Angela vigorously shook her flickering flashlight. Its shine returned to full brightness for a moment before dimming rapidly. It was a clear sign its battery was running out, and the redhead didn’t have any spares. Why would she? She wasn’t expecting to get stuck in some ancient underground facility for almost three hours. This was supposed to be a casual, low-risk, routine survey. A camping trip with extra steps. Of course she didn’t pack any damned batteries. She hadn’t even bothered to put new ones into her flashlight before leaving Last Flag. Some might call this irresponsible, but she saw it as practical. Though the League’s handbook did recommend to always restock, recharge, and rearm before every expedition, realistically that was cumbersome, tiresome, and expensive.

Thankfully for her, there was a diligent if somewhat naive newbie on hand to help her out.

“Here,” Wade offered her a battery. “I brought plenty.”

“… Thanks.”

It stung her pride to have to rely on the crippled greenhorn technician, but not so much that she would refuse the offer. She took a few moments to unscrew the back end of her flashlight and pop the fresh battery in. When she turned it back on, the electric torch blazed so bright that it might as well have been emitting sunlight. It was a far cry from the weak glow she had worked with for the past while, and allowed her to get a much better look at the rocky living-room-sized cavern around her. Unfortunately, all this extra visibility accomplished was to confirm that there was indeed no way forward.

“Damn gnomes,” Angela groaned. “Why the hell did they build all these tunnels that go nowhere?”

“Well, Miss Applebee said they were obsessed with numbers and shapes and whatnot. I guess there isn’t any real practical reason for it.”

“I guess not. Still, an exit sign would be nice. A fire escape or something.”

“… What would even catch fire down here?”

“I don’t know, but we could use some of that.”

“Some of what? Fire?”

“Yeah. Mine-munchers hate it. Not the flames themselves, but the smoke.”

“I see. Hmm…” he scratched his chin. “You know, if you really needed to, you could probably start one by shooting a battery.”

“Wait, really?”

“Yeah. The chemicals inside are highly flammable. Also toxic. You would not believe how many automobiles catch fire because of that stuff.”

“Huh. Alright, well… do you have any more spare batteries?”

“I do indeed.”

“How many?”

“Three. Four if you count this one,” he grabbed the spent one on the floor.

“Nice. Try and remember those in case we run into more munchers, yes?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Wade felt rather good about this exchange. It was something of a pleasant surprise. He never would have suspected his expertise as a mechanic would translate into his new technician role in such a manner. Though, the more he thought about it, the less confident he became in his own suggestion. He had no idea whether these small batteries would react the same way the big car ones did when being punctured. Or even if they did, weren’t they way too small to hurt something as big as a mine-muncher? Those things were basically horse-sized, whereas flashlight batteries were no bigger than a thumb. Not to mention that even Angela would struggle to hit a target that small.

For better or for worse, the man would have plenty of time to ponder this conundrum, but not right here and right now.

“We should probably head back now,” he suggested.

Angela sighed dejectedly before nodding. The two of them left the small cavern and started making their way back through the paved passage that led them here. This had been yet another in a string of failures to locate a way back to the surface. At first the team had been optimistic due to the sheer number of potential escape routes available. That central diamond chamber was connected to twenty four hallways across three floors, each of which led to branching path after branching path. Surely, they figured, at least one of these would lead to the surface. And yet they had had no luck finding such an exit despite spending the last two hours looking for one. They even split up into pairs to cover more ground simply because of how much goddamn ground there was to cover. This wasn’t a decision they made lightly considering the mine-muncher threat, but there was no evidence to suggest the beasts frequented these ancient halls. Excluding those few decades-old corpses they found initially, of course.

Meanwhile, the other two had stumbled upon a point of interest.

“Eva, wait,” Ozzy called out. “This door, doesn’t it look different?”

“Hn?”

The librarian stopped to look at it. At first glance it appeared just like any of the other countless doors they had passed by since they first set foot in these ruins - sheets of grimy and rusting iron bolted together. They had found a few more unlocked ones over the past couple of hours, but they all looked like jail cells. As such, both of them had stopped paying these things any heed altogether. However, a second, closer look at this particular door revealed a rather interesting difference - there was no keyhole.

“Huh. How about that?” the brunette raised an eyebrow.

