The next group ca faster than the first.
They didn’t wait this ti.
From the darkness ahead, shadows rushed forward, claws scraping hard against stone, their growls louder, sharper. The scent of blood from earlier had already spread through the tunnels.
Aiden stepped forward to et them.
Not rushing, just walking.
The first beast lunged straight for his throat.
Aiden moved.
Not smoothly, not like a trained fighter, but with raw, direct motion. He tilted his body just enough to avoid the bite, then swung his sword down.
Too wide.
The blade clipped the beast’s shoulder instead of killing it outright. It let out a sharp cry, rolling across the ground before scrambling back up.
Aiden frowned slightly.
"...Too much force."
Before he could adjust, another one ca from his blind side.
Graveknit moved.
A thin black thread shot out from its fingers, wrapping around the beast’s leg mid-leap and yanking it off course. It slamd into the wall with a dull crack.
"My lord. Your left."
"I saw it."
Aiden stepped in anyway.
He drove his foot forward and kicked the stunned beast in the chest.
A heavy impact echoed.
The creature’s body folded unnaturally before being thrown back across the tunnel, hitting the ground and not getting up again.
Aiden looked down at his leg for a second.
"...Too heavy."
Graveknit tilted its head slightly, watching him.
"You are not controlling your strength yet, my lord."
Aiden didn’t deny it.
"I know."
Another beast rushed in.
This ti, Aiden didn’t swing imdiately.
He watched it.
Its movent. Its timing. The way its muscles tensed before it jumped.
Right before it reached him, Aiden stepped forward instead of back.
Then he thrust his sword straight ahead.
No wasted motion.
The blade went clean through the beast’s mouth and out the back of its skull.
It stopped instantly.
Aiden held it there for a second, feeling the resistance.
Then he pulled the sword out slowly.
"...Better."
Behind him, Graveknit spoke again.
"You learn quickly, my lord."
Aiden glanced at it.
"I have to."
Two more ca.
One from the front, one circling to the side.
Aiden raised his hand this ti.
"Bone Spear."
The spear ford and shot forward, piercing the one in front before it could even close the distance.
At the sa ti, he turned his body and t the second one with his sword.
Clang.
The blade struck bone.
The force traveled up his arm, but he held firm this ti.
No overextension, no wasted movent. He pushed forward and cut again, and the beast dropped.
Aiden exhaled slowly.
His grip on the sword loosened slightly, then tightened again.
He rolled his shoulder once, feeling the weight of his own body.
Every movent still felt unfamiliar, like wearing sothing that didn’t fully fit yet.
But it was getting better.
Step by step.
Another low growl echoed deeper in the cave.
Stronger this ti.
Aiden’s eyes shifted toward the darkness ahead.
A faint smile ford again.
"...Good."
He adjusted his grip on the sword.
"Let’s keep going."
Graveknit stood beside him, its threads twitching faintly as if eager.
"As you wish, my lord."
And together, they moved deeper into the mine, the sound of their steps mixing with the distant, waiting growls ahead.
The deeper they went, the narrower the tunnels beca.
The air turned heavier, thicker with the sll of beasts and old blood. The walls were scratched and chipped, clear signs of sothing larger moving through these passages again and again.
And the beasts changed.
They were no longer the weak, starving creatures from the entrance.
These ones were bigger.
Stronger.
Their movents carried weight, their claws left deeper marks on stone, and their eyes no longer held just hunger. There was awareness now. A faint, dangerous sharpness.
Aiden noticed it imdiately.
The next one that rushed him was faster than the others.
It lunged low, aiming for his legs.
Aiden reacted, stepping back and swinging his sword down. The timing was right, but the force was controlled this ti.
The blade struck clean.
The beast collapsed without dragging him off balance.
Aiden didn’t stop there.
Another ca from behind.
He turned, raised his arm.
"Bone Shield."
A curved plate of bone ford instantly in front of him.
The beast slamd into it.
A dull impact echoed through the tunnel, but the shield held. The creature bounced back, disoriented for just a second.
That second was enough.
Aiden stepped forward and drove his sword straight into its chest.
He pulled the blade out and exhaled.
"...Better."
Graveknit watched from the side, its stitched face unmoving, but its voice calm.
"You are adjusting, my lord."
Aiden wiped a bit of blood off the blade with a quick flick.
---
They kept going.
Step by step.
Fight after fight.
Aiden’s movents beca tighter, more controlled. His swings were no longer wild. His steps were steadier. Each strike had purpose behind it.
Not perfect.
But no longer crude.
At so point, the tunnel began to widen.
The tight walls opened up, the ceiling rising higher above them. The ground flattened, and the air felt different.
Quieter.
Aiden slowed his steps.
Graveknit did the sa.
"...Sothing’s here," Aiden said softly.
They moved forward carefully.
Then the tunnel ended.
And the space opened up completely.
A large clearing stretched before them, almost like a hidden chamber carved deep inside the mine. Broken stone pillars stood scattered around, and the ground was covered with old bones, cracked and scattered in every direction.
At the center of it all...
Sothing breathed.
Slow.
Heavy.
Aiden’s eyes locked onto it.
A massive beast lay curled on the ground, its body rising and falling with each breath. Its fur was thick and dark, streaked with hardened patches that looked almost like natural armor. Its limbs were large, heavy, and even at rest, there was a sense of power in the way its muscles shifted under its skin.
Each breath it took echoed faintly through the chamber.
Aiden narrowed his eyes slightly.
"...That’s new."
Beside him, Graveknit’s threads twitched faintly, as if reacting to the strength coming from the creature.
"My lord," it said quietly, "that beast has body tempering strength."
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