When the team gathered at the entrance of the Great Rift Valley, the sun had just passed over the eastern ridge, illuminating the rocks around the rift into a dry and warm color.
Redd stood on the edge of the crack, watching the passage below gradually darken in the sunlight, from the gray-white rock walls at the entrance that were burnt by high temperatures, to the inner walls of the passage that were gradually covered in darkness deeper.
King Ghidorah squatted behind him, with his three heads lowered, as if he was confirming whether his body size could pass through the gap.
The width of the crack doesn't look too narrow from the ground, but the passage begins to narrow after extending downward for more than two hundred meters. The narrowest point is only a few tens of meters wide. King Ghidorah's wingspan will be severely restricted at that position, and it must hold its wings close to both sides of the body to squeeze through.
One hundred elite soldiers have already lined up outside the gap.
They wore light leather armor, carried weapons and ration bags on their backs, and had water bags hanging on their waists. Each of them covered his mouth and nose with a piece of cloth soaked in water, leaving only his eyes exposed.
Vickers stood at the front of the queue, holding a short ax in his hand, and the shield on his back was tightened with a belt to ensure that it would not shake in the narrow passage.
Redd didn't say much, he just raised his hand and pressed down to signal the team to start entering.
Vickers led the front team down first and moved deeper along the slope of the passage step by step. The light of the torch cast a shaking shadow on the wall of the passage.
King Ghidorah followed behind. It did not fly. Instead, it folded its wings and crawled in the passage with all four limbs. Every time its huge claws landed on the rock wall, it made a dull friction sound. Occasionally, a few pieces of gravel were knocked down from the top of the passage. They hit its back and bounced off, rolling down deeper.
The passage began to widen after extending downward for about a few hundred steps.
The rock walls on both sides have been eroded by high temperature and moisture to create uneven surfaces. The ground is covered with a layer of broken volcanic rock and fine sand, which makes a crumbling sound when stepped on.
The temperature in the air continued to rise, gradually changing from warm at the entrance to sultry heat, and finally into a burning sensation on the skin.
Redd was walking in the middle and front of the team. Although his body temperature was much lower than that of the soldiers, he could still feel the heat in the air being squeezed towards his body from all sides.
The surface of King Ghidorah's scales began to glow with a very light dark red sheen. It seemed to be absorbing the heat in the air and converting that heat into its own energy reserves.
The passage turned a big bend in front and began to become more inclined. The ground changed from a gentle slope to a steep slope that required holding the rock wall with your hands to stabilize your body. The soldiers moved down one by one, and the light of the torches formed a curved strip of light on the steep slope.
A river of lava appears at the end of the channel.
The river gushes out from the deeper rock formations and extends into the distance along the direction of the underground passage. Its width varies from a dozen steps to dozens of steps.
Bright orange-red molten material is rolling on the surface, and bubbles are constantly forming and bursting on the surface of the lava. Each burst releases a pungent gas.
Those gases are slightly darker in color and are slightly distorted as they rise in the air. They spread to the top of the channel and then spread to both sides along the rock walls, and are finally sucked in through vents or gaps.
Even though the soldiers covered their mouths and noses with wet cloths, some of them started coughing and tears could not stop flowing from their eyes.
Redd took a look at the surrounding environment, confirmed that the ventilation conditions were acceptable, and that the toxic gases would not stay in the channel for too long, and then asked the team to continue moving forward along the channel at the edge of the magma river.
King Ghidorah walked at the front. Its size was still too large in the channel next to the magma river, but the width of the channel was enough for it to barely turn around and move. However, every time it turned around, its wingtips would scrape against the rock walls on both sides, leaving a few light scratches on the rock surface.
After walking forward along the magma river for a while, the passage split into two ahead.
The passage on the left is obviously wider, with less gravel on the ground. There are traces of repeated trampling on the passage wall, and those traces extend in the direction of the old mine.
The passage on the right is narrower and darker, and there are no obvious tread marks on the ground at the entrance, as if few people have passed through.
Redd Take out the map, expand it, and compare the reference point on the ground with the current position.
The encounter point previously marked by the exploration team was at this bifurcation, and the left passage led to the mine. He put away the map and took the lead into the left passage.
The temperature in the left channel is higher than that of the main channel of the magma river, and the smell of sulfur in the air is stronger.
The ground has changed from a flat road covered with gravel to a steep slope that requires both hands and feet to climb. In some places, there are even faults that require the assistance of ropes to pass.
The march of the team slowed down significantly. The soldiers' breathing became heavy and rapid in the passage. Sweat continued to seep from their foreheads and necks, soaking the shirts on the inside of the leather armor.
Redd walked at the front of the team, and King Ghidorah followed behind. Its size made it more difficult to move in the relatively narrow left channel. The three heads sometimes needed to be tilted to different angles to avoid the raised rocks on the top.
After walking for a while, Redd noticed that there was less dust on the ground. The surface of the gravel did not have the same uniform covering layer as before. Instead, there were some flat areas on the ground that had been wiped or stepped on many times.
Those areas are located in the center of the passage, with limited width but clear outlines, as if someone passes by this road regularly.
There are also some subtle marks on the rock walls on both sides of the passage - the scratches are highly concentrated between the waist and shoulders of adults, like weapons or tools carried with them during repeated passages.
The edges of those scratches are relatively sharp and they are not too old.
Redd did not stop, just put his hand lightly on the hilt of the sword, and continued to walk forward for a while, until the passage suddenly narrowed at a relatively wide position.
There is an artificially enlarged gap on the rock wall at the narrowing point. There are some gravel and discarded tools piled next to the gap, as if excavation or repairing had been done here.
Redd squatted down at the gap to check the shape and material of the tools, and found that the heads of several pickaxes and shovels were rusty, but the wooden handles had not completely decayed, indicating that these things had not been left there for too long.
He stood up and was about to move forward when he felt a gaze.
That gaze came from a rock wall the Rift in front of the left side. The height of the Rift is about the height of an adult's chest, and the width is less than an arm. The interior is completely dark.
Deep in the darkness the Rift, there was a pair of eyes staring at him.
The eyes reflected a dull golden luster in the dim light, and the pupils were upright oval, like the eyes of some kind of canine.