It was late autumn, and as a group of people gradually moved toward the southwest road of Flashgold Town, the scenery on both sides began to change.
From the originally vast fields of mostly harvested wheat, it transformed into gently rolling hills.
The large swathes of trees on the hills had already turned yellow, shining like a beautiful golden scroll under the sunlight.
Since everyone was on horseback, about an hour later, the official investigation team led by Hamilton arrived at the mid-slope of a hill.
This was the main entrance to the Elim Mine.
At this time, a middle-aged man dressed as a mine supervisor, along with a few miners dressed in half-length coarse cloth jackets and knee-length shorts, had already been waiting at the entrance of the mine.
Rein looked around and saw behind the mine's gate a large area filled with wooden huts, which seemed to be the dwellings of the miners, and faint crying sounds could be heard, presumably from the relatives of miners who had lost their family members.
The dark entrance of the mine was scattered with about a dozen small mining carts, and a metal rail about a meter wide stretched into the mine.
Surrounding them were wooden fences over two meters high, enclosing the entire entrance and residential area of the mine. These fences, made of beech wood, were quite solid.
After Captain Weilun asked a few questions, the disheveled miners indeed did not know exactly what had happened inside; they had only heard strange clashing sounds followed by horrific screams.
By the time they assembled a group and rushed over, they only found some remaining bloodstains.
After several such incidents, they no longer dared to check on the situation.
Especially after the Bounty Hunters came and disappeared without a trace, these miners dared not even enter the mine anymore.
Clearly, these responses provided little help for the investigation team wanting to understand exactly what had happened inside the mine.
Shortly after hearing this, Hamilton decided that they needed to enter the mine to conduct a direct investigation.
So, three Bounty Hunters walked in the front, followed closely by Weilun and Rein along with several Night Watchmen, with Schmidt, Endri, and Hamilton in the middle, and the remaining seven or eight elite Night Watchmen at the back.
The entire team formed a long line, slowly advancing deeper into the mine.
It wasn't for lack of a desire to adopt a more compact security formation, but because the special terrain of the mining tunnel dictated it.
The tunnel at the entrance of the mine was relatively spacious, and after many years of excavation, it was almost wide enough for three or four people to walk abreast, and there were oil lamps hanging on the rock walls on both sides, providing fairly clear lighting, allowing for faster advancement.
But as they went deeper, especially after passing a junction, the tunnels of the mine gradually became narrower, particularly as many of the hanging oil lamps on the tunnel walls were damaged, significantly reducing visibility within the mine.
"That junction just back there leads to the old mine pit, which had been mostly mined out decades ago," said the mine supervisor.
"The tunnel we are now entering was only excavated about twenty years ago. Although its gold reserves are not as extensive as those of the old pit, they are still moderate," he explained.
"The problem is occurring in this new pit,"
As they went deeper, hardly any of the oil lamps were lit.
At this point, the only source of light relied on the torches each person carried.
The alertness of the group gradually heightened to its peak.
"Why aren't these oil lamps lit? Is it out of oil?" muttered one of the Bounty Hunters leading the way.
"These oil lamps... if they're not refilled in time, they can only last two or three days. It's been quite some time since then, so..." the supervisor attempted to explain.
But at this moment, Rein began to sense something was off.
As he delved deeper into the mine, his level 2 danger perception started to frequently warn him, as if something dangerous lurked deep in the mine tunnels, and this feeling was growing stronger.
This made Rein tense his muscles, ready to dodge or attack at any moment.
"Something's not right, look at this oil lamp, it seems like something clawed it directly off the wall," said the Bounty Hunter in the lead, who seemed to notice something.
He raised his torch high, illuminating a side of the rock wall where there were visible scratch marks.
It appeared to be the work of some beast's claws.
As everyone focused their attention in the direction he indicated, suddenly, a large gaping mouth sprang out from the junction of the tunnel floor and rock wall, biting towards a Night Watchman.
"Watch out!" Since Rein was always on guard, he reacted immediately and shouted loudly.
However, his position was behind the attacked Night Watchman, naturally making it impossible to block the attack in time.
But Rein reacted quickly, forcefully kicking the attacked Night Watchman.
This kick narrowly allowed him to dodge the deadly bite!
The next second, a chorus of shouts erupted from the group.
In the flickering torchlight, one of the Bounty Hunters shouted in a horrified tone, "It's a Crystal Stone Lizard!"
"There's a Crystal Stone Lizard here!"
Thanks to Rein's Dark Vision, he could clearly see the full appearance of the attacker.