The tunnel ended in a thick stone wall, where there was a door reminiscent of a huge armored safe. It was semi-open and guarded by a dozen soldiers-mole, partly inside and partly in the room after the door. Another armored door was in that room, this time closed, door that was being monitored by two soldiers, with their ears close to it and to the wall.
It was what could be called a security vault, an intermediate space between the safe tunnels and those outside their control, a necessary precaution to move from one side to another, avoiding the danger of the threats that could be found behind the door.
They entered the room and the ones who were watching left, closing the first door behind them. Then, his companions opened the second door and closed it after crossing it. As they had explained to him, the others would check that the area was safe before opening the first door again, and they would listen until they came back, and called. Then, the first door would close again, and one of the soldiers would stay in the room to open the second.
The difference was evident in that forsaken tunnel. It was dirty, with parts of the roof and walls that had broken, with an uneven floor and full of holes. Until that moment, he hadn't been aware of the dedication of the mole-people in the care of their tunnels, but now the contrast made it clear.
They walked slowly, with some explorers listening to the ground every few steps, because the sound is transmitted faster in a solid body than in the air. It wasn't long when the first warning arrived.
"There are two, they sound like beetles," one of them announced.
They soon found them. Two and a half meters tall beetles, black, with diffuse stripes of a dark red and level 40. The mole-people wanted to test their weapons, and the beetles' levels were a bit high for him, so he stayed behind, trying with arrows that couldn't pierce the shell of insects, and with Javelin, which barely scratched them. Their belly and head were vulnerable, but difficult to hit from a distance, so he couldn't actively participate in the battle.
With their new equipment, the extra blessings that the visitor had conferred to them, surpassing their enemies in number and level, they had no major problem to defeat those two insects. Eldi got a lot of experience because of the blessings, something for that he might have been called leecher in the game, but not in real live, because any help that provides security is welcome. The alternative if something goes wrong is not the respawn, but death.
Given the difference in level, if he had he managed to kill them alone, he would have risen several levels, but on that occasion he only rose one. A great reward for the little effort made. He was now level 32, and, as always, his stats had increased, and he had unlocked a new spell, Frozen Blast, analogous to the fire one but with the attribute of ice, which means less damage but the enemies' slowdown. It was also at 4.
And he had unlocked Abyss, an axe skill that creates a cut in space itself, pushing enemies towards it. It does little damage, but it is useful to interrupt, stop and confuse a large group of opponents, in addition to grouping them in one place. The latter made it especially interesting for area attacks, for which they used to rely on it often to farm when they were in a group. It was at 9.
Despite the shell's hardness and the difference in level, his assistant had no problem separating and removing the different parts, although only a small amount was for him, and because they didn't allow him to refuse. He considered that it was his companions' property, but they insisted, both for the blessings and for the incredible and fast work of the assistant, as well as for the weapons. They were delighted with them and their effectiveness.
There were four more beetles, and Eldi joined the fight, surprising those who didn't know his abilities and the wide variety of resources available to him. Unfortunately, they were lower leveled than the previous ones, so he failed to level up again, although he was close.
They also found a pair of earthworms, but they neither attacked nor were they hostile. They are shy beings, prey of some of the beings that live underground, and highly beneficial for the mole-people. They fertilize the earth, helping to grow fungi that serve as food, in addition that their narrow tunnels are sealed as they pass through them. They are appreciated, and their hunting is prohibited, although their meat is edible, if you know how to cook it, and you have a resistant stomach.
The tunnel wasn't very long, as it was only an access tunnel to a more extensive network, one that in the past had belonged to the mole-people. The expedition had made sure to review it thoroughly, always having a couple of members hitting the walls and listening to the reverberations, trying to discover if there were hidden dangers behind them, such as gaps that could belong to the hostile beings that inhabit the depths.
When they reached the end and found that the armored door, although open and somewhat rusty, was still functional, they were more than satisfied. And when they found out that the intermediate room and the second door were also fine, they almost shouted excitedly. Although they didn't, since that would have been an invitation to the beings that dominated the other side.
In fact, the room contained many of beetle eggs, and the exit was covered with dirt, to hide it. That was a delicious source of provisions, so they called for a group to come to transport them, a group that would join the one who had been waiting for the call of this scouting party. They had the mission of securing, cleaning and repairing the tunnel, and the others tunnels that the scouting party could secure.
Eldi's group would wait for them there, resting and performing the essential safety work, the most important of which was to ensure the proper functioning of both doors, which required to grease them, clean them and reapply sealing and alarm enchantments, specialty of a woman-mole of level 41 who was with them.