I Have a Task Log

The few Drow glanced at each other and pulled down their hoods.

They put away their weapons, lowered their heads, and said, "Our deepest apologies. We were in too much of a hurry and didn’t assess the situation clearly, which led to this misunderstanding."

Exhausted, Colin collapsed to the ground again.

He gave a weak wave of his hand in response.

The leader among the Drow stepped forward and pulled off his hood.

He was a Drow with short, silver hair. Like most Drow, he was handsome, with features that held an unnerving aggressiveness.

He wore Drow-style Leather Armor with a Scimitar hanging at his waist. A single glance was enough to tell he was a powerful, battle-hardened Warrior.

The Drow spoke in a rather neutral voice. "The underground is too dangerous, so none of our Priests are here. All we have are two Healing Potions. I’m afraid most of your injuries will have to be treated with bandages and ointments for now."

Seeing Colin’s discomfort, Ale stepped forward. "That’s what we were planning to do anyway."

"Then let us help," the Drow said with a slight nod.

Of the five of them, Colin and Orelia were the most severely injured.

Although Kase and Ale’s injuries weren’t light, both were in fairly good spirits, so the two Potions were given to Colin and Orelia.

After drinking the Potion, Colin slowly began to recover.

At the same time, with the passage of time, he could feel the symptoms of his poisoning abating slightly. However, a full recovery would probably take an hour—at least, that’s what the book said.

While the group tended to their wounds, the unoccupied Drow tidied up the battlefield a bit.

The short-haired Drow who had spoken earlier saw the bodies on the ground. He walked over and asked in surprise, "Did you kill all these Drow?"

"Yes, four Drow and four giant spiders," Colin said after a moment’s thought. "I think there were six giant spiders when the fight started. The Drow’s Priest must have summoned them."

"You really killed them?" the short-haired Drow continued. "I mean, without any help."

"Who the hell could help us in this godforsaken place?!"

Seeing the other’s disbelief, Kase grew angry, feeling as if his strength and honor were being questioned.

Dorn chimed in, "We fought back and won after being ambushed. That’s much harder than defeating them in a frontal assault."

"Forgive me," the short-haired Drow said. "These were three elite Samurai who completed their training at the Fighting Martial Tower, and that Priest was a Middle-tier Priest who graduated from the Spider Academy. This Drow squad was not weak."

"Otherwise, they wouldn’t have tried to ambush an Adventurer party," Colin said.

"But you’re just field agents, Black Robes... Have humans on the Surface become this strong?"

"Actually, we’re about to be promoted to the third rank, White Blade. The only reason it hasn’t happened is that the other squad promoting with us had their own business to attend to," Colin said candidly.

"I see. May I ask your names? And your squad’s name?" the short-haired Drow asked with a slight nod. "I am Lirel Shadow Blade, the one in charge of the Five-Stringed’s operations in the underground of Thousand Masts City."

"Our squad doesn’t have a name. I’m Colin." After Colin spoke, the others also stepped forward to introduce themselves.

"I will remember you all," the short-haired Drow said with a nod.

As they were chatting, a Drow who had been doing a quick survey of the battlefield hurried over.

He spoke a few words to the short-haired Drow in a language Colin didn’t understand, then turned and pointed at the newly revealed secret room.

"What’s with that secret room? I don’t remember this chamber having that area."

"I accidentally backed into it while fighting those Drow, and the wall just vanished," Colin said.

"We didn’t notice any trace of it when we looked earlier..." Ale walked over, her face wrapped in bandages, which made her look a bit comical.

She continued, "It must have been concealed with High Tier Magic."

The group then got up and walked toward the secret room.

Colin glanced at it from a distance.

The inside of the small room was just as he had seen it before. Other than a coffin and a few shelves, the room was empty.

Looking closer, Colin saw that the snow-white coffin was also covered in intricate carvings. It roughly depicted a female Elf with her hands placed over her abdomen, holding a strange flower.

The skill of the relief carving was exquisite, one might even say it was divinely crafted.

The carved female Elf was so lifelike you could almost see an ineffable lightness in the folds of her stone-carved dress.

The male Drow who called himself Lirel froze the moment he saw the relief.

He slowly stepped forward and carefully examined the relief on the wall.

Colin, who was following him, stopped at the entrance to the room.

He glanced at the expressions of the other Drow. They were all stone-faced, but a strange emotion was clearly visible in their eyes.

Lirel stepped forward, gently touched the relief on the wall, nodded slightly, and uttered a word. The other Drow all did the same.

Colin asked, "Do you know what this room is?"

"Of course. This is a relief of the Dark Maiden. A respected hero must be interred here, as only such a person would be worthy of a tomb of this significance," Lirel said.

’That makes sense,’ Colin thought. ’After all, besides the main burial chamber, there’s also a false tomb. There’d be no need to go to such lengths for someone who wasn’t of high status.’

Colin recalled what he had read in books about the Dark Maiden.

The Dark Maiden, Eilistraee, was the eldest daughter of the Spider Goddess, Lolth.

The Spider Goddess, coveting the position of the Elf Main Deity, started a civil war against her own husband. After her defeat, she was exiled to the Bottomless Abyss, and her followers were banished to the underground, becoming the Drow of today.

This event marked the beginning of the decline of the Elf race.

As an innocent party coerced by her mother, the Dark Maiden could have been pardoned by the Elf Main Deity. But to protect the Drow who had not yet lost their conscience, this inherently good-natured Goddess resolutely descended into the Underworld.

In the Underworld, only a very small number of Drow who held onto their goodness and yearned for freedom would risk utter annihilation to secretly worship Eilistraee.

Colin thought to himself, ’If this relief is of the Dark Maiden, then the statue I saw earlier must have also been of this Deity.’

"Can you tell when this tomb was built?" Colin asked Lirel.