Xander could barely see where he was going. A feat that was only achievable thanks to his Gene-mod having some additional effects beyond his healing. Effects that he hadn’t known were truly in place until this moment.

  He didn’t know if it was the general rush of adrenaline, or the changes in his senses due to his current environment, but after his initial tuck and roll when entering the cave, he didn’t run into any issues as he sprinted deeper and deeper into the darkness.

  His footsteps were silent thanks to his equipment, and he had taken several turns based on what his instincts and half present memories were telling him. Several forks in the road had almost made him pause, but the sound of something scraping on stone pushed him forward.

  At the same time, he couldn’t help but curse the fact that there was no back up, no support, and no one else nearby as far as he could tell.

  The moment the Rank 2 mutant beast had appeared; it became a free for all for survival. Something that he had only partially expected.

  I suppose it would’ve been too much to ask for a little bit of protection when faced with something this strong. Tami had already explained that they would only be doing their best to protect him if the battle was winnable.

  A Rank 2 beast was something that even a dozen squads of their level would have trouble taking on. They only had 2 first evolution gene warriors, after all.

  It usually took at least 10 mid stage Rank 1 gene warriors to take on a single Rank 2 being. Be it a beast or another gene warrior.

  This information, and the fact that he had been pessimistic about his chances, were the reason why he didn’t begrudge the others for running ahead of him.

  The more surprising thing is the fact that I’m not already dead. Did that beast not want to hunt down the easiest prey? By this point, he had been running for a few minutes.

  Given even the slowest of Rank 2 mutant beasts was still faster than him, he should’ve been caught and killed by now.

  Instead, he was able to successfully make his way toward what he hoped would be the failsafe at this location. If he could find it, then he had a chance at getting inside the ruins, where there would be defenses that would, hopefully, be able to help him fend off the mutant beast that was coming for him.

  A quiet. Chirp-like, squeak grabbed his attention, and he braved a look up and away from the barely visible path in front of him.

  Upon looking up at the ceiling, which Xander realized was much higher than before, chills ran through his whole body.

  It was small at first, Just a single red dot that glowed dimly on the ceiling.

  Then the squeaks continued, and the rate at which they occurred grew faster and faster, in tandem with the sight of more red dots appearing on the ceiling.

  Eyes, each one opening one by one, as the literal swarm of tens of thousands of bats that clung to the rocks above woke up. The light from their gazes made it easier to see in the dark, but that just made Xander’s heart race faster.

  The animal mind inside him, the instincts that had been heightened with his genetic modification, told him that every one of those bats was a mutant beast, with hundreds, if not thousands, of Rank 1 beasts mixed in.

  At the same time, his body began to burn from the inside out. A haze began to seep in at the edges of his vision. The rage that he had used in his previous battles sparked to life, but he knew that it would not be enough.

  ”Oh fuck—“

  His quiet muttering was cut off. Something had slammed into him, throwing him forward and lifting him into the air before dragging him past the cavern he was currently in at a speed that made his eyes water.

  His sudden movement pulled him out of the slowly growing berserker state. A cool sensation replaced the burning one, and he focused as best he could on his current situation.

  The sound of squeaking turned into a cacophony of shrieks and beats of air as the swarm descended behind them. Followed by a roar from a beast that Xander hadn’t heard before.

  Even in his shock, he knew that the roar came from the beast that was outside. He didn’t think that it could be anything else.

  For now, however, his back hurt, and he was being carried by something he couldn’t make out the figure of. So, he focused more on the here and the now instead.

  “Keep quiet! You can’t subvocalize like I can, so any noise you make will draw more attention.”

  Xander closed his mouth when he heard what sounded like Tami whispering in his ear.

  The figure carrying him did not look like the squad leader that he had followed these past couple of days. Her body was bulky, her ears were pointed with her lips pulled back into an angry snarl, and she seemed even shorter than before.

  Yet he could make out the insignia of the Malicent Kingdom on her clothing, as well as the other packs and supplies that Tami had been carrying before; now that he took the time to more closely examine her, at least.

  “Fork ahead. Left or right?” Tami’s question yanked Xander out of his observations.

  Looking ahead, he tapped her left shoulder, indicating what direction they needed to go. After they turned, two figures seemed to exit from behind the stalagmites that were not far behind them.

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  A rush of panic filled Xander, but he pushed it down when he saw the gleam of light on the scaled skin of the squad’s twins.

  He didn’t know if this was some sort of plan on their part, but he wouldn’t question it for now. They were too close to their goal for them to stop. Especially with the problems fighting it out not far back.

  ”We’re coming up on another large cavern. If I’m right, it’ll link up with several other paths leading to a few of the other forks in the road we took before.”

  That made sense to Xander, but his instincts were telling him that this was wrong, and that things had changed since the last time he had been here.

  Wait… when had I been here before? This idle thought was followed by a piercing pain that shot through his brain.

  He barely managed to hold off from screaming and merely let out a quiet grunt of pain. One that nearly made Tami stop as she paused, but she got him into the cavern first; at which point he managed to calm down.

  ”Those stalagmites!” He pointed at a grouping of 6 stone pillars. “From shortest being 1, and tallest being 6, shock them in order of 2, 5, 3, 6, 4, 1.”

  His voice was strained. Images of people he didn’t know, and laboratories that he’d never seen before passed through his mind. He remembered experiments, new gene-mods, excruciating pain, and a horde of creatures that he’d never seen or heard of before, even in the memory.

  As well as a figure wreathed in purple fire that led them.

  The sights of the past intermingled with the sight of the present. The other squad members had reached them, just as the twins had finished activating the fail-safe nodes.

