Three days had passed since Daniel walked away into the forest. Three days of silence. Three days of looking over their shoulders.
They no longer moved with the easy confidence they had briefly enjoyed. Every step was a risk. Every shadow held a potential threat that Daniel would have spotted minutes ago.
They moved slower, ate less, and argued more.
Sophie walked at the front of the group. Her boots crunched on the gravel. She wiped sweat from her forehead, but her eyes remained focused.
Her B-Grade Talent, [Tactical Eyes], was their only real defense against the unknown, but it drained her mental energy. She was exhausted. Dark circles hung under her eyes, and her lips were pressed into a thin, hard line.
They entered a new section of the valley. It was different here.
The ground sparkled. Huge crystals stuck out of the earth like broken teeth. Some were blue, some were purple.
Sophie stopped. She activated her [Tactical Eyes]. A rush of information flooded her vision. Her eyes widened.
"Hold on," she said, raising a hand. Ragnar stopped instantly, his grip tightening on his axe.
"What is it? Trouble?" "No," Sophie breathed. A smile touched her lips for the first time in days.
"Opportunity." She pointed toward a dark opening at the base of a cliff about a hundred meters away.
It looked like a cave mouth, framed by massive, glowing crystals.
"I'm picking up massive energy signatures from inside that cavern," Sophie explained, her voice rising with excitement.
"It's off the charts. High-grade herbs. Rare ores. Maybe a treasure chest." Ragnar looked at the dark hole. He squinted.
"Are you sure? It looks… deep." "It's a goldmine, Ragnar," Sophie insisted. She turned to face them.
"Think about it. The energy density is high enough to get us all to Level 2 instantly. We would meet the academy's minimum requirement.
We wouldn't just be surviving anymore, we would be winning." Bran stepped forward nervously. He rubbed his arm. "Is it safe?
Maybe we should check the perimeter first? Like Daniel used to do?" The mention of Daniel's name made Sophie's eyes snap.
"Daniel isn't here," she said sharply. "And we don't need him to hold our hands. I have [Tactical Eyes]. I can see the energy. It's just sitting there, waiting for us."
Ragnar looked at Bran, then at Sophie. He let out a heavy sigh and nodded. "Alright. If you say it's good, I believe you. Let's get this loot and get out of this dust bowl."
They moved toward the cave. The entrance was wide, but as they stepped inside, the light from the suns vanished.
The cave was lit by a soft, blue glow coming from the crystals embedded in the walls.
It was beautiful, but it was also tight.
The deeper they went, the narrower the walls became. The air grew cool and damp.
"We're getting closer. The signatures are huge. Just a little further." Sophie announced.
They walked for another ten minutes. The tunnel twisted and turned. Then, Sophie stopped. She frowned.
"That's strange," she muttered. "What?" Bran asked, his voice trembling. "What's strange?" "The signals," Sophie said slowly. "They… moved." Ragnar froze. "Moved? Rocks and herbs don't move, Sophie."
"I know," she said. Her heart started to beat faster. She focused harder, pushing her [Tactical Eyes] to the limit.
The bright clusters of energy she had seen earlier weren't stationary. They were shifting. They were crawling.
"It's not treasure," Sophie whispered, horror dawning on her face. "It's bait."
CLICK! CLICK-CLICK! SSSS!
The sound echoed off the stone walls. It came from everywhere. From the darkness ahead. From the ceiling. From the tunnel behind them.
Hundreds of sharp clicking sounds. It sounded like a thousand dry bones rattling together.
"Ambush!" Ragnar roared. He spun around, but the path behind them was gone. A sea of glowing blue eyes stared back at them from the darkness.
Sophie scanned the creatures as they emerged into the dim light.
[Crystal-Back Arachnid - Level 1]
Stats: Low Strength, Moderate Vitality, High Agility.
Threat Assessment: Swarm predator. Armored carapace. Venomous barbs. It glows to lure prey.
They were spiders. Massive spiders, the size of coffee tables. Their backs were covered in rough, glowing crystals that matched the cave walls perfectly.
Their legs ended in sharp, spear-like points.
"There's too many of them!" Bran shrieked. He scrambled backward, pressing himself against Ragnar's back.
"Form up!" Ragnar shouted.
BOOM!
Ragnar slammed the butt of his axe into the ground, activating [Stoneskin].
He became a living wall, blocking the narrow tunnel as best he could. The first wave of arachnids surged forward.
They were fast, too fast, skittering across the floor and walls.
SCREEECH!
A spider leaped at Ragnar. He didn't even flinch. He swung his axe in a brutal, horizontal arc.
CRUNCH!
The heavy blade smashed into the spider's crystal shell. The shell shattered like glass, and green blood sprayed across the walls.
The creature curled up and died. But two more took its place.
"Don't let them flank us!" Sophie yelled. She drew her bow. She didn't have many arrows left, so she had to make them count. She aimed at a spider crawling along the ceiling, right above Bran.
THWIP!
The arrow flew true. It struck the spider in its soft underbelly. The creature hissed and fell, landing inches from Bran. Bran let out a high-pitched yelp. He kicked the dying spider away.
"Do something, kid!" Ragnar grunted. He blocked a sharp leg with his stone forearm. Sparks flew.
"Shields! Now!" Bran's hands shook uncontrollably. He looked terrified. "I… I can't focus!" "Focus or die!" Sophie screamed.
She switched to her knife as a spider got too close. She slashed at its eyes, forcing it back.
Bran took a ragged breath. He held out his hands toward Ragnar. "Minor Fortification!" A faint, golden light wrapped around Ragnar's body.
It wasn't much, but it hardened his defense just as three spiders slammed into him at once.
The impact pushed the big man back a step. His boots slid on the rocky floor.
"Hold the line!" Ragnar roared. He grabbed a spider by its legs and ripped it off him, throwing it into the swarm behind it.
But for every spider they killed, three more appeared. The clicking sound was deafening now.
They covered the walls. They were being pushed back. Step by step. Deeper into the dead end. Sophie's mind raced. She looked around desperately.
The tunnel ended in a small, round cavern about ten meters behind them. If they got trapped there, they would be overrun in seconds.
"We need a way out!" she yelled. She scanned the room with her [Tactical Eyes], looking for weaknesses in the rock, looking for anything.
The walls were solid. The floor was solid. Then she looked up. In the center of the cavern ceiling, about ten feet up, there was a hole.
It was a narrow vertical passage , like a chimney.
Through it, she could see a tiny circle of bright, natural sunlight.
"There!" Sophie pointed upward. "The ceiling! There's a passage leading to the surface!"
Ragnar risked a glance upward while bashing a spider's head in with his shield arm. "It's too high! We can't jump that!" "We can climb!" Sophie shouted. "But we have to boost each other!"
They retreated into the small cavern. The swarm bottlenecked at the entrance, a writhing mass of legs and glowing crystals.
Ragnar stood at the choke point, swinging his axe like a madman. He was panting heavily. His [Stoneskin] was flickering.
He was running out of energy. "Go!" Ragnar yelled over his shoulder. "I'll hold them back!"
"No!" Sophie grabbed Bran's arm. "We go together. Ragnar, fall back! We do this fast!"
Ragnar bashed a spider away and sprinted back to the center of the room.
"How do we do this?" Ragnar asked, eyeing the high opening. "Bran is the lightest," Sophie said, her voice calculating and fast.
"We boost him up first. Then he pulls me up. Then we both pull you."
It was a desperate plan. It relied on Bran having the strength to pull them. It relied on them having enough time. "Bran, you hear that?" Sophie shook him.