There the tunnel divided itself into five like she had seen it. One among them was even so narrow that it was impossible for people to walk through and so it could only be entered by crawling. However, the strange channel Sylvie had seen before was located in the middle of the five, and its topography changed dramatically, almost forming a deep slope when compared with the place they were standing now.
“It seems as if it is going straight down,” Nightingale said and held up the torch, “I feel as if this grotto is somewhat similar to the deep cliff of the Impassable Mountain Range.”
“Let’s quickly finish the inspection, then immediately turn back,” Lucia said in fright as she instinctively grasped on to Nightingale’s arm. “I do not like it here… I constantly feel as if something is staring at us from within the cave.”
“There is nothing in the cave, except for mud and stone,” Sylvie said, even though she didn’t like this quiet and moist place, her ability still told her that there was no danger. “The four on the left and right all contain no ore and are leading further away from the mining site.” She quickly finished the inspection of the leveled side roads, then moved her line of sight towards the front, only to immediately lose focus and release a faint, “…ah?”
“What’s going on?” Lightning asked.
“I… am unable to see the circumstances further down.”
“You cannot see it?” The little girl asked in disbelief, “Can it be that you are too tired and so your ability just don’t work?”
“No, my ability doesn’t have any problems,” Sylvie said and closed her eye, before opening it again, only to see that everything still remained dark, the same as if she had completely lost her vision. Enduring the on-coming headache, she tried to expand her field of vision further, but the results still remained the same, while the surrounding soil became clearly discernible. Only the pass in the middle was enveloped in complete darkness which was as thick as ink. “There seems to be something which obstructs my peeking.”
“You will all wait over here and don’t leave,” Nightingale ordered while simultaneously drawing her two shining silver weapons, “I will go in to explore the situation and immediately come back afterward.”
“Do not go!” Sylvie shouted, grasping her forehead in pain, “There exist only one thing that can produce such an effect. Even if you go, you will be in danger.”
“What is it?”
“God’s Stone of Retaliation,” Sylvie said through clenched teeth, “There is a God’s Stone of Retaliation underground, and it is covering that whole region!”
…
When Roland heard the news, he immediately mobilized soldiers of the First Army and led them into the North Slope Mine.
And the result of their inspection confirmed Sylvie’s guess; they discovered a large amount of God’s Stone of Retaliation at the bottom of the deep hole.
After determining that there was no danger, Roland also entered cave No. 23 with the protection of his personal guards. He wished to see for himself how the God’s Stone of Retaliation at the bottom of the mine looked like.
“Your Highness, please be careful,” Carter reminded him once more, “The exit is directly in front of us.”
“You are unable to use your magic here,” Roland said while looking back at Anna, Nightingale, and Lightning standing behind him, “Didn’t you learn it from Sylvie?”
“Even without magic, I will still be stronger than you. If you can go, I, of course, can also go,” Nightingale said disapprovingly.
“Wherever there is an adventure; I will also be there.” Lightning announced while puffing out her chest.
Anna however didn’t say anything, she merely stared straight into Roland’s eyes. Seeing the flickering flame from the torches in her clear eyes, Roland knew that regardless what he said it would prove to be useless.
“All right,” he sighed. “But you must stay by my side and don’t move too far.”
Coming to the end of the slope, Roland immediately understood the meaning of the Chief Knight’s words.
Suddenly his eyes became filled with light, and a vast and deep cavern then appeared in front of him.
Even without the aid of torches, he could still clearly see the whole cave since it was illuminated by the crystal prism like God’s Stone of Retaliation. He could see some majestic towers rising straight from the ground, with a diameter of twenty to thirty meters at the base which seemed similar to some very large neon towers.
Roland roughly estimated the size of the underground cave, the area below was almost the size of a football field, and was surrounded by steep mountain walls. The road connecting it with the other cave started in the middle of one of those mountain walls, and next to the tunnel entrance he could see a narrow stone staircase, which extended straight towards the bottom.
