Chapter 126: The Sinkhole Solution (bonus)
The trek to the sinkhole was longer than Tera expected.
And it had gotten to the point that Calis had just wanted to shift into his wolf form and race there. Even his wolves had felt the same thing, but the shiftless female was slowing them down.
Tera was too focused on the scan on the system to be aware of that, focusing on that single goal and something more important.
She scanned for corrupted beasts multiple times during the walk, and even though both scans came back clear, the absence of danger didn’t ease her nerves.
Just because the scan was clear now didn’t mean it would stay that way.
When they finally arrived at the sinkhole, the wolves crowded around the edge and stared.
The depression in the earth was wide and jagged, its edges crumbling into darkness. The stream’s water poured over the lip and vanished below with a hollow, echoing sound. Moss and ferns grew thick around the rim, fed by the constant spray.
The wolves stared at the hole in uneasy silence.
Calis’s expression was unreadable. "I have searched this area before. My scouts covered every stretch of this territory. How did we miss this?"
"It can happen," Tera simply said and tried to peek in. It was very dark inside, but she could make out the white cavern walls along with the caked limestone.
Tera led them down the abandoned stream path from the sinkhole until she found the second opening exactly where the system had indicated.
It was a low, rocky outcropping, half-buried under a thick layer of soil and tangled roots. Water was seeping through the cracks, slow and sluggish, but the flow was clearly blocked.
Several wolves let out sounds of recognition.
Calis stepped forward, his expression tight. "I have been here. We tried to dig into this area when we heard the water, but it was too hard."
"Oh." Tera looked at the jagged surface. While it was caked with limestone, most of it was rock, and they certainly couldn’t use their claws to pry the spot open. "But why not go ahead? You would have seen the hole."
"There was a corrupted beast here. We try not to stay in certain places long enough." Calis paused. "But I should have still found it..."
Tera wanted to probe more, but Calis seemed deep in thought. Plus, at the mention of a corrupted beast, she did not want to spend any more time out here than she’d like.
"Do not worry. I have something that can clear that opening. But first..." Tera nodded and pointed around. "The rocks are mostly held together by that chalky substance, and breaking them will help get the rocks loose. We will first need to dig a short channel from this opening to that stream path there."
She then planted her hands on her hips and faced the wolves. "Once that is done, we open this blockage and water will flow to your pack!"
The wolves were quiet.
Calis looked as oblivious as always. "We do not understand. What is a channel? You are saying a lot of things that—"
Tera reached into her system space, and the hoes materialised out of thin air before clattering to the ground in a pile that made every wolf present take a collective step backwards.
Eyes bulged, jaws dropped, and one wolf nearly jumped out of his skin.
"What—"
"Where did those come from?!"
"What is this?!"
"They appeared out of nowhere!"
Calis was just as shaken as everyone, even taking a step back. Tera handed the first hoe to him with a smile. "These are not ideal, but they can work as digging tools. Hold it like this." She demonstrated the grip. "Strike the ground at an angle. Like this."
The wolf took the hoe and held it as if it might bite him.
Tera laughed. Calis reminded her of Xavi at times with how he acted so shocked at nearly everything.
She quickly handed it to the other puzzled wolves whose eyes were glued to the hoe and then back at Tera as they tried to figure out how such a thing had just appeared out of nowhere.
Calis suddenly frowned and looked at Tera. "This thing looks like it is going to be noisy if we use it to dig rather than our claws." His crimson eyes scanned the treeline. "Corrupted beasts are usually drawn to disturbance."
Tera felt a chill down her spine as she remembered the last encounter she had with one, but... "I will know if anything comes close. I can sense them."
Calis stared at her, and the look on his face made it clear that the word of a shiftless female claiming she could detect corrupted monsters was not going to be enough.
Tera sighed. "Is there something you have in mind? Your pack really needs the water—"
"I am not saying we shouldn’t dig." He turned away from her. "I will assign a few wolves as sentries around the perimeter. They will alert us if anything is wrong."
"Oh..."
Calis turned away from her to address the wolves and soon enough sent out seven of them to be stationed nearby just in case. They eagerly ran off, excited to avoid the digging task.
Tera explained the digging to them, and with some more demonstration, they spread out to start digging.
It was a disaster at first, reminding Tera of when she had first taught the beasts from her clan how to dig those heaps for the farm.
Even Calis had made the mistake of flinging a clump of mud directly into the face of the wolf beside him.
Tera had to move between them, correct their grips, adjust angles, and even physically reposition arms that were doing everything wrong.
They followed her instructions grudgingly. Clearly, it wasn’t fun, but they kept at it.
The work was strenuous, but the dry stream bed was close, and with nearly thirty males digging at once, the wide channel took shape faster than Tera expected.
It was wider than the one she had constructed for the Dow clan. This time, she made sure it was as wide as the stream bed.
Within the second hour, the wolves had already perfected digging, and they were finally going faster at it.
However, Tera came across a frustrating obstacle that was constantly distracting her.
All of the males were sweating profusely, but one in particular was looking a little too tantalising.