The silence in the darkness didn’t last long.
Alaric Thomas remained behind cover while another Ghost Card appeared between his fingers, its surface reacting to the enormous creature that had entered the cavern after the explosions.
A new line of information immediately appeared.
[Containment Target Detected: Crawler — Incarnation of an Evil Spirit] This notification was different from the previous warnings about ordinary Crawlers.
The additional classification of Incarnation of an Evil Spirit clearly meant this creature was not the same as the others living underground.
Considering its appearance and the way the remaining Crawlers reacted to it, Alaric could believe that easily enough.
[Incarnation of an Evil Spirit: Crawler] The creature was considerably larger than the others, with powerful limbs and a body coated in blood until its naturally pale skin was almost hidden.
Its ears were long and pronounced, while its mouth exposed sharp teeth stained with fresh blood.
The ordinary Crawlers surrounding it were barely half its size and carefully kept their distance.
Even those creatures seemed afraid of it.
Alaric wasn’t certain that he and his two cannibal subordinates could defeat something like this in a direct fight.
More importantly, many ordinary Crawlers around the cavern had survived the grenade blasts, so exposing himself now would mean fighting an entire pack at once.
Staying hidden was clearly the smarter choice.
Only the Crawlers closest to the grenades had been killed outright.
Most of the others caught in the explosions were badly wounded but still alive, proving that their physical resilience was even better than Alaric had expected.
Compared with Saw-Tooth and One-Eye, these underground predators were at least as difficult to kill and probably more dangerous inside a cave.
The huge Crawler didn’t remain for long.
It lifted its head, sniffed the air, and then crawled rapidly into one of the dark passages as if following the scent of someone who had escaped earlier.
Several healthier Crawlers followed while only a couple remained behind with the wounded.
Alaric waited.
Five minutes passed without another sound.
Only then did he leave cover and approach one of the heavily injured Crawlers.
Its limbs were torn by shrapnel and it could barely move, making it an ideal target for testing.
Alaric summoned the Two of Diamonds.
[Name: Crawler] [Status: Dying | Containable] “Contain.” The Two of Diamonds flew forward and absorbed the creature without resistance.
Its pale humanoid form appeared on the card’s surface a moment later, but Alaric immediately noticed that the description contained no mention of an evil spirit.
That confirmed the massive Crawler from earlier was something different.
These ordinary Crawlers were simply underground predators.
Even so, Alaric had no intention of wasting them.
A Crawler was stronger and faster than an ordinary human, possessed excellent senses in darkness, and could move through caves with frightening efficiency.
At worst, they would make excellent disposable fighters.
Alaric quickly contained another wounded Crawler with the Two of Hearts.
With the Two of Spades, Two of Hearts, Two of Diamonds, and Two of Clubs now occupied, the next four cards immediately unlocked.
The Three of Spades, Three of Hearts, Three of Diamonds, and Three of Clubs became available for containment.
That confirmed one of his theories.
At least among the lower ranks, advancement mainly depended on filling the previous sequence.
Alaric immediately selected four of the strongest surviving Crawlers and contained them inside the newly unlocked Threes.
By the time he finished, six Crawlers had joined Saw-Tooth and One-Eye.
His total number of subordinates had reached eight.
Alaric then attempted to unlock the Fours, but this time another condition appeared.
[Sequence Four Unlock Requirement: Contain one Ghost / Evil Spirit / Comparable Spiritual Entity] Alaric frowned slightly.
He had originally hoped that filling the Threes would immediately open the next sequence, allowing him to keep collecting every wounded Crawler in the cavern.
Apparently, the Ghost Cards began demanding special types of Containment Targets once he reached higher ranks.
Still, tonight’s harvest was already enormous.
Eight subordinates gave Alaric far more confidence than the two cannibals he had entered the cave with.
The remaining Crawlers that couldn’t be contained were finished off by Saw-Tooth.
Alaric let his subordinate handle them while he turned his attention toward another Ghost Card function.
The Crawlers possessed several traits he wanted to examine.
[Contained Target: Crawler] [Extractable Abilities: Evil-Spirit Possession (Probability) | Limb Enhancement | Auditory Enhancement | Bloodlust | Reduced Intelligence | Reduced Pain Sensitivity] Most of the available traits were easy enough to understand, but Evil-Spirit Possession immediately caught Alaric’s attention.
The Ghost Card apparently recognized a small possibility that ordinary Crawlers could become influenced or inhabited by some kind of spiritual force.
That might explain how the enormous creature had become an Incarnation of an Evil Spirit.
The rest were largely physical traits.
Alaric activated Extraction on all six Crawler cards.
The available abilities shifted rapidly before the results finally settled.
