The Mantis was falling like a stone toward answers.
Toward truth.
Toward whatever waited in the depths below.
It fell in complete silence, passing centimeters from the mutant's coiled body. So close it could smell the stench of its corrupt flesh, its unnatural tissue.
But it didn't touch it.
It landed on the stairway fifty meters below, its legs absorbing the impact without making more noise than a whisper.
Perfect execution… it had succeeded.
The stairway descended in a tight spiral, carved from the same stone as the walls. The runes continued here too, lines of white light guiding the path downward.
Downward.
Toward another floor.
Another chamber. Larger than the previous one, the ceiling higher, the darkness deeper.
And another mutant.
This one was bigger, its extremities thicker, its carapace darker. It coiled in a similar manner around another stairway, body wrapped protectively around the descent.
To another level below.
