Chapter 175: The Pack

Arthur tightened his fingers around Whisperwind as more shapes began moving in the dark.

One of the hounds started moving around the broken cart. Another went wide toward the far wall. The big, scarred hound stayed behind them, keeping its distance in the shadows.

"They’re spreading out," Arthur said.

Alicia glanced toward the left wall. "Yeah. I see it."

"Wonderful," Felix muttered.

Three hounds rushed them at almost the same time.

One came straight down the center toward Felix. One broke left toward Alicia. The third stayed farther back, bounding through the mud before suddenly cutting hard toward the right where Cedric and Arthur were standing.

Felix caught the first one solidly on his shield. Alicia stepped into the second.

Arthur drew on the third.

The hound changed direction twice, its claws tearing up the wet dirt as it cut across the tunnel. Arthur held the shot.

It swerved again, then finally came straight at him.

Arthur fired.

The Mana Quiver arrow punched into its shoulder. The hound shrieked and tumbled through the dirt. It tried to scramble back up, but Cedric hit it with a heavy mana blast before it got its legs under it.

Then the rest of the pack came.

Hounds poured out of the dark. They didn’t group up in one clean mass. Some came around the cart. Some scrambled over the loose rocks. One jumped off a raised shelf in the mine wall, landing in the mud near Alicia.

Felix smashed back anything that came straight at him, but the hounds kept peeling off toward the sides. Alicia caught one on the left, then had to spin when another came from the right. Cedric threw a mana bolt past her shoulder and immediately stopped when another hound crossed behind Felix.

Another hound clipped Alicia from the side and sent her hard into the wall. She swore, shoved herself back up, and got her sword between them before it could follow.

Arthur was moving constantly.

He shot. Moved. Checked another angle. Shot again.

He lost track of one hound in the dark because another crossed his view. One of his arrows missed, sparking off the stone. Another buried itself in a hound’s flank without dropping it.

A hound slipped around Felix’s left side while Alicia was occupied.

"Left!" Arthur shouted.

Felix tried to turn, but the mud and the hound currently snapping at his shield slowed him down.

The loose hound got through. It ignored Felix and lunged straight for Cedric.

Arthur fired from close range. The arrow tore through the hound’s hindquarter, but it didn’t stop the charge.

Nessa grabbed Cedric by his pack strap and yanked him backward.

The hound jumped.

Arthur dropped his shoulder and slammed into the animal mid-leap. The hound went sideways and hit the tunnel wall hard.

Before it could recover, Alicia stepped back across the line and drove her sword through its neck.

"Watch the sides!" Nessa snapped, letting go of Cedric.

Nobody answered her because they were already fighting.

Arthur drew Whisperwind again and pulled a Mirage Shot across the open side of the cavern.

The false projectile flashed through the dark. Two hounds immediately reacted to the movement. One broke its run entirely, while the other snapped its head sideways to track the threat.

Felix smashed the distracted hound aside with the edge of his shield. Alicia was already moving on the other one.

A hound clamped onto one of the leather straps near the edge of Felix’s shield and started wrenching at it. Felix kicked at its head. Another hound slammed into the other side of the shield, and his knee almost gave out.

Alicia went in to help him and nearly got her calf ripped open by the second hound.

Cedric finally found a clean angle and slammed a heavy spell into the hound latched onto Felix’s shield. The blast threw the animal off, leaving the leather strap torn and smoking.

"Could’ve warned me!" Felix yelled.

"I did!" Cedric yelled back.

"When?"

Cedric ignored him and raised his hands again as another hound came at them.

Arthur caught sight of it again through the fighting. It was still standing back.

When Felix turned to block two smaller hounds on the right, the scarred hound shot forward from the left.

It was fast. Much faster than something with shoulders that broad should be. It slipped past the edge of Felix’s shield and went straight for Cedric and Nessa.

Arthur fired.

The big hound twisted mid-stride. The arrow cut a shallow bloody line across its ribs instead of landing cleanly.

Nessa shoved Cedric away and dove in the opposite direction.

The hound hit the mud right between them, forcing Cedric and Nessa apart.

Felix couldn’t turn quickly enough to help because the smaller hounds were still actively tearing at his shield. Alicia started backing up. Arthur was the only one with a clear angle.

He drew.

The big hound ignored Cedric and charged Arthur instead.

Arthur fired a Phantom Shot.

The false shot went straight for the hound’s head. It dodged hard to the side. The real arrow was already coming into the space it moved toward. It buried itself deep in the hound’s chest.

The beast crashed sideways into the mud, sliding a few feet.

Then it got back up.

It shook off the dirt, looked straight at Arthur, and charged again.

Arthur backed through the cavern, drawing and firing as fast as he could form the arrows.

One shot sparked off the tunnel wall. Another clipped the hound’s shoulder. Arthur had to keep moving because the animal was closing the distance faster than he wanted it to.

