They followed Ghost through a long, descending tunnel where the stone darkened, and the glow of Aetherite grew stronger the deeper they went. The air itself felt heavier, faintly metallic, like dust clinging to the tongue. Nobody spoke much. The quiet wasn't tension, it was habit now. When you spent days underground, words stopped being useful unless they mattered.
Ghost slowed near the mouth of the chamber and faded back to Mina's side.
They didn't need him to explain.
Two Captain Rank Stonebacks were hunched near the walls, thick necks bowed as they scraped glowing shards straight from exposed veins with blunt claws. They crunched the stone like bone, dull jaws grinding while faint light pulsed beneath their scales. Every bite made Victor flinch.
"Yeah," Arin muttered. "They're eating it."
Victor didn't mutter.
"Go," he snapped, voice sharp enough to cut. "Kill them before they eat another damn gram."
Mina was already moving.
"On it."
She jumped from the ledge without hesitation, the drop swallowing her silhouette for half a second before she landed in a hard crouch. The impact echoed through the chamber, stone cracking beneath her boots. Castle surged up from the ground beside her in a roar of shattered earth and bone, its massive frame snapping into place like a siege wall given legs.
The Stonebacks reacted instantly.
One reared back, hissing, plates along its spine grinding together as it turned toward the sound. The other barely had time to lift its head before Mina was already on it.
She didn't waste time with theatrics. Shield up. Step in. Spear driving forward at the joint beneath its jaw.
The creature snapped at her, jaws slamming shut inches from her face, but she was already moving, pivoting, shield crashing into the side of its skull with enough force to knock it sideways. Stone plates cracked. Dust burst outward.
Castle hit the second Stoneback like a landslide.
It didn't stab or slice. It collided, mass against mass, slamming its shoulder into the creature's flank and driving it into the chamber wall hard enough to leave a crater. The Stoneback roared, claws scraping uselessly as Castle pinned it there, skeletal hands crushing around its neck and chest.
Mina pressed her advantage.
The first Stoneback tried to retreat, tail whipping out, but she stepped inside the arc and rammed her shield straight into its ribs. The impact knocked the breath from it. She followed with a brutal thrust to the exposed joint near its foreleg, twisting as she pulled free. Dark blood sprayed across the stone.
It collapsed seconds later, body shuddering once before going still.
Castle finished its own kill shortly after.
The second Stoneback tried to bite, teeth grinding uselessly against reinforced bone, but Castle drove its head down and kept pushing. The sound was wrong, wet stone cracking, something giving way that shouldn't. When Castle finally stepped back, the creature didn't move again.
Silence returned, broken only by Mina's breathing.
She rested her shield against the ground and bent forward slightly, hands on her knees, chest rising and falling. "Easy," she said between breaths. "Four souls now."
Arin gave her a nod. "Good work."
Raul didn't say anything, just watched the corpses for another second before relaxing his shoulders. Old habit. Make sure nothing twitches.
Victor was already moving past them, eyes locked on the walls, fingers brushing along veins of exposed Aetherite like a jeweler inspecting flaws. "This chamber's rich," he said after a moment. "Really rich."
Raul groaned softly. "Of course it is."
They rested long enough for the tension to drain from their muscles, then mining began again.
It took three days.
Three days of measured swings, controlled fractures, careful sorting. Tank stood patiently as bag after bag was secured across its back, the weight growing absurd by the end of it. By the time they finished, everyone's hands ached. Even Castle had been dismissed for a few hours just to give Mina room to breathe.
When they finally moved again, Tank carried six heavy bags of Aetherite, rope creaking with every step.
The last chamber waited deeper still.
Ghost slowed well before the entrance this time, presence flickering uncertainly.
The space beyond opened up into something vast.
The chamber was enormous, easily five times larger than any they'd cleared so far. The ceiling vanished into darkness, broken only by faint glimmers of Light crystals and Aetherite veins. The ground was scarred and uneven, gouged by something big moving repeatedly in the same places.
In the center of it all lay the Stoneback.
It was larger than the others. Not monstrously so, but unmistakably different. Its scales were darker, almost bruised in color, thicker where plates overlapped. Its breathing was slow and heavy, each exhale stirring dust around its massive body. Aetherite fragments lay scattered near its claws, some half-crushed, others embedded in its hide.
Victor swallowed. "So what's the plan?"
Arin didn't answer right away. He studied the creature, watching the subtle rise and fall of its chest, the way its tail lay coiled just enough to strike.
"It's still a Captain," he said finally. "Not a Commander. We don't overthink it."
Mina nodded once. Raul rolled his shoulders, eyes already narrowing as Prime Augury flickered faintly behind them.
"Castle goes first," Arin continued. "Draw its attention. Mina and Raul come in from behind. Raul spots the weak point and calls it. Then Raul and Mina will coordinate to target the weak spot to kill it as soon as possible."
Raul exhaled slowly. "Works for me."
"Yup," Mina said. "Let's do it."
Castle erupted from the ground and charged.
The sound alone was enough to wake the Stoneback. Its eyes snapped open, glowing faintly as it surged to its feet with surprising speed. The ground shook when it moved, claws digging trenches through stone as it turned to face the oncoming undead.
Castle didn't slow.
It slammed into the Stoneback head-on.
For a moment, it looked like two cliffs colliding. Bone met scale. Stone cracked. Dust exploded outward in a blinding cloud.
Then the Stoneback grabbed Castle.
One massive claw clamped around Castle's upper frame, the other bracing against its torso. With a roar that echoed through the chamber, it lifted the undead off the ground and hurled it sideways.
Castle smashed into the chamber wall hard enough to crater it, fragments raining down.
Everyone froze.
"—It threw Castle," Victor breathed.
The Stoneback turned, tail lashing, already searching for the next threat.
Castle moved.
It pushed itself out of the rubble, bones reknitting, plates grinding back into place. It stood, reoriented, and charged again without hesitation.
Raul sucked in a breath. "Alright," he muttered. "That's new."
They moved.
Mina and Raul sprinted wide, boots pounding against uneven stone as they looped behind the creature. The Stoneback was focused entirely on Castle now, jaws snapping as it met the undead's second charge with brutal force.
Mina raised her shield just in time as the Stoneback's tail whipped out blindly. The impact nearly tore the shield from her grip, sending her skidding back several meters, boots carving lines in the stone.
She dug in. Stood back up.
"I'm good," she called, already moving again.
Raul's vision sharpened as Prime Augury locked in. The world shifted, not slowed, but it was definitely clearer. His gaze traced patterns in the Stoneback's movements, the flow of force beneath its hide.
"There," he said sharply. "Back left. Scar tissue. The rocks stopped growing there."
Mina saw it too now, a rough, uneven patch along its spine where scales thinned, and old damage showed through.
Castle slammed into the Stoneback again, forcing its head forward.
Mina moved.
She raised her shield and charged, spear drawn back, timing her steps with Raul's shouted cues. The Stoneback twisted suddenly, claws sweeping wide as Mina leapt, shield first, straight toward the scarred section of its back, spear poised to strike, while the Stoneback reared and the entire chamber seemed to hold its breath.