Elemental Cats

Even after looking into the depths of the tunnel, Toz couldn't see a single trace of someone in charge or someone overseeing the enslaved beasts. Not that it was necessary with all the enchantments on the slave collars. And considering they planned on sneaking through to the other end of the tunnel to see where it leads, it was a good thing that they wouldn't encounter anyone with enough power to hold the responsibility of overseeing the stream of beasts.

Toz and the cats crept along the wall of the tunnel for what felt like days without the scenery changing. The only thing that happened was one of the enslaved beasts collapsing. The cart was kicked to the side, and the collapsed beast was eventually trampled into a sludge, becoming one with the damp ground. Sometime after the beast collapsed, another one, not dragging a cart, entered the tunnel and grabbed the cart full of dirt, and started pulling it to the surface.

Toz had no idea how the beasts managed to do that so seamlessly without communicating, but he didn't pay it that much attention. They had only witnessed it happening because they took a break to let Lucy recover some mana.

Eventually, Toz and the cats had almost caught up to the end of the tunnel. Although calling it the end wasn't entirely correct since it was still being dug, but they had at least gotten as far as the tunnel could currently take them.

Although they had accomplished their goal of discovering the source of the tunnel, it wasn't helpful since they didn't know what they were looking at.

At the end of the tunnel, several creatures worked in a row to dig out the tunnel, beginning at the end of a slight upwards slope. They dug out the ground below and in front of them and shuffled the dirt behind them, letting the beasts dragging carts remove all the dirt and at the same time flattening the ground and making it level with the rest of the tunnel.

That part was easy to understand. The weird things were the creatures doing the digging. They looked like an enormous combination of naked molerats and maggots, resulting in a weird abomination with only forelimbs and its lower body looking like a saggy cone of baggy flesh.

The forelimbs were larger than their heads and perfect for digging through the ground as they scooped through the dirt and rocks with ease, dumping it behind themselves.

The digging creatures invoked a feeling of disgust as the sagging, wrinkled skin rippled and twisted with each of the forelimbs' joint-breaking movements.

In the middle of the row of creatures leading the charge through the ground was one noticeably larger creature. And on top of that creature's back, Toz could, across the distance and through the darkness, faintly discern the figure of a humanoid creature.

From the place Toz was watching, it would have been easy to mistake it for a regular human, but something about the ominous atmosphere surrounding both the humanoid and the digging creatures gave Toz the feeling that they weren't ordinary creatures. Something about the air looking more oppressing.

Toz was too far away to sense it and couldn't quite put his finger on the feeling he got from the creatures.

But as he kept watching the humanoid, trying to get a better look, which he did, when the humanoid figure turned around and looked in his direction.

Toz reacted quickly and hid inside an indentation in the tunnel wall where either a rock or a root had been. The power behind the humanoid creature's gaze had brought forth Toz's memories of the ritual in Tumbling Thunder Forest. Both the demonic creatures digging the tunnel and the humanoid creature supervising them were surrounded by demonic energy. And when the humanoid figure turned to look in Toz's direction, the same feelings of malice present in the demonic energy spread where the demonic figure looked.

If it could spread and invoke such intense feelings merely through a gaze, it was evidently a strong creature.

And the glassy black eyes were proof of its identity as a demon.

Toz had heard of the general description of demons from Mond back at Sleepless Brights and based on how the three robed figures performing the ritual back then were dressed, they were most likely demons. If not in order to hide their red skin and black eyes, why would they need to completely cover themselves in large robes and hoods, not revealing even a glimpse of their appearance?

But compared to those three robed figures, whom Toz dared to fight, the demon controlling the digging demonic beasts was far more terrifying.

Toz didn't even dare to look at that demon.

And it took several hours of waiting for it to let its guard back down before he and the cats dared to try and sneak out of their hiding spot and slowly back away.

That the demon had looked in their direction was all Toz and the cats needed as a reason to retreat. If they lingered, they would only put themselves in unnecessary danger.

Although they might not have seen where the end of the tunnel would be, with the appearance of the demon and the demonic beasts, Toz could guess what they were aiming for.

The attack that the demons he encountered in Tumbling Thunder Forest had been planning was aimed at Sleepless Brights and the entire plane. But with how flashy that endeavor had been, it wouldn't be weird for the demons to expect a failure. Maybe they were even counting on it since it seemed like they had invested far more resources in their current project.

If their target was Dormant Thunder, maybe setting up an attack far away from the city would either draw manpower away from Dormant Thunder. Or the reports of demon attacks being successfully impeded would lull the City of Dormant Thunder into a false sense of security.

Toz had no idea what the demons' plans were. All he knew was that he needed to get as far away as possible, and doing it faster would only make him safer.

After getting far enough to make sure the demon wouldn't notice them even if they ran, Toz and the cats prioritized getting out of the tunnel, only barely hiding themselves.