357 CCCLVII. The Accident

"It's moving forward... she keeps going up. That can be a good sign" Reidar said, looking at his captain, who remained silent, focused on the rope and sounds in the tunnel, which were already too far away to be heard.

Small pebbles fell every now and then, caused by Claire's feet and hands clinging to the surface of the water-saturated rock, peeling off some pieces and dropping them backward.

"Heeey! How are you? Are you still going up?!" Dag yelled, hoping for a response from above.

"... Yes! I see something...!" 

To those words, they all made a startling and hopeful expression, believing that the brave Shieldmaiden had perhaps reached the exit of the tunnel, about half an hour after she had entered.

"What? What do you see? Are you about to come to the surface?!" Dag continued, smiling, glad that his intuition would save the soldiers a lot of distance to cover.

That moment of euphoria suddenly stopped when the rope stopped moving.