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He materialized an iron lining for it, and then added extra layers to it, as well as support beams. Maybe he overdid it a little bit, as the tunnel become much more narrow, with hardly even enough space for two people to walk side by side, but it was better to overdo it than to underdo it, Hector figured. The most important thing was to make sure all the weight over their heads stayed exactly where it was.

Zeff kept digging with his water drills just as he had been, though the narrowed tunnel proved a bit challenging in extricating each new chunk of rock from the blockage. He ultimately decided to just dice up the removed stone so that it could be shoved back through passageway without much concern.

It was taking quite a bit longer than either of them had expected, and even after a solid thirty minutes of working, they were still not through to the other side.

“...How far does this blockage go?” said Hector, beginning to wonder if they were even close to the end yet, because he still couldn’t sense any air flowing all the way through it yet.

“No telling,” said Zeff, though he sounded about as exasperated as Hector felt. “This is the Undercrust. This cave-in could be a mile long, for all we know.”

“Agh...”

“I’m going to try going even faster. Match my pace.”

“...Okay.”

Soon enough, they found a good rhythm. Hector paid close attention to all of Zeff’s movements, making sure to leave space for the man to work for as long as he needed it before filling that space in with iron and pushing onward. He also took over extracting the diced rock from the tunnel so that Zeff could focus entirely on the cutting. Working in unison, they were able to nearly double their tunneling speed.

Yet, even after another half-hour, Hector still could not sense the other side.

At length, Axiolis and Garovel came to check on them. Before the reapers got too close, they asked if it was safe, and Zeff told them it was.

Hector and Zeff didn’t slacken their pace at all.

‘I suppose this is one more reason why Warrenhold isn’t more well-known,’ said Garovel privately.

‘What do you mean?’ said Hector.

‘I’ve mentioned this before, but holes to the Undercrust are preciously rare and have historically been highly sought after. Even with Warrenhold’s bad reputation, I thought it was strange that it would have been abandoned. But this blockage here must have been helping to keep it a secret all these years.’

Hector was reminded of something he’d been wondering about for a while now. ‘Ah... do you know where these holes came from?’

‘No, I do not,’ the reaper said flatly.

Hector expected some sort of quip or annoyed sass about not knowing something. But it didn’t arrive. So Hector decided to push a little. ‘...Really? You don’t even have any theories?’