"Naissaich…"
Shades of gray and orange sharpen into clarity, replacing the blurry darkness around Rosa.
She scours left and right.
Centipede tracks are everywhere, yet she catches no glimpse of the creature.
No slither. No crawling. Nothing. The path forward is clear. Oppressively so.
Rosa glances to her right. Eihard has the same glow in his eyes.
Further right is Lilia, frantically moving her gaze to catch every corner.
Frieda props herself behind them, expression tense. Both hands grip her staff.
Lennard lies beside her, holding the torches.
Cold sweat trails down Rosa's temple.
Something is wrong. The room is quiet. Far too quiet.
"Eihard… Lilia…"
She calls softly.
"It's not right… I was sure I heard it slither."
Eihard nods, confirming Lilia's words.
"Stay vigilant… the creature has to be lurking somewhere in here."
Frieda follows.
Her sister's advice replays in her mind.
When the area tells you to let your guard down, an ambush shall come.
Back, Below, Up. The areas of first priority.
Rosa scans. Nothing catches her eyes.
She scours the ground, searching for fresh tracks.
Stale. Stale. Stale. Mildly stale.
Her eyes twitch.
Multiple fresh tracks crash against each other.
"Frieda… Torch…"
Rosa turns back, meeting Frieda's eyes. Frieda nods immediately.
She grabs a torch from Lennard's hand and throws it toward Rosa.
Rosa catches it with ease. The oranges override the grays.
"Sharvessaich."
Darkness consumes the shades of gray once again.
In exchange, the details become crisp. She can differentiate depths and edges far better now.
Cut over. Next. Slithered over. Next. Flattened. Next.
Then one catches her eye. A fresh, uninterrupted track.
She walks toward the trail.
"Rosa…"
Frieda calls.
Rosa raises her hand, palm facing Frieda.
She continues to follow the track. Then it stops. Right at the cave wall.
She glances back once more. Nothing.
Then she glances up.
Her eyes widen.
It's a minuscule detail. Without Sharvessaich, she would have missed it.
The torchlight bends. Ever so slightly. The light on the cave wall bends.
Light refraction.
Rosa's jaw slackens.
The body is large. Far larger than she imagined.
It moves. Slow. Fluid. Almost no sound.
No — if she hadn't noticed it first, the sound would have slipped past her entirely.
Rosa's eyes follow the bent light. It stretches from the ceiling.
Then further to the center. She sees the other end.
Dangling right above Lennard. He hasn't noticed.
The torchlight above him bends wrong.
Its mandibles are already open. It's on its way down.
Its width alone is larger than a dog.
Rosa's hand points her staff before her mind catches up.
The crisp details around her vision begin to fade. The glow in her eyes dims to nothing.
Lightning already crackles around her, gathering energy at the jade tip.
Her mind catches up a second later.
Something fast. Something quick.
The bending torchlight is no longer visible to her.
Doesn't matter. She already remembers its position.
The crackles of lightning form and amass at the tip — a second slower than usual, but still fast enough.
"Schnellvlitz!"
The lightning hurling from her staff is far weaker than everything she has cast so far.
A quick lightning bolt. Even weaker than a simple Vlitz.
It strikes right on its invisible body and explodes the air.
Pulling everyone's attention.
Everything seems frozen.
The party looks up. Rosa's mind stops for a second.
The smoke begins to dissipate. The light bending in an unnatural way is now emphasized by the gathering smoke as it partially covers the creature.
Even without Sharvessaich, she can make out the shape quite easily.
It quickly slithers away. Far too quick for unenchanted vision.
"It… It can camouflage!"
Lilia shouts.
"Everyone! Use Sharvessaich!"
Rosa commands. The blue glow in her eyes returns, giving back the sharp vision.
"Sharvessaich…"
"Sharvessaich."
"Sharvessaich!"
Frieda, Eihard, then Lilia. They mutter the spell, one after the other.
"Sharve…saich…"
Even Lennard.
"Everyone be careful! It can strike from anywhere!"
Frieda warns.
"Eihard!"
Rosa calls, catching Eihard's and Lilia's attention.
Their eyes visibly glow under the outer reach of the torchlight.
Rosa throws her torch toward him. It extinguishes in the air.
Eihard catches it immediately and grabs something from his satchel.
Fwissh
A spark lights up from the stone he holds. The torch ignites.
Rosa scans once more. The dim light makes it harder, but she knows what to look for.
Fresh tracks. Bent light.
Back. Above. Below. Clear.
She crouches, placing her bag on the floor.
She grabs two more unlit torches.
"Lilia!"
She calls and throws one of the torches.
Lilia catches it.
Rosa produces a stone glyph from her pocket. The same kind Eihard used.
Fwissh
As soon as her torch is lit, she readies herself. Bag on her back.
Again. Back, above, and below. No sign of the creature.
"Keep an eye out, Frieda! The bastard might target him again!"
