Contrary to her expectations, Sera couldn't help but think that things had been much too quiet. The government had labelled this a danger zone, yet all they encountered until now were mostly harmless, low-level Dustborne—hardly enough to threaten them.

“Sera! Stop wasting time and get down here!” her boss said, bringing her back to reality.

Reluctantly, she leapt from her vantage point, falling over twenty metres, yet landed gracefully as if gravitational acceleration was a concept she was unfamiliar with. In fact, she hovered, but for a moment, just before her feet touched the ground. She rushed toward the group, only to see the men congregate next to a massive crystal formation.

"How massive," she couldn't let but escape her lips, mesmerized by the sight of those interwoven crystal filaments was glowed faintly into the darkness of night, bathing their surroundings in a dull red glow. She could see a flow within the transparent structure as if rivers of sand waving back and forth. Each time those rivers crossed, the crystals seemed to pulse as if new life had been breathed into them.

“Isn’t it? We’ll be set for a good long while after this. We may even be promoted to the Orange Class!” another man said, joy apparent in his tone.

Orange class... she thought. I used to think I'd be stuck in the Red class forever, but maybe it’s not an unachievable dream anymore.

“Alright, boys! Get to work. This vein isn't going to mine itself!" their boss said. Sera could easily imagine his smug grin hidden beneath his mask.

His men nodded, bringing out the same metal rod they once did as they dispatched their previous canine opponents, yet this time, they pressed another button next to the previous one, toggling something within the device. A moment later, they pushed the other button, and a radiant red pickaxe appeared in their hands.

Using these tools, the men struck the large crystal, chipping shards out of it. Yet, those shards were minuscule, barely a fraction of a fraction of the whole, yet the amount of strength they put into their work was staggering compared to the result.

Seeing their riches accumulate on the floor, their leader rummaged through his clothes, only to bring out a small metallic device no bigger than his hand. He then threw it slightly further away, only for the device to expand as if space itself had decompressed. What emerged resembled a spider; eight long metallic legs dug into the hard ground, while its body seemed composed of only a large container.

Without being told what to do, Sera began picking up the red shards from the floor before stashing them within the metallic spider while keeping a close eye on the device on her wrist, ensuring they wouldn't be taken by surprise while they worked.

Less than half an hour later, the vein—at least what was visible above ground—was all but gone, and their storage was almost at capacity. The men's joy was nearly palpable, yet Sera's apprehension only grew as she felt the tremors each time the men struck the red veins with their pickaxes reverberating in her bones. She couldn’t help but wish they would be out of there already.

“Isn’t it too calm?” one of the men asked, also feeling something was wrong. “Don’t Dustborne usually congregate near these Dust Veins?”

“Bah! What does that matter as long as we get what we came for?” another replied. “Maybe this place isn’t as bad as the government makes it out to be. If anything, they are probably trying to keep this place all to themselves by saying so.”

Sera couldn't rule this possibility out as it wouldn't be the first the government had done so. Still, she felt that this time was different. Her instinct screamed at her that something was wrong, and she would usually heed them. Living among pariahs and criminals, one would be forced to learn to trust one's instinct or simply cease to exist.

“Let's leave this place already. It isn't safe," Sera pleaded, yet her warnings fell on deaf ears as the men were too preoccupied with celebrating their success and thinking of what awaited them once they returned with what they had found.

It was then that her premonition turned out to be true. A massive earthquake shook the ground, yet Sera noticed that the building further out seemed to feel none of it. It seemed to be a localized one at best. Still, these ruins weren't located near any fault line, so earthquakes were almost impossible.

Her heart sunk in her chest as she realized what was happening. She tried to tell her comrades, yet the tremors prevented her words from being coherent. Besides, she had no need to, as the men weren't stupid. They, too, realized what was happening. Even while sprawled on the ground, trying to resist the quake, they held tight to their weapons, listening closely and waiting for this phenomenon to subside.

A moment later, the ground stabilized again, and peace returned, yet none uttered a sound, opting to remain silent and wait. However, their wait wouldn't last long, as the ground cracked, forming a ravine of over thirty metres long and two meters wide, not far away, its depths as dark as an abyss.

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From there emerged a grotesque creature, its head resembling a giant maw filled with nothing but countless wriggling tentacles. It was propped up on a tall torso with unending bony fragments protruding from its flesh. All this stood on a quadruped frame, except that it possessed six short legs instead of four. More than that, the creature was large, much larger than they had ever seen a Dustborne be.

"What is that thing?" one of the men said, raising his rifle to eye level, yet he refrained from opening fire, waiting for their boss's orders.

“Are you dumb? What else could it be?” the boss barked, doing the same with his large rifle. “Sera! Report!”

Sera extended her hand toward the creature; her gaze darted all around her, burning the monster's features into her mind. Countless numbers flashed before her eyes, yet if her comrades could see her expression, they would know how grim their prospects were. Her words remained stuck in her throat, unable to be verbalized.

“Sera!” the boss barked again, yet his gaze remained locked onto the creature.

