Ten people stood in front of a mine around 20 kilometers to the south of Starkhold.
Relatively close to the mine was a mining outpost where all the ore was gathered and transported.
Right now, the outpost was completely devoid of life.
Naturally, the Millards had pulled back all of their people until there was no more danger.
The mine was quite huge.
The entrance was a huge funnel-shaped hole with rails coming out of it.
The funnel itself was probably over 300 meters wide, and the bottom was almost 200 meters deep.
At the bottom was a dark tunnel that led deeper into the mine.
"As agreed, you will scout," Martin told Kyle.
Kyle nodded while still looking at the hole.
"Sven," Kyle said. "You're with me."
Sven just nodded and stepped forward.
Nobody except team Sandstorm knew that Sven was part of the Forthings, the biggest mining company in the entire kingdom.
Because of that, Kyle didn't say why he wanted Sven to come with him.
"Lily, bring us in. I don't want to make too much noise," Kyle said.
Lily snorted, and three birds rose from behind her.
The Alpha Team just looked at the golems with annoyance.
They believed that team Sandstorm was cheating.
How was this a team of a Fighter Guild?
They only had two Fighters on their team!
Sven jumped onto one of the birds while Kyle landed with one leg on each of the other two.
Kyle was a bit heavier than Sven.
Especially due to his new armor.
Although, it was important to note that Kyle's armor was no longer identical to how it had been in the past.
At this moment, Kyle only wore gauntlets, greaves, and armored pants.
His entire upper body and the majority of his arms were essentially bare.
Naturally, Kyle had a reason to choose such a setup.
Lily moved Kyle and Sven to the bottom of the mine, right in front of the dark tunnel.
"If we're not back within an hour, assume we're dead and tell the Chief!" Kyle shouted.
"Didn't you want to stay quiet?" Sven asked with a raised brow.
"Vibrations, my friend," Kyle said. "I don't want to cause vibrations by jumping in here with my fat ass."
Sven snorted a short laugh.
Falk just lifted his hand to show that they had heard.
"Anyway, let's get right to it," Kyle said, cracking his joint before walking into the tunnel.
Sven nodded and followed Kyle.
"You got ore sense?" Kyle asked.
"I know about mines, but I've never mined any ore myself," Sven answered.
"Alright, let me, " Kyle said as he put his hand on one of the walls.
Sven raised a brow.
"Yep, Deepstone," Kyle said.
"How do you know that?" Sven asked.
"Ore sense. I just told you," Kyle commented with a smirk.
"You have ore sense?" Sven asked.
"Oh, come on," Kyle said. "You're one of the Forthings. You telling me you don't recognize this thing?"
Then, he swung his hammer a bit.
Sven frowned. "I didn't want to pry," he said.
"You know, I'm a bit of a miner myself," Kyle said.
"I didn't say I was a miner," Sven answered.
"I know, but the joke wouldn't work if I didn't add myself."
Sven just shook his head.
Kyle's sense of humor was strange sometimes.
The two of them continued walking into the mine.
There were still rails in this part of the mine, and there were plenty of tunnels.
While walking, Kyle kept one of his hands on one of the walls to search for ore.
"They missed a spot here," Kyle commented, walking past a random part of the wall.
Sven didn't answer.
After walking for almost 200 meters, they found the rails moving downward in a spiral pattern.
"Huh, so they are actually mining deeper. Too lazy to widen the funnel?" Kyle asked.
"Widening a funnel gets exponentially harder the wider it gets," Sven explained. "It makes no sense to expand it too much."
"Huh, makes sense," Kyle commented as he jumped onto one of the rails.
CRK!
And the rail bent under his weight.
"What are you doing?" Sven asked.
"I wanted to grind down," Kyle said with disappointment.
Sven just shook his head again as he grimaced weirdly.
Kyle noticed.
'Is he stifling a laugh?' he thought.
'So, Mr. Serious isn't always so serious.'
As the two of them walked down the spiral, Sven furrowed his brows.
