Before leaving the vicinity of the pool, Zeke filled a few empty bottles with vita-fluid to use in case of an emergency. He and Elaine crawled through the tunnel, venturing back into the geyser field.

“It’s a pretty long way. How did you carry me here?” Zeke asked.

“Painfully,” Elaine squinted while diverting her gaze.

The area before them was calm, with no signs of life. Countless dismembered and carved up crawler corpses were dotted all over the area, a bloody aftermath of what came before.

“Looks like Ulmak took care of the crawlers,” Zeke noted.

“He was finally able to call upon his soul, so I guess doing this much must have been easy for him.” Elaine stated, lowering her eyes.

“I wonder how much stronger he got,” Zeke thought with excitement.

“Who knows? Maybe we’ll meet him near the Drakonian den,” Elaine speculated.

“I doubt that. The battle took place two days ago. He should be at the Undercity by now.” Zeke explained, touching his chin.

“How far is the den?” Elaine asked.

“Close,” Zeke replied with a grim expression.

The two ventured forth, treading past the geyser field until they reached the lair of centipede Drakonians. An area of scorched, molten rock glued together into a massive nest of pathways and tunnels which the Drakonians used for travel. The size of these tunnels dwarfed the previous area. They were constructed with stone pillars holding up the entire ceiling of the nest, shaped by mouths the mouths of giant monsters, reinforcing the structure.

The two entered the den, slowly creeping through the entrance. Inside, a massive specimen was standing guard creeping over the two.

It was blind. With a large shield-like shell covering the top of its head where the eyes should have been. Its protruding maw was large enough to swallow any man whole. On the sides of its mouth were two mandibles filled with a corrosive poison that could be used as arms if needed be. Below the neck, the creature had a reptilian torso, with two massive skeletal, bladed claws, growing out of its shoulders. Large bright-red colored spikes were protruding outwards from its spine, down to its waist. Below the waist, the Drakonian’s body was split into flattened segments with a pair of legs coming out of from each segment.

There were over a hundred segments on this specimen, which was a sign of its great age, the number of segments being an accurate way to determine the age of a centipede draconian. Judging from how large this specimen was and how many segments it had, this creature was hundreds of years old, and most likely traveled to the caves after the gates of hell were first opened. Based on the spikes one could tell that this specimen was the alpha of the nest, or so Zeke assumed.

The creature hung upside down sleeping right above the entrance, clung to the side of the wall with its legs lodged deep into the rock surface of the cave.

As Zeke and Elaine passed directly below its mouth, the creature’s drool dripped on to the girl’s head. She almost gagged. It smelled like a citrusy concoction of rotten meat and fish that had been left out to ferment further for a couple of months. Elaine squealed in disgust as Zeke covered her mouth, silencing her, pointing his finger up at the beast and crossing his throat with his thumb, signaling to Elaine that if the creature woke up the two of them would surely die.

Zeke gathered a lump of the creature’s drool off Elaine’s shoulders and head and covered himself in it to mask his scent from the other Drakonians. Elaine covered her nose, her gaze appeared extremely drained.

The pair continued making their way through. Eventually, they reached a clearing where many more, albeit smaller, specimens were nesting, sleeping peacefully in small, smooth tunnels molded into the side of the cave. Many bones were left rummaged stacked into large hills. The ground itself was covered in fractured skeletons the centipedes used as pathing as they found them comfortable to navigate.

Judging from the sheer number of bones and their variety Zeke could determine that the nest must have been rather large with openings to many other cave sub-systems which the centipedes often used to hunt their prey.

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

Navigating the nest proved challenging, with many winding pathways, and dead ends making it worthy of being called a maze. Luckily, Fox told Zeke exactly where to go, making the journey much easier.

The pair continued walking until they reached a molting area. A space filled with empty husks left behind by the centipedes, each cracked and shattered, like statues of a creator who hated his work. They ventured carefully inwards, placing each foot in a way that would make the least amount of noise.

Suddenly, something started to move within the mountain of molts. It squirmed and rustled before emerging outside. The specimen was large, even larger than the one they saw at the entrance. Its spikes, legs and mandibles were colored bright red, with the tip fading into a pale yellow, almost white shade. It became clear that Zeke’s assumption about the specimen guarding the entrance being the Alpha was wrong. This creature was even larger. It appeared much more skeletal in its shape and had so many segments that Zeke couldn’t even count. The creature shook violently, flailing its body in every direction in an attempt to get out of its old skin that had become too small for it, tossing car-sized fragments of rock-hard shell all over the chamber.

