Chapter 74 – The Dungeon Beneath the Mud
The scraping sound grew louder.
Stone grinding against scales.
The mud anaconda's body slid deeper into the cave, its massive coils forcing through the entrance like a river of living armor. Red eyes glowed in the darkness behind Jean-Daniel, Wilkens, and Kemi.
For one frozen moment nobody moved.
Then Wilkens shouted.
"RUN!"
They bolted down the tunnel.
Boots slammed against wet stone as the narrow passage twisted downward. The air inside the cave was colder than outside, heavy with moisture and the smell of minerals.
Behind them the snake surged forward.
Its body slammed against the walls of the tunnel, breaking stalactites and shaking loose chunks of rock.
Jean-Daniel glanced over his shoulder.
Bad idea.
The snake's head was already halfway through the passage.
"Move faster!" he barked.
"I'm trying!" Kemi snapped.
The tunnel curved sharply downward.
Wilkens' helmet crystal glowed brighter as it adjusted to the darkness.
"Wait—ground's sloping!"
Too late.
The stone beneath their feet gave way.
The smooth floor suddenly dropped into a steep natural chute polished by years of underground water.
Jean-Daniel lost his footing first.
"Aaaah—!"
He slipped.
Wilkens grabbed his arm instinctively.
Kemi grabbed Wilkens.
And suddenly all three of them were sliding.
Fast.
"Don't let go!" Wilkens yelled.
"I wasn't planning to!" Jean-Daniel shouted back.
They shot down the slick stone tunnel like a human chain.
The snake lunged after them—
But the narrow chute twisted sharply, and its massive body couldn't follow the same path without crushing itself against the rock.
The last thing Wilkens saw was the red glow of its eyes shrinking behind them.
Then the chute twisted again.
They were falling now.
Not far.
But far enough.
They dropped from the end of the slope and slammed into a shallow underground pool.
SPLASH.
Cold water exploded around them.
Jean-Daniel surfaced first, coughing.
"Ugh—!"
Wilkens popped up beside him, wiping mud out of his eyes with his hand.
"Everyone alive?"
Kemi surfaced a second later, sputtering.
"Barely!"
The pool wasn't deep—maybe waist-high—but it stretched across a wide underground chamber.
Above them the chute they'd fallen through disappeared into darkness.
And the snake…
Was nowhere in sight.
For now.
They stood in the water for a moment, breathing hard.
Jean-Daniel rubbed the back of his neck.
"Okay… that could've gone worse."
Wilkens blinked.
"Worse?"
"Yeah," Jean-Daniel said. "We could've landed on spikes or something."
Kemi groaned.
"Don't say that out loud. This place probably heard you."
Wilkens splashed water over his face, washing mud and blood away.
The cool water stung his cuts.
But it helped.
The pool slowly carried away the grime from their armor and clothes.
For the first time since the chase started, they had a second to breathe.
Jean-Daniel leaned against a rock and sighed.
"Alright."
He looked at the dark tunnel they'd fallen from.
"Step one: we're alive."
Wilkens nodded.
"Step two: snake lost sight of us."
Kemi added quietly,
"Step three… we have absolutely no idea where we are."
Jean-Daniel looked around.
The chamber was enormous.
Stone pillars rose from the water like natural columns.
Thin glowing fungi clung to the walls, casting faint blue light.
Three different tunnels branched out from the chamber.
Wilkens slowly turned his head.
"This isn't just a cave."
"No," Jean-Daniel said.
"It's a dungeon."
Kemi splashed toward the edge of the pool and climbed out.
Her boots squished.
"Fantastic."
She looked down one of the tunnels.
"So how do we get out?"
Wilkens climbed out beside her.
"We explore."
Jean-Daniel groaned.
"I knew you were going to say that."
Wilkens shrugged.
"We can't climb back up the chute. And the snake is probably waiting up there anyway."
Jean-Daniel rubbed his jaw.
"Fair point."
Kemi scanned the tunnels.
"Which path?"
Wilkens tapped the crystal on his helmet.
"Let me check something."
The green crystal pulsed faintly.
His vision shifted.
Several faint glows appeared deeper inside the tunnels.
Different colors.
White.
Green.
Blue.
Crystals.
Wilkens grinned slightly.
"Well…"
Jean-Daniel sighed.
"Of course there are monsters."
First Encounter
They took the tunnel on the left.
The ground was uneven, with cracks and shallow pits scattered along the floor.
Jean-Daniel nearly stepped into one before Wilkens grabbed his arm.
"Careful."
Jean-Daniel looked down.
A narrow pit opened in the stone, dropping several meters into darkness.
"Great," he muttered.
Kemi crouched beside it.
"That wasn't made by people."
