As the Earth Guardian's body crumbled, the spike walls also fell back into the ground. Those who were waiting inside quickly jumped in to see what happened.

Alten was the first to speak after seeing the guardian's new state, "You did it!" He exclaimed joyfully, jumping up to Lyrian who was standing at the top of the rock pile.

The others followed, but Lyrian wasn't as celebratory as them. Instead, he fell to his knees due to an excruciating pain that suddenly assaulted his stomach.

'What the hell... where is pain coming from?' He questioned, gripping his stomach to try and ease the pain that only seemed to be increasing by the second.

[You have consumed a lethal substance]

[You're immune system is failing to defeat it]

[Health: 55/62]

[Health: 51/62]

[47/62]

...

'What!? At this rate, I'll die!'

[...]

'Gear! If my immune system can't win against this substance right now, then don't allow it to fight!'

[If I did that, the substance would float around a certain part of your body until it regressed to its normal position]

[Are you sure you want to do this?]

'Yes! I don't have any other choice!'

[Good choice]

[The lethal substance: Molten Essense, will be transferred to your neck until it regressed to its natural possession]

...

[Tranfer completed]

Finally, the burning waves of pain conceded as Lyrian panted a few heavy breaths of relief. Touching his neck, he could feel that it was warmer than usual.

Seeing Lyrian in this state, Leon said, "Lyrian? Are you alright?"

The others also looked concerned, waiting to hear Lyrian's response, "Yes, I'll be okay for now, no need to worry. What's important is, this bastard is dead. Now, we can enter the cave." Lyrian said while standing.

"Hey, what the hell's wrong with you're neck? It's yellow for some reason?" Han said, noticing a large yellow spot on Lyrian's neck.

"Oh, this? To be honest, I ate the yellow essence in the guardian. That's how I beat it." Lyrian directly said, looking at Han with a straight face.

Han's jaw dropped to the floor, as everyone else that heard Lyrian was also equally shocked, "What the hell did you say?" He said in shock.

"Hahaha!" Leon suddenly burst out into a hearty laugh, "Good one! I wouldn't think of that!"

Alten could only sit back and facepalm. Lyrian spent a few seconds explaining exactly how he beat the guardian, and after everyone had their share of surprise, they all decided to enter the cave.

Upon reaching the entrance, Arthur stopped walking and spoke, "The cave will likely have many beasts, probably extremely powerful. Make sure you guys don't stray from the group. Firstly, we will drop off Lyrian and the others at the Dwarfen village, and then head on our way. Let's focus on actually making it there first though."

Everyone nodded, showing they understood. "Everyone ready?" Arthur said once more, as everyone entered the cave.

The large cave entrance that was about 20 by 20 feet in height and width stretched long and had a slight downward tilt. As everyone walked in, several large bats, the size of basketballs, quickly stormed out in a loud group.

When they walked in, the cave expanded after only a few minutes, now reaching 50 by 50 feet in height and width. The walls were coarse and rough, the roof full of stalactites while the sides of the floor next to the walls were full of dense stalagmites. The floor everyone walked on was dry dust. There were also pillars of the two that met in the middle and spread around.

All in all, the environment was undoubtedly creepy, but the various-sized amber crystals spread around naturally made sure to keep the cavern semi-bright, casting a dim amount of vision everywhere so no one was fully blinded by the darkness.

After walking for an hour, all signs of daylight ceased to show, as the cave straightened out for a while. While walking, the group saw many separate directions and separate pathways of caves but stuck to the main one following the map.

"Damn, how long is this going to take," Cedric said, now awake. For the past hour, he was carried on Hugo's shoulders.

"Shut up, moron! It feels like you've been sound asleep for the entirety of this exam by now. You were even knocked out during the fight with the Earth Guardian." Silas retorted at Cedric angrily, seemingly frustrated.

"What did you say brat? You wanna go?" Cedric seriously replied, putting his hand on his hilt.

"Oh yea? Just try it." Silas said, grabbing his wand.

"Stop it! The both of you! What's your guy's problem anyway? Talking will only waste energy, and you guys are over here arguing away, eating at our ears. Just be quiet and walk!" Han yelled in the midst of the two, wanting peace.

"You all really are useless." Hugo also chimed in, "Instead of arguing how about you strategize on how to fight or something."

Hearing this, Cedric immediately retorted angrily, "What did you say fatty!? You wanna learn how to fight, ill teach you how to fight!"

As the group argued a few, quiet but quick footsteps suddenly sounded in front of them. With the size of the cave, any such sound could echo throughout, so the group immediately heard it and quieted down, their guards subconsciously aroused.historical

"What the hell was that?" Alten questioned in uncertainty as the group slowed down.

"They sounded like footsteps, small ones," Arthur said.

"They were quick though," Han added.

After walking for a little while longer, they arrived at footprints in the ground.

Seeing them, Lyrian instantly realized what the footsteps were from, "These are... from goblins." He said, alerting the group.

*KREEE*

A goblin ran at the group from behind as they all turned to face it. It had a rusty dagger in hand, looking like any other average goblin.

As it jumped to attack Han who was situated at the back, Han simply grabbed it by the neck and threw its dagger to the floor. As it cried and squirmed, trying to escape from the grip, Han punched it in its long nose with a calm expression.

It was instantly knocked unconscious, "This guy wasn't the smartest fellow huh..." He said, throwing the goblin's limp body in the air as he took out his sword and sliced it in half, taking the core inside and putting it into his pouch.