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Chapter 126: What Exactly Is Buried and Hidden in This Land

When Byron left the tunnel back then, he destroyed a portion of the plants that were covering the entrance. Afterward, he did some work to cover the entrance again, but there were still traces that someone had entered and exited from here. Pittman squatted down in front of the entrance and observed the situation inside before giving a judgment. “This place isn’t supposed to be an entrance. It was probably an earthquake or some giantwood roots that opened up a crevice, connecting this cave to the underground tunnel.”

While talking, the old man chuckled and said without thinking, “It seems like the southern underground is truly buried with plenty of things.”

Gawain instantly felt that the old fellow was implying something and responded, “You have included me inside those things too!”

Pittman forced out a laugh before taking out a small magic crystal. He poured in a little magic to make the crystal emit a bright and constant radiance before throwing it into the cave. He then made a ‘you go first’ gesture to Gawain and said, “This is the moment for you to make a move.”

Gawain shrugged his shoulders and stopped Sir Philip who wanted to jump down first. Subsequently, Gawain jumped down.

He felt he had stepped on a layer of loose, moist leaves and branches that were decaying and rotting. The surrounding was a narrow and cramped space of soil and rocks. The magic crystal that landed on the ground had illuminated the surroundings, allowing Gawain to see deeper. There was a winding and downward slope ahead, and there were no signs of man-made works. It was more like the old druid’s analysis: this cave was probably created by natural elements that connected with the man-made tunnel.

Gawain picked up the magic crystal and waved it twice as an indication that it was safe at the bottom. He then started to walk forward.

A moment later, Amber’s presence caught up. The half-elf thief was obviously like a fish in water when she entered the underground space. She was twirling her precious dagger cheerfully and looking around curiously. “It is constantly extending downward.”

“If it really is those ‘combat tunnels’ dug back then, it would definitely go very deep,” Gawain casually said. “After all, the Dark Wave’s presence would seep in from the surface regularly. If they didn’t dig deeper, the refugees inside the tunnel would be easily invaded.”

The downward slope persisted for a small section, and the surroundings started to become spacious and dry. Gawain noticed that the soil and natural rock shards were starting to lessen on both sides of the tunnel. They were replaced by man-made support beams, bricks, and firm walls processed by earth-element spells. As they continued to advance, the surface of the ground was getting smoother, and it didn’t slope downward anymore.

Looking at the surrounding scene, Gawain’s brows started to clench together.

Amber quickly noticed something abnormal and stopped to fiddle with her dagger. She ran to a nearby wall and examined the material and the patterns on the wall. Soon after, she ran back to Gawain’s side while feeling bewildered. “This isn’t right… The style of this place is different from the tunnels that we used to escape from your tomb…”

“That’s right. They are different. These aren’t the underground works that I took charge of constructing in the south back then.” Gawain lifted the magic crystal and illuminated the surrounding walls and the surface of the ground. “No wonder… When Sir Byron mentioned that there were underground tunnels beneath Tanzan Town, I felt that it was strange. Because back then, there wasn’t any development plan in this region. Even after I died for a long time, no one probably developed it… So, who would construct tunnels in this place…?”

Amber frowned and said, “After taking a closer look, it is rather similar to the ancient fortress at the Dark Range?”

Gawain was finally enlightened, and he realized the source of the familiar and fuzzy memories.

This underground tunnel’s construction style and materials used were very similar to the giant ancient fortress at the Dark Range!

Sir Byron was also greatly surprised. He examined the surroundings and was bewildered. “It really… looks very similar. Back then I was dizzy due to the torment of the curse and actually couldn’t see it!”

“An underground facility left behind since the Meteoric Era, there is actually one here too…” Another climax surged in Gawain’s heart. “So that ancient fortress at the Dark Range is actually a portion of a large scale ruin? Or is it…”

His mind emerged with a very bold thought, ‘Could the hidden fortress at the Dark Range be connected to this underground tunnel?!’

‘These ancient tunnels would cross over the northern lands, cross over the White River and the forest north of the mountain. They are actually all connected?!’

But the bold conjecture in Gawain’s mind didn’t persist for long. He quickly shook his head as he felt that it wasn’t really possible. Even if the Gondor Empire was extremely wealthy and powerful, their productivity would be limited. The distance from the Dark Range to this place wasn’t just far, there were also complicated terrains like mountains and rivers. How could it be that easy to construct a facility of such a scale?

To be honest, if the Gondor Empire was determined to connect this entire land, it was actually possible to construct this ‘underground city’ in the vicinity of the Dark Range if they used the entire nation’s strength. But Gawain couldn’t understand what thing would be so worth it for them to put in such insane investment. Furthermore, it was a hidden construction that none of the Gondor Empire’s citizens and their descendants knew about…

Could it be… the human body experiment that Nicholas Egg mentioned and those so-called ‘divine evils’?

“Hey! Hey, hey! What are you thinking about?” A voice by the side of Gawain’s ear had interrupted his thoughts. He regained his senses and saw Amber reaching out her claws and waving them in front of his eyes. The half-elf young lady’s face then leaned over. “You are distracted in such a situation?”

“No, nothing.” Gawain quickly pulled back his attention and set his conjectures aside for the moment as it wasn’t the time to think about them right now. “Judging from our position, we should be under the White River’s bed.”

