One by one, the workers began filing out of the rift, some wiping sweat from their brows, others pushing wheelbarrows overflowing with crystals. Chatter swelled as clusters of exhausted miners drifted toward the exit. And in the middle of all that movement, Itsuki kept striking.
By now he had stripped off the upper half of his clothes, letting Adrien's body breathe. Under the glow of the cavern lights and the lamps placed in specific positions, the carved lines of Adrien's physique stood out—lean muscle shaped by years of labour.
"You're still going?" Adrien's friend asked as he approached, Dupont strolling beside him.
Itsuki lifted his head, taking off his helmet as he brushed back his sweat-soaked hair.
"Yeah. I think I can go a little longer. I'm not feeling too strained yet."
Dupont chuckled, giving him a half-suspicious look.
"I swear you've awakened into an S-rank Combatter and just don't want to tell us."
Itsuki laughed lightly and went right back to work, but Adrien's friend sighed and planted his pickaxe into the ground as he began to stretch.
"I'll stay. If we work together, you won't burn yourself out."
Crap.
"Seriously, don't bother," Itsuki said quickly, raising a hand. "I'm fine. Really. You guys go take your break—I'll be sure to come out in a little bit."
Dupont and Adrien's friend exchanged a quiet glance before turning toward the rift.
"If you insist," Dupont called over her shoulder. "Just don't get any ideas about climbing anything."
He gave a small wave and watched until their figures disappeared completely through the light of the rift.
The instant they were gone, his expression flattened.
Perfect.
Adults will always be adults.
He turned toward the vast, unworked stretch of the cavern. A deep breath filled his lungs as he tightened his grip on the pickaxe.
"I'm not sure where to look… but if I keep moving forward, I'm bound to run into something."
He stepped to the side, picked up a lamp resting against a rock, and lifted it with calm. The soft glow washed over his face, pushing back the faint shadows ahead.
Rousing himself, he stared toward the untouched section of the cave—into the quiet reaches where no miner had dared to work since he had been there, and started moving forward.
***
He had been walking for what felt like fifteen minutes. The cavern stretched on and on—crystals glowing softly from the walls, ceiling, and floor—yet nothing resembling an Abbysal had appeared.
The system's dashboard flickered back into view, its cold text unchanged.
He clicked his tongue.
"The least you could do is tell me where to go."
He kept walking, guided only by his lamp and the quiet shimmer of crystals. When, the sound of wet footsteps began to echo.
They slapped faintly against the cavern floor, echoing across it's walls.
Itsuki stood frozen as he held his breath, straining to listen, to confirm whether his mind was playing tricks on him or not.
The footsteps kept on echoing, this time louder.
He turned sharply, and immediately, a blade swept out of the shadows aimed to cut him clean in half.
Shit—!
He barely managed to jerk the pickaxe up, catching the strike. The force snapped the wooden handle clean in two, sending him stumbling backward. He caught himself just in time, raising the lamp's light toward the where the attack had come from—
But whatever was there was already gone.
"What the heck was that…?"
He looked down at the broken handle in his hand, then traced the arc of where the iron head had landed.
Great. Disarmed before I could even find out what's hunting me.
He turned his gaze back toward the long, faintly glowing path he had come from.
Should I just go back?
Maybe take the system's punishment. Even if it ends up being something as severe as death… that might be better than being chopped in half by something I can't even see.
He stared at the faintly lit tunnel for a long moment.
Then something inside him tightened.
Not yet.
He turned back and walked toward the fallen iron head of the pickaxe, crouching to retrieve it. He listened—really listened—to the stillness swallowing the cavern.
He rose, switching the lamp and the iron in his hands, the cold weight of the metal grounding his nerves.
Not yet.
Immediately, he ran—dragging the jagged metal along the crystal wall.
The cavern shrieked with high-pitched scraping, a sharp metallic wail that cut through the silence like a blade.
Come get me, you bastard…
The wet footsteps returned immediately—faster now—slapping against the floor as they got closer from behind.
He spun in one fluid motion and hurled the lamp.
The glass shattered against a tall figure's face, spraying embers of burning oil across its skin, causing parts of it to ignite.
The creature stood revealed in the embers of light of the crystals and that ignited by the fire as it tried to shake it off: tall, rigid, its lean but powerful frame carved with glowing red sigils that pulsed like burning veins beneath its sickly green flesh. Its eyes shone a deep, predatory crimson.
Itsuki's eyes widened—but he lunged forward before fear could settle.
He slammed the metal pickaxe head with every ounce of force he had into the abbysal's neck.
It staggered, blood spilling in thick, dark streams as it collapsed to the ground.
Itsuki sucked in harsh breaths,
"Yes… I killed it."
He stepped forward cautiously, kneeling beside the corpse to confirm the kill.
"This… is an abbysal?"
He reached a hand out to examine its skin—when, the abbysal's eyes snapped open.
Its head launched upward with a piercing scream, raising the long, jagged crystal it used as a blade aimed straight at itsuki's skull.
Before Itsuki could react, what felt like Instinct took over.
He hurled himself to the side—barely dodging the strike by a breath—then, ripped one of the mined crystals from his pocket and drove it straight into the abbysal's head.
The shriek died instantly.
Its body went limp, the raised hand dropping to the ground with a heavy thud.
A chime cut through the stillness as the system's interface slid open in front of him once more.
[Objective]
[Explore the deepest parts of the cave and eradicate any Abbysals present]
[Abbysals Killed 1 / 52]