The underground caves spread out in all directions.
The further they went, the more forks there were, and the visibility from the helmet lights became lower and lower.
Eventually, it became a labyrinth; after the group dispersed, they wandered around with no hope of escape, only despair.
Juno walked in front with a pickaxe and a gun, saying that it was all her fault.
John just needed to cover her from behind and didn't need to risk himself in front.
Juno didn't notice the several Wendigos quietly crawling above her head; now they were John's most loyal subordinates, who would eliminate all threats for him.
John discovered a very interesting phenomenon along the way.
Even though these six Wendigos had become his containment objects, their kin in these caves still treated them as their own.
Was it because of their intelligence?
From John's perspective, his six subordinates encountered another Wendigo in the cave.
Neither side attacked.
The Wendigo made sounds as if trying to communicate, but the six subordinates remained motionless.
Until John gave an order.
While that Wendigo was still confused and bewildered, the six companions who had surrounded him in his eyes suddenly went mad, pinning him down and tearing at him.
Juno heard the sound and looked up; a corpse rapidly enlarged in her vision, and she rolled to dodge it.
"Bang."
The corpse hit the ground, splattering ink-black blood.
Juno looked up again to see the monsters had scattered, and she looked at the mutilated body on the ground, wondering aloud.
"Why are they killing each other?"
John casually gave a reason.
"Maybe they're hungry, or there isn't enough food?"
It's best to keep the matter of containment objects secret as much as possible, mainly because both Deformed Cannibal and Wendigo are corporeal; if they were evil spirits or vengeful ghosts, there would be no need to worry about this issue.
Juno certainly didn't believe it; if they cannibalized their own kind, there wouldn't be so many group-dwelling monsters, but she couldn't refute it, maybe they really were hungry?
This could only be considered a small interlude on their journey.
Along the way, the two didn't encounter any danger; more accurately, all threats were dealt with by the six Wendigos in advance.
Midway.
At a fork in a cave.
Juno picked up a bracelet; she remembered clearly that it was the one Sarah wore.
"Sarah is in danger, I must go save her."
Juno's emotions became agitated, and she immediately ran in one direction.
John stopped at the fork, hesitated for a moment, then quickly called his subordinates to follow and then chased after Juno.
The six crawling Wendigos uniformly changed direction, following John's position and starting to crawl quickly.
If one saw this scene from a god's-eye view, it would be terrifying.
"Sarah!"
"Beth!"
"Sam!"
John could hear Juno's loud voice from a distance; she truly wasn't afraid of death.
But that was fine; let Juno attract attention in front, while he tried his best to preserve his combat strength.
...
Another part of the cave.
On the rock wall above, Rebecca and Beth huddled together, not daring to make a sound, because there was a monster right in front of them.
Fortunately, these monsters seemed to have lost their vision from long-term survival underground and relied solely on their hearing to determine locations.
Juno's shouting came from afar, attracting the monster.
The monster quickly crawled towards the sound.
Rebecca and Beth had no intention of warning Juno.
At this moment, they were in dire straits themselves; friends and best friends meant nothing.
After the monster left.
Rebecca and Beth immediately got up and left in the opposite direction, with no intention of going back to save Juno.
Juno's shouting was useful; it did attract nearby monsters.
Most were torn apart by John's Wendigos; the remaining few were not a concern.
After Juno dispatched the monsters with a pickaxe and a few shots, she knelt down and looked at the corpse in front of her; it was Sam's... her neck was bitten through, and she had been dead for a long time.
After her pain, she once again set out to find Sarah and the others; she looked back, had John not followed, had he run away?
Fear was normal...
Juno pulled the pickaxe out of the monster's chest and continued forward.
Unbeknownst to her, John was no longer acting human!
To better blend into the dark environment, he chose to merge with the Wendigo card, transforming into a monster that crawled on strong limbs, following five subordinates, climbing along the cave ceiling, trailing Juno.
It must be said that while transforming into a Wendigo was difficult to accept, it brought a sense of security that didn't exist when he was human.
Perhaps the Wendigos were already accustomed to life underground.
John, transforming into a monster for the first time, was somewhat excited, experimenting with his post-transformation abilities, climbing everywhere in the cave without worrying about hitting walls.
His vision and enhanced abilities and strength were still there, not disappearing because he became a Wendigo.
This was very good.
John even specifically challenged a lone Wendigo, finding that the opponent was no match for him, easily twisting its neck.
It seemed that the fusion should be John's strength and abilities stacking and merging into a Wendigo.
What a pity.
He could only fuse one card; if he could fuse all of them and stack them with the Deformed Cannibal, perhaps he could contend with the Wendigo that was the incarnation of the evil spirit.
After fully adapting.
John began to crawl quickly towards Juno's direction.
...
A nest somewhere in the cave.
Sarah suddenly woke up; she turned on her headlamp and observed her surroundings, her heart pounding in her throat.
There were not only eerie white bones but also a pool of blood here.
Before Sarah could get up, a small Wendigo suddenly pounced on her from behind, grabbing her hair and tearing at it.
The intense pain on her scalp made Sarah struggle wildly; she grabbed the small monster's head and slammed it hard onto the ground, then casually picked up a bone and began to smash it to death.
Just as Sarah was smashing with all her might, a muffled gunshot echoed from behind her.
Sarah looked back to find another monster lying behind her, seemingly the mother of this small monster.
It was Beth who fired the shot, her hand trembling slightly.
Sarah excitedly went forward and hugged Rebecca and Beth; the three successfully reunited in the cave, softly expressing their relief at surviving the ordeal.
Just as they were discussing how to leave.
A huge dark shadow blocked the exit.
When Sarah, Beth, and Rebecca saw the monster blocking the cave entrance, their hearts sank in despair.
Unlike other monsters that couldn't see and relied only on their sense of smell, this monster's blood-red eyes were staring intently at the three people in the cave.
As they moved even slightly, its pupils followed.
Clearly, it could see.