Catastrophic failure.

  That’s the only way to describe the series of events that led their small band here.

  Takeru Kōseki, the overseer for this group, stared into the orange flames dancing atop the torch at his feet.

  Twenty-Two men entered the cave with him this dawn. As he glanced around the cave now, he could count only nine survivors besides himself.

  They were hurting, they were frightened, but at least they were alive.

  Had the others been crushed beneath the mountain’s flesh? Or were they also trapped, waiting for rescue?

  Takeru squashed a sour feeling in his stomach and looked around at his men. None of them were in good condition, but they’d managed to save a few picks. Maybe if they took turns they could — Something tickled at his brow; wet and warm, like fresh stew.

  Takeru lifted his hand and wiped at his forehead with the gray cloth wrapped around his hand.

  It came away darker and heavier than he thought it should. Sweat didn’t look like that. Curiosity struck him and he raised the cloth to his nose — Blood. The heavy copper twang penetrated even his dulled sense of smell and annoyed the back of his brain.

  His lips curled up, he made a choked noise and reflexively wiped both palms down the side of his pants.

  He supposed they were lucky, in a way.

  He glanced to the side and his eyes landed on a tall lad leaning against the wall, his silhouette barely visible in the dim light.

  His long black hair was pasted to his skin with dried blood. His clothes were torn in several places. And he was holding his right arm carefully after injuring it during their flight from the collapsing tunnel.

  Takeru knew, without question, their numbers would be even less if the Dryden boy wasn’t here. The image of him hauling three grown men over his shoulder and carrying them to safety was still perfectly vivid in his mind.

  It was almost funny. Takeru had been certain the boy would turn tail at the first sign of trouble. But he’d proved him wrong. Guess that talk of him being a Bronze Soul wasn’t complete dung after all.

  Though, that did leave him wondering; If Dryden really was a Bronze Soul, what was he doing working in the mines? Bronze Souls weren’t human. They didn’t have to suffer the way humans suffered, didn’t have to crawl through the muck just to survive on stale bread and thin soup.

  So why?

  Dryden’s head popped up and their eyes met.

  “Something… Something’s coming,” Dryden said; his voice broke amidst the panic. He shoved off the wall and grabbed one of the three pickaxes with his good arm.

  “What is it?” Takeru pushed himself to his feet and grabbed a second pick from the pile. “Is it a Soul Beast?”

  “I…I don’t know.”

  “How could you not know? Can’t you cultivators sense a Soul Beast from a mile away?” Roland, one of the senior miners in the band, grabbed the last pickaxe. He shoved the solid wooden handle into the floor and used it as a makeshift cane to stand up.

  “We can, but this doesn’t feel like a Soul Beast.” Dryden quickly ripped the sleeve off his wounded arm and fashioned it into a makeshift sling in only a handful of seconds.

  “Then what is it? Are we in danger?” Arden, another senior miner, asked without moving to join them by the fire.

  “I don’t know that either. Whatever it is, it’s coming from over there,” Dryden whispered. He shifted the head of his pick to point at the wall furthest from the fire.

  Takeru and Roland moved to stand on either side of him while the other miners hustled to choose a side.

  Arden, who could barely move, crawled across the rough stone floor to hide in the shadows.

  And he wasn’t the only one choosing to stay out of the way. In fact, only one man joined the three pick wielders; Aresh, a Foundation Soul cultivator, moved to stand with them.

  The four others joined Arden in the shadows. Out of sight, and more importantly, out of the way.

  “How many?” Takeru asked. He unwrapped the cloth around his right hand, only to rewrap it with the handle of the pick beneath the cloth. Now he couldn’t drop it even if he wanted to.

  Three of them stood in silence; awaiting Dryden’s answer while listening to the fire dance atop the torch.

  The longer they stood there, the less likely it seemed Dryden would answer. Had he not heard the question?

  — Bang! —

  The wall in front of them shook. Huge chunks of stone flying towards them as if it’d been struck by the hand of a giant.

  Dryden watched a rock slide to a stop mere inches from his foot. Then, as if shaken from a stupor, he spoke for the first time in minutes.

  “Not a clue. I’ve never felt this sensation before.”

