The women followed their lethal Captain directly into the yawning black maw of the cavern.

The transition from the dense ash-choked forest of the Umbral Basin to the interior of the subterranean cave was scary.

The ambient temperature immediately plummeted.

The thick wet smell of the monsoon rain was instantly replaced by the suffocating scent of stagnant air and dry rock.

At first, there was total darkness.

The oppressive blackness of the cavern swallowed the gray daylight from the entrance within the first twenty paces.

"I can’t see my own boots, Captain..." Reonn whispered from directly behind Tasmin with her hand gripping her recurve bow tightly. "The flare burned out completely."

"Maintain formation... Do not break the line," Tasmin ordered smoothly with her dark eyes straining against the void. "Mage....We need illumination at a low output. Do not blind us."

In the center of the formation, one of the junior scout mages quickly stepped up to the rough jagged stone wall of the cavern.

She reached into her utility pouch and pulled out a handful of unrefined low-grade fire crystals she had harvested during the Novice Trial.

’Or rather that Miss Aeliana found for us...’ She thought.

With a quick whispered incantation, she crushed the crystals in her palm and smeared the glowing volatile powder directly in a straight line along the obsidian wall.

Fwoosh!

A low steady trail of magical fire ignited along the rock face.

The soft flickering amber light instantly pushed the heavy darkness back, illuminating the interior of the massive subterranean tunnel.

The sudden light revealed exactly what kind of cavern they had just confidently strolled into.

It wasn’t a natural cave.

The walls were far too smooth and carved with precision.

Massive, decaying wooden support beams lined the ceiling.

Rusted oxidized iron tracks were bolted directly into the stone floorboards, leading deeper into the earth.

It was a mine... somehow...

And it wasn’t empty.

The flickering light of the fire crystals completely illuminated the raw unmined veins of ore protruding from the rock walls.

"By the Realm..." the junior mage gasped, her eyes going completely wide.

The walls were literally glittering.

Thick unmistakable veins of glowing blue star-iron, deep-earth alloy, and condensed mana-crystals were practically bursting out of the stone.

The girls completely lost their disciplined military bearing for a fraction of a second.

"Do you see how incredibly shiny these deposits are?" Reonn whispered, stepping out of formation to run a gloved hand over a massive raw chunk of star-iron. "These are Tier 2 and Tier 3 materials... according to Master’s system tab. They are practically growing out of the walls like weeds!"

"Imagine exactly what our Lord would say if we brought all of this back to the Foundry!" the junior mage cheered quietly as her eyes practically turning into glowing spirit-credit signs. "He just dropped a lot to buy us those new clothes! If we secure this localized resource node, the territory will be financially independent!"

The scouts were ecstatic.

They were already mentally calculating the overwhelming logistical value of the haul and the intense affectionate praise they would receive from their Sovereign.

Tasmin, however, didn’t smile.

The Wilderness Huntress didn’t reach out to touch the glowing ores and she didn’t look at the shiny blue mythril.

Her hands remained securely hovering over the hilts of her chained daggers.

Her dark eyes scanned the shadows just beyond the reach of the fire crystals.

’This is wrong...’ Tasmin thought as she analyzed the situation with cold-blooded paranoia. ’A massive valuable and completely untouched mythic resource node located directly in the middle of a high-density death zone? With absolutely no small monsters or roaming bosses in the surrounding forest?’

It was basic undeniable predator logic.

If a piece of meat this juicy was sitting completely out in the open, and the local wildlife wasn’t touching it, it meant only one thing.

’There absolutely has to be a, terrifying monster actively living in here,’ Tasmin concluded with her combat instincts screaming at her to back away. ’This isn’t a free drop... This is a kill zone.’

"Back away from the walls," Tasmin ordered sharply with her voice dropping all pretense of casual scouting. "Do not touch the—"

CLICK!

The sound was tiny.

It was barely a whisper over the ambient crackling of the fire crystals but to a trained Huntress, it sounded like a literal atomic bomb going off.

