215 - The Last Message from Blackridge

The messenger caught up with Subin's team shortly before they reached the old northern bridge.

His horse was exhausted, his armor was stained with dust, and a bloodstained satchel hung from his shoulder. The two Stonewatch scouts accompanying the expedition raised their weapons until the rider called out Greyhaven's name and asked for Subin.

"I was told you were heading toward Blackridge," the messenger said, dismounting unsteadily. "I need you to take this warning to Commander Harlan."

Subin accepted the satchel. "What happened?"

"Blackridge has been attacked three times in five days. The northern watchtower is gone, and the defenders have retreated behind the inner barricades. They can still hold the settlement, but they can't keep sending patrols beyond the walls."

"Do they know what's attacking them?"

"Not exactly. The creatures are large, heavily armored, and strong enough to break stone. The last patrol saw several near the old quarry. They tried to approach, but something drove them back."

Subin opened the satchel. It contained a short letter, a rough sketch of the northern road, and a strip of dark metal engraved with unfamiliar markings. The letter, written by Blackridge's quartermaster, confirmed the messenger's account. Their food stores remained intact, but the road was no longer safe for supply carts.

The final line had been underlined twice.

If the northern road remains closed, we will have to abandon the outer settlement.

"How many people live there?" Yerin asked.

"Several hundred, possibly more," the messenger replied. "Blackridge has miners, traders, and families settled around the old quarry. It's smaller than Greyhaven, but it supplies several communities farther north."

Rafael folded the letter. "If they abandon it, those communities will lose their supply route."

"And the people will have nowhere safe to go," the messenger said.

Subin studied the map. The road crossed a narrow valley before reaching Blackridge. One bridge was marked as damaged, and a warning had been written beside the old watchtower.

"We'll investigate the tower on the way," Subin decided. "You should return to Greyhaven and tell Mara that the warning reached us."

The messenger hesitated. "There is one more thing. The patrol that went missing near the quarry was led by Sergeant Dalen. He served in Greyhaven before transferring here. His daughter is still stationed at Blackridge."

Subin glanced at the sealed bundle Mara had given him before their departure. He had not opened it, but he understood why she had asked him to carry the names of Greyhaven's dead.

"Did Dalen's patrol send any message?"

"No. We haven't heard from them since they left."

Subin secured the satchel. "We'll find out what happened."

The messenger thanked him and turned back toward Greyhaven. Subin's team continued along the northern road, reaching the damaged bridge within the hour.

One of its supports had collapsed into the ravine, leaving the remaining span too unstable for loaded carts. The damage looked recent, but there were no signs of a prolonged battle. Deep impressions marked the packed earth nearby, accompanied by long scrapes where something heavy had dragged across the ground.

Liu Wei crouched beside one of the impressions. "Whatever made these was much heavier than a human."

The tracks led toward the valley's western wall, where a narrow trail descended between boulders.

They crossed the ravine at a narrower point upstream and followed the trail back toward the road. It ended at the abandoned watchtower.

The upper platform had collapsed, and one side of the stone wall had been smashed inward. A dead guard lay near the entrance, his weapon still in his hand. Rafael checked for signs of life and quietly shook his head.

They found two more bodies inside. The defenders had been overwhelmed at close range, judging by the broken weapons and the damage to the walls. Subin crouched beside a shattered shield and examined the deep grooves cut into its surface.

"Not claws," he said. "A heavy weapon."

A metallic crash sounded from below.

The group moved toward the rear of the tower, where a flight of steps descended into a storage chamber. Before they reached the bottom, a massive figure emerged from the darkness.

It stood nearly three meters tall, its body covered in dark stone plates that overlapped like armor. Thick arms ended in hammer-shaped hands, and glowing orange lines ran from its chest to its shoulders. Behind it, several smaller creatures pushed broken timber away from a blocked passage.

Ara's scanner registered the largest creature at Level 253 — A-rank.

"Stoneplate Crusher," she called. "Its armor is dense, especially across the torso. The joints should be more vulnerable."

The creature struck the wall with one arm. Stone blocks shattered, and a section of the passage opened behind it. The smaller creatures immediately began dragging debris away.

"It isn't just attacking the tower," Yerin said. "It's clearing a route."

Subin drew Simple Edge. "Then we stop it here."

The Crusher charged up the steps, forcing the team to spread out. Rafael intercepted its first swing with his shield, but the impact drove him backward and cracked the stone beneath his boots. Yerin attacked from the side, striking the creature's knee before retreating beyond the reach of its other arm.

Subin moved in as the Crusher turned toward her. His blade struck the gap behind its knee, cutting through the softer material beneath the stone plates. The creature stumbled, but it recovered quickly and slammed its arm against the floor, throwing fragments through the chamber.

The Crusher's armor made direct attacks inefficient. Its movements were slower than those of many A-rank monsters, but each strike carried enough force to break stone. Subin watched its footing instead of attempting to overpower it. When it shifted its weight to pursue Rafael, the damaged knee bent awkwardly, exposing a narrow gap along the back of its leg.

Subin crossed the distance and cut through the joint.

The Crusher dropped heavily onto one knee. Yerin drove her spear into the exposed gap, widening the injury, while Jae-hyun struck the creature's arm to prevent it from bringing its hammer-shaped fist down on her.

Subin moved around its reach and delivered a second cut, targeting the joint connecting its shoulder plates. The creature's arm sagged, and its balance deteriorated as the damaged leg struggled to support its weight.

It attempted one final charge, dragging itself toward the stairs with its remaining arm.

Subin stepped aside and cut across the exposed side of its neck.

The Crusher collapsed against the wall. Its orange markings flickered, then faded as the mana sustaining its armor dispersed.

