The hole in the ground had a smooth slope leading down into a tunnel that was seven feet in each dimension. Serenity took a good look at it; getting earth to simply stay in place like that with such a large span wasn’t easy.

The walls seemed to be packed earth, coated with a hardened substance Serenity didn’t recognize. Basic Identify didn’t give him any information, either, though that was common with things he didn’t recognize at all. He tapped it and was reassured when it didn’t deform or crack. “I’m not sure what this is, but it looks like it’s reinforcing the walls.”

None of them could identify it, other than generically. It was obvious that it was some kind of wall reinforcement and likely that it was produced “biologically” by a monster.

“This has to have been cut by something we haven’t seen yet.” Raz glanced around the tunnel. “Maybe that worm Rissa mentioned? Something like that would probably be made to bore a hole. Maybe it just has to grow enough to be a problem?”

Serenity glanced over at Rissa to see what she thought of the idea. She was slowly nodding, as if in agreement. That was good; it meant everything was fine.

“Okay. If the worm is already moving around and this big, that’s good news.” Serenity was surprised to see everyone turn to look at him, seeming confused. Well, everyone except Rissa; she had a half-smile on her face, and Serenity could guess that she’d already figured out where he was coming from. “If it were just an egg, we’d have to find it before it hatches; that’s a hard time limit and we don’t know when it would happen. If it’s being used for tunnel construction, then it can only grow so fast and it’s probably no stronger than the local area. Other people can hunt through the tunnels to find it, we don’t have to.”

Serenity didn’t feel like it was his responsibility to fix everything. Sure, he’d close gates and help out, but the more the locals could do, the better. It would save him time and help them grow.

The growth was the more important of the two; Serenity wasn’t yet short on time. Still, all he wanted to do was try to keep the death count down while still having people learn and grow. Keeping things 99% safe sounded good, but even 1% dying would add up quickly if it was something that happened repeatedly.

Serenity shook off the dark mood and ventured deeper into the tunnel. It had an oddly organic look, even though the only thing organic about it was the coating; it simply wasn’t the smooth surface that humans would make.

Water and air tended to make similarly smooth surfaces when he thought about it.

Katya and Raz were wearing night-vision gear, but both Rissa and Ita were borrowing Serenity’s Eyeless Sight. It meant they could avoid light sources and hopefully get by some of the arthropods undetected, at least until they were close. Serenity half-wished he could use Vital Sight, but it was simply too visible in a dark environment.

It was a long walk through the tunnel before Serenity realized he was approaching a wider spot. He paused and took a good long look at it; there was something that didn’t seem right. Serenity duplicated one of the knives he was carrying and poured Plasma Affinity into it as an Infused Strike. He didn’t dare even duplicate another; one knife carrying the Skill was enough. It would probably be fine, but he didn’t want to stress the knife set.

Serenity tossed the knife at the odd shadows that shouldn’t have been there with Eyeless Sight. It left a bright streak of flame behind it as it flew.

The shadow moved, striking at the streak of flame. It was fast, perhaps not as fast as a snake’s strike but certainly close.

Serenity hoped it would take as long for the scorpion to reset itself as it would for a snake, but he didn’t think he was that lucky. Fortunately, they were at a distance.

Katya and Raz threw magic at the scorpion while Rissa used her crossbow. Serenity held his ax; he could easily have thrown it, but he didn’t want to disarm himself right now, even temporarily.

Ita simply waited. This wasn’t her fight and she knew it.

By the time Serenity reached the scorpion, it was no longer moving. He severed the tail, then sliced through the scorpion’s body, just to be sure. He wasn’t as good with bugs as with vertebrates; while giant bugs were more likely to die to massive trauma than ordinary small bugs, they were still ridiculously capable of surviving. Less capable than slimes, perhaps, but still ridiculous.

There was no core to loot. Serenity was disappointed but not truly surprised; it meant that these creatures were technically not monsters, but it also meant they could only use magic in a limited way. Serenity was confident that the only magic they had access to without a core was the magic that allowed them to grow to their ridiculous size and (for the lobsters, at least) survive on land.

There was another possibility; it was possible that their extreme size was somehow induced and they were truly what they looked like. That might explain the extreme variety, but it opened up some worrying possibilities for what else they might find.

They continued into the tunnels, searching for the middle. The tunnels were anything but straight and direct; they repeatedly walked past the middle of the area and had to find branching tunnels to get closer. It was entirely possible that one of the tunnels they’d left led to the portal, but at least Serenity knew they hadn’t doubled back.

