Merlin squinted his eyes.
He could see them.
Crawlers.
They covered every angle of the walls, crawling over one another as they descended toward the crew.
Merlin couldn't focus on one for too long.
If he did, the others could slip past Requiem.
He positioned the scythe in front of himself, ready for them to jump.
They came.
Several Crawlers slammed into the blade at once, snapping their jaws as they tried to reach Merlin.
The force pushed him backward.
He stumbled, his back hitting Leon.
More Crawlers rushed forward.
Merlin gritted his teeth and pushed against them with Requiem.
They kept coming.
One jumped over the others.
Merlin tilted the scythe upward.
The Crawler impaled itself on the blade.
Another immediately lunged from the side.
Merlin twisted Requiem and caught it with the shaft before it could reach him.
But there were too many.
The crew was being pushed farther and farther back.
Brody thrust his spear forward, piercing one of the Crawlers before kicking another away.
Harvey swung his staff, knocking several of them against the walls.
"Keep moving!" Brody shouted.
They tried.
But the Crawlers kept coming.
Merlin felt another one land against Requiem.
Then another.
His arms began to ache.
He could barely keep the scythe in place.
One of the Crawlers managed to slip past the blade.
Merlin's eyes widened.
He quickly stepped to the side and swung Requiem upward.
The blade tore through its body.
A vibration passed through his hands.
Merlin didn't understand what was happening.
He didn't have time to.
Another wave rushed toward him.
He tightened
his grip.
"Come on."
The words escaped his mouth before he even realized he'd spoken.
Another group of Crawlers slammed into Requiem.
Merlin's feet slid backward.
He tried to regain his footing, but the ground beneath him suddenly dipped.
His heel slipped.
Merlin stumbled.
"What—"
He fell backward.
The others were already losing their footing.
The passage had turned into a steep slope.
Brody tried to plant his spear into the ground.
It dragged against the stone.
"Don't stop!"
It didn't matter.
The Crawlers kept pushing.
Merlin slid down the slope, Requiem still held tightly in both hands.
Several Crawlers tumbled down with him.
One landed directly in front of him.
Merlin quickly raised Requiem.
The Crawler slammed into the blade.
Its body slid down the shaft, still snapping at him.
Merlin kicked it away.
Another landed beside him.
Then another.
He couldn't even stand anymore.
The slope was too steep.
He was sliding.
The entire crew was sliding.
Merlin looked ahead.
Brody was several meters below him, desperately trying to slow himself with his spear.
Leon had fallen onto his side.
Harvey was trying to push himself upright, but another wave of Crawlers crashed into him.
Merlin tightened his grip around Requiem.
Dozens of them were still coming.
They were going to bury them.
He swung the scythe as another Crawler leapt toward him.
The blade caught it.
Merlin barely had time to react before something slammed into his back.
His body rolled down the slope.
Requiem nearly slipped from his hands.
He caught it at the last moment.
"Shit."
He dug his fingers into the shaft and looked ahead.
The slope was getting steeper.
Merlin could no longer see the entrance behind them.
All he could see were Crawlers.
They were spilling down the slope after them.
Brody finally managed to drive his spear into the ground.
His body jerked to a stop.
"Grab onto something!"
Merlin looked around.
There was nothing.
The walls were too smooth.
He tried digging his fingers into the stone, but his body kept sliding.
A Crawler landed beside him.
Then another.
Merlin swung Requiem, cutting one down before it could reach him.
The second jumped.
Merlin raised the shaft.
Its jaws snapped shut around it.
He kicked it away.
But the moment he did, another wave hit him.
Merlin slid faster.
Ahead of him, Harvey disappeared over the edge of the slope.
Brody shouted something.
Merlin couldn't hear him.
He was moving too fast.
Then the ground suddenly dropped.
Merlin's stomach lurched.
He was airborne.
He tightened his grip around Requiem.
And then he fell.
Luckily, it wasn't a fully vertical drop.
Merlin planted his feet against the slope and used Requiem to keep his balance as he slid downward.
His adrenaline was building.
He was becoming impatient.
The feeling was strange to him.
He kept his eyes focused on the Crawlers ahead.
As they descended, the passage gradually became wider.
Merlin finally had enough space to swing Requiem properly.
He was still falling, but now there was room.
More Crawlers tumbled down around him.
Merlin swung.
The blade tore through them.
He swung again.
And again.
After a while, Merlin felt his feet touch solid ground.
The moment they did, he raised Requiem.
The Crawlers landed behind him.
Merlin swung.
The blade cleaved through them before they could even recover.
Blood spilled across the ground.
Some of it splashed onto Merlin's right hand.
He stood there for a moment, breathing heavily.
A disturbing hum resonated inside his head.
Merlin blinked.
He ignored it.
Then he looked back at the rest of the crew.
They stared at him.
Nobody said anything.
Merlin turned and looked around the area they had just landed in.
It was a massive cavern that extended in three different directions.
A body of water occupied the center of the cave.
It glowed with a deep crimson light, casting a red hue across the surrounding walls.
It flowed far in one direction.
Merlin stared at it.
"This is too far from natural," he thought to himself.
"We'll follow the river," Brody said, pointing upstream.
Merlin nodded, and the crew followed.
...
The captain and Luna walked through the cave, following the trail of bodies.
Occasionally, Luna would sense something nearby, but the captain killed it before it could reach them.
Soon, they reached the slope Merlin and the others had descended.
The captain looked down the steep passage.
"We can't follow this route," he said, disappointment evident in his voice.
"It leads to the river," Luna said.
The captain looked at her.
"What?"
"I said the route leads to a river. But I know where that river begins."
She turned around.
"We passed it a while ago."
The captain thought for a moment.
"Okay."
He followed Luna as she turned and started walking in another direction.
They eventually reached what almost looked like a broad stairway.
It was easy to walk down.
Almost too easy.
The captain suddenly stopped.
"Luna. Stay behind me."
Luna did as he said.
They continued down the stairs.
A pack of two-legged beasts suddenly came running up toward them.
Their movements were awkward, almost as if they hadn't fully learned how to use their bodies yet.
The captain clasped his hands together.
Long chains suddenly appeared around his wrists, each one ending in a curved blade.
He raised his arms.
The chains wrapped around his hands, bringing the blades into his grasp.
He threw one of them.
The blade spun through the air, cutting through three of the beasts before the captain pulled it back.
Another group rushed toward them.
The captain swung both chains.
The curved blades tore through the beasts as they charged.
One managed to get past him.
Luna stepped aside as it lunged toward her.
The captain's chain shot past her.
The blade pierced the beast's chest and pulled it backward.
More came.
The captain continued fighting, his chains cutting through anything that reached them.
Luna stayed behind him, following his movements and avoiding the beasts that slipped through.
They continued down the stairway, fighting their way through the creatures.
Eventually, the creatures stopped appearing.
The captain looked ahead.
A faint crimson glow illuminated the walls.
They reached the bottom.
A river flowed through the cavern.
The captain lowered his chains.
Luna stepped forward.
"This is it."
She looked at the water.
"The river starts somewhere deeper inside."
The captain nodded.
"Then we follow it."
They began walking along the riverbank.
The crimson water flowed in the same direction they were heading.
The deeper they went, the stronger the crimson glow became.
Luna suddenly stopped.
The captain looked back at her.
"What is it?"
She closed her eyes.
"I can feel them."
"The others?"
Luna opened her eyes.
"Yes."
She looked farther upstream.
"They're ahead."