"This is incredible." Caeden looked around, completely in awe of this underground metropolis. Everyone else was in a similar state except for Blaine, who had likely seen even more amazing things, being hundreds of years old.
"Yes, we're proud of our little slice of the CA." The foreman smiled affectionately at his surroundings. The soft glow of the ether lights made even the black rock all around them seem more welcoming. The design sensibilities of the outer houses followed back into the mountain. Every structure took a form that matched and integrated into the naturally flowing curves of Black Reach itself. Almost every home had many plants situated around it, somehow maintained even in the artificial light of ether crystals.
"How did all this happen?" Lily looked to their guide. She had a fascination with history that had led her to read the entire past of the Central Academy, discovering its hidden teaching methodology. A hidden city built into a black mountain was a story she wouldn't pass up.
"Ah, that's a good tale." The foreman sighed, still looking at their surroundings like a father gazes at a child. "Many generations of work went into this. Telling the full tale would take hours, so I'll give you a bit of a shortened version. The start of the story is bland enough. A powerful shrouded with abilities to move entire mountains made his home in this land, enjoying the rocky terrain and distance from the strictures of the islanders. This was in the days before the CA was as big and powerful as it is now. Back in those days, shrouded would pick up groups of unshrouded and bring them around, like pets or servants. The shrouded would kill the monsters, and the unshrouded would manage the day-to-day business of living."
Everyone was paying close attention. The deep voice and light rumble of the foreman's words were captivating, and the passion he put into the tale was obvious. Caeden could feel that this was a story he had been raised on, much like the ones Caeden himself had heard since he was small.
"So the shrouded lived here near the coast, as most shrouded do. Inland a bit, on the top of the tallest mountain he could find. Generations of people lived and died under his protection. Until one day, a great gout of flame and power arose from the continent's core. A monster far more powerful than should ever be born on this continent had come into being, and it proceeded to ravage the land."
"Although the shrouded's village was safe, the monster never moved toward the shore too far in fear of the Starry Sea; the shrouded could see the devastation wrought upon the land he had come to love and call home. So, he set out one day to go and slay the monster. The battle was so intense, so momentous that the unshrouded left behind could hear it raging night and day for almost a year."
"When the raging sounds of battle finally ceased, the unshrouded feared the worst. Their leader was mighty, they had no doubt, but a battle of almost a year had shaken their faith in his victory. However, their fears were laid to rest when their shrouded returned triumphant. The battle's end brought about change. In a single night, the shrouded moved everyone, the entire town, from the coast inland. To here."
"This black mount was, according to the shrouded, the place where the monster had crawled from the earth to vent its rage across the land. It was also the very place he laid it low, burying its corpse under the mountain. He knew that the dying monster would create untold troves of rare and powerful ether, enough to supply future generations of his people for millennia."
"Sadly, this measure was necessary. In their battle, the beast had struck a devastating blow, so full of rage and hate that it tainted the shrouded's very being. Even his great might could not sustain the injury, and he was dying. Still, it took him centuries to truly die. In that time, he had several children who he granted the rights to this mount. His descendants still own this place to this very day. These tunnels and buildings are the work of that first shrouded and his children. He taught them how to wield his powers over earth and stone in this very mountain, the grave of his mortal enemy."
"In his end, he commanded his family and the city of unshrouded he had created and protected with one final purpose. Never, ever let anyone else own this land and never dig past a certain depth. The monster he had slain was not a part of this continent but rose up from beneath. To dig deeply would be to invite another of its kind upon us."
The foreman had been lost in his tale. His previously stoic and grouchy demeanor vanished as he recounted a story he had no doubt heard dozens of times. They all listened even as they traveled deeper into the mountain, the surroundings shifting from homes to a more industrial setting, the trappings of a massive mining operation springing up in front of them.
"I never thought about what was under a continent. Anything more specific in the story?" Caeden finally spoke up.
"A couple of lines about a beating heart of the mountain and some vague nonsense about not making it bleed. I never went in for the more poetic crap, but I do love that story." The foreman shook his head.
"I've never heard of a wound that could somehow cripple a shrouded who'd achieved embodiment. What kind of monster was it?" Lily added her own question.
