CHAPTER 184

Together, they worked to remove the artificial plug they had placed to seal off the tunnel leading below. For safety, they first created a hole that was only as large as a soccer ball and once it was clear nothing was waiting for them they expanded the gap further. The stone they had shifted the night before responding more readily than the standard tunnel. It meant when the stone flowed away it left the original rock surface, so by the time they had finished they had reverted it to its original state.

Tom stepped back and wiped his forehead. The vision from True Dreaming remained vividly at the front of his mind… but doubt crept in, anyway. Opening this exit was dangerous, and he hoped he was not overreacting.

His gut told him that the risk that the giant monster outside represented was real. The certainty of his convictions was frightening. Was it possible to misinterpret a tier nine prophecy skill? He didn’t know. The answer was probably yes, but surely not when he had this level of confidence… Plus he didn’t want to say it out loud but the pieces of evidence linked to nicely. Something huge must have been throwing those earth spikes that Michael had made a fuss about, and True Dreaming did not lie. Whatever Everlyn had glimpsed was real even if she had not registered it. The only question in his mind was whether they had to hide in this cave or if they would be forced to flee into the underground. He hoped hiding would be sufficient, but he was opening the exit in case it wasn’t. If what he had seen found them… Tom had no doubt that it could dig down unless they retreated far deeper.

If they stayed here, that thing would most likely be able to dig them out in minutes, if not seconds.

He alone faced the entrance to the cave exclusively having chosen to turn his back on the tunnel that led deeper. Tom was not at all surprised to note that he was the only one who had chosen that orientation. Everyone else remained facing what they perceived as the larger threat, excluding Toni who had chosen nothing as she was packing away the cooking gear and wrapping the food she had saved into waxed fabric to be eaten later.

Jingyi returned.

He slipped into the cave bow drawn, his eyes glancing back the way he had come as much as forward. The scout spotted them and relaxed slightly, but not fully. He kept the weapon at half draw and moved closer to the potential underground exit. An arrow was available to be shot at any moment. “Guys… What’s happening?”

Tom cleared his throat. “I had a vision.”

Jingyi looked at him and then straight down the tunnel. A few seconds passed. “Are you going to share?”

“Let’s wait for Evie.”

“You can talk while we wait.”

“Tom thinks the monster that threw those spikes is coming for us.” Michael said quickly.

“Oh.” Jingyi said, then lapsed into silence.

Tom watched the cave entrance, along with party chat. He was compulsively checking the interface and almost couldn’t believe it when it showed as available. “Evie hurry!”

“Tom had a vision.” Michael said over the party chat at almost the same time. “You need to get back.”

“I’m going as fast as I can…” There was a pause as Everlyn clearly navigated some unseen danger. “What are we dealing with?”

“A giant monster.”

“Really? I didn’t notice anything.”

“There is no time for debates.” Tom ordered unwilling to compromise. “Get here faster.”

“Rodger. One minute.”

There was silence, and then she burst through the cave entrance. Her eyes were wide but there was no fear in them and she professionally swept the cave, assessing everything from potential threats to political situations. Apparently concluding everything was legitimate she jogged over to them. “Okay, I’m here. What’s the alarm.”

He sucked in a deep breath and launched into the spiel he had been composing for the last minute. Facts were the way to go. “True Dreaming just triggered. The vision was through Everlyn’s eyes and, as you know, the ability can enhance the sapient’s senses. She didn’t notice it, but a monster that is around the size of those hills is coming our way.”

“Nope. I wouldn’t miss something that large.”

“It was three kilometres away and even with the enhanced senses I only noticed because the height of the hill changed between one glance and the next.”

“The height of the hill?” She asked in disbelief.

“And shape. Whatever it was is massive.”

“I wouldn’t have missed anything that significant.” She repeated confidently.

“You might have,” Keikain interrupted. “His skill is tier nine. Tom, how certain of this are you?”

“Definite. It was there and the fact that I dreamt about it means its relevant and a threat. I’m almost positive we’re going to at a minimum have to hide in here for a while, most likely.” He glanced significantly at the tunnel they had just opened. His instincts told him that they would be using it.

“Seriously, you think it’s safer to retreat into the underground.” Sven scoffed.

