Chapter 262: Harpy Kingdom Revival 2

As if to prove that worrying thoughts were just that, thoughts, the Harpy Kingdom and Granny Pipi’s city were safe.

The only issue noticed on the way back was a couple of crumbled mountain peaks.

“Did you see, adventurers? The mountain, the mountain ahead has collapsed! …But who is this tiny child you’ve brought here?”

“Whoa, why is it so big?!”

“How rude, little one!”

Fortunately, Granny Pipi’s mountain was not on the creature’s menu.

Instead, we encountered the Harpy Queen, her feathers bristled in shock, having found the patrol routes of her kingdom’s harpies destroyed.

The collapse was massive, beyond a mere landslide.

Whole peaks had crumbled, erasing the upper parts of mountains, causing chaos even out of sight, with the rumbling noise stirring up a commotion.

Because of this, we had to cover the terrified harpy girl’s face with a piece of cloth, carrying her like one might transport a frightened bird or parrot.

As the somewhat awkward conversation among the harpies continued, I quietly stepped back, planning to call upon a larger harpy in advance, as we needed to gather stories not just from the Harpy Kingdom but also from Granny Pipi’s city.

Grace quietly followed me out, similar to how one might call a taxi ahead of time to catch an appointment.

Han Se-ah was busy encouraging donations from viewers by magically fixing the camera on two harpies, while Katie and Irene were listening to the stories.

Katie found the tales of giant monsters thrilling, and Irene, being naturally kind, listened attentively.

“Where are you going, Roland?”

“After we hear everything from this girl, we need to visit Granny Pipi’s city. With several mountains collapsed, the stone dwarves must have felt something too.”

“That makes sense. A quake strong enough to collapse mountains must have affected the underground city as well.”

Following the squawking conversation of the two harpies, we rode on a large black harpy down to the 43rd floor, where the underground city’s situation was beyond chaotic.

With intact mountains collapsing, the city of stone dwarves wouldn’t have been left unscathed.

“Ah, have you arrived?”

“Here, squishies.”

Leaving the Harpy Queen and the girl to their conversation, we descended down a cave, where familiar faces awaited us.

Among them was one of the 50 mages brought by Charlotte, and Old Bobo.

Should I say familiar voices instead of faces?

Ignoring such trivial thoughts, as I looked around, I noticed a pile of rubble.

It was a corner of the city that had collapsed, not from a fallen ceiling but crushed by something.

As our group’s gaze turned towards the devastated city, Old Bobo quickly brought up the subject.

“Look here, squishies. What happened outside? Suddenly, the ground shook, and they swarmed in. Look at this!”

“Is this boss loot?”

“A big one led a bunch of minions straight into the city, from over there.”

Pointing towards a dark, gaping hole in a corner of the crumbling city, Old Bobo presented a sharp, named-grade mana stone and a large bug’s jaw.

While we were outside, the underground city was fervently fighting against an invasion led by a king worm and its wriggling minions.

Even the combined efforts of fifty intermediate mages and the stone dwarves’ cannons couldn’t fully stop the named monster, slightly breaching their defenses.

As we looked at the large tunnel the creatures had come through, Han Se-ah mumbled,

“Ah, looking at the minimap, they came from the direction of the collapsed mountain. Did they avoid the boss monster? Maybe these bugs swarmed here because they didn’t want to be caught by the tentacles.”

Viewers rushed to her murmurs, eager to push Han Se-ah into confronting the giant worm boss.

They were sending Han Se-ah down the worm tunnel.

Urged by the chat and donations to quickly share the information ‘genius mage Han Se-ah’ had discovered with the group, she reluctantly approached and tapped Roland and Grace on the sleeves.

“Roland? Grace?”

“What’s up, Han Se-ah?”

Swallowing her saliva, Han Se-ah called us, prompting an immediate response from Katie.

Knowing she had a reason for calling the tank and scout first, Katie briskly approached with Irene to join the discussion.

With Katie and Irene, Old Bobo holding the loot, and the representative of the intermediate mages awkwardly lingering without further instructions from Charlotte, Han Se-ah began to speak under everyone’s gaze.

“It looks like these creatures came to the city to avoid the giant creature that turned the city of the stone dwarves on floor 43 into ruins. From what we saw outside, mountains on floors 44 and 43 collapsed, and large tentacles emerged, capturing goats on the surface.”

“So, that creature is roaming around here, huh?”

“It looks like we’ll have to enter that tunnel to chase it.”

Upon hearing Han Se-ah’s words, both Old Bobo and the mages listening in turned visibly apprehensive.

Having struggled to fend off a wave of underground pests, the thought of stepping into the tunnel from which the creatures emerged was daunting.

Of course, Han Se-ah, having soaked up donations, was not inclined to lead all the stone dwarves and mage minions into the fray.

With the wave already passed, she probably thought the pursuit could be handled by our party alone.

I was thinking along similar lines.

Our party wouldn’t likely be outmatched by slow-moving underground pests in a situation where there’s nothing to defend.

However, if we start pursuing directly, things might change, but we should be fine.

“So, let the mages stay behind in case of emergencies to protect the city, and we’ll move on our own. It’s a bit much for dozens of people to crowd into the tunnel anyway.”

“Katie’s right. We might not sense any monsters right now, but moving all together would be inconvenient.”

Grace and Katie, who have reached a higher level of expertise, shared this thought.

Having fifty mages is a solid backup force, but it’s another thing to drag a crowd of merely intermediate-level individuals to hunt a boss.

With the two women confidently advocating this, due to their own advanced level and sense of duty as part of a hero’s party, no mage insisted on following.

After all, they joined because of the benefits Charlotte promised, so it would be stranger if they were eager to risk their lives chasing monsters.

[1. raei: hoxy was in english. apparently it’s internet slang for a korean phrase meaning ‘maybe’/’possibly, by any chance’ but in english.]