They continued on all day, going through one cave after another. From what Haku remembered, Rhaegal had told him that caves at a depth of 1.2 kilometers became large between 100 and 200 meters in diameter... but these were much larger. More than two kilometers deep, all the caves they had passed through were between four and five kilometers in diameter, and one of them even reached ten kilometers wide by 150 meters high. The columns (or rather, the column-like mushrooms) that supported them by now had a diameter at the base of more than fifteen meters and were further reinforced with a patina secreted directly by the mushrooms which made the stem more resistant. Waterfalls, rivers and lakes of all kinds filled the caverns, fostering a swampy environment full of mushrooms of all shapes and sizes and ever more strange and extraordinary animals. The passages between one cave and another had also become larger: while further to the surface they were barely able to pass a dragon, they were now much wider and allowed large beasts to migrate from one cave to another , and often rivers more than twenty meters wide flowed into them. Although his attention was focused on the possible dangers, Haku could not help but find that environment so singularly fascinating: until then he had never visited the underworld in person, limiting himself to knowing it thanks to the reports of Rhaegal, Corgorin and Serengal, so despite expecting what he was getting into, he still felt somewhat admired to see that flora and fauna so unique.
However, Haku had noticed that they had been walking for quite some time; he didn't feel tired, and neither did his brother and sisters since they were dragons, but he was surprised none of the newcomers had complained yet since, based on his biological clock, he should have been on the surface by now. already late at night. However, as long as no one said anything, he certainly wouldn't raise any objections: it just meant reaching the goal faster. However, he knew that that situation would not last forever, and in fact at a certain point Arethar approached him and whispered to him so as not to be heard by the others: "My king, forgive my selfish request, but please stop us. I need to eat and sleep"
Haku felt the urge to roll his eyes. So up until now the arachne had been holding on because he was waiting for his permission to stop… perhaps he felt he needed it because it was the dragon who had ordered to leave, and therefore he thought it was he who should have ordered to camp? Or more simply he believed that it should be Haku to decide for any of his actions? More likely the second. "All right. As soon as you find a safe place, announce it to the others and let's stop there" he replied. "And by the way, don't consider your selfish request. Next time you're tired, just say it. Don't forget that you are our guide, you choose the path"
"You are too generous, my king. You needn't worry so much about a humble servant like me" Arethar replied with a broad smile. Haku just ignored him; he had definitely had enough of hearing the Arachne sing praises in his name. In any case Arethar listened to his words: he kept the group going for a while longer, then, as soon as he reached an area of the mushroom forest where some of them had fallen and formed a sort of roof, he loudly declared: "This place is perfect to spend the night! We camp here!"
Zamor, Atelas, Efren, Isaac and Misune nodded and walked under the fallen mushrooms, and there they sat down and even though they tried to hold him back the dragons could easily hear a sigh of relief. Apparently they too were tired from the long walk, but they hadn't wanted to be the ones asking to stop first. Perhaps they thought it disrespectful… or perhaps they wanted to test Arethar's endurance to see how far the arachnes were able to march at once. In any case, after sitting down, all of them stretched their legs, a clear sign that they were hurting them from walking; Misune even took off her shoes and tried to dip her feet into a small pool of water, but Arethar stopped her: "I wouldn't do it if I were you, these waters aren't exactly safe. Even if you don't see them these pools are full of parasites just waiting for a victim to put a paw or foot in water so they can burrow into their skin and encyst themselves in their flesh. There's a reason we arachnes boil water before drinking or bathing"
Misune gave a cry of disgust and immediately withdrew her feet that were already about to touch the clear surface of the water. Clearly she wasn't about to have a parasite stuck in her leg. Also because from what she had heard the parasites found in that underground world weren't exactly good... and she didn't want tumor masses to start growing from her feet.
Haku carefully observed the surroundings. It wasn't hard to understand why Arethar had chosen that very place to camp: the 'roof' formed by the fallen mushrooms protected against attacks from above, while the mushrooms that instead supported them created 'walls' which defended against possible attacks from various directions. The only part through which a predator could have approached them was the one from which they had entered, which however overlooked an area very poor in mushrooms and therefore easily controllable; a sentinel would have been enough to allow everyone to sleep peacefully. "Put up your tents" he told the newcomers. "Rhaegal, you come with me: we will uproot a few more mushrooms and use them to plug the holes, so as to make this place a real fortress. And Tikka and Teramon..."
