Hikari marched up the slope. The caves had gotten dark again.
They reached the next breach. "There's a thick layer of rubble ahead."
The breaches reported back to Rey after surveying the wall ahead.
"Hikari, do you sense anything in the next room?"
"None"
"How are you doing on mana?"
"Full"
"Good. Could you clear the rubble ahead."
"Yes"
Hikari planted her shield in the ground and strides up to the rubble. The breachers huddles tight behind her shield.
Placing her hands on the stone rubble, she channeled her mana. The huge pieces of stone broke up into an avalanche of smaller pieces, sliding down the slope, hitting against her shield before sliding down around the sides.
The way is clear.
"Well, let's leave all that rubble to the miners. We press on."
Hikari walks back to her shield, the breachers making way for her. She picks up her shield and marched through the breach.
"Clear!" "Clear!" The next cavern was empty except for a signboard in the middle of the room.
Rey shone his torch light on it.
"Good work boys! We are almost there!"
"Sir? There's a lot of spider holes around."
"Hmm, cave spiders shouldn't be a problem for us. Anything else?"
"No sir."
"Gather up then. "
Hikari picked up her shield and walked towards the next breach point.
She froze.
"Run towards me!"
The celling rumbled.
"Cave in!"
The breachers split into two columns, dashing past either side of Hikari.
Hikari held her shield up diagonally upwards.
The legs on Rey's armoured suit contracted, and then sprung forward, landing him just under Hikari's shield, and then pedaling past her.
Stone chunks fell from the celling, bouncing off Hikari's shield and rolling down the slope.
"Get out of there now!" Rey blasted from his megaphone.
Hikari stood her ground as the remaining two breachers scurried under her.
The ceiling collapsed, burying Hikari in a pile of stone.
"Pixaxes and acid! Get them out of there."
As the breachers rushed to the pile, the stones cracked. And then shattered into a thousand pieces, rolling down the slope. Hikari and the two men hiding below her were unscathed.
Hikari lowered her shield, dusting off the loose pieces of stone.
"Phew, that was close. Did you get lucky or you knew you could handle the cave in."
"It was nothing"
"I see. Sheela's training really came in handy huh?"
Rey surveyed the aftermath of the cave in.
"Our route back is cut, we have to clear it. Looks like the ale will have to wait."
Hikari began walking back down the slope, brushing aside pieces of stone with her boot. She pressed her hands on the blocked passage, mapping out the depth of the blockage.
"How is it?"
"Two caverns are flooded."
"Hmm… this is bad. I'm signaling the rescue team. They will start making their way here to clear the blockage behind us."
"Shall I clear it?"
"No, save your mana. Besides, if you shatter the stone now, you might bury the rescue team down the slope. So just sit tight for now."
Hikari sat down, leaning against the blocked passage, and began meditating.
Rey arranged sentry duties and a small team to began blocking the spider holes.
The rest of the men sat down and rest. Quietly huddling in the darkness. Some of them taking sips from their water skin.
Rey took out a curious device.
Wurrrhhh! Wurrrhhh! Wurrrhhh! Three consecutive sirens, echoing throughout the caverns.
Then there was silence.
Pop. The sound of Rey popping open a can of fruit inside his armoured suit.
He took out a towel and wiped his sweat.
Another ten caverns cleared.
It was uneventful due to the low concentration of mana.
But the men were exhausted just from walking up slope in their armour. The sound of armour clanking as they tried to massage their sore legs.
If the old map were to be trusted. Only two more breaches before they reach their objective, the mine shaft.
Hopefully, nothing else happens.
Hikari opened her eyes, her ruby red eyes glowing in the dark. She stood up.
"What's wrong Hikari?"
"They're coming."
The men looked around confused.
"Formations!" Rey ordered.
The men formed up in three rings in front of Hikari. The front row held up their shields. The second row readied their muskets. The third row readied their bombs.
The cavern lit up as flares were thrown.
"What's coming Hikari?"
The skittering of spiders was heard. It grew louder and louder.
"Burn them, Hikari!"
Hikari paused.
She senses an eerie mana in the spiders similar to the dark crystals she found in the mana vein.
"No, that won't work."
She releases all of her steel balls. The air around Rey became suffocating.
With a telekinetic push, the steel balls scattered, smashing against the stone all over the cavern. Then they started moving, rolling in circles around the ground and the walls.
As the spiders emerged from the holes, they were smashed by the rolling steel balls.
"Stay back from the walls!"
The steel walls whirled behind them, gaining momentum , smashing into more spiders before making its way back round.
Inevitably, some spiders got through, latching onto a man's face.
The contraption on the helmet triggered, flinging the steel grating outwards, pushing the spider away.
