A few hundred metres ahead was an identical barrier. This time, Dagmar didn't even hesitate and broke through the grand looking but ultimately weak barrier, breaking through it to go deeper into the cavernous mountain.
Like Dagmar, Dhaka and Asser encountered similar barriers and dealt with them in the same way.
Such barriers could be found all over the three mountains, and the three of them broke through them one by one as they made their way towards the centre.
"Woah!" Outside the valley, one of Dhaka's subordinates let out a cry of shock as he curiously studied the strange runes on the three mountains.
These runes, representing something they didn't know, lit up one after the other as coloured smoke wafted from them and gathered in the dark clouds around the mountains. It made the stench stronger than ever.
Dhaka and the others had left a few subordinates outside the mountains, just in case someone followed them into the mountains for a sneak attack.
When they noticed it, their subordinates felt a sense of dread as they continued to observe the slightest change in their surroundings.
"I feel like something's wrong!" Asser's subordinate said with a furrowed brow. "There's some kind of special energy in the valley that seems to be gathering around those strange markings on the mountains. Don't tell me it's something bad..."
"I'm going in to report to our lord!" said another as he rushed into the cave Asser had entered.
At that moment, strange noises were heard coming from the mountains as the ground shook violently, creating countless cracks beneath their feet. The strange power within the mountains gathered around the top of the mountains. Instantly, the light from the runes grew to blinding levels.
"Something is happening!" Dhaka's subordinate shouted in panic. "You few, inform the lord of this at once!"
Dagmar's men reacted the same way. They could sense some kind of strange energy being released from the mountains. Not only was it affecting the terrain around the valley, but it was changing the mountains themselves.
The changes happened so quickly that before Dagmar's subordinates could enter the caves, a loud explosion rang out from the depths of the earth. Waves of gas rose from the cracks and mixed with the black miasma.
At the same time, the shaking made the three mountains unstable. The one Dagmar was walking into tilted more and more to one side like a drunken giant.
"What's going on?" the three Hegemons shouted from their respective mountains.
"Danger! Retreat!" Asser shouted. His voice resounded like thunder through the caves.
They felt the anomaly even more than the subordinates they had left outside. It was as if there were terrifying energy reactors inside the mountains, constantly filling them with energy. As they continued to shake, debris began to fall from the top.
While the Godhunters, as divine beings, wouldn't be afraid of mere rocks falling from the ceiling, this, combined with the violent shaking of the mountains and the energy unleashed by the cores at their centre, meant that the falling rocks were imbued with a force that made them quite a threat.
Not only did the energy make the rocks weigh tonnes, it also caused them to fall at a much faster rate. Because the caves were so narrow and filled with Godhunters, most of them could barely avoid the rocks and were hit hard by them.
Under the bombardment of the rocks charged by the mysterious energy, the Godhunters fared no better than mortal humans. Many of them ended up broken and bleeding, some of them desperately raising barriers above their heads in the hope of avoiding damage.
It was a pity that the supercharged rocks were so powerful that they easily destabilised the barriers they had erected before crushing them like eggshells. The rocks ricocheted around the caverns, inflicting heavy casualties on the Godhunters.
Many of them couldn't even lift a finger against the rocks, especially when they were crammed in like sardines. They only stood a chance if they smashed the rocks together.
But even then, the rocks would explode like grenades, sending shrapnel in all directions and causing serious injuries.
Their escape routes had collapsed and they were trapped. So even though they knew they would be seriously injured, they did everything they could to destroy the rocks. It was their only chance to survive.
"Salas! You did it!" Dhaka roared as he destroyed the rocks blocking his path.
By now he was well aware that he had walked into a trap. Although it sounded like he was suspicious of Salas, he hadn't imagined that Salas would actually betray them.
"How was I supposed to know something like this would happen? Dhaka, did you think I wanted to hurt you?" Salas said, hiding his guilt. "Do I have any reason to harm you? I have a huge grudge against Bryan! I'm also here to settle a debt with him, just like you!"
Dhaka didn't think twice. Seeing how upset Salas seemed, he said, "I don't know if you really set us up, but if it wasn't for your suggestion, we wouldn't have come to this place!"
"Hey, take responsibility for your own actions! Dagmar himself stormed in here! What has that got to do with me, damn it? Don't blame others just because you messed up! I'll quit if you go on like this!"
Salas didn't have a good temper to begin with. Although his temper was much more subdued now than it had been in the Fringe, thanks to the losses he had suffered at the hands of Han Shuo and his son, his short fuse was still there. Coupled with the fact that Salas despised Dhaka and the others to begin with, he doubled down on his attitude.
Seeing Salas' rage, Dhaka stopped wasting time arguing with him and shut up with an unfortunate humph. He knew he still needed Salas to fight his way out of the caves. If Salas ignored him now in a fit of pique, Dhaka would most likely survive this predicament. Most of his subordinates, however, would perish.
Making a mental note to revisit the matter, Dhaka shut his mouth and concentrated on destroying the rocks that had filled the path they had taken. While the rocks were almost impenetrable to ordinary experts, Dhaka and Salas were powerful enough that it wasn't a problem. Eventually, they managed to open a path that led outside.
"Retreat!" Dhaka shouted, letting his subordinates through first instead of charging out. His men rushed towards their only hope of survival.
Loud explosions continued to ring out from the centre of the mountains as the shaking intensified. The two of them could sense that sooner or later the mountain would collapse.
"My God, what is going on here?" Dhaka's subordinates shouted from the centre of the valley.
As a result of the explosions, cracks hundreds of metres deep had formed at the base of the mountain, creating a spider's web of chaos. It was as if a mouth had opened at the base of the three mountains and was about to swallow them all.
"Quick, run!" Dhaka felt the mountain sinking fast. He wondered who could be so powerful as to cause three huge mountains to collapse in such a short time.
As things were set in stone, there was no stopping the mountains from sinking into the abyss. The forces of the ground closed in on the sinking mountains with tremendous pressure, while the energies within the mountains themselves exploded outwards.
Once again, another tragic catastrophe had occurred! As the mountains sank, the runes etched into them exploded one by one. Then, as if in a chain reaction, an even greater explosion occurred within the mountains, shattering them into many more pieces. The Godhunters inside were crushed either by the sheer force of these explosions or by the falling rocks.
In the blink of an eye, most of the Three's subordinates had perished in the mountains.