With that, Rean, Roan, and Kentucky began to gather Earth Element and open the ground below them. Thankfully, they were below water, so all the earth and sand around was wet, making it quite easy to start the job.
Fortunately, the natural formation didn't do anything against the twins' group either. It continued to work as if nothing was happening at all. Because it was connected to the sea above, the hole the twins' group was opening filled with water behind them, leaving only the inside of the bubble devoid of it. In any case, the twins had no intention of closing the hole behind them since they might have to escape later.
Ten meters, twenty meters, fifty meters. With the three working together, the excavation went slowly but smoothly. Of course, they couldn't beat someone with Earth Element Affinity, but they weren't doing half bad.
Soon, seconds became minutes, and minutes became hours. Divine Energy wasn't too much of a problem since the twins had a lot of Divine Stones. However, the white powder was still coming from below, so that reduced their speed considerably.
Nevertheless, they eventually went beyond two kilometers into the ground. It was then that they heard the sound of earth breaking apart.
*Rumble...*
Soon after, the ground below them caved in as the twins' group fell inside... for a few meters. That's because Kentucky immediately flapped his wings and stopped their descent.
The cave they fell in wasn't filled with water, though. Because of that, the saltwater from above began to enter like a waterfall, but not for long. Divine Energy seemed to automatically gather around the hole the twins created as earth converged on that point. In a matter of seconds, the hole from where the saltwater came was closed up.
Though, Kentucky and Roan couldn't deactivate the Dark Element around them. That's because the entire space was filled with white powder that floated upwards and entered the earth above. With that, they had to keep the Dark Element around them to eliminate it before the powder entered their bodies.
Unfortunately, Divine Sense didn't help at all as the twins couldn't see anything with it. Well, Rean already expected that anyway. "It's the natural formation. Divine Sense is useless in this place and anywhere close to it."
The twins then looked at Luan, asking him, "What can you see?"
Luan then looked down and couldn't help but feel surprised. "Dad, there's a lot of golden light below. I can't even differentiate the white powder from the rest." Through Luan's Divine Energy Pupils, Divine Energy had a golden color. "There's a huge concentration of Divine Energy below. I can't tell anything else other than that."
The twins nodded after hearing that. "Kentucky, let's go down. That's probably the Divine Stone Mine."
Kentucky nodded and reduced his flapping as their group descended. One good thing, at least, was that since there was no water anymore, Kentucky could use the wind to blow the white powder away from his body. That greatly helped out with the work his and Roan's Dark Element had to do to destroy it.
"Then again, white powder seems to have no issues existing without water in this place," Roan could not help but say. Before, the white powder could indeed exist out of the water, but for a very limited amount of time. For example, in Salt Canyon City, the little white powder that passed by the protection formation would disappear in less than a second after it entered the bubble protecting the twins' group at the inn. However, even though there wasn't water in this place, the concentration of white powder was high and didn't seem to be affected.
Rean then noticed something, saying, "I think I know why. That's because we're close to the source. The Divine Energy below is feeding the white powder's form, so it doesn't disappear even though it's out of the water."
Roan, Kentucky, and Luan nodded once they heard that.
The problem with this place was that even though there was a lot of white powder, the place was shrouded in darkness. Now that Divine Sense didn't work, it made it very hard to see anything. With that, Rean gathered Light Element ahead of their group and created a sphere of light that illuminated the surroundings.
A few minutes later, their group was finally able to make out something of the situation below.
"Is that a river?" Kentucky could not help but ask.
The twins and Luan took a little longer to be able to see it since their eyes weren't as good as Kentucky when it came to seeing things far away. Nevertheless, it didn't take long for them to notice it. "It does look like a river."
"A white river, to be more specific," Roan said.
Luan also added, "It's full of Divine Energy, dad."
Once they got even closer, they were finally able to see the white powder coming out of it. Countless specks of it detached from the white river, floating upward to the ceiling of the cave.
Roan then asked something else, "Luan, can you tell which elements are inside this river with your Element Pupils?"
Luan paid attention before nodding. "It's a mix of a few different elements. It's hard to tell which one is which."
Rean and Roan nodded after that. "That's basically the result of the creation of the white powder. Several elements were used in the process as it seems."
Suddenly, Kentucky stopped his descent and immediately flew up again. "What is it, Kentucky?"
Kentucky narrowed his eyes, saying, "I think I saw something moving inside, so I moved away. Did you see that?"
Rean, Roan, and Luan shook their heads. "Our long-distance vision isn't as good as yours."
Of course, they couldn't just stay there forever. "Kentucky, try to land on the side of the river."
Kentucky nodded and changed direction. It's just that the side of the river also had a lot of white powder. The difference was that the white powder there didn't float up. It stayed on the ground, unmoving.
Kentucky then used his wind to blow away the white powder before landing on the ground. However...
*Zush!*
It was then that something jumped out of the white powder and attacked!