They sprinted toward the source of the screams, their boots pounding against the uneven ground as they charged through the passage ahead.

  The tunnel widened quickly, opening into a larger chamber. The oppressive ceiling lifted, and the walls spread outward, revealing a space littered with debris and roots sprawling across the floor like veins.

  Three climbers were locked in a desperate fight.

  They were already roughed up from the fight, armor dented and clothes torn. One had a hand pressed against a bleeding wound on his side, while the others kept moving, weapons raised. Four of the creatures circled them, their legs twitching as they closed in.

  But it was the creatures that made Riven's blood congeal in his veins, freezing him mid-step.

  They were unlike anything he'd seen before.

  The monsters moved on eight long, thin legs, their joints bending at sharp, unnatural angles. Each step produced a sickening click-clack against the stone floor, jerking and unstable, as if their own limbs didn't quite follow the rules of balance.

  Their abdomens hung low and swollen, sagging heavily beneath their frames.

  But their heads were the most disturbing part. They didn't resemble insect heads at all—instead, they looked like human skulls stripped of flesh, pale and distorted with too many eye sockets. These nightmare faces seemed grafted onto bodies they were never meant to belong to

  The sight of them was deeply wrong, a corrupted hybrid between a giant ant and a giant spider.

  Riven's knuckles blanched white around the hilt of his sword as he prepared to charge, but Lya's scream—raw and primal—stopped him cold.

  He whirled toward her. "What's happening?"

  She doubled over, fingers clawing at her temples. "I... I don't know. It's the talisman," she choked out between ragged breaths.

  She seized his arm, nails digging into his flesh."Leave me!...Go"

  "GO-NOW!"

  Riven hesitated , jaw tightening, then turned and bolted toward the fight.

  He assessed the fight in a glance. Three climbers—one with an injured arm barely fending off an attacker, another being forced backward, a third somehow holding against two creatures.

  He chose the weakest position.

  The creature had cornered its prey, mandibles clicking inches from the man's face. The climber's arms trembled, boots scraping for purchase.

  Riven slipped behind the monster and drove his blade through its abdomen.

  The reaction was instant. The monster released the climber and whipped its head around toward him. He barely raised his sword in time, the impact sending violent vibrations up his right arm.

  The mandibles latched onto the steel, grinding against it as the creature pushed forward. Riven's boots scraped backward across the stone, his shoulders slamming hard into the wall behind him. The impact drove the air from his lungs, leaving him gasping.

  The mandibles ground against his blade, inching closer.

  A blur of motion— the climber lunged into view, mace already arcing downward. Golden particles streaked behind the weapon like comet-tail. CRACK! The mace connected, pulverizing chitin. The creature's rear segment imploded, viscous fluid spraying outward as its legs spasmed and buckled.

  The monster's frame lurched forward, then snapped back.

  A high-pitched chittering—like metal scraping bone—pierced the air.

  In one fluid motion, it released Riven's blade and pivoted, mandibles flashing forward. They punched through the climber's stomach with a wet thunk. The man's scream cut through everything, primal and gargling as blood bubbled between his lips.

  He didn’t think twice. He aimed for the join at the back of the monster’s carapace, and drove the blade down with everything he had. The tip pierced the exoskeleton with a sickening pop, met a pocket of resistance, and then punched through the other side of the skull.

  Riven wrenched the sword free, every muscle burning, and turned his attention to the climber. The man’s face was a mask of agony, and his hand was already dark and sticky with his own blood. He didn’t look up. He didn’t seem to notice the rescue. All his focus was on not dying before his insides spilled completely out.

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  But there was no time to check on him. A warning shriek from Lya snapped Riven’s attention to the right.

  The second monster was coming fast, a blur in the red mist.

  Shit.

  He dove sideways, the claws of the beast missing his ribs by less than an inch. He rolled, sword extended, and scrambled to his feet, chest heaving from the sudden spike of fear.

  The monster was already re-orienting, legs splayed wide for stability, mandibles snapping.

  For a split second, Riven considered retreating, but the tunnel behind him was a kill box. So, he planted his feet, wiped his brow with a trembling hand and waited.

  It didn’t make him wait long. The thing lunged, legs blurring as it closed the gap. Riven braced for the impact, but before the jaws could clamp down, a flash of green cut through the air.

  Lya was on its back, arms and legs clamped tight to the exoskeleton. She raised her dagger and slammed it over and over into the softer flesh of the abdomen. The first few strikes glanced off, but the third sank in deep and stuck.

  The monster shrieked, bucked, and twisted, trying to throw her, but she held on, digging her nails in for purchase.

