Footsteps crunched on gravel, breaking the silence. Lena and Lysa stepped from the tunnel's shadows, with Lysa's fingers already wrapped tight around her daggers.

Lena's eyes gave serious looks to Torren, Reidar and Jorik. "We found something. You need to see this."

Without another word, she turned and headed back into the darkness. The group swapped uneasy looks but followed anyway. Their earlier tension had faded into curiosity. Besides, if Lena and Lysa had come back fine, the path was probably safe.

<It's likely that most of the monsters in the area have been drawn by my summons.>

The narrow tunnel soon opened into an extensive cavern. And then they saw it.

The walls, the ceiling, and the very floor of the cavern were threaded with veins of a strange, dark-grey rock.

The cavern was so brightly lit they could see everything clearly.

"This…" Reidar said as he stared at the pulsing veins in the cavern wall, "This thing is… actually generating light on its own?"

He reached out slowly, his fingers stopping just short of the glowing rock.

"It's giving off heat, too." It was noticeably warmer than the tunnel they'd just left.

As for the light, a single vein didn't shine all that brightly. Put together, though, there was simply no single space for darkness.

"What the hell is this?" Jorik breathed out, his earlier severity forgotten as he stared in awe.

"Its Noctilucent Ore," Lena said. She ran a gloved hand over a glowing vein, and it brightened faintly at her touch.

Torren frowned. "How do you know that?"

"Martin," she said, not looking at him. "He had me buy the 'Velia's Regional Geology' skill book from Morv'axil days ago. He wanted a full log of every resource in this quarry. This was a priority."

Jorik stepped closer, peering at the shimmering rock. "What's it used for? Aside from… well, this." He gestured at the brightened cave.

"Crafters can smelt it into ingots for weapons and armor. They are often used to make lights, of course. More importantly, its powder is a powerful reagent. It amplifies enchantments related to light and illusion magic."

Reidar's head snapped up. "Illusion magic, light magic?" Reidar knew nothing about them.

"It's pretty useful," Lysa said, talking about illusion magic. Everyone went quiet, she hardly ever spoke. The last time she'd said anything was a "thank you" when Reidar healed her. So, hearing her talk was weird enough.

"Well, Martin for sure will be happy to hear this."

"He will," Lena said. "Light during the night will help us a lot…" She paused. "Imagine the guards being able to see the monsters approaching the gates."

"It will indeed be great!" Jorik said.

However, a deep rumble throbbed through the soles of their boots. Fine dust sifted down from the cavern ceiling. The light of the ore seemed to flicker in response.

Reidar's gaze shot to Lena. "What is happening?"

"I don't know," Lena said.

Then Reidar had a thought.

"Did you two check the area properly?"

Lena's jaw tightened. "We did. There was nothing here but rock and this ore." Her eyes darted across the shaking walls, and for a moment, that usual icy calm of hers seemed to slip.

"Form up! Defensive positions, now!"

The rumbling intensified, resolving into the distinct skittering scrape of countless legs.

From the dark mouths of half a dozen smaller tunnels. Some creatures started pouring forth. Dozens of Shard-Tooth Skitterers.

They were lizard-like creatures about a meter long, with a body made of cracked, grey stone.

Their level shot into Reidar's vision. Level 39.

<A swarm, flock… Whatever… Luckily they are not strong.>

Before Reidar could even form a question, a deafening crack echoed from above. A section of the cavern ceiling, weakened by the quaking, gave way.

But their numbers could, there were hundreds of them.

Massive chunks of rock and earth crashed down. It was a cascading wall of debris that separated Reidar from the others in an instant.

Through the dust and falling rock, Lena's eyes went wide with a rare flash of panic, and Jorik's mouth hung open in a shout Reidar couldn't hear.

Then the last boulder thudded into place, sealing him in. The frantic skittering from the other side of the rockfall was muffled, but it was still there.

However, a new sound appeared, or better, a more distinct one. It was a guttural breathing that made his bones rattle, followed by the sound of heavy footsteps falling on the ground, making everything tremble.

He turned.

<Ah, shit. That's what Jorik shouted.>

The creature filled the far end of the cavern. It was a monstrous, bear-like beast, easily fifteen feet at the shoulder, supported on six trunk-like legs that ended in worn, crushing claws.

Its back was a nightmare landscape of thick, cracked plates that formed a colossal shell, a grotesque carapace of fused stone and scarred hide that looked less like skin and more like a mountainside given monstrous life.

This shell had split open in several places, ruptured from within by the growth of massive, glittering purple amethyst geodes that pulsed with an internal light.

As the terrible creature took a step forward, the ground trembled. Its hide was a mosaic of scar tissue and rock, and its small, intelligent eyes burned with a deep, territorial fury that was directed solely at the human in front of it.

–[Alpha Geode-Back Mauler - Level 65]–

Reidar's blood ran cold. This thing was strong, far stronger than he was. It was a cold fist in his gut. A nineteen-level difference.

<That's a critical threat.>

"Reidar!" Lena's voice was a distant, frantic hammering against the rockfall. "That's the boss monster! Do not engage! Use the summons to get out!"

The Alpha's head lowered, a low, enraging roar building in its chest that made the very air shudder. The geodes on its back flared brighter.

Reidar cursed. He was alone, trapped, with a creature that could shred him apart, even though stomping would be the right term to use here.

<Well, at least I can now go all out…>

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