“You didn’t see the size.” Tom promised. “And not the actual underground, just that it’ll be safer if we’re a little further away from the surface.”

“A delay’s bad,” Clare said. “We should make sure the threat is real before making decisions.”

“An hour or two shouldn’t matter and no we shouldn’t make sure. Our best chance is that it hasn’t seen us. We poke our noses out and it notices us… then that will be bad.” Tom started to walk toward the descending tunnel.

Clare did not look convinced about Tom’s arguments.

He glanced back at them. No one had moved. “Come on, for safety we just need to go a little deeper. It’s a tier nine skill. That’s not something to be ignored.”

“Tom,” Everlyn said seriously. “We need to balance the risks. We can’t get closer…” She nodded at the tunnel they had just opened. “Without verification.”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

“I agree,” Michael said. “Hiding in here is one thing. Descending further…”

“I’m going to check outside.” Everlyn stated. “If it’s that big I’ll find it pretty quickly.”

“Please trust me.”

“I do.” She looked torn glancing between the two exits. “But what you’re planning is risky. Especially after we’ve used magic to remove the plug, the creatures down there probably noticed. We could be walking into an active monster that is rank sixty or even a hundred.”

“You didn’t see what I did.”

“I sort of did.” Everlyn interrupted with a self-deprecating laugh. “I’ll check. Carefully. It will only take a few seconds.”

“Vote.” Tom tried desperately.

“Who votes I check?”

Every hand but Tom’s and Sven’s went up.

“Sorry Tom.”

Internally, he cursed. He had hoped to get more support, but apparently fear of the underground triumphed over the implied risk of something being flagged by True Dreaming. “Those spikes looked like they could kill you before you even know they’re coming.”

“I’ll be safe. Trust me Tom.”

He bit his lips. Hating the fact that he couldn’t stop her foolishness. Half of him wanted to keep going down the slope, but he didn’t want to split the party and everyone else had already made up their minds.

Everlyn vanished, and his mind imagined what creature could have that silhouette. It would have to be massive… deadly… and hopefully completely lacking in perception.

There was the sound of crashing rock.

His heart leapt.

A thousand and one scenarios played out in his overactive imagination. Those earth spikes and what would happen if they actually hit a rank twelve human? Even if that person was using her powerups to become something more substantial.

It wouldn’t help…

There would be a smear… It would…

Everlyn burst back into the cave. Her face reflected the terror that he was feeling and her eyes were fixated upon the potential entrance to the underground. Her body shape glowed with a strange light, and she was moving faster than she normally did. “Retreat.” She yelled over party chat.

She was fleeing something and not a figment of Tom’s imagination.

Everyone reacted.

Tom turned to face the right way. Lightning feet let him streak ahead, but he was still not the first one to reach the passage to the underground. Both Toni and Keikain made it in before him. Toni was in the lead having reacted when she heard the crash of rock above them. Keikain because he had been guarding the exit. Both were now running into its dubious safety.

Tom found himself right on their heels.

“Don’t stop.” Everlyn yelled behind them.

The initial path down was tight. He and Keikain had shifted sufficient rock for the bigger fighters amongst them to squeeze through, but not enough that it would be effortless. Even Tom had to shuffle half sideways because his shoulders were too broad, but while using a half crab shuffle, they went quickly. Everlyn’s look of terror assured that.

After getting through the five metre plug, the tunnel opened up sufficiently to allow them to sprint down a natural appearing cave.

It plunged deeper into the earth in a slow spiral like a car ramp and in less than forty seconds they reached the spot where the tunnel went from a passage in the overground to become the underground proper. It had been closer than any of them had realised. On Tom’s estimate, they were only thirty metres beneath the surface.

The primary change that told him that they had entered the underground was the fact there were seams of glowing fungus on the roof. The space beneath the surface, tunnels in the overground, never possessed that type of light. From his experience, those were usually darker than the true underground because if there were sufficient twists between a location and the sun, no natural light penetrated and the caves themselves rarely had anything to illuminate them directly. Not so the underground. It was almost always lit by something, fungus, crystals, larva, glowing worms, magic lights and anything else you could imagine. Every underground system he had ever been in created its own light. There was also a noticeable change in the atmosphere. It felt more vibrant.

