The Exiled Lord: My Maid is a Battle Goddess

Phield cautiously moved closer and took a look inside.

The pitch-black pit reeked so badly that the stench nearly made him pass out.

"My lord, please step back for now. I’ll go down and take a look."

Ashina crooked her finger, and Drakewolf immediately stepped forward. With a swipe of its claws, it tore away the covering vines, then unleashed a burst of deep blue dragonfire into the hole, burning the surrounding tendrils to ashes.

After waiting for a moment and allowing more air to flow into the pit, Drakewolf leapt down agilely, with Ashina following close behind.

"I’ll go too."

Tisiana covered her nose, gazing downward for a long time, equally curious about what lay inside.

"Stay up here." Phield scanned the jagged mountains around them and said in a low voice, "This place is close to the viscount’s territory. If the corrupted launch an attack, Ashina and I won’t be able to get out. Stay here and keep watch."

"Alright, I’ll listen to you. But be careful."

Tisiana’s expression suddenly changed as she pointed at the pit. "My lord, something’s burning down there. Did Miss Ashina run into danger?"

In the pitch-black underground cavern, a faint blue flame suddenly ignited. As divine power surged, the fire grew larger, splitting into more than a dozen ghostly dragonflames that floated in the air.

"Ashina’s control over divine power is becoming more and more refined. That’s the unique flame of a draconic wolf. Although it burns, the damage it causes is frostbite. It doesn’t even consume oxygen while burning. I have no idea how that works."

Phield shook his head, tied a rope around his waist, grabbed another with his right hand, and quickly descended.

With the fire illuminating the surroundings, Phield could clearly see the environment.

"These stone walls and carvings couldn’t have formed naturally."

Ashina ran her hand across a large rock, revealing all sorts of strange engravings on its surface.

Looking around, they found themselves in an underground cavern.

"Where did the slave who fell down go?" Phield crouched and saw impact marks on the ground, along with faint traces of blood. "A slave definitely fell here."

"He was probably taken by corrupted creatures."

Phield sniffed the air, then sneezed and pointed north. "The smell here is unbearable. Maybe it’s that way."

"Mm, I can hear the sound of a waterfall."

Listening closely, Phield could hear the rumbling of water. Just as he was about to step forward to check, Ashina grabbed him.

"My lord, in unfamiliar places, you should always release your perception."

Ashina covered her mouth and chuckled. She casually picked up a stone and tossed it onto the ground ahead of Phield. The stone sank slowly into the ground as if falling into a swamp.

"What is this?"

Taking two steps back, Phield wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. Only then did he realize that the ground ahead was actually writhing.

"It’s an underground river, but it’s clogged with a massive amount of corruption."

With a snap of her fingers, Drakewolf immediately blasted the surface of the river. Accompanied by shrill squeals, a large patch of corruption was burned to ashes, revealing the dark waters of the underground river beneath.

"Good thing you noticed."

Phield quickly patted Ashina’s head as a reward, then let out a surprised sound. "Where does this underground river come from? Let’s follow it. If it flows from the viscount’s territory, we can just collapse the pit directly."

The two of them moved quickly along the underground river.

To Phield’s shock, the further they went, the thinner the gray mist became, and the amount of corruption clogging the river gradually decreased.

After about fifteen minutes of travel, the gray mist disappeared completely. The underground river turned into a murky, stagnant color, and the current flowed toward the mist-covered region, meaning there was no corruption upstream.

"This place hasn’t been contaminated. Can this water be drunk?"

Phield was overjoyed. Although the underground river before them looked deep and dark, solving the water supply problem would be a tremendous gain.

Ashina crouched by the river as well, reaching out to scoop up some water.

In the dark water, however, was reflected a large mass of discolored cocooned corpses hanging above them.

"My lord, watch out above!"

Ashina immediately drew her sword and took a defensive stance.

Looking up, they saw white cocoons hanging overhead, each containing a wrapped corpse.