It was such a tiny detail that she wouldn’t have noticed it at all if her companion hadn’t pointed it out. It was rather impressive that he saw it, especially since this was their second time passing through here. They had already confirmed there was no exit down this path and were on their way back to meet up with the other two. The trapped floor tiles had already been clearly marked with chalk, so there was no need for either of them to pay too much attention. Or maybe that was exactly why it had caught Ozzy’s eye? Regardless, this showed some much-needed potential.

“Can you open it?” she asked.

The man cracked his neck while rotating his shoulders.

“No problem.”

Eva watched with great interest as Ozzy put one hand on the door and closed his eyes. From the librarian’s viewpoint it just looked like he was hyping himself up before flexing his considerable muscles, and she had no intention of interrupting him. She knew from past experiences that guys had weird rituals like that. In reality, the druid was scanning the room for signs of life with his magical abilities. After several seconds he confirmed it was clear and gave the door a strong push. To his and Eva’s surprise, it swung open quite easily. The hinges still screeched and groaned, of course, but this door was much thinner and lighter than the ones they’d tried to open previously.

The chamber behind it was also completely unlike any of the others. It was no tiny cell-like space, but an enormous room with nearly a hundred shelves carved into the tall stone walls. Overall, this place had an eerily familiar look to it. Indeed, with an excited glimmer in Eva’s eye and an instinctive sense of dread in Ozzy’s stomach, both of them confirmed that what they had found was indeed a library. A former one, to be precise. There were no actual texts left, which was completely understandable. After all, even the sturdiest of tomes would be reduced to dust after a few millennia. And yet, there were no traces of books, scrolls, or any other forms of writing present, not even a stone slate. It seemed as though the place was cleaned out of any such materials before it was abandoned, which made sense considering its owners likely weren’t evicted by force.

“Huh. Well. That’s… disappointing.”

“You want to have a good look inside?” the druid suggested. “Might be something hiding in a corner.”

“No, it’s fine. I’ll just mark it for now.”

The librarian did so by adding a note to her handmade map. She had started sketching out the ruin’s pathways ever since the team found the big diamond. By her own words, the ancient gnomes that supposedly built this place were obsessed with geometry and numbers. She was hoping they hid some meaning or hint within the structure’s layout that might help the survey team find another exit. The hallways she had mapped out thus far revealed there was indeed a pattern to this place. It hinted at the structure being in the shape of a relatively short eight-sided flat-topped pyramid. By her estimate, she and Ozzy had covered about forty percent of the structure. Unfortunately, while insightful, her deductions failed to reveal anything regarding an exit.

Such musings aside, there didn’t seem to be anything of immediate interest in that empty library, so the two of them resumed their trek back. Ozzy checked his pocket watch and confirmed that they still had about eight minutes before they were supposed to reconvene with Wade and Angela. Plenty of time to get there without rushing, but not enough to take detours without worrying the others. He also couldn’t help but smirk a bit. It still amazed him how immensely useful such a tiny little gadget was. He absolutely had to bring a crate of these clockwork marvels back to Einhan, if he got the chance. His small smile then tensed into a more grim expression as the uncomfortable reality that there might not be a way back home creeped its way into his mind. Not wishing to dwell on such things, he put away the timepiece and tried to refocus his thoughts on the situation at hand.

Ozzy and Eva reached the predetermined meeting spot without incident. It was, of course, the giant room with the cursed mega-diamond. Unlike the first time, the druid didn’t seem all that bothered to be standing near to it. That was because he was expecting it this time. That and, after some trial and error, he had figured out a countermeasure. Best as he could tell, the vile power that gem exuded had contaminated the air in a way that made it difficult for him to breathe. In other words, he’d be fine so long as he didn’t need to breathe. He accomplished this through the use of a rudimentary druidic technique that was even simpler than sensing life. It allowed him to hold his breath for a ridiculously long time with just a bit of concentration. He could even speak while doing so. As with his other natural magic, this one was also greatly diminished in this world, but he could still maintain it for a good twenty minutes or so. It was more than enough considering his only business in that cursed chamber was to compare notes with the rest of the team while they had a quick rest, which usually didn’t take even half that time.

Speaking of, Wade and Angela were already there and waiting, though Ozzy couldn’t help but notice something was missing.

“Where’s the bird?”

Indeed, the pet falcon that seemed perfectly content to perch itself quietly on the gunslinger’s shoulder was nowhere to be seen.