  The cavern was filled with light, even as Xander saw it be filled with bodies.

  Finally, it became too much for him, and he screamed as he started to shake.

  ”Hold him and pull him through!” Tami yelled, and he could feel a large figure wrap him up and drag him through a slowly opening gate that was sinking into the walls of the cavern. The grinding of stone shook the ground, and Xander swiveled his head wildly to find out what was going on.

  Just in time to witness another member of the other squad get torn apart by the beast from outside. Its body was covered in bites and scratches, with scales and fur ripped off in some places.

  ”Open fire!” Gun fire echoed through the earth, and the Rank 2 mutant beast, which looked like a mix between a mastiff and an iguana, with 6 limbs and a tail instead of 4, let out a wail and retreated from the now closing gate.

  Xander had quieted down now. His thoughts cleared up, even as his eyes, ears, and nose all bled from the pressure that had been put on his brain.

  “Fire…” his quiet utterance grabbed Tami’s attention, and she turned her slowly reverting face toward him. “That particular beast is one that easily catches on fire.”

  He idly noticed that Laisa was checking him over for any lingering injuries that his healing hadn’t caught. However, that didn’t stop his squad leader from acting thanks to his information.

  Right before the door finished closing, as the beast outside charged at them, the bullets did little more than annoying it at this point and shoved its claws in the doorway. Only to be hit with a burning lighter.

  There was a loud sound of air being displaced as the beast’s body lit up in an instant. The oils that coated its body, its fur in particular, filled the area with heat as they burned brightly with a pinkish-red flame.

  With a pained cry it fell backward and rolled on the ground to try and put itself out.

  The gate, now free, finished closing, and the lights that lined the hallway that Xander and his group were in flicked on, showing a metal lined corridor, and blast doors several inches thick.

  They had successfully entered the ruins. Xander just hoped that the majority of the others in this expedition had also successfully entered.

  —————

  Elsewhere, Gerome was covered in wounds. Several large insects were biting into him, and there were dozens of bodies lying dead on the ground not far from him.

  ”Pull back from the main line! Send the last of the incendiaries!” The last of the soldiers that were fighting at the front, their ammo having run out in the guns, retreated in a blur of movement while a line of fire that glassed the ground spread outward.

  This part of the expedition forces had lost nearly a third of their fighters. The scholars who were operating the ranged weapons were mostly alright, and some were treating the wounded that had been pulled back.

  The vehicles that weren’t already broken were turned into makeshift barricades. Those that were too damaged to be further moved were detonated, taking out large swaths of the swarm.

  The area was covered in craters and rents that destroyed the landscape.

  ”Lord Gerome! How much longer must we wait here?!” One of the scholars called out from where she was huddled up with the others in the back. “Do we even know if the away teams managed to get to their destination?”

  ”I got a confirmation signal just a few minutes ago. Hold on just a little bit longer!” He swiped the instincts clinging to him off, and with a wave of his hand several daggers flew out and cut down the last of the flying bugs that were still harrying his people.

  A loud chittering shriek rolled over the ground, and the swarm halted, even as the soldiers of the Malicent Kingdom continued to kill them.

  Out from behind the trees, several hundred meters from the chasm that the soldiers were trapped at, several bugs the size of large elephants stepped forward. Three even bigger bugs, standing on four legs and shaped more like centaurs stood behind them.

  Gerome couldn’t help but freeze. His blood ran cold when he realized what he was looking at. A trio of Rank 2 mutant beasts, and dozens of Rank 1s.

  If there are this many Rank 2 Beyonder beasts working together, then that must mean that a Rank 3 Ascended beast is leading them from the rear.

  There was no way that Gerome would be able to stand against the enemies coming at him right now. Let alone the absolute monster that was pushing them forward.

  If I get out of this… It looks like I‘ll have to restart my genetic arts training. His mind raced with plans and possibilities to get himself and as many of the others out of this mess. Yet all he could come up with were means by which he, alone, would escape.

  The dwindling number of lesser mutants, none having undergone their first evolution, received a surge of reinforcements. A literal tide of insects charged forward, and Gerome did everything he could to brace himself, and ready the soldiers for their final stand.

  Only to hear a quiet chime, and the grinding of stone behind him.

  ”Into the chasm! Now!”

  Taking out more daggers, Gerome kicked some of the few small vehicles off to the front of the barricades. Throwing the last of his weapons forward, they struck the fuel tanks with a loud ‘clang’ and the sound of twisting metal.

  Three explosions filled the air. A wall of smoke and fire filled the space between the human soldiers and the horde of bugs.

  Gerome ignored all of this. His people had already descended over the edge of the chasm, and he was the last to go.

  With a loud cry from one of the pack Beyonders behind him, he threw himself off the edge as well, simultaneously activating a device that was in his pocket, and several hundred feet down, in the darkness of the chasm, he saw a slowly closing set of reinforced blast doors.

  The world blurred around him as he scrambled forward. Chittering and scratching filled the air behind him, and he barely entered the dimly lit corridor of the ruins before the doors shut.

  Turning back, he saw rocks falling into the abyss as the world shook. The last of their heavy vehicles exploded and made a much bigger boom than the smaller vehicles, given that these were the tanks that they were detonating.

  “Sound off!” Gerome called out, and the survivors all called out.

  Afterwards, he was happy to hear that less than a third of his forces had been lost. Meaning he still had around a hundred people left. Not including the dozen or so that he had sent away to the other entrance.

  Now, he just had to find those other squads in this underground labyrinth, and hope that their VIP was still safe and sound.

  Even thought they were separated by several dozen kilometers of distance.