The foreman shook his head. "Miss, I wouldn't put that much stock in the story. It's a part of our history, but that doesn't mean every detail is accurate. It's just as likely that shrouded died from the usual infighting that happens around mines like this. Maybe he died to that monster, and it was one of his descendants that set up Under Reach. We don't know. The monster was never properly described in the story because no unshrouded ever saw it. All the story says is that it was burning the continent to the rocks. I'm sorry, but I don't have any answers for you."
Lily nodded contemplatively, "That's fine. I was just curious. It must be a very old story, even by shrouded standards."
"Ancient." The foreman nodded solemnly. "Also, we're here."
They had arrived at a tunnel crossing perpendicular to the one they had been walking. Unlike other offshoots they had passed, which were a regular sight, this one was covered by a barrier of black metal inlaid with bright blue, white, and purple ether crystals.
"We sealed it as best we could. We have one ether engineer and a few ethersmiths in Under Reach, and they put their heads together to cook up this barrier. Problem is, most tunnels interconnect at more than one point, and those Crystal Moles just keep making new tunnels. This stops other things from coming through here, but if the Moles aren't gone, we're never going to be safe." The foreman explained.
"We understand." Caeden nodded. He shifted to his golden body, gaining three feet in height as his skin changed colors. "It'll work out. They're monsters. All we have to do is let them know we're here, and they'll come running all on their own. How do we unseal it?"
The foreman stared at Caeden's transformed features for several moments before shaking his head slightly and walking up to the giant plug blocking the tunnel. He rapidly pressed on a series of ether crystals, and they all stopped glowing. "It's deactivated right now, but it takes a team of twenty to pull it out. We might need to get-"
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"No worries." Caeden cut him off, crouching down to slip his hands in between the rock of the tunnel and the bottom of the giant block of infused metal. "Strength is one of my skills." With a heave, Caeden slightly shifted the block back to rest against him, freeing the upper portion to be lifted into the air. Then Caeden picked the whole thing up and moved it to rest against the tunnel wall, uncovering the sealed passage. Setting it down carefully, Caeden turned to look at their would-be guide. "Anything else?"
The foreman just stared back blankly for a moment before shaking his head. "You all aren't normal shrouded. I think I forgot for a minute that you've got all the magic powers that come with it."
Erik laughed. "We are pretty weird."
Everyone turned to stare at him.
"What?"
Cat punched him in the arm. "You don't get to talk about weirdness. Ever."
Erik rubbed the spot she hit. "Rude."
"I think valid is the word you were looking for."
"Either way, we're going down the monster tunnel." Caeden interrupted before they could get more into it. For all that they were friends, Erik and Cat argued like cats and dogs. The only thing they ever agreed on was their mutual taste in women, which could be its own point of contention, and making fun of Lily and Caeden.
With a quick word of goodbye, they left the foreman at the entrance to the side tunnel before delving deeper. As they went, they saw various signs of damage to the surrounding walls, obvious claw marks being the most common. There were definitely monsters down here.
"So, what exactly is the plan?" Cat asked while idly running her fingers over another set of four parallel lines gouged into the rock.
Caeden and Lily shared a look before nodding to each other. "We're just scouting right now. It's hard to know what we should and shouldn't do without getting more information. The Crystal Moles are eating up all the local attention, and I can't blame them. The problem is, while the Moles are the most destructive to the infrastructure, that doesn't necessarily mean they are the most powerful things down here. We just don't know enough." Lily explained.
"So, what? We just wander around until we run into monsters?" Erik asked, walking on his hands. He was the one with the shortest attention span by far, growing bored of the same tunnel after only a few minutes.
"Something like that."
"Booooooring." Erik groaned, flipping over onto his feet. As he did, the movement kicked a chunk of loose rock from the floor into one of the ether lights overhead, shattering it and raining small bits of razor-sharp ether crystal onto Erik's head. He stitched himself to the wall, moving out of the way before he could be lacerated.
They kept walking.
Fortunately for Erik's and everyone else's sanity, they didn't have to wait long before conditions changed. The large tunnel gave way to a much smaller one, and Caeden had to shift back to his normal form to fit in. With the smaller tunnel, they lost the ether lights, drifting into darkness. Cat manifested one of her spectral workers which looked like a candle holder with robotic arms placed around its cylindrical body. The green flame floating over it provided plenty of light.
Of course, Caeden and Lily didn't actually need a light source. Both had a strong command of investigative aura sense, letting them perceive their surroundings directly through their shrouds. But Cat couldn't use it, and Erik was terrible at it, so the worker marched on ahead, lighting the way. Only a few minutes of walking in the dark lit by green flames led to another discovery.
