William rushed down the cramped tunnel, his arms brushing against moldy, jagged stones. The sharp pain made him curse, but he would have anyway.
The horrid stench of decomposition, the heavy air, the thickening poisonous mana that rushed to his circuits—they were too much to handle for his old bones. But he couldn't slow down.
Not when his predecessors had guarded the sealed entrance from their last failed subjugation two thousand years ago. Only cruel death awaited them in the mountain's depths. No, it would be worse than that...
Each attempt had led the enraged beast to their village. Like a reaper at death's service, it made it a mission to wipe out any living beings under rivers of dark venoms. The order's only salvation had been to leave the mountain altogether until it calmed down. That's why they had narrowed the tunnel to hinder the beast. That's why he would buy his family precious seconds to escape.
SCREECH