  Riven circled behind it, seeing his opening. He brought his sword up and swept it in a low, horizontal arc at the monster’s neck, right where the head met the thorax.

  The blade hit, but the chitin was thick—thicker than expected. The sword barely made it a third of the way through before it stopped dead.

  The monster spun, ramming him with a foreleg. The blow lifted Riven off his feet and slammed him against the wall. For a second, the world went white with pain. He hit the ground hard, sword skittering across the stone, and only instinct got him back to his feet in time to see the monster bearing down.

  Lya was still clinging to its back, slashing blindly at the exposed flesh, but her attacks were losing steam. The monster ignored her, all its focus locked on Riven, who was trying to force himself upright with a dislocated shoulder and a mouth full of blood.

  The monster reared up, ready to end him.

  And then, without warning, something slammed into its side.

  The impact was brutal, bone-shaking. The entire monster was thrown across the chamber, hitting the opposite wall with enough force to split the stone.

  It hit the ground and didn’t move.

  Standing where the monster had been was a giant of a man—easily a head and a half taller than Riven, all corded muscle and broad frame. Blood soaked his side, pooling around the deep gash that painted his abdomen a vivid red.

  But what caught Riven’s eye was the weapon.

  The man carried a spear nearly as long as he was tall, and at the tip, instead of steel, there was a glowing shard of what looked like pure gold, thrumming with raw energy. The man’s hands shook as he lowered the weapon, the aftershocks of the attack still vibrating up his arms.

  He took a step forward, winced, and then stabilized himself with the spear. His eyes—a strange, luminous gold—never left the corpse of the monster. He stood over the body, chest heaving, and waited to see if it would move again.

  It didn’t.

  For a moment, no one said anything. When the giant had struck the monster, the impact had sent Lya flying from its back. She hit the ground hard, the air punched from her lungs. Now she knelt there, hands planted on her knees, her breaths coming in sharp, uneven bursts as she tried to steady herself.

  Riven let his own sword drop to the floor, the adrenaline spike turning instantly to exhaustion. He wiped his mouth and spat a bloody tooth onto the ground, then turned to the giant with the spear.

  The man regarded him with a flat, unreadable stare. His mouth was set in a thin line, eyes darting between Riven and Lya as if expecting them to turn on him at any second.

  But, he exhaled deeply, letting out a long "ahhh" of relief. His shoulders slumped as the tension drained from his massive frame.

  "Thank you... Thank you for helping us," he said, his gaze darkening as he looked at the fallen climber with the mace, now just a bloodied corpse on the ground.

  Lya's eyes softened despite her exhaustion. "Of course we helped," she said, her voice gentle as flower petals even as she grimaced, pushing herself to her feet with trembling hands. She brushed a strand of hair from her face, leaving a smudge of something dark across her cheek.

  Riven furrowed his brow, not in anger but confusion. He had expected the giant's voice to match his imposing physique—deep and thunderous. Instead, it was surprisingly clear, almost melodious.

  The discrepancy threw him off momentarily, but he pushed the thought aside as he struggled to his feet. His dislocated shoulder sent white-hot spikes of pain through his chest with every movement. He gritted his teeth

  Lya's healer's eye picked up on it instantly. "I still have enough koras to heal you," she said, already pushing herself to her feet.

  The man shook his head, politely but resolute. "Not now. We can't stay here." He gestured toward the tunnel they had come from. "These monsters, they move in groups. We managed to lose some of them, but they'll be here soon."

  Riven nodded, understanding immediately. He took a deep breath, steeling himself for what came next.

  "Hold on," he muttered, though no one had offered to help.

  In one swift motion, he slammed his shoulder against the stone wall. A sickening pop echoed in the chamber as the joint snapped back into place. White-hot agony exploded through his chest and down his arm. He bit down so hard he tasted fresh blood, but he didn't cry out.

  The chamber felt alive with tension, the air thick and heavy, urging him to act.

  “There,” he said, pointing toward a dark tunnel yawning at the far end of the chamber. Glancing back at the giant and Lya, who stood watchful and tense, he added, “That’s our way out.”

  He moved quickly, striding toward the tunnel without waiting for acknowledgment. They couldn’t linger here. Not with the monsters still lurking nearby.

  Behind him, Lya remained momentarily frozen, her wide eyes fixed on the fallen climber. their body brutally torn and mangled where the monster's claws had shredded through armor and flesh alike.

  Riven could sense she was hesitating—he didn’t need to look back to know that.

  “Come on,” he urged, willing her to shake off the moment. They had no time for sorrow—not now.

  They plunged deeper into the tunnel, the frenetic vibrations closing in as the snapping of mandibles echoed behind them.