed up by stepping on the backs of their kind.

Blood, bits of flesh, and the stench of decay filled the entire mine chamber.

Zig glanced into the depths of the mine, took out a North Wind bomb, unscrewed the copper band, and threw it towards the area where the demons were most concentrated.

A cold front suddenly spread.

The white frost spread along the ground and quickly climbed up the limbs and torso of the evil spirit.

The seven or eight most ferocious demons were frozen in place, their bodies still in a pouncing posture, their grayish-white skin covered with a layer of ice.

Saqia seized the opportunity and swept her sword across the room.

The frozen demon was struck by the greatsword and shattered into pieces, its severed limbs and ice shards flying out together.

Zieg's fingers touched the last arrow in the quiver.

The bowstring twanged, and the arrowhead pierced through the scattered ice mist, pinning a ghoul that was trying to pounce from Saqia's side and rear to the rock wall in mid-air.

Zieg reattached the yew longbow to his back.

He gripped the hilt of the sword at his waist with his right hand.

Languriza is drawn.

He shattered the ice shell on the ground, and with Swift Step, he swept across the shards of ice and cut into the heart of the battle ahead.

Zoltan never left Klin's side.

The screams in the mine chamber gradually subsided.

The last few demons tried to escape deeper into the mine, but Sieg didn't give them the chance.

He gave chase, but Langrisser slashed down from behind, killing the last few demons.

The mine chamber finally quieted down.

The ground was littered with the remains of evil spirits and shards of ice, and black blood seeped down into the cracks between the rocks.

The chill hadn't completely dissipated; even the breath we exhaled turned into white mist.

Zig only looked away after confirming that there was no further movement in the darkness.

……

When Zoltan dragged Klin out of the rubble, Sieg noticed that Klin's calves were crushed and deformed, his boots were full of blood, and there were several wounds on his side from the claws of the demons.

Those wounds weren't the deepest, but they kept bleeding, and coupled with the fact that he had been trapped in the mine tunnel for so long, he was close to losing consciousness.

Zig took out a weak healing potion from his pouch, uncorked it, held Klin's chin, and slowly poured the potion into his mouth.

Zoltan looked at him nervously.

"This isn't a witcher's potion, is it?"

"No." Zig put the bottle back in his pouch. "Ordinary people can drink it too."

After swallowing the medicine, Klin's rapid breathing became noticeably calmer, and the wound on his side stopped bleeding.

Sieg led the way, carrying Langrisser, followed closely by Zoltan with Klin on his shoulder, and Saskia brought up the rear with her greatsword.

When they returned to the mine entrance, the heavy mine gate was still lying in the quarry.

Zieg tapped the gate with the hilt of his sword.

"It's us who opened the floodgates."

Soon the voice of the guard captain came from outside, and then the winch next to the rock wall was turned again.

The sound of gears meshing rang out again, and the mine gate slowly rose along the stone troughs on both sides.

Dandelion and the captain of the guard then came forward to greet them.

Upon seeing that Klin was still alive, the expressions of the dwarf guards changed.

Without hesitation, the captain of the guard immediately ordered someone to take Klin away.

Seeing Klin's state, Dandelion also helped by handing over the spare blanket.

Once Klin was carried to safety, the captain of the guard immediately ordered his men to reverse the winch. The mine gate fell back into the quarry.

The group rested for an hour outside the mine entrance.

During that hour, Sieg re-examined the remaining North Wind Bombs and Ogre Oil. Sakia wiped the blood off her greatsword, while Zoltan sat by the stone steps, keeping a close eye on the mine entrance.

After resting, Zieg stood up.

The three entered the mine tunnel again.

The subsequent cleanup was not as dangerous as the first time, but it was not easy either.

The old mine tunnels were very deep, and many places were left in a mess by the evil spirits.

The three of them slowly advanced inside, clearing out any evil spirits they encountered, and stopping to check if anyone was in any mining chambers or suspected nests.

It took them several days to clean up the old mine tunnel beneath the gray ridge.

In the past few days, Sieg and his men rescued several surviving dwarf miners and also found some people who could not be rescued in time.