Bloodlines of the Ancient Pantheons

Chapter 394: CCCXCIV. The Breach

"We will head to the breach in the ground as a single group, but once we get to the edge and find a way to get into it, Gridd, Karl and I will proceed before everyone else, to clear the way in case of danger and allow you all to descend into about three groups, which will be under the command of Master Sander, Master Kjell, Freydis and Reidar. Remember that if something goes wrong and the enemies attack us by surprise, we will have to fight with our teeth and our lives will be at risk again, even if their powers with this Sun will surely be halved. One last thing... as some of you pointed out to me yesterday, our food resources are scarce, so our goal is also to find food and water, hoping that there is something edible for us."

The warriors said nothing and continued to look at Dag with a firm expression and straight shoulders, without fear of facing those terrible enemies for the second time.

Not feeling the need to recap the details of the dangerous bite of the wolves, Dag gestured with his arm and the warriors untied the lines, following him and the other Masters out of the stone house of the now-destroyed village, which had sheltered them during those cold nights, allowing them to heal their wounds.

At a sustained pace, marching in the front row with Gridd and Kjell and followed by all the others, Dag led his men to the breach in the ground.

Just as he walked, he noticed Thalos joining him, looking him in the eye.

"I guess you want to go down with us, don't you?" he asked the wolf, who continued to look at him, giving him an affirmative answer.

After less than ten minutes of walking, the large hole in the ground was perfectly visible, being characterized by strong chromatic contrast with the surrounding snow, which along its perimeter had remained intact, far from the destructive attack of Dag.

Gridd raised her hand, ordering all the soldiers to stop: as set out in the plan, Egill and Kjell positioned themselves in front of the troops, ready to give the signal at Dag's orders, who together with Thalos approached further at the edge of the hole.

As Gridd and Karl walked slowly toward him, Dag laid his foot on the last boulder that separated him and his men from a cliff hundreds of meters deep.

Despite his exceptional visual abilities, the interior of the cave, as expected, was characterized by impenetrable darkness, which extended to its bottom.

He studied the perimeter of the top of that cave, always paying attention to every sound coming from below, ready to dodge any surprise attack.

The cavity was wider at the top and narrowly at the bottom, with grooves etched into the rock across the wall, which seemed to be engraved by the claws of the fierce Claws Of Fenrir warriors, who somehow managed to reach those incredible heights.

After a few minutes of processing, Dag noticed a passageway, consisting of a descent dug along the walls of the tunnel, which steeply descended into the darkness.

"That way, be careful" he said, beginning to walk preceded by Thalos and followed by Karl and Gridd, who closed the line.

"Fuck, Dag... I can't see anything down there and I'm dying of fear! Why did you decide to take me with you? Brr... I already feel the cold coming from down there!" Karl exclaimed, regretting the boring moments he spent in Jernhest, where his only commitment was to train in the arena and look after his ailing father.

"I have my good reasons, my friend. Now hold your weapons and stay behind me, in silence" he replied, not listening too much to his young friend's fearful outburst.

Gridd remained silent, with both of her swords in her hands, watching the macabre panorama that surrounded them, which became worse as they descended.

The white snow and the faces of the soldiers disappeared less than a minute later, when the first team of exploration reached a depth of about ten meters, walking along a ramp that followed the walls of the breach, with a circular trajectory.

Dag pulled out a torch and lit it with the flint, without even stopping, showing a certain dexterity.

Soon after, he grabbed the Giantbane and detached it from his belt's magnet.

At that point, the only sounds that could be perceived were those of their steps on the rock of the path, which became more and more impervious, with splits and cracks that forced the three adventurers to get closer and closer to the walls to avoid falling below.

After going down for almost 50 meters, they still could not see the bottom and there was no shadow of an enemy.

"Dag, why don't we continue north? I am sure that we will find another village to plunder, perhaps similar to the one where we have been so far, guarded only by farmers and merchants! I don't think there's anything down here and we're moving a lot away from the surface! If they attacked us now, we wouldn't be able to climb back up!" Karl exclaimed again, who began to sweat from his forehead, even though the temperature had dropped.

"Look at this... what an incredible structure this tunnel is... it must have taken hundreds of years to dig it so deeply... this detail changes everything... the Sun will not help us" he replied, completely ignoring the words of his comrade, who would not stop worrying and being pessimistic as usual.

"I was thinking the same thing, brother. It's pitch dark down here, your torch can barely light up the path in front of us... once we reached the bottom section, if the space will become wider, we would not be able to see anything and we would be exposed to other surprise attacks" Gridd added, making her remarks.

"We won't know until we get down there. Come on, let's speed up the pace... others will be worrying about us..." Dag continued, walking faster and trying not to lose his balance on the rough terrain of the descent, which thinned further, becoming about a meter and a half wide.