The marching stopped. Dalgil and Airi were both staring at the ground.

“Huh, what happened? What is it?” Bogle asked, and Dalgil answered while turning around.

“We found traces.”

“What kind of traces?”

“Airi is looking at them,” Dalgil said calmly and inspected the ground. Chi-Woo was curious about what these traces were too, but he didn’t move from his position. From the last expedition, he learned that maintaining one’s own position while advancing forward was important. And thus, everyone was standing in their own spot on high alert while waiting for Dalgil to continue.

Dalgil looked intently at the hole and tilted his head. “A hole. By the width of it, I have a guess. Isn’t it that snakehead who has influence over this area?”

“If you are talking about the 17th-rank demon Botis, you are right,” Airi said.

Dalgil clicked his tongue and said, “If you think about his army of soldiers, it explains why there are holes everywhere on the ground. This isn’t good news for us.”

“I think it’s too early to say that though,” Airi said.

“Why?”

“Although the legions of anguses Botis command move underground, they usually leave more traces—not just holes, but a particular venomous stench.”

“I was informed that when Botis’ army tries to move stealthily, they don’t leave any traces besides holes.”

“That’s true, but this place could be seen as Botis’ territory even though we’re at the very edge of it. For what reason would they need to move so stealthily?” Airi...