Eihard calls, swinging his arm toward Frieda from across the chamber.
Frieda nods.
Rosa glances toward Frieda. A spot behind her, to be precise.
She raises her staff and closes her eyes.
No sounds. Only the crackling of torches and the others' footsteps reach her ears.
She opens her eyes. Nothing.
Back, above, and below.
Nothing.
She glances at Eihard. Looking left, then right, above, then behind.
Then she brings her gaze to Lilia.
She's looking up, holding her lit torch.
Eyes glowing blue, mixed with her emerald green.
"Lilia…?"
Rosa calls.
Lilia raises her hand as soon as Rosa's call fades.
Her palm faces toward Rosa.
Moments later, the glow in her eyes flickers as she takes a deep breath.
A spark flickers at the corner of her mouth.
She jerks her body forward.
"Vrandaetem!"
A cone of flames flares upward from Lilia's mouth.
A carpet of fire licks the entire ceiling above her.
The flames waver, flicker, and don't fully connect to the ceiling.
Then Rosa sees it. The fire — or rather, the absence of fire — forms a clear outline of the centipede.
It's not sprawling like before. It's coiling in the corner of the cave.
Again, locking its gaze toward Lennard's direction.
"Frieda!"
Eihard shouts, his voice ringing through the cave as he sprints toward the burning ceiling.
Frieda points her staff toward Eihard.
White light flickers from her outline before it fully emanates from her.
"Auvleit!"
Eihard's greaves glow white as he begins to leap into his run.
His metal gloves glow with a full red outline. They thicken and thin before the red stabilizes.
His leaps grow longer, faster, and higher.
He stomps his foot downward. The soft vibrations reach Rosa's shoes.
His body propels high toward the coiled space around the flame.
CRAAAACK!
His knuckles connect to the bent light.
The flame dies at the same time as the ceiling quakes from the impact.
KSHIIIIIII!
Dust and debris rain down from the cracked rocks where the centipede just coiled.
Again, the negative space where the dust doesn't hit gives its position away.
The creature falls before Eihard does. It doesn't wait.
It immediately launches itself toward the falling man with a wide open mandible.
Rosa points her staff, fading the detail of her vision.
"Varriere!"
Hexagonal glass panels join together in front of Eihard.
One, two, four, eight, sixteen.
The centipede slams it at full force. Rumbling even the cave wall.
KRR… KRRRK!
Even with full mana restoration, she can't do anything about the delay.
Thirty-two. The shield cracks while still in the middle of forming.
"Hyaaaah!"
Rosa swipes the staff sideways, then stops midway.
The shield moves with it, only to be held by the creature's overwhelming force.
"Sternsegen!"
Frieda's call echoes from behind her.
White light wraps Rosa's vision.
Rosa's eyes widen as she feels it.
The weight on her staff slowly easing up.
"HaaaAAAAH!" Rosa screams louder, putting all of her strength into the swipe.
Dust scatters as it slides on the cave floor.
"Frieda!"
Rosa calls back. Frieda's body already illuminates with an intense white light.
"Lichterkaite!"
The chains wrap around the creature's invisible body.
Each chain link is bigger than she previously saw.
Frieda squints her blue eyes, gritting her teeth as her triangular face visibly tenses.
"Kkhhh…. Nnnngggh!"
She grunts, gripping her staff with whitening knuckles.
The centipede thrashes around as it kicks more dust into the air.
The chain holds. But it's clear that Frieda gives it her all.
Rosa points her staff toward the struggling chains.
Her body glows blue. Sparks begin to flicker around her.
Not spread, not bloom, and they don't crack the air.
They shoot upward above Rosa. Forming three bird-shaped lightning arrows.
"Vlitzsperling!"
One darts forward, striking the invisible shape. The creature thrashes some more.
Another darts forward as the first lightning begins to dissipate prematurely.
Another one is forming above her head.
Shoot. Form. Shoot. Then form.
Each quicker than the last.
Eventually, a barrage of lightning birds strikes the invisible creature.
Each faster, yet weaker than before.
The veil around its body begins to fade. Revealing a black metallic body.
She can already guess how large it is from the bending light alone.
But seeing it with her own eyes sends chills down her spine.
Rosa begins to pant. It finally flails less.
Eihard and Lilia are already holding the daggers with both hands, approaching from either side.
Both of them lunge forward at the same time.
"AAAaaaaargh!"
Lennard's voice.
Rosa's gaze snaps behind her.
"Lennard!"
Frieda looks back as well.
Rosa's eyes widen at the sight.
An ore hermit has its pincers gripping Lennard's arm, dragging him further back toward where they came from.
"Kh!"
Frieda winces, eyes shutting tight. Her teeth grit harder.
The sound of glass breaking pulls her attention back to the centipede.
The creature coils into itself and spins — a blur of black that snaps the chains apart.
The chains shatter. The force hurls both Eihard and Lilia backward.