"We walk around and check that the surroundings are safe" Tikka preceded him, and Teramon nodded in agreement. It was obvious that that task fell to them since at that moment they were using two avatars and therefore they weren't taking risks: even if there had been a danger or they had been taken by surprise or the opponent had been too strong for them, they wouldn't have still lost their lives. On the contrary, if Haku and Rhaegal, or anyone else in the group, had gone and for some bad twist of fate they had met a dangerous opponent, they could have been seriously injured. Therefore, it was better to send their sisters in advance, who instead risked nothing.
Tikka and Teramon walked away and soon disappeared from sight. Haku had no doubts that they would do just fine: even though the avatars' senses couldn't hold a candle to a real dragon's senses, he and his siblings still made sure to provide the two sisters' avatars who were currently there with them the best ears, the best nose and the best eyes they could find. Furthermore, Tikka and Teramon were still predators and knew how to move without attracting attention, and on top of that they had with them the rune of invisibility with which they could, if necessary, not only create illusions but also disappear. It was likely that they would be able to scout their surroundings undetected and perhaps even eliminate the threat if they found one.
He and Rhaegal spent the next half hour chopping down mushrooms with their mighty claws; while the stems were very thick and strong, they were still no match for the powerful natural weapons of a dragon. Once the mushrooms were uprooted, they dragged them towards their momentary refuge and used them to close every possible crack, and to make everything even safer, they sprinkled everything with a potion of poison they had brought with them, so that the animals would not were in any way tempted to approach. When they were finished, the result could be considered quite satisfactory: it was now practically impossible to enter the shelter without being seen. "Good work, brother" Haku complimented Rhaegal.
"Well, I had a lot of practice while I was down here looking for the cure. Though the shelters I built mostly used big rocks for support" Rhaegal answered proudly. He wasn't saying this just to boast: while he and his party had been underground to find the cure for the blood death they had often had to build a shelter for the night, since after a certain depth animals in caves became definitely too dangerous to allow them to sleep in the open without running the risk of being attacked. Rhaegal had therefore had several opportunities to build a shelter using the materials of the cave, and by now he had become quite good at it, even managing to determine at a glance which mushrooms and which stones were suitable for support and which instead were too fragile. "Anyway, have you seen how big this place is? What do you think the caves that are even deeper are like? I bet that when we get three kilometers underground we will find caves over a hundred kilometers wide!"
Haku let out an amused snort. He too was very curious, but his interest was mainly aimed at satisfying his thirst for knowledge; Rhaegal, on the other hand, was clearly driven by a desire for adventure and exploration. "I don't think they can reach a hundred kilometers... given the rate at which the caves increase in size, I think they reach thirty at most. But in any case this place is truly incredible. I bet that even the arachnes that are from thousands of years here they haven't known all its secrets..."
"Atelas is convinced that there is an immense lake underground, and that it is from there that the water arrives and then rises to the surface. This is why the lower you go, where there is more water, and the bigger the caves are given that the mushrooms can grow more and hold up the roof. Do you think it is feasible as a hypothesis?" Rhaegal told him, remembering what Atelas had suggested when they had talked months ago. "I think so. Maybe that water that forms the underground lake is actually the water that used to stay on the surface, and then for some reason it was sucked up from the ground and dragged underground, and so the surface dried up becoming the Yuthia Desert... and maybe the creatures that live down here used to live on the surface, and when the desert was formed they followed the water underground, adapting to these strange conditions... what do you think?"
Haku chuckled. In fact it was a nice prospect: who knows, maybe his brother was right. The idea that the desert was formed because water was sucked underground was funny, but sometimes the explanation that at first seemed funny and irrational turns out to be the right one. "It could be. Well, now we have an adventurers' guild: if our meeting with the arachne people goes well and they allow our allies to come down here, you could set a mission by offering a reward to anyone who can find clues about the past history of this desert. Maybe you could discover something useful"
Rhaegal nodded and gazed dreamily at the cave ceiling. He was already imagining a long search with his friends in order to find answers about the ancient past of the Yuthia Desert. Mission: to look for fragments of this past to unite them and be able to reconstruct the past itself. It would have been really fun indeed…
The two returned to the others, who by now had set up tents where they would sleep that night. One detail, however, immediately caught Haku's eye. "Where's Misune?" he asked, noting the half-elf's absence.
"She went to find Tikka and Teramon to inform them that dinner is ready. Don't worry, Efren is with her" Zamor answered, hastening to add that last sentence since he sensed the dragon's growing hostility.
Haku let out an irritated growl, but Rhaegal patted him lightly on the shoulder. "Don't worry, Efren is reliable. He will protect her"
Haku wasn't solid trusting others, but he didn't want to tell his brother that he didn't trust one of his best friends, so he pretended to believe to what Rhaegal had just said and he lay down in a comfortable corner in the middle of the tents, even if he never stopped holding eyes focused on the entrance to the shelter.