"The rails aren't damaged," he commented.
"I noticed," Kyle said. "That makes no sense."
"So, you did notice," Sven said. "Why didn't you say anything?"
"I didn't think I needed to," Kyle answered casually. "You know more about this stuff than me."
Naturally, it was strange that the rails weren't damaged.
Such a big mine was usually full of people, and not everyone would be in the deepest part.
Everyone in the mine had died, which meant everyone on the top layer also died.
If anything came out from the deep, it would have damaged the rails.
Ore Fiends and beasts were not known for leaving property undamaged.
"Think we got an Elemental Ore Fiend?" Kyle asked.
"Possibly," Sven answered. The two of them continued walking down for another 200 meters.
Then, they reached the bottom.
"They dug out quite a lot," Kyle said, noticing that they had essentially entered an underground hall. "Think they found some ore here?"
"Probably," Sven answered.
Kyle walked towards one of the bigger tunnels leading out of the hall.
Then, he suddenly stopped.
"There's something below us," Kyle said.
Sven's brows rose in surprise.
"I don't sense anything," he said.
Meanwhile, Kyle frowned.
"It's gone," he said. "I swear, I just felt something below me."
"What did it feel like?" Sven asked.
"Kind of dangerous. Not super dangerous, but also not negligible. Felt like an ambush predator," Kyle said.
"Maybe it's the target?" Sven asked.
"I dunno," Kyle said. "Felt a bit too weak to cause so much damage."
Sven nodded. "Your instincts are sharp."
"It's my thing," Kyle said. "My instincts are why everyone wants to use me as a scout."
Sven didn't say anything as the two of them continued walking.
They entered another tunnel.
"Wait a second," Sven said as he looked at the edge of the tunnel.
"Hm?" Kyle uttered.
"This tunnel is new," Sven said, touching the wall. "There's no sign of aging on the walls. I think we should be careful. This is probably where our target is."
At that moment, Kyle heard Theodor snort.
"What nonsense!" Theodor said. "You can't see the age of a tunnel by just looking at the stone."
Kyle scratched his chin.
"Are we in a newer part of the mine?" he seemingly mused.
"Yes, but not because of whatever this idiot found on the wall," Theodor said.
"Yes, we are," Sven answered as well. "I think there should be a big drop later. They probably had a cave-in and found something they shouldn't have."
Theodor snorted again. "It does go down, but there was no cave-in. He's talking nonsense."
"Alright," Kyle said as he continued moving into the tunnel. "We're here to scout. Gotta find something to report."
Sven furrowed his brows.
"Kyle, this feels bad," Sven said. "I don't think we should continue."
"And what am I supposed to tell the others?" Kyle asked. "We are being paid to scout."
Kyle kept walking forward as his hand touched the walls.
Sven gritted his teeth and followed Kyle.
For some reason, Sven seemed really nervous.
After a couple more seconds of walking, Kyle saw that the tunnel made a sharp turn downward.
'Doesn't look like a cave-in. '
"Use your ore sense to the maximum and be ready to flee," Theodor suddenly said with a serious tone.
Kyle went to the wall and put his entire body against it like he wanted to embrace it.
"What are you doing?" Sven asked with stressed annoyance.
"Ssshhh," Kyle whispered. "I'm becoming one with the earth."
Sven gritted his teeth.
Meanwhile, Kyle closed his eyes and extended his entire being.
"Stop!" Sven shouted with authority.
Kyle didn't stop.
The next moment, Sven shot forward and pulled Kyle off the wall.
That was when Kyle's eyes opened, and he blinked a couple of times in surprise.
"You ever seen a beating stone heart underground?" Kyle asked.
Without answering, Sven grabbed Kyle and ran backward.
"Run!" Theodor shouted.
Kyle did just that.
Yet, less than a second later, Kyle's instincts screamed at him.
Danger!
Mortal danger!
Then, the ceiling and floor of the big hall closed like they were muscles.
Finally, the floor beneath them vanished, and the two of them fell down.
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