It had been a week since the lizards were exterminated.

Stella, Feidi, and Inpar directed their companions to settle within the caves and set up the foundations for future farms.

Of the three caves, the first and last were currently in use, while the second was still being explored.

It turned out that the second cave entrance led to a deeper network of expansive caves.

This was exactly what Stella had hoped to find, as ores would be easily accessible even for regular humans.

However, those sent to scout the cave system reported seeing large claw marks scratched into the sides of the walls.

When the night was quiet, and one would listen intently, one could hear a deep rumbling sound.

This led to the current exploration team, a dozen fighters led by the three siblings being sent down to explore the deepest caves.

The torch flickered, projecting dancing shadows onto the cave walls.

The air was stale and damp, though an undercurrent of fresh wind blew into the back of the group.

The three siblings were once again spearheading the exploration.

The cave was wide, allowing five men to walk side by side without issues.

It sloped downwards, ever deeper into the belly of the mountain.

Inpar held up his torch and approached a nearby wall.

Upon this wall, three parallel gashes were gouged into the rock.

The space between the individual tears was wide and together, they were larger than a human head.

Inpar traced the rough gouges with his fingers, his fingers getting coated in a thin layer of water, as they disturbed the condensation on the cave walls.

"Whoever or whatever did this is seriously no joke. If one of us would get hit by this, then I'm afraid none of us could walk away from that."

The fighter nearest to him, shifted nervously, gripping the spear even tighter.

"Hey come look at this!"

Stella called out from in front.

A hundred paces after the claw marks, a large puddle of dried blood was spotted on the floor.

Surrounding this puddle, heaps of bones were strewn around.

Their bleached exteriors appeared ghastly in the flickering of the torch.

"Do you think this is where the lizards ate their meals? We did find their trails leading to this cave."

Stella asked.

Feidi looked around the cave, examining the bones.

"I believe this is where whoever left those claw marks eats its meals. I was wondering why these lizards would attack such a large group of humans, but it would make sense if they have to feed whatever is down here. They were desperate for food. Look over there. Doesn't that look like a lizard skull?"

Inpar followed to where Feidi was pointing and truly, the skull lying at the edge of the cave did resemble the head shape of those lizards.

"The lizards were probably forced to provide food, or they would become the food."

Saying so, Feidi continued walking down deeper into the cave.

Inpar didn't linger for long either and followed suit.

They continued walking deeper and deeper into the ground.

At some points, different colored stones appeared, buried within the cave walls, however wherever these colored stones would appear, so would the claw marks, often directly over where these stones were.

Stella approached one of these rocks and with the help of her powers, broke off a piece and inspected it.

The rock had a turquoise appearance, but the part that got broken off, which was previously connected to the cave wall, had a pinkish appearance.

"This is copper ore. It's why we came to these mountains in the first place. It's good to know this journey wasn't in vain."

Stella then pointed to a nearby differently colored rock.

This rock was reddish brown and formed weird lumps in the cave wall.

"And, if we're lucky that would be tin ore. All the ingredients needed to make bronze are here, we simply need to extract them."

Feidi seemed pleased with this discovery.

"Great! Then all we need to do is remove whatever is down here, and we can immediately start mining these ores."

Inpar didn't feel Feidi's confidence.

"Yeah. First, we need to remove the threat hidden within these caves. Before we do that, we must stay focused."

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It seemed as if Feidi was about to rebuke Inpar, but she changed her mind.

"You're right. We can't afford to get careless."

Inpar gave a grim wordless nod and focused on the darkness extending beyond the flickering torchlight.

The shadows stretched deep and it almost appeared as if the cave were the inside of a ravenous beast, swallowing the group whole into the darkness.

Inpar furrowed his brows while squinting, trying to discern the darkness.

The party descended deeper into the ground.

The hunters who had come with the three siblings were the best fighters in their group.

They gripped their spears tightly while walking.

They were light on their steps and always prepared to move quickly, should the need for it arise.

The air was cold and robbed the travelers of their warmth as they descended ever deeper into the underbelly of the mountain.

Nobody spoke and only the shuffling of their steps, the flickering of their torches, and the far-off dripping of water broke the silence.

That is until faintly a low rhythmic rumble could be heard.

The three siblings exchanged glances, as Stella placed her index finger on her lips.

She then turned to the hunters and silently made eye contact with every one of them while maintaining her finger on her lips.

The others all gave her a nod back while keeping their breath as still as possible. Stealthily and slower than before, the group continued their travel ever downwards.

The rumbling grew louder the further they progressed and soon drowned out the silent footsteps and quiet flickering of the torch.

The already wide cave grew wider, as it led to a great underground expanse. The room was easily a hundred paces long and a few dozen paces wide.

Many other openings led to this room, each sloping upwards and in a different direction.

At the far end of the room, a small lake was located at the far side of the cavern, or at least that's what Inpar guessed based on the reflections of the torchlight that he saw.

At the moment it looked to be shallow, but if it were to rain, this lake would surely quickly flood, considering the amount of entrances leading to this room.

In the center of the room lay a pile of various colored rocks, ores as Stella called them, and upon these ores, barely illuminated by the torchlight, lay what appeared to be a lizard.

