The large room on the other side of the train cut off into several tunnels, practically creating a maze. At least, for a normal person. Most ended in dead ends or branched down into other tunnel systems, making this a hub of sorts. Or at least, that’s what the hundreds of prints moving through the area suggested. Only one path, in particular, led towards my goal.

I left the larger chamber, entering a rather small passageway similar to the maintenance shaft the three mercs guarded. Rusty pipes lined the walls and long dead electrical wires hung. The occasional bulb would’ve cast illumination at one point, though now most of them were busted.

The tracks died down to just a few, though most of them turned back when the path narrowed significantly.

I stepped around the glass shards, ensuring my feet were as quiet as ever as I followed the tunnel. If the map was still correct, like it had been so far, the tunnel led to another large chamber connected to a rather secluded room. The room was my goal. It looked well-defended and seemed to have rather thick walls.

The maintenance tunnel angled down, burrowing further into the depths. I walked in near absolute darkness, the occasional bit of lichen the only ounce of light down here. I wasn’t a hundred percent sure what kind of species the lichen was, but the stuff had a damn impressive reach. I’d noticed it almost everywhere throughout the Underground. It consistently grew in not only the easiest-to-reach sections of the Underground but also the most secluded.

I followed it for a time, a yawn splitting my jaw as I slowly approached the next chamber. The tunnel ahead of me cut off, leading into a pitch-black room. For the first time in a while, I actually had a somewhat difficult time seeing through the absolute darkness of the place. A rush of Insight hit me as I cautiously took a step forward, entering the cavernous chamber. I walked forward hesitantly-

My body tumbled forward, my foot hitting nothing but empty space. I reacted quickly, tossing the entirety of my body weight back and shifting my center of gravity to regain control. I started to fall, barely catching myself at the last moment as loose rubble fell into the hidden chasm. I backed away, my breath feeling like ice as it cut savagely at my lungs. My limbs trembled from the shock of adrenaline, causing my heartbeat to grow erratic as I tried to calm myself down.

I momentarily flushed out the stress with a flicker of Cold-Blooded, cleansing myself of the overwhelming emotion from the near miss. A few calming breaths helped cleanse the rest of it, as did the realization that I would’ve been fine either way. I had the Drop Chutes ingrained into the armor, so falling wasn’t even an issue anymore… for the most part.

After several seconds longer, in which my eyes finally adjusted to see the darker edge of the pitfall into the abyss, I finally heard a faint noise from the pit. Did- did the rubble just hit the bottom?

A sick feeling entered my stomach as I approached the edge far more carefully. Even if I logically knew I’d be fine with the drop, the thought of falling for so long still burned at me. I hadn’t even tested the Drop Chute for higher falls than the fifth floor. Would they even work as advertised for such a long drop?

I peeked over the edge of the chasm, catching sight of the bottom. The chasm bottomed out into what looked to be a massive underground lake so far below. The exact details of the bottom were hard to make out, some kind of haze- or maybe steam covered a fair chunk above the waterline.

The same glowing lichen that was everywhere throughout the Underground grew in massive bundles just over the water’s edge, bringing just enough illumination to the darkness to see the murky liquid. The pit dropped for a long, long time, slowly widening into an even larger space a heart-stopping distance below. The water shifted with currents large enough to be spotted even from up here.

I flicked on Aetherial Perception on a hunch, immediately seeing a dizzying array of color- or colorlessness? Or was it nothingness? No- there was a color, but it writhed in a dizzying array of obscuring strands, each one vying for dominance like self-aware tentacles. My heart hammered in my chest, overcoming my calm as my eyes tried to pry away the nauseating twining of-

I looked away, feeling an instant migraine as my brain whirled in confusion at what lay so far down there. Aetherial Perception typically gave me a feeling to go along with the visual, but this time the feeling confused me just as much as the visual. It didn’t feel like an eidolon, nor did it feel like the presence of the plant creatures the Circle cultists used. It didn’t even feel like the nomad’s slaughterer. It felt entirely alien, as if it didn't belong here. As if it shouldn’t exist-

An even sicker feeling hit me as I shifted my mind away from the depths. Whatever lay down there, I was better off never setting foot in such a deep place… the dark, uncertain waters evoked a certain kind of fear deep inside of me that I’d never felt before. It was a primal thing, demanding I get as far away from this place as possible. Even being near the pit gave me an unsettled vibe.

On one hand, it was a terrible thing. On the other hand, it was something good. Just another natural defense for my stash if I decided to use this one. Assuming the place I wanted was in good condition. I looked around, noticing most tracks either headed off the edge of the chasm or immediately turned back. None continued.

Thankfully, the chasm didn’t cut through the room entirely. It left a small walkway, maybe the width of a car, on the far left side. It did cut through everything else though, even the wall. As I headed for the walkway, I looked down through where the chasm intersected the wall. Far off in the distance, I could see another chamber cut into by the chasm, but it was too dark and too far to make out any details.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

I edged around the chasm and headed for the cave on the other side. Drag marks marred the mouth of the cave, instantly shooting my guard up even further as I raised my rifle and stalked forward. The drag marks were old, old enough that I couldn’t see any other kind of mark aside from them.

