Chapter 88: The Mine Was Under a Wyvern Nest

Chapter 88 -86: The Mine Was Under a Wyvern Nest

Arin’s original plan lasted approximately forty seconds.

“We enter through the freight tunnel,” he said, pointing at the mine schematic. “Reach the processed Titanite stockpile, load it, and leave without disturbing the upper shaft.”

Lucan nodded.

“Sensible.”

Victor looked disappointed.

“Very sensible.”

Cassian leaned over the map.

“The Wyverns remain above us.”

“Yes.”

“We don’t fight them.”

“Correct.”

“Nobody opens the vertical freight shaft.”

“Correct.”

Victor raised his hand.

“No.”

“I didn’t ask anything.”

“You were going to.”

Victor lowered his hand.

Then EVE said:

“Problem.”

Everyone stared at her.

Arin sighed.

“Of course.”

The mine model changed.

The Titanite stockpile sat in Storage Chamber Four.

The route from the freight tunnel ran through three processing halls and an old cargo lift.

A red section appeared.

“Collapse?”

“Yes.”

“Alternative route?”

EVE highlighted one.

It went directly through the vertical freight shaft.

Lucan slowly looked at Arin.

“The one beneath the Wyvern nest.”

“Yes.”

Victor smiled.

Arin ignored him.

“Can we excavate around the collapse?”

“Approximately nineteen hours.”

“Too long.”

Cassian frowned.

“Why?”

Arin looked toward Greyhaven.

Every hour mattered now.

Former residents were returning to the restoration perimeter.

Merchants were arriving.

Hunters were arriving.

The town needed secure infrastructure.

And the dominant predator territories were becoming increasingly unstable as the marshes drained.

“We finish the mine access today.”

Lucan sighed.

“There goes sensible.”

The first challenge wasn’t the Wyverns.

It was convincing everyone they didn’t need to come.

Rian stood outside the tunnel wearing construction armor.

“No.”

He frowned.

“You brought me yesterday.”

“Yesterday was tunnel restoration.”

“This is mine restoration.”

“Under a Wyvern nest.”

“Still construction.”

Arin stared at him.

Rian stared back.

Arin disliked how quickly everyone around him learned stubbornness.

“Rear team only.”

Rian smiled.

“Fine.”

“No advancing without clearance.”

“Fine.”

“No fighting Wyverns.”

“I wasn’t planning to.”

Victor walked past carrying a rifle.

“You should. Builds character.”

Rian looked interested.

Arin pointed at Victor.

“Stop.”

Victor continued walking.

Tessa had sent more bread.

Lyra had attached a handwritten note to Arin’s package.

DON’T GET EATEN BY DRAGONS.

Underneath, Luna had corrected:

WYVERNS ARE NOT DRAGONS.

Then Lyra had written:

DON’T GET EATEN ANYWAY.

Arin folded the note and put it in his pocket.

Lucan saw.

He said nothing.

Which was unusually wise.

They reached the mine access in less than two hours.

The rescued miners guided them.

The old Titanite mine was enormous.

Arin understood immediately why Greyhaven had once prospered.

Mana crystals embedded in the walls still glowed faintly.

Rail lines disappeared into multiple shafts.

Processing machines sat beneath layers of dust.

Conveyor systems crossed overhead.

Cassian stopped.

“I haven’t been here since I was seventeen.”

One miner smiled.

“You complained about the smell.”

“It smelled terrible.”

“It still does.”

Victor inhaled.

“Smells like money.”

EVE looked at him.

“That is mineral dust.”

“Same thing.”

Arin scanned the infrastructure.

Most of it was repairable.

Not quickly.

But repairable.

That mattered more than the twenty-six tonnes waiting in storage.

A functioning Titanite mine could support Greyhaven for decades.

If they could make it safe.

“Mark everything,” Arin ordered. “No dismantling.”

The miners looked surprised.

One asked:

“You’re not replacing the old equipment?”

“Some.”

“Most companies would.”