“Really?” Amber looked with disbelief as the ‘rocks’ above were still dry and firm, without a trace of water. She couldn’t hear any sound of water flowing at all. “Heavens… this place is really deep. How can those people dig a tunnel under the riverbed—?”

“I am more curious about how he was able to determine the location so accurately,” Pittman sneaked a glance at Gawain while muttering.

Amber’s ears pricked up, and she immediately opened her mouth. “Do you need to ask? He has been buried for over seven hundred years. He is already a professional… Hey, pain pain pain!”

Gawain pinched Amber’s ear and ignored her afterwards, while gesturing for Sir Byron to continue leading the way.

When Gawain looked at the team composition he had brought along, his heart suddenly felt a chill…

A half-elf thief who was the shame of all living things, a druid who was adept at simmering and selling fake medicine, a slick old knight who could sound righteous while on the run. Among the five, there were three individuals that didn’t quite fit in. It seemed like apart from Gawain who could use his square face to stabilize morale, the solemn and silent Sir Philip, who had been opening the path, was the only person with a clear conscience in this Cecil Clan’s expeditionary group…

While Gawain was pondering, Sir Philip suddenly turned around and asked Byron in an especially serious tone, “That’s right, Byron. You previously mentioned the ‘Righteous Retreat’. Is it a knight skill that I do not know?”

Everyone: “…”

Gawain sighed in his heart. ‘He is a rare nice fellow, but he ends up as a passive support role…’

As they got closer to Tanzan Town, everyone gradually stopped their conversations.

According to Gawain’s cheat-like mental map and his ability to analyze terrains, Gawain was able to make a rough judgment of his current position at any moment. He found out that this long underground tunnel wasn’t actually straight. There were plenty of bends and forks during the journey. After ignoring those collapsed and wrong routes, he realized they had detoured a little to the eastern part of Tanzan Town.

This place just happened to be right under the Tanzan Mine.

The terrain of Tanzan Town had been mentioned before. On the eastern side, there was the giant Tanzan mine. On the western side were two tributaries of the White River. The entire town was almost triangle-shaped, and Viscount Andrew’s castle was situated in the eastern part of the town and was connected to the Tanzan Mine by a basically flat piece of land. In fact, the castle’s main construction materials basically came from the mine. The Tanzan Mine didn’t just produce iron ores and many types of crystal ores, it also produced superior stone materials. There was a reason why everyone was so envious of Leslie Clan’s wealth.

At this moment, Gawain and the team were walking in an ancient tunnel right under the mine. His mind appeared with an immediate thought: ‘Does Viscount Andrew know the existence of the ancient tunnel?’

…He probably didn’t know. The iron and crystal ores from the Tanzan Mine weren’t mined from deep ore veins and were within the mountain itself. When excavating an ore tunnel, there wasn’t a need to dig downward. With this era’s productivity, it wasn’t a joke when they said it wasn’t ‘necessary’ to dig deep into the underground. No one would do such a strenuous and unrewarding task. Furthermore, if Viscount Andrew had dug into this ancient tunnel… it wasn’t possible for there to be no information on the outside.

As the place with the largest population center and the center of trade of the nearby vicinity, Tanzan Town wasn’t a place that was suited for keeping a secret. It was different from the Dark Range where even birds didn’t wish to defecate there.

The terrain ahead had started to go upward.

The air got moist; his skin could feel the obvious airflow; there were faint sounds that echoed from the front. These were all tell-tale signs that an exit was very near.

Soon enough, they walked out of the tunnel and saw the location where Sir Byron fell down. It was a wide and precipitous cave; the bottom of the cave had accumulated groundwater and turned into a pool. The exit of the tunnel was beside the pool. It might be called an exit, but it was actually a crevice in the rock. It was obvious that this wasn’t a normal entrance either and that it had cracked open due to the changes in the geology or some other reason.

It was unknown where the actual entrances of the tunnel were as they had probably collapsed.

After seeing there wasn’t any serious water and wind corrosion at the rock crevice by the side of the pool, Gawain couldn’t help but turn to question Philip, “Has there been any earthquake in the recent years?”

“No.” Sir Philip shook his head but immediately frowned and then pondered. “But I heard from residents of Tanzan Town that they would occasionally hear strange wailing sounds from under the mine. The townsfolk said that those were the spirits of the slave workers who died in the mine haunting the place. But Viscount Andrew had sent spirit mediums and warlocks here multiple times and didn’t discover the source of the strange sounds.”

“Is that so…” Gawain declined to comment and looked up at the top of the cave.

There were overgrown vines and there were giant tree roots that extended from the side. The entrance of the cave must have been covered and concealed previously, and a large hole had been opened up. Sir Byron’s luck was truly great, and he should really thank the goddess of fate for his survival.

If this world had such a goddess…

“After going up from here, we will see the eastern walls of the castle,” Byron said. “The cave entrance is nearly vertical, and it is all loose soil. It won’t be easy to climb up.”

“It is up to the professional now!” Pittman walked over. The little old man laughed mischievously while he took out a tender green branch from his belongings and brandished the tree branch like a magic wand. Runes were constantly drawn in the air, and the tree branch rapidly lost all life energy. It had turned from a tender green branch that was full of vitality into a withered branch.

Rustling sounds echoed from the top. The vines at the entrance of the cave had reacted to the druid spell and rapidly extended down!