Aide was keeping a map. They’d lost the GPS signal when they went underground, so Aide was having to use other sensors to judge distance, but he was still confident that he was correct about where they were to within about ten feet. It was obvious from the map that the tunnels didn’t stay level; they wandered up and down.

As they generally headed towards the center, Serenity noticed that some of the tunnels were smaller; they seemed to generally be more central. When two tunnels intersected, Serenity started choosing the smaller one on the assumption that it probably led to the ‘beginning’ of the tunnel system, which was hopefully near the portal.

As they traveled, they found several more scorpions. They only came across one spider. It was an enlarged hunting spider, and Serenity was thorough about killing it.

Perhaps a little too thorough.

It was a spider. That was reason enough.

Serenity was still distracted by the spider when they came to the next scorpion, so naturally it managed to get the drop on him. It hit him cleanly in the chest, barely piercing his armor and skidding off his scales. Serenity was happy it hadn’t hit him in the back; the same strike there could have damaged a wing.

“Are you hurt?” Rissa rushed up to Serenity the moment the fight was over.

She’d clearly forgotten how fast he healed. “No. It didn’t even get through my scales. Barely got through my armor; might not have done more than scratch ordinary skin.”

“Good.” Rissa examined his chest anyway. “I see what you mean, I thought it would be a bigger hole.”

From there, Serenity tried to pay more attention. The next scorpion didn’t catch him by surprise.

Three scorpions, one centipede, and something that looked like a giant mite later, they emerged into a larger area. It was only six feet tall, more or less, like the tunnels leading to it. The area seemed to have been carved out by the same thing that carved the tunnels; the floor and ceiling were both covered in odd ridges where they hadn’t been fully compressed.

Serenity stopped at the entrance and glanced around the room. There was a pair of what looked like oversized praying mantises, though even to Eyeless Sight they didn’t look identical. One stood in the classic “praying” position and had far larger arms, while the other seemed to be larger in the body and couldn’t even stand upright in the six-foot-tall room.

Past the giant mantids, Serenity saw someone who looked human sitting with his back against a wall. He was definitely armed; Serenity could see the sword at his side. Next to the man was the only other opening into the room; it seemed to slant upwards, and if Aide’s map was right, it should lead to the portal.

Around the edges of the more or less circular room were unmoving lumps. Serenity couldn’t get a good enough look at them to be certain what they were; hopefully they weren’t more bugs, but at least they didn’t look like any of the ones he’d seen so far.

Serenity quietly infused Plasma into his ax, then threw it at the smaller mantid before charging directly towards the man. He hoped he’d read the situation correctly, but it seemed pretty obvious.

The ax slashed into the smaller mantid and it simply fell over. Serenity could see the man shake himself, as if he’d been startled. Serenity grinned; it looked like he was right.

Serenity dove forward at the last moment, evading a sudden leap from the larger mantid. He grinned when he realized he’d been lucky as well as smart: the larger mantid was between him and his ax. He called it to him and watched as it sliced a line into his opponent’s chitin.

It wasn’t as good an injury as he’d hoped for, but it was a good start.

The others weren’t idle, either; Serenity could see the bolts, both magical and mundane, that buried themselves in the mantid’s body and head. It was one of those bolts that was the mantid’s undoing; a crossbow bolt hit it squarely in one eye, and the partially blinded mantid hit the ceiling as it jumped towards Serenity.

Serenity slipped under it and removed its head from its body while it was still confused. Hopefully that would keep it from attacking; he was fairly confident it would die eventually, so all he needed was for it to not be able to attack him now.

He ignored the goo that spattered across his body; he’d been hit with worse. He’d definitely want a shower that evening, but until then he could live with it.

“Who are you?” The unfamiliar voice, speaking in Bridge, drew Serenity’s attention back to the man who had been sitting against a wall when he entered the room. “How did you get here?”

Serenity took three large steps away from the dying mantid before he replied. He wasn’t worried about more goo dripping on him, but he did want to be far enough away that if it was still with it enough to attack, it would miss. “Defenders of this world. Who are you?”

“But, no, that’s, no! They’re killing my crabs, they can’t be here. You can’t be here…” The man trailed off and took another look at Serenity. His voice shifted from something that sounded almost like normal speech to an almost singing chant as he continued. “They were all human, human incubators, perfect and useful. You are not human, no, but you hold the power oh yes you do. You are so perfect.”