  — Bang! —

  More stone fell to the floor as massive cracks appeared across the wall and part of the ceiling.

  “What does that mean?”

  — Bang! —

  Dryden tightened his grip on the pick and slowly shifted to put himself at the forefront.

  It was Aresh who answered Roland’s question. “A Soul Beast feels like an electric charge.”

  — Bang! —

  “Mind dumbing it down for us non-cultivators? I’d like to know what’s about to kill me.”

  “Mmm — Well, they make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. But you can ignore most of them in the same way you would some static. This is not that. And I’m sure it’s worse for him,” he muttered and motioned to Dryden’s quivering back.

  He’d described feeling Soul Beasts as an electric charge. And in any other circumstance, Dryden would have agreed with him. But what he was feeling on the other side of that wall was no mere charge — It was a thunderstorm on the verge of waking up.

  And wake up it did.

  — Bang! —

  The heavy stone wall finally gave way beneath the weight of that final hit and fell inwards. The cave was flooded by dust and debris peppered the faces and bodies of the men.

  Aresh shielded his face and eyes with his beefy arms, Takeru and Roland flinched back, and Dryden turned slightly to the side and shielded half his face with the head of his pick.

  He was the first one to realize they were no longer alone.

  He saw only one set of eyes first; a dozen small, soulless black orbs that shined against the torch’s light.

  — Chitter Chitter Clack Clack!—

  Dryden felt a shiver of fear crawl down his spine as two more sets of eyes joined the first.

  “Soul Beasts…” Takeru gasped, his voice barely audible even inside the cave.

  “Insect Class Soul Beasts. Just what I needed to round off this wonderful day.” Dryden’s sarcasm was lost on the other men. They were too focused on survival to understand anything else.

  “Stay as far from the fire as you can. Insects are drawn to light in all its forms. Aim for the joints, and gaps in the carapace. Don’t waste your time, or your energy, on aiming for the head. You probably won’t hit it anyway.”

  Aresh stepped forward and clapped his palms together above his core. The sound was like cannon fire in the crowded tunnel.

  “Are you going to transform?” Aresh asked as thick brown fur erupted from the pores of his exposed skin. His muscles expanded two or three times, growing larger and heavier with each expansion.

  “Not with my arm like this. I’d be in even worse shape with a bum leg.”

  Aresh couldn’t verbally respond as his vocal cords had already shifted. Instead, the towering Grizzly Bear nodded its massive head.

  “We’ll take point; you two watch our backs, and for heaven’s sake, don’t let us get eaten,” Dryden tightened his grip on the pick and slowly shifted to the side-

  This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

  —Clack Clack!—

  With its eyes locked onto the dancing torch. A large brown beast, carrying a heavy shell on its back, shoved its way into the tunnel.

  It dashed towards them on eight powerful legs. Its small black head was down to allow the tip of its shell to protect it as it ran. A mouth of dagger like teeth, already stained with the blood of some other creature, snapped together and created the clacking sound they’d heard earlier.

  Just before the insect reached them, two more darted into the tunnel. One following the path of the first bug, while the second ran along the ceiling.

  Aresh caught the first bug with his thick skull; the two locked together in a battle for dominance.

  The bug had Aresh beat in speed and endurance. But he was able to hold his own thanks to his larger body and weight.

  While Aresh held the first bug back. Dryden kicked off the closest wall and launched himself at the bug crawling across the ceiling.

  The bug reflexively tried to bite him; its nasty teeth coming dangerously close to his exposed face. But Dryden gave it something else to bite instead.

  He shoved the metal pickhead into its mouth and used it to swing over to the third bug, his weight and momentum dislodging the ceiling bug and forcing it to fall. It crashed to the ground on its back with its soft underbelly exposed, and Dryden landed on the back of the third bug.

  Takeru saw his opportunity and swung his pick as he had so many times before. The blunted blade didn’t pierce the beast’s belly easily. But it did pierce it.

  Roland hobbled over to help Takeru and within moments, the grounded bug was bleeding out all across its carapace.

  Aresh finally won out over the first bug. Both he and the creature were sporting fresh wounds, but after seeing the way Takeru and Roland dealt with their bug. He got an idea.

