Earth collapsed in a large area and Kaden among with many others fell down. He wasn't entirely sure what he had fallen into and he couldn't see far. There was so much rock and dust around him that he couldn't see. His defenses had held on and he had mostly minor scratches.

The bombardment had stopped too. The sudden change in their target area had been a surprise too.

There was burst of water and mist nearby and slightly bleeding Ciner appeared.

"Are you all right, my dear?!" She rushed towards Kaden. She had somehow been able to remain near despite the fall.

Kaden ignored her and looked up. The dust was still covering the view upwards, but it was pretty deep fall. Considering the defenses had literally crumbled along with the ground he wasn't certain whether he should fly out and escape. To where? Enemy was likely waiting outside.

Kaden heard small explosions and roars a distance away and rock being moved. Those who had not been burried too deep were digging themselves out.

About then shocks shook the ground again and Kaden wondered if the bombardment had started again and whether it would collapse more of the area he was yet to able to identify.

Yet, these blasts had far more power, but seemed to come not from something hitting the ground.

"Huh, those big shots have come", Ciner said suddenly. "They can't let these areas to be lost. At least not without a price."

Kaden still ignored Ciner, but he had to agree with her assessment. It was likely the True Cari had come. A big move had been made.

That also meant Kaden was either going to sit in the pit and wait until the True Cari left. Outside was likely being hit by far greater forces than the bombardment had so that wasn't the way to go. Luckily he could detect no more large collapses. Just smaller rocks falling down. Whatever had collapsed was now done doing so.

Dust finally settling down enough, Kaden could see it was a large cavity under the ground. It seemed natural. Yet there were large mana crystals in the walls that had not been collapsed.

"I think this may have been a place where a rift appeared inside the ground or some smaller cave", Kaden said. "It then widened this area. I wonder when it was here. It should have been noticed while the ones above ground still existed."

"It must have opened up at the same time", Ciner continued her unusually sensible conversation. "Close enough to be detected to be the same. It might even have been the same. Just another entrance. Without extra accurate measurements, it would show up as one."

At the distance there were some lights. Someone was exploring the area. It seemed there were tunnels connecting to the area. With the light at the entrance, Kaden could see tunnel being covered in mana crystals. Some force from an open rift had opened those tunnels.

"This place is extremely valuable", Kaden realized. "An undetected rift spewed out mana and generated a crystal mine."

At that point Ciner brushed up against Kaden in affectionate manner.

"Don't worry", she said. "Together we will survive this ordeal. Come! We must see, if any of these tunnels will take us out."

Kaden glared at Ciner.

"Search the tunnels for exit", the phoenix leader, Caark, shouted from somewhere just as Kaden was going to decline Ciner's offer. "Up there are only our enemies and True Cari. If you don't find an exit, return here. In that case we might have to fight our way out. We also need to have a report what is in here."

That didn't even count that not everyone could simply fly out. A way could be made, but that would take some effort. About half an hour would likely be enough for True Cari to finish their fights or move away. In that time any attack force wouldn't be able to prepare any significant defenses outside. It would be risky, but simply rushing out could work for at least those that could fly. The rest would have to likely hide in the tunnels and dig their way out.

Digging a way out might even be more desirable option anyway. Flight or not. One of the tunnels merely needed to be close enough to surface and a Lower Cari might simply force their way out. Unfortunately, Kaden was pretty sure his group didn't have any Cari that lived underground. If that had been the case, it would have merely been a short moment while an entirely new tunnel was dug.

As for blowing up a hole, it was actually more acceptable solution that one might think. The earth that had collapsed had lasted for a very long time and had not collapsed during whatever fights had happened above it until it received heavy direct bombardment.

Stolen story; please report.

The walls were full of mana crystals and that meant a lot of mana had suffused into the rock. It was probably unusually hard and some special minerals could probably also be found.

Kaden wasn't expert on excavating tunnels, but he was pretty certain of his assessment. He was even thinking of a formation that would do digging for him, if required. He didn't neccessarily need to blast the tunnel with his Fire Beams and Bombs.

Kaden went to look for tunnels that were on opposite side the attack had come from. He didn't want to appear from under enemy feet. It was no time to attempt risky moves such as laying a minefield under them either.

He didn't find just one, but several. Whatever effects the remnant had caused, seemed to have generated many of these tunnels nearby. While the cave walls were not completely full of tunnels, there were still quite a few of them.

Soon Kaden discovered some of them were even very small. As he was coming out, he heard some roars from another tunnel not too far away and also clear sounds of battle. He wondered for a while what could be inside. Perhaps there was some entrance to the area and someone had been using it without anyone's knowledge?

