Rumbling could still be heard underground like rolling thunder. It sounded as if a beast from the abyss was moving in the rocks and soil. Lily carefully peeked through the shaft, her eyes glowing in the dark. But all she saw was a faint shadow moving past her underneath. "I think we've lost it. Looks like that thing can only move in a straight line."
With a flap of her wings, Vivian shapeshifted back into her human form, then she threw one of her bats back into the shaft. Under the bat's glowing lightning, Vivian and Lily could now clearly see the situation beneath them: a coarse, browny-black giant tentacle was moving swiftly. It moved so fast that even Lily's super vision had a hard time catching a glimpse of its true face. The tentacle obviously did not realise there was a shaft there and it just kept going forward. Perhaps it was just as Lily said, the dang thing could only move in a straight line.
A moment later, the tentacle stopped. It had probably reached the end of the tunnel. After a momentary pause, the tentacle slowly backed up. As it retreated, it left behind a slightly larger, smoother tunnel.
The two of them breathed a sigh of relief. Lily threw her butt on the ground and patted herself on the chest in a self-comforting manner. "Now that was scary. I think it's already backed up."
She rubbed her eyes before glowering at Vivian. "Your overly bright Lightning Strike almost blinded my dog eyes."
Vivian was confounded by her choice of words; was it an exaggeration or just a matter-of-fact statement?
"What was that thing?" Lily got to her feet. She looked at Vivian curiously as she dusted herself off. "As knowledgeable as you are, have you ever seen such a thing?"
Vivian shook her head. "Nope. It looks like some kind of subterrainean life form. Probably, the tentacle of some large creature. But, its wrinkled skin did not look like that of an animal's, more like a plant's. Unfortunately, it was too dark to have a better view. Anyway, I've managed to get some samples—"
She waved a large piece of black tissue in her hand, which she had summoned a bat to scrape off from the tentacle as she ran out from the tunnel. Lily curiously approached Vivian, her eyes glowing under the moonlight. The black piece of tissue was wrinkled with cracks evenly distributed across its surface like the bark of a tree. The edge was a little hard in texture, but still remained flexible enough. Turning it over, the back of the tissue sample had peculiar lines, which were characteristic of plants.
"It looks and smells like a plant." Lily sniffed. "This definitely not the smell of meat. Battie, what do you think?"
Vivian looked thoughtfully at the Gnarled Grove not far from her. "...Legend has it that a large part of the Gnarled Grove is actually underground. It has a root system that extends all the way to the centre of Beinz Blood Lake underneath Dragonspine Ridge. Judging by the location and the shape of the tentacle... it could very well be part of the Gnarled Grove's root system."
Feeling goosebumps on her body, Lily said, "Are you kidding me? I mean, how could a root chase people?"
Vivian tucked away the black plant tissue before turning around and walking towards the Gnarled Grove. "It's just a guess, but it's quite possible. After all, the world is a strange place with strange things. I already had a really strange feeling about this forest from the very beginning. I don't think it's just as simple as a plant..."
Lily followed Vivian. "What are you doing? Are you going to dig another hole in the forest just to prove it? What if the tentacle comes out again?"
Vivian shook her head and said, "Of course not. I'm not taking that risk. I'm just comparing the trees with the 'black tissue' to see if they match."
She was silent for a moment. Her mind was working hard as she spoke to Lily, "Besides, don't you find it strange? Let's assume that the tentacle is part of the Gnarled Grove's root system; according to legend, the root system is buried very deep underground, and the locals think that it's just a myth—they've been living here for thousands of years, yet they've never been attacked by similar tentacles. The only reported sigthing of a similar tentacle was by a group of dwarfs, who were mining underground. But, there's no evidence to back up their claim..."
Lily was as quick-witted as she was naive. "You're saying that those tentacles a.k.a roots only travelled to the shallow ground recently?"
Nodding solemnly, Vivian said, "The Gnarled Grove has been in existence for 10,000 years. The tentacle—regardless of whether it's a root or not—has to be very ancient. The fact that the residents of Beinz have never seen them suggests that those things live at great depths. But, the tunnel under the outpost is just 10 m or so under the surface, so I suspect the tentacle is planning to come to the surface."
Cold sweat trickled down Lily's back as goosebumps sprouted all over her skin. "I think I better go home! That's creepy!"
"There are scarier things than this; like monsters from the Mythological Era. That could destroy they way you see the world. Wouldn't you be even more frightened?"
"Who told you that? Don't underestimate me. A werewolf is brave! And, I was just feeling disgusted."
"Then let your tail out when you speak. Don't walk with your tail between your legs..."
The noisy pair began to leaving into the distance. But as soon as they were gone, the sound of pounding hooves could be heard coming from the other direction.
A group of armed knights and mages from the church were arriving on horses. They were the sentries patrolling the area that night. The knights got down from their horses and carefully stepped into the ruins of the outpost. Some of them said, "This is where the sound came from..."
"Looks like the sound came from underground... Have those rock monsters learned to tunnel?"
"May the goddess have mercy on you. I don't know whether the monsters have learned to burrow or not, but I'm pretty sure there's a massive hole in your brain!"
Suddenly, a sentry shouted. "There's a hole in here!"
The knights immediately gathered around the shaft that Lily had burrowed earlier.
The sentry commander stood near the shaft and pondered for a moment before giving orders to two of his men, "Jefferson, Hohmann, both of you follow me."
The two silver moons still hung beautifully in the night sky. The bloody spot on the larger moon stared down like a bloody eye, monitoring the small creatures that crawled the land. Then, a cloud came by, blocking off the bloody eye.
The moonlight dimmed and Hao Ren looked up to the sky. "Dark clouds are forming. It's probably going to rain soon."
Nangong Wuyue was excited. "Rain is good. Rain is good..."
"Shh." Hao Ren used his hand to muzzle Nangong Wuyue. "There's a cave right ahead."
Not far from them, an opening was hidden subtly in between some rocks. If it had not been for his enhanced vision, Hao Ren would not have noticed the subtle variation in the rocks. Nangong Wuyue was immediately on edge. She slithered behind Hao Ren as they came closer to the cave.
A draft of cold breeze filled with a slight stench of blood was blowing out from the cave. Nangong Wuyue instinctively summoned a mist barrier to ward off the strange breeze. "It smells evil."
Hao Ren glanced at the siren and asked, "How do you know it's evil?"
"I was just visualising!" With arms akimbo, she stuck her tongue out. "Okay, I admit it. It's hereditary. Although I'm a siren, my dad left me with a sixth sense. I can feel that something's not right in this place."
Hao Ren shrugged and led the way. "Let's go inside. I can't wait."
The cave was deeper than he thought. Hao Ren could see that it was a long and deep cave. The walls on both sides were smooth and had traces of human exploration.
He knew he had struck jackpot—this was a big secret.
Even though the cave had many twists and turns, it did not have forks or secret passages. After moving forward in the cave for an uncertain amount of time, Hao Ren and Nangong Wuyue suddenly found light ahead of them.
It was just a torch on the wall, but bright enough to suggest that humans had been there.