The earth below continued to rumble, as if a pack of abyssal beasts were sprinting through the rock and soil. Lily cautiously leaned over the edge of the hole and glanced downward. Her eyes shimmered faintly, but in that deep darkness, all she could see was a blurry shadow moving rapidly. "It doesn't seem to have caught up... That thing doesn't look like it can turn."
With a flapping sound, Vivian's swarm of bats re-formed into a human shape. She tossed a little bat into the hole to get a closer look. The small bat erupted in a flash of lightning below, and in that instant, Vivian and Lily both saw what was happening: the enormous "tentacle" was still stretching forward, its coarse brown-black hide flashing rapidly past the bottom of the Vertical Shaft. Even Lily's superhuman werewolf vision couldn't make out the details. The tentacle seemed unable to sense what was happening above the shaft and simply pursued blindly. Or perhaps, as Lily had said, it really couldn't turn.
A moment later, the tentacle finally stopped advancing. It seemed to have reached the end of the tunnel. After hesitating briefly, it began slowly retracting, leaving behind only a slightly widened tunnel of rock that had once again become smooth and intact.
Only then did the two of them let out a sigh of relief. Lily dropped onto the ground and patted her chest. "Looks like it went back. That scared the life out of me..."
Then she rubbed her eyes and looked at Vivian with a hint of complaint. "Your Lightning Shock was way too bright. It nearly blinded me."
Vivian had no idea whether the second half of Lily's remark was an exaggeration or a straightforward statement...
"What the heck was that?" Lily sat on the ground for