  He moved out of the way of its horrible teeth and managed to break three of its right legs in a counterattack. As the bug fell to the ground, he dug his claws under its shell and flipped the beast onto its back. It screeched at him; blood and spittle flying into his face a second before he crushed its small head beneath his massive paw.

  Aresh let out a huff of relief that was echoed by Takeru, Roland, and a few of the other men. Then he turned to see Dryden standing on the back of his bug, with his pick buried into its head from the rear.

  “I-I thought you said not to aim for the head?” Takeru muttered before wiping green blood off his face.

  Dryden just shrugged in response without taking his eyes off the opening… Weren’t there more eyes before?

  A scream ripped through the shadows. Dryden and Aresh reacted without thinking, both men launched their bodies at the bug who’d silently crept around them to attack the wounded.

  Aresh batted the bug aside. He used his great bulk as a weapon to knock the beast into the wall, then drag it to the floor beneath him.

  The insect retaliated with instinctual violence. It sank its teeth into Aresh’s throat in the hopes of ending the threat- yet his fur and muscles proved too dense to finish him that way.

  By the time the beast thought to let go and try again, Dryden had already arrived. His pick ripped off its black head and launched it back into the darkness from whence it came.

  Aresh shoved himself off the bug’s dying body as it thrashed about on the floor.

  “Are you hurt?” Dryden looked over Aresh’s body, specifically focusing on the red blood staining his fur.

  The Grizzly just shook its massive head. Aresh was out of breath, and in more pain than he’d admit. But it didn’t feel like he was at risk of dying with just this.

  The same could not be said for Arden.

  —Clack Clack!—

  The clacking of teeth brought their attention back to the hole in the wall.

  —Clack Clack!—

  Dryden’s body reflexively shook. The bugs had grown tired of waiting and were now pouring into the tunnel as fast as they could.

  They pushed and crushed their fellows beneath their feet in order to get through the hole. Those that made it through, immediately rushed towards the miners hiding near the rear of the tunnel.

  Dryden and Aresh immediately realized why.

  Soul Beasts, even Insect Class, weren’t stupid.

  Aresh parked his body in the center of the cave, braced his feet against the floor, and blocked the bugs rushing across the floor as best he could.

  Takeru and Roland used their picks together to pummel any bug who slipped by.

  While Dryden pushed his body to the limit to stem the tide of bugs crawling along the walls and ceiling.

  But, despite the four working together, they couldn’t stop them all.

  Amidst the clacking of teeth, the miner’s screams reached Dryden’s ears.

  They were going to die. This was it. They were all going to die.

  He couldn’t stop them. Aresh couldn’t stop them. No one was going to save them.

  A bitter feeling rose up in Dryden’s stomach.

  If he’d known he was going to die like this, he would’ve kept his promise to look after those two. He’d left them there to save his family from starvation… But now, without him, what fate awaited them?

  His muscles cried out. His bones ached more than he thought possible.

  Even so, his pick never slowed.

  His strength never waned.

  For he was a Bronze Soul.

  He couldn’t fall here. Or those two’s sacrifices would’ve been for nothing.

  “So, quit your whining; grit your teeth; and move!”

  Dryden's scream tore apart his throat, even as he ripped through a bug.

  The miners had stopped screaming at some point. He didn’t know when.

  Takeru was still fighting alongside Aresh, but Roland had vanished at some point amidst the chaos.

  It was just the three of them now.

  —Clack Cl—

  Then something changed.

  The bugs stopped moving; stopped clacking their teeth; they even stopped eating and just… stood there. Frozen in time as if they, themselves, were made of stone.

  But they weren’t the only ones to become paralyzed.

  Takeru dropped to his knees; blood falling from his lips, his body shaking like a newborn faun.

  Aresh still stood amidst a sea of bugs; a bulwark against the flood. He too was shaking something awful.

  Dryden’s body was practically vibrating. He could no longer hold the pick due to his shaking, so he dropped it. His teeth were clattering as if he were freezing. His vision swam within his eyes; everything felt blurry, distant, as if he were somewhere else entirely.

  Dryden blinked a few times to clear the fog from his eyes— And then he saw it.

  A glowing yellow eye so large it completely filled the hole the bugs were pouring through.

  Dryden blinked once again; sure he must’ve been mistaken or that the blood loss was making him hallucinate.

