"Ohhh... I always try and sneak through them, I never thought about that..."

Throwing the slugs something that would get their attention, huh... It made perfect sense, the sensory strands vanishing above and pulling up the pieces of rations as they did. The rude boy didn't seem too thankful, but maybe he had some other way of getting around them? Imarui wasn't sure, but she was quick to hurry ahead past the silvery tendrils.

Beyond, the tunnel widened further, a trend that seemed to continue the deeper down the tunnel one looked. It wasn't unlikely that both paths linked up at some point, in some way. The glowcaps seemed to die down, signifying their distance from site of whatever had been killed, but it was clear now that the plans were covered in smaller, less bright fungi, a stouter relative to the glowcap, as well as numerous no-light adapted flora.

Imarui wondered what kind of artifacts might be down here, given it was so completely untouched. Maybe she'd find something really big, and then everyone back at the orphanage would be really impressed! The white-haired little girl was smiling to herself at the mere thought.

But...

Something else was moving up ahead.

Another familiar sight.

The low-slung, stubby-limbed, armored body meandered placidly through the tunnel, long enough to take up nearly the entire space. It raised its wide head towards the walls, the flattened tip of its snout pressed against it to shear plants off the stone surface.

"Oh! It's a Tura!"

Excited at the sight of the placid creature, Imarui was quick to sprit ahead, crouching near the creature. She'd seen plenty of Tura in her time as an artifact hunter, but it never really got old. She always found them cute, with their stumpy legs and slow, lazy-seeming gait. They had very few predators due to their heavy armor, and their easy lifestyle meant they were pretty placid, too... there simply wasn't much that bothered them.

"Heee, hi there Mister Tura!"

The creature regarded her. In spite of the low light, it still had eyes due to the presence of light-producing plants in the caverns. It let out low, snuffling sound, but was quick to return to the business of eating.

"Hehehe~ Sounds like you're having a good day~!"

It wasn't just the fact that Imarui found turas cute, however. She knew that this was a clear indication a wider tunnel with better light and a lot more vegetation was ahead!

Anyone who had elected to move past the tura would be greeted with a light incline down a little deeper, and then the cavern opening up in full...

But there would be one more obstacle before reaching the point where the tunnel fully opened up.

A clicking, scraping sound, and a ghostly white shape moving on three pairs of slender legs, slinking ahead, a thin tail held erect... as it moved closer, the narrow shape of its head, its green eyes and four jaws, and the skeleton and internal organs within its body through the skin...

A Tunnel Phantom. The size of a large dog, the tunnel phantom was likely a scout for its pack, searching for food... Tunnel Phantoms certainly had a vicious reputation, and a well-earned one. In spite of their frail appearance, they were incredibly strong.

Killing it quickly and quietly would likely prevent it from calling its fellows, and allowing a quicker path through the tunnel and further.

[hr]

Past the corpse of the carrier bird, the tunnel suddenly took a steep drop.

At the edge of the drop was a leather pack containing an empty canteen of water. Beyond, on closer inspection, was a lazily-flowing underground river. From what could be discerned at this point, there was no area which left it impossible to keep one's head above water, but in the poor light it was difficult to tell how deep it was or what was in the water.

Shining light downwards would fail to reveal the bottom, but would reveal silvery, darting shapes with long, trailing fins.

Shimmerfish were quick to flee at the presence of a predator and favored relatively shallow water, and their presence indicated the water was likely safe.

How far it could be safely travelled was another story.

[@ERode][@AzureKnight][@Rune_Alchemist][@Searat][@Raineh Daze][@KoL][@Pyromania99]