The man lowered his head to rewind the contraption. His comrade beside him fired his musket. The spider was flung back again, bleeding from the impact.
But it still moves. Panicking, he fumbled the reload. The spider readied another lunge but was smashed by a rolling ball.
He heaved a sign of relief. But it was short lived. Another spider leapt onto his face, his contraption failed to trigger. The spider bit into his eye, injecting its poison.
His comrade shot the spider at point blank, sending its body parts flying towards the wall. But the man dropped dead to the ground.
"Bombs on the ceiling!"
The third row bombardiers including Rey hurled their bombs into the opening where the ceiling caved in. A mixture of shrapnel and poison gas.
The latter stunned the spiders, dropping them to the ground belly up, allowing the steel balls to roll over them.
"Musketeers, just focus on defense. Front row, knuckle claws! Hikari, how long can you keep up the barrier? How many more spiders are there?"
Hikari expanded her senses. Two caverns ahead, lay a massive cavern. She sensed steel beams and walls and a gigantic hole in the middle, extending both upwards and downwards.
The spiders were popping out endlessly from clusters upon clusters of egg sacs. On top of the eggs, a massive spider hung above the cavern.
"Breaching charges."
"You want to break down the wall ahead? What's your plan?"
"I must burn the eggs."
"Got it!"
Rey's armoured suit hummed. His shoulder cannon fired a breaking charge. But it hit the wall the wrong way, bouncing onto the ground and blowing a useless hole into it as its fuse ran out.
The second shot stuck onto the wall, chipping away at the wall.
"Land!" Rey shouted as the third breaching shard landed in the rubble caused by the second. After a few moments, it exploded causing the rest of the wall to collapse.
A giant spider leapt out of the passage. The muskets fired but did nothing against its thick shell.
Rey scrambled to load another shell.
"Shit" The giant spider was right above him, bearing its sharp front fangs the size of ballista bolts.
A sword swung over his head, cleaving through it and splattering its insides.
"Thanks Hikari! But I can't break the second wall from here."
Hikari took a deep breath.
"Don't complain later."
Lifting her shield with one arm, Hikari threw the massive hunk of metal at the second wall.
A deafening clash as the steel crashed into the stone.
Hikari drew her hammer, hurling it towards the wall. Another deafening crash as the wall collapses, revealing the nest of webs and cocoons behind it.
Hikari drew a throwing dagger, ignited it to the point of melting and threw it. The dagger melted through the web, lighting it on fire.
She ignited another dagger, this time she tossed it with less force. But as the dagger reached the Center of the hive, she pulled it upwards, giving it a curved trajectory, landing it deeper into the hive.
It was working. The stream of spiders was petering out.
Hikari threw her last dagger, the hive was ablaze.
She walked forward, striding over the dead bodies of the breaching team which was now down to half strength. The sound of dead spiders crunching under her boot.
"Leave the rest to me."
"Aye. Looks like we're spent. Good luck."
Hikari drew her sword and advanced. Giant spiders appeared, their carapaces alight with the purple RazenHeir flame.
A steel ball fired from her handcannon pierced one. And then another. Her sword sliced open a third. Impaled a fourth, tossing it aside. Her boot crushed a fifth. Another steel ball pierced a sixth.
She emerged into the hive. The queen hanging above gave a deafening screech as her hive burned around her.
"I should remind the head maid to dust off the spider webs more often."
The spider queen gathers dark energy in its mouth. Hikari dodged to the side, the dark energy disintegrating the stone where it landed.
A steel ball chipped off a piece of carapace on its head. The spider screeched. Another steel ball struck its face.
The queen flipped on its body, showing its thick underbelly to Hikari.
Then its legs moved. Hikari dashed towards its smaller hind legs as its massive front legs stabbed into the ground.
The hind legs swung blindly, allowing Hikari to parry and saw through to the flesh with her searing sword.
She jumped, kicking the wall to gain more height. She held her searing sword with both hands over her head, chopping clean through the joint.
"One."
The queen spider turned as she landed on the central platform. A blast of dark energy blasts a hole through the platform. She dodged and parried the thrusts from the spider legs.
"Two."
The queen was slower to turn.
"Three and four."
Hikari hacked off the legs on one side. The queen flailed as Hikari stayed on the blind spot she created for herself.
The queen screeched. Several giant spiders popped out of the surviving cocoons.
Hikari patiently slayed them one as they lunged at her without the queen being able to attack her.
Hikari hopped on top of the queen. It had no means to attack her there. It thrashed around hoping to knock Hikari off balance.
Hikari stabbed the sword into its carapace to hold on while she repeatedly blasted the back of the queen's head with her handcannon.
The queen collapsed to the side as its head was shattered into pieces.
"Another creature with that unnatural dark energy. Something is brewing here. Oh well, another dark crystal for me."