"Even though I prepared myself mentally, this is still a pretty grim sight..." Jeanne muttered, staring out at the array of bizarre, twisted organisms glowing under the pale blue light. The sheer density of the creatures was beyond anything she had anticipated.
The lifeforms crawling below were far more abstract than those they had fought earlier. Monstrous, unnatural shapes slithered and swayed in a horrific, silent rhythm, as if the party had stumbled into a underground gathering of alien beasts.
"Are those... crops?" Jeanne asked, catching sight of strange, misshapen flora lining the stone walls. "What kind of flower grows like that?"
She refrained from reaching out to touch them. In a subterranean vault overrun by sea beasts, anything growing freely was bound to be dangerous.
"Don't touch them," Skadi warned, stepping closer. "Those are a specialized breed of Seaborn as well. They are far more trouble than they look."
Jeanne and Fafnir both blinked, their curiosity piqued. How did a plant-like creature like that survive down here? It was an absurdly bizarre adaptation.
Still, trusting Skadi's instinct, Jeanne kept her distance. As she scanned the vast cavern, she noticed something unnatural about the architecture.
"This space wasn't formed naturally," Skadi noted, pointing to the high, arched ceiling. "There are distinct excavation marks all along the stone. Look at those support pillars—those are the hardened shells of large terrorfish. They used the carapaces as structural beams to hollow out this entire chamber."
A cold sensation ran down Skadi's spine. How many of these hidden nests existed across Terra? How many subterranean tunnels were lurking beneath the land, waiting for the signal to launch a surprise invasion?
"We have to destroy this place," Jeanne said softly, her voice filled with resolve. "We can't leave this cavern intact."
Not far from this area lay a major nomadic city housing over two hundred thousand residents. If a swarm of these entities burst out from beneath the earth without warning, the city would be turned into a slaughterhouse before any defense could be organized.
As they discussed their plan, Fafnir noticed something crawling along the cavern floor, climbing the damp walls, and creeping down from the ceiling. A thick, slimy carpet of fungal tissue was slowly spreading toward their feet.
Fafnir didn't know what the creeping growth was, but her instincts told her it meant danger. Squeezing Jeanne's skirt, she backed away nervously, accidentally stepping on a delicate leaf of one of the strange blue flowers.
SKREEEEEE!
The flower let out a piercing, shrill shriek that echoed off the stone vault. In an instant, the quiet cavern erupted into a cacophony of frantic, clicking screeches.
"Jeanne, I think I made a mistake..." Fafnir whimpered, shrinking behind her.
"It wasn't you," Jeanne replied instantly, watching the spreading creep reach her boots. "They already knew we were here."
The creatures had tricked them. They had pretended to be unaware of the intruders, quietly spreading the creeping tissue to trap their feet and restrict their movement while the surrounding horde encircled the entrance to cut off any retreat.
Triggered by the flower's alarm, hundreds of sea beasts surged forward like hungry hunters, eager to reduce the trespassers to bio-mass.
"How did they spot us so quickly...?" Skadi paused, a sudden realization washing over her face. "It was me. I'm the beacon."
Skadi knew her own blood was a magnet for these abominations. Whenever she bled or drew near them, the ocean's spawn would react wildly to her presence. Standing this close to a full hive, how could they possibly miss her?
Once again, her presence had brought danger to those around her. Skadi's eyes dimmed with familiar guilt, even as her colossal sword blurred into a whirlwind of steel, severing the heads of the incoming tide.
"Stop letting unfounded guilt mess with your head!" Jeanne called out, swinging her banner pole like a heavy lance and smashing three attacking beasts into splatter.
"We came here to purge these things anyway! What does it matter how they found us? Just hit them harder!"
Jeanne continued to drive back the horde with powerful strikes, but the swarm pressed forward without the slightest regard for self-preservation. They weren't just trying to kill the intruders; they were forming a living wall to trap them deep within the cavern.
Jeanne couldn't tell if the beasts were acting on genuine strategic intellect, but their sheer numbers were effective at pinning them down. In such an enclosed space, Jeanne couldn't simply summon her dark inferno without risking a structural collapse that would bury them alive.
Skadi glanced over at Jeanne, a faint, rare smile brushing her lips as Jeanne's stubborn words broke through her dark thoughts. She tightened her grip on her greatsword, putting even more weight behind her swings.
"They're smarter than they look," Jeanne gritted her teeth, watching the beasts block every avenue of escape. They clearly understood which attacks threatened their survival and were determined to keep the intruders trapped inside the vault.
"We need to force our way out," Skadi said urgently. "If we get bogged down here, we'll be worn down by sheer numbers. If necessary... leave me and fall back!"
"Not happening," Jeanne snapped. "I have a plan—just get us close to the entrance!"
Scooping up Fafnir, Jeanne held the dragon forward. In an instant, the small dragon turned into a living flame-thrower, unleashing a torrent of white-hot dragonfire straight down the tunnel.
Jeanne no longer cared about collateral damage. With her physical endurance and high magic resistance, she could withstand the intense heat.
She glanced back at Skadi to make sure she was holding up. Though the extreme heat made the Abyssal Hunter uncomfortable, her superhuman constitution allowed her to endure the blaze without missing a beat.
The sea beasts, however, possessed no such defense. Caught in the path of Fafnir's breath, the vanguard was incinerated instantly, their charred remains crumbling into ash beneath the intense heat.
"Move forward!" Jeanne shouted, clearing the path while keeping an eye on Skadi to ensure the hunter didn't do anything foolishly self-sacrificing.
To Jeanne's relief, Skadi stayed right by her side, matching her pace step for step.
Skadi refrained from using the full, earth-shattering force of her heavy sword, wary of collapsing the tunnel ceiling onto them. Even so, every sweep of her blade produced a sharp sonic boom that parted the swarm.
Under their combined assault, the narrow exit of the cavern finally came into view. Jeanne felt a surge of relief, but a sudden, uncomfortable sensation made her skin crawl.
It felt as though hundreds of microscopic insects were wriggling across her legs—a sensation that caused no physical damage, but was deeply revolting.
"Careful—it's Nethersea Brand!" Skadi warned, spotting a patch of the creeping, fungal tissue coiling around the torn fabric of Jeanne. The corruptive growth was known to erode the minds of land dwellers, making it a insidious hazard.
Without a second thought, Jeanne reached down, grabbed the slimy tissue with her bare hand, and ripped it off, tossing it aside as if it were nothing more than a piece of mud. She showed no signs of mental distress or corruption whatsoever, leaving Skadi momentarily stunned by her sheer immunity.
Before the swarm could close the gap, Jeanne grabbed Skadi's arm and bolted out through the narrow cavern entrance.
Outside, a few stray sea beasts roamed the corridor, but their numbers were far smaller. Turning back toward the open cavern where hundreds of monstrosities were surging toward the exit, Jeanne picked up Fafnir and pointed her toward the dark vault.
"Fafnir, breathe fire!"
In the next second, a catastrophic wave of roaring crimson dragonfire swept into the enclosed cavern, sealing the entrance behind a wall of absolute destruction as hot air blasted into the corridor.