O setor 4-B não estava apenas abandonado; era um cadáver geológico.
Ao contrário dos corredores principais da Mina 9, onde o calor do Ferro Quente era a principal ameaça, aqui o inimigo era o silêncio e o cheiro. Um odor pungente de ovos podres, enxofre concentrado, impregnava o ar estagnado. O chão era irregular, coberto de escombros de desabamentos anteriores que nunca haviam sido removidos.
Nathan caminhou à frente, segurando uma tocha que queimava com uma chama azulada devido aos gases no ambiente.
"Cheiro ruim", resmungou o gigante, esfregando o rosto.
"Respire pela respiração da tartaruga", instruiu Nathan sem olhar para trás. "Filtre o ar. Não inspire profundamente."
Kael, caminhando entre os dois, estava visivelmente nervoso. Ele olhava para trás a cada dez segundos.
"Eles estão vindo, mestre", sussurrou o menino. "Ouvi pedras rolando lá atrás. Cinco... talvez seis passos diferentes."
"Ótimo", respondeu Nathan, parando em frente a um estreitamento no túnel.
Era uma passagem onde o teto havia desabado parcialmente, criando um gargalo por onde apenas duas pessoas conseguiam passar lado a lado. Atrás desse gargalo, o túnel se abria em uma pequena câmara sem saída, repleta de antigas e profundas crateras de mineração.
"É agora", disse Nathan. Ele se virou para Ox. "Ox, fique atrás daquela coluna de pedra. Kael, suba naquela saliência e se esconda nas sombras. Você é pequeno, ninguém vai olhar para cima."
"E você, senhor?" perguntou Kael, escalando a rocha como um lagarto assustado.
"Eu?" Nathan sorriu, fincando a tocha no chão macio no centro da câmara. Sentou-se numa pedra, de costas para a entrada, e pegou um punhado de cascalho, fingindo examinar minério. "Eu sou a isca."
O palco estava montado. Agora, tudo o que restava era esperar pelo público.
Não demorou muito. Cinco minutos depois, o som de botas arrastando e risadas abafadas ecoou pelo gargalo.
"Eu te disse, chefe", ecoou a voz de Rat, estridente e ansiosa. "Eles chegaram ao fundo. Devem ter encontrado alguma jazida de minério exposta aqui. Ninguém vem para a 4-B para morrer em vão."
"Cala a boca, Rato", respondeu uma voz mais grossa e metálica. Dente de Ferro. "Se não tiver nada aqui, vou arrancar seus dentes para fazer um colar."
As sombras alongavam-se na entrada da câmara. Nathan não se virou. Continuou a brincar com as pedras, cantarolando uma melodia desafinada.
Iron Tooth entered first, followed by Rat and three other henchmen. They were big men by the mine's standards, brutes who survived by stealing rations from the weak. They carried heavy pickaxes in their hands.
"Well, well," Iron Tooth said, opening his arms. "The newbie found a cozy little spot. What have you got there, kid? Is that what keeps us so healthy?"
Nathan stopped humming. He slowly stood up, turning to face the five men. He put on his best expression of terror, widening his eyes and making his hands tremble.
"M-Mr. Iron Tooth!" Nathan stammered, taking a step back. "W-we... we were just looking for... scraps! There's nothing here! Please, don't hurt us!"
The group of bandits laughed. It was the reaction they expected. Fear was the currency they liked counting the most.
"Scraps?" Rat stepped forward, feeling brave behind the leader. "Liar! They hid ore yesterday! I saw it! Ox was too strong! They have food hidden!"
Iron Tooth took a step forward, entering the chamber completely. His three henchmen spread out, surrounding the only exit.
"Let's make this easy," Iron Tooth said, pointing the sharp tip of his pickaxe at Nathan. "You tell me where the treasure is. Then, you lend us that big, dumb guy to carry our quotas. And maybe... maybe I'll let you keep the skinny kid to keep you company in hell."
Nathan looked at the men. Five targets.
'Iron Tooth is the most dangerous, possibly at the threshold of Copper Skin. The other three are malnourished brute force. Rat is irrelevant. They are confident. Relaxed. Perfect.'
The expression of fear vanished from Nathan's face as if someone had flipped a switch. His posture straightened. The trembling in his hands stopped.
