Chapter 369

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Chapter 369: Cave Dwellers

The deep Uldaman grew darker and darker, with only a little light coming in from somewhere to barely reveal the outlines of the ancient walls and stone pillars.

On the walls on both sides, there were countless carvings of small creatures facing the towering stone statues.

Greed inched forward against the wall, with Daggett following behind. It was very quiet here, only the occasional rumble could cover the careful footsteps of the three as they walked. Jesse couldn’t bring himself to ask Daggett in front of him about the meaning of these carvings.

But with the spirit of the Explorer Association’s research, they must know this.

The three walked deep into the corridor, not knowing how long they had been walking until they finally reached the first turn he mentioned. Before them was another long tunnel, with walls cracked by thousands of years of pressure.

Jesse stared at those dark cracks, always feeling like some ancient beings could jump out from nowhere to attack them.

At that moment, it seemed like there were two strange shadows swinging back and forth in front of them. The three immediately hid behind a large altar, as the sound of footsteps approached, followed by rough conversation.

The pathway was narrow, and the barrels weren’t big enough to hide the tracks of three people. If the two Rockjaw Troggs walked up, they would definitely spot the three people. Greed motioned to his neck, Daggett nodded, and Jesse gripped the sword handle.

As the footsteps approached the barrel, Greed swung his hammer and smashed the skull of one figure in the distance. The nearby figure trembled in fear and was immediately pierced through the mouth by Jesse’s Azuresong Mageblade, emitting a low crackling sound. Jesse pulled out the sword again and pierced the opponent’s skull, ending its life.

Their eyesight was clearly not good. When Greed moved forward, he hesitated for a moment. It was only when the Rockjaw Trogg fell that Jesse saw what this creature looked like.

It wore simple clothes and pants, tied with a leather belt made from an unknown animal’s skin, holding a stone-made dagger. Its arms and feet had thick and long claws, indicating that it was a species skilled at digging.

Its head was unbelievably large, almost one-third of its entire body. Its wide mouth was filled with disturbing sharp teeth, pointed nose, protruding brow bone, like a strange mix of a baboon and a dwarf.

What made Jesse uncomfortable was its hair and beard, sparse and thin, resembling a bald old man in his fifties or sixties. Seeing the deformed head lying crookedly was enough to make Jesse feel uneasy.

Jesse couldn’t understand why the creators of the dwarfs would make such a creature.

Another possibility was that the Rockjaw Trogg didn’t originally look like this when created by the Titans. Instead, it underwent a "flesh curse" and was twisted by the corrupting energies of the Old God’s temple, leading to its current form. Some scholars in Ironforge believed that Rockjaw Troggs and dwarfs were originally from the same group of creations, with Rockjaw Troggs being failed evolutions of dwarfs, although this theory was fiercely criticized by many other dwarf scholars.

However, when faced with a real Rockjaw Trogg, one would realize that these connections were not entirely baseless.

At the moment, the Azuresong Mageblade only had a faint glow under his cautious emotions. Its blade didn’t look overly sharp, but the ease with which it pierced flesh made Jesse feel a bit uncomfortable.

The Rockjaw Trogg lying before them with a sword wound to its neck and head also had some burning Arcane marks.

Making sure no other Rockjaw Troggs noticed them, Daggett pointed to a crack in the wall. Both nodded and dragged the two Rockjaw Trogg bodies inside.

The Rockjaw Trogg bodies were heavy and gave off a strong sweaty odor. Despite looking thin and dry, with rough skin clinging to bones, they felt lighter than dwarves except for their large heads.

After tidying up, Daggett nodded, took a breath, and continued forward. Approaching the exit of the passage, they could see faint flickering torchlight in the hall outside.

Greed glanced inside the exit, then frowned and gestured for Jesse to look inside himself.

Jesse curiously peeked inside, then immediately grimaced and turned back.

In the hall, three Rockjaw Troggs were crouched around a burning basin in a temple, eating roasted meat. The source of the meat was a group of mutilated Dark Iron Dwarves hanging from black hooks nearby, identifiable by their black skin and some red beards.

Greed was about to raise his hammer but was stopped by Daggett.

He pointed to the far end of the hall, where he could see another passage facing this one.

According to Daggett, if we go through this passage, we can enter the cave he mentioned.

If we make too much noise here, it might attract more Rockjaw Troggs, and it would be hard to deal with them when they come out.

Even though the Three Hammers had a civil war before, they are cousins who have lived together for countless centuries.

Seeing creatures similar to themselves being grilled and eaten by these twisted monsters made the two dwarves visibly uncomfortable.

The three of them turned out of the passage to the other side, quietly bypassed a statue, and moved towards the other side of the hall under the cover of shadows.

Luckily, the hall was big enough and empty, except for the group of Rockjaw Troggs eating, and a few Rockjaw Troggs with spears in the distance, guarding a door and having a conversation.

However, as they walked a few steps, even though they slowed down and walked cautiously, one of the Rockjaw Troggs eating noticed them.

It glanced over and said something to the other Rockjaw Troggs before heading towards them alone.

Greed realized this, instead of feeling nervous, he seemed more excited, as if he finally had the chance to have a showdown with this group of cannibal monsters.

Jesse held his shoulder, pointing far away at the Rockjaw Trogg in the shadows, quietly casting the Fear spell.

He spoke softly, like a whisper, and the Rockjaw Trogg shivered after being affected, looking more and more twisted as he trembled and ran back to the fire pit, clutching it and mumbling something.

His loud shouting echoed in the hall, drawing the distant Rockjaw Trogg to look towards the fire pit, allowing the three people to quickly move forward in the shadows, until they reached the entrance to the opposite passage.

The Rockjaw Trogg laughed while dragging the frightened Rockjaw Trogg to where the three people had hidden earlier, there was more laughter, and then they proceeded to beat up the scared individual.

Rockjaw Trogg were not truly intelligent beings after all, their minds were always lacking, taking advantage of the chaos to quickly slip into the passage. Even though these Rockjaw Trogg had poor eyesight, their hearing was sharp, making it hard to avoid being noticed no matter how careful they were.