Seth felt the temperature suddenly drop as they stepped into the cave. Looking at the sides, it took him a few minutes to get used to the gloaming environment and the piercing, freezing breeze wafting through the path.

The few glistening rocks on the walls did little to nothing to disperse the darkness, but it helped. The sounds of their breaths and heartbeats were their only company as their footsteps bearly echoed through the hollow, rippling through the stillness of the place.

Seth walked behind Olivia and Roland, the three of them keeping a good one and a half metres from each other. Neither of them wanted to get impaled or slashed unintentionally, especially Seth, who was quite fearful of Olivia’s aspect.

The same sight repeated itself for the next half an hour, letting Seth’s thoughts wander around. At some point, he couldn't refrain from visualising the oranged sphere resting in his heart—the sight made his lips curve upwards.

Three weeks had passed since his advancement to the Orange Core Stage, during which a few interesting things had taken place in Darkhold City. One of them being the massive number of contracts released by the Guild during the last week, a tone of them.

It wasn't a surprise.

People had been crowding the halls for days in a row and taking every single contract available, leaving only the bad stuff behind. But even then, they were still taken at some point. Which forced the Guild to release a batch of contracts that, for one reason or another, had been left untouched in the archives for a long time.

For this laone, one could imagine how unproductive they were.

The vast majority were in resource sites a few hundreds of kilometres away from Darkhold City and, more often than then, more dangerous than a standard job. Likewise, the pay was much lower, but when the demand overwhelmed the supply, you couldn't argue with that.

Among the batch of contracts for his level, only two caught his attention.

The first one was about getting rid of a nest of Bone-chewer rats luring in the sewers underneath Darkhold City, a straightforward job that didn't have many requirements aside from some specific aspects suitable for the task and an orange core advancement. Which he fitted perfectly.

The rewards were enticing, especially the commissions for every red core rat slew, but not to the point of tempting him for getting himself covered in poop, urine and ‘who knows what other things’ that could be swimming down there.

As a scent of grass and rainy days entered his nostrils, Seth knew he had made the right decision.

The second contract required him to get rid of a nest of Stoneaters. They could keep everything except the Amalgamated Billycock, which was a pity as the mushroom was the most valuable item of the site. They didn't pay much for the cores of Crackers and Stoneaters or any other raw material that could be found down there, which he didn’t have the slightest intention of selling them either.

It was definitely the best contract available, but it wasn't something anyone could take care of without some adequate connections and a bit of coin in your pockets. Which reduced the number of applicants by a big margin.

Seth's hand reached towards his pocket, feeling the drupe’s outline through the tight fabric of his armour: A Stondril almond. The large drupe, rich in toxins and mana, was every Stoneater Queen's favourite candy and the reason why this contract wasn't as easy as just getting your ass down there and butchering the queen and its minions. Without a Stondril almond, even a Silver Core Stage practitioner would be left in the dust by one of those things.

Which wasn't an option; Seth wanted the core.

Getting your hands on a Stondril almond wasn't an easy task either, even Lucas, with all his connections, only managed to secure two pieces; one for Seth and another for himself. And they weren't cheap.

Suddenly, several acute roars reverberated through the cavity.

Narrowing his eyes, Seth focused on the source of the sound. They had just reached the end of the underground cave when two identical passages branched off from the main road. Rows of stalactites covering the ceiling of both sides, threatening with their sharp, gleaming tips.

But at this point, that was the last of his worries.

Out from the right tunnel, two creatures came rushing in their direction. Barely the size of a dog, the short beasts were the ugliest thing Seth had seen in his life.

Two lengthy, thin arms extended from its upper body. They almost look comical compared to the rest of its short, skinny frame. But the black, bloody claws they ended up on definitely weren’t…

Anyway, their heads were gruesome beyond comparison. Two ruby eyes shone from the sunken sockets with a maw filled with rows of razor-sharp fangs. Two bat-like ears protruded from each of their skulls as they seemed to twitch and shift to the slightest sound in the environment.

Coupled with skinny muscles and a coat of leathery, jet black skin, the abomination looked like a horrible cross of a bat and a malnourished goblin.

Seth didn’t have much time to indulge in his analysis when two dark-green spheres of matter swirled to life around him, taking the form of two half-a-meter-long and poorly shaped pikes. An odour of brimstone and acidic poison immediately burn his nostrils, gaining a few winces from his face.

As the crackers caught sight of the two balls of poison, their muscles immediately tensed. Mana trembled around them as a light orange hue appeared on their inky throats, but before they managed to do anything, the pikes exploded in motion.

The pikes tore through the air before crashing into their hind legs, a cracking sound resounded as Seth saw the limbs being reduced to a pool goo in a matter of seconds—not giving the creatures much time other than emitting a terrible shriek as a torrent of marigold fire blurted out from their mouths. But a swift stab from Roland’s spear ended their suffering shortly afterwards.

“Next time, don’t waste mana like that,” Roland said as he proceeded to remove the cores.

Olivia just rolled her eyes, "Don't be a dick, Roland. We are not even close to the outer chambers,"

With a wave of her hand, the dark-green pikes came rushing in her direction. Seth could only stare in awe and envy as the pikes reshaped themself into two perfect spheres before seeping into her hands, vanishing out of sight.

Olivia’s eyes fixed on him as she felt his gaze, she gave him a wide grin, “Want to touch them?”

As she said so, a four inches long and pinky-thick dark-green needle condensed itself right above her index finger. A script of coppery symbols and lines run on the surface, too small and intricate to let Seth make head or tail of its meaning, but they were beautiful. Though, he wasn't that comfortable with the toxic aura it emitted.

Seth chose to ignore her as he approached Roland, arm extended—palm up.

Roland looked at him, a bit reluctantly.

Seth’s eyes narrowed.

“Okay, here you have,” Roland handed him one of the two bright red, bean-sized cores. Seth immediately tossed it into his pack happily. Even with the rise in the price of resources during the last weeks, they weren't worth much. But every penny counts.

Though they would still be a good aid for my core attunement, Seth said to himself when a certain thought flashed in his mind. He cocked his head in the direction of the two lifeless crackers laying on the rugged floor.

“Aren’t these from that variant you mentioned earlier?”

Roland and Olivia cast a glance in the direction of the two carcasses, after a few seconds, Olivia shook her head, “I haven't seen the offspring of a full-fledged dark-stripped queen, but they will never be as weak as this. Don’t forget that even the weakest specimen would be at the silver stage, made the maths, and you will end with crackers at the Orange Core Stage. So, no… Probably.”

After exchanging a few more words, they proceed to discuss their next course of action.

It would probably take them six or seven hours to reach the periphery of the nest, where the real challenge would begin, so they would need to rest a few hours before taking care of it—which wouldn’t be easy.

A typical Stoneater nest could shift from around a few dozen members to over three thousand depending on the queen's age, advancement stage and environmental factors. The Guild had gauged them to be around fifty to seventy members (in the worst-case scenario), with a queen on the Yellow Core Stage.

It wasn’t something they couldn’t sort out with a bit of wit and cleverness, but even then, it would still cost them a great deal of sweat and blood.

Anyway, having taken care of the two beasts, they continue forward.