"Where is the wind coming from?" Magen asked as we went deeper into the cave.

"It seems it is coming from this crack" Xifia was standing in front of the left wall of the cave.

Being so deep in the cave the darkness is very deep. If it were not for the light sources of each girl and my fairies nothing could be seen, not even the tip of the nose.

Now that I pay attention to the cave that Xuexue used as her den I can notice the strangeness of its shape or formation.

In reality, the shape of the mountains and the -Gorge- of the Range has a strange shape. At least the part where we are searching.

Before the storm if you looked at the peaks of the mountains it looked as if a meteorite had fallen in this area creating a whole -wound- in the natural mountain chain.

The tops of the mountains have a concave shape toward the -gorge- as if the meteorite or a beam of energy had perforated the mountains like butter.

And if you pay more attention to the shape and structure of the cave, it looks more like two rocks were together leaning against each other. Just thinking about it is giving me a little fear of being under this puzzle of rocks.

"Why does wind come out of this crack and the wind does not enter through here?" Magen, after approaching Xifia and -examining- the crack in the wall said.

"It is because Xuexue’s cave is higher up. That is, Xuexue’s cave is connected to another cave whose height is lower, hot air tends to rise and in this way a wind current is created that comes out through here and cold air enters through the cave that is below... Something like that..."

"Mm! For some reason I understood what Vremya explained."

"Yes... It seems confusing but if he explains it..."

I gave Dianeira and Xifia a pair of white eyes and decided to ignore them.

I feel that Xifia is being more influenced by Dianeira lately...

"I do not understand... But, how do we enter?" Magen spoke with an expression of trying to think but giving up.

"I can open the wall with my sword!" Destan, at some point had taken out his sword, said with his gunblade held with both hands, one of Destan’s fingers is on the trigger of his Gunblade.

"No, it is a crack about three meters deep, this place is not technically the place we are looking for. According to the Quest description there is a cave that is the access to the ancient ruins and this definitely is not it..."

"So Xuexue’s cave is not the cave we are looking for?"

Magen and the others looked at me.

"That it is not the place we are looking for does not mean it does not lead us to our main objective. Maybe it leads us to some place...

The problem is that I can feel it is a narrow passage for kilometers of distance"

Without saying more, I approached the wall where the crack is, and placed my hands on the cold rock. The three small fairies around me flew directly to the crack and penetrated the rock.

Concentrating my magical energy I channeled the earth element of the fairies to control the rock and create a passage where a person can pass.

But the rock is not like snow and ice...

The ground under my feet started to vibrate and the crack started to illuminate with a yellow-brown light.

"Vremya is not going to collapse the cave. Right?...." 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

"I do not think so...

I think he wants to do the same as with the snow..."

"Do not worry, if the cave collapses I will protect everyone! YOO!"

The girls were talking behind me, but I had to pay attention to the crack in front of me. The weight of shaping the solid rock makes the expenditure of my mana greater.

It is not like shaping earth which is easier than shaping water, rock is very dense and changing its structure requires more energy.

But I have a trick!

My innate space ability goes very well with all my elemental fairy magics.

It not only helps my sharp attacks like wind or water blades to have even more edge with the help of the space element, but earth magic can be heavier or lighter with the space element added ~

The tremor under my feet ceased to almost an imperceptible level. But the crack in front of me started to expand at a visible speed.

But even so, with my space trick, opening a three-meter path in solid rock made me sweat.

"Ufff... I think that is enough" I said while wiping the sweat from my forehead. My three small fairies flew and floated in the passage flashing in yellow-orange light.

"Great! The cave did not collapse ~ "

"Strong"

"But we can only go one by one..."

"Manipulating mountain rock is very tiring..." I said complaining to everyone.

"But Vremya, here is missing..." Magen as the one who advanced in the newly opened passage pointed to a hole.

Inside the hole everything looks dark.

There is a drop in this part of the crack. I could not continue digging reshaping the rock and continue spending mana prudently. I do not know what other things are ahead and it is not good to run out of energy at the beginning of the cave.

"The crack is a little twisted, we have to crouch a couple of meters more to reach a wider natural hallway..."

"Then I will go first! YOO!" Magen without thinking placed her shield on her back and crouched to enter the hole.

But...

"I do not fit..." Magen could only put her head and part of her shoulders but the shield on her back hit the rock of the hole...

"Stupid, just cancel the shield summoning!" Xifia said behind Magen.

"But without the shield I cannot see anything..." Magen said from inside the hole. Her voice sounds distant and muffled, it is a little funny.

"You are stupid! Take out a luminous pearl. pam~ pam~ pam~"

"AH! Do not kick me from behind!"

Xifia started kicking Magen’s butt who while crouching crawling into the hole is completely at the mercy of her best friend of all life...

"I will send a fairy to illuminate the front" controlling one of my mana clone fairies I sent a fairy that flew and entered the hole illuminating the darkness inside the crack.

"Good, now I can see better in front!" Magen canceled the summoning of her sacred shield and started crawling deeper into the dark hole.

When Magen’s shield disappeared in white light motes the luminosity of the cave dropped many lumens. In truth Magen’s shield illuminated the cave better.

"Vremya-san. What will happen with Xuexue?" then, when Magen crawling entered the deep crack, Destan said something important.

"It is true! Xuexue cannot pass through here."

"I think she will have to wait for us here. Besides that cave is safe. Even the defense magics and traps placed by Kara and by me are still active and with energy." outside the crack, inside the cave, I crossed my arms and with my right hand I rubbed my chin.

Xuexue is very large and cannot accompany us, although there are points where the height of the crack reaches three meters, they are very few segments and shaping the rock for several kilometers is impossible for the me of now.

We can only advance through here and find the other entrance so I can return for Xuexue and guide her through the other entrance.

Without more, I approached Xuexue and started to transmit the information to her.

Xuexue has no problem staying here lying down sleeping. Her response is that she would wait. But I have to leave food...

In the area near the cave entrance I took out a large carpet as well as cushions so Xuexue could lie down.

I also took out large previously roasted pieces of meat for snacks for Xuexue and the three little kittys.

Then, after thinking for a couple of seconds, I took Bing, Ling and Yue out of the Reminiscence Room so they could accompany Xuexue. The place is safe, although all this time there are people who have been watching us, the unfortunate ones have been cleaned by my shadow guardian. So the cave is safe as long as my shadow guardian is outside protecting the place.

Besides, I know that somehow she hears what we talk about so I can be sure she will stay close to the cave if she knows I will return here.

After leaving everything ready for Xuexue and the three little kittys everyone had already passed through the hole in the crack and only Dianeira was left.

Since Magen had taken out her sacred shield again, my small fairy clone had returned to the place, but everything looked a little dark with only my fairies illuminating the cave and with Dianeira with a luminous pearl in her hand.

Remembering that in my backpack there are luminous pearls I took out about five and placed them in various areas of the cave so they would illuminate Xuexue and the others while we went deeper into the heart of the mountain.

"Let us go, the others are waiting. Ladies first ~ "

"Mm. Thank you?" I am already used to and not used to the preferential treatment given to men in this world.

Dianeira made a knightly pose with her right arm gently stretched in the direction of the crack and her palm extended gently upward.

Dianeira has a smile on her lips, but after being with her all this time I have already gotten used to her black-bellied smile.

I entered the crack and crouched to crawl through the hole a little more than one meter long. Only in about ten seconds I can be on the other side so I did not want to spend more mana enlarging this hole downward.

But while I was halfway crawling I felt something that made me shudder completely...

"HIII!!!

DIAN?"

"Mmmm! Soft and Firm ~ "

"YOU!

Stop touching my butt!!!"