"Boom! Boom! Boom!" He raised his wrist, and his hammer-wielding arm fell like a whip, the hammer repeatedly striking the same point at a high speed and steady rhythm.
Strange ripples shook the air, a trace of lines appeared on the impenetrable rock surface, and in a very short time quickly spread.
After dozens of hammer strikes, it suddenly seemed to reach a special critical point, the rock collapsed with a "crash" and shattered, the surrounding area of two to three meters broke into chunks ranging in size from a fist to a head.
"Whew—" Dwarf Sorin exhaled a long breath, his chest heaving violently.
Don’t be deceived by the seemingly small amplitude of the hammering just now, and the use of a small hammer, as it consumed a fair amount of energy.
Skills and control needed to be extremely precise for the shock waves created by the hammer strike to achieve the current explosive effect.
"Well done." Gauss nodded approvingly.
Heroes should never be underestimated.
If it were him, trying to shatter such a vast rock area in a short time would indeed be quite challenging.
Sorin’s storm-like hammer strikes relied more on finesse, purely relying on brute force would be inefficient.
"Let’s all pitch in."
After some clearing and cleaning, a narrow, downward-sloping crack full of plant roots appeared before everyone. It resembled more a natural fissure than a formal entrance, barely big enough for one person to bend and enter.
The crack was pitch black, emitting a cold, damp earthiness and a faint rust smell.
No one hurried to enter.
Instead, they handled the piles of stones and other traces outside before turning their gaze back to the crack.
After all, this was on the patrol routes near the demon camp, caution was necessary.
"I’ll go first." Sorin spoke up, stepping up to take the lead.
He spoke while patting his thick breastplate: "If anything comes charging out, I can withstand it."
"I’ll be second." Gauss chimed in.
However, before formally entering, a spell protection needed to be applied.
Gauss’ [Gauss Force Field] was already taken care of, as before arriving, everyone had been enveloped in a layer of Gauss Force Field.
Although the protective effect on others was far less effective than on himself, the automatic upgrade to the 2nd Ring effect was powerful enough.
Next came the enhancement spells from Serdur and Elton, focusing on Sorin and Gauss.
When everything was set, Gauss and Sorin, in perfect condition, led the team into the crack holding weapons enchanted with Light Spell.
And at the rear, Aaliyah used Entanglement Technique to control vine growth to seal the exit.
...
"Tap, tap!"
The sound of water droplets hitting cold rock echoed in the passage, sounding distinctly clear.
The bright light provided by the Light Spell dispelled the darkness and allowed everyone to see the surroundings clearly—a manually excavated corridor, with walls of typical dwarf craftsmanship, square and solid, now covered in some slippery fungi, each step bringing a sticky sound.
Gauss followed behind Sorin.
Although Sorin volunteered to go first, in reality, Gauss seemed no different from taking the lead.
Exposed to more vulnerable positions than Sorin.
Perhaps this was the dwarf’s advantage.
The corridor extended for several dozen meters before branching into two paths, forming a Y-shaped junction.
Deeper parts were swallowed by profound darkness.
"Which way should we go?" Sorin asked in a rumbling voice, his stocky body blocking the front, wartime hammer never released from his grip.
Gauss’ gaze also turned towards the two paths.
In his mind, he unconsciously recalled the descriptions Sorin introduced about this workshop ruin in recent days.
The dwarf workshop mentioned in Sorin’s found texts seemed not to be naturally abandoned, but instead suddenly lost contact.
Although hundreds of years had passed, long enough to erase many oddities, caution was still needed.
"Why don’t we take the left?" Sorin scratched the back of his head, seeing no one else spoke, he proposed.
"Alright." Gauss nodded.
His gaze swept to the right passage, there were almost imperceptible traces on the ground.
While the left passage had more air flow indicating a larger activity space, crucially, the right side was too quiet, disconcertingly quiet.
Despite coming to this judgment through careful observation, Sorin managed to quickly reach the same decision, surprising Gauss.
Additionally, throughout the journey, Sorin seemingly exhibited some special decisiveness multiple times.
Recalling Sorin’s earlier moves, Gauss faintly sensed something.
A natural talent?
The group continued into the left passage.
Sure enough, soon a larger space appeared before them.
"Wow!!"
"So many weapons."
This seemed to be a workspace with a temporary storage area.
Weapon racks and workbenches casually held many weapons.
Unfortunately, approaching cautiously, they regretfully found most iron tools severely eroded.
Their form and shape had fundamentally changed irreversibly, severely rusted, covered in rust pits.
The surface completely enveloped in a thick reddish-brown rust layer, many weapons cracked, splitting into several fragments.