"Natural collapse," Wilkens said.
Jean-Daniel nodded.
"So basically this place is trying to kill us."
"Correct."
They continued deeper.
The tunnel widened.
Then—
Click.
Kemi froze.
Something moved in the darkness ahead.
Then a screech echoed through the tunnel.
A group of massive cave spiders crawled from the walls.
Eight of them.
Each about the size of a large dog.
Their bodies were black and glossy, legs clicking against the stone.
Wilkens immediately recognized the crystal glow inside them.
"E-rank," he said quickly.
Jean-Daniel raised his hammer.
"Good."
The spiders attacked.
Wilkens moved first.
Lightning flashed under his boots.
He dashed forward and sliced one spider in half with his twin daggers.
Blue flame from the crystal burned through its body.
Jean-Daniel swung his hammer sideways.
CRACK.
Another spider exploded against the wall.
Kemi stepped forward and blasted two spiders with a burst of flame.
They curled up instantly.
The fight lasted ten seconds.
Silence returned.
Wilkens crouched and pulled the crystals from the bodies.
White.
Common.
Jean-Daniel looked unimpressed.
"We risked our lives for those?"
Kemi shrugged.
"Hey. Money is money."
Wilkens pocketed them.
"Let's keep moving."
Meanwhile – Surface
Tèt Pikan crouched behind a fallen tree.
The jungle had gone quiet again.
Too quiet.
Lobo wiped blood from his mouth.
"So…"
He glanced around.
"The snake isn't following us."
Rolo nodded slowly.
"That's bad."
Tèt looked toward the forest.
"If it's not following us…"
Lobo finished the sentence.
"It's following them."
Rolo stood.
"So what do we do?"
Tèt sighed.
"We keep moving."
Lobo blinked.
"What?"
"We finish the mission," Tèt said calmly.
"We came here for crystals."
Rolo frowned.
"And Jean-Daniel?"
Tèt shrugged.
"If they're alive, they'll find their way back."
One Hour Later – Bus Camp
Jano's group sat around the parked bus.
The driver leaned against the vehicle with his rifle resting on his shoulder.
The others looked uneasy.
One of them spoke.
"They're late."
Another nodded.
"Way late."
Jano stared toward the jungle.
"Yeah."
A younger member asked,
"You think they're dead?"
Jano didn't answer right away.
Then he sighed.
"Maybe."
Another man shook his head.
"Should we go look for them?"
Jano shook his head immediately.
"No."
The others looked surprised.
He tapped his rifle.
"If something killed three teams…"
He looked toward the forest again.
"…we're not beating it."
Silence fell.
Jano checked his watch.
"We wait two hours."
"And if they don't come back?"
He shrugged.
"Then we leave."
Back in the Dungeon
Jean-Daniel wiped spider guts off his hammer.
"I hate bugs."
Wilkens laughed.
"You should see the ones deeper in."
Kemi raised an eyebrow.
"How do you know that?"
Wilkens pointed to the tunnel.
"Because I see about twenty more glowing dots."
Jean-Daniel groaned.
"Fantastic."
They continued deeper.
The dungeon twisted like a maze.
Some tunnels led to dead ends.
Others sloped downward.
Once the ground cracked beneath Kemi's foot and nearly collapsed into another pit.
Jean-Daniel grabbed her arm just in time.
"Careful."
"Thanks," she muttered.
Wilkens pointed forward.
"Movement."
This time it wasn't spiders.
A swarm of giant cave ants poured from a side tunnel.
At least fifteen of them.
"C-rank," Wilkens warned.
Jean-Daniel grinned.
"Now we're talking."
The ants charged.
The fight was louder.
Longer.
Jean-Daniel smashed through their ranks with brutal hammer swings.
Kemi burned several with controlled flame bursts.
Wilkens darted between them, daggers flashing.
Within two minutes the chamber was filled with dead insects.
They collected several green and blue crystals.
Kemi whistled.
"Okay… that was worth it."
Jean-Daniel nodded.
"Still no exit though."
Wilkens looked deeper into the cave.
"I think we're heading lower."
Kemi sighed.
"Of course we are."
They continued walking.
The tunnels grew wider.
The air colder.
Then—
A sound echoed through the dungeon.
A deep screech.
Not from nearby.
From far below.
But it was loud enough to shake the entire cave.
The walls vibrated.
Dust fell from the ceiling.
Jean-Daniel slowly stopped walking.
"…Please tell me that wasn't what I think it was."
Wilkens swallowed.
"No idea what that was."
Kemi stared into the darkness ahead.
"But whatever it is…"
"…it's big."
The screech echoed again.
Louder.
Closer.
And the dungeon trembled.
End of Chapter 74