With each passing day, Lin Mu grew more accustod to the environnt. His gravity sense, though still in its early stages, proved invaluable.
He could not map the exact positions of every fragnt. But he did not need to do that in the first place. What mattered were the disturbances. Whenever multiple gravitational fields interacted strongly, it created a subtle fluctuation. A distortion within the larger background of the sun's pull.
Lin Mu learned to recognize these signs.
And when the disturbance increased... He knew danger was near.
"Prepare," he would say.
And they would act.
This awareness saved them countless tis as it reduced the uncertainty while giving them an edge. Yet even with this advantage, the search remained grueling as days turned into weeks.
The monotony of the terrain wore on them, each crevasse blending into the next, each tunnel leading to more of the sa.
ng Bai sighed one day, his voice muffled slightly by the talismans around
him.
"It feels endless..."
Lin Mu did not respond imdiately.
He understood the feeling.
They had covered vast distances within the fragnt, yet found nothing.
No sign of dwarven craftsmanship.
No indication of an entrance.
Until... It happened.
Elyon stopped.
His gaze fixed on sothing ahead.
"Wait," he said.
The others turned.
At first, it appeared unremarkable.
A pile of debris.
Scattered rocks and fragnts resting along the edge of a large crevasse. Nothing unusual.
As Lin Mu stepped closer, the debris shifted, a piece sliding aside to reveal sothing beneath.
Lin Mu's eyes narrowed.
He approached further, brushing aside more of the loose fragnts. And what erged was a massive structure. It was hidden beneath layers of rocks all this ti.
The entrance.
It was almost impossible to recognize at first glance. The material matched the surrounding stone perfectly, blending seamlessly into the fragnt. Only upon close inspection did its artificial nature beco clear.
The gates stood nearly a hundred ters tall.
Their surface was etched with intricate designs.
A world breaking apart and fire consuming everything. Scenes of destruction etched into the stone with precision and intent as if the one who had made these gates wanted to rember the history.
"It is them," Lin Mu said softly. "The dwarves."
There was no doubt about it now, and everyone knew as they approached the gates.
Lin Mu extended his immortal sense to observe the place. At first the structure appeared solid. Yet... There was space beyond it.
"There's a hollow interior." Lin Mu said. "This should be the entrance to Mantleheim."
"Let's open it," Cattaleya said as she stepped forward, placing her hand against
the gate.
Then pushed.
But nothing happened.
She increased her strength.
Still nothing.
Lin Mu joined her.
Together, they applied imnse force.
The gates did not move.
Not even slightly.
Elyon observed carefully.
"These are dwarven constructs," he said. "Their durability is... exceptional."
Lin Mu understood.
"They would break the fragnt before they break."
Cattaleya exhaled.
"So we can't force it."
"No," Lin Mu said.
He stepped back.
Thinking.
The Rune Dwarves had ntioned sothing. They were always guided inside.
They never entered on their own.
Which ant... The gates were controlled from within.
"Then we enter from elsewhere," Lin Mu said as he activated his Spatial Skill
Phase.
His body shifted and rged with the surrounding rock. He moved toward the
area beside the gates.
The gates themselves resisted the skill as an energy barrier coursed through
them, preventing entry.
But the surrounding stone did not have that protection. As such Lin Mu pushed forward. But the rock was dense and thick.
Far thicker than he had expected.
Hence the progress was slow.
Each movent required effort, his spatial perception guiding him as he searched for the hollow space within.
Ti passed.
A full minute. Then... He found it.
A corridor.
Lin Mu erged inside.
The space was vast and certainly not a natural tunnel. It was deliberately
carved and engineered to endure harsh conditions of the Space. He turned
back briefly, examining the gates from within.
They were massive being at least twenty five ters thick.
"How do these even open..." he murmured.
There was no space for them to swing.
Which ant... They moved differently.
Sliding motion.
Lin Mu searched the nearby walls for any way of using the doors. It did not take
long before he spotted so dwarven runes.
They were bearing two simple words: Open and Close.
Lin Mu placed his hand upon the rune marked open before he channeled his Qi
into it.
The rune responded instantly.
Rumble
A low rumble filled the corridor that was deep and resonant, before the gates
began to move slowly.
The massive slabs of stone slid apart, retreating into the walls with incredible
precision.
Outside, light filtered in.
The path was opening and the entrance to Mantleheim was finally getting
revealed.
The gates opened fully with a deep and resonant rumble that seed to travel
through the very bones of the fragnt. The massive slabs of stone slid apart with slow precision, revealing the dark corridor within. For a mont, no one moved. The silence that followed felt heavy, as if the space itself carried the
mory of ages long past.
Lin Mu stepped forward first.
The others followed close behind.
As they crossed the threshold, the scale of the structure beca imdiately
apparent. The corridor was imnse, easily matching the size of the gates themselves. It stretched forward in a straight path, width spanning hundred ters, its height just as towering. The walls were smooth, carved
y a
with incredible precision, yet devoid of decoration.
There were no runes, no murals, no markings at all. Such design was most
certainly deliberate.
"This is... plain," ng Bai said softly.
Lin Mu nodded.
"It is ant to guide, not to impress."
There was only one path and no branches or intersections. Just a single
corridor that extended forward into darkness.
They began walking.
Carefully at first, their every step asured and every movent deliberate.
The mory of the dangers outside had not faded, and the dwarves were known for their ingenuity. It was only natural to expect traps, defensive chanisms, or at the very least so form of detection array.
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