With Eagle Eye still active, Arthur never lost the scarred hound in the dark.

The hound lunged, its jaws snapping for his leg.

Arthur used Shadow Step.

He vanished from its path, leaving the hound to bite empty air, and reappeared several steps to the side.

Whisperwind came up. A Mana Quiver arrow formed on the string and sank into the hound’s ribs before it finished turning.

Felix had one hound pinned beneath the bottom edge of his shield. Alicia pulled her sword out of another one and kicked it away. Cedric was bleeding from a tear in his sleeve, throwing short, desperate mana bolts to keep a hound off him. Nessa kept moving between them, but nobody was giving her enough time to stop and treat anything.

Arthur drew on a hound circling Cedric, but had to stop and lower the bow as Alicia crossed his firing lane.

Felix finally got a step forward. Alicia suddenly had room to swing without another hound immediately replacing the last one. Cedric planted his feet and got a full spell off.

Arthur looked across the cavern.

There weren’t many left.

One of the younger hounds near the wall turned and bolted back into the dark nest.

The old, scarred hound was still alive.

It was bleeding heavily from the chest and ribs, its breathing wet and ragged, but it hadn’t run. It lowered its head, fixed its eyes on Arthur, and tried one final rush.

Arthur started drawing.

The hound moved. Arthur’s current lane was completely blocked by Felix’s shifting shield.

Arthur slid to the right until Felix’s shield cleared his shot.

Alicia saw the scarred hound coming. Felix shifted his weight and shoved his shield forward, forcing the charging hound toward the left.

Alicia was waiting there. She brought her sword down across its front leg.

The animal stumbled, its momentum carrying it awkwardly forward into the open.

Arthur drew Whisperwind, formed a Mana Quiver arrow, and fired.

The hound opened its jaws as it came at him. Arthur’s arrow disappeared into its mouth. The animal crashed forward into the mud and didn’t get back up.

Arthur could hear Felix breathing heavily. Water dripped slowly from the cavern ceiling. Somewhere farther back in the dark, a wounded hound was whining.

Cedric kept his hands raised. "Is that all of them?"

Arthur checked the back of the cavern with Eagle Eye. One young hound had disappeared into a side hole, completely gone. The rest were dead on the ground.

"Anything left is running," Arthur said.

Nessa checked Felix first. His shoulder had swollen badly under the armor. Cedric had teeth marks across one forearm, shallow enough that Nessa only cleaned and wrapped them. Alicia’s hip was already turning dark where one of the hounds had knocked her down.

Arthur had another scrape along his ribs on top of the crawler cut from earlier.

Nessa pointed at a relatively dry rock. "Sit down."

Felix looked at the mud. "Again?"

"Yes."

Arthur sat on a rock nearby, drank from his canteen, and wiped the mud off Whisperwind. He looked at the dead hounds scattered across the cavern.

His arms felt heavy every time he lifted them now. Mana wasn’t the problem. He was just fucking tired.

Alicia looked toward the far wall. "We still need that."

Felix stared at the dead pack, then at the wall. "You’re kidding."

Nessa finished wrapping his shoulder. "No."

The third academy marker was right in the middle of the nest.

They picked their way through old bedding, packed fur, bones, and the remains of whatever the hounds had dragged in.

Alicia crouched next to the mineral deposit and hit the surrounding rock twice with the chisel.

The sample popped cleanly out of the wall and fell into the mud.

Felix just stared at it.

Nessa picked it up, wiped the mud off, and sealed it inside the third container.

The way back sucked more than Arthur remembered.

Felix had his shield strapped awkwardly to his back to keep the weight off his bad shoulder. Cedric was quiet, walking with his wrapped arm held tight against his chest. Alicia’s sword was completely filthy.

Arthur kept Whisperwind ready, but the route back to the surface was mostly empty. They passed the Stoneback body. Then the dead crawlers. Then their own messy footprints near the first sample.

The narrow section of tunnel near the entrance was still exactly as annoying as it had been that morning.

Felix got his shield caught on the stone wall again. He stopped and just stared at the rock.

"Don’t," Alicia warned him.

Felix yanked it free with a heavy scrape of metal.

They finally reached daylight.

Arthur squinted as they stepped out of Gate Three, the afternoon sun feeling entirely too bright after hours in the dark.

The warden was still standing near the entrance. He looked at their mud-caked boots, torn clothes, and Cedric’s bandaged arm.

He looked at Nessa. "Samples?"

Nessa pulled all three sealed containers out of her pack and handed them over.

The warden checked the seals and marked a clipboard.

Felix rolled his good shoulder. "Cave hound pack normally that big?"

"Depends how long they’ve been nesting."

Nessa stuffed the heavy brass route token back into her pack and pulled the straps tight.

"I’m getting food," she said.

Alicia nodded. "Yeah."

Felix was already walking toward the main campus.

Arthur followed them.