[Available Fusion Traits: Limb Enhancement | Evil-Spirit Possession | Bloodlust | Reduced Intelligence | Bloodlust | Auditory Enhancement] Bloodlust had appeared twice.
Alaric examined its description.
[Bloodlust: Consuming raw flesh accelerates physical recovery but creates an increased craving for meat.] “Useless.” Alaric had no interest in developing a habit of eating raw flesh merely to heal faster.
Reduced Intelligence was obviously unacceptable, while Evil-Spirit Possession sounded even worse because he had no intention of voluntarily inviting some unknown supernatural presence into his body.
Only Limb Enhancement and Auditory Enhancement were worth keeping.
He discarded the unwanted traits.
Then he fused the remaining two.
A strange sensation spread through Alaric’s arms and legs as his muscles and joints adjusted subtly.
At the same time, the sounds surrounding him became much clearer, allowing him to distinguish faint dripping water, shifting stone, and distant movement deeper inside the tunnels.
Combined with his Enhanced Vision, his ability to function underground had improved considerably.
Alaric should have stopped there.
He didn’t.
His thoughts returned to the enormous Crawler classified as an Incarnation of an Evil Spirit.
With eight subordinates, a rifle, and one remaining grenade, attempting to capture it no longer seemed completely suicidal.
If he succeeded, he might obtain an actual spiritual Containment Target and satisfy the condition required to unlock the next sequence.
The temptation was difficult to ignore.
…
At the bottom of another rocky chamber, Juno was still alive.
The grenade blast had thrown her across the cavern but hadn’t killed her because the Crawler attacking her had absorbed most of the explosion.
Juno slowly regained consciousness, groaning as she pushed herself upright.
Everything around her was dark except for the weak beam from her damaged helmet light.
Then she noticed movement beside her.
A wounded Crawler was lying only a few feet away.
Juno immediately covered her mouth before she could scream.
The pistol Alaric had given her was gone, probably thrown somewhere during the explosion, leaving only the climbing pickaxe attached to her equipment.
At first she remained completely frozen.
Then she realized the Crawler was even more badly injured than she was.
Fear slowly turned into desperation.
Juno grabbed the pickaxe.
A minute later, blood covered the rocks.
The Crawler lay motionless with its skull crushed beyond recognition.
Juno stood over it while gripping the bloody pickaxe, her breathing uneven and her expression completely blank.
Blood had splattered across her face, yet she barely seemed aware of it.
“Juno.” She spun around instantly and raised the pickaxe.
Then she saw Alaric.
Juno finally released the breath she had been holding.
After being trapped, attacked, blown across a cavern, and forced to kill a creature at close range, her mental state had become dangerously unstable.
The repeated blows she had delivered to the Crawler’s skull made that obvious.
Alaric approached with the rifle in his hands and held out a pistol with the other.
Juno stared at the weapon for a moment before silently accepting it.
She noticed the rifle but didn’t ask how Alaric had managed to bring it this deep underground.
She no longer cared.
“Where are Sarah and the others?” “They got separated,” Alaric replied.
“Sam ran off and Rebecca followed her.
Sarah disappeared in another direction, and Beth went after the others.
I don’t know exactly where they are now.” Juno hesitated before asking the question she clearly didn’t want answered.
“What about Holly?” Alaric looked at her.
“You saw what happened.” Juno lowered her eyes.
She had been there when the Crawlers dragged Holly down and tore into her.
Holly had screamed for help while Juno desperately tried to save her, so asking about her now was merely Juno refusing to accept what she already knew.
The image of her friend’s death was still painfully clear.
Alaric remembered Juno from the movie as one of the strongest fighters in the group.
Once forced into a life-or-death situation, she could become extremely ruthless with a climbing pickaxe.
Right now, that made her useful.
Since Alaric intended to hunt the Evil-Spirit Incarnation, bringing another capable fighter was hardly a bad idea.
Besides, avoiding the Crawlers wouldn’t save anyone.
Even if Juno and the others stopped looking for the monsters, the creatures would continue hunting them through the cave until everyone was dead.
Fighting back was no longer optional.
Their only real choice was deciding when to do it.
Juno raised her head.
There was something almost feral in her eyes now.
“What do we do?” Alaric turned toward the dark tunnel ahead.
Behind him, six newly contained Crawlers silently emerged from the shadows while Saw-Tooth and One-Eye guarded the rear, surrounding their master without making a sound.
Juno couldn’t yet clearly see what was moving around them.
“First, we find Beth and the others,” Alaric said as he started walking.
“If we’re too late, they’ll end up exactly like Holly.” Juno tightened her grip on the pistol and followed.
Whatever fear remained inside her was rapidly being replaced by hatred.
Holly’s death was still fresh in her mind.
…
A review helps a lot.
P1treon: