— Breaching team —
[Shielders] The frontline; they carry heavy, studded shields and steel knuckles. They drank strength potions to help them tussle head-on with cave beasts.
[Gunners] They hold a big gun with a barrel radius several times that of the standard-issue muskets. Grape shot rounds for swarms of small critters. Piercing rounds for larger foes.
[Demolishers] They make things go boom. They have a bagful of explosives to clear the tunnels. When things get rough, they lob mortar bombs from the backline.
Hikari marched up the slope.
The caves grew darker again as the mine deepened.
They reached the next cave in.
The demolishing team held up their lantern.
"That's a thick layer of rubble."
The breaches reported back to Rey after surveying the wall ahead.
"Hikari, do you sense anything in the next room?"
"None"
"Once the charges blow, we'll be hit by an avalanche. Can you hold it?"
"Yes."
Hikari planted her shield in the ground.
One knee on the ground for added stability.
The men huddle tightly behind her shield.
The charges are set.
An explosion followed by an avalanche of stone.
Hikari holds her ground against the mass.
Her shield funnels the rolling rumble to either side, keeping the men hiding behind her safe.
The way forward is clear.
But the debris had blocked the way back.
"The mining team will clear the rubble behind us. We press on. We are almost through."
Hikari presses through the breach.
The troops did their usual scan.
The cavern was empty except for a signboard in the middle of the room.
Rey shone his torchlight on it.
"Good work, boys! We are almost there!"
"There's a lot of spider holes around."
One of his men complained.
"Form up. We can't deal with the spider nest right now. We have to clear the way to the mine shaft first."
Hikari picked up her shield and strode.
She stopped.
Cracks appeared in the ceiling.
"Cave in."
The ceiling rumbled.
"Cave in! Run up the slope!"
The troops dashed up the slope as quickly as they could.
Some climbed on all fours up the steep incline.
Hikari held her shield up.
Large chunks of stone pelted her shield.
Rey's robot jumped with both legs, propelling him up the slope.
"Get out of there now!" Rey blasted from his megaphone.
Hikari stood her ground as the remaining two men scurried under her.
The ceiling collapsed, burying Hikari in a pile of stone.
The cave-in stopped.
"Pixaxes! Get them out of there."
As the breachers rushed to the pile, the stones cracked.
A burst of mana from below.
The pile shattered into pieces.
Hikari and the two men hiding below her were unscathed.
Hikari lowered her shield and dusted off the loose stones.
"Phew, that was close. Did you get lucky, or did you know you could handle the cave-in?"
"It was nothing"
Hikari scratches her cheek.
"I see. Sheela's training really came in handy, huh?"
Rey surveyed the aftermath of the cave-in.
"Our route back is cut. Looks like the ale will have to wait."
Hikari started walking back down the slope, brushing stone aside with her boot. She pressed her hands on the blocked passage, mapping out the depth of the blockage.
"How is it?"
"Thick."
"Hmm… this is bad. I'm signaling the rescue team. They will start making their way here to clear the blockage behind us."
"I clear it?"
"No, save your mana. Besides, if you shatter the stone now, you might bury the rescue team down the slope."
Hikari sat down and began meditating.
Rey arranged sentry duties and a small team to begin blocking the spider holes.
The rest of the men sat down and rested.
Quietly huddling in the darkness.
Some of them took sips from their water skin.
One last wall to go.
The ground had leveled out, making it easier to rest.
Rey took out a curious device.
Wurrrhhh! Wurrrhhh! Wurrrhhh!
Three consecutive sirens echoed through the caverns.
Pop. The sound of Rey popping open a can of fruit inside his armored suit.
But the men were exhausted just from walking up the slope in their armor.
If the old map were to be trusted, they are very close to the finish line.
Pulse.
Pulse.
Hikari checks her surroundings.
The cave had way more tiny tunnels than the previous ones.
Some were much wider and led much deeper into the walls.
Skittering sounds.
She senses movement.
She stands and picks up her shield.
"What's wrong, Hikari?"
"They're coming."
The men looked around, confused.
"Formations!" Rey ordered.
The men formed up in three rings in front of Hikari. The front row held up their shields. The second row readied their muskets. The third row readied their bombs.
The cavern lit up as they threw flares.
"What's coming, Hikari?"
The skittering of spiders got closer.
It grew louder and louder.
Rey could tell what it was without Hikari saying anything.
"Burn them, Hikari!"
Hikari paused.
She sensed an eerie mana in the spiders similar to the dark crystals she found in the mana vein.
She's going to need a lot more firepower.
Her pouch of steel balls.
