Mina barely got the shield up.
The stoneback hit her like a battering ram. The impact lifted her clean off her feet and sent her skidding across the cavern floor, armor screeching against stone. Her shoulder screamed in protest, a sharp, blinding pain tearing through her arm. Something snapped; she felt it before she heard it, but her fingers refused to let go of the spear.
She rolled once, breath knocked out of her lungs.
The stoneback reared back, jaws opening wide.
Raul was there before it could finish the motion.
Midnight Whistles flashed in a tight arc, not wild, not rushed. One blade cut deep across the left eye. The second followed an instant later, carving through the right. Black blood sprayed as the creature roared, staggering blindly, claws tearing gouges into the stone as it thrashed.
Victor didn't give it time to recover.
Midnight Thunder came down like judgment.
The warhammer struck the top of the skull, and the bone cracked. The sound echoed through the chamber like a drumbeat. The stoneback collapsed in on itself, legs folding as its body went limp.
Mina's undead moved, not slowly or patiently but in a monstrous way.
The moment she hit the ground, they surged forward as if something had been torn loose. Stone scraped, claws dug in. One of them rammed headfirst into a stoneback without breaking stride, jaws snapping shut around scale and bone. Another followed, slamming its full weight into the fight, driving the creature back step by step.
They didn't flinch when claws tore into them. Didn't slow when plates cracked, or limbs bent wrong. They just kept coming, pressing, crushing, and dragging their enemies down under sheer mass and pure, raw, unrestrained violence.
The chamber filled with the sound of breaking stone and wet, choking roars.
They fought like things that didn't know how to stop.
Rook was the first to break free of the clash.
It drove its shoulder into its opponent, forcing it back a step, then clamped its jaws down on the stoneback's neck. Plates shattered under the pressure. Rook twisted, violent and precise, and tore free with a spray of blood. The creature dropped without another sound.
Rook didn't pause, it's purple eyes flashed with fury.
It turned immediately, limping but functional, and slammed into one of the uncontracted undead's fights. Together, they overwhelmed the living stoneback, weight, claws, and teeth piling on until the creature was crushed beneath them. The stoneback tried to push back, muscles straining, claws scraping uselessly against stone. Then something cracked. Bone gave way under the pressure, and the struggle collapsed with it. The fight didn't end with a final strike; it ended because there was nowhere left to move.
Tank was no slower.
It took the full charge of its opponent head-on, claws locking, bodies grinding together. Tank drove forward inch by inch, ignoring the gouges tearing through its undead flesh. Then it reared up and brought its full weight down, crushing the stoneback's chest against the ground. One final snap of its jaws ended it.
Tank pivoted, heavy steps shaking the cavern floor, and joined the last struggle.
The fourth stoneback never stood a chance.
Arin was already at Mina's side.
Her shield lay beside her, fingers slack. Her left arm was bent wrong, swelling rapidly beneath the armor. Her breathing was shallow, uneven. Her eyes fluttered, unfocused.
"Mina." Arin grabbed her shoulder and slapped her cheek hard. "Stay awake. Don't you dare pass out."
She groaned, trying to speak, but the sound died in her throat.
"Bear it," he snapped, voice raw. "You're not done yet. Stay with me."
Victor and Raul were still fighting.
Victor stood his ground against the next stoneback like a wall given life. Midnight Lake absorbed blow after blow, claws screeching uselessly against black iron as he anchored himself in Guardian's Stance. Every step the creature took forward, Victor answered with a hammer strike, low, then high, then straight to the shoulder joint.
The stoneback tried to overpower him.
It failed.
Midnight Thunder came down again, crushing bone, breaking structure, until the creature's movements slowed, then stopped entirely. Victor didn't stop until the body was still.
Raul's fight was quieter but at the same time deadlier.
Raul never stayed in front of it for more than a breath.
Flowstep carried him in and out of reach, boots scraping stone as he cut low, then lower. The first strike didn't sever, just bit deep enough to draw a roar. The stoneback's tail swept blindly, stone cracking where it struck, missing Raul by inches.
He adjusted.
Midnight Whistles flashed again. Tendons parted this time. One leg buckled hard enough to send the creature crashing down on one knee. The other followed a heartbeat later, weight slamming into the ground.
The stoneback tried to turn, jaws snapping, neck twisting in a desperate, ugly motion.
Raul was already gone.
He reappeared behind it as the body struggled to rise, blades crossing in a tight, merciless arc. There was resistance, scale, bone, then none at all.
The head slid free.
The body took one more step before collapsing, the roar dying somewhere in its chest.
Silence dropped over the chamber.
No one spoke.
Arin looked at Mina again. She was breathing, barely. Alive, but not capable of fighting anymore.
"Destroy the eggs," he ordered, voice flat.
Mina's will answered even as her body failed. The undead turned as one and tore into the incubation cluster. Shells shattered. Warmth spilled out and died. One by one, every egg was crushed until nothing remained.
Mina recalled Rook and Tank. The remaining undead were left behind, already slowing, their bodies beginning to crumble.
Arin lifted Mina into his arms.
"Move," he said.
They ran.
No careful paths, no caution in mind, just speed, they needed to run as far as they could before the Captain rank Stonebacks arrived. They didn't stop until the tunnels widened and the air changed. It took a full day to reach the mine's entrance, and another half-day to stagger back toward the village.
Victor splinted Mina's arm the moment they slowed, hands steady despite exhaustion. She hissed in pain but didn't wake.
She summoned Rook and Tank again,
"It'll be faster if we ride them," Mina said. "And we can rest on the way as well."
They nodded and mounted the undead. Tank and Rook pushed forward hard, dead muscles carrying them at a pace no living mount could sustain.
It didn't even take one-fourth of the time to reach the village. When the village walls finally came into view, no one said a word.
They just kept moving.