They stepped hesitantly forward into the well lit tunnel and there was a metre wide patch of thick lush vegetation. Tom was not surprised when Keikain and Toni in front of him transitioned from a flat out sprint to a halt before stepping on any of the moss.

He remembered the monster he had glimpsed. How large it had to be to be visible as a landscape feature and then later, Everlyn’s terror.

Thirty metres probably wasn’t enough.

The tunnel, while not spacious, had widened slightly, so he dodged around them and kept running deeper. His spear was out and his lightning domain crackled as it surrounded him. He had dialed its power to full to give him extra warning. His senses working together to catch anything lying in ambush. Any movement within three metres of him would be instantly identified and then he would fight.

Tom jogged around another curve. They were getting deeper. Was forty metres down sufficient? Especially if ten metres were the underground proper? Or did he need more? Would fifty do it? The thoughts ran through his head, without answers.

He was sprinting into a not only unscouted section of the underground, but one that was for all intents and purposes unranked as well. The ridiculousness of that situation was not lost on him.

He activated Earth Sense and while the flood of information from the domain component of the skill still overwhelmed him, he needed the extra warning. Instinctively, he dialled it down to where would let him function, but not comfortably. Too much data assaulted him, but that was better than missing an enemy because his tools were too imprecise.

The underground entrance dropped another ten metres, and he found himself exiting onto a thoroughfare.

Giant monster chasing them or not, Tom stopped running and fell into a combat stance. The tunnel was sizeable, three metres high, four to six metres across, depending on where you stood, and it ran in what he guessed was an east-west direction. This tunnel probably ran for miles in mostly straight lines, but Tom couldn’t verify that. The unique properties of the fungal created light made seeing further than fifty metres difficult.

The others were crowding behind him, so he stepped to the left to free up the entranceway. They followed him through with Sven taking the right side. Both of them instinctively staying close to the wall with each of them ready to unleash an attack. Everyone’s weapons were drawn.

“Nothing in earth sense.” Tom told them, grimly.

“Keep it down.” Jingyi hissed.

Tom flinched, but did as instructed. They knew nothing about this area. The above ground had probably risen in rank to be around sixteen or seventeen. Down here, it could be anything, but certainly not lower.

They all knew that they might already have effectively committed suicide by braving these tunnels. After all, if they were unlucky, it would be a rank hundred area or something ridiculous like that. They could die before they even realised that they were under attack.

Everlyn was the last to get down. She had blood running down her side, probably from some shrapnel, because if one of the spikes had got her, the impact would be larger. She assessed the situation with a single look and put a hand to her lips. “We descend.”

“We don’t know what’s—” Jingyi started.

“Shut up.” She interrupted angrily. “Follow.”

She went east and while she didn’t sprint; it was not the slow cautious movements they expected to use in an unscouted area of the underground.

Tom’s heart beat stronger. They knew it was incredibly dangerous to brave the underground. To do it this blasély…

She had to be rattled by what she had seen.

In an unknown underground space, the correct response was to assess the situation. Find out what monsters you faced before proceeding further.

Everlyn’s wounds did not look healed. He could see the red patch spreading. Cursing himself for reacting slowly, he sped up and reached out a hand to touch her. Healing Tranquility instantly activated, and he was aware of the damage that had been done to her.

She had been cut by the shrapnel in three different spots, all of which were in the final stages of being healed. He could see traces of Everlyn’s initial healing spell, which had since been overlayed with extra support from Clare and Michael.

He dropped his hands from her shoulder. There was nothing he could do. The dedicated healers with their ranged casting had got in first. Everlyn flashed him a grateful smile anyway, correctly interpreting his actions, even if he had not actually done anything. He fell into step behind her as she jogged down the tunnel.

“Are you sure this is a good idea.” Sven whispered. “I mean should we slow down?”

There was an almighty crash behind them. The entire tunnel shook and out of the corner of his eyes he saw dust spill through the entrance to the thoroughfare tunnel they had used.

Tom remembered that hill and wondered if the monster that had cast that silhouette could dig into the underground. Next to him Everlyn had sped up, and… Tom glanced back.

That was dust that had been created. A cloud of debris tens of metres beneath the surface… There was no guessing required about the level of risk.

The clues were there.

It was coming.