Things were gradually getting better in Blackstone City as well.
Inside a meeting room built just behind the outer walls, the Horde's Alpha-level powerhouses were all grinning from ear to ear. Onyx had successfully summoned a blood spirit, and Thundar had captured a Dark Fiend, immediately adding two heavy hitters to the Horde's forces.
By contrast, the Dark Creatures had just lost two of their top fighters. And with the Dark Armored Beetle now dead, the Dark Creatures no longer had the option of launching an underground assault. That took a massive load off the shoulders of those defending the city.
"Everyone, we couldn't have won without you," Delilah praised the elders, then straightened her expression and began issuing orders.
"Elder Thundar, take the cavalry and head for the underground fissure to assist Lorelia and Rockwell. There's a swarm of subterranean creatures crawling up from the bottomless abyss. One of them is Alpha-level.
We need backup in case another Alpha-level beast shows up down there. Elder Thundar, you and your Dark Fiend go lend them a hand."
Delilah's words made everyone pause for a moment. Then they all frowned.
"Yes, ma'am!" Thundar answered without hesitation. He stood and walked right out of the meeting room.
Delilah watched Thundar's departing figure, noting the bandages wrapped around his shoulder. Though the shamans had tended to him, all they really did was stop the bleeding; full recovery would take time.
Luckily for him, he already possessed an Alpha-level body that healed extremely well on its own. Delilah's decision to send Thundar off to help at the underground fissure was partly meant to keep him out of the most dangerous battles near the city, lowering his risk of casualty.
There were way too many Dark Creatures out there. Even though they'd put down two Alpha-levels, nobody could say for sure more wouldn't pop up. If that happened and Thundar, still seriously wounded, forced himself to keep fighting, it could very well be fatal.
"In the last big fight, a butterfly-assassin showed up on the walls—some kind of humanoid monster with high intelligence and freaky powers. It can hide in the void," Delilah told the group. "Last time, it was gunning for me. In the fights coming up, all you elders need to keep an eye out. Don't let your guard down."
Hearing about this butterfly-assassin, the elders' foreheads knotted again, their faces turning grim.
Slagor, Earthshaker, Lilith, and Lysinthia were especially unsettled. Their personal defenses weren't exactly bulletproof, and if that assassin picked them off with a sneak attack, it could be a killing blow.
"That's why for the next battles, you elders should work in pairs. Watch each other's backs."
With that, Delilah took the dark source crystals from Lysinthia and Rendall's hands, tucking them away. Their most recent battle had scored them two Alpha-level dark source crystals—a huge haul indeed.
…
Underground fissure, bottomless abyss.
Rockwell swung his giant axe, beheading a Hero-level subterranean creature that had just busted out of the spider horde. He yanked a crystal core from its skull.
"These monsters keep getting stronger," Rockwell muttered, glancing at Lorelia in the near distance. Her usually composed face was creased with worry.
"What's up?"
Lorelia, an Alpha-level broodmother, rarely looked this tense. That meant the threat below had to be an Alpha-level underground monster.
"Something big like a worm is headed straight for us. My children can't slow it down."
"Warden Rockwell. Get ready to fight," she cautioned.
Rockwell gripped his stone axe tighter. He was well aware that underground creatures ran big. They generally sported scales or armored hides, making them even more of a hassle than surface beasts.
"A giant worm? Like a big serpent?"
"Sort of. But then again, not exactly," Lorelia answered, a trace of uncertainty in her voice.
Rockwell frowned. "Wait, so it looks like a snake, but it doesn't crawl like one?"
"It does look that way, but it's hopping—jumping—on its way up toward us!" Lorelia's eyes flashed with regret. "I can barely stand to watch. Every time that Alpha-level worm leaps, it crushes a bunch of my cave spiders."
She clearly felt bad for the spiders—they'd cost the Tribe a fortune in resources. As someone who oversaw resource consumption firsthand, Lorelia understood how precious they were.
"It's closing in fast. We've got maybe fifteen minutes before it gets here."
Speaking, she backed up to the mouth of the passage, leaving the edge of the bottomless abyss behind, effectively tossing the most dangerous part of the operation onto Rockwell's plate.
Yup, Lorelia was ready to run if things went south. She was putting Orion's lesson—if you can't win, get out—into practice.
Rockwell, no fool himself, scowled at her retreat. "Lorelia, do you really have that little faith in me? Fighting alongside me doesn't make you feel even a smidge safer?"
Lorelia stood near the passage exit, raising her longbow with a silent smile as if to say she'd at least give him some covering fire from a distance.
Four spider guards crawled forward, acting as her defensive line.
"I can't figure it out," Rockwell grumbled under his breath, stone axe in hand, stationed at the edge of the bottomless abyss. "Lord Orion's so fearless, so how did his pet end up such a scaredy-cat? Come on, it's just one underground monster. We've done this before."
Time flies in a battle. Fifteen minutes felt like an instant.
Thud! Thud! THUD!
Those were the sounds of something huge landing, squashing more little spiders in the process.
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"It's here!" Rockwell tensed, eyes glued to the gaping abyss.
Suddenly, he spotted the wormlike creature contorting its body and springing upward. It appeared almost serpentine, but not quite; a single eye sat front and center on its head, topped by two jagged horns. Its massive maw gaped wide, devouring any spider unlucky enough to cling to its hide as it bounded upward.
"Rend and Spin—Whirling Slash!"
That was Rockwell's one and only long-range move. Using a weird angle and burst of power, he hurled his stone axe, aiming to cut down his target from a distance.
With the bloodline power coursing through it, the spinning stone axe became a whirlwind. It whooshed straight at the weird worm.
Slash!
The blow caught the worm mid-jump. Caught off guard, it took a vicious cut, leaving a huge gash. Rockwell felt sure that if he scored one more hit like that, he'd slice the thing clean in two.
The wounded worm screeched and channeled strength into its next leap, widening its jaws as it sprang toward Rockwell.
Wooo—woo—woo!
Now that it was up close, Rockwell could hear a peculiar whooshing rising from the thing's lower half. Its tail end twisted in a spiral pattern, giving the monster extra momentum on each jump.
Two heartbeats later, the worm vaulted out of the bottomless abyss entirely. At the same moment, Rockwell's stone axe, having boomeranged back through the air, whirled into his waiting grip once again.