Sieg followed the tracks deeper and deeper into the thick woods. At a certain point sunlight no longer reached the ground. Thankfully, the night is still far, and a few luminous plants grew around those parts. Nothing came in sight for a long while. At this rate he feared he would end up at the mountain's base.
"Don't tell me they really went there…" He sighed despite himself, his shoulders dropping, "where do you think you are leading your men?"
Sieg knows very well that the soldiers are already dead. However, he never knew August as someone who would willingly lead his subordinates to their doom.
Even if they were a hand-picked group from the elite fortress army, in the end they weren't trained to fight in such terrain, nor did they learn how to deal with such monsters. He could only wonder what kind of orders they were given that forced them to go with this suicide mission. He planned to give the marquis a short visit and make him spit out the real reason he used those men as disposable pawns.
"Finally…" After a long walk through the dark woods, he finally managed to find a solid lead on the soldiers. At the feet of some trees, he saw the remains of their mounts. It doesn't look like something attacked them, so they probably starved to death waiting for their owners to come back. They were strapped to trees and the reins are still on, so wherever they went the soldiers probably did not expect it would take too long. As for the reason why they had to proceed on foot, all he had to do is look ahead to find out.
"A hole?" The footprints the youth followed lead to a really big hole. Peeking in he noticed a number of trees crushed at its bottom. "Did they jump in? They surely didn't circle around. Doesn't seem like a man-made trap either, it's too big to be that...And it's too quiet." He walked into the woods an hour ago; not a single beast anywhere to be seen. "A territory? In these lower grounds? did something else make a home out of this place?"
Even though dragons are the strongest monsters out there, they don't bother chasing away weaker animals and beasts. Each has a territory that comes in the form of a mountain. A mountain that has a dragon living in it is called a nested mountain. The only ones not allowed to enter are other dragons. That is because no other creature could challenge their strength. Those who can't challenge dragons yet refuse to live under them leave to other places.
"Wyverns are like that, but winged creatures like them prefer the high ground, they wouldn't build their nests down here. Which means there are other predators that established their authority around this place."
"A Silverback… or is it a Growler?" Sieg wondered, "I don't think I missed any of their marks…"
Sitting there and thinking about it won't show any progress, he decided to investigate the hole first. Nimbly landing at the bottom he checked his surroundings with a hand on the hilt of his long sword. The hole is dark with little light in it; a tunnel is connected to it and strangely enough it's leading to the east.
The soldiers didn't die there, but there is no sign of them climbing back. Sieg ran through the map in his mind. This isn't his first mission in the Green Wind forest since he explored all the mountains that make the border.
"I don't remember an entrance that leads to this place…there are many caves and dead ends, but none of them should stretch this far." As he thought that to himself, his nose caught a whiff of a strange smell.
"... red powder?" It's faint, but he was sure of it. A strange stench much like that of rotten eggs, a sign of red powder mines. There are a few around the mountain range, such awful smell isn't exactly out of place.
Continuing to follow the traces left by the soldiers he noticed the air is getting warmer with every step. The tunnel widened the deeper he went. After a few minutes he found himself at the entrance to a huge open space. Considering the direction and the distance he walked the youth figured that he already is inside the mountain.
He carefully checked but couldn't find other entrances. This place is separated from the mapped areas of the mountain.
Hiding behind the rocks he sneaked in. This is the place were August and his crew met their demise. His left hand didn't leave the long sword on his back, the stench of the red powder bothered his lungs. He felt like puking and his concentration is slowly slipping away.
"I need to get out of here ..."He examined the place for one last time just to make sure he didn't miss anything. That's when he noticed something hidden between a pile of rocks.
Thinking it might be the body of a soldier, Sieg rushed to take a look. As he predicted the man was dead. He wasn't his old friend, just an unfortunate young man. The body was cold, but it was still intact compared to something that's been dead for nearly a week. Leaning the dead man over his shoulder Sieg started to walk back in the direction he came from. As he walked his eyes fell on a pebble that's moving on its own. No, the ground was vibrating, he could feel in under his feet.
"It's coming!" Dropping the corpse, he jumped back and drew his sword, eyes locked on the floor. The weak vibration shaking the ground turning into an earthquake, debris started to fall from the ceiling as if it's about to fall.
The shaking stopped and there was a moment of silence. Sieg waited for the moment it would emerge from the ground before he decided on his next move, but instead of the thing bursting out of the ground the ceiling opened and it came down from above.
"GRAAAAAAAAA!" An abomination fell with a devastating roar.
"Nope, not happening" Finally meeting his opponent, Sieg sheathed his sword and was about to make a run for it, but the moment he took the first step the ground directly beneath him collapsed.
"Whoa!" A second monster sprouted out from below with its mouth open. It was too late for him to react.
The monster closed its mouth and gulped down. Siegfried suffered for a while before he finally lost his life.