One of the younger scout archers, distracted by a massive glowing vein of blue mana-crystals, had taken a single careless step backward.

Her heavy iron boot had depressed a slightly elevated camouflaged stone pressure plate hidden in the dust.

The rookie had just violently tripped a mechanical trap.

For one agonizing second, nothing happened.

And then, the very earth beneath their boots began to violently shake.

ROOOOOOAAAAAAAR!

A massive blood-curdling bellow erupted from the pitch-black depths of the mine tunnel.

It wasn’t a single voice.

It was a chaotic chorus of dozens of heavy roars.

"RETREAT!" Tasmin screamed at the top of her lungs with her dark eyes completely wide. "GET OUT OF THE CAVE! IMMEDIATELY!"

The girls didn’t argue.

The overwhelming wave of killing intent flooding up the tunnel completely shattered their greed.

They instantly spun around and began sprinting frantically back toward the gray light of the cavern entrance.

They weren’t fast enough as the monsters didn’t simply shamble out of the dark.

They exploded out of the shadows with terrifying momentum.

They were massive mutated Corrupted Orcs.

They stood easily eight feet tall, their thick leathery green skin bulging with unnatural tumorous muscle mass.

They wore rusted iron armor plates bolted directly into their flesh, and they carried massive, crude steel maces and heavy broadswords.

They were probably Tier 1 and Tier 2 infantry monsters, and there were easily three dozen of them charging directly up the tunnel.

"Reonn! Cover the exit!" Tasmin barked the tactical order.

The Wilderness Huntress didn’t retreat with the rest of her squad.

She violently planted her boots into the stone floor, completely placing her own physical body directly between the charging green horde and her fleeing subordinates.

With a sharp fluid flick of her wrists, Tasmin drew her chained daggers.

’I am the commander of this group...’Tasmin thought with her mind going entirely cold and focused. ’They have entrusted their lives to me so nobody dies on my watch.’

The first massive Tier 2 Orc reached her.

The beast roared, raising a massive rusted steel mace high above its head to completely crush the small human woman into paste.

Tasmin didn’t flinch.

Her mind instantly flashed back to the brutal humiliating sparring session in the muddy courtyard just a few hours ago.

She remembered the terrifying Dread Queen standing in the rain, tearing apart her combat mechanics.

"Your flames are too wild!" That was at least how Tasmin interpreted her words. "You are wasting massive amounts of energy heating the ambient air! Focus the mana strictly onto the very tip of your blades to maximize armor penetration!"

Tasmin aggressively surged her raw mana directly into her Tier 3 Eclipse-Thread Vambraces.

"Fine then..."

Tasmin didn’t let the fire engulf the entire length of the chains.

She exerted painstaking control over her output.

Tasmin forcefully condensed the dark crimson volatile magical flames completely down to the razor-sharp tips of the heavy iron daggers.

The tips of the blades glowed with a blinding super-heated white-hot intensity as Tasmin moved.

Tasmin ducked smoothly under the massive descending steel mace, letting the momentum of the Orc completely miss her.

Swish!

She whipped the chained dagger in a tight arc directly toward the monster’s exposed side.

The super-heated condensed tip of the dagger didn’t just cut the Orc.

It instantly melted completely through the rusted iron armor plating, seared effortlessly through the thick, tumorous green muscle, and punctured the beast’s vital organs.

The Orc didn’t even have time to scream.

It completely collapsed with its internal systems instantly flash-fried by the injection of flames.

"It works," Tasmin whispered with a confident smirk touching her lips. "The pirate was absolutely right."

She didn’t stop.

She became a blender of pure violence.

Tasmin danced through the center of the mine tunnel.

She utilized her insane agility to seamlessly dodge the massive, clumsy swings of the Tier 1 and Tier 2 monsters then she spun the chains with terrifying precision.

Every single time a dagger lashed out, the super-heated tip effortlessly pierced skulls, severed thick carotid arteries, and melted through iron breastplates.

