The landscape changed from the dense green of the forest to the stark, grey granite of Ogun State.
ABEOKUTA. The name literally meant "Under the Rock."
"And right now," Zayn muttered, peering through the reinforced windshield, "we are about to be Inside the Rock."
Ahead of them, the tracks disappeared into the maw of the Laderin Tunnel. But it wasn't a tunnel anymore. The entrance had been deliberately collapsed. Thousands of tons of granite boulders blocked the way, piled high by what looked like a massive landslide.
[OBSTACLE DETECTED: AVALANCHE (Lvl 20 Environment)]
[DENSITY: 100% GRANITE]
[TRAIN SPEED: 160 KM/H]
"Braking distance is insufficient," Bhy Khay noted calmly, his hand hovering over the [Horn] button. "If we hit that at this speed, we become a modern art installation called 'Pancake'."
"So we stop?" Elara asked, her hands glowing with frost as she cooled the overheating engine.
"No," Bhy Khay looked at the [Iroko Heart] pulsing in the dashboard. "We dig."
He turned to the intercom.
"Tomiwa, is the art ready?"
"Ready, Boss!" Tomiwa's voice crackled. "I drew a Gurren Lagann style drill. It's physically impossible, but aesthetically pleasing."
"Aesthetics don't break rock," Bhy Khay said. "Physics does. Elara, divert all shield power to the front cowcatcher. Zayn, target the stress fractures in the rock face."
"Stress fractures?" Zayn scoffed. "It's a mountain, Bhy Khay. The whole thing is stress."
"Find the weak point," Bhy Khay ordered. "Or you'll be the hood ornament."
THE IMPACT
Zayn narrowed his eyes behind his glasses. [Ballistic Seer] activated.
The pile of rocks wasn't random. It was a puzzle.
"There!" Zayn pointed to a jagged crack near the top of the pile. "Structural instability at coordinate X-Y. If we hit that, the pile shifts upward instead of compressing."
"Copy," Bhy Khay lined up the train.
On the front of the Iron Horse, Tomiwa's ink drawing materialized. A massive, spiraling drill made of black ink and green mana extended from the shark-mouth cowcatcher. It spun with a sound like a jet engine.
WHIRRRRRRR.
"Brace for impact!" Bhy Khay shouted.
The train hit the wall.
CRUNCH.
It wasn't a collision. It was a grinder.
The ink drill tore into the granite, pulverizing the rock into dust. The Iroko Heart pumped massive amounts of nature energy into the drill, turning the stone into mud.
The train slowed violently—160... 100... 50 km/h—but it didn't stop.
It buried itself inside the landslide. Darkness swallowed the windows.
"We're inside!" Elara shouted, the cabin shaking so hard her teeth rattled. "We're tunneling!"
"Keep pushing!" Bhy Khay slammed the throttle forward. "If we stop now, the mountain crushes us. Momentum is the only thing holding the roof up!"
THE BELLY OF THE BEAST
They were moving through solid rock. The noise was deafening—screeching metal, grinding stone.
Suddenly, the resistance vanished.
The train burst into an open cavern inside the tunnel.
"We broke through the blockage!" Zayn cheered.
"No," Bhy Khay looked at the sensors. "We broke into something else."
The tunnel wasn't empty. The walls were glowing with red veins of magma. And slithering along the tracks were massive, worm-like creatures made of molten rock.
[ENEMY: MAGMA WORM (Lvl 16)]
[HABITAT: DEEP EARTH]
[DIET: METAL]
"They eat metal," Bhy Khay said dryly. "And we are driving a buffet."
HISSSS.
A worm lunged from the ceiling, aiming for the train's roof.
"Zayn! Turret!"
"I can't shoot inside a tunnel!" Zayn yelled. "The ricochet will kill us!"
"Then use soft ammo!" Bhy Khay ordered. "Tomiwa! Draw water balloons!"
"Water balloons?!"
"Thermal shock!" Bhy Khay explained. "Rapid cooling cracks the rock skin. Basic thermodynamics!"
