The mine's disguise gave way to its true face here.
The once-narrow tunnels had been forcibly widened and paved with smooth stone slabs. Every ten meters, a ghastly white fluorite stone was embedded in the rock wall, illuminating the subterranean world with the stark clarity of a morgue.
Thomas discreetly scanned his surroundings.
'Where are the miners? The pickaxes? The coal carts?'
As far as the eye could see were hundreds, if not thousands, of enormous alchemy vats sealed with lead plates. They were arranged in neat rows in the cavern's depths, interlinked by a complex network of copper pipes. An unknown substance flowed within, letting out an unsettling gurgle from time to time.
'This is clearly a cursed assembly line.'
"AHHH—! Kill me! O merciful Lord of Eternal Radiance, kill me!"
A bloodcurdling scream tore through the subterranean silence, reverberating through the enclosed space and making one's skin crawl.
Thomas stopped. "Is that a survivor?"