They could hear the distant sound of stone scraping against stone.
Knowing that the noise almost certainly came from a monster, everyone readied themselves. Caeden shifted to speed form. He might have wanted to use one of his other Physical Enhancement forms, but none of the others would fit in the tunnel, an oversight that Caeden had never considered. Cat created a line of spectral soldiers two rows deep, filling the passage. Her abilities were also somewhat limited by the cramped space.
Erik and Lily had little prep, simply shifting into a combat stance and readying themselves mentally. Lily formed two ice daggers instead of her typical longsword. Once again, the small tunnel would make the weapon more of a hindrance than a help. They moved forward slowly, heading toward the noise.
Moving along, they came to a bend in the tunnel, a common occurrence. However, this one also split into several branches, five in total. It was a junction with six exits. Down the one immediately to their left, they saw their monster.
It was a dark figure that seemed to flicker and morph, one moment looking like an androgynous silhouette, the next like an empty cloak floating in the air. No matter what it looked like, grey claws floated in the air, scraping at the walls. Caeden immediately used investigative sense to assess the monster. What he found was not encouraging.
What happened next was even worse.
What passed for a head on that dark mass snapped in their direction, and Caeden could feel its gaze. The second it locked on to their group, the monster let out an inhuman shriek that was painful even through Caeden's formshift. Cat had to cover her ears, and Caeden could see blood leaking through her fingers. Lily went intangible, and Erik formshifted to endure the sonic barrage. He also moved his shroud over to Cat, working strands of glowing white into her ears to repair the damage.
When it was done screaming, the figure bolted across the distance at incredible speed. It wasn't a match for Caeden's in his speed form, but it was distressingly close. Much too fast for everyone else. Caeden dashed forward to intercept. The second he moved to block the shadow monster, it compressed into the ground, becoming one with the darkness and slipping past him.
Caeden was stunned. Monsters always attacked the target directly in front of them. They were pathologically uncreative and would universally charge forward completely blind. At least, that is what he was told. This new creature proved to be wholly different. The problems didn't stop there.
The monster, which Caeden had identified as an Ash Reaper, had several esoteric and powerful abilities. Rating around 7,000 IP, it was stronger than anything they should encounter on this continent. Its powerset also made it a nuisance.
First of all, they had something similar to concealment sense, which let them hide from investigative sense to a degree, meaning Caeden wasn't confident he had a full grasp of its capabilities. More prescient were two of the powers it was currently using to significant effect. It could become intangible for brief periods, much like Lily could. That, combined with its limited flight, meant it could move through the tunnel walls to avoid attacks or blocks completely.
It had passed him by and headed for the rest of the team. Erik and Lily both stepped up, but neither succeeded in their attacks. Erik's fists and Lily's daggers passed right through it. Worse, when Lily turned into fog to dodge its counter-swipe, its ashen claws dug into her anyway. Its own intangibility allowed it to bypass hers. Unsure what else to do, Caeden charged back in.
The next few moments were enlightening and frustrating in equal measure. Caeden, Lily, and Erik found themselves unable to pin down the creature, taking retaliatory attacks in return. The Ash Reaper's claws were incredibly sharp and surprisingly strong. Caeden used multiple forms of Forged infinity to either block attacks or try and hit the monster, but nothing was working. Before Caeden decided to move to the above 100 mark with his shrouded weapon, Cat rescued them.
She had not brought any infused weapons down here, seeing as this was a scouting mission, and hauling all her gear into these tunnels would have been arduous. Cat didn't leave her spectral soldiers unarmed, though. In her experimenting on the journey to this continent, there was one thing Cat had succeeded at, and that was creating additional equipment for her specters. Normally she used the infused ones Caeden had made for her, but these spectral weapons were good for a pinch. Like now.
Arming all her soldiers with ghostly white swords with flickering green flames running along the blade, she had them charge in. Amazingly, the weapons connected through the Ash Reaper's intangibility, cutting into its shadow body. Those strange abilities came with a cost, and the monster paid that price with a weak body. One slash and two sword thrusts were enough to start its body discorperating.
"Well," Erik smiled. "That wasn't so bad."
In the distance, they could hear the sound of stone scraping against stone. Lots of it.
"You just had to open your stupid mouth." Caeden glared at their unlucky teammate.
"Sorry."