Ars opened his eyes. He woke up with a sleeping position leaning against the wall of the cave passage.

He felt his head as he gets up. 

"The fk happened to this place?"

The reason why his head hurt because the surrounding air was getting thinner.

"[Spirit of the Dragon]!"

Ars called out Fafnir's spirit and filled the air with reddish mana. 

He could breathe better than before. But then a question popped out in his head. 

"But why was the air getting thinner?"

They currently indeed inside the belly of the mountain, which was very far from the exit. So maybe that was the reason the air gotten thinner. 

"Or this tunnel has been passed."

That is the most accurate possibility.

Indirectly he entered the original passage where they entered before entering the large cave. 

Plus, even though it was moving slowly, Ars could see the mana around was moving to the right from his position. The position where the large cave and his companions are.

The old diggers were terrified. It causes their breathing to become heavy and depletes all the limited oxygen present in the passages.

___________

Western Great Mountain / Thousand Underground Passages 

[29th day of the Expedition]

~

"Hey, wake up!"

One by one, the party members collapsed due to the oxygen running out.

"Stop being rushed! That will make us end sooner!"

"Then you stop shouting! You breathed a lot of air in that scream of yours!"

"Then what you want me to do?!"

Because of panic, everyone became restless and hard to think straight. 

Then a *slam* sound heard from the middle of the cave. The Map Creator shut everyone's voices. 

"How is it, Dwalin? It's already the third day and we'll really end up in this place at this rate. That kid might have been getting out from this place and left us."

The supply also almost running out. 

"Even though we find our way back, not all of us going to make out."

They really were at the point of surrendering. 

Because Ars had left yesterday, the leadership automatically shifted to Dwalin. Even so, he couldn't do anything.

All that could save them at that time was a miracle.

"Wake up, old people!"

Someone suddenly shouted to them. That shout brings fresh air to the cave. The fresh air refresh their head. Came like a miracle come true. 

"Ars!"

Ars teleported to the table and sits in his chair. 

At first, they were going to be mad at him because he left them for one day. But he came back while bringing fresh air and a confident face.

"Did you find anything after one day of your departure, Ars?" asked Dwalin.

If he came back with that confident face, then he must have had figured out something to get them out from there. 

Ars pointed to the passages through which he just entered. "That hole is our way back."

Dwalin, Map Creator, and the rest of the member who is awake surprised at that. 

"Then let's get out from here!"

Map Creator became the first one who voiced the party's wish.

However, the expedition has a different order. 

"No. If we enter that way, we won't be able to finish this expedition."

Ars was really arrogant with his order. He did not think of his member. 

Of course that increases Map Creator anger. 

"So you mean we're going to take another path at random and get even more lost in this infinite passage?! Don't you think that's really stupid and you think we will follow your orders after all this?!"

Once again, Map Creator voiced the opinion of the party about Ars. Even though he is an Emperor, all of them, with high pride, looked at Ars with a cynical gaze.

They will not follow Ars again and will fight to get their freedom if they had to. 

Despite being hated by all the members of the expedition, Ars remains calm. 

"I see you won't follow my order."

Not wanting to be humiliated, Ars showed his power by emitting an aura that was stronger than all of them.

Of course, that increased their awareness. They clasped their hands, and some grabbed their weapons. In case Ars actually going to attack them. 

"But what if that order came from this old man?"

Surprisingly, Ars pointed at Dwalin with his words. That indirectly told them that Ars was no longer the expedition leader. 

"Ars, you mean..."

Dwalin a bit loose at the scenario. All the members also feel the same. 

So Ars explains the detail. 

"I just got out of here and met Alex."

"Alex? Do you mean King Alexander?"

___________

North Coast Palace / 

"You sure making your life happy, huh?"

"Master!"

Alex jumped from the office's sofa. In Ars's body, behaving like a worker who is lazying around and scared when the boss comes is really annoying.

Ars walked to his chair, then asked: "Are there any signs of Echidna's appearance?"

"Uh, no. Not yet. Hilda with his warrior currently on an expedition to look over on all Floor 2 region to search for that Virtue. But there is no sign of her appearing yet. Or that Virtue already dead from the start, and Hilda just didn't want to let us down to 3rd Floor."

That may be true. But Ars still did not want to take the risk. 