He looked into Iron Tooth's eyes with an indifference that made the bandit hesitate for a second.
"You made a calculation error," Nathan said, his calm voice echoing off the stone walls.
"What?" Iron Tooth frowned.
"You thought we were prey because we behaved like prey," Nathan continued, wiping the dust from his hands. "But in nature, some predators play dead to attract the vulture."
"What are you talking about, you lunatic?" Iron Tooth growled, losing patience. "Get him!"
"Ox," Nathan said, a single word, cold and cutting. "Now."
The shadow behind the stone column moved.
It wasn't an attack; it was a trampling.
Ox burst from the darkness not like a man, but like an avalanche of flesh and muscle. He didn't scream. He didn't roar. He just moved with the explosive speed that [Vigorous Flesh] allowed.
The first henchman, a bald man raising his pickaxe, didn't even see what hit him. Ox's fist, the size of a sledgehammer, connected with the side of the man's head.
CRACK!
The sound of breaking bone was nauseating. The man was lifted off the ground by the impact and thrown against the opposite wall, where he fell like a sack of potatoes, his neck bent at an impossible angle.
Instant death.
Time seemed to freeze. Rat let out a high-pitched squeal. Iron Tooth widened his eyes, the pickaxe trembling in his hand.
"W... what..."
"Full strength, Ox," Nathan ordered, grabbing his own pickaxe that was hidden behind the rock where he had been sitting. "Don't hold back."
The other two henchmen, driven by survival instinct, attacked Ox. But fighting Ox now wasn't like fighting a giant slave. It was fighting a beginner cultivator fed on ancient bone dust and breathing techniques.
One henchman tried to strike Ox's ribs with the tip of his pickaxe. Ox didn't even defend. He accepted the blow. The rusty metal tore the skin but locked against the hardened muscle beneath. Ox grunted, grabbed the man's arm, and with a sharp pull and the sound of a snapping branch, dislocated the aggressor's shoulder. Before the man could scream, Ox kicked him in the chest. The man's sternum caved in, and he fell coughing blood.
The third henchman, seeing the massacre, turned to flee.
"Kael!" Nathan shouted.
From high in the shadows, a stone the size of a melon fell with guided precision. Kael aimed for the runaway's head. The stone hit his shoulder, making him stumble and fall face-first onto the ground.
Before he could get up, Ox was on him. A stomp to the back silenced the man.
In less than ten seconds, three men were out of combat.
Only Iron Tooth and Rat remained.
Iron Tooth, realizing he was cornered, showed why he had survived so long. Instead of attacking the giant monster, he lunged at the "weak link." He ran toward Nathan, the rusty point of his pickaxe aiming for the throat.
"I'll kill you, you bastard!"
Nathan didn't retreat. He saw the movement. Thanks to the Perception increased by recruiting Kael and reflexes slightly improved by the bone, Iron Tooth's attack seemed... telegraphed.
'He is fast for a slave. But he attacks with anger. Anger is predictable.'
Nathan twisted his body to the left, the heavy pickaxe head whistling centimeters from his neck. At the same time, he used the handle of his own tool to strike Iron Tooth's wrist.
It wasn't a blow strong enough to break the arm, but it was enough to deflect the weapon's trajectory.
Iron Tooth stumbled, surprised by the dodge. Before he could regain his balance, a massive shadow covered them both.
Ox was there.
"Don't touch... Master," Ox said, his deep voice vibrating with contained fury.
The giant grabbed Iron Tooth by the neck with a single hand and lifted him off the ground. The gang leader kicked the air, scratching Ox's arm uselessly, his face turning purple as the air was squeezed out of his lungs.
"Drop him," Nathan said calmly.
Ox obeyed, dropping the man. Iron Tooth fell to his knees, coughing and gasping for air, his hand going to his crushed throat.
He looked up, pure terror in his eyes. He saw Nathan standing before him, no longer as a weak boy, but as a judge.
"Wait..." Iron Tooth rasped, his voice failing. "We can... we can negotiate. I control the food... I know the guards... I can..."
Nathan looked at Kael, who had climbed down from the rock and was now standing beside Ox, holding a sharp stone, looking with hatred at Rat, who was curled up in a fetal position in a corner, crying.
"Kael," Nathan called. "What do we do with snakes that enter our nest?"
