Earthquake

After all, King Ghidorah was still a juvenile, and the Gravity Beams he breathed out were somewhat weak. To shatter large chunks of lava, he had to charge up several blasts.

And so, the man and dragon worked together fairly smoothly, with Redd handling the digging and hauling rubble while Kevin blasted a path forward.

They kept digging for a month. They had no idea how many meters down they had gone, but the rock walls grew hotter and hotter, and so did the air.

Just as Redd wiped away his sweat and prepared to swing his tool again, his gaze was suddenly drawn to an iron pillar lying across the excavation tunnel ahead.

This iron pillar was exceptionally large, much thicker than any they had dug up before, and, surprisingly,

its surface was gleaming black, as though it had just been forged, without any sign of decay.

Redd examined it carefully, and his heart gave a sudden leap-on the side of the iron pillar, he saw some faint yet distinct patterns giving off weak traces of magic!

Magic runes! He dug down along the iron pillar for a while,

and discovered that it was actually an enormous metal spike driven deep into the rock, seemingly intended to reinforce the fragile strata.

He carefully examined the metal's texture. If he was not mistaken, it was actually forged from the legendary Valyrian steel!

Redd stared, transfixed. This was Valyrian steel, incredibly hard and capable of slicing through iron like butter. What a precious material it was.

However, the steel spike was simply too large and embedded too deeply in the rock. With their current abilities, they had no way to dig it out intact.

They could only give up for now and keep digging deeper into the crater, searching for more clues.

Redd continued digging, and before long, they discovered regularly shaped caverns and networks of passages that had clearly been carved out artificially.

Some of these passages were wide, others narrow, forming an intricate network inside the volcano.

At the sight of them, Redd stopped digging.

Combining what he saw before him with the internal structure of the Fire Peak where he had lived previously, a clear hypothesis gradually took shape in his mind:

The Valyrians' method of modifying Fire Peaks had probably involved first reinforcing the volcanic throat,

then using the lava produced during eruptions and directing it into these artificial networks of passages.

That way, the heat of the lava could supply the entire interior of the Fire Peak,

especially the area housing the dragons' lair, with constant high temperatures and fire magic,

keeping the volcano's interior in a state of slow pressure release,

and, by precisely adjusting and maintaining the pressure inside the volcano, keeping it near the threshold without allowing it to erupt violently.

At this thought, the corner of Redd's mouth could not help twitching. The scene gave him a sense of "using volcanic lava to heat a kang bed,"

and he quickly shook his head to drive that rather twisted thought out of his mind.

Although he found this hypothesis somewhat absurd, looking at these ingenious artificial passages, he had to admit that it might be the only reasonable explanation.

As for how they had controlled the lava's flow and prevented it from cooling and solidifying inside the passages, Redd could only attribute it to-magic!

Yes, only magic could make something so seemingly impossible become "reasonable."

The unreasonable was the norm in the Valyria Ruins.

Redd could not be bothered to delve further into the principles behind this massive engineering project. He had no intention of undertaking anything of the sort right now,

and if he truly needed to harness the volcano's power in the future, it would not be too late to study it in depth then.

For now, he was more concerned with surviving in this dangerous place, living better, and increasing both his own strength and his dragons'.

Having decided not to continue digging and exploring, Redd felt somewhat tired.

He reached out and tugged on King Ghidorah's hard horn, his meaning clear-stop working and head back.

King Ghidorah's three heads turned toward him almost simultaneously. At that moment, an indescribable light shone in all three pairs of enormous eyes, as though saying:

"Finally, no more digging!"

Dragged here by Redd to serve as a "miner," this dragon had long since grown tired of such monotonous and dangerous labor.

Redd issued a simple command, and King Ghidorah's massive body immediately stopped digging, all three heads letting out low, obedient whimpers together.

Then the man and dragon began climbing upward.

The tunnel was narrow and steep, and the climb was far from easy, especially behind King Ghidorah.

Redd clung tightly to King Ghidorah's raised scales, jolting up and down with the movements of the dragon's body.

They had only just climbed out of the tunnel they had dug, emerging from the swirling dust and smell of sulfur,

and Redd had not even had time to brush the thick dust off himself when the ground beneath his feet suddenly began shaking violently!

The tremor struck without warning, its intensity roughly equivalent to a magnitude-five earthquake, making it somewhat difficult to stand steady.

Redd stumbled and nearly fell, wrapping his arms tightly around King Ghidorah's neck.

Inside the enormous crater, rocks that had already been loosened by prolonged eruptions were shaken free by the sudden tremor and began falling.

Rubble rained down from overhead with a clattering din, while some larger rocks tumbled down, striking the rock walls with dull crashes.

The entire crater seemed to have come alive, writhing uneasily.

The sudden turn of events sent a chill through Redd's heart and caught him somewhat off guard.

After all, he had spent over half a year here. Although the volcano erupted from time to time, the ground had never shaken so violently. This was a first.

He instinctively looked at King Ghidorah, who had also raised his three heads warily, a trace of unease flashing through his draconic eyes.

"Go!" Redd made an immediate decision and shouted, simultaneously urging the three dragons through his thoughts. "Take off! Get out of here!"

King Ghidorah responded at once, his massive body springing upward as his enormous wings spread in the air, beating up fierce winds.

The other two dragons followed closely behind, swiftly taking flight.

Redd felt the air currents stirred by the beating wings and the rubble continuing to fall in the crater below.

After he rode his dragon out of the crater, the terrifying tremors actually stopped as if by a miracle.

The ground grew still again, as though everything that had just happened had been an illusion.

Redd frowned, feeling slightly puzzled, but considering that their digging might have disturbed some unstable structures,

he ultimately put it down to coincidence and paid it little further attention.

He took the three dragons back to the lair in the Fire Peak where they had previously lived.

The cave was relatively safe, but it also felt somewhat cramped and oppressive.

Redd leaned against the cold rock wall and watched the sky outside gradually darken, beginning to take stock.

Digging during the day had yielded nothing, and they had nearly been caught in an earthquake;

night was even more dangerous. The dragon lair was dim inside, limiting his movements, and dangers lurked everywhere outside, so he did not dare venture out lightly.

"Nothing to show for the day, and I don't dare move at night..."

Redd muttered to himself, his brow furrowing ever more deeply. "This can't go on. Should I consider moving somewhere else?"