Serana, who had quickly transformed into her human form, added, "It may be related to the vampires," while trying to hide her identity now that others who were not within the usual group were present.
She had been out hunting while waiting for Logan to arrive.
"If that is the case, we should proceed with even more caution. Today, my Solstag will be in the lead, radiating the cave from the front. Is the cave large enough for us to enter comfortably, or should I have Digger expand the path?" Logan asked while trying to see who would be able to fit within the large entrance.
"Normal beasts within four meters of height would be fine, but have Digger go ahead and make the southern exit larger so we won't clog the entrance with so many beasts." Valeria then started giving orders to create groups.
Logan, who needed to be in the center of the operation, had Scorch, Luna, Serana, and Valeria within his small team.
Rubina was to stand guard outside with Silis and a few other creatures.
Kai and Chloe each needed to guard and enter one of the other two entrances.
As soon as Logan entered with his group, he saw metallic construction throughout the cave—beams and rusted plates held together the cavern.
When it really got dark, his stag began to use its large antlers to produce light as strong as the sun.
It had to be careful, as it wasn't an animal meant to walk through small, enclosed areas littered with stones.
"This is as far as we got," Valeria said, as she told the group to slow down to check more thoroughly.
As they got further in, the group began to see what looked like gates that were half-opened.
They seemed to be torn, as if something had escaped.
"This shows signs of claws. How about it, Serana? Do you see anything interesting?" Logan asked while watching the girl who traced the markings with her finger.
"No…but maybe…" The girl ran in deeper without waiting for the others.
"Hey, that's dangerous!" Valeria called out.
She chased behind her while Logan followed.
"Damn, it must be something related to her. We should have left her back," Valeria said while still following.
They passed a long corridor with more metallic doors—some were opened, others closed.
"I have yet to check each part. There may be traps, so watch out!"
As they closed in on the girl, she had stopped in front of three cages.
Inside, there were old human remains along with other demon-like skulls with horns.
"This… at least twenty or more years have passed without anyone coming here. Those look half buried in dust," Valeria informed as she used her foot to slightly move some of the dirt.
"How about it, Serana? Do you remember anything now?" Logan asked as he got closer, holding her shoulder which seemed to tremble.
"No…I can't… I thought maybe there would be answers, but nothing makes sense." The vampire girl held her head with both hands, trying to force a memory from her time as a feral beast.
She vaguely remembered the two who were with her being her parents; only a handful of memories of her life let her know this.
One of two individuals who ran and ran, another when they would bring her food, another where they protected her from a group of human-like figures, and another of a woman who looked like her current self except she was slowly turning feral to the point of not being able to revert to her human self any longer.
And finally, the last one: she was so weak she found herself chasing, with two others, a boy and a woman who smelled delicious.
She tried looking for other memories, but nothing else came to mind.
"I need to go in further, I need to find…" Serana said while shaking the fear that paralyzed her away.
She tried going further in, but Logan held on to her arm.
"Wait. I know what you want to do, but let's do this together. You may be strong, but we don't know what's further inside."
Serana tried to pull herself away, but then she felt Logan's emotions through their link, calming her own.
"Fine, but I want to find something here. You may need to leave me while you search for the crystals," Serana accepted and went deeper into the laboratory.
More rooms were empty, with various tools or old weapons laying around.
The deeper they went, the more bodies they found.
Skeleton remains sent Logan shivering as they discovered more than twenty in one room.
"These did not die normally; they were attacked. There are many with fractures and broken bones," Valeria said, while looking through some of the bones.
"You know… I just came here for the crystals. I really don't want to know about the way they died… or want to stay here much longer…" Logan said, trying to ignore the stuff scattered on the floor.
"Well, as we head there, we need to know what we might be dealing with. By the sight around here, it might have been built as a lab over the mine to provide them with energy for whatever they were doing here," Valeria added, while trying to check through papers that quickly disintegrated with her touch.
[Serana, stay here if you want. I will keep going deeper,] Logan sent a message as he continued, not wanting to see any more dead bodies that meant nothing to him.
Scorch and Solar kept going forth with him, while Valeria, who could not find more than what she had seen previously, went with Logan along with Noire and Saber.
It wasn't long before they found a door that radiated mana particles.
It had the same feeling as the underground cavern, making Logan tremble with joy this time.
"I know it's behind this gate, but how do we break it open? Digger went with Chloe." Logan tapped the large door, which had a small slit in the middle.
"How else? By blowing it away. Let's go to any door's weak point—the hinges."