Ethan watched as the seventh pile of rat bodies grew taller, nearly reaching his waist. The overwhelming stench of blood and decay saturated the air. Even Lia, who had been diligently buffing his minions without complaint, wrinkled her nose in mild disgust.

Ethan, however, was still grinning. He hadn't expected this job to be such a gold mine. His minions had been leveling rapidly, and he was getting closer and closer to finally stepping over that first barrier and crossing into E rank.

"Just a bit more," Ethan murmured, his eyes locked on the gaping tunnel in the ground. The number of rats coming out of that hole was ridiculous.

Just what was inside that tunnel? This was way beyond a simple infestation. This tunnel felt endless. No matter how many they killed, the tide of creatures didn't slow.

Ethan still did not know if he planned to go down the tunnel and check it out but he could always send one of his minions to scout. He rubbed his chin and looked at the tunnel as he silently thought about everything.

Soon, the thing that Ethan was waiting for happened. The rat horde started thinning down. "Lia, be careful. It's happening. Something stronger is about to come out," Ethan said, his eyes never leaving the dark tunnel. When an endless tide of weaker enemies began to slow, it usually meant their leader was about to make an entrance.

He did not waste any time and immediately summoned his wolves. Mana crackled in his palm as a mana bolt materialized ready to go. Whatever beast came through that tunnel, he was prepared to face it.

Seconds ticked by and soon the last of the rats scurried out of the tunnel. Ethan held his breath waiting for the next thing to pop out.

A bigger rat monster? Some type of mutated rat monster? Or maybe even snakes or something else? Logically it did not make sense for snakes and rats to exist together but hey this was a magic world. Who knew what was going to come out next?

He waited and waited but even after a few minutes, nothing was showing up. There was absolutely no movement at all.

Ethan furrowed his brows. That didn't make sense. There was always something at the bottom of a seemingly endless monster tunnel—some sort of leader, a stronger variant, or even a hidden boss. Yet, here he was, staring at an unmoving, gaping hole in the ground as if it had just given up.

"Master… could it be that the tunnel is empty?" Lia asked.

Ethan shook his head. "No way. Something has to be down there. I refuse to believe we've been killing rats nonstop for hours and there's nothing controlling them." His gut told him that the real threat had simply chosen not to emerge.

He exhaled sharply and made up his mind. "Alright, we're scouting. No way am I leaving this unfinished." He had already run away from the suspicious mine which still bothered him a little. If he again ran away from this tunnel, then… No. He did not want to run away again.

At the same time, he also did not plan to risk his life by blindly barging in. He dismissed his minions, except for Grug, and sent the goblin inside to report back to him. Grug was now level 16 and the goblin was very talented at evading and running away.

He sent the creature inside and stayed outside with Lia. The goblin moved quickly, his small frame making little sound as he navigated through the cramped, winding tunnels.

Ethan had no idea how deep the tunnel was and what lurked there. He was prepared to run at a moment's notice but contrary to all his expectations, the goblin popped out of the tunnel once again in just a couple of minutes.

"Hmmm?" Ethan raised a brow. "There is nothing inside?"

The goblin shook his head.

"So there is something inside?"

Unexpectedly the goblin lifted its finger and pointed at Lia. Ethan was confused but he then realized what the goblin was trying to say. "There is a woman inside?" The goblin nodded.

Ethan and Lia exchanged glances. A woman? Deep inside a monster-infested tunnel? That didn't make any sense. Maybe it was just a child from the village trapped in there? It felt very odd and suspicious.

In any case, it was not some treasure or beast nest down there like he wanted. Maybe the little girl needed saving which the villagers can take care of themselves. He had already cleared out the rats and there was no point in staying here any longer.

The corpses were also rotting. It was best to sell them fast when they were still fresh. As Ethan turned around to tackle the first pile of corpses, suddenly something heavy hit his head and the next second he completely blacked out.

"Master!" Lia shouted but she soon followed him.

"A couple of low-ranking bitches almost made me lose my job!" Hansen snorted in contempt. He dragged the two unconscious bodies back into the tunnel as it was bright daylight outside and he couldn't exactly kill these two in front of the villagers.

More importantly, one live human especially a level 25 human sold for 10 gold coins. The girl would probably fetch a little lower but hey, she was a looker so maybe she would also net the 10 gold coins. Why waste lives when you can sell them?

Hansen dragged them roughly through the dark, damn tunnel with Ethan's head banging the hard floor every other second. His head throbbed in pain as consciousness stirred within him.

His mind was sluggish, swimming through a haze of pain and disorientation. The first thing he felt was the cold, hard ground beneath him, followed by the dull ache at the back of his skull. He was moving—but not on his own accord.

Shit!

Soon the movement stopped. Forcing his eyelids open, his blurry vision slowly cleared. He saw Lia ahead of him, unconscious. Then he caught something else—the unmistakable glint of chains stacked along the tunnel walls.

A holding area. A prison. A goddamn slave den.