Sol emitted mana into the walls and roof and commanded them to collapse.
But nothing happened.
In his confusion, Sol tried using even more mana to make the stone above fall down, but nothing was happening.
"...Captain, did you start already?" Duncan asked, not seeing any change.
"I… I can't control it," Sol stated. He withdrew his mana, realizing it wasn't effective, and inspected the tunnel in hopes of finding the reason why.
He neared one of the walls and ran his hand across it, feeling the smooth and cold surface. Seeing it up close, he began to find out why [Terra Manipulation] wasn't working.
Sol exclaimed, "This isn't stone! It's some kind of magical alloy!"
His [Terra Manipulation] was only able to control non-magical metals and even though he felt he could make a connection to the alloy he was unable to bend or move it to his will.
Duncan was shocked, "All of it?!"
Sol nodded, "Apparently so."
All three were shocked at the revelation. At first glance, it looked like smooth stone, but it was actually an unknown magical alloy. What was even more shocking was that it covered every surface of the tunnel.
Rex moved to one of the walls and drew his sword. He slashed at it with all his might, but when he checked to see the damage, there was not even a scratch.
Rex nervously spoke, "Uhh, Captain. Didn't the bandit leader say that the tunnels expand the entire mountain range?"
Sol nodded with a grave expression.
If this magical alloy was used to build every single passage in the entire network of tunnels, it brought about many questions. How long had this been here? Who built it? Why? And the most important question of all: Are the makers still alive?
"We need to report this as soon as possible," Duncan was in awe, but he immediately thought of what their next action should be.
Sol agreed, "We will, but first we need to block this exit."
Rex, who was touching the wall out of curiosity, asked, "How will you do that if you can't control the alloy walls?"
"Let's go outside, I'll show you."
Leading the two outside, Sol turned away from the tunnel and sent mana into the area in front of him. A massive chunk of earth rose from the ground and slowly moved towards the tunnel entrance. With a rumbling sound, the large mass of dirt and stone was squeezed into the tunnel, blocking the passage.
Duncan inspected it but had his worries. "This blocks it, but it's not hard enough to stop them from digging through."
Sol knew that as well, which was why he didn't release his control of the dirt and began to compress it. He continued to compress it until it became a solid four meter block. After placing it in the tunnel, he turned to Rex and asked, "How long do we have till dawn?"
Rex jumped up a nearby tree, looked towards the slight light coming from the horizon, and then at the moon.
He hopped back down and answered, "Judging by the moon's position, I'd say less than an hour."
Sol felt relieved, "I should be able to finish on time. Hopefully these orcs aren't the type to arrive early."
In the next half hour, Sol repeated the process of lifting a large mass of dirt, compressing it to four meters, and placing it like bricks in the tunnel. When he placed one brick next to the other, he would also merge them with [Terra Manipulation], making it one continuous piece of seamless wall. He continued the process until he finished not only the first wall but two additional layers to ensure that even if the orcs tried to dig through, it would easily take them a few days to break through.
Even with [Superior Mana Control], Sol had to drink three mana potions to keep up with his mana usage, but because of them, he was able to finish ahead of time.
As Sol placed the final block and merged it into the wall, he immediately sat down on the ground in exhaustion.
He was completely exhausted from the constant usage of [Terra Manipulation] combined with the constant depletion and refilling of his mana.
Duncan walked over, sat next to him, and slightly chided him, "You should have stopped at the second layer. It would have been more than enough."
In between Sol's labored breaths, he spoke back, "Maybe… but you never know… if they have some digging talent… or something like that. Needed to make it… so it would take them at least… five days… to break through…"
Duncan didn't say anything but instead smiled back, "This kid really overthinks things sometimes. But it never hurts to be too cautious."
"So… what will we do with that?" Rex, who was standing nearby, pointed towards a massive crater not too far away from them. To not make multiple large holes on the ground, Sol instead made a massive one so random people or animals wouldn't accidentally fall inside. With a single big crater, the odds of creatures not seeing it and falling in are much lower.
Duncan shrugged, "Don't worry about it. It shouldn't hurt anyone, and we are pretty far from any towns or villages to be a problem for them. Let's wait until the captain recovers, and then we head back. What do you say, Captain?"
Sol was too tired to respond and instead gave a thumbs up while laying on the snow.
...
In the tunnels, a group of orcs traveled in eerie silence. Orcs were normally more rambunctious, but these were no ordinary orcs. They were disciplined and served as part of the main force in the Frostaxe Clan's army.
Behind them was a long line of carriages with large metal cages commonly used for transporting prisoners. What pulled them were large goat creatures called bully goats, which served a similar role to horses for the Frostaxe Clan. The mountains were too perilous for normal horses but not for bully goats, who were resistant to the cold and could even climb up extremely steep surfaces. The only downside to the goats compared to horses was their slower speed, but they made it up with their incredible endurance.
The goats, who had been pulling the heavy prison carriages all day and night, stopped as the group in front of them stopped as well.
In the front of the group of orc soldiers, an orc that was two feet taller than the others looked at the wall in front of them. It looked identical to the walls around them with its smooth surface and grayish color.
The towering orc yelled out with his deep voice, "Tolrag!"
From within the group of soldiers, one ran out with a panicked expression. He was Tolrag and was one of the explorers sent to chart out the tunnels when they were discovered. He was recently added to this group to act as a guide for the orc army.
"I'm here! Great Warrior Gildash!"
For the orcs, the title of Warrior referred to those that were B-Rank, as only they could be considered real warriors. Great Warrior stood slightly above that, reaching the peak of B-Rank and having a leading role in the orc army.
Gildash looked down at the orc and asked with anger laced behind his every word, "Did you lead us astray?"
Tolrag shook his head fervently. "No! I would never!"
"Then how do you explain this?!" Gildash swung his massive sword against the wall in front of him, causing a loud thud before bouncing back. There was not even a scratch on the wall in front of him. There would have been a mark on the wall if the orc swung with his full strength, but because he firmly believed it was like the other unbreakable walls he didn't commit his full power to the swing.
Tolrag immediately got on his knees and begged for mercy. "I'm sorry! I must have taken a wrong turn! Let me right my wrongs!"
Gildash would have cut down the poor orc where he knelt, but he was the only one who could possibly guide them back outside, that was if he didn't get lost again. Tolrag guided the army as they went back the way they came, while desperately hoping he would not make another mistake. Little did he and the rest of the orcs know that he already had taken them to their destination.