One fragment flew, tossed by the creature, directly at the two explorers.

“Run!” Zeke screamed out to elaine. “The Undercity is at the end of this chamber!” he continued shouting, before grabbing her hand.

The Alpha sensed them, moving his head in a strange, uneven way. before twisting its jaws sideways and lunging in to bite the two.

Zeke pushed Elaine out of the way, barely lunging forward, away from the leaping beast. He tossed most of his belongings at the centipede, only keeping his weapon and a few bottles of vita-fluid on him and proceeded to run even faster.

Both Zeke and Elaine sprinted forth with all of their might. The cave around them shook violently as the massive creature proceeded to give chase, moving hundreds of its legs in rhythmic unison.

Suddenly, Zeke noticed a small opening within the wall of the chamber. A marker was spray-painted above it– “Undercity this way,” with an arrow leading towards the hole.

“We’re almost there!” Zeke screamed from the top of his lungs with a bright, outgoing smile.

However, the Alpha was not going to let them escape that easily. The creature leaped forward again, using its massive, segmented body as a spring.

Elaine felt like time had stopped. Both she and Zeke were inside the jaws of the massive beast. All the creature had to do was bite down and the two of them would be dead faster than they could comprehend, ground into viscera between its teeth.

She looked over at Zeke. His warm smile made her feel a certain sense of comfort. And as she closed her eyes, ready to accept her fate, she quietly thought, “It was fun!”

A yellow flash lit up the chamber. The alpha suddenly split in two, cleaved perfectly down the middle, emanating the same glow as countless golden particles swirled around it.

“Hey guys!” Fox greeted the two, stepping forward in between Zeke and Elaine, holding a glass short sword glowing in a warm yellow hue.

Elaine’s eyes widened, and jaw dropped.

“I thought you were a non-combatant,” she said in amazement.

“Oh yeah, I am, but this wasn’t much of a fight, was it?” he replied with a playful smile.

“I guess not,” she muttered with a shocked and confused look.

“How did you do that?” Zeke stumbled, falling to the ground.

“Experience,” Fox replied.

Suddenly, the caves before them started rumbling.

“Alright, I think it’s time for us skedaddle,” Fox said, putting his hands inside of his pockets as his weapon disappeared. “The Undercity is waiting for you.”

The three stepped through the opening, entering another tunnel. The cave behind them suddenly closed off.

“Wait! What if there’s still someone coming?” Zeke asked with a shocked expression.

Fox started whistling.

“There’s no one else coming. Everyone else either already made it, or died,” he explained with a careless stride.

“Well, then how many made it?” Zeke asked.

“Counting with you two, about 48,” Fox stated while scratching his head.

“Are you serious?” Elaine exclaimed in surprise.

“There were hundreds of contestants besides us!” Zeke added.

“Yep, most of them died,” Fox replied.

“But they were…” Elaine said before being interrupted by Dox.

“Trash,” Fox smirked.

“They were people, living, breathing people!” Elaine shouted, briefly grabbing Fox by the collar, letting go after remembering what he did to the giant creature.

“So, you did learn something since I last saw you. Good for you!” Fox smirked.

Elaine tightly clenched her fist.

“Let’s hurry, everyone’s already waiting for you,” Fox directed, speeding up his step.

The three walked for a while, along the strange tunnel. Zeke would often turn around, looking directly behind him to see a stone wall. The wall would always remain at the same distance behind the three, no matter how far they walked. It appeared almost like the tunnel was sealing itself behind them as they proceeded further down.

They continued on the same path for about 40 minutes until they reached a vast, open space. It was a giant area filled with underground waterfalls, forests, featuring many types of plant life, and buildings that had sunken entirely into the earth and settled in a rather orderly manner. The larger of the buildings were connected by stone bridges, visibly constructed using magic, creating an interconnected, vertical city.

Before them was a cliff, a small pad with a few benches, guarded off by an ornate metal rail covered in green vines. Ulmak was sitting on one of the benches, waiting patiently for his teammates, with his spear by his side.

He immediately jumped up after noticing his friends, running up to them with great enthusiasm.

“You’re finally here!” he exclaimed as he grabbed Zeke and Elaine by their hands.

image [https://i.postimg.cc/J0bXfbG7/Name-Alias-X-Species-Demon-Age-80-Height-182cm-Affiliation-Knights-Rank-Special-grade-investigator.png]