"Hyaaah!" "Nnngh!"
Lilia's and Eihard's cries follow.
It takes one moment of lost focus.
Blood drains from Rosa's face.
Everything seems to slow down as the centipede lifts its enormous body.
Its eyes meet hers. As if looking down on her.
Rosa's feet take a step back on their own.
Cold sweat beads on her temple.
Her gaze moves toward the rapid incoming footsteps.
Lilia is the first to recover, already hurling herself forward with the dagger in her hand.
The centipede coils itself tightly. Then a blur of black, screams follow.
Next thing Rosa knows, she is already on the ground with a sharp pain in her shoulder.
She glances up, meeting Lilia's eyes as she also hugs the floor.
"Li… lia…"
Another hurl of black on the corner of her eyes.
"Ggggh!"
Eihard's grunt follows, chained by an ugly slam against the cave wall.
It's fast. Too fast.
Rosa quickly darts her gaze to Frieda.
She is the only one who can bind the creature.
Rosa's eyes twitch.
"Aaaaagh! No! Nooo! Friedaaa!"
"Lichtpfeile!"
Multiple light arrows barrage the ore hermit dragging Lennard.
Then more hermits appear.
One. Two. Three.
Her jaw slackens.
Seven. Twelve. Twenty.
Strength leaves her body.
Three more. Five more.
The sounds of scuttling grow more frantic by the second.
More and more ore hermits pour out of the corridor they came from.
No… No… Please no…
Another slam.
Rosa watches as Eihard lies on the floor just beside the creature.
The centipede's head is planted against the now-cracked wall.
It slowly pulls away.
This is it. This is how they are going to die.
A furious centipede outclassing them. No one can bind it.
It moves far too quick.
Rosa glances at Frieda, now dragging Lennard from the dead hermit.
All while the swarm closes in.
They need Frieda. Yet they also need to do something about the pouring hermits.
She glances once more at Lilia. Frieda. Lilia.
Both need her.
"Rosa!"
Her gaze snaps toward the voice. Lilia's voice.
She struggles to plant one foot before another.
Yet she stands anyway. A fierce gaze burns in her eyes.
Rosa tries to stand as well.
Ngh—
Sharp pain courses through her body as she tries to lean on her elbow.
Yet she pushes. Both Rosa and Lilia now stand, looking at each other.
Lilia gazes briefly at the centipede. Then back to Rosa.
A single nod while she maintains her gaze.
Rosa instantly understands what she means.
She glances at Frieda, desperately warding off the closing hermits.
She needs help. Yet so do Eihard and Lilia.
Then she returns to Lilia's unwavering gaze.
Rosa returns her nod. A hesitant one.
Please survive.
She turns away from Lilia and sprints toward Frieda.
"Frieda!"
Frieda briefly glances back.
A sheet of honeycomb-shaped barrier separates her from the swarm.
The barrier extends toward the direction where the hermits try to flank.
"Rosa… this is not good… We need to do something about them…"
Shivers run throughout Rosa's body from the sheer number of hermits.
Almost as many as she saw in that room. Maybe more.
She darts her gaze toward the corridor she came from. Where they came from.
Lilia mentioned that she left the void ore in the chamber where they rested.
She has to destroy it. She has to destroy the chance to retrieve the void ore.
"Support pillars…"
Rosa mutters. Remembering how they got trapped in this cave to begin with.
Lilia's explosion. She probably damaged the support pillar, triggering a collapse.
She gulps. This is a heavy gamble. Wrong pillar, and possibly the entire chamber collapses with them.
The alternative: more hermits pour in, and they get swarmed to death.
"Frieda…" She calls softly.
"Speak."
Frieda doesn't look back, maintaining her barrier.
"I'll cut off the corridor. There should be a pillar to destroy. Collapsing the way they came from."
"Aim for the horizontal beam above the pillars instead."
"What if it's not enough?" Hesitation laces Rosa's voice.
"What if it's too much?"
Silence stretches between them.
"We'll die either way."
Frieda sighs.
"Fine. Horizontal beam first, pillar if it's not enough."
Rosa nods.
"Sharvessaich."
Her eyes dart around the entrance — the two wooden pillars on either side, the horizontal beam stacked across the top, all supporting the cave wall.
More and more hermits pour in.
She glances upward toward the horizontal beam.
She exhales as she points her staff toward it.
The details fade.
Her body glows blue as sparks flicker on the jade tip and dart above Rosa.
Forming the bird-shaped lightning.
One darts forward while another already forms.
The first horizontal beam breaks on contact.
Rubble rains down on the coming hermits. Crushing them.
The second projectile comes crashing into the beam behind it.
The rubble crashes down on the hermits.
Her eyes widen.
She watches the rubble fall. Watches the hermits crumple beneath the weight.
Her gaze drifts upward.
Stone. Cracks spidering through rock.
And the swarm, still pouring in. Directly beneath it.
Something clicks in her mind.