"By the by, is your expedition success, Master?"

It had been one month since Ars left on the expedition to conquer the Great Mountain. 

But that is not the case. 

"No. I am back to ask you something."

To think Ars wanted to ask a favor from him once again, Alex felt proud of himself. 

"Ask me anything, Master!"

"Tell me the story when you conquer the Easter Great Mountain and found the Luminous Cave Town."

Alex a little confuses at Ars request. Because – 

"However, I conquered the territory, Master."

Ars forgot that he already asked about that.

"I want to hear the detail. How do you find that cave back then?"

If that the question, Alex can understand.

"About that!"

Alex was just trying to escape from the Spear Saint. By entering the Thousand Underground Passages as a monster from the territory until he found the location of what was now Luminous Cave Town.

"And to my surprise, that place is in the middle of the belly of the Great Mountain!"

__________

"We need to get into the Luminous Cave of this mountain."

Ars just finished telling about Alex and immediately gave that order.

"Wait, so, what are you telling is every Great Mountain has their own Luminous Cave? And we need to get to that middle cave to be able to get into the other side?"

That was the conclusion that Dwalin could get from Ars' story.

However, Ars did not answer Dwalin's question. He seemed to want Dwalin to figure out the rest after all of that information. 

Dwalin begins to think while looking at the map. 

"Have you reached anything?"

Map Creators returned after marking their way back.

With his finger, Dwalin draws a line from their current position to the mountain's belly. 

"That means we have to go south."

Now they know which direction they were. 

"So we have to enter that tunnel."

Dwalin pointed at the passages which next door with their way back. 

"Are you sure about this, Dwalin?"

Map Creator asked the expedition leader's decision. He was more able to trust Dwalin as an old friend than Ars. But he thought going back might be a better idea. 

"I'm not sure either. But, looking back at our previous routes, none of them were actually pointing straight west. So maybe the path we took is correct, and I have a hunch, that we will reach the bowels of this mountain from that passage."

Dwalin's words fostered trust in his members. 

The trust once lost, comes back to finish what they started.

"Then let's fill our belly first before going."

Ars get up from his chair and took out two boxes of food supply. 

The chefs begin to cook for their hungry member.

At that time, Ars sits with the party. Even though he sits on a nice chair, while the other members are sitting on the ground or rocks.

~~~~~~~

[30th day of Expedition]

They continued the expedition. Their direction was to the south.

~~~~~~~

[31th day of Expedition]

Surprisingly enough, their current passages do not have many branch aisles like before. It increases their confidence that they are on the right track.

~~~~~~~

[33th day of Expedition]

"That end is so bright."

They got a view of an end of the passage which had a bright light.

There they suddenly realized one thing. Then begin to run to the end of the passages. 

After reaching the end of the passages, they found a cave that was bigger and beautiful than the previous one.

"It's...."

"THE LUMINOUS CAVE! WOOOHOOOOOOO!"

One of them jump down to the cave. The others followed. All of them filled with joy and tears of happiness. 

"We did it!"

"Finally, after one month!"

"Yeaaaaaaahh!"

They hugged and jumping with each other. Some even fell in relief. Their fatigue, hard work, and the decision not to give up eventually led them to unmatched success.

"This place, have three passages."

Map Creator looking at three passages, the remaining two probably point east and west.

"Where do you want to go, Ars?"

Ars for some reason, not stopping and still walking to the west passages. 

"To the other side!"

Even though they had arrived at a definite stopping point, Ars didn't want to stop and wanted to continue their expedition.

It invites the other members to follow him from behind. Because their expedition wasn't really over yet.

~~~~~~~

[35th day of Expedition]

Just like the south passages of Luminous Cave, the west passages directed straight forward without many confusing branches. 

Until they found the end of the passage, which gave off a bright yellow light.

"IT'S MILD YELLOW STONE!"

Finally, they broke through the Great Mountain and were on the other side of their starting, the Northwest Region.

[Expedition to Conquest the Great Mountain Completed]

Everyone in the party was so happy about their achievement. But for one person, Ars, he somehow emitting vigilance aura. 

"What's the matter, Ars? Is there something wrong?"

For some reason, Ars looking at south. He also took out his sword. 

"There is something really big crawling on the south."

After said that, he teleported. Leaving Dwalin in question.