“Ah. We found a crack in a cavern wall with a draft coming through,” she explained. “Too small for a person to fit, but it seemed to lead to the outside, so I had Marcello go through before he became a burden.”

The druid raised an eyebrow inquisitively.

“What?” the redhead frowned. “Got a problem?”

“A burden? Really?”

Was that really a way to be talking about one’s faithful companion.

“Look, he’s a smart boy, but still just a stupid bird. He’d only get in the way in these tunnels.”

“That’s fair, I suppose,” he relented.

“No luck finding a way out for the rest of us, then?” Eva shifted the subject.

“Nope. Nothing but dead ends and shallow caves.”

“We did find a door without a lock, though,” Wade chimed in. “Big, empty space. Lots of shelves with just dust on them.”

“Same,” the librarian sighed. “That aside, we’re currently at, what? Nineteen duds out of twenty-four?”

A few uncomfortable looks confirmed that this was the case. Excluding the passageway the team arrived through and the four hallways they had yet to explore, none of the exits from this central chamber led to the surface. Not even remotely. The team had naturally started with the tunnels that were above, below, and opposite the entrance. When those didn’t pan out, they started splitting up to methodically cover the rest, to no avail. Being met with repeated failure weighed down heavily on the team’s morale. Wade was taking it the worst. He was barely keeping it together between the constant throbbing of his shattered arm and the guilt of inadvertently causing this situation by blowing up that pillar. He’d have already succumbed to despair if not for Angela’s constant liveliness.

“Maybe we should check near the entrance again,” Ozzy suggested.

“Bad idea,” the redhead shook her head. “Even if there is an exit that way, it’s too close to that muncher colony. I don’t have any more-a riot glue to cover us if they start swarming us.”

“Can’t we just take them out like we discussed?”

“There’s probably hundreds of them. I don’t have enough bullets for that.”

“Right. Hmm. What if we lure them into the traps?”

“Let’s leave that sort of stuff as a last resort, yeah?” Eva butted in. “We still have a few more tunnels to check for an easier way out.”

“I… suppose you are right.”

It was clear Ozzy didn’t share the librarian’s optimism. How could he? Of the vision the great spirit shared with him, the path they took to enter this place was the only one even remotely connected to the mountain’s surface. He already knew there was no other exit. Unfortunately, he couldn’t share this information with the rest of his team without having to do a lot of uncomfortable explaining. He also did not eliminate the possibility that there was indeed an alternate path that he failed to see in that overwhelming vision. Or perhaps there was a gap in the mountain spirit’s information. After all, the being itself admitted to its memory being faulty. However, Ozzy had all but given up on such wishful thinking after so many frustrating dead ends.

“Wait, hold on,” he realized something. “Did we even check that pit?”

He pointed to the middle of the room, where the cursed diamond was. The gem was resting on a pedestal atop a platform that was suspended over a deep, circular chasm via four thick and sturdy stone bridges. Ozzy had kept his distance from that area, but Angela, Eva, and Wade had all gone over there to marvel at the boulder-sized gem. Yet, had any of them actually thought to take a long hard look downward? Judging from their expressions, the thought hadn’t even occurred to them, and with good reason.

“That goes down, Ozzy,” Eva bluntly stated. “That’s the opposite direction we want to go.”

“Yes, but it might connect to that underground river we saw. Or some other natural cavern. Just because the gnomes didn’t build it doesn’t mean it goes nowhere.”

It was also an area he hadn’t focused on at all when the spirit shared its memories.

“Sure, might as well,” Angela shrugged. “Let’s have a look, yes?”

The group approached the chasm in no particular hurry. They peeked over the edge, flashlights pointing downward. They revealed bare stone walls that stretched down into a seemingly bottomless pit. That alone was enough to disqualify this potential escape route as impractically deep, but Ozzy wanted to make sure. After a bit of insistence on his part, Angela agreed to pop one of her flares and toss it in, just to see exactly how far down it went. The bright red flame plummeted straight down, barring the occasional bump against the chasm’s sides. It kept on falling until its light was reduced to a dot, then suddenly jerked to the side as it bounced off of something large. It was impossible to tell what it had hit at this distance, but the flare nevertheless kept on falling until its light vanished into the depths.

“… Okay,” Ozzy took a step back. “So, not an exit.”

“Probably not, no,” Eva agreed.

“Not the kind of way out we’re looking for, at any rate,” Wade mumbled.

“Could be worse,” Angela mumbled. “We could have- Actually no, not gonna jinx it.”

