After completely clearing the contamination around the entrance, the squad finally entered the cave proper, seeking the breeding ground that kept spawning Blue Blood creatures.
To save time, they stopped concealing their movements from this point onward and switched to a direct assault.
Little Knight spearheaded the squad, cutting down the infected creatures that kept appearing along the way until they finally reached the first large chamber.
But before the squad members could switch on their searchlights, the sight before them stopped them in their tracks.
They had known the interior would be large, but they had never imagined it would be this vast.
Nor had they ever imagined the situation would be this "severe."
It was nothing short of a nest built from countless vines and corpses. Everywhere they looked was blue, so much blue that they could barely make out the ground's original color.
For many of the bugs, merely looking at it seemed to leave a sickeningly sweet taste clinging to their throats, nearly making them vomit.
Within sight, there was even a waterfall composed entirely of liquid Lifeblood, pouring endlessly from above.
Yet the metal hidden beneath those vines, even the broken machinery, offered a glimpse of the place's glorious past.
Countless machines that should have run for centuries without a single malfunction were now completely covered in viscous Lifeblood.
One squad member took out a map and read the place's name, word by word.
"Glass Mine."
"No, we should call it the infected Glass Mine now."
After a brief silence, the squad member immediately revised that answer.
No one objected to the unnecessary correction. They were all quite certain of it.
---The infected Glass Mine---
Lifeblood had completely consumed this place.
The entire space was an enormous maze of tracks, abandoned mine carts, collapsed rocks,