The Black Hollow remained awake long after the survivors arrived.

Torches burned across the underground chambers while armed guards moved through the stone corridors carrying messages between rooms. The atmosphere inside the ruins felt tense now. Not frightened yet.

But tense.

Word of Garron’s destruction had already spread.

Dozens dead.

Two failed assaults.

An entire raiding force shattered outside Falmouth.

That alone was enough to shake people.

Daren sat near one of the lower chambers while a medic wrapped fresh cloth around his wounded arm. The pain had finally started settling in now that the adrenaline faded.

Across from him, Marrick quietly drank water beside a stone pillar.

Neither man spoke much anymore.

Honestly—

There was not much left to say.

They failed.

And somehow, despite everything they witnessed, Daren still felt like he did not fully understand what destroyed them.

One of the Hollow guards eventually approached.

"The overseer wants to hear everything."

Daren slowly stood.

That was bad.

Very bad.

Because men only met the overseers directly when something serious happened.

Marrick immediately looked nervous.

"We’re both going?"

The guard nodded once.

"Now."

The two survivors followed him deeper into the underground structure through narrow stone corridors illuminated by flickering torchlight. The deeper sections of the Hollow looked far more organized than the outer chambers.

Storage vaults.

Weapon rooms.

Accounting chambers.

Even maps pinned against walls.

This was not merely a criminal hideout anymore.

This was administration.

An actual underground network.

Daren noticed several men dressed like merchants quietly discussing trade routes near one chamber. Another room contained ledgers stacked high beside armed guards.

Money flowed through this place.

A lot of money.

The Hollow controlled far more than brigands.

Eventually the guard stopped before a large stone chamber reinforced with wooden beams and iron supports.

Two armed men opened the heavy door slowly.

Inside, several figures already waited near a large table covered in maps.

Not brigands.

Real leadership.

One older man with gray hair and expensive dark clothing slowly looked up from the table as Daren entered.

His expression stayed calm.

Too calm.

"Daren," the man said quietly.

Daren lowered his head slightly.

"Overseer."

The older man folded his hands together.

"Explain."

The room remained silent afterward.

Daren swallowed once.

Then started speaking.

He explained the attacks.

The walls.

The strange soldiers.

The impossible weapons.

The thunder.

The slaughter.

As he spoke, the expressions around the chamber slowly changed.

Not disbelief.

Concern.

Real concern.

One overseer finally interrupted.

"You’re telling me these men killed dozens before your forces even reached the walls?"

"Yes."

"With crossbows?"

Daren shook his head immediately.

"No."

Another pause.

"What then?"

Daren hesitated.

Then answered honestly.

"I don’t know."

That silence afterward felt heavier than shouting.

One of the overseers slowly leaned back.

"Flying machines. Thunder weapons. Organized foreign soldiers..."

The gray-haired overseer narrowed his eyes slightly.

"Falmouth hired something dangerous."

Daren nodded quietly.

Very dangerous.

Before anyone could continue speaking—

A strange sound suddenly echoed faintly through the mountain.

Low.

Distant.

Almost like rumbling thunder.

Several people inside the chamber paused.

One overseer frowned.

"Storm?"

Another sound echoed.

Closer now.

RRRRRRMMMMMMMM.

Daren slowly looked upward.

The vibration felt wrong.

Not natural.

Marrick noticed it too.

"What is that?"

Nobody answered immediately.

Because nobody inside the Hollow recognized the sound.

Far above the mountains, the A-10 Warthog cut through the night sky at high speed.

The aircraft looked brutal beneath the moonlight.

Twin General Electric TF34 turbofan engines roared behind the cockpit while the heavy attack aircraft descended steadily toward the target coordinates transmitted from Atlas reconnaissance.

Inside the cockpit, the pilot studied the targeting display calmly.

The Predator drone feed had already marked the Hollow clearly.

Thermal signatures.

Entrance points.

Underground chambers.

Guard positions.

Everything.

The pilot adjusted the aircraft heading slightly.

Target acquired. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

The A-10 was not a sleek fighter jet.

It was not elegant.

It was built for one purpose.

Destroying ground targets.

And tonight—

That was exactly what it intended to do.

Back inside the Hollow, the strange rumbling grew louder.

Several guards near the outer ruins shouted suddenly from above.

"What is that?!"

Daren’s stomach tightened instantly.

That sound.

He remembered it.

Not clearly.

But enough.

The flying steel.

The city.

The impossible weapons.

The sound outside rapidly intensified.

RRRRRRRMMMMMMMMMM.

Then suddenly—

One terrified scream echoed from somewhere above the ruins.

"THERE’S SOMETHING IN THE SKY!"

Panic spread instantly afterward.

Men rushed toward the outer chambers while guards grabbed crossbows and swords in confusion.

Daren and Marrick exchanged horrified looks.

No.

No no no.

It couldn’t be—

Then the first attack run began.

The A-10 descended through the clouds like a predator diving toward prey.

The pilot aligned the aircraft directly toward the ruined entrance structure while the targeting systems locked onto the designated strike zone.