There were a few awkward moments while the others were wondering what she was talking about. This brief silence was then interrupted by the sound of distant scraping and cracking from somewhere within the hole. Angela cursed profusely in her native tongue as she tossed another flare down the hole, revealing at least a dozen mine-munchers rapidly climbing up from below. An overwhelming sense of ‘oh shit’ washed over the group. Wade then had a flash of inspiration as he reached for the battery pack at his waist and unbuckled the straps that held it in place. Normally he’d need this to power his stun-glove and other gadgets, but he had thought of a much more immediate use for it.

“Angela!”

The redhead’s face snapped to the mechanic, her eyes locking onto the brick-sized device he was holding up. Her golden irises then flashed with a manic spark matching Wade’s. She drew a revolver and nodded while loading a special bullet into it. This prompted the mechanic to toss the battery down the hole. Angela then showed off her gunslinging chops once more by nailing the plummeting object. The incendiary round punctured the battery, both releasing and igniting the chemicals therein. This resulted in a brilliant conflagration of bright yellow flame that rained down on the approaching monsters.

“Move! Go, go, go!”

Rather than wait and see what happens, the redhead urged everyone to get their butts in gear, to which they readily complied. The improvised explosive device would at least slow down a few of those things, but it could not stop all of them. Not even by a long shot. They only had seconds before the much quicker creatures spilled out of that hole and ran them down. Thankfully the team had already discussed what to do should they run into more munchers, and had come up with a suitable battle plan. All they could do was put it into practice and hope for the best. To that end, they filed into the nearest hallway. Wade and Eva went first, followed by Angela, and then Ozzy. They stopped only a few steps in. The non-combatants turned around and shone their flashlights as best they could, the gunslinger drew her large caliber rifle, and the tracker lowered his stance while spreading his arms.

The creatures emerged from the pit and chased after the team, fitting through the plus-sized passage with no difficulty. They were, however, forced to do so single file. All of this was completely expected, and indeed the whole point of retreating to this position. The first mine-muncher charged at Ozzy hissing and screeching like crazy. The druid then sprang forward, tackling the thing by ramming his shoulder against the base of the creature’s neck. He then grappled it, wrapping one arm around its front foreleg and grabbing the side of its skull with the other. The muncher tried to retaliate, but neither its pick-tipped limbs or its fang-filled jaw could reach the man in this compromised position. The druid then heaved the beast sideways, slamming its bulk into the right-hand wall and pressing its head firmly against it. An armor-piercing rifle round ventilated the thing’s skull a moment later.

That was one down. Ozzy pushed off the still-twitching corpse and shoulder-checked the next in line. The second muncher seemed to be trying to get around to the druid’s left, but he was able to pin it to the wall before it could squeeze past. Though it wasn’t as firm a hold as he had on the first one, Angela was still able to introduce its brains to the ceiling. A third and fourth muncher then approached side-by-side. This didn’t do them any favors as they were packed so tight in the confined space that they were basically tripping over each other. Ozzy still threw himself at them, making sure to keep his head low so the feralian had a clean line of fire.

However, two munchers were exponentially more difficult to handle due to their instinctive teamwork. Even in their compromised position, the one on the left swung low while the other struck high. Ozzy was able to avoid the combo by simply stepping back. Angela also fell back to reassert optimal firing distance, prompting Wade and Eva to do the same. The druid secured his footing and got ready for the stubborn pair again. The surged forward as much as they could and thrust their pointy limbs at him. It was such a clumsy motion that Ozzy was able to easily grab hold of an extended leg with one hand. The other drew a handaxe and swiftly chopped it off. He then stepped forward and thrust the dismembered appendage into its owner’s torso with enough force to pierce its chitinous hide. Unfortunately the other struck at that same moment. Its long neck whipped around, allowing it to sink its teeth into the man’s shoulder pad. Thankfully it failed to pierce the enchanted leather, giving the druid an opportunity to put it in a headlock. He took it, and then Angela nailed it a fraction of a second later. She had anticipated Ozzy’s next move and lined up her shot in advance. Once that one was dealt with, the second muncher was easy pickings for the team’s grab-and-pop combo.

