They woke without ceremony, the slow return of awareness, muscles loosening, breath steadying in the stale underground air. Gear was checked and blades wiped. Then they moved again.
The tunnels didn't give them what they wanted.
Twice they pushed forward only to sense it, pressure in the stone, the wrong kind of stillness. Captain-rank stonebacks, big ones, heavy breaths echoing through rock. Each time, Arin raised a fist, and they fell back immediately, retreating into tighter tunnels where the monsters' bulk couldn't follow.
Hours passed like that.
No lone soldier ranks, no stragglers. Just silence and the occasional distant rumble that made the stone tremble.
Victor broke it first. "This isn't good. We're not finding any Soldier-ranks anymore."
Arin nodded, eyes scanning the tunnel ahead as if answers might be carved into the walls. "I know."
"So what do we do?" Victor asked. "At this rate, we're stuck. We can't fight Captain ranks head-on, and going back now means all this was for nothing."
Arin slowed to a stop.
"We have two options," he said carefully. "We retreat fully. Or we go back to the incubation chamber."
Raul exhaled sharply. "That's dangerous. There are nine of them. Even if we each take one, that's still three too many."
Mina hesitated, then spoke. "It's risky," she agreed. "But… if we manage to kill even one, I can raise it. Not a contract. Just a regular undead."
They all looked at her.
"That changes the numbers," she continued. "We wouldn't need to win clean. Just survive long enough to tilt the field."
Arin was quiet for a long moment.
"That's feasible," he said at last. "But the margin for error is thin."
"We don't need a perfect fight," Mina said. "Just kill one fast, then we can manage. If things go wrong, we run. Rook and Tank can slow them down. I can recall them later."
Victor glanced at Raul. Raul shrugged once. "I've done worse for less."
Arin nodded slowly. "Then that's the plan. We send Rook and Tank in first as a distraction. The four of us focus on one target, kill it fast. Mina raises it. That gives us a seven-on-eight."
He looked at them, one by one.
"That's winnable."
No one argued.
They moved.
As the incubation chamber came into view again, tension settled over them like a second skin. The cavern opened wide, heat lingering faintly around the clustered eggs at the center. Nine stoneback lizards guarded the space, massive bodies positioned with instinctive precision.
Two at each of the 4 tunnel entrances. One directly by the eggs.
The monsters hadn't changed. But the group had.
Two stonebacks stood beneath the tunnel they approached from, directly below. Arin adjusted the plan on the fly.
"Mina," he whispered. "Drop Rook and Tank first. We jump immediately after; we take both of them first."
She nodded, swallowing once.
They took their positions.
Arin raised three fingers.
Three.
Two.
One.
"Now."
Mina released them.
Rook and Tank burst into existence mid-air and slammed down onto the two stonebacks below, their weight crushing them. Bone cracked, Scales shattered. The sudden impact shook the chamber.
Before the monsters could fully react, the rest of them jumped.
Raul vanished mid-fall, Flowstep carrying him through the air like a skipped heartbeat. He reappeared at ground level, blades flashing as Midnight Whistles carved across one stoneback's face. Blood sprayed, hot and dark.
Arin hit next.
He landed on the creature's skull and drove Midnight Howl down with everything he had. The blade screeched against plated bone, biting deep but not enough.
The stoneback roared.
Tank didn't give it time.
The undead slammed its weight forward, jaws clamping around the monster's neck with a wet, crushing snap. Raul flowstepped again, blades severing tendons along its flank. Arin wrenched his blade free and struck again.
The stoneback collapsed in a heap of blood and broken scales.
Dead.
On the other side, Victor was already moving.
Midnight Thunder crashed down onto the second stoneback's head, staggering it backward. The creature opened its jaws in a furious roar—
—and Mina was there.
Her spear thrust forward, clean and precise, driving straight into its mouth. The point punched through soft tissue and into the brain. The stoneback convulsed violently, claws tearing gouges into stone, but Rook pinned it from behind, undead strength holding it in place.
It died choking.
The chamber erupted.
The remaining seven stonebacks roared in unison, turning as one toward the intruders. Heavy bodies surged forward, claws scraping stone as they charged.
Mina dropped to one knee.
She didn't hesitate.
"Rise."
Necromantic mana exploded outward from her body, spiraling in dark arcs as the two fresh corpses twitched and moved. The drain was immediate and brutal. Her vision swam. Her knees nearly gave out.
Two more undead stonebacks stood.
She gasped, blood pounding in her ears. Nearly 90% of her mana was gone.
But it was done.
"It's eight to seven now," Arin said sharply. "Form up!"
Mina forced herself upright and raised her voice. "Forward! Hold the line!"
All four undead surged ahead, forming a wall of flesh and bone as the living stonebacks crashed into them. The impact shook the chamber, roars echoing violently as claws tore into undead hides that didn't feel pain.
Victor moved to Arin's side, shield raised, hammer ready.
Raul slipped behind them, disappearing into motion and shadow.
The battle exploded into chaos.
Undead and living monsters clashed head-on, bodies slamming together with earth-shaking force. One stoneback tore into Tank's flank, ripping scale and muscle away, but Tank didn't slow, jaws clamping shut around its attacker's leg and crushing bone.
Victor stepped forward and met another stoneback head-on, shield braced as claws raked across it. He grunted, muscles straining, then swung Midnight Thunder in a brutal arc that shattered teeth and sent the creature reeling.
Arin moved constantly, never settling, striking exposed joints, calling out openings, adjusting the line before it could buckle.
In the corner of his vision, something shifted.
One stoneback broke away from the clash and turned straight toward Mina.
"Mina, move!" Arin shouted.