Tension increased along my shoulders as I tried to get the crystal free. Sang kept cutting into the top, while I tried to free the back, though it required me to shove rock out of the way to reach farther and farther back.
“Now, just the top,” said Sang. “I only made a narrow cut on the bottom. It should be enough to not drop and shatter.
I hadn’t even thought about that. I pulled out of the area to the side where I was cutting. My gaze went back to the tunnel, but no one had come back to say anything. The miners that were left milled about the far end but slowly started approaching the tunnel near us to leave the cavern.
Neither the metal mage nor the stove weaver were here.
I paused and stretched my senses over the cavern. The deep red lights gave the place an eerie feeling, though my feeling of being enclosed had mostly vanished over the course of the day as I worked. Now it was back in full force. My knife stayed clenched in my hand as I listened.
The sounds of people talking in the tunnel came from a distance, but he tone didn’t sound concerning. I turned my attention to the rest of the cavern.
“Alex, I need your help here,” growled Sang. “I don’t want to drop this and shatter it.”
My attention snapped back to her and I put my knife away. “You want me to hold it up?”
“Just make sure it doesn’t slam the inch down and spoil all of the work we’ve done.”
I got into place, holding the edge of the crystal, thankful for my increased strength.
Her knife flashed bright yellow and cut deeper into the stone. Somehow, the glowing point stretched, becoming longer than the crystal.
My mouth dropped open as she cut across the remaining rock holding the crystal up. The weight hit me, and I struggled to lower it an inch to the ground. It was heavy, but doable.
“Oh, thank the heavens it worked,” mumbled Sang. “Now we’ve just got to get it into the cart. The three of us shouldn’t have a problem.”
Matt stepped forward to help and we carefully got the giant crystal into the cart. Once it settled into place it started to hum.
My eyes narrowed at the sound. The crystals still in the rock wall didn’t hum at all. Or, if they did it was so low I couldn’t hear it. I wasn’t sure Sang's belief that the monsters were used to the crystals was true. Maybe crystals grounded differently once free of the stone.
The sound of footsteps from the tunnel caused everyone to look up. Hawk appeared with a grim look. “That’s taken care of. Some beasts got through the other metal gate. We closed everything back up.” The miners who’d gone with him didn’t come back. “We should wrap things up in here and get things closed.”
The miners who had slowly been moving toward the tunnel sped up. Matt yanked the cart in that direction as well. The humming stopped.
Sang stood staring at the wall of crystals. “It feels like such a waste to leave this crystal vein here.”
“We got what we could.”
Hawk moved closer to the two of us. “You two ready to go?” He whistled as the cart passed him with the massive crystal. “Now, that’s a find.” His eyes stayed on it as Matt passed. “You know, we’ve found some crystals near the spring that we get water from at the compound.”
“Really?” asked Sang.
“Yeah, it’s where we get the bulk of the ones for our fence and paths.” He smiled. “I bet you’ll be able to find even more with your skills.”
"That’s good." A weight I hadn’t noticed lifted off the woman’s shoulders, and she smiled for the first time I’d seen. “I didn’t want to head to the settlement…”
“Na, we can keep you busy at the compound, no need to deal with Xander.”
Sang gave him a sharp nod and turned away from the wall. She glanced at the miners, who were almost to us.
I turned to look at the three of them with a grin, then I frowned. Something drew my attention to the back tunnel entrance. The red light made it hard to see across the long distance, but something kept nagging me.
[Deep Rock Cephalopod, Level 20.]
“What the fuck?” My question came out as a strangled whisper. I pulled my knife out, trying to figure out what I was seeing.
Something dark crawled along the floor of the room.
Hawk’s head snapped in the same direction. “What do you see?”
“We need to leave, now," I growled. While I was level sixteen, the last two levels were for my profession so they hadn’t been as powerful. “Move slowly toward the tunnel…”
Sang took a small step toward us as we both took a step backward.
“I can’t see it,” said Hawk.
“I have enhanced senses,” I whispered.
The dark shape searching across the ground crept toward us and the miners. The miners didn’t hear our conversation and kept walking at a normal pace toward the exit to the tunnel. Then, one of the miners kicked a stone across the cavern. The sound echoed through the space and a dark tentacle flashed forward. It slammed into the back of the miner, who then screamed.
Giant rocks went flying as more tentacles broke through the rock wall partially blocking the far tunnel. One of the miners fled, while the other hammered at the one holding the first miner to be attacked. His pickaxe cut into the monster, which let go. The captured miner fell to the ground, groaning.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
Hawk yanked out an arrow and sent it into the damaged tentacle, still not able to see the creature itself. One miner helped the injured man to his feet and they scrambled past us.
“I only see one,” whispered Hawk.
At least three tentacles floated in the air, while two more crept along the ground.
“There are five!”
Sang danced back as one crawled along toward her. “We need to go!”
“Defending retreat,” growled Hawk.
I didn’t have a clue, but Sang must have. Hawk started moving backward faster than before but keeping his head turned toward what he could see. I couldn’t run backward, but I took off, keeping pace with him, spear out and ready if anything got close.
“We need to close the tunnel,” growled Sang. The sound of the miners running away down the tunnel picked up, and the two tentacles creeping along the ground shot in our direction.
I sliced at one, cutting the tip off as it jerked back. The sound of something in pain came from the far tunnel. It echoed through the tunnels, raising the hair on the back of my neck.
Hawk fired at the retreating limb. “Once you touch them, I can see them.”
Sang screamed, cutting at one wrapped around her foot with a glowing knife. It yanked her back and her knife went flying, going dark.
I darted forward, moving faster than I ever had before, slamming the glowing tip of my spear into the thing.
It jerked back, letting go of her. She screamed again as it retreated, blood coating her leg.
