The monsters had left deep marks on the symphony and carried natural mana. Those traces weren't much, but Khan could draw conclusions anyway, vaguely understanding where each tunnel led.
Of course, Khan couldn't understand the level of danger connected to each tunnel, but his stance didn't change. He wanted to go deeper into Cegnore's underground world. His companions were the only problem.
Naoo and the other team leaders had heard Khan clearly, but inspecting their ranks generated worries. They didn't lose too many soldiers, but each casualty counted for small teams.
The wise decision would be to retreat and come back with a bigger team and better equipment. However, hundreds of wolves had died too. The area probably was emptier than ever, and leaving would give the monsters the time to refill it.
The Thilku wanted to believe they were in charge of that decision, but the chain of command became obvious when Khan looked into the distance again. The aliens instinctively followed his gaze, and some had already accepted to advance.
It didn't help that Khan's expression left nothing to the imagination. Everyone could see how eager he was to keep exploring, and the team leaders eventually came to the same conclusion.
"[Retrieve the equipment]!" Naoo was the first to shout to her underlings. "[We are going]!"
The other team leaders echoed Naoo's orders, adding more directives that arranged the soldiers into a battle formation once again. The process was fast and smooth, but many eyes fell on the dead companions. The Thilku wanted to retrieve their capes, but that could be a hindrance in eventual battles.
Khan noticed that behavior and almost felt compelled to let a few companions retreat. However, the unclear danger ahead forced him to stay silent. He probably wouldn't need that manpower, but reducing the team's size would increase the risk for the remaining Thilku.
The team advanced after restoring their battle formation, and the red halo touched new areas, dispersing more darkness. Naoo and the others carefully approached Khan, minding every crack and river in their path, and questions resounded once they reached him.
"[What do you see]?" Naoo asked, looking in the same direction as Khan. The team had instinctively put her in charge of communicating with Khan, and she didn't shy back from that role.
"[Some paths are too dark]," Khan explained, his eyes darting left and right, "[But the bright one rises. We might have to fight near the surface]."
The soldiers couldn't help but exchange questioning gazes. Their lamps still didn't reach the tunnels, but Khan seemed to know their general direction. Yet, he described them in terms of brightness, which was confusing.
"[Bright means beasts, right]?" Naoo questioned.
"[Probably]," Khan confirmed. "[I can't see how deep it is]."
The answer was far from ideal, and Khan shared the Thilku's confusion. He wanted better clues, but the current area couldn't give them. Advancing was the only way to learn more about Cegnore's underground world.
Khan studied the symphony a little longer before sprinting toward a nearby big river. His sudden movement startled the Thilku, who began to chase after him. However, they stopped when they saw him crouching toward the water.
The river's flow grew clearer when Khan immersed his hand inside it, but his attention went past that. Corpses had fallen into the water, tainting its composition. Still, Khan's core filtered all that away, focusing only on what triggered its call.
Khan quickly stood up to fly to another river to repeat the process, and better answers arrived at that time. The information carried by the water fused with the symphony's shades, adding details to the scenery sensed before.
The Thilku didn't dare to move to avoid disturbing Khan's inspection, but their curiosity flared when he stood up again. He didn't fly to another river, so Naoo stepped forward to shout more questions.
"[So]?" Naoo asked in her usual angry tone.
Khan didn't answer but stepped into the air, remaining visible while slowly walking ahead. That gesture didn't say much, but the Thilku understood it was time to follow him.
The river had pointed Khan toward the brighter and rising tunnel, which became visible only after crossing a few hundred meters.
The symphony inside the tunnel grew darker with each passing second since the natural mana quickly covered the marks left by the monsters. However, Khan felt quite certain, and the red halo eventually fell on it, revealing its size.
The tunnel's entrance was big but lacked paths that could be walked on foot. The river running from it had relatively shallow sides, but the Thilku couldn't be happy about it.
Nevertheless, no one complained. Khan flew inside the tunnel, and the Thilku followed him, jumping into the water and making their way forward. They had to support themselves on the wall to avoid falling, but that wasn't enough to break their resolve.
The advance through the river was hellish for the Thilku. Their tall and strong bodies helped against the water's flow, but the rocks under their feet were uneven, often creating holes deeper than their legs.
The river's side never got deep enough to submerge the Thilku, but they couldn't be comfortable. They couldn't even create battle formations in that environment, but the figure flying above them reassured them.