Tomiwa scrambled to the cargo door. She sketched frantically.
[LIVING INK: WATER BOMBS]
She threw a bucket of ink balloons out the window.
SPLAT.
The balloons hit the Magma Worm.
HISSS-CRACK.
The sudden temperature drop shattered the worm's obsidian armor. It shrieked and fell onto the tracks.
THUD-SQUELCH.
The train ran it over.
[ROADKILL: +500 XP]
"It worked!" Elara laughed nervously. "We're throwing water balloons at lava monsters."
"Don't get comfortable," Bhy Khay warned. "Here comes the mother."
Ahead of them, the tunnel widened. Blocking the exit was a massive worm, easily fifty feet long. Its mouth was a spinning circle of teeth that looked disturbingly like the tunnel boring machine Bhy Khay had just emulated.
[BOSS: ROCK MAW (Lvl 18)]
It opened its mouth and roared. A beam of concentrated heat shot down the tunnel.
"Shields!" Bhy Khay yelled.
Elara threw up a [Frost Wall] inside the cabin.
The heat beam hit the windshield. The reinforced glass melted instantly. The Frost Wall held for a second, then evaporated into steam.
"It's too hot!" Elara cried. "The engine is overheating! 120 degrees!"
"We can't shoot it," Zayn said, covering his face from the heat. "It's blocking the whole tunnel."
"Then we feed it," Bhy Khay said.
He reached into his inventory. He pulled out the [Volatile Mana Potion] he had crafted earlier—the same type he used on the Godfather, but bigger.
"Zayn," Bhy Khay handed him the potion. "You have the best arm."
"You want me to throw this into its mouth?" Zayn asked. "That's a cliche."
"It's a classic for a reason," Bhy Khay opened the side window. "Aim for the uvula."
"Worms don't have uvulas!" Zayn argued.
"Just throw it!"
Zayn leaned out. The heat was blistering. He aimed. The worm was charging toward them, mouth wide open to swallow the train.
"Eat this, you oversized garden hose!"
Zayn threw the potion.
It sailed through the air, straight down the worm's gullet.
GULP.
The worm swallowed it.
For a second, nothing happened. The worm loomed over the train, about to strike.
Then, its stomach glowed blue.
RUMBLE.
[CRITICAL DIGESTION FAILURE.]
BOOM.
The worm exploded from the inside out. Rock and magma showered the tunnel walls.
The train blasted through the cloud of debris, coated in monster guts and slime.
[BOSS DEFEATED: ROCK MAW]
Sunlight appeared ahead.
The Iron Horse burst out of the Laderin Tunnel and onto the elevated tracks overlooking the city of Abeokuta.
"We're out!" Tomiwa cheered, collapsing on the floor. "I never want to see a rock again."
Bhy Khay wiped soot from his face.
"Bad news," he pointed out the window. "We're in Abeokuta. Which means..."
He looked at the famous Olumo Rock in the distance.
Standing atop the massive stone monolith was a figure. He was waving.
It wasn't the Godfather. It was a man in traditional Aso Oke robes, holding a staff made of pure granite.
[NPC: THE EARTH KEEPER]
[MESSAGE: "You broke my pet worm. You owe me 5000 Coins."
"He wants a refund?" Elara asked, staring at the notification.
"Send him a bill for the train wash," Bhy Khay accelerated. "We don't stop for NPCs."
The train sped past the city, leaving the angry Earth Keeper shouting at the dust.
[ZONE ENTERED: THE LONGEST STRETCH.]
[NEXT STOP: LAGOS (THE FINAL BOSS).]
Bhy Khay sat back.
"That was the easy part," he said quietly.
"Easy?" Zayn looked at the melted windshield. "We fought a worm inside a mountain!"
"Yes," Bhy Khay's eyes grew cold. "But worms are predictable. Animals are logical."
He looked at the horizon where the Lagos skyline was beginning to form in the haze.
"Humans," Bhy Khay said. "Humans are glitchy."