Sten walked into the operations centre looking for the foreman of the site. Tables with papers and diagrams littered the side walls with two desks pushed together in the middle. Four men were standing around those desks looking at a large unfurled piece of parchment. At the sound of the door, the four men turned to regard who just walked in.
“Ah Sten, good to see you friend. Thank you for coming.” The eldest of the four men, an elderly gentleman with neat peppered grey hair dressed in a green-grey military style uniform spoke up. This was Odgar Asulfannarr, the head of the Branch Clan. He was the younger brother to the current Asulf Clan leader Ragnar Asulf. 150 years ago, Odgar himself made the decision to form a subsidiary branch clan to protect his brother's family. This split the clan in two, Odgar took his pregnant wife and a handful of oathsworn with him. They called themselves the Asulfannar Clan, moving out of Ulfberg to expand the influence of the Clan out to the northern tip of the valley. The three other men sporting similar grey military style suits were Odgar’s son Skarde and his sons, Trygve and Toke. All four men were at the Second Tier of Cultivation. Odgar and his son Skarde were at the Perfected Realm of the Second Tier making them a match for Sten. Skarde's sons, Trygve and Toke, were only at the Initial Realm of the Second Tier. Each Tier of cultivation is split into four stages with a few exceptions.
“Old man Odgar, my friend. Old man Ragnar sent me to help you out.” Sten replied as he walked forward and clasped forearms with Odgar. Releasing the older man, he did the same with the three middle aged men standing at either side of Odgar. “I bought a squad of warriors of the First Tier. Also, On the lord's orders, a group of brats that are about to start cultivating. Hopefully on this expedition they will learn a thing or two.”
“You brought the children? This will be dangerous but they should be able to handle it. Good, I will have Thrya and Torsten accompany them. They can experience dangerous situations in confined spaces. We will have them go with the First Tier warriors to deal with the Metal beasts.” Odgar said with a chuckle.
“If the Trainees will be helping with the Metal beasts, what exactly have I been requested for?” Sten asked to bring the conversation to the topic at hand. He knew a Perfected Second Tier warrior could easily hunt a small pack of Metal beasts. Walking over to the table to gaze at the map and status reports laying on the desks. It showed the current layout of the mine with smaller pieces of parchment showing mapped out areas of the new cavern. Written reports strewn around the map detailed the progress at mapping and exploring it.
One piece of paper caught Stens eye immediately. This explained his requested presence on this mission. It was a report on sightings of Hex Beasts within this new cavern. Hex beasts were Metal Beasts that have started to acclimate to an aspectual source of energy resulting in a seemingly cursed aspectual energy beast core to form. They had the strength of Advanced Second Tier warriors at the initial stage. This too was split into four stages dependent on the purity of the hex energy it wielded.
If the reports were accurate, then there was only one Hex Beast present. It had a brood of Metal Beasts that lived alongside it as well. Sten thought it could be dangerous but as long as there is only one Hex Beast, they had enough manpower to remove it from the mine.
“As you can see, this cavern seems to be home to a Hex beast. But, that also means there is a good chance that the Hex beast was drawn to a Crystalite Ore deposit. If not, perhaps a forgotten treasure. Either way, something drew it here and we will need to find out what.” Odgar informed Sten as he joined him by the desks. Picking up a piece of paper and handing it to Sten. “Looks to be a couple of Metal Beasts have joined the Hex Beast so the warriors can deal with those while the five of us take down this Hex beast safely without many if any casualties.”
Sten took the offered paper and gave it a quick read. It appeared to be a pack of giant metal rats cohabitating with whatever this Hex Beast seems to be. Placing that paper down, Sten took a moment to take in all the available information. As soon as Sten was done, he turned to the men present. They hadn't spoken while he took it all in before they strategized.
“Alright, I’m just here to lend a hand. Now I've seen what the reports say, what is your plan to remove this threat?” Sten asked with curiosity about what plans Odgar had in place. They spend the next half hour discussing the topic at hand.
By the time Sten and the other men walked out from the operation centre, Alvar and the rest were lounging around on the stairs chatting to one another. Ivory and Egil, who usually stepped into the second in command role whenever they had group interactions. The two de facto leaders among the Asulf younger generation would share the goings on in Ulfberg and the Asulf Clans activities that they were privy to as did Torsten and Thyra with the Branch Clan Asulfannarr. They were encouraged by the Elders of each Branch to share their knowledge of events within the Clan and outside happenings each had heard to verify them. To not step on the toes of each other and work as a whole.
Though to Alvar, it all just sounded like an excuse to gossip. Seeing the tall men with Odgar leading them step out of the doorway, all the youngsters jumped up to do the customary clan salute on seeing the Branch Clan leader. Odgar broke into a grandfatherly smile as he saw the kids scramble down the stairs to line up and salute. Reminding him of younger days gone when he and Ragnar would do the same when they saw their Clan leader at the time.