“Most companies failed.”

The miner smiled.

“Fair.”

They reached the collapse.

It was worse than the schematic suggested.

Thousands of tonnes of rock blocked the main passage.

Arin scanned it once.

“Nineteen hours was optimistic.”

EVE nodded.

“Twenty-six.”

Victor pointed upward.

“Wyvern elevator?”

Arin hated that phrase.

Unfortunately, yes.

The vertical freight shaft was nearly thirty meters wide.

It extended four hundred meters upward.

Sunlight appeared as a tiny circle far above.

And somewhere beyond that circle—

Wyverns.

Lucan looked up.

“How many?”

EVE deployed a tiny optical drone.

It rose slowly.

One hundred meters.

Two hundred.

Three hundred.

Then stopped beneath the opening.

The image appeared.

Everyone went silent.

The mountain plateau was covered in nests.

Not dozens.

Hundreds.

Most were empty.

Some contained eggs.

Others contained juvenile Wyverns.

Adult creatures moved between them.

Then something enormous crossed the camera.

The drone shook.

A wing.

Just one wing.

Victor whispered:

“That’s the Matriarch.”

EVE estimated size.

ASH WYVERN MATRIARCH

WINGSPAN:

APPROX. 71 METERS.

Lucan stared.

“That seems excessive.”

Arin agreed.

Then the Matriarch’s head turned.

Directly toward the drone.

“Down.”

Too late.

Fire filled the image.

Connection vanished.

Victor looked at Arin.

“She noticed.”

“Excellent observation.”

The plan changed.

They would not open the shaft completely.

Instead, Arin would access the maintenance ledge approximately sixty meters below the surface.

From there, an unfinished side passage connected toward Storage Chamber Four.

It required excavation.

But only thirty meters.

Much better.

“Quiet excavation?” Lucan asked.

Arin looked at the industrial tunneling machine.

“No.”

“Wonderful.”

They started anyway.

The first ten meters went smoothly.

Then dust fell from above.

Everyone froze.

A roar echoed down the shaft.

Not close.

But aware.

Victor whispered:

“She definitely knows.”

Arin continued excavation.

The second roar was closer.

At twenty-one meters, claws scraped stone above them.

Cassian looked upward.

“Arin.”

“I know.”

A shadow passed over the opening.

Then another.

Smaller Wyverns were investigating.

EVE counted six.

Then eleven.

Arin stopped the machine.

Silence returned.

The Wyverns remained.

They weren’t attacking.

Yet.

“Noise attracts them,” Lucan said.

“Yes.”

Victor smiled.

“So make noise somewhere else.”

Arin looked at him.

Victor shrugged.

“Sometimes I have good ideas.”

Unfortunately, he did.

Ten minutes later, an unmanned Elysium transport drove across an abandoned quarry three kilometers away.

It carried six industrial resonance generators.

They activated simultaneously.

The mountain hummed.

The Wyverns reacted immediately.

One left.

Then five.

Then twenty.

Most adults followed the disturbance.

The Matriarch did not.

Arin watched her marker.

“Expected.”

Lucan nodded.

“Mother stays with nests.”

The Ironback Behemoth had taught them something useful.

Arin restarted excavation.

Twenty-four meters.

Twenty-seven.

Twenty-nine.

Then—

Breakthrough.

The tunneler entered the old storage passage.

Victor raised both hands.

“No fighting.”

Lucan looked disappointed.

Arin smiled.

“Move.”

Storage Chamber Four opened beneath emergency lights.

And there it was.

Titanite.

Crates.

Ingots.

Processed reinforcement plates.

Raw ore.

Twelve years untouched.

EVE scanned it.

RECOVERABLE TITANITE:

28.4 TONNES.

More than records showed.

Arin immediately opened the exploration platform requirement.

TITANITE:

7.8 / 18 TONNES.

They needed 10.2.

Plenty.

“Load twelve tonnes.”

Victor stared.

