“Boom!” A violent explosion thundered through the darkness and echoed all the way toward the upper levels of the cave.
On the lowest level, the mountain itself seemed to shake as Alaric Thomas, Beth, and Rebecca huddled together behind the rocks.
For several seconds, Alaric genuinely wondered whether Juno’s final attack had brought the entire cave system down on top of them.
Dust filled the air as Alaric coughed and slowly climbed back to his feet.
His clothes and hair were covered in dirt, and small pieces of stone continued falling from the ceiling around them.
Considering the force of the blast, he wouldn’t have been surprised if the grenade could have torn apart an armored vehicle.
Chief Peter might have been questionable in many ways, but the equipment he provided had certainly never disappointed Alaric.
“Where’s Juno?” Rebecca asked as soon as she recovered enough to speak.
Nobody answered.
Beth remained dazed for several seconds before looking toward the collapsed tunnel.
“Is that thing…
dead?” “It should be.” Alaric dusted off his jacket and glanced into the darkness.
“Do either of you want to go check?” Beth and Rebecca immediately shook their heads.
They had barely escaped the Evil-Spirit Incarnation alive, and neither woman wanted to discover that the monster could somehow survive being blown apart from the inside.
At this point, they wanted only one thing—to get out of the cave as quickly as possible.
“Let’s go,” Rebecca said.
“This place isn’t safe, and we need to find another exit.” Alaric looked toward the damaged cavern behind them.
“I’m going back for a minute.” Beth immediately grabbed his wrist.
Her voice trembled as she said, “Alaric, Sam is already dead.
Listen to me as your teacher for once and leave this place with us.” Alaric couldn’t simply walk away.
His six contained Crawlers had been wiped out during the battle, and One-Eye had also died while blocking the Evil-Spirit Incarnation inside the narrow passage.
Of the subordinates he had entered this cave with, only Saw-Tooth remained inside the Two of Spades.
Leaving now would mean throwing away nearly everything he had sacrificed those monsters to obtain.
Alaric gently pulled his arm free from Beth’s grip and turned toward the partially collapsed cavern.
He didn’t bother explaining because neither woman would understand why he was willing to risk himself for the creature that had almost killed them.
Beth could only watch helplessly as he disappeared into the darkness.
“What do we do?” she asked Rebecca.
Rebecca stared after him before sighing.
“Give him a few minutes.
If he doesn’t come back, we leave.” “But he’s my student, and he saved both of us.” Beth shook her head.
“We can’t just abandon him down there.” …
Inside the ruined cavern, Alaric held a newly available Four of Diamonds.
The Ghost Card reacted almost immediately.
[Containment Target Detected: Evil-Spirit Incarnation Crawler] [Status: Dying | Containable] Once the Ghost Card confirmed the creature could finally be captured, Alaric stepped from behind the rubble and approached the center of the explosion.
Flesh, shattered bone, organs, and broken stone covered the ground so thoroughly that it was impossible to tell which pieces belonged to whom.
The largest remains obviously belonged to the Evil-Spirit Incarnation.
Almost nothing recognizable remained except part of its torso, two ruined legs, and half of its head.
Somehow, the creature was still barely alive, and its single remaining blood-red eye continued staring directly at Alaric.
Seeing that alone confirmed just how different this thing was from an ordinary Crawler.
“Contain.” The Four of Diamonds flew from Alaric’s hand and struck the remains.
A dark force instantly pulled the mangled body and scattered pieces of the creature into the card.
A second later, the Ghost Card shot back through the air and landed neatly between Alaric’s fingers.
He turned it over.
The formerly blank surface had changed completely.
A crimson monster crouched inside a shadowy underground cavern, its blood-red eyes glowing against the darkness.
The image was so detailed that the creature almost seemed ready to crawl directly out of the card.
After fighting something this powerful, Alaric couldn’t stop a satisfied smile from appearing.
The stronger the monster had been as an enemy, the happier he was to own it now.
Against most ordinary slashers, this single card would probably allow Alaric to move around without much concern.
Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers were obvious exceptions, since those two had a habit of ignoring injuries that should permanently kill anyone else.
Most physical killers, however, would have very little chance against the creature he had just captured.
New information appeared.
[Containment Target: Evil-Spirit Incarnation Crawler] [Evaluation: Legendary bloodthirsty man-eating demon; vessel and incarnation of an evil spirit] [Stage Two: Not Activated] Alaric’s smile widened.
This was the first contained creature powerful enough for the Ghost Card to provide a special evaluation.
No wonder rifle fire had felt almost useless against it.
Compared with the cannibal mutants and ordinary Crawlers he had captured before, this creature had clearly stepped beyond the limits of normal biological life.
Otherwise, it wouldn’t have been classified as an evil-spirit incarnation.
As for Stage Two, Alaric immediately remembered the transformation during their battle.
Black smoke had poured from the creature as bone spurs erupted through its flesh and its physical power increased dramatically.
That terrifying possessed state was probably what the Ghost Card meant.
Alaric didn’t waste time studying its extractable abilities yet.
Beth and Rebecca were still waiting for him, and the cave might contain surviving Crawlers.
Before leaving, he glanced at the ruined remains scattered across the chamber and realized some of them probably belonged to One-Eye and Juno.
He wasn’t going to collect what was left.
There was hardly enough intact material to bury properly anyway.
Instead, Alaric canceled his previous fusion and focused on the Four of Diamonds.
“Fuse.” The result was immediate.
Power surged through his entire body, and his bones seemed to vibrate beneath his skin.
Alaric could feel the dormant second stage waiting somewhere deeper inside the fusion, as though he could trigger the Evil-Spirit Incarnation’s transformation whenever he deliberately chose to.
