"Here's the entrance."
After a short rest, Byron Knight, who had regained some of his strength, led Gwen and the rest to the woods near Gorlin's Mill. They found the entrance to the tunnel under a raised slope. The entrance was not big and was hidden between the rocks and tree roots at the bottom of the slope. The outside was covered by vines and fallen leaves. If it were not for Byron Knight's guidance, anyone passing by would have subconsciously ignored it.
When Byron left the tunnel, he destroyed some of the plants covering the entrance. Although he did some work to cover it up, there were still traces of people entering and exiting here. The Pitman squatted in front of the entrance and observed the situation inside. "This should not be the exit. Most likely, an earthquake or the roots of the giant tree opened up a crack in the ground and connected this cave to the underground tunnel."
As he said, the old man laughed and said casually, "There are a lot of things buried underground in the south."
Gwen suddenly felt that the old man was implying something. "You're including me!"
The Pitman laughed dryly and then took out a small magic stone from his pocket. He injected a little magic power into it to make it shine brightly. He then threw it into the hole and gestured to Gwen to go first. "This is your turn."
Gawain shrugged and stopped Knight Philip, who wanted to be the first to jump down, before jumping down himself.
He felt that he was stepping on a layer of soft and damp rotten leaves and branches. He was surrounded by a narrow space of earth and stone. The light from the magic stone on the ground illuminated the surroundings, allowing him to see deeper into the tunnel. In front of him was a winding and sloping slope. There were no traces of man-made work. It was more like what the old Druil said, natural factors connected it to the deeper man-made tunnel.
He picked up the magic stone and shook it twice to indicate that it was safe down there. He then took the lead and went forward.
A moment later, Amber's breath caught up with him. The half-elf thief was like a fish in water. She happily twirled the precious dagger in her hand and looked around curiously. "It's going all the way down here."
"If it's really the 'battle tunnel' that was dug back then, it must be very deep." Gwen said casually. "After all, the aura of the Demonic Tide often leaks from the surface. If it's not dug deeper, the people who take refuge in the tunnel will be vulnerable."
The sloping tunnel continued for a short while. The surroundings began to widen and dry. Gwen noticed that the soil and natural gravel on both sides of the tunnel were gradually reduced and replaced by man-made support beams, stone bricks, and solid walls treated with earth elemental magic. As they continued forward, the ground became flat and no longer sloping downward.
Looking at his surroundings, Gawain's brows gradually furrowed.
Amber also found something unusual. She stopped twirling the dagger and ran to a nearby wall to carefully observe the material and the patterns on the wall. She then ran back to Gwen in surprise. "That's not right … The style of this place is different from the tunnels we went through when we escaped from your tomb …"
"Yes, it's different. These are not the underground works of the Southern Realm that I presided over." Gwen raised the magic stone and illuminated the surrounding walls and ground. "No wonder … When Byron and Knight mentioned the underground tunnel under Tanzania Town, I was puzzled because there was no development plan in this area at that time. Even for a long time after my death, no one should have developed it … Who would build a tunnel here …"
Amber frowned. "If you look closely, it's a bit similar to the ruins in the Gloom Mountains."
Gwen finally realized where the vague sense of familiarity in his memory came from.
The architectural style and material of this underground tunnel were very similar to the giant ruins in the Gloom Mountains.
Byron and Knight were also surprised. He looked around carefully and said, "It's true … It does look like it. I was so dizzy from the curse that I couldn't see it at all!"
"The underground facilities left behind during the Sparks Era are also here …" Gwen's heart was in turmoil. "So the ruins in the Gloom Mountains are just a part of a large group of ruins? Or … "
A bolder idea came to his mind: Could it be that the fortress buried in the Gloom Mountains was connected with the underground tunnels here?
These ancient tunnels crossed the vast land on the north side of the mountains, crossed the Whitewater River and the forest in the north, and were completely connected?
But the bold speculation in Gawain's mind did not last long. He soon shook his head and thought that it was unlikely. Even if the Gondor Empire was extremely powerful back then, its productivity was still limited. Not only was the distance between the Gloom Mountains and here, but there were also mountains, rivers, and other complicated topography in between. How could it be easy to build such a large-scale underground facility?
Although it was not impossible for the Gondor Empire to build an 'underground city-state' under the Gloom Mountain Range if they were determined to penetrate this land, Gawain could not figure out what was worth investing so much in. Moreover, it was a secret project that the people of Gondor and future generations were completely unaware of.
Could it be that the human experiments mentioned by Nicholas had something to do with the so-called 'abomination'?
"Hey, hey, hey, what are you thinking about?" Gwen's thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a voice in his ear. He came back to his senses and saw Amber waving her claws in front of him. The half-elf lady's face came up to him. "Why are you spacing out in this situation?"