“Only twelve?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Rest belongs to Greyhaven.”

Cassian looked over.

“The contract gives Elysium twenty percent extraction rights.”

“This was mined before our contract.”

Technically, Elysium might have been able to argue otherwise.

Arin didn’t care.

Greyhaven needed resources more than he needed excess stock.

Cassian studied him.

“Take eighteen.”

“No.”

“Greyhaven owes you for restoration.”

“No.”

“Arin.”

“Twelve.”

Cassian sighed.

“You’re difficult.”

“Yes.”

They loaded the tenth tonne before the Matriarch attacked.

Not them.

The quarry decoy.

EVE’s remote drone captured the impact.

The Matriarch descended like a falling building.

One claw destroyed the resonance generator.

Another crushed the unmanned transport.

Fire erased the rest.

Victor looked wounded.

“My decoy.”

“It worked.”

“It was a good transport.”

“Unmanned.”

“Still.”

Then the Matriarch turned toward the mountain.

EVE spoke immediately.

“She’s returning.”

“Time?”

“Approximately four minutes.”

Arin looked at the Titanite.

Ten-point-eight tonnes loaded.

Enough.

“Leave.”

Victor pointed toward the remaining ore.

“We have four minutes.”

“We have what we need.”

That ended the argument.

They moved.

Three minutes later, everyone was back inside the freight shaft.

Then Arin heard it.

A cry.

High.

Sharp.

Not the Matriarch.

Juvenile.

EVE’s head snapped upward.

“Something fell.”

Thermal scan.

A small body tumbled down the shaft.

Lucan cursed.

Arin moved.

The juvenile Wyvern hit the maintenance framework at nearly eighty meters above them.

Metal broke.

It fell again.

Arin opened inventory.

A construction net launcher appeared.

He fired.

The reinforced net expanded across the shaft.

The juvenile struck it.

The entire frame bent.

But held.

The young Wyvern screamed.

Then the Matriarch arrived.

Her roar shook the mine.

Everyone looked upward.

Two enormous orange eyes appeared at the shaft opening.

Victor slowly lowered his rifle.

“Nobody shoot.”

For once, Arin agreed completely.

The juvenile was tangled sixty meters above them.

One wing bent awkwardly.

The Matriarch couldn’t reach it.

The shaft was too narrow.

Arin stared upward.

Lucan saw his expression.

“No.”

“It’s injured.”

“No.”

“We can get it down.”

“Arin.”

“You saw what happened with the Ironbacks.”

“Exactly! We already have one monster mother bringing you rocks. We don’t need another!”

Arin looked at EVE.

“Wing?”

“Likely fractured.”

Lucan closed his eyes.

“We’re doing this.”

“Yes.”

“I hate knowing you.”

“No, you don’t.”

“Currently uncertain.”

A-01 climbed first.

Magnetic anchors bit into the old shaft rails.

Arin followed using maintenance cables.

The juvenile thrashed as they approached.

“Easy.”

It snapped at him.

“That’s becoming repetitive.”

A-01 secured the net.

Arin reached the wing.

Fracture confirmed.

Not catastrophic.

EVE guided him remotely.

Temporary splint.

Regenerative compound.

Then the difficult part.

Getting it back up.

The Matriarch remained above.

Watching.

Arin attached a lift cable.

The juvenile rose slowly.

Ten meters.

Twenty.

Thirty.

Then it panicked.

Fire erupted from its mouth.

Arin swung aside.

His sleeve ignited.

He slapped it out.

“Ungrateful.”

Lucan shouted from below:

“IT’S A WYVERN!”

“Still!”

The juvenile reached the opening.

The Matriarch immediately grabbed it.

Not gently.

But carefully enough.

She pulled it onto the plateau.

Arin hung beneath the opening.

For one extremely uncomfortable moment, he looked directly at the Matriarch.

She could have killed him.

Probably tried.

Instead, she sniffed the juvenile’s splinted wing.

Then looked at Arin.

Silence.

