The relief of the rescue team's arrival was shattered instantly.
Across the cavern, a gruesome scene lay revealed in the dim Voltaic light: bodies of veteran Runners were strewn across the stone, some still clutching their weapons in a frozen, final grip.
"What the hell happened here?" a rescuer whispered, staring at a disemboweled corpse. "What kind of monster does this?"
"The Gorthak," Mel muttered, her metal armor clanking as she stepped forward. Her voice was tight with dread. "But sightings are usually deeper... much deeper."
"Mel, focus!" the team medic barked. "We have to stabilize the survivors first." He turned to the trio. "Young men, come with us. Let's get you back to Level 1."
"Gladly," Ren said, a manic edge to his voice. "I've done enough things I'm not proud of for one day."
From a far distance, watch from an orb, a deep, raspy voice hissed a single command: "Take them now."
The ground didn't just break; it detonated. A massive fissure spider-webbed beneath Ren, Kenzo, and Henry. Before a single person could scream, the stone gave way, swallowing the three of them into a vertical abyss.
"Watch out!" Mel's voice faded rapidly as they plummeted. The rescue team surged forward, but the ledge began to seal itself with unnatural speed. "Shit! We don't have the mana to break through that! Fall back, we get reinforcements and hope they're still alive when we get back!"
As the darkness took them, the raspy voice echoed through the tunnel. "Let them struggle. The more they develop their powers, the sweeter the taste. We shall feast like kings."
The Descent
The world became a blur of jagged rock and rushing air.
"EVERYBODY BEHIND ME!" Henry roared. He spun his massive frame mid-air, tucking his legs and bracing his shield beneath him like a heat shield.
"IT'S NOT ENOUGH!" Ren screamed over the wind. "We're falling too fast! I'll be flattened before I can even start a healing pulse!"
Kenzo's mind flickered through every combat manual he'd ever ignored. Survival instinct took over, burning through his remaining mana like gasoline. My limit be damned. "I'LL CUSHION THE IMPACT!"
A desperate idea struck him a modification of his birthright. What if I strip the structure? No bones. Just muscle, fat, and fluid.
"AHHHHHHHHH!!!" Kenzo's scream ripped through the tunnel as he forced his cells to divide at an impossible rate. The pain was white-hot, like his blood was boiling.
Out of his skin, eight underdeveloped clones erupted not as men, but as soft, rubbery sacks of flesh. He kicked them downward, layering them like a massive crash-pad beneath Henry's shield.
"HENRY! REINFORCE THEM! USE COLOSSUS!"
Trusting the rookie's frantic plan, Henry poured his golden mana into the meat-shields. The soft clones didn't just harden; they became super-elastic impact absorbers, glowing with a dull metallic sheen.
"REN! HEAL US THE MOMENT WE TOUCH!"
Ren's hands glowed a violent green. "GOT IT!"
THWUMP. SCHLOOOSH.
The impact was a violent jolt that sent phantom pains through Kenzo's nerves, but the rubberized clones held.
They hit the floor of a sub-level so deep the air felt like lead.
"I'm in pain... but I'm not dead," Kenzo wheezed, his vision swimming. "Ren, your power is a godsend."
"Where are we?" Henry asked, his shield notched and dented. He scanned the cavern. "This is a sub-level... but there aren't supposed to be any secret floors here."
CREAK.
A synchronized, skittering sound rose from the darkness.
"What is that?" Kenzo whispered, gripping his new dagger.
Small, obsidian shapes crept from the cracks in the walls. Hundreds of them. Their multi-faceted eyes reflected the green glow of Ren's mana.
"Hive-Stalkers," Henry whispered in horror. "Level 5 monsters. They shouldn't be within three floors of here."
Ren didn't wait. He lunged at the nearest cluster, his blade whistling through the air. He sliced through three, but a fourth lunged, sinking its fangs into his forearm. Ren recoiled, his green aura flickering wildly.
"Get back! They don't just bite they drain mana!"
Kenzo looked back and saw Henry struggling. The spiders were swarming his shield, their tiny mandibles vibrating as they literally chewed through his mana-reinforced armor. Henry was frozen, watching his legendary durability melt away.
"Henry! Focus!" Kenzo shouted, breathing heavily. He sent a clone to kick the spiders off Henry's back. "Stop being lazy! You're the tank start acting like it!"
The word 'lazy' hit Henry harder than the Titan's kick. His eyes snapped wide, glowing with a sudden, fierce intensity.
"DON'T YOU DARE CALL ME LAZY!"
With a roar that shook the cavern, Henry charged.
His broken armor clattered as he jumped into the air, using his massive weight to squish a dozen Stalkers into black paste.
"Nice move," Ren laughed breathlessly, "but there's too many. I'm running on empty here. I can't keep us fueled."
Kenzo tried to bait them with clones, but the Stalkers were smart. They drained the mana from the clones in seconds, turning them to ash, and immediately refocused on the "sweeter" mana inside Kenzo himself.
In the chaos, Ren grabbed a single Stalker with his bare hand.
He let it bite him, then suddenly forced a jagged spike of mana into the creature. The spider bloated and exploded in a spray of ichor.
"Guys! They're like sponges," Ren shouted. "They can't handle a sudden surge! We have to overload them!"
Kenzo's eyes darted around the room. "Henry! Can you project your Colossus power? Spread it thin like a wall crush them against the cavern and then dump every drop of mana you have left into it!"
"I've never tried to project it that far," Henry grunted, bracing his feet. "Guard me!"
Kenzo and Ren formed a frantic circle around the tank. Henry closed his eyes, his muscles bulging as his skin turned a deep, obsidian gray. He pushed his arms outward, and a shimmering wall of force expanded, pinning the swarming Hive-Stalkers against the jagged cavern walls.
"NOW!" Kenzo yelled.
Henry let out a primal scream, releasing his entire mana pool into the wall. The Hive-Stalkers shrieked as they gorged themselves on the sudden feast, their bodies swelling until, one by one, the entire swarm detonated in a series of muffled pops.
Silence returned to the cavern, broken only by the heavy panting of three exhausted Runners.