Chapter 41: Oh Sh**

"When you say the Goblins originate from here what do you mean exactly?"

"I mean that every morning the manager would go into the mine and 30 minutes later he would emerge with more goblins."

"How is that possible do they have tunnels in the mine you all don't know about?"

"There are tunnels we are not allowed to go down; they are somewhat hidden. By the entrance you can see where someone used a pickaxe to carve out an entrance at an angle so a cursory glance it would look like any wall but it's not. After mining for a month most of us see it as bright as daylight and have figured out they are hiding something."

"Who dug this tunnel out, and can you please lead me to it?"

"None of us dug it out, we all have talked it over and have concluded they must have had others dig it out then disposed of them so there was no evidence. It's why none of us ever pointed the tunnel out to goblins and only each other."

Tormund chimed in.

"There could be a tunnel leading somewhere outside the mountains maybe, the mine backs up to the mountain so it could be a possibility."

"It could be but why only so many each day, did the number fluctuate that would come out."

Nodding the human answered.

"Yeah it would be a different amount each day, some only a few, while other days a lot more. But this only started about a week ago, before that they had dragged a poor girl into the mines by her hair as she kicked and screamed. We all assumed the worst happened to her; women don't seem to be able to live normal lives among goblins."

"Yes, so I have heard. I plan on rectifying that issue swiftly. Come on lets go find that hole."

After following the miner back to almost the surface the man showed Rosario the false wall that was really a cave entrance, it was at such an angle that he never would have found it unless like the miners he knew what to look for or if he had been running his hand on the wall.

Looking over at Tormund Rosario commanded.

"Ivana and I will go down this tunnel, the rest of you take these people out into the encampment and get them some food and water. Make sure they are well taken care of. Tormund, post a watch on this tunnel to keep an eye on when we get back, we don't know what is on the end of this and its never to bad to be careful."

Tormund began barking out orders to the remaining Celestial Asuras. They began herding the mass of men out of the mines and back into the light of day. There were a lot of exclamations and curses as the miner's eyes had to readjust to the light.

Moving slowly down the small corridor Rosario and Ivana crept along the corridor holding the torch above their heads and slightly behind them. This allowed them to see ahead of them without staring straight into the fire.

It took close to 15 minutes before, as they approached a corner in the corridor, they began hearing something. Ahead they heard an ever so slight tinking sound, after pausing and listening intensely for a few minutes they finally were able to distinguish the sound. It was the soft caress of a chain hitting onto the cave wall, now more alert then ever, the both of them left the torch on the ground and slowly made their way to the bend. Peeking around it they found the tunnel almost turned a complete 180 before terminating in a void of darkness.

Moving closer to the opening they both strained their eyes trying to pierce the darkness, unfortunately neither of them were able to. The only indication that there was something in the darkness was the slight tapping of the chain on rock. Nodding back at the corner Rosario indicated for Ivana to go grab the torch, they were wasting too much time just straining to hear anything.

As she returned the light from the torch began casting over part of the room, hearing the chains begin to move erratically and labored breathing Rosario confirmed something was in the cave. Grabbing the torch Rosario tossed it into what he thought was the middle of the room, it hit the ground and rolled until it came into contact with a dark object illuminating the structure.

"Oh Sh*t."

Ivana's whisper was like a thunderclap in the quiet, her words made the chains, which had stopped moving when the torch was thrown in, begin their announcement of another occupant once again. With both their heads snapping to the direction of the chains they both finally saw what was being held captive in the dark.

A girl probably in her early twenties was chained to the wall by her warms that were raised above her head, she currently was sitting on the ground. Staring through her snarled and dirty hair at the two newcomers she seemed to try and shrink herself to as small as possible. Her trying to curl into a ball brought Rosarios' attention to her feet. There he saw shoes, shoes that he knew were not made in this world as a corporation with a checkmark didn't exist here.

Walking towards the scared girl with his hands out front of himself to show he was harmless Rosario gently spoke to her.

"Hey, its okay. You're safe now, neither of us will hurt you. We are going to get you out of here and to a safe place."

The girl began sobbing quietly as Rosario neared her, he felt awkward like he should stop so she could get used to the presence of him and Ivana, but he knew he didn't have time to coddle the poor girl right now. He would make it up to her later.

As he got closer he was able to tell that her clothing was definitely that of someone from earth, she had socks made of cotton, along with a plaid long skirt, a tank top, and an off the shoulder sweater on. All of her clothes were extremely worn and had multiple tears in them.

Reaching for the manacles that held her wrist suspended in the air Rosario gave them some test pulls, feeling the metal giving way he grabbed the maniacal and yanked hard. The manacle ripped in half frightening the girl more as he worked on destroying the second one.

Turning towards Ivana, Rosario found her right behind him.

"Move off you oaf, you have scared the girl to death almost. Why are men so stupid you have no tact in approaching delicate situations at all."

Nodding Rosario moved away as Ivana crouched down and began talking to the girl in light and hushed tones. He decided to direct his attention to the object that their torch still rested against. A Summoning Gate.

Rosario was taken out of his studies of the underground summoning gate by Ivanas voice.

"Grab the summoning gate crystals from the gate and lets get out of here."

Looking up and seeing the girl supported by Ivana, while Ivana stood at the entrance way Rosario asked.

"Shouldn't we destroy the gate?"

Seeing her eyebrows scrunch as she had taken her helmet off Rosario just knew he was about to be called a name.

"You idiot. If you remove all the summoning gate crystals from the summoning gate you will destroy the gate. Apparently this gate is hers, the goblins were using it to summon more goblins."

"Is she okay with me destroying her gate, she will lose her noble status."

Ivana hugging the girl closer to herself answered. "She doesn't want that status; the gate only represents torture for her. Get rid of it."

Nodding Rosario began grabbing the cores as Ivana began leading the girl out of the caves with the torch. As it got darker and darker Rosario rushed to the tunnel like a kid running up the basement stairs, he didn't want to be left alone in the dark.

After he left and the dark cavern was left in the quiet stillness the frame of the gate slowly crumbled away.