From the cavern entrance behind her, Reonn and the scouts finally established a secure defensive line.

TWANG! TWANG! TWANG!

A volley of enchanted arrows shot past Tasmin’s shoulders, burying themselves directly into the eyes and throats of the advancing Orcs.

The junior mage hurled fireballs, exploding the weaker Tier 1 monsters into ash.

With her squad providing flawless suppressing fire support, Tasmin completely carved her way through the horde.

She was dealing work.

Tasmin moved with the fluid momentum of a tidal wave, taking Morwenna’s harsh criticism to heart.

She didn’t waste a single wasted movement.... She didn’t overextend.... She just slaughtered.

Within two minutes, the tunnel was heavily choked with the burning mutilated corpses of three dozen Corrupted Orcs.

Tasmin stood in the center of the carnage with her chest heaving slightly as she retracted her chains.

"Target rich environment completely neutralized..." Tasmin called out over her shoulder, wiping a streak of black blood from her cheek. "Let’s fall back to the—"

THUD! THUD! THUD!

The earth-shattering sound of massive footsteps completely interrupted her.

The air in the mine tunnel violently shifted.

The temperature didn’t just drop.

The overwhelming density of the mana pressure spiking from the deep shadows made Tasmin’s lungs physically constrict.

The remaining low-tier Orc corpses that were still twitching on the floor were violently kicked aside.

A massive towering behemoth stepped entirely out of the darkness and into the flickering light of the fire crystals.

It was an Orc, but it was nothing like the mindless grunts she had just slaughtered.

This monster stood an impossible twelve feet tall.

Its skin wasn’t green... it was a deep and sickly bruised shade of obsidian black.

It wore interlocking plates of raw, unrefined mythril bolted directly into its collarbones and spine.

In its massive right hand, it held a crude thick pillar of solid iron ripped directly from a mine cart track.

Its eyes burned with a intelligent and sadistic crimson light.

’Tier 3... most probably...’ Tasmin thought as she calculated the sheer, overwhelming physical mass and mana density of the target. ’At the very least.’

The monster locked its glowing crimson eyes directly onto the small dual-wielding human woman standing among its dead kin.

And it charged...

"RUN!" Tasmin shrieked at the top of her lungs as her voice cracked with panic. "GET OUTSIDE NOW!"

Tasmin knew she could not fight this monster alone.

Her daggers were meant for precise assassination, not for blocking the crushing weight of a twelve-foot behemoth wielding a solid iron pillar.

But if she turned her back and ran, the Boss would instantly trample her slower scouts into paste.

She had to buy them exactly seconds.

Tasmin forcefully surged every single drop of her remaining mana directly into her vambraces and her legs.

She completely abandoned the super-heated tips, letting the dark crimson flames entirely engulf her chains for maximum visual distraction.

She threw herself directly at the charging behemoth.

The Tier 3 Orc swung the massive iron pillar in a brutal sweeping horizontal arc meant to completely obliterate her torso.

WHOOOSH!

Tasmin violently dropped to her knees, sliding through the slick black blood on the floorboards.

The massive iron pillar passed mere inches above her head with the air pressure ripping several strands of dark hair from her scalp.

As she slid perfectly under its guard, Tasmin whipped both of her flaming daggers directly upward, aiming for the unarmored gaps in the monster’s inner thighs.

CLANG! CLANG!

The heavy iron daggers struck the Orc’s thick, obsidian skin but they idn’t pierce.

They barely even scratched the surface.

The monster’s durability was simply too high!

The blades simply bounced off the dense rubbery hide, leaving only superficial scorch marks.

’It didn’t break the flesh!’ Tasmin realized in horror.

The Orc didn’t even flinch at the attack.

It simply looked down at the sliding woman as a cruel sadistic grin stretching across its massive tusks.

The monster raised its massive left foot and forcefully stomped down.

Tasmin desperately tried to roll away, but she was a fraction of a second too slow.

CRUNCH!