“Orange class, second rank Dustborne,” she said sheepishly, terror in her tone.

Her comrades remained silent; none of their earlier joyous bustle could be seen in their body language. Only a feeling of tension overpowered the atmosphere. A moment passed before their boss made his decision.

“Retreat!”

Akin to a rocket, the mechanical spider carrying their loot raced above the ground. Its long and agile legs easily avoided the numerous debris scattered over the road. The squad followed suit and retreated in order as they discharged their weapon on the massive creature.

Powerful red lasers were emitted from their rifles, their incandescence quickly striking the massive body in their path. Yet the outcome was merely as they expected. These beams would char the creature's exterior yet couldn't reach the organs within, protected by layers of what seemed to be fat.

The beast flailed around from the pain as its flesh was scorched black, striking the nearby building with its long appendages, dislodging countless stone fixtures from their facade as they tumbled forward from the force of the blows before the buildings themselves toppled over as their foundations were destroyed.

Upon seeing this destruction, the men turned tail and ran, not even bothering to offer any more resistance. Sera was no exception; she knew full well that struggling against this creature was an exercise in futility. Running away was the most advisable course of action as long as their weapons were useless.

Unfortunately, the beast's thrashing propelled one massive boulder forward before colliding with the retreating spider bot, knocking it on its side. A panel on its metallic body was dislodged, showing its sturdy inorganic innards filled with countless circuits and relays, where countless red lines glowed, powering this apparatus.

Its metallic legs flailed in the air for a moment more before the red glow within extinguished itself, rendering it completely immobile.

The man closest to it rushed to its side. He tried prying open the hatch to the storage on its back, yet it proved futile as it had been bent shut from the impact. As if in desperation, he turned his rifle's nuzzle toward the heap of metal before punching a hole into it with the heat produced as he opened fire.

“You fool!” Sera yelled as she turned and fired once again at the approaching creature, yet her ammunition did almost nothing to stop its advance. “Get out of there!”

It was as if the man had heard nothing, too entranced by what lay within the fallen spiderbot. However, as he reached for its loot, the man screamed as his foot was crushed by something wrapping around it and his body was hoisted in the air upside down, the red crystals in his hands tumbling to the ground.

He raised his rifle and fired at his captor, yet the only effect it had was to render the creature furious. It flailed the limb holding on to him toward a nearby building. His back crashed into the sturdy surface, cutting his breath short and dislodging the mask from his face.

He desperately tried reaching for it with his hand, yet it was too late. The mask tumbled to the ground, out of his reach. The man held his breath with both hands covering his mouth, yet nothing could be done for him now.

The creature stopped, eyeing his prey despite no discernible eyes being visible, only to leave him hanging over its open maw. A dense red cloud of dust emanated from the open orifice, bathing the man within.

“We need to help him!” Sera said as she fired her rifle repeatedly, yet she knew all of it was futile.

Red pustules appeared on his exposed skin as if it seemed to burn without flame or heat. Blood flowed from them as they popped and burst, while the same could be said with his every orifice. His lungs collapsed as they filled with blood, while his throat became blocked with countless small chunks of his internal organs before being discharged from his mouth in something akin to a torrent. Lastly, his eyeballs exploded as if they had been pressed too hard before the man finally died a gruesome death, being swallowed whole by the beast's wriggling abyss.

“If you want to help him that badly, then you can simply stay here,” the boss said as he ran away, not before doing something that Sera couldn’t believe he’d dare to do.

She felt a burning sensation in her calf as a small ray of red light pierced right through it, cauterizing the wound as it bore through her flesh. She screamed and fell on the hard ground, watching in disbelief as the men she had entrusted her life to sped away without even looking back. The nuzzle of her former boss's rifle still glowing slightly red.

She slumped to the ground and despaired, knowing full well their intentions, yet she still raised her rifle a moment later, intending to struggle to her very last. She knew she couldn’t outrun the creature with her leg in this condition, yet she wouldn’t allow herself to fall without a fight.

If I make it out of this alive, I swear I’ll track you all down and make you pay!

This anger and fury were the only things sustaining her mind as the creature approached, her end almost nigh. None of her shots did anything to stop its advance, and soon, her rifle ran out of energy, becoming nothing more than a dead weight in her hands.

She tossed it aside before she reached into her clothes and held the same black rod her former comrades had used prior. She pressed the button, and a small red blade emerged from it. A futile attempt, yet necessary. She gritted her teeth and waited for the creature to enter her range as she rose to her feet, standing wobbly, her weight on a single foot.

As the creature was but a few metres from her, a large cracking sound echoed across the street before a large building suddenly caved in on one side, toppling straight onto the creature and burying it under its mass.

Then, a man wearing a sleeveless robe emerged from the rubble, his long dark hair fluttering within the dust cloud, his features obscured by the red hue. With a single thrust of his hand into the creature's flesh, the beast exploded into a cloud of red dust, bathing the world around her in a lake of crimson. All she remembered was the man looking at her within this ocean before she lost consciousness.