The smaller creatures abandoned the blocked passage and scattered into the lower tunnels. Liu Wei and Jae-hyun pursued them only far enough to ensure none remained in the tower. The team did not chase them into unfamiliar passages.

Ara inspected the opening the Crusher had been clearing. Beyond the broken timber lay an old service tunnel, wide enough for a supply cart. Its floor was covered with fresh stone fragments, and the marks of repeated heavy impacts continued deeper into the hillside.

"That explains the damage to the tower," she said. "The Crusher was trying to open this route."

"Why?" Rafael asked.

Ara examined the debris. "The tunnel may connect to the old quarry. If it does, the creatures could have been trying to reach Blackridge from below rather than approaching the gate."

Subin looked toward the scattered tracks. "We need to find out whether the tunnel connects to the settlement before we declare the road safe."

They followed the service tunnel for a short distance, stopping when the ceiling began to sag. Beyond the unstable section, distant impacts echoed through the rock, but the sound was too faint to establish how many creatures remained.

Subin marked the location and ordered the team back to the watchtower.

"We've cleared the immediate threat. We haven't secured the tunnel. Blackridge needs to know that before anyone sends a cart through here."

They returned to the road and continued toward the settlement.

Blackridge's outer barricade came into view late in the afternoon. Unlike Greyhaven, the settlement had not suffered widespread fire damage. Instead, the surrounding fields were empty, the gates were reinforced with timber, and the wall was lined with exhausted defenders.

A bell rang as the expedition approached.

Archers raised their weapons from the wall until the guards recognized the Stonewatch insignia on the scouts' equipment. The gate opened just enough to admit the group, then closed immediately behind them.

A broad-shouldered man in battered armor met them in the courtyard.

"I'm Commander Harlan. You came from Greyhaven?"

Subin nodded. "We cleared the Stoneplate Crusher at the old watchtower. The northern bridge is damaged, and the service tunnel behind the tower may connect to the quarry. We haven't confirmed that passage is safe."

Harlan's shoulders eased slightly. "At least the road is passable on foot. We sent a patrol to the tower two days ago and never heard from them again."

"Was it led by Sergeant Dalen?"

Harlan's expression changed. "Yes. Why?"

"The messenger who caught up with us said his patrol disappeared near the quarry."

The commander looked away for a moment. "Dalen was one of our most experienced guards. His daughter is a medic here. She has been asking me for news every day."

Subin did not pretend to have answers. "We found three dead guards in the tower, but we haven't confirmed their identities. The tunnel may contain more evidence. We couldn't safely proceed beyond the unstable section."

Harlan nodded, accepting the distinction between what they knew and what they suspected. He led the group into the command hall, where several officers stood around a table covered in supply records.

Their stores had not run out, but the defenders had been rationing food to conserve supplies in case the settlement became isolated.

Harlan listened as Subin described the Crusher and the service tunnel. He did not ask the expedition to enter it immediately. Instead, he ordered two engineers to inspect the route from the settlement side and prohibited anyone from using the old quarry entrance until they could determine whether it was stable.

"That tunnel could save us weeks of road repairs," one officer said.

"Or bury a supply team," Harlan replied. "We won't trade one disaster for another."

Subin approved of the decision. The immediate threat had been removed, but the damage to the route still mattered. A settlement could survive a monster attack and still starve if its supplies could not reach it.

After the meeting, Subin delivered Mara's bundle to Harlan.

The commander read the names in silence. His expression changed when he reached the bottom of the page.

"Sergeant Dalen," he said quietly. "He was stationed in Greyhaven before transferring here."

Harlan folded the paper carefully and placed it inside his armor.

"I'll tell his daughter myself."

Subin left the bundle in his hands. There was nothing useful to add.

Later, the team ate in the command hall with the settlement's officers. The meal was simple, and the conversation stayed focused on practical matters: the condition of the northern bridge, the number of guards available for patrols, and the repairs required before supply carts could travel safely again.

Yerin sat beside Subin while Ara compared the diagrams from Greyhaven's furnace with the marks found at the watchtower.

"The creatures at the foundry were extracting mana," Ara said. "The Crusher was clearing a route through the quarry. Those activities might be connected, but we don't have enough evidence to say how."

"Then we don't assume they're one operation," Subin replied. "We report what we know and investigate the next problem when we find it."

Jae-hyun leaned back in his chair. "At least the road isn't completely blocked anymore."

"Not for people on foot," Rafael said. "A loaded cart is another matter."

Harlan overheard them and nodded. "Our engineers will work on the bridge at first light. Until then, no one crosses with heavy loads."

He then pointed to the northern section of the map. Beyond Blackridge, the road continued toward a broad upland region called the Cinder March, where several smaller settlements relied on Blackridge for food and equipment.

"We've lost contact with two of them," Harlan said. "I won't send a patrol until the northern road is secure, but if you're continuing in that direction, I'd appreciate any news you can bring back."

Subin studied the route. Their immediate destination was still farther north, and the loss of contact could mean anything from damaged communication equipment to another local threat. There was no reason to turn every report into an emergency before they had evidence.

"We'll continue along the road," he said. "If we encounter those settlements, we'll check on them."

Harlan accepted that answer without trying to bind the expedition to his needs.

That night, Blackridge remained on alert, but the defenders had a little more room to breathe. The Stoneplate Crusher was dead, the service tunnel had been identified, and the engineers could begin assessing the damaged road.

Subin stood briefly on the wall before retiring. Beyond the settlement, the old quarry lay dark against the hills. The route was still uncertain, and the northern settlements might face problems of their own, but there was now a clear distinction between what the team had resolved and what remained unfinished.

He had no intention of mistaking one victory for a complete solution.

In the morning, they would continue toward the Cinder March.