The first group that found an entrance into the cranial peaks was the one of Madame Dembe, thanks to the great development of the senses of some of its members. The quinoids, after exploring for an hour, found a fissure in the earth that allowed them to pass by the strange white formation that seemed to protect the place.
The narrow path led them to an enormous cavern whose walls were protruding with: huge pillars of purple crystals, stalagmites and stalactites, made up of a mixture between the rocks of the terrain, and pieces of crystal that slightly illuminated the place. At the points where these luminous objects were found, the vegetation was thicker.
“Everyone listen,” said Madame Dembe with a soft voice that thanks to a little magical energy reached the ears of the other 9 quinoids.
“Group in pairs, Rosha you with me.”
“Yes ma'am!” They all replied.
Rosha a two meter-twenty quinoid with buffalo features stood on Madame Dembe's right side.
“Find some track or path that allows us to move forward. Remember, just as there is vegetation, there might be underground creatures so never left alone your partners.”
“Got it!” The quinoids answered before starting to walk in different directions inside the cavern.
Madame Dembe was left admiring the gigantic crystal that protruded from what seemed to be the center of the cavern. The natural advantage that the quinoids had, gave her tranquility. They enjoyed the same senses with animals they shared characteristics and unlike beastmen, their intellect was on par with humans. Of all the groups, Madame Dembe was certain that her team was best suited to find what was emitting all that energy.
The second group to find an entrance was the one of Darthañan, but unlike the cave where the quinoids were located, the cavern in which their team entered did not have any type of stalagmites or stalactites. There was little vegetation accompanied by rocks of different sizes and small pieces of purple crystals. Thanks to the lack of obstructions and the vampires' innate ability to see in the dark, Frigglene saw in the distance a path descending with a slight inclination.
"Honey, over there," said Frigglene pointing at the path.
Darthañan and the eight lepiots disguised as humans turned on the headlights of their helmets and began to walk in the direction Frigglene had pointed out. Unlike vampires, humans and lepiots could not see amidst the slight illumination provided by the small crystals.
On the other hand, the voidmaws led by Zihan entered the lair of two moissanite bears. Which, without hesitation, they killed along with their cubs. These great beings fought in close combat with their fine, long and resistant fingers that they used as blades.
When the male bear exhaled its last breath. The two voidmaws that ended the lives of the four animals smeared the tips of their fingers on the blood of their victims and then painted the silhouettes of the animals on their bodies. One painted only one bear while the other painted the other bear and the two cubs. The blood as it touched their metallic bodies reacted to the energies that ran through their strong muscles, shined and turned golden.
In this way the essence of the bears would accompany their killers for the rest of their days. This custom was only performed by voidmaws when they eliminated an adversary in combat and very rarely with animals, monsters or beasts, as it was in this case, where they had ended the life of bears not to feed themselves but to make way for what they could feel was the path to enter the caverns beyond the white barrier that had prevented them from digging.
As they crossed the bear's den and passed through a narrow passageway that they had to forcefully expand. They arrived to a cavern full of vegetation, devoid of any crystals and with a lake of considerable size in its center.
Not having crystals this cavern was devoid of any type of light. But the voidmaws being creatures whose natural habitat corresponded to the underground were not affected by this. Guided by Zihan, they began to circle the lake towards the path that descended at the other end of the cavern.
Finally, oblivious to the calls her sister was making Albella's group descended into the cave system through a fissure that led them to a tunnel that went through the white barrier.
Several meters back, the group led by Enok watched as the lepiots and ubax entered the cave leaving the huge ent behind. As it was impossible for him to enter due to his size, he was assigned as the guard of the entrance to avoid that some other group surprised them by the rear.
The young ent positioned himself in front of the fissure and when all his companions jumped in he buried his roots in the ground. Redirecting large amounts of energy thru his roots he moved them to seal the entrance.
“Damn” cursed Enok hitting the ground.
His brilliant strategy had been to follow one of the groups and find an entrance into the white barrier without wasting the energy of his men. Now, that he had bet everything on this strategy he would waste a lot of time trying to find a new entrance, if there was one.
The only option now was to wait a prudent time before attacking the ent.
In the midst of his frustration, he thanked the gods that no one had forbade "confrontations" murders of members of other groups with the death pact.
“Fuuu!” The obese creature sighed knowing that he would have to be patient. If they attacked the ent and his companions were still close, they could return to help him turning everything into a mess.
“Get ready, in ten minutes we attack” Enok ordered.
The set time could be too long when they were in the middle of a race against the other teams, but when performing actions that had to be done with surgical precision there was no room for mistakes. Having bet on this strategy he couldn't ruin it now, engaging in combat with Albella full party would only benefit the other groups.
About three kilometers from where Albella's and Enok's groups were, Lutza was running with all of her might.
“Lutza, Lutza you can stop now!” cried Elizabeth as soon as she recovered from the shock that the high speed of Lutza gave her when she run from the camp.
Theodor and Elizabeth were disheveled while Shimu and Mushi's eyes seemed to be rolling. Hearing Elizabeth's screams, Lutza stopped after noticing that she had panicked and had run without knowing where she was going.
Seeing around, she saw a place she did not recognize and realizing that she did not know how she could return Lutza began to feel pressure on her chest and burst into tears.
“Wuaaa! I need my mom.”
Lutza started crying so hard that the birds and small animals nearby flee scared.
“Wuaaa! I don't want to continue playing either.” Mushi started crying rubbing his eyes.
Destroyer, who had filled Theodor face with scratches from holding on tightly trying not to fly away while Lutza ran, leaped to the edge of the basket and with his adorable tongue began to comfort Mushi.
“Hahaha” Mushi couldn't help but laugh with tears on his face.
Finishing off the salty liquid on the face of the Mushroom, Destroyer climbed up onto Lutza's back and began to lick her with the same intensity with which he licked Mushi. This time it took longer, but finally he calmed the cute two meters’ tall girl.
Theodor climbed the basket, jumped down and walked in front of Lutza.
“Don’t cry Lutza. See. Mushi is no longer crying.”
" Yes, Mushi is a big boy, " Elizabeth added, rubbing Mushi's back.
“Ye, yes. I am a. Bi. Big. Boy.” Mushi assured sipping his snot.
Lutza calmed down when she heard the words of her friends and after wiping her face with her hands she grabbed Destroyer and hugged him affectionately.
“Lutza also a big girl.”
During that time Shimu had his mouth open and his eyes seemed to almost go out of his face, they were fixed to what was to the left side of Lutza.
“Hey listen” he stammered without believing what he was seen.
“What do you want Shi ...?” Elizabeth turned to see her friend and her mouth opened as much as that of the three-and-a-half-year-old lepiota.
“What happened?” Theodor stuck his head and was just as surprised as his sister.
Lutza and Mushi soon followed their gazes and saw a door carved into the mountain. The pillars of the door were full of vines, in the upper part of the frame there was a large rusty plate with a barely visible word written in Terram, the common language of Almawarth, which said "Bimalen", something that the little ones did not recognize as none of the them knew how to read.
This door, which at one time must have been imposing, was corroded by time, but thanks to the magical properties with which it had been built, it was still recognizable. It was half open and broken, the blows of the groups of adults when they tried to dig, made that a part of the barely resistant door and the rocks that covered it crumbled.
On the inside of the cavern that had been exposed, crystals, fungi and various types of vegetation lit up with such vigor that they seemed to invite the curious children, who inadvertently entered the cave involuntarily, attracted by the fantastic scene in front of them.