This lizard, however, was over three times as tall as the tallest lizard seen on the surface and presumably many times stronger.

It was currently sleeping, curled in on itself while resting upon the pile of different colored ores.

The deep rumbling emanated from its chest and followed the rhythm of its breathing.

Around the nest of ores and the lizard lay many bleached bones, far more than they had seen previously when they first discovered the claw marks.

Inpar had to clasp a hand over his mouth, to prevent himself from making any unnecessary noise.

He could hear the rushing of his blood within his ears, following the beat of his own heart, which was so fast and loud, that Inpar was afraid the lizard might wake up simply by hearing it.

Inpar looked at his siblings and the hunters behind them.

Feidi had wide eyes and was shivering all over, yet had a mad grin splitting her face. Stella seemed to be in a similar state, yet instead of a grin, her face was marked by the deep determination etched into her eyes.

The hunters weren't doing much better.

Their knuckles were white from gripping their spears and one had placed their hand in their mouth, to prevent the rattling of their teeth from giving them away to the giant lizard. Inpar exchanged glances with his siblings.

They had known each other their entire lives and they could hold an entire conversation without saying a single word.

Inpar tilted his head towards the exit. Feidi glared intensely while tilting her spear in the lizard's direction.

Inpar looked pleadingly at Stella, while he was met with a determined gaze.

Stella slowly shook her head.

Inpar let his shoulders droop.

Afterward, he straightened up and focused upon Feidi, a steeled gaze meeting an eager one.

Feidi looked at the hunters and pointed at the exit while looking them in the eye.

The hunters nodded and quietly began to retreat.

It made sense, the hunters would only get in the way if they tried to fight here, within the cramped cave.

Before they left, Inpar waved at them and gestured towards their spears.

He then used his powers to take a few of their spears, leaving them with their torches.

His siblings also took a few spears from the hunters.

A dozen spears were now floating silently next to the siblings.

Inpar refocused on Feidi.

She then pointed to herself and Stella and gestured to the lizard.

She traced a half circle, stopping before the snout of the lizard.

She then tapped a spear and pointed to her eyes, nose, ears, and mouth, all the while looking at Stella.

Stella gave a curt nod.

Feidi then looked to Inpar and traced another semi-circle, ending at the lizard's butt.

She then pointed to her armpits, knees, and heels.

Inpar gave a short nod.

Feidi looked from Stella to Inpar, before taking a deep breath.

She nodded her head and slowly lifted herself half a pace off the ground.

Stella also quietly levitated and together they began moving in a half circle around the lizard.

While they were on the move, Inpar began tip-toeing in the opposite direction.

He desperately fought with his muscles to keep them from trembling.

When he was halfway to his designated point at the butt of the lizard, he stepped upon a bone, making it crunch.

The sound reverberated within the hollow cavern and got amplified with each echo.

Inpar winced and stilled.

He slowly turned to glance over his shoulder.

The lizard shifted and slowly stood up.

It opened its small eyes and swayed its head from side to side.

While doing so, it took in deep breaths, sucking in an absurd amount of air with each breath.

It could smell him.

Slowly it turned its head towards Inpar.

Suddenly a spear was launched from its side, aiming for its eye.

It turned its head at the last moment, making the spear glance off its thick scales.

It let out a loud screech and swiped one of its claws at Stella.

This shook Inpar out of his stupor and he began to aim his spears.

Meanwhile, Stella launched herself backward, narrowly avoiding the claw. She had to drop all her spears, as she had to gather her full attention on moving herself quickly out of danger.

Feidi took this opportunity to launch three spears at the lizard's eye, each spear aimed at a slightly different place.

The lizard swiped its paw, catching the spears midair and shattering them.

Inpar gathered all his strength and sent a single spear full force into the back right leg's heel.

The spear left a cut, making the lizard lose its balance.

"Stella, now!"

Feidi shouted while pointing both of her arms at the lizard.

Stella quickly followed suit, and soon the lizard lifted off the ground.

Whereas previously, the lizards on the surface would screech and flail, this lizard remained calm.

The lizard reared its head back and slowly, Inpar could see as orange light began to shine through the scales in its neck.

Slowly, the light traveled from its upper abdomen through its neck to its head.

Inpar had a bad feeling and looked towards Feidi and Stella.

Both were still occupied with lifting this lizard off the ground and hadn't noticed the coming threat yet.

"Watch out!"

Shouting so, Inpar grabbed both women with his powers and threw them as hard as he could backwards.

Not a moment later, the lizard whipped its head back and a jet of hot flames escaped its mouth.

The flames were scorching hot and hit the spot where both Feidi and Stella had previously been.

Now, since the concentration of the two was broken, the lizard dropped to the ground and extinguished its flames.

While it was still in the air and dropping to the ground, it twisted its body and swiped at Inpar.

Inpar didn't see it coming and got caught lacking.

The strike connected and searing pain exploded across his thighs and stomach.

He immediately collapsed, yet before he even reached the floor, he felt a drag upon his body, moving him through the air.

Inpar heard screaming but didn't realize it was his own until he passed out from the pain.