As always, Khan sensed his companions and adjusted his pace to remain visible. Still, most of his attention remained on the tunnel, which rose and narrowed without bringing meaningful changes to the river.
The symphony stated that the tunnel was pretty long, and the Thilku drew similar conclusions after minutes passed. They were still carrying lamps, and their light never touched areas that might mark the passage's end.
The narrowing of the tunnel eventually stopped, so the team didn't worry about it anymore, but the lack of a finishing line became a growing problem. The group had long since surpassed the new trench, and the passage didn't even try to end.
The far too advanced location didn't bother Khan. He didn't even consider that to be a problem since he had always wanted to dive deeper into Cegnore. Yet, the staleness of the symphony began to trouble him. The environment didn't change, but it was still strange for the natural mana to remain so stable.
Khan's suspicion continued to grow, but the area didn't offer answers. The lack of strange clues was the actual odd feature, and he couldn't explain it from his position.
Both Khan's suspicion and the Thilku's worries intensified as that seemingly endless march continued. However, once the group was near the one-hour mark, Khan suddenly stopped advancing, and the team leaders promptly shouted similar orders to their underlings.
All the Thilku lifted their heads to question Khan, but he was too busy inspecting the environment to mind them. He had found a clue, and everything grew clearer afterward.
The symphony obviously interacted with the river, gaining shades conveyed by its water. Still, even when the tunnel slightly changed, the natural mana remained mostly the same. That harmony felt almost artificial due to how stable it was.
The same went for the ripples caused by the Thilku. The symphony changed due to their presence but also recovered quickly. The rivers seemed to wash away any influence, and Khan's was no exception.
The mana inside the river was to blame for that pattern, but a possible reason appeared when Khan saw a faint wall in the distance. Even with his senses, that structure was barely noticeable, but it poured the same stability as the tunnel into the water, forcing it to convey it to the symphony.
The wall wasn't only made of mana. It confirmed the artificial nature of the tunnel's symphony and put a culprit behind it. That stability was intentional, and Khan knew it could only come from an intelligent being.
"[There's danger ahead]," Khan announced without turning. "[I'll take a look]."
Khan sprinted forward, but the Thilku didn't dare to leave everything to him. They accelerated, trying to get into a battle formation inside that narrow and annoying environment. Yet, by the time they managed to arrange themselves, Khan had already crossed the red halo.
The barrier was only a faint and weak wave of energy, and Khan flew directly through it. His will instantly flared when he peeked past it to affect the symphony as much as possible, but the scene that unfolded in his vision silenced his urges.
The tunnel had finally ended. Khan was hovering before a circular area that was only a quarter of the Thilku's vast main hall. A rocky path also encircled the clear lake at its center, and ripples spread on its surface due to the water coming from below.
Khan automatically memorized those details, but his attention was elsewhere. The area was dark, but the symphony shone in his eyes, and five brighter masses of mana tried to blind him.
Four of the five masses radiated familiar vibes. Khan recognized them as mutated Thilku, who sat cross-legged on opposite spots of the rocky sidewalk.
Instead, Khan had never seen or sensed the mass at the lake's center. He struggled to understand its actual features from the symphony alone, but its aura felt connected to the environment and water.
Moreover, the fifth figure wasn't swimming. It was also sitting cross-legged, but not on rocks. It floated on the water without ever piercing its surface.
All five masses belonged to third-level warriors, so Khan didn't worry about his safety. Yet, his curiosity was something else altogether, which focused on the evident connection between the water and the unknown figure.
"[Did you follow your call]?" The figure floating at the lake's center said in the Thilku's language, but its voice was soft and melodic, "[Or did you chase mine]?"
Khan could confirm the speaker wasn't a Thilku from the voice alone. Even its size was smaller than those aliens. Its shape resembled humans, but the symphony couldn't be too detailed.
"[You do have your mind]," The figure continued, and Khan could feel it standing up, its feet using the lake's surface as if it was ground. "[Maybe you can fulfil the Nak's wish]."
"[Why]?" Khan responded, almost snapping. "[Because I'm a real host]?"
"[Host]," The figure repeated. "[Host is wrong]."
The figure tapped the water, and a tremor ran through the lake, releasing seemingly random noises. However, a thought had fused with it, and Khan's mind instantly translated it.
'Potential heir,' Khan heard in his mind, and his unreasonable urges returned as the Nak's language resounded in his ears.