“We greet the Clan leader!” Alvar and company shouted in unison. On Ragnar's decree upon formation of the Branch family, each Branch was to respect the other Branch's leader intentionally raising Odgar to his level for the love of his brother. No bad blood has formed due to this close kinship of the leaders. Odgar smiled at the respect the Trainees gave him and stood out to address them.
“At ease, young ones. I have given Sten his orders for the task at hand. You will be under the command of Toke here. We will be starting an excursion into the Mines now the cave-in has been cleared. Now fall out to the mine entrance and await further orders. Dismissed.” Turning away from the departing kids, he addressed the gathered men. “Toke, go gather the Warriors and the trainees and form up outside the Mine.”
“Yes Grandfather, right away.” Toke replied as he left to do as directed. Sten followed along to relay the orders to the men that accompanied him while Odgar led the other men to the mine entrance.
—
The mine shaft was dark and dusty as Alvar walked further into the depth, his lanturn held high lighting up the backs of those leading the group. They had been descending on foot for the last hour in relative silence in anticipation for the coming skirmish. Not even Egil and Torsten had much to say. They would be making quips back and forth before Ivory would have to admonish them for being too rowdy. None of the others said a word other than Ivory to reassure everyone.
A scout had been waiting on a joining passageway with a sightings report of the Metal beasts and Hex beast 10 minutes previously. Causing Odgar to split from the group leading the Second Tier Warriors down the joining path leaving Torsten’s father Toke was leading the group of First Tier Warriors and trainees from the front.
“We are close. Let's take a quick break and prepare before continuing.” Toke suddenly came to a halt signalling them all to stop. All the trainees let out a collective breath as they started to check the short iron swords, short iron tipped spears and metal hide bucklers. They were issued to them when they were rounded up by Toke at the Mine entrance. It was the standard equipment of guardsmen in the Clan so Alvar had practised many drills over the years in the weapons given out.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
“A short walk from here is one of the first smaller chambers before what we believe to be a Metal Rat beast nest. I expect that there will be at least a couple of them in that chamber. We will engage as quietly as possible to try not to draw any more out from inside. I will make my way to the inner chamber entrance on the other side. There I will make sure none are able to flank you given it will be unlikely that the engagement won't make a sound.” Toke began to give a battle briefing before turning to the trainees gathered in the middle of the warriors. “The warriors know what to do when fighting multiple Metal beasts. I would like you all to split into even teams depending on the number of Metal beasts. Once done, you will assist the Warriors in separating the enemy and creating a perimeter. I don’t expect you to go toe to toe with a Metal beast just yet so try to keep your distance and let the warriors take them out. When the finish rush is called, along with your fellow warriors may charge and impale the downed beast ensuring its death. I trust you will be able to manage that.”
“Yes sir!” Alvar said in unison with the rest. He was nervous about the coming engagement. He had never seen a wild Metal beast up close before. His father Tiber had told him stories of the beasts he had slain over his career as a warrior. Of how vicious they could be, the strength of
A couple minutes passed as the whole group rested before Toke gave the order to move out. It wasn't long until they came to a sizable illuminated cavern with rubble strewn about. Large glowing moss hung down from the ceiling and draped over the walls along one side. Four giant rats the size of boars sat in the middle of the cave. All beady red eyes with their attention on the rat in the middle. All looked a shiny solid copper colour making it hard to tell what stage of Metallization the rat has gotten to past the Initial stage. Their attention on something on the floor between them.
Upon seeing the four rats, Toke signalled four teams to be made and assigned each squad leader. Each squad comprised of six members each plus two of the trainees. Ivory divided the trainees into teams fairly distributing each depending on their fighting ability. As the strongest she had chosen one of the weakest trainees, Alvar, to pair up with. Egil paired with Arne, Frida with Norme leaving Torsten and Thyra on a team. As she delegated the teams to each, Toke made his way around the rats.
“Weapons ready.” Toke's whisper sounded in Alvars ears like he was standing right behind him when Toke reached the opposite side. Getting in position by the entryway, he signalled for the hunt to begin. “Loose.”
In that instant, four ki laden arrows flew out from four different warriors on the front line. The loud twangs drew the attention of the four rats before a screeching sound of glancing metal on metal rang out along with a cry of pain from each rat. Furious, they turned their attention on the opposing groups and stretched and ran at the squad. Alvar watched a warrior dash out of his group running at a rat closest to them, throwing a metal cable reinforced by the chasers Ki at one to pull them away from the rest. Seeing the chasers go, the squad leaders signalled their respective squads to spread out from one another. Alvar and Ivory moved along with their squad to the right of the cave, keeping to the back of the group.
“Second chaser, you're up!” Alvars squad leader hissed towards another lanky man with another metal cable. He dashed out to join the other warrior from the squad that had managed to slip his cable around a paw of the giant copper rat. It was swiping angrily at the man with its free paw knowing if it lifted its leg, it would lose its balance. Metal beasts had a decent level of intelligence however unless raised properly will grow extremely cruel and savage in the wild.