I slid an arm under her shoulder to keep her upright.
Hawk shot another arrow. “I’ll grab her, your spear hurts that thing.” He moved to take her from me, but then something yanked her back across the ground out of reach.
“I’ll hold it off!” I raced forward, getting closer to the limbs dragging Sang across the rocks. She didn’t make a sound and I hoped she wasn’t dead. “Get someone ready to close the tunnel!”
Hawk didn’t say anything in response, but when I turned to look he was already racing down the tunnel.
Stabbing out with my spear, the glowing tip sunk into the limb wrapped around her leg again. This time it dug in deeper.
So I cut it completely off.
Another growl of pain echoed from deeper in the mountain. This time, the ground shook.
I grabbed Sang under the shoulders with one arm and kept my spear in the other. I slowly moved back toward the exit tunnel, keeping an eye on the tentacles. They were being more cautious, which was the only way we were making progress.
The rocks left blocking the far tunnel trembled as several more fell to the ground. The sound filled the cavern as all of the tentacles vanished back toward the deeper entrance. An explosion rocked the air, and rocks went flying. The ground shook again, and I stumbled forward, barely keeping the both of us upright.
Sang moaned in pain.
I glanced back in panic.
[Deep Rock Cephalopod, Level 20.]
[Deep Rock Cephalopod, Level 18.]
There were two of them. Dark glittering eyes pulling round bodies out of the tunnel and into the cavern. One looked almost purple in the red lights, with long black stripes running up it’s body, while the other was a deep, nearly uniform black. The level twenty was the darker one, and it shoved the smaller one out into the room first.
The lower level one tried to climb back toward the tunnel, but tentacles from the first slammed into it, knocking it into the left wall. It lay stunned.
Black tentacles from the monster raced along the floor, heading in our direction.
We weren’t going to make it to the tunnel entrance. Holding Sang, I moved too slow.
Small glittering eyes shown in the cavern, reflecting the dim red light.
I hummed as loud as I could.
Bright yellow light flashed from the crystal ring on my belt, along with my spear tip. The fallen knife from Sang pulsed several feet away. The crystal vein in the nearby wall barely lit up.
The monster growled, but the limbs moved slower in the light. Its head jerked back slightly into the tunnel, trying to protect its vision.
I needed to be louder. “You are my sunshine, my only sunshine! You make me happyyyy when skies are gray!” I sang the first thing that came to mind as loud as I could. It sounded like a cat in pain, but it worked. Bright yellow light streamed from the crystal vein, completely overwhelming the dim red light in the cavern.
It killed my vision, but another groan of pain came from the monster behind us. I just kept singing, moving step by step in what I hoped was the correct direction.
“You really can’t sing,” mumbled Sang.
Her words almost caused me to drop her, but I kept going. We just needed to get to the tunnel entrance. I had to have faith Hawk wouldn’t let me down.
Slowly, we made progress toward the tunnel, but that meant we were moving farther away from the crystal wall. The light dimmed with every step no matter how loud I sang, and I could only repeat the one line, I couldn’t think of any others.
“Keep it up!”
Relief filled me at the call. It was Hawk.
A miner grabbed Sang and tossed her over their shoulder, sprinting away from me and the wall. I didn’t dare move. Any farther away and the light would be too dim.
“When I tell you to run, you better run!”
I held up a thumbs up and snapped my eyes shut. I’d need to be able to see once I stopped singing and the light was gone.
“Run!”
Something went flying through the air, and my eyes snapped open as soon as I stopped singing. I blinked several times as I stumbled toward the tunnel opening. Sang’s knife rested nearby on the floor and I snagged it as I struggled to see. Once I gained my eyesight back, I took off.
Hawk peeked out from the entrance, along with Doc, who looked terrified. “Shoot an arrow!” screamed Doc.
I raced forward as Hawk aimed at something behind me. His arrow flew through the air as I raced into the tunnel entrance.
Nothing happened. Doc swore.
The massive creature moved into the cavern, pulling itself across the cavern floor, faster than something that size should move. The smaller one darted toward the far tunnel opening and slipped away as the black squid thing targeted us.
Three massive limbs moved in my direction and I pivoted in the opposite direction as the tunnel. Gathering energy, I leaped closer to the creature.
Hawk fired several arrows, all of which hit the main body. That drew its attention back to the tunnel entrance and the miners.
Gathering energy, I leaped closer to the creature. It jerked back in surprise, but its main limbs now stretched across the floor.
I stabbed at the main body, the crystal tip of my spear glowing a bright yellow in the red light. It slid in like butter. The creature screamed, a massive mouth opening and showing row after row of teeth. I yanked my spear back and stabbed it again.
"Alex, move!"
The stretched-out tentacles recoiled back toward the main body and I rolled away across the rocky surface. The sound of arrows whistling through the air continued. Something smashed into the ground right behind me and I didn't dare stop moving. I sped up, dodging around the creature's body, and sliced into the backside of it with my glowing crystal. A burnt rubber smell filled the air as it screamed again and tried to twist about to reach me, yet it moved too slowly.
A tentacle came up in front of me and I leaped over it, digging my spear into the obstacle and the end of it went flying. I tapped it with a hand sending it into my inventory.
Then it moved, sliding back toward the far tunnel to escape.
"No, you don't!" I growled, before leaping onto its back. This time, I sunk my spear with all of my mass behind it into the top of the stinking creature. It twisted, trying to get me off, but I only pushed my weapon deeper.
Finally, it stopped moving.
[You have gained bonus experience from combat for defeating a Deep Rock Cephalopod above your level.]
[You have leveled up your Devouring Class.]
[You have leveled up your Devouring Class.]
"Doc, no!"
Something nearby exploded, sending me flying.