"Hey! It seems we can go all out today!" Morgan, unaware it was the mage's doing, said, "The Fireplace God has heard my plea! Snake-men, if you dare to play tricks, taste the might of the best dwarves!"

The two companions ran forward as fast as they could, leaving a trail of footsteps in the open cavern. The mage seemed tireless, gliding forward as if on air, while the dwarf began to tire, the sound of his heavy breathing echoing behind the mage.

"Oh! Lynch," Morgan said intermittently, "Do you really have to hurry? I can sprint long distances, but I can't keep going as fast as a horse!"

The mage said nothing and tried to transfer a bit of spiritual power to the dwarf. Though negligible for Morgan's heavy body, it at least reduced his complaints.

The farther they went, the higher the temperature rose. The warm air made both feel short of breath, and sweat continually slipped down their foreheads. A bright beam of light vaguely shot from ahead.

"It's getting hotter and hotter!" Morgan panted, "Lynch, have they found a new volcano instead of the gemstone? This place wasn't like this before!"

"The snake-men wouldn't mobilize such forces just for a volcano," Lynch responded, "Quickly move forward, and we'll find out what's happening!"

The excavation pit was right in front of them; there were no creatures on the scaffolding, nor were any ropes moving. The beam of light came from the pit's bottom. But when Lynch looked there, he saw nothing. They had excavated a new tunnel on the deepest cave wall towards the side. If the mage's estimation was right, that was the source of the light.

Just as the mage concentrated and stared, a small figure ran out from the side tunnel, flames burning on his body, shouting in agony. Several black arrows shot from behind him, pinning him to the ground. The shouting lasted for a moment and then stopped.

Morgan was startled by the sound coming from the cavern's depths. After many echoes, the wail had turned into a thunderous roar. Morgan gripped his weapon tightly, "Something terrible must have happened here! I have a bad feeling! Lynch, let's make another quick descent, this time, it will definitely be fine."

The mage pursed his lips without immediately answering Morgan. After a while, when the dwarf urged him for the third time, the mage seemed to finally make up his mind, "Alright, Morgan, this time might be very dangerous, and I'm almost certain of it." He patted Morgan's shoulder and said, "Remember, what we have to do now is to rescue the dwarves in danger, not fight the enemy head-on. If you can't understand this, then everything I'm doing is meaningless!"

"Okay, no need to say more, I understand!" Morgan's beard quivered like a blazing flame, "Don't worry, the Old Dwarf will look after you!"

The mage grabbed the dwarf and leaped into the deep pit. The whistling wind blew past Lynch's ears, the speed increasing. Morgan could no longer open his eyes, but the mage still kept a firm gaze on the ground below. Holding his magic wand tightly, he said softly, "I hope this time, I can repay Morgan for his past care." Then the words were lost in the wind.

Landing safely at the bottom, Morgan finally saw the fallen dwarf. He lay on the ground, engulfed in flames. The few black iron arrows in his back were evidently not dwarf craftsmanship. Besides dwarves, there was only one type of creature here, and that was the snake-men. Morgan raised his hammer and charged in, "Scaly creatures! Today is your day of reckoning!"

"Wait!" Lynch began to say, but knew he couldn't stop the dwarf. He quickly cast a high-level invisibility spell on himself, at least to lower the chances of being detected. Worried that Morgan would be ambushed, he rushed in.

This side tunnel was what the snake-men referred to as "a major advancement." The mage had no time to stop and observe if the soil here had been camouflaged because the dwarf already engaged the snake-men.

The guys stood at one end of the tunnel, their weapons aimed deeper inside, seemingly guarding against anything escaping from within. The sound of the dwarf drew their attention, but in just the moment they turned to look, Morgan had already charged into the snake-men's ranks.

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