CHAPTER 143: DESCENT

The transport moved through the storm undetected.

A terrible storm raged in the Dragon’s Tooth mountains. Wind howled through the jagged peaks and rain beat constantly against the transport’s hull. Blinding flashes of lightning lit up the sky every few seconds. Each flash revealed a landscape of sheer black cliffs and dark swirling clouds.

Inside the transport, it was dead silent.

The four members of ASTF-Omega sat in the dark, their faces grim. The cabin’s combat lamps cast a dull, red glow on their serious expressions. The storm was a distant rumble through the reinforced walls. They did not speak. Their grim expressions said everything. They were returning to the place designed to kill them.

Thump-hiss.

The transport landed on a rocky ledge with a jolt. Its engines whined down. A green light flashed above the ramp.

"We’re here," Seraph said. His voice was sharp and cold.

The ramp groaned and lowered. The entrance to the Blackwood mine appeared. It was a dark, wide opening in the mountain. The entrance seemed to pull in light from around it. The air from the mine felt old and dangerous. It smelled of decay.

The team stepped out into the raging storm, their boots crunching on wet gravel. The wind tore at them, trying to push them back.

"This place gives me the creeps," Draven grunted, his voice barely heard over the wind.

"That’s the point," Seraph shot back, her eyes searching the darkness around the entrance. "They chose it for a reason. Let’s gear up. We’re going in dark."

This was not a surveillance mission. It was a tactical raid. They expected a close-quarters battle. The time for stealth was over. It was time for soldiers..

Ksssh-click.

With a thought, Draven’s heavy combat armor formed around him .Dark steel plates locked into place with sharp, metallic sounds. He flexed his gauntleted hands and summoned his greatsword. The massive blade appeared in a flash of light. It buzzed with a low, threatening energy. He was encased in armor, ready to smash through anything in their path.

Seraph’s movements were quick and efficient, born from years of training. She drew her sidearm. She checked the magazine with a practiced motion, the sharp clicking sound loud in the stormy air. She did not need a large sword or heavy armor. Her years of experience were her weapon. The sidearm was just a tool.

Vanessa stood beside her. She prepared with quiet magic. She held out her hands. Two silver bracelets materialized on her wrists. They were her runic amplifiers. She twisted them into place. The bracelets glowed with a soft, blue light. Runic patterns pulsed just beneath the surface. She was their shield, key, and weapon.

Jonah was the last to move. He didn’t summon armor or a weapon. His power was his team. He took a deep breath of the cold, his eyes fixed on the dark entrance of the mine. This was his responsibility. His fight.

Seraph looked at him. "You’re on point, Jonah. You’re our eyes and ears. Get us through this place."

He gave a sharp nod. It was time to unleash his own ghosts.

First, he summoned Specter. The Nexus Progeny appeared for a moment before it simply vanished. Not just invisible but gone. Jonah could feel it through their link, a silent, unseen guardian already moving ahead, its senses searching the area for any living thing. Specter was their security.

Next, he held out his palm. A tiny glint of metal appeared floating above it. Cipher.

He then gave the Progeny its command. Scan for tech.

Cipher shot forward, a tiny drone that flew directly into the mine’s entrance and disappeared into the oppressive darkness. Cipher was their tech support.

With his two scouts deployed, the feeds began to flood into Jonah’s mind. Specter’s senses gave him a perfect, 360-degree view of the tunnel ahead, seeing through the darkness as if it were broad daylight. At the same time, Cipher’s input added to that view, showing faint, glowing lines of power cables and wild red signals of hidden security systems on the rock walls.

The two feeds fused together, creating a perfect, real-time map in his head. He was blind, but he could see everything.

"Follow me," he said, his voice steady. "There’s a pressure plate ten feet inside the entrance on the left. A hidden sentry turret is in the ceiling twenty feet after that. Stay close."

He took the first step, crossing the threshold from the howling storm into the darkness of the mine.

The descent began.

The darkness inside was absolute that their flashlights seemed to barely dent. The air was cold and damp. The only sound was the drip... drip... drip of water somewhere in the distance and the soft, crunch of their own footsteps.

The tunnels were a maze, just as Seraph had predicted. They twisted and turned, branching off into a dozen identical-looking paths. Without Jonah’s guidance, they would have been lost in minutes.

"Left here," Jonah would murmur, his eyes closed in concentration. "Wait. Sentry camera around this corner. Hug the right wall."

Moving as one, they were an efficient team, doing exactly what their navigator commanded. Draven in the lead, his massive form a shield for the others. Seraph right behind him, her weapon up, covering the angles. Vanessa in the middle, her hands glowing, ready to throw up a barrier at a moment’s notice.

And Jonah, in the center of it all, walking with a blind man’s confidence, his mind a hundred feet ahead of them, seeing every trap and every turn.

The atmosphere was filled with dread. The deeper they went, the heavier it became. This wasn’t just an abandoned mine. It felt wrong. It felt like a tomb.

Jonah led them down a long corridor that opened into a much larger space.

"Hold," he whispered, stopping the team. He could see it through Specter’s eyes. A massive, cavernous chamber cut out of the rock.

And it was filled with horrors.