Seeing the second man approach, the rat unexpectedly lunged at the first man biting at him. The first chaser dived to the ground avoiding the monster's razor sharp teeth not letting go on the cable. The two archers saw the opening created by the charging rat determined to use it. They both fired a Ki laden arrow at the preoccupied rat's side landing a solid hit each resulting in a tink of the copper hide being pierced. Blood splashed as the rat stretched in pain as the arrows dug in deep, stopping it in its tracks for a second. That gave the second chaser a chance to close the remaining distance and deftly looped the cable around the beast's raised head.
The second began pulling his cable taut in the opposite direction giving time for the first chaser to regain his footing and tugging his own cable holding the copper rat between them. The rat struggled and strained against its capture as the squad started to encircle the copper beast.
"Spears, advance!" Signalling to the rest to follow suit, the squad leader rushed at the metal beast with his short spear raised with Ki surging around it to stab the beast in the side.
Alvar clenched his spear in his hands when he saw the order to advance. Turning to look at Ivory standing near him, Alvar met Ivory's determined gaze as they readied themselves for the next charge. The squad leader and other spearmen reached the beast impaling it on each side. A loud scraping noise followed by a screeching cry from the injured beast.
Sharing a nod and relying on their drills, Alvar charged as fast as he could at the downed beast. He couched the spear under his arm like he had been taught in the drills and guided the tip of the spear level with the copper rat's hind legs. An impact that felt like he slammed into a wall shot up his arm, Alvars spear bite into the leg of the rat with a thunk. He was lucky the rat had been restrained by the cables as his spear only penetrated the skin of the copper beast. The tip was lodged in the muscle below making it difficult to withdraw it as he and Ivory pulled back. Her attempt had been slightly better but still ended up in the same situation as he was. A trickle of copper blood trailing from the small hole.
"Spears, withdraw!" The squad leader called as he withdrew to a safe distance. Alvar, Ivory and the spearmen followed suit, giving the chasers space to pull the beast further away from its companions.
The rat was raging now that its hide had been punctured by the spears. Copper blood splashing about as it strained and pulled the cables that bound it. Soon it began to weaken as more blood pooled on the ground beneath it. Similar sights could be seen at the other sections of the cavern as each team took down their assigned copper rat's.
Alvar watched as the rat collapsed under the weight of its increasingly still metal body. The squad leader cautiously approached the rat's head with his shield up and spear at the ready if it decided to lunge at him unexpectedly. Like a viper striking at the rat, the squad leader thrust his spear forward as Ki flashed along the shaft enhancing the striking power. With a piercing wail, the rat perished under the assault of a Perfected First Tier warrior to its head.
Alvar covered his ears at the sound the rat made, leaving ringing in his ears. It caught the attention of all the warriors present.
"ROOOAAR" The sound of an answering wail shock the cavern coming from the tunnel opposite that Toke is standing guard. The next moment all hell broke loose. A giant shiny beast rushed into the cavern with streams of air current galling around it. It's path leading directly to the rat that Alvars squad had downed. Before the beast got more than 3 strides through the cavern, Toke activated his Ki and used his Footwork technique to slide before the creature.
"NO. YOU. DON'T!" Toke roared in response as his fist ignited in flames as he struck the head of the upcoming giant beast. Alvar watched on in horror at the unexpected development. Ivory and all the other trainees mirroring his look of horror.
A boom resounded as the Fist and beast collided together. The resulting shockwave that blew them both apart. The beast stumbled backward a step, clearly halted in its advance. Toke, on the other hand, was violently thrown across the cavern. Forcefully slamming into the wall near the entrance they came through.
"FATHER!" "UNCLE!" Torsten and Thyra screamed simultaneously at the sight of Toke flying through the air. Neither had seen someone as strong as Toke be pushed back and even injured before now.
"Sir!" A couple warriors closest to Toke called out to him reflexively.
Alvar didn't know what to do as the ground started to tremble upon Tokes impact on the wall. The squads forgot all about the copper rat's they had just hunted now that the cavern was trembling and collapsing around them. Rocks the size of heads beginning to shake loose from the roof above.
"R-RETREAT" Tokes pained voice whispered in Alvars ear. That was all Alvar needed to make a break for the exit as rocks smashed to the ground on every side. A stone the size of a Fist struck Alvar causing him to trip as a giant rock fell next to him missing by inches. The floor shattered at the contact of the rock as cracks and rubble splintered around him.
The world seemed to slow as Alvar looked around himself calmly. He caught sight of Ivory screaming and running his way, arm stretched out as if to pull him out of danger from several metres away. They locked eyes as Alvar started descending faster and faster as gravity took hold of him. The last thing he remembered seeing was Ivorys terrified expression as he fell into darkness.