  Sure enough, the instant he blinked, both the eye and the unseen pressure was gone.

  Then the bugs came alive once again.

  But instead of attacking the only people standing in their way. The bugs did something none of them expected.

  They began attacking the rear wall of the cave. Throwing themselves against it with reckless abandon until their skulls cracked and their shells broke.

  Dryden, Takeru, and Aresh stood together by the fire and watched the bugs single-mindedly punch through the back wall and disappear into the darkness.

  The three stood together until the last bug had vanished into the dark of the mountain.

  Aresh, barely able to stand let alone maintain his transformation, suddenly shifted back into a human and collapsed to his knees.

  “What…was that?” he asked while taking deep, gasping breaths.

  “I don’t know.” Dryden twisted around to check if there were any bugs hiding in the shadows. However, what he found was the last thing he was expecting.

  An old man was standing near the mouth of the cave. He was partially covered in darkness, so Dryden couldn’t make out any fine details.

  He could see his thick silver hair hanging loosely by his side… and that the old man was only half dressed.

  A pair of black pants hung loosely around his thighs and below the knee, but that’d been tightened significantly around the waist and ankles; while a dark cloth belt held the pants in place.

  Aside from that, the old man appeared to be wearing nothing else.

  The old man’s yellow eyes glanced around the cave a few times before he stepped fully into their space. Then, beneath the three’s watchful eye, he slowly walked over to Arden’s corpse and began pulling off his shoes.

  Hot anger flooded through Dryden- though it was quickly replaced by something else.

  Dryden, Aresh, and Takeru’s bodies began to violently shake.

  Takeru collapsed a moment later. He fell onto his stomach and clutched at his chest with both hands. He couldn’t breathe. It was like his lungs had simply refused to function.

  But Dryden was different. He could still move. He could still see the way the old man was befouling the dead by taking Arden’s shoes.

  The old man was facing away from him, with his attention elsewhere. Surely he could win?

  Dryden picked up his pickaxe from where he’d dropped it and launched himself at the old man. He swung his pick with everything he had, intending to knock the skull clean from his shoulders.

  The old man ducked the blunted axe without looking and smoothly twisted to face his attacker.

  Dryden blinked and the expressionless old man was somehow nose to nose with him- though Dryden was much taller- the old man’s right palm planted itself just above Dryden’s core.

  Dryden felt his heart skip a beat and his point of view shifted- his eyes went dark before he’d even realized he’d been attacked.

  One moment the old man’s arm was by his side, then Dryden had been hit before he knew what’d happened.

  The old man caught Dryden before he could smack his head on the wall of the cave and twisted him- turning the larger man’s body as easily as a child would a leaf.

  Dryden was laid down beside Arden’s body. Barely breathing, but alive.

  Aresh and Takeru just stood there throughout the attack. Neither one able, or willing, to move and draw the old man’s attention onto themselves.

  So, they watched him move from body to body and inspect their belongings, including Dryden’s. He took neither coin nor jewelry.

  He only took Arden’s shoes, dark cloth boots with a hard leather bottom. A loose white shirt that was several sizes too large for him. And a heavy black jacket woven from strong fibers.

  With jacket in hand. The old man moved towards the original hole the bugs created and slipped out of sight.

  Takeru and Aresh both turned to check on Dryden at the same time.

  “What should we do?”

  “The only thing we can do. You grab him and follow me.”

  “Right…” Aresh struggled a bit to get Dryden onto his shoulders. But once he was off the ground, it wasn’t so bad. “Where are we going?”

  Takeru grabbed Dryden’s pickaxe, as well as his own, and pointed after the old man.

  “Are you mad? You saw what he did to Dryden!”

  “I did.” Takeru’s voice shook, though he couldn’t be sure if it was out of fear or relief. “I also saw what he didn’t do to us.”

  The two men shuffled after the old thief and peered around the hole in the wall… And found themselves gazing out into the evening sky.

  Many men died inside the mountain today. Takeru would be sure to mourn them later. But that would need to wait until he reported this incident to his higher ups.

  Hopefully, with their aid, the Howling Ridge Cult or the Royal Family will see fit to send some muscle their way to dig out the rest of his men.