"There is no point in thinking about this now. There are more urgent things to do, such as finding Hyobe's necklace and getting out of here," Yoichi replied, determined to pursue his goals. "Remember... we didn't defeat all the Komoerus... a dozen of them holed up in the boss's room after that harrowing call," he remarked, reminding his teammates of that recent event.

The central hall of the cave was strangely quiet. The large door leading to the boss's room was completely open, consisting of a giant hole in the rock face, yet, no sound seemed to come from that direction. ​​

The three adventurers, without overthinking about it, headed for the second room. It was located in front of the cave of the three tombstones.

Nobu's inevitable light once again illuminated their path, and the entrance to the left room gradually took shape. The regularity of those doors carved into the rock, the perfectly straight walls and the flattened rock spikes were the typical mine features.

While preserving the features of a natural cavity, the Blackvault Mines had been excavated by man. In tens of years, dozens, maybe hundreds of miners had worked there.

All of them helped pickaxe after pickaxe to expand the mine to extract more and more raw materials. The Tetsuiasa was among those in smaller quantities due to its rarity.

Before entering the second room after the tunnel, Yoichi's mind began to travel again, juggling memories of the adventures he lived and those in the making: if he could get out of that cave unscathed, he would return to Ryutaro, to continue his spirit cultivation.

With one dungeon only, Kenji's level had increased considerably, and the bond between him and his Oracle had strengthened. The moment he left to save Sui Nishiyama from her own father's control was getting closer and closer.

However, Yoichi did not stop thinking for a moment about that strange slurry. In addition to completing that dungeon normally, the 'extra' goal he and his companions were supposed to achieve was to solve that complicated mystery.

"Let us proceed with caution. I've never been in this room, but I sense the presence of wild demons inside," Shioko mumbled, holding her bow tight in her hands.

As the archer spoke, Nobu moved up and down its long blue antennae. The butterfly demon, the evolution of its basic form, seemed to perceive other demons even beyond the walls.

Yoichi and Enatsu continued to walk behind Shioko, approaching the natural door of the second room very slowly. Beyond its artificially squared corners, the dense darkness of its interior was accentuated by the presence of black mud.

When all the three of them entered, the echo of the sound of their steps helped them perceive the breadth of the room. It was larger than that of the tombstones but smaller than the central dungeon atrium.

Unlike the previous rooms, the floor was free of outcropping rocks: the red soil resulting from the disintegration of rocks was mixed with the sticky sludge.

Unable to do anything but explore the cave, Yoichi and the others were forced to sink their feet into the thin layer of mud, making the same disgusting noise as when they faced the Yoroichi.

Nobu, sensing no flying demons, rose in altitude to illuminate a wider area. In front of the eyes of the three adventurers, a raw and macabre show took shape, forcing them to block their advance.

Dozens of large oval cocoons containing human bodies were linked to each other on the wall in front of them. The rotting flesh stench of the explorers trapped in those cocoons was so pungent that it intoxicated the nostrils of the Nightblades warriors, who retreated a few steps.

Enatsu put his hand in front of his mouth, holding back a scream of terror: a few feet from him, what looked like a man's shrivelled feet dangled from a cocoon.

The flesh and skin of his ankles had been consumed, reducing his lower limbs to a cluster of rotting bones and nerves. Trembling, the merchant's gaze raised towards the top of the cocoon, framing the victim's face.

With his skull skinned and his face utterly dissolved by some strange acid substance, that corpse had been lying attached to the wall for who knows how long. Like it, dozens of other corpses were in the same position, arranged in a row next to each other, following a strict and geometric order.

Among the greyish cocoons, thick cobwebs had the task of keeping that macabre composition still on the wall, as if it were the main decoration of that cave.

"Fuck! There are dozens of corpses… the air is unbreathable!" Shioko stuttered. The archer stepped forward with one arm in front of her nose and mouth.

"I've seen these cocoons before... they were in the illustrations of that book, I have no doubts! They are the work of one or more Dokumotsus!" Enatsu affirmed in a low voice, sheltering himself behind his comrades.

Yoichi and Shioko looked around. The thick mud scattered on the floor slowed down all their movements, making it difficult to escape from that room in the event of a sudden attack.

"Spider demons are poison-type demons. I'm sure they're able to use the same poisonous substance that melted these poor men as they please, and... yuck! I can't do this, it's disgusting!" Enatsu grumbled again, retching.

While Kenji was attached to Yoichi's leather pouch and Nobu was flying near the ceiling, Rokuro normally moved in the mud layer. Unlike the other two demons, the Moruba was perfectly able to move on any terrain thanks to its mole hands.

"But if the victims of spider demons are here, where are they?" Yoichi asked, taking another step back.

"I don't know... but they can't be far from..." while Enatsu tried to answer that question, something hit his chest. A thick transparent and sticky cable was fired at him from a dark corner of the room, sticking to his clothes.