The relief of the rescue team's arrival shattered instantly.
Across the cavern, a gruesome scene lay revealed in the dim Voltaic light: the bodies of veteran Runners were spread out across the stone, some still clutching their weapons in a frozen, final grip.
"What the hell happened here?" a rescuer whispered, staring at a disemboweled corpse. "What kind of monster does this?"
"The Gorthak," Mel muttered, her metal armor clanking as she stepped forward. Her voice was tight with dread. "But sightings are usually deeper... much deeper."
"Mel, focus!" the team medic barked. "We have to stabilize the survivors first." He turned to the trio. "Young men, come with us. Let's get you back to Level 1."
"Gladly," Ren said, a manic edge to his voice. "I've done enough things I'm not proud of for one day."
From a distance, watching through a dark orb, a deep, raspy voice hissed a single command:
"Take them now."
The ground detonated. A massive hole beneath Ren, Kenzo, and Henry. Before a single person could scream, the stone gave way, swallowing the three of them into a vertical abyss.
"Watch out!" Mel's voice faded rapidly as they plummeted. The rescue team surged forward, but the ledge began to seal itself with unnatural speed.
"Shit! We don't have the mana to break through that! Fall back! We'll get reinforcements and hope they're still alive when we get back!"
The world became a blur of jagged rock and rushing air.
"EVERYBODY BEHIND ME!" Henry roared. He spun his massive frame mid-air, tucking his legs and bracing his shield beneath him like a heat shield.
"IT'S NOT ENOUGH!" Ren screamed over the wind. "We're falling too fast! I'll be flattened before I can even start a healing pulse!"
Kenzo's mind flickered through every combat manual he'd ever ignored. Survival instinct took over, burning through his remaining mana like gasoline.
"My limit be damned" he thought. "I'LL CUSHION THE IMPACT!"
A desperate idea struck him, a modification of his powers. What if I strip the structure? No bones. Just muscle, fat, and fluid.
which was much easier since his clones are already like a thick jelly.
"AHHHHHHHHH!!!"
Kenzo's scream ripped through the tunnel as he forced his cells to divide at an impossible rate. The pain was white-hot, as if his blood were boiling.
Out of his skin, eight underdeveloped clones erupted. They appeared not as men, but as soft, rubbery sacks of flesh. He kicked them downward, layering them like a massive crash pad beneath Henry's shield.
"HENRY! REINFORCE THEM! USE COLOSSUS!"
Trusting the rookie's frantic plan, Henry poured his golden mana into the meat shields. The soft clones became super-elastic impact absorbers.
"REN! HEAL US THE MOMENT WE TOUCH!"
Ren's hands glowed a violent green. "GOT IT!"
THWUMP! SCHLOOOSH!
The impact was a violent jolt that sent phantom pains through Kenzo's nerves, but the rubberized clones held. They hit the floor of a sub-level so deep the air felt like lead.
"I'm in pain... but I'm not dead," Kenzo wheezed, his vision swimming. "Ren, your power is a godsend."
"Where are we?" Henry asked, his shield notched and dented. He scanned the cavern. "This is a sub-level... but there aren't supposed to be any secret floors here."
CREAK.
A synchronized, skittering sound rose from the darkness.
"What is that?" Kenzo whispered, gripping his new dagger.
Small, obsidian shapes crept from the cracks in the walls. Hundreds of them. Their multi-faceted eyes reflected the green glow of Ren's mana.
"Hive-Stalkers," Henry whispered in horror. "Level 5 monsters. They shouldn't be within three floors of here."
Ren didn't wait. He lunged at the nearest cluster, his blade whistling through the air. He sliced through three, but a fourth lunged, sinking its fangs into his forearm. Ren recoiled, his green aura flickering wildly.
"Get back! They drain mana!"
Kenzo looked back and saw Henry struggling. The spiders were swarming his shield, their tiny mandibles vibrating as they literally chewed through his mana-reinforced armor. Henry was frozen, watching his durability melt away.
"Henry! Focus!" Kenzo shouted, breathing heavily. He sent a clone to kick the spiders off Henry's back. "Stop being lazy! You're the tank, start acting like it!"
The word "lazy" hit Henry harder than the Titan's kick. His eyes snapped wide, glowing with a sudden, fierce intensity.
"DON'T YOU DARE CALL ME LAZY!"
With a roar that shook the cavern, Henry charged. His broken armor clattered as he jumped into the air, using his massive weight to squish a dozen Stalkers into black paste.
"Nice move," Ren laughed breathlessly, "but there are too many. I'm running on empty here. I can't keep us fueled."
Kenzo tried to bait them with clones, but the Stalkers were smart. They drained the mana from the clones in seconds, turning them to dissolved mana, and immediately refocused on the "sweeter" mana inside Kenzo himself.