The boy looked at Nathan, then at Iron Tooth. He remembered the kicks. The hunger. The constant fear.
"We kill them, Master," Kael said, his voice cold.
Nathan nodded. He crouched in front of Iron Tooth.
"You heard the boy. Besides... you saw what Ox can do. If I let you live, tomorrow the Foreman will know. And I like privacy."
"No! I swear! I'll be your dog! I..."
Nathan didn't wait. With a fluid movement and no hesitation, he drove the point of his pickaxe into the top of Iron Tooth's skull.
The sound was horrible. The man's body spasmed and collapsed.
(Ding!)
[Threat Eliminated: Gang Leader 'Iron Tooth']
Reward: +2 Master Points.
Achievement: First Human Blood. (Your soul hardens).
Nathan pulled the pickaxe out with a wet tug. He didn't feel nausea. He didn't feel remorse. He felt... relief. It was one less problem.
He turned to Rat. The boy was shaking so hard his teeth chattered audibly.
"P-please..." Rat sobbed, his face stained with tears and snot. "I... I didn't do anything... I just..."
Nathan walked over to him. Ox and Kael followed, forming a wall of judgment.
"You're right, Rat. You didn't do anything. You are weak. And being weak is not a sin," Nathan said softly.
Rat's eyes lit up with pathetic hope. "Yes! Yes! I am weak! I serve you! I'll do anything!"
"But," Nathan continued, his voice hardening, "treason is unforgivable. You sold us for protection. You brought the wolf to the door."
Nathan looked at Kael.
"This one is yours, Twig. He humiliated you. He left you hungry. Now, you decide his fate."
Nathan extended the bloodied pickaxe to the small boy. Kael looked at the heavy tool, then at Rat.
Rat looked at Kael, his former eyes of contempt now filled with pleading. "Twig... friend... remember? We used to play..."
"You kicked me, humiliated me," Kael said, holding the pickaxe with both hands. It was heavy for him, but adrenaline helped. "You laughed when I begged for food."
"Kael, no!"
Kael fechou os olhos e golpeou com a picareta com toda a força que seus braços desnutridos lhe permitiam. Ele não acertou a cabeça. Acertou o peito. Rato gritou, um som agudo que foi interrompido quando Boi, compreendendo a dificuldade do garoto, pisoteou a garganta de Rato para terminar o serviço.
Um silêncio profundo se fez na Câmara 4-B. Cinco corpos. Três sobreviventes.
Nathan respirou fundo, sentindo o cheiro de sangue misturado com o enxofre.
(Ding!)
[Missão Cumprida: Eliminar a Ameaça Interna]
Recompensa recebida: Desbloqueio de recurso [Leis da Seita].
Bônus : A lealdade de Kael aumentou para "Devoto".
Nathan olhou para os corpos.
"Revistem tudo", ordenou ele. "Dente de Ferro deve ter esconderijos de comida ou moedas. Depois, joguem os corpos nos fossos profundos lá atrás. O gás vai decompor a carne antes que alguém sinta o cheiro."
Enquanto Ox arrastava os cadáveres como se fossem sacos de lixo, Nathan elaborava o novo cardápio em sua mente.
[Leis da Seita - Nível 1]
Descrição : Um patriarca define a realidade de seus discípulos. Leis criam ordem no caos.
Vaga disponível para projeto de lei : 1.
Opções :
Lei da Partilha: Todos os recursos obtidos são partilhados igualmente (Aumenta a lealdade, diminui o crescimento do líder).
Lei do Mais Forte : O discípulo mais forte recebe mais recursos (Aumenta o crescimento, gera rivalidade interna).
Lei do Silêncio : Os segredos da seita não podem ser revelados a estranhos (impede traições verbais através de um leve bloqueio mental).
Nathan não precisou pensar duas vezes.
'Nossa maior arma agora não é a força. É o anonimato.'
"Eu escolho a Lei do Silêncio", pensou Nathan.
Uma onda de energia invisível emanou dele e atravessou Ox e Kael. Os dois pararam por um segundo, olhando em volta confusos, mas logo voltaram ao trabalho. Eles não sabiam, mas dali em diante, se tentassem falar sobre o osso, o Sistema ou o assassinato com um guarda, suas línguas travariam.