Four down, twice as many to go. The druid and the gunslinger got ready to take care of the next creature, only to find that no more were coming at them. At least, not right that instant. The pair maintained position, bodies and minds coiled and ready to strike at a moment’s notice. They could still hear more of the bastards scurrying around and hissing in the spacious chamber in front, so it was safe to assume the danger hadn’t passed. And yet, after a nerve-wracking minute, it became clear that the rest of the munchers had no intention of pursuing.

“Are… are they supposed to give up like that?” Wade asked in a trembling whisper.

“No. Usually they’re pretty stubborn,” Angela answered.

“Maybe they figured out they’d just get slaughtered in here and gave up,” Ozzy suggested. “They are a lot smarter than they look, after all.”

“More likely they are setting a trap for us,” the redhead claimed, “waiting until we show ourselves before they jump us from all sides.”

“If that is the case, we do not have much choice. There’s no way out behind us.”

The tunnel they were currently in was one they had already scouted and written off as a dead end. One way or another, they had to make their way back through that central chamber. However, the more Ozzy thought about what just happened, the stranger it seemed.

“Say, Angela,” he looked over his shoulder. “Is it just me, or did these things look more scared than we were?”

“Uh… I don’t know. Were they?”

“That’s the feeling I got from them, at least.”

The borderline desperate way these munchers hurled themselves into the survey team’s killbox was very much consistent with a fight-or-flight response. Furthermore, it wasn’t Ozzy’s strength or Angela’s lethal gunfire that induced that reaction. It was almost as if the creatures only attacked the druid because he was in the way of their escape route. But if that was the case, why would they run down a tunnel instead of retreating through the hole they emerged from? Ozzy’s attempts to figure this out were then interrupted by the sound of something heavy and metallic hitting the floor behind him. He quickly looked over his shoulder to find that Eva had dropped her flashlight and that Wade was gently lowering her to the ground. Angela kept a close eye towards the front, but nevertheless deduced what happened.

“Did Libby faint again?”

“Looks like it,” the mechanic confirmed.

“Merda. Keep that light pointing forward!”

“Y-yes, ma’am!”

Wade let go of the unconscious librarian and did his best to illuminate the hallway ahead. Nothing could be seen aside from four very dead munchers, a lot of blood, and the distant glint of the mega-diamond. A lot could still be heard, however. Plenty of scraping, squealing, and hissing was echoing all over the place, though none of it seemed to be getting closer. Ozzy decided to take a gamble and strike while the iron was hot, as it were.

“I’m going to take a look,” he stated. “Angela?”

“Nnnn,” she groaned. “Fine. I got your back. Wade, look after Libby.”

With that, the druid took out his own flashlight and moved forward. Angela needed both hands to use that big gun of hers, so it fell to him to be the torch-bearer. This put him at a disadvantage should more munchers come at them, but he needed to see what was going on over there. After stepping over the bodies and taking a few steps more, both were able to get a clear view at the enormous chamber. As expected, there were mine-munchers about. Three of them, to be precise. One was on the floor not too far from the gem’s platform, unmoving and on fire. It had clearly caught the worst of that improvised incendiary attack. The light of the flames dancing across its corpse was caught and scattered by the diamond, covering half the chamber in a mesmerising if erratic pattern of glowing dots. Standing a good ten paces away from the burning muncher was another, perfectly healthy specimen. It was stabbing at the ground while hissing and snapping its teeth at the radiant gem, as if trying to intimidate the inanimate object. The final beastie was on the other side of the chamber, near the wall. It was clawing fervently at the dense brick walls in a futile attempt to dig through them.

“… Angela?” Ozzy whispered.

“Yeah?”

“Can you drop the brave one?”

“Easily.”

The feline gunslinger took a few seconds to draw a bead and then put down the stomping muncher with a headshot. This sent the other one into an even greater panic. It gave up on trying to dig its way out and scuttled furiously all over until it eventually found a hallway it could sprint into. A few seconds later there was a loud clang and squeals of pain as it got caught in a spear trap. There were similar noises coming out of other passages, implying the same fate had befallen at least two more munchers. With the chamber more or less secure, the adventurer and the explorer had a moment to ponder the implications of what they had just witnessed. Angela took a single look at the glinting mega-diamond, then slowly turned to face Ozzy with a huge, shit-eating grin. The druid pursed his lips and started shaking his head, prompting the feralian to nod hers at a faster pace. The man then gave up completely with a heavy sigh, prompting the woman to fist-pump excitedly.

It would appear that, perhaps, leaving with that precious boulder might have been the right call after all.