Cael didn't move.
His breath hitched in his throat, and the glow from the scanner dimmed with every shaky exhale. Twenty-six meters. That's what the system had said. And now, even without the interface, he could feel it—movement in the dark. Controlled. Predatory.
The creature wasn't charging.
It was circling.
A line of system text stuttered into view—barely visible, glitching at the edges.
[SIGNAL DISTORTION DETECTED]Architectural Interface compromised.Local field interference: Organic Arcane Source
Blueprint projection unavailable.
Terrific.
The DAS couldn't project his escape route. Couldn't generate new builds. That left him with one advantage:
Stone.
He took two slow steps backward, into the mouth of a collapsed tunnel fork. Dust trickled from above. Good. That section was unstable.
And instability could be weaponized.
The creature came into view like a nightmare unfolding from shadow. Six long limbs skittered silently across the stone. Its body was low and flat, armored along the spine with dull, pulsing veins of corrupted Manasalt. Where eyes should have been, the skin was smooth—unbroken and dry.
It tilted its head sideways. Listening.
Not to sound. To pulse.
Every thought Cael had, every spike in his heart rate, every electromagnetic flicker from the tools on his belt—it read them all.
He reached slowly to his toolpack. No weapons, no golem.
But he had something better.
Steel beams. Two of them, salvaged earlier and strapped beneath the crate.
And the ancient 3D printer.
The plan formed fast.
Cael kicked the steel beams toward the pile of loose rubble near the tunnel fork. The creature tensed—then darted sideways. Fast. Silent.
He didn't watch where it went.
Instead, he crouched beside the printer and jammed the Auto-Leveler Beacon into the ground. It blinked once, registering uneven terrain.
[Manual Override Enabled]Emergency blueprint projection… partial.
Structure: STONE ANCHOR WALL – 40% IntegrityBuild Time: 14 secondsStatus: Unstable
Good enough.
He slapped the printer's activation rune. A soft, mechanical hiss followed as plates unfolded and metal shivered in the air. Stone chunks floated upward—slow, but forming.
The creature shrieked. Not a roar. A high-pitched, echoing cry that rattled Cael's bones. It charged—not toward him, but toward the forming structure.
It knew.
Cael dove for the steel beams, shoved them behind the half-built wall—and pulled hard.
The creature lunged just as the structure connected.
The wall gave out. The beam struck a load-bearing slab.
The ceiling collapsed.
Stone crashed down like a god's fist. Dust engulfed everything. The shriek cut off mid-note.
Silence.
Cael coughed, shielded his face, and backed away. The rubble didn't move.
[HOSTILE PRESENCE: Neutralized]Structural Collapse Success – 1 Threat Removed
System Stability: Recovered – 89%
Architect Note: "Efficient. Brutal. Architect-approved."
He nearly laughed at that. His heart was still trying to flee his chest.
But he was alive.
He crouched beside the wreckage, retrieved the scanner, and powered it back on. The interference faded. Interface lines returned.
And just beneath the rubble, his HUD blinked again.
[REMNANT SIGNAL FOUND]Fragment: Core Residue
Extraction Possible. Unknown origin.
Would you like to collect it, Architect?
Cael narrowed his eyes. Core residue?
Had that creature… formed around a fragment? Or worse—been guarding it?
Either way, he wasn't alone down here.
And the Deep had plans of its own.