"No, it's nothing." Gawain quickly calmed himself down and put those speculations aside. It was not the time to think about them. "Judging from the position, we should be right below the riverbed of the White Water River."
"Really?" Hu Po looked up in disbelief. The "stone" vault above was dry and stable. There wasn't a single drop of water, nor was there the sound of flowing river water. "Heavens … Then this place is really deep. How did those people open up such a tunnel under the riverbed …"
"I'm more curious as to how he was able to accurately determine the location in such a situation," Pitman muttered as he stole a glance at Gawain.
Amber's ears twitched. She opened her mouth and said, "Do you even need to ask? They've been buried underground for more than 700 years. They're professionals … Ouch, ouch, ouch!"
Gwen twisted Amber's ears and then ignored her. He signaled Byron and Knight to continue leading the way.
At the same time, he looked at the composition of his team and suddenly felt a chill in his heart.
A shameless elven thief, a Druil who was good at making soup and selling fake medicine, and an old fox Knight who could make running away sound so righteous. There were a total of five people in the team, and three of them were not right. It seemed that other than his square face that could stabilize the morale of the team, Knight Philip, who was leading the way with a serious face, was probably the only conscience left in Cecil's team.
While he was thinking, Knight Philip suddenly turned to Byron and asked seriously, "By the way, Byron, is the 'righteous retreat' that you mentioned a Knight's skill that I don't know about?"
Everyone was speechless.
Gwen sighed in his heart. It was rare to see a good lad, but in the end, he was a passive sidekick.
As they got closer and closer to Tanzania Town, everyone gradually stopped chatting.
Based on his cheat-like memory of the map and terrain prediction ability, Gwen could always roughly determine his current location. He found that the long underground passage was not straight, and there were many twists and forks in the middle. After ignoring the collapsed or the wrong route, he found that he had walked half a circle around the east of Tanzania Town.
It was just right below the Tanzan Mine.
The terrain of Tanzania Town had been described before. Its east side was backed by the huge Tanzan Mine, and its west side was the two tributaries of the Whitewater River. The whole town was roughly triangular, and Viscount Andrew's castle was located in the east of the town, connected to the flat part of the Tanzan Mine. In fact, the main building material of the castle itself was extracted from the mine. The mine not only produced iron ore and a variety of crystal ores, but also high-quality stone. It was not unreasonable for the Leslie Family, who sat on this land, to have enviable wealth.
At this moment, Gwen was walking in the ancient tunnel directly below the mine. The first thought that came to his mind was: Does Viscount Andrew know about the existence of these underground ruins?
He probably does not know because the iron ore and crystal ores in the Tanzan Mine were not deep veins, but located in the mountain. There was no need to dig deep into the ground to open a mine. With the productivity of this era, it was not necessary to dig deep into the ground. No one would do such a thankless thing. And if Viscount Andrew had really dug out this ancient ruin, there would be no news of it from the outside world.
As the largest population gathering place and a gathering place for traveling merchants, Tanzania Town was not a place where secrets could be kept. It was different from the Gloom Mountains where birds did not shit.
The terrain in front began to rise.
The air became humid, and they felt an obvious airflow on their skin. There was a faint sound coming from the front. All signs indicated that the exit was close.
Not long after, they came out of the tunnel and saw the place where Byron and Knight fell. It was an open and steep cave. At the bottom of the cave was a pool of underground water. The exit of the tunnel was located on the edge of the pool. It was called an exit, but it was actually a crack in the rock. Obviously, this was not a normal entrance, but it was cracked due to geological changes and other factors.
The real entrance of the tunnel was still unknown, and most of it had collapsed.
Seeing that the crack on the edge of the pool did not have any serious traces of water dissolution and wind erosion, Gwen could not help but turn to ask Philip, "Have there been any earthquakes in this area in recent years?"
"No," Knight Philip shook his head, then frowned and thought. "But I heard from the people who lived in Tanzania Town that they occasionally heard strange howling sounds coming from the underground of the mine. The locals said that it was the ghost of the slave workers who died in the mine. But Viscount Andrew had asked the necromancers and wizards to investigate several times, but they did not find the source of the strange sound."
"Is that so …" Gwen said noncommittally, then looked up at the top of the cave.
There were vines everywhere, and huge roots of trees could be seen spreading out from the side. Presumably, the hole had been covered and hidden, and now a big hole had appeared. Byron and Knight were so lucky that he should really thank the Goddess of Fortune for surviving.
If there was such a god in this world.
"From here, you can see the east wall of the castle," Byron said. "But the hole is almost straight, and the soil is soft. It's not easy to go up."
"Now it's up to the professionals!" Pitman came up at this time. The little old man smiled and then took out a green branch from his arms. He waved the branch like a magic wand, and constantly outlined runes in the air. The branch itself seemed to have lost its vitality and quickly withered from the vibrant green.
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