"There are people. That one is the slave from the revolt."

Scanning the area, Phield quickly recognized the slave. He was long dead, perhaps from the fall or perhaps killed by monsters. His body was twisted and tightly wrapped like a mummy, hanging high above.

A chill ran down Phield’s spine as he instinctively glanced at his mini-map.

"This is bad. Enemies are approaching!"

Perhaps due to the noise they had made, numerous red exclamation marks suddenly appeared on the map.

Accompanied by a scalp-tingling crawling sound, large spiders with entirely white bodies and red patterns poured out from all directions of the cavern. Upon closer inspection, the red patterns were actually flowing blood, forming eerie human faces.

"Corrupted spiders? Or magical beasts? They can move through the gray mist, so they should be corrupted creatures, but they look far too alive."

Before Phield could analyze further, Ashina had already made her move.

She drew her bow and released an arrow infused with winter divine power. Like a streak of silver light, it instantly blew apart a spider into a mass of red and white fragments.

"Screech!"

The surrounding spiders lunged forward. Drakewolf’s scales gleamed as brilliant flames burst from the gaps between them, turning the surrounding air into a field of deep blue fire.

The spiders that charged forward were shattered in a single exchange. Wherever they were struck, a burnt stench filled the air.

Seeing their companions instantly killed, the remaining spiders revealed human-like fear. Their legs curled slightly as they shrank back timidly like turtles retreating into their shells.

Their gem-like eyes were filled with deep dread.

Phield drew the sword at his waist, about to attack, only to notice that the spiders were all trembling in fear.

"Huh? This is the first time I’ve seen monsters just wait to die."

Ashina casually cut one down, but seeing the spiders’ passive behavior, she immediately lost interest. "Such a foolish approach. Waiting to die won’t solve anything."

"Haha, rushing forward wouldn’t solve anything either."

Phield stared at the giant spider in front of him. A creature as large as a pig, yet so spineless.

Ashina waved lazily. "Black Wolf, burn them all with dragonfire."

"Wait. These docile creatures might be useful."

Noticing that the hostility markers on the mini-map had vanished, Phield realized these creatures were no different from herbivores. They would attack if provoked, but when faced with overwhelming strength, they allowed themselves to be controlled.

He poked one of the spiders with the hilt of his sword. It merely curled into a ball without any intention of resisting.

Phield examined them carefully, touching and observing, then nodded. "They’re definitely not corrupted creatures. But how are they able to pass through the gray mist?"

"My lord, many of their prey are also corrupted creatures."

Ashina shot down a cocoon with her bow. Inside was a corrupted deer.

"Natural selection, perhaps?"

Phield found it quite fascinating. "It doesn’t quite feel right. Otherwise, why haven’t we seen other animals immune to the gray mist? Aside from gray mist goblins... wait, these things couldn’t be offspring of a Holy Light Divine Chosen, could they?"

"No, no, what am I thinking." Phield slapped his forehead. His thoughts had clearly been influenced by Tisiana lately. With a helpless sigh, he said, "If only we could talk to monsters."

"Awwooo!"

Drakewolf approached, its fierce face appearing oddly intelligent in front of Phield. It tapped its own head with a thick claw, sparks even flying as the sharp claws struck its scales.

"You can talk to monsters?"

Phield was stunned. He had never known Drakewolf had such an ability.

"This is my first time knowing as well. Could it be due to its advancement?"

Ashina scratched her head awkwardly. As a Divine Chosen, she had not even fully grasped all the functions of her divine artifact.

Divine artifacts evolved alongside their Divine Chosen.

"Tell them to lie on their backs."

Phield gave a tentative command, curious whether Drakewolf could relay it.

Drakewolf raised its head proudly, letting out strange sounds from its throat.

Hearing it, the spiders immediately reacted, flipping over one by one until they lay on their backs, exposing their bellies.

"What the hell, that actually works?"