Chapter 3644: Finding The Entrance Of Mantleheim

With each passing day, Lin Mu grew more accustomed to the environment.

His gravity sense, though still in its early stages, proved invaluable.

He could not map the exact positions of every fragment. But he did not need to do that in the first place. What mattered were the disturbances. Whenever multiple gravitational fields interacted strongly, it created a subtle fluctuation. A distortion within the larger background of the sun’s pull.

Lin Mu learned to recognize these signs.

And when the disturbance increased... He knew danger was near.

"Prepare," he would say.

And they would act.

This awareness saved them countless times as it reduced the uncertainty while giving them an edge. Yet even with this advantage, the search remained grueling as days turned into weeks.

The monotony of the terrain wore on them, each crevasse blending into the next, each tunnel leading to more of the same.

Meng Bai sighed one day, his voice muffled slightly by the talismans around him.

"It feels endless..."

Lin Mu did not respond immediately.

He understood the feeling.

They had covered vast distances within the fragment, yet found nothing.

No sign of dwarven craftsmanship.

No indication of an entrance.

Until... It happened.

Elyon stopped.

His gaze fixed on something ahead.

"Wait," he said.

The others turned.

At first, it appeared unremarkable.

A pile of debris.

Scattered rocks and fragments resting along the edge of a large crevasse.

Nothing unusual.

As Lin Mu stepped closer, the debris shifted, a piece sliding aside to reveal something beneath.

Lin Mu’s eyes narrowed.

He approached further, brushing aside more of the loose fragments. And what emerged was a massive structure. It was hidden beneath layers of rocks all this time.

The entrance.

It was almost impossible to recognize at first glance. The material matched the surrounding stone perfectly, blending seamlessly into the fragment. Only upon close inspection did its artificial nature become clear.

The gates stood nearly a hundred meters tall.

Their surface was etched with intricate designs.

A world breaking apart and fire consuming everything. Scenes of destruction etched into the stone with precision and intent as if the one who had made these gates wanted to remember the history.

"It is them," Lin Mu said softly. "The dwarves."

There was no doubt about it now, and everyone knew as they approached the gates.

Lin Mu extended his immortal sense to observe the place. At first the structure appeared solid. Yet... There was space beyond it.

"There’s a hollow interior." Lin Mu said. "This should be the entrance to Mantleheim."

"Let’s open it," Cattaleya said as she stepped forward, placing her hand against the gate.

Then pushed.

But nothing happened.

She increased her strength.

Still nothing.

Lin Mu joined her.

Together, they applied immense force.

The gates did not move.

Not even slightly.

Elyon observed carefully.

"These are dwarven constructs," he said. "Their durability is... exceptional."

Lin Mu understood.

"They would break the fragment before they break."

Cattaleya exhaled.

"So we can’t force it."

"No," Lin Mu said.

He stepped back.

Thinking.

The Rune Dwarves had mentioned something. They were always guided inside. They never entered on their own.

Which meant... The gates were controlled from within.

"Then we enter from elsewhere," Lin Mu said as he activated his Spatial Skill Phase.

His body shifted and merged with the surrounding rock. He moved toward the area beside the gates.

The gates themselves resisted the skill as an energy barrier coursed through them, preventing entry.

But the surrounding stone did not have that protection. As such Lin Mu pushed forward. But the rock was dense and thick.

Far thicker than he had expected.

Hence the progress was slow.

Each movement required effort, his spatial perception guiding him as he searched for the hollow space within.

Time passed.

A full minute.

Then... He found it.

A corridor.

Lin Mu emerged inside.

The space was vast and certainly not a natural tunnel. It was deliberately carved and engineered to endure harsh conditions of the Space. He turned back briefly, examining the gates from within.

They were massive being at least twenty five meters thick.

"How do these even open..." he murmured.

There was no space for them to swing.

Which meant... They moved differently.

Sliding motion.

Lin Mu searched the nearby walls for any way of using the doors. It did not take long before he spotted some dwarven runes.

They were bearing two simple words: Open and Close.

Lin Mu placed his hand upon the rune marked open before he channeled his Qi into it.

The rune responded instantly.

Rumble

A low rumble filled the corridor that was deep and resonant, before the gates began to move slowly.

The massive slabs of stone slid apart, retreating into the walls with incredible precision.

Outside, light filtered in.

The path was opening and the entrance to Mantleheim was finally getting revealed.

The gates opened fully with a deep and resonant rumble that seemed to travel through the very bones of the fragment. The massive slabs of stone slid apart with slow precision, revealing the dark corridor within. For a moment, no one moved. The silence that followed felt heavy, as if the space itself carried the memory of ages long past.

Lin Mu stepped forward first.

The others followed close behind.

As they crossed the threshold, the scale of the structure became immediately apparent. The corridor was immense, easily matching the size of the gates themselves. It stretched forward in a straight path, its width spanning nearly a hundred meters, its height just as towering. The walls were smooth, carved with incredible precision, yet devoid of decoration.

There were no runes, no murals, no markings at all. Such design was most certainly deliberate.

"This is... plain," Meng Bai said softly.

Lin Mu nodded.

"It is meant to guide, not to impress."

There was only one path and no branches or intersections. Just a single corridor that extended forward into darkness.

They began walking.

Carefully at first, their every step measured and every movement deliberate.

The memory of the dangers outside had not faded, and the dwarves were known for their ingenuity. It was only natural to expect traps, defensive mechanisms, or at the very least some form of detection array.

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