"Exit would be good. We only need to merely torture whoever is down here to show us the way and then, if neccessary, kill them", Kaden thought to himself.

As few blasts shot out from the tunnel and soon after someone came out with some minor injuries. This Cari was from Kaden's group. Without saying anything he prepared to fight whatever had attacked, but then the tunnel sudden filled with spear like shapes of earth that seemingly randomly sprouted from the tunnel walls.

Kaden was able to say it wasn't too powerful. Probably at or above mid Formation Stage or High Beast. Yet, he could not see the attacker.

"The earth surrounding the area is full of earth elementals!" The Lower Cari that had escaped the tunnel announced to everyone.

Earth elementals? The large amount of mana that had suffused the ground had literally become alive. They might be weak, but since they lived inside the earth, those without earth type mana wouldn't be able to attack them directly. The walls would have to be blasted apart to force the appear out of it and neither Kaden nor the group had time for it.

Was there a way this situation was going to go worse?

The answer was obviously yes. As it happens, the attackers above ground had those able to dig. This wasn't surprising considering the siege spells they had used. It was likely the Cari that could eat rock to turn them into bombs. Opening a way underground would be easy.

The tunnels on the other side exploded with spells.

"Continue looking for an exit or on where we can open one!" Orders were shouted. "We can fight off much larger force if they come through only small tunnels!"

While the True Cari were fighting outside, anyone weaker than them wouldn't likely come that way. Kaden ignored the fight and planned to explore tunnels.

"A few earth elementals might damage my feathers a bit and they will pay for it, but they likely can't stop me", Kaden thought to himself.

A few blasts would shatter any earth spikes they were shooting from the walls. They could not stop him short of collapsing the tunnel, but the mana infused earth was strong enought that the weaker elementals, while matching element, would still require effort to move it in such a way.

There was also a question of intelligence. Mana creatures weren't often intelligent. They were just animate mass of mana. While they too would gain intelligence eventually, Kaden was pretty sure these weaker ones were more of the instinctual type. As long as there wasn't one to match Lower Cari or Condensation stage, there shouldn't be intelligent ones. Even if there was a strong one there with intelligence, it wouldn't come up. It was simply outnumbered.

Kaden wondered for a moment whether he could make the earth elementals open an exit somehow, but he felt that was unlikely. They lived inside the earth and there was no reason for them to open any holes into it. Probably why they had never surfaced either.

Kaden searched the tunnel. The now active earth elementals were at most an annoyance and made the work slow. Kaden couldn't really even sense them with life sense since technically they were mostly just earth mana. There was only slight spark of life in them.

Kaden explored a few tunnels and was getting annoyed having his feathers messed up. Luckily someone appeared from one of the tunnels and announced it was a viable exit. It had required a bit of forcing to open a hole, but it was an exit.

Unfortunately the True Cari were still fighting outside. It would be dangerous to leave right away. Kaden looked around and noted it might not be a choice soon. The tunnels that were being used by the attackers were apprently being widened. It was getting more and more difficult to repel that as time passed.

"This place could become an intense battlefield soon", Kaden though to himself.

It was still far more favorable place to fight than outside even without the True Cari.

Just as Kaden was pondering on this matter, he sensed something nearby. Something fast!

"Crap!" Kaden had time to curse as he stepped sideways to avoid a strike right at his neck. Instead it hit his side, just below his wing.

Now completely visible, it was a bat type Cari. Kaden wasn't sure what it was specifically, but it had really long claws and shadows flowed about it making it nearly invisible.

"Looks like the tunnel is already leaking", Kaden muttered to himself and prepared to fight.

Then suddenly some mist and water gathered around the bat, who tried to quickly move away. It was unsuccesful. It isn't easy to escape Ciner and her mist tentacles.

"How dare you! HOW DARE YOU!" Ciner rushed in and roared in rage.

Kaden wondered what was the problem. He had fought a lot of enemies and been hit previously. He then observed as Ciner's mist tentacles started to twist the screaming bat in ways that its body shoudn't bend. Then its head was torn off as blood spewed on Ciner, who didn't care.

"Don't worry hubby. You need not dirty your hands with these", Ciner told Kaden happily and started to do something to its head.

"You can play with the corpse, if you want, but I will take rest of its body", Kaden told Ciner. If she was going to take all his kills and his benefits, he would be angry.

Ciner didn't say anything, but was instead using her mist and water to tear off all flesh and muscle from the head and leaving only the bone. Kaden finally saw where and how Ciner got all the heads she used in her 'art'.

Kaden quickly took the bat's core, but stored away its meat for later consumption.