The massive GAU-8 Avenger rotary cannon beneath the nose spun up.

BRRRRRRRTTTTTTT.

The sound was monstrous.

Not loud.

Monstrous.

The entire mountainside erupted instantly.

30mm depleted uranium rounds tore through the ruins like divine punishment. Stone pillars exploded apart. Guards vanished into sprays of blood and shattered rock. Entire sections of the outer structure collapsed under the impact.

Inside the Hollow, the world shook violently.

The chamber ceiling exploded with dust and debris while terrified men crashed to the floor.

"What the FUCK WAS THAT?!"

Another burst hit seconds later.

BRRRRRRTTTTTTT.

The mountain entrance detonated apart.

Stone walls shattered.

Wooden supports exploded.

Bodies disappeared instantly beneath collapsing debris.

Daren slammed against the floor while the entire underground chamber trembled around him.

Screams echoed everywhere now.

Pure panic.

Not organized panic.

Animal panic.

The overseers looked horrified.

One guard burst into the chamber covered in dust and blood.

"WE’RE UNDER ATTACK!"

The gray-haired overseer roared back:

"BY WHAT?!"

The guard looked completely broken.

"I DON’T KNOW!"

Outside the ruins, the A-10 pulled upward after the first attack pass before banking hard for another run.

The pilot remained calm inside the cockpit.

Target area still active.

Thermal signatures everywhere.

Good.

Another weapons selection appeared across the display.

Hydra rockets armed.

The aircraft rolled back toward the mountainside.

Below, surviving brigands and Hollow personnel stumbled through collapsing ruins while staring upward in terror.

And then they finally saw it.

A massive flying metal beast descending through the night sky.

No wings flapping.

No magic circles.

No dragons.

Just metal.

Speed.

And roaring engines.

One brigand dropped his sword entirely.

"What IS THAT?!"

Another screamed:

"RUN!"

The Warthog unleashed rockets seconds later.

FWOOOOOSH.

Hydra rockets streaked downward into the ruins.

Explosions ripped across the mountainside instantly.

Fire erupted everywhere.

Stone walls collapsed violently while shockwaves blasted men off their feet. Supply rooms detonated. Weapon caches exploded secondary seconds later.

The Hollow ceased functioning as organized infrastructure almost immediately.

Now it was simply destruction.

Daren stumbled through the collapsing corridors beside Marrick while dust filled the air around them.

The underground chambers shook continuously now.

Above them, death circled the sky.

"What do we DO?!" Marrick shouted desperately.

Daren honestly had no answer anymore.

Because nothing in his life prepared him for this.

Not kingdoms.

Not armies.

Not monsters.

Nothing.

Another GAU-8 burst hammered the upper ruins again.

BRRRRRRTTTTTTT.

The sound alone felt terrifying.

Like the sky itself ripping apart.

Entire sections of stone exploded inward while men disappeared beneath the impacts instantly.

The 30mm rounds punched through rock, wood, flesh, and armor effortlessly.

One overseer trying to flee across the upper courtyard vanished into red mist after the cannon swept across the ruins.

The surviving brigands finally broke completely afterward.

No orders remained.

No leadership.

Only survival.

Men fled blindly into the mountains while explosions and cannon fire annihilated everything behind them.

The Warthog climbed once more before beginning another attack turn.

Inside the cockpit, the pilot checked remaining ordnance calmly.

Plenty left.

Far below, the Black Hollow burned.

Marcus watched the entire strike unfold through the Predator drone feed inside Falmouth’s command center.

The thermal display looked catastrophic now.

Multiple fires.

Structural collapses.

Scattered fleeing heat signatures.

One Atlas operator quietly muttered:

"Jesus..."

Marcus stayed calm while watching the ruins disintegrate under repeated attack runs.

The brigands never stood a chance.

Not against medieval walls.

Not against machine guns.

And definitely not against dedicated close air support.

Another rocket strike slammed into the ruins.

The mountainside erupted in fire again.

Marcus studied the fleeing thermal signatures carefully.

Most were dead.

But not all.

Good.

Because survivors spread fear.

And fear traveled faster than armies.

Back at the ruins, Daren and Marrick finally escaped through a partially collapsed side corridor alongside several surviving personnel.

The cold mountain air hit them immediately.

And the scene outside looked like the end of the world.

The Black Hollow was burning.

Ancient ruins collapsed beneath fire and smoke while dead bodies littered the stone pathways. Men screamed everywhere. Others ran blindly into the forests and mountains.

And above all of it—

The metal beast circled through the sky.

Daren stared upward in horror while the aircraft roared overhead again.

That thing followed them.

It followed them all the way here.

The realization nearly stopped his heart.

Falmouth.

The walls.

The hunting.

They were never escaping.

They were being watched the entire time.

Marrick looked completely broken beside him.

"...We led it here..."

Another attack run descended toward the ruins.

The massive cannon spun again.

BRRRRRRTTTTTTT.

And the mountain exploded once more.