Chapter 15: Danger
They moved deeper into the caves, the air growing colder. Fin's boots scraped against the stone, every sound magnified in the silence.
Ten minutes in, they found their first monster.
It was... underwhelming.
A rock-crawler, about the size of a dog, scuttled out from behind a boulder. It looked like someone had crossed a crab with a nightmare, all spiky limbs and too many eyes.
Buzzcut didn't even blink. He stepped forward, sword flashing, and cleaved the thing in half before it could hiss.
Fin stared. "That's it?"
The girl rolled her eyes. "It's a Rank 2, not a dragon. Keep up."
Fin shrugged and got to work, prying the tiny monster core from its corpse. The others moved on, leaving him to scramble after them.
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Hours passed. They fought more crawlers, a couple of tunnel snakes (which were exactly as fun as they sounded), and something called a "shriek bat" (which lived up to its name). Fin watched, learned, and occasionally ducked when a monster got too close.
The team worked like a well-oiled machine—buzzcut tanking hits, the girl picking off stragglers, Patchy Beard and Hammer Guy handling the mid-range. Fin? He carried bags, handed out supplies, and tried not to be useless.