Bloodlines of the Ancient Pantheons

Chapter 399: CCCXCIX. The Useful Loot

"The fact that he already knew who you are is not a good sign... it means this 'Kranus' or whoever he is, has already trained his strongest soldiers to recognize you because maybe it's preparing another mission to try to steal your weapon. But the main question remains the same: why do they want your axe at all costs?" Kjell interrupted, meddling in the speech, and thinking aloud with his colleagues, asking for their opinion.

"My friends, it's better to deal with one problem at a time. There is no point in asking the reason of things are now, that we are more than a hundred meters below the surface. We must continue in that direction, kill the remaining wolves, plunder their resources, and climb upwards, taking advantage of the second entrance of the cave. Let's stay focused, there's no time to waste!" Dag replied, trying not to get lost in words and taking a particularly pragmatic attitude.

Egill, after those words, turned and walked toward the soldiers, who were patiently waiting for orders, as they looked around holding their torches, studying their surroundings.

He briefly explained to them that on the other side of that cave it would be possible to rise to the surface and that walking that stretch under the ground would help them not to be exposed to the freezing cold for the entire length of the route.

They would have headed north faster and in the meantime would also seek revenge against the wolves, who in addition to taking the lives of many soldiers, had drastically lowered the morale of the expedition group, now determined to track them down and kill them.

"Master Dag and Master Gridd will make their way, while Master Egill and I will be right after them. Don't make any noise and keep up! Eyes open, let the hunt begin!" Kjell exclaimed, taking advantage of the silence of the men attentive to Egill's words to galvanize them.

When he gave the order, Kjell looked at Dag, who reciprocated with a smile.

After Sander's accident, it seemed that the chain-warrior was really intent on accepting Dag's leadership and abandoning his mania to command others and have the upper hand.

Behind their Masters and the watchful Thalos, who was proving himself incredibly calm and faithful, the soldiers continued along the tunnel, following the only direction allowed.

After walking for more than a kilometer, the rock faces next to them widened and they found themselves in a second large rectangular room, similar to the initial one in size, but with a different geometric shape. 

Along the walls were dozens of small wooden huts, which could hold up to two people each, stacked next to each other.

Although they were not completely closed and did not have a door, after looking at them, Dag and his companions were convinced that they had to be dwellings.

"There's no one in here... look at that! There are beds in there! I think the Claws Of Fenrir used this area as a safe hiding place to rest and regain their strength by staying away from the cold" Gridd said, noting that the temperature at that point was two or three degrees higher.

"Mmmh... this place is intact, just as its inhabitants left it... if that man in the tunnel told the truth, his men couldn't even get to this point, so I deduce that the exit is still quite far from here" Dag said, making reasoning aloud, which caught the attention of Egill and Reidar, right next to him.

In less than ten minutes, paying close attention to where they put their feet, trying to spot hidden traps, the soldiers began rummaging through the huts, looking for something to put under their teeth.

When every single point was checked from top to bottom, they all gathered in the middle of the room, where Dag and Reidar had lit a small bonfire as a reference point for the others.

"Come closer... the report?" Dag asked, curious to know what they had found.

"There was some food in four huts, sir... it's a strange kind of meat, but it looks edible" one of the soldiers said, approaching the fire with some of his comrades and showing their finds to his Warchief.

"We didn't find anything to eat... but on the other hand, we found water! It seems that there are entire barrels full, I think they are the stocks of the inhabitants of this cave!" another Berserkr said, waiting for the compliments of his Masters, enthusiastic about his discovery.

"Very well... divide it by the number of soldiers. We will continue to walk, it is useless to stop already at this point, we are still far away from our objective" Dag ordered, taking a couple of pieces of dried fish for himself and others for Freydis, delivering them into her hands.

Soon after, he made his way to the water-filled barrels and filled his water bottle, taking a big sip and preparing to walk nonstop.

"Warchief! Warchief!" a soldier shouted from afar, reaching Dag, who had already started walking again.

"What happened?" 

"I found something else... it's not food, but I think you might be interested" the boy replied, handing over two rolled scrolls into the hands of Dag. 

He opened one of them and to his surprise discovered that it was a scroll that allowed him to learn skills of the Claws Of Fenrir Clan.

"Unbelievable, what are these doing here? Those who owned them didn't take much care of them, to leave them here unattended. I doubt that there is a library or a similar place nearby where you can find others, this cave does not seem to me to be the basis of a Clan, however large it may be. Anyway, you did a great job" Dag added, complimenting his soldier and putting the two scrolls inside his leather backpack, believing he'd take a look at them when they would stop for a break.

Following the tireless Dag and Gridd, the troops continued to advance inside the cave, which unlike the rough path to descend inside, was much easier to walk, without too many elevations and irregularities of the rock, which seemed to have been smoothed over time by the thousands of steps that had walked on it.