As I entered the mouth of the cave, I noticed bones. At first, they were just small animal bones. Rats and other vermin scattered around here and there, stripped off flesh. Bones were everywhere in the Underground, so it wasn’t an odd sight, but that combined with the drag marks suggested some kind of predator in the area. Or at least one had been in the area.

I double-checked my Perks, making sure they were active, and headed further down the cave. The bones were scattered, though they grew larger and larger, soon turning into human skeletons. There weren’t a lot of them, but there were enough to raise my nerves several times.

The lone bones turned into piles just before I reached the back of the cave. It wasn’t just human bones, but even larger beasts of the Underground. Some I’d never even seen before and looked far too big to be real. There was even a set of rib bones that were as tall as I was.

This is a bad idea, Shiro. Turn back now before it's too late. This was obviously an apex predator’s den. Just get away while you still can and all will be fine. You have other spots to check-

I peeked around the final bend in the cave, finally seeing the backside. Or rather, the nest. Mountains of bones lined the sides, creating a white and yellow bowl-shaped area covered in patches of fur and skin. The backside of the wall, the entry to the room I wanted to scout out, was formed by a massive closed vault door and the crumbling architecture of a long-destroyed building.

That wasn’t what grabbed my attention though. No- what grabbed my attention was the creature lying in the middle of the bones, hidden tightly into the mass and snuggling a spine close to its chest.

It was human at some point, though it would’ve been hard to tell for sure if I hadn’t recognized the creature. It was extremely tall, probably triple my height. Pale, patchy skin stretched over its body, seemingly pulled tight from decades of malnutrition. Its bones strained under its skin, each of its ribs making massive waves in the pale gray skin. The creature was as thin as a pencil in parts, deceptively looking to have no muscle mass.

Then came its ‘adornments’. Bones covered the creature, seemingly grafted into its skin. Its face and head were completely obscured by the skull of some large antlered creature. It wore it like a helmet, though I knew it was fully grafted into the creature's body by this point. Other bones covered parts of its body, acting as armor.

I slowly edged backward, fear nearly taking over. I was even too scared to flicker on Cold-Blooded, worried that the sudden burst of cold would alert the creature. Of course I recognized it. In all my research, it was one of the few creatures with a high enough danger level that even squads should run instead of even trying to engage.

I doubled back, only to be blinded by an interface screen.

「Request Received - Worthy Opponent

* Kill the Wendigo

* Reward: 1 Skill Point」

Yeah, not worth it. What was the point of a Skill Point if I ended up dying to get it? Although… It would be helpful. Some of my Skills were soon to hit bottlenecks. With a boost of knowledge, I could really stand to improve myself. That, and I could also snag some other skills I hadn’t gotten yet… or double down and try to get one to level twelve so I could finally get the Interface Expansion.

I forced my legs forward, back towards the maintenance tunnel. There still wasn’t a point in all of that if I was dead. Wendigos were extremely deadly variant ghouls. If it was just their physical condition, they would already be deadly enough with their deceptively fast movements and strength. Add onto that their other suite of abilities, like their ability to control bones, and it was a bad day for anyone trying to kill one. I really didn’t want to end as just another addition to the pile.

The interface flashed again.

「Request Updated - Worthy Opponent

* Kill the Wendigo

* Reward: 2 Skill Points」

I paused… the creature was quite secluded. There was a high chance it hadn’t eaten in a while, so it might be weakened- No. Bad, Shiro! Death! Remember death?! It’s not worth it! Nothing they offer to give you-

「Request Updated - Worthy Opponent

* Kill the Wendigo

* Reward: 1 Skill Points and a pancake」

…

...

Now that’s just insulting. Which of those bastards was this request from? Remind me to never-

「Request Updated - Worthy Opponent

* Kill the Wendigo

* Reward: 1 Skill Point and a Perk Point」

Was it a typo? Do eidolons even have typos? And why were they so desperate for me to kill the Wendigo? Which one of those bastards wanted me to throw my life away so much?

Still… a Perk Point. This was the first time such a thing had been offered so far… surely it was a free Perk too, which could be insanely useful. It was basically a free power-up. Free at the cost of throwing my life away, that is.

Was killing the Wendigo even viable? It would eviscerate and devour me in a matter of seconds once it realized I was here. Okay, okay… what do I know about Wendigos in the first place? Other than their brutal strength, speed, bullet-resistant durability, power to control bones-

The odds were stacked against me. However, there were a few things in my favor. It didn’t know I was here, for one, and seemed to be in some kind of hibernation considering it hadn't left its den in so long that there weren’t even tracks of it anymore. On top of that, its intelligence wouldn't be all that high.

At the end of the day, it was a variant ghoul. Sure, it was a special variant of a ghoul, but still… Wendigos were a type of creature created by AGD, though HMV didn’t play any effect as it did with the mutant ghoul I fought so long ago. They were formed purely through the Aetherial Ghoulification Disease, though from what I’ve read their creation was a bit more involved than with normal ghouls.

I looked around the chamber and the chasm as a plan slowly started to form in my head. It wasn’t impossible to kill the beast, though it would be damn close. If I played my cards right though…

First things first, I needed to set up to see if my plan was even possible. With a flash of blue fire, a bracelet appeared around my wrist as I started to plot.