Flesh goblin's body fell on the rock, and its blood was absorbed, by the rock. Rex nodded at this with approval.

"Even if this isn't connected to the anomaly, it's still a very good discovery." Rex praised the trio. He then turned towards Herman." Do you know what can because of this?" Herman pondered, for a few minutes.

"Well, I don't feel, that this is magical, but it could be caused by combination of magic and machinery." Herman replied.

"Can you explain it?" Rex asked.

"For example, if formation made a wind, that causes something to move, and it would cause another thing to also move and so on. You wouldn't be able to feel magic from it. The source of movement is because of the wind caused by magic, but the rest would be just nature." Herman explained.

"So the rock could be connected to something that is run by magic?" Herman nodded.

"Yeah, that is a possibility." Rex deep in the thoughts.

"We already killed a lot of goblins, and there is no reaction, which could mean three things. First we need more blood, second there are more rocks like this, or third we need different blood for this. I hope it's not more rocks. There were cases that pieces needed to be activated in order." Rex sighed and gave the order to search for any suspicious looking stone or rock, and other strange things.

"Should we test the human blood?" Aura asked. Rex nodded.

"We have few prisoners, that we captured not long ago. They are bandits, so killing them this way will be a mercy for them. But we should wait until we get a report from my men." Everyone agreed with that.

....

Jax was gathering data, and create scenarios of experiment and simulated them. At some point he felt that someone appeared. This being wasn't a man or a woman. When Jax looked at it, in one second he saw a silhouette of a young woman, and in another silhouette of a dragon. That being was at the same time everything and nothing.

"What brings you here?" Jax asked. He didn't care too much about the presence of this being, and continued his experiments.

"We want to make a deal with you." The being said with the voice of countless species of both genders at the same time.

"Sure, what do you want?" Jax replied.

.....

"My men didn't discover anything. So we can exclude more rocks. So now we can try with the human blood." Rex ordered for prisoners to be brought out. They looked like typical bandits. With vile look at their faces, their looked at female soldiers and Aura. Some of them had scars on their faces or arms. Aura emitted killing intent towards them, but they didn't care. Rex then nodded at Herman. Herman cast a spell and bandit started to walk towards the rock. After that, he slit his throat. When the bandit blood touched the rock, it started to glow. After that the earth started to shook, and the ground opened revealing stairs.

"That was quick" Rex said. He then turned towards trio." If you rest enough, and have supplies, you should go immediately."

"I can go now, what about you two?" Benjamin asked. Aura and Herman nodded. Benjamin turned towards Rex." We will go now." Rex nodded.

"I hope Gods will help you." Then they went down.

....

Benjamin took out a flashlight. It was an expensive tool, but one of the best things people can get. It will not cause fire, and operating is far easier and more reliable than a torch. He light up surroundings using it, they moved slowly. It was caused by them watching every step to not activate some kind of trap. It caused Benjamin to be in the front, and Herman in the back while checking for magical traps. Benjamin found a few steps that looked suspicious and walked away from them. A few minutes later, they found themselves in a big room, that was filled with books and glass capsules filled with a strange liquid. When they walked towards these capsules, they saw, that floating in that liquid were human corpses.

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"Herman, do you have any idea what is the point of these capsules?" Herman nodded at Benjamin question. Benjamin wasn't disgusted by it. These corpses weren't discomposed, and by the looking at them, he could see that death was painless.

"They are for keeping them fresh, in some cases there are other properties, but without checking it, I can't say anything." They didn't touch anything, and went deeper into the room. Few minutes late they found a door. They didn't try to open it manually. Benjamin skinned at Herman, who used telekinesis against the door. The door opened and a series of darts shot from the corridor. The room was light up by artificial light, so Benjamin took out a small mirror and handed it to the Aura. She nodded and strapped the mirror at the end of her sword, and held it towards the door. She saw in reflection that there is nothing behind the door. Benjamin wasn't convinced, so he took out a rock he had, and throw it into the corridor, when he didn't hear anything happening for a few minutes he went inside. The corridor was very long, and quite wide, both him and aura could walk side by side, although they didn't do that in case of getting in the range of each other swords.

They found some protruding stone slaps on the ground. 'It would be dangerous, for people without a mage, and with just a torch.' Although the light was still there, it became quite dim.

"For now this being an ancient location is correct, although the capsules and lights are strange." Benjamin whispered.

"There are some ruins, that have them. It's nothing surprising." Herman replied, and then both of them felt that Aura held them.

"Something is coming." She whispered. Both of them took prepared themselves. A few minutes later, a human appeared in front of them.

"It isn't human any more." Benjamin said. In dim light the creature looked like a human, but when it came closer they saw, that it was a walking corpse that was covered in crystals. Its arms and legs were covered in crystal like armour, and from it chest a big chunk of crystal was protruding. Aura jumped towards the monster to decapitate it. She spinned in the air and cut the head of the monster. Aura jumped immediately.

"Fuck me" She cursed. The monster didn't fell, it picked up its head and placed it back on the neck, a moment later the wound was covered in crystals that stuck the head with the neck. After that the monster started to screech, it raised it hand, and started shooting crystal shards towards them. Benjamin saw that after placing the head back on the neck, the crystal on the chest glowed.

"Attack the crystal on its chest!" Benjamin yelled, while evading shards. Aura looked at Herman, who nodded. Benjamin saw it and tried to focus monster attention on him. He changed his sword into a shield and walked towards the monster. The monster started to shoot all the shards towards Benjamin, and it didn't notice shadow appearing behind it. Herman cast a spell that erased the presence of the person, and Aura used it as an opportunity to sneak behind it. She then covered her blade with aura and cut the monster diagonally from the back through the crystal on its chest.