Each with a telekinetic rune etched into it.
She tosses the whole pouch, scattering the steel balls all around.
Then they began rolling in circles along the cave floor, creating a whirling steel barrier against the spiders.
As the spiders emerged from the holes.
They
Rey caught on to what she was doing.
"Staggered fire.
Some spiders got through.
They jumped straight for the head.
The helmet's contraption triggered, pushing the spider away.
The man lowered his head to rewind the contraption.
His comrade beside him fired his musket, blasting the spider to bits.
Another spider leaped onto his face; his contraption failed to trigger.
The spider bit into his eye, injecting its poison.
His comrade shot the spider at point-blank range, but he was too late.
The man dropped dead to the ground.
The battle continues.
The blasting of grapeshot.
A sinkhole appeared in the ground.
Masses of spiders crawled out.
Hikari's steel balls smash into the mass of spiders.
"Bombs!"
Rey fires his cannon into the hole.
His men threw their shrapnel bombs.
A series of deafening explosions.
They cleared one wave, but more kept coming.
Crawling out from every tunnel.
"Hikari, how long can you keep up the barrier?
Hikari expanded her senses.
She senses an eerie aura from beyond the cave ahead.
"Breaching charges."
"You want to break down the wall ahead? What's your plan?"
"Burn the hive."
"Got it!"
Rey's armored suit hummed.
His shoulder cannon fired a breaching charge.
But it hit the wall at the wrong angle and bounced to the ground.
The second shot stuck to the wall.
But it was a dud.
"Land!" Rey shouted as he fired the third charge.
The charge exploded.
The wall collapsed.
A giant spider leaped from the passage.
The muskets fired, but nothing penetrated its thick shell.
Rey scrambled to load another shell.
"Shit." The giant spider was right above him, bearing its sharp front fangs the size of ballista bolts.
A sword swung over his head, cleaving through it and splattering its insides.
"Thanks, Hikari! But I can't break the second wall from here."
Hikari took a deep breath.
Lifting her shield with one arm, Hikari threw the massive hunk of metal at the second wall.
Crash. It chipped away a large chunk of the wall.
Hikari threw her hammer.
Crash.
The wall collapsed.
She could see the other side.
Masses of spider webs and cocoons.
Hikari drew a throwing dagger and ignited it, the searing mana almost melting it.
The flaming dagger illuminated the cavern as it flew into the hive.
It melted through the web, spreading its fire.
She ignited another dagger.
As the dagger reached the center of the hive, she pulled it upwards.
Flaming dagger after flaming dagger.
Until the whole hive was engulfed in RazenHeir flame.
The stream of spiders was petering out.
The remaining infantry held the line without the protection of her barrier.
She advanced.
The sound of dead spiders crunching under her boot.
"Leave the rest to me."
"Good luck."
Hikari drew her sword.
Giant spiders appeared.
Each was larger than a man and could rip one in two.
She drew her hand cannon.
The contraption concentrates her telekinetic power into a single steel ball.
It fires silently without a blast of powder.
The bullet pierces through several giant spiders.
She swings her sword.
Slice. Slice.
She cuts through three giant spiders in a row.
Crunch.
She crushes their squirming bodies as she advances.
She emerges in the mine shaft.
The largest cavern she encountered thus far.
All around, the RazenHeir flames eat into the spider webs.
She looks up at a spider larger than a golem.
The queen.
It unleashes a deafening screech as its hive burns around it.
The spider queen gathered flames in its mouth and spat them out.
Hikari dodged.
The flames extinguished on the ground.
The mana felt familiar.
Much like the ones the cultists of Eon used.
Hikari fires her hand cannon at its mouth.
It blows off a portion of its carapace.
The spider screeched.
Hikari fires again.
She kept firing, preventing the queen from charging up another attack.
The queen leaped off its perch at the top of the hive.
Hikari dashed to dodge the body slam.
She kicked the wall and charged the queen while it was still recovering.
She dodges past its massive front legs.
A backhand swing.
She hits the joint between her leg segments, severing it.
"One."
She was under the spider queen in its blind spot.
"Two."
The queen was slower to turn.
"Three and four."
Hikari hacked off its hind legs one by one.
She dashed out from below just before the spider queen collapsed.
It screeched in pain.
Several giant spiders burst from the surviving cocoons.
Swing.
Swing.
Swing.
She cuts them each in two as they lunge at her.
The spider queen charges up a ball of flame in its mouth.
Hikari dodges.
She raised her hand cannon.
She charges up a shot.
With its legs chopped off, it was unable to move.
Without a sound, the steel ball smashes through the spider queen's skull.