The sensation was far beyond anything he had felt while fused with Saw-Tooth or an ordinary Crawler.
For several moments, the sudden increase in strength went straight to his head.
Alaric felt as if he could smash through the cave wall with his bare hands.
The classic expression about being strong enough to kill a bull with one punch suddenly seemed almost insulting.
In his current condition, he felt like he could deal with several without much effort.
A cannibal mutant that had once forced him to rely on guns could probably be thrown aside with one hand.
After allowing himself a few moments to enjoy the feeling, Alaric regained control and headed back.
Beth and Rebecca were still waiting where he had left them.
The moment he appeared, both women hurried toward him.
“Well?” Rebecca asked.
“What happened?” “It’s dead.” Alaric kept his answer simple.
“Let’s find a way out before anything else shows up.” Neither woman asked to see the remains.
Rebecca especially had no desire to return and look at what was left of Juno.
After an explosion like that, there would be little more than scattered flesh waiting for her.
Some things were better remembered as people rather than identified from pieces.
As the three searched for an exit, they also agreed on exactly what they would tell the authorities.
There was a practical reason for that.
Juno was the daughter of a senator.
Once her disappearance became known, the case would receive far more attention than an ordinary missing-person report.
Police, rescue teams, and possibly state or federal resources would inevitably become involved, meaning Alaric, Beth, and Rebecca needed their accounts to remain consistent.
Beth was visibly uncomfortable with the idea.
Alaric wasn’t.
To him, walking through the cave now almost felt easy.
The Evil-Spirit Incarnation had lived in this underground system, and through Fusion, fragments of its instincts and familiarity with the tunnels came naturally to him.
After everything they had endured, finding the exit was suddenly the least difficult part.
They passed through several winding tunnels without encountering another Crawler.
Guided partly by the creature’s instincts and memories, Alaric led Beth and Rebecca through sections of the cave they otherwise would never have chosen.
Eventually, they found a narrow upward passage leading toward fresh air.
The exit emerged beneath the roots of a large tree somewhere deep in the forest.
When Alaric climbed outside, the first thing he saw was an open blue sky.
After spending so long surrounded by darkness and rock, the daylight was almost painfully bright.
He immediately canceled the Fusion before Beth or Rebecca noticed anything unusual and stood beneath the trees for several seconds, enjoying the feeling of open air.
He had completely lost track of time underground.
Beth and Rebecca climbed out behind him and practically collapsed onto the ground.
Both women breathed deeply as though ordinary air had become something precious.
None of them spoke for a while.
Eventually, they forced themselves to move again.
The three headed downhill until they reached a road where passing vehicles could occasionally be seen through the trees.
Cars meant people, and after everything they had experienced, people meant safety.
They managed to flag down a driver willing to take three filthy and exhausted strangers toward the nearest town or hospital.
They didn’t get far.
Several police vehicles and search-and-rescue trucks appeared ahead, heading directly toward the mountain.
The driver slowed at an officer’s signal, and what initially looked like a routine roadblock became much more serious once Rebecca identified herself.
The three survivors were immediately taken into police custody for questioning.
Only then did they discover just how large the search operation had become.
Juno’s father had used every connection available to pressure local authorities into finding his daughter.
Search-and-rescue crews, sheriff’s deputies, medical teams, and experienced cavers had already been mobilized throughout the area.
Since Alaric, Beth, and Rebecca were members of Juno’s missing expedition, they naturally became central witnesses—and possible suspects.
Fortunately, they had already agreed on their story.
The problem was getting anyone to believe it.
When Beth and Rebecca described pale humanoid creatures hunting them underground, several younger officers looked at them as if trauma had destroyed their ability to think rationally.
The idea of man-eating monsters living beneath the Appalachian Mountains sounded absurd to anyone who hadn’t personally watched one tear a human apart.
One younger officer named John was especially skeptical.
An older sheriff finally interrupted the interrogation.
“Enough, John.” The younger officer turned toward him.
The older man had a weathered face and an old scar running along one side of it, making him look like someone who had survived more than ordinary police work.
He studied Beth and Rebecca for several seconds before speaking again.
“They might be telling the truth.” John frowned.
“Chief, you’re serious?” The sheriff nodded slowly.
“There are things in this world that aren’t human.
You don’t have to believe that yet, but don’t assume they’re crazy just because you’ve never seen one.” Alaric quietly studied the older man.
That wasn’t something a person said without experience.
John clearly remained unconvinced, but he respected the sheriff enough to stop arguing.
With the older man’s intervention, Alaric, Beth, and Rebecca were temporarily released from questioning and sent toward town for medical attention and rest.
Meanwhile, the authorities prepared a rescue team to enter the cave.
Every member was equipped properly, and after hearing the survivors’ story, nobody was going underground unarmed.
The old sheriff even insisted on personally accompanying the team.
Most of the Crawlers were already dead.
As long as the rescuers stayed cautious, Alaric doubted they would face anything comparable to what his group had encountered.
During the ride away, he kept thinking about the old sheriff’s words.
The man had definitely encountered something unnatural before.
John, on the other hand, was exactly what Alaric expected from someone who had never seen the supernatural with his own eyes.
One believed because experience had forced him to, while the other dismissed monsters because they had never entered his world.
That probably explained much of this society.
Most people simply didn’t believe.
A much smaller number had seen enough to know better.
As for why supernatural events weren’t constantly dominating national news, Alaric could think of several explanations.
America was enormous, and even hundreds of strange disappearances or isolated horror incidents became statistically small once scattered across fifty states.
The other reason was even simpler.
No government wanted mass panic.
…
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