Noah approached the end of the cave and found a two-way road. “Muell, try to create a hot wind. Not too strong, just to the point where the water dries,” she instructed, to which Muell attempted to protest against. “Last time I did that, Noah caught a cold…”

“What? When?” Kyle asked, his brows furrowed.

Noah first looked at the crossroads to the right, listening to the conversation of the two men behind her, where Muell was pouting his lips as Kyle reprimanded the little boy. As her eyes became accustomed to the darkness, she could recognize the railroad tracks laid on the ground of the cave.

“Here’s the railroad. This must be the way out,” said Noah.

A foreign object rolled from beyond the darkness. It was then followed by a faint vibration on the tracks, which seemingly indicated that a small wagon was running along the tracks. Noah managed to take the flashlight that was still hanging in her work clothes and clicked the switch. Before long, the dark interior of the cave was brightly lit.

As she expected, a wagon that could barely carry two or three people was approaching from a distance with a rattle. Noah felt strange; the place was better than she thought it would be, and it’s even equipped with a railroad.

It didn’t seem like the thief of the Mane Ore broke into the previous workshop along the path under the lake, but it could be that they came directly to this place in a train to mine the magical ore.

While Noah marshaled her thoughts, the wagon gradually came to a stop. As she was about to take a step forward to the cart, there was a strange sensation behind her back. Wondering, she turned her head and noticed a yellow glint similar to what she had seen previously when they swam through the bottom of the lake. There weren’t only one or two. Hundreds of yellow specks twinkled in the dark irregularly. Those were the things that tried to break her restraints.

What is that? The moment she turned around to get a closer glimpse, someone jumped up from the cart behind her. When Noah looked back in a hurry, what she saw was a man with a pale complexion rushing towards her.

***A roar, accompanied by a vibration, erupted within the cave. Kyle looked up in surprise and Muell, who was blowing hot wind to dry his work clothes, also raised his head. Noah, who had been snooping around inside the cave, had disappeared. As soon as he realized Noah was nowhere to be seen, Kyle leaped up. The little boy also jumped up with a small exclamation. Feeling the blood all over his body turn cold, Kyle rushed past Muell and ran to the cave. Just as he turned around the right corner where the roar thundered, Kyle was greeted with an unexpected sight. He assumed someone attacked Noah, or Noah touched something wrong, or she tripped somewhere and fell down, but he witnessed before him a sight he never expected to see.

“What is it?” As she turned around, Noah was casually brushing off the stain on her body. At first glance, her hands were soaked in red. “You surprised me,” she nonchalantly said.

At her feet the groans of a dying man trickled out and the red stain that was dripping on the floor was blood. Even though the pungent smell of blood reached Kyle, there was no response from Noah. Kyle stood frozen on the ground, stunned.

Her hands stroked her neck, completely releasing the restraint, and the shabby chains fell to the floor. The restraints on her wrist had also disappeared. The force that was blocking Noah and Muell’s resonance was broken. The power that she had been struggling to bear returned to her at once.

Apparently, until a while ago, her apricot hair and work clothes that had been soaked were dry without any moisture. While Kyle remained fixed on his spot, unable to say anything, Muell passed him and ran to Noah.

“What was it, Noah?” asked Muell.

“Uh, something tried to hit me and I saw it was a person. Looking at his clothes, he seems to be one of the missing miners.” Noah lowered her posture in front of the fallen man at her feet and grabbed his chin, turning his face from side to side. “Are you dead?”

As Kyle listened to her words, he determined that Noah was not in her normal condition now. No woman had ever come to him playing tricks before. Currently, she looked very much like a young dragon fiddling around the shoulder of the bleeding man next to her. Kyle clenched his jaw and Noah looked back at him.

“Sir, come here. This guy, he came this way in a wagon, and he’s probably one of the-”

“Come here, Mu. Stay away from Noah.”