Riding on Pidgeot's back, Azrael soon reached the mountain's peak. What he found there wasn't what he'd expected at all. Instead of a flat summit or rocky outcropping, the mountaintop opened into a dark cave entrance. The sight made him pause; caves like this could be death traps if you went in unprepared.
Fortunately, the association had already been there. Lighting equipment was scattered along the cave walls, providing enough illumination to see where you were going. It wasn't bright, but it was better than stumbling around in complete darkness.
Azrael stood at the entrance, weighing his options. The Association's Lore Cardian had assured him that nothing above the Black Iron level lurked in this secret realm. Still, caves had a way of hiding surprises. After a moment's hesitation, curiosity won out. He was there to explore, after all.
"Come on out, Yoriichi." Azrael summoned his demon-slayer companion, and together, they stepped into the cave's shadowy depths.
Back in the monitoring room, the captain of the Lore Cardians munched on biscuits while keeping an eye on the surveillance screens. "Young people these days have real guts," he chuckled to himself as he watched Azrael disappear into the cave. "I remember there's supposed to be a centipede in there somewhere, right?"
He had to admire the kid's courage. At that age, he would have taken one look at the cave and found somewhere else to be. When no one responded to his comment, the captain glanced at his colleague. "Kent? You still with me?"
Kent sat motionless, staring at the monitor with vacant eyes. Something had been off about him all day.
"Hey, Kent!" The captain's voice now carried a note of concern. "You feeling all right? Maybe you should head home and get some rest."
Still no response. Kent remained transfixed by the screen, as if he hadn't heard a word.
Finally, the older man seemed to snap out of it. "Ah? No, no. I was just thinking about my mother."
The captain shook his head but didn't press the issue. "All right, well, let's get ready. If this kid runs into trouble in there, we'll need to pull him out fast."
Kent had already drifted back into his trance-like state. The captain started to say something comforting, then thought better of it. Everyone dealt with family stress differently.
"Tap, tap, tap." Azrael and Yoriichi's footsteps echoed through the empty cave passages. The sound seemed unnaturally loud in the silence.
"This is weird," Azrael muttered, glancing around nervously. "We should've run into something by now, right?" They had been walking for a while, and he hadn't seen so much as a hair from any monster, let alone an actual creature.
Then, a smell hit him—something rank and fishy that made his nose wrinkle. "Yoriichi, can you smell that?"
The demon slayer nodded grimly. He'd caught the scent, too.
Azrael's expression turned serious. "Stay alert. There might be something bigger in here than we bargained for."
It made sense when he thought about it. What could clear out an entire area of monsters? Only something powerful enough to drive them all away or eat them.
They moved more carefully now, their footsteps deliberately quiet as they pressed deeper into the cave. The smell grew stronger with each step.
Eventually, they emerged into a vast, open chamber. Azrael stopped dead in his tracks, his jaw dropping at the sight before him.
"Holy shit, that's a thousand footer."
The massive centipede stretched nearly a hundred meters across the cavern floor, its chitinous shell gleaming dully in the artificial light. But this wasn't a living threat; someone or something had already cut the monster cleanly in half. Its corpse lay motionless, a testament to whatever had killed it.
Before either of them could process what they were seeing, a rustling sound drew their attention. Something moved beneath the giant carcass.
"There," Azrael said, pointing as a smaller centipede emerged. It was still intimidating at eight or nine meters long but definitely more manageable than its predecessor.
"Do you think we can handle it, Yoriichi?" Azrael asked, already knowing the answer from his companion's body language. "If not, we're out of here. There's no shame in living to fight another day."
Yoriichi responded by silently drawing his blade, the steel singing as it cleared its sheath.
"I'll take that as a yes." Azrael summoned Pidgeot again and ran his hand over the bird's feathers. "You're with Yoriichi on this one, buddy. Birds eat bugs, right?"
Although Pidgeot was only a green-level card, its natural advantage should count for something. The loyal bird nuzzled Azrael's hand once before taking to the air and circling above their target.
The centipede had noticed them now. It reared up on its hind segments, its front half swaying as it tracked Pidgeot's flight path. Then, with a bone-chilling hiss, it launched itself skyward with surprising speed.
Pidgeot banked sharply, its wings cutting through the air as the centipede's mandibles snapped at empty space. The creature crashed back to earth, but Yoriichi was already there, waiting.
Flames erupted from his blade as he struck upward. However, the centipede wasn't a mindless beast. It twisted in midair and presented its armored back to deflect the worst of the attack. Steel met chitin with a shower of sparks.
The monster hit the ground hard, but it rolled with the impact and immediately spat a cloud of purple poison toward Yoriichi. In close quarters, that would have been problematic. Fortunately, they had air support.
Pidgeot swooped down, and Yoriichi grabbed the bird's talon with practiced ease. They rose above the toxic cloud as the poison spread uselessly below.
"Sun Breathing, Tenth Form: Burning Bone Sun Flame!"
Yoriichi descended like a falling star, his blade surrounded by swirling flames. The technique struck the centipede dead center, and flames engulfed its entire body. Its death shriek echoed through the cavern as it thrashed in the inferno.
Pidgeot set Yoriichi down beside Azrael, and they watched as the centipede's struggles grew weaker. Eventually, it stopped moving altogether.
"Give it another test run," said Azrael, not about to take any chances. He'd seen too many movies where the monster got back up for one last scare.
Sure enough, when Pidgeot approached, the "dead" centipede made one final lunge. It barely had the strength to lift itself off the ground before collapsing again. This time, even when Pidgeot poked holes in its carapace, there was no reaction.
Azrael approached the corpse and began harvesting materials. The system identified his prize: Black Iron Grade [Centipede] (Purple Quality).
"Thank God for Gabi's advice about making a riding card," Azrael thought as he worked. Without Pidgeot's mobility, Yoriichi could have won the fight, but it would have been much messier.
"Now that's impressive!" In the monitoring room, the captain watched Azrael's victory with genuine admiration. "Kent, you really should've seen that. The kid's got real talent."
But Kent didn't respond. When the captain turned to check on him, he heard something that made his blood freeze: heavy, ragged breathing right behind his chair.
"Ho ho ho."
The captain started to turn, but scarlet claws punched through his chest before he could finish. His vision spun as his head left his shoulders. The last thing he saw was his own headless body crumpling to the floor.
A crimson figure burst through the monitoring room door and paused only to sniff the air like a hunting animal. Then, it bounded away, following a scent toward its next prey.
No one witnessed the massacre in the monitoring room. Only the spreading pool of blood told the story of what had happened there.