Arin slowly descended.

Lucan waited below.

“Did she give you a rock?”

“No.”

“Good.”

A shadow passed overhead.

Something fell.

Everyone scattered.

The object struck the tunnel floor.

BOOM.

Dust filled the shaft.

Lucan stared at Arin.

“No.”

Arin stared too.

It wasn’t Titanite.

It was a dead Ashfang Stag.

Approximately six hundred kilograms.

Victor looked at the carcass.

Then toward the ceiling.

“She brought food.”

Lucan covered his face.

“No.”

Victor started laughing.

“You’re collecting monster friends.”

“They aren’t friends.”

“The Ironback pays you in ore.”

“Coincidence.”

“The Wyvern just gave you dinner.”

“Possibly territorial behavior.”

EVE descended from the maintenance ledge.

“Gift exchange is plausible.”

Arin looked betrayed.

Lucan pointed at him.

“If the Marsh Tyrant gives you something, I’m leaving.”

They returned to Greyhaven before sunset.

Twelve tonnes of Titanite entered secure storage.

EVE updated the project.

CIVIC EXPLORATION PLATFORM

TITANITE REQUIREMENT:

COMPLETE.

DEEP RESERVE:

41% COMPLETE.

LONG-RANGE MANA CORE:

UNAVAILABLE.

NAVIGATION MATRIX:

RESEARCH REQUIRED.

Two barriers remained.

Good.

Arin preferred it that way.

No instant reward.

No unexplained unlock.

Work.

Research.

Progress.

Cassian received another update.

Monster population:

15,880.

Greyhaven restoration:

34%.

Then a messenger arrived from the western gate.

“Founder!”

Arin turned.

The young Hunter was breathing hard.

“What?”

“People.”

“How many?”

“That’s the problem.”

Arin climbed the wall.

Then stopped.

The western road was full.

Wagons.

Carts.

Families.

Workers.

Merchants.

Former residents.

Hundreds.

No.

More.

EVE counted.

“Approximately nine hundred individuals.”

Cassian came beside him.

His face went pale.

“They came back.”

Arin frowned.

“Too soon.”

Greyhaven was not ready.

One street was secure.

The western outpost was overflowing.

Housing remained dangerous.

Water systems were incomplete.

Monster territories still surrounded most of the city.

But people had heard.

The lights were on.

The road was open.

Survivors had been found.

Greyhaven was returning.

And now nearly a thousand people stood outside asking to come home.

Lucan joined Arin.

“Can we support them?”

Arin looked at the restored road.

Then the damaged buildings.

Then the new Frontier Infrastructure blueprints.

Water towers.

Field clinics.

Civilian shelters.

Portable power.

He smiled.

“We can.”

Cassian looked over.

“Inside Greyhaven?”

“No.”

Arin opened the construction interface.

“Not yet.”

He selected the land outside the western wall.

A temporary settlement grid appeared.

Lucan understood.

“You’re building a town outside the town.”

“Temporary.”

Victor walked over.

“Your temporary things have a habit of becoming permanent.”

Arin ignored him.

EVE calculated requirements.

“Nine hundred people will require approximately eighty modular shelters, sanitation, water, food distribution, medical capacity, and security.”

Arin nodded.

“How long?”

“With current resources?”

A pause.

“Thirty-six hours.”

Arin frowned.

“Too slow.”

EVE looked at him.

“Arin.”

“Twenty-four.”

“That would require continuous fabrication.”

“Do it.”

“Additional cost—”

“House Elysium covers the difference.”

Lucan smiled.

“Here we go.”

Arin descended from the wall.

The Titanite could wait.

The exploration platform could wait.

Greyhaven had people standing outside.

People needed somewhere to sleep tonight.

Arin rolled up his sleeves.

“Get the construction teams.”

Behind the western gate, machines began moving.

For the first time in twelve years, Greyhaven’s biggest problem wasn’t monsters.

It was housing.

Arin considered that an enormous improvement.

Chapter End