A Small Chance of Moles

Silence was a virtue Elijah greatly admired. However, based on the situation, silence could mean only one thing…

Danger.

Elijah was calmly standing on a large boulder while looking at his surroundings. He had expected for there to be at least a few beasts in sight, but there was nothing but silence. The dripstones drooling water on the floor into miniscule puddles echoed with every drop, and was in sync with Elijah's heartbeat. Or rather, Elijah's heartbeat was in sync with the drops of water. The feeling of confidence left his soul, and the muscles in his legs tensed up.

Slowly, Elijah lifted his head after feeling not a drop of water on his hair, but a drop of blood. Above, was a large hole wreathed in darkness that had also begun rumbling. Something was falling from the ceiling, and fast.

The drops of blood began to thicken in frequency, and quickly, Elijah flew out of the range of where the hole in the ceiling was aiming at. Not even a second later, a four foot long beast with a beaver-like tail, and sharp teeth in the pointed mouth came into sight. The beast splattered against the floor violently bursting into bits, with hundreds, or even thousands of beasts following suit.

The sound was sure to attract beasts, however, Elijah did not flee. This was most definitely being caused by a stronger and unknown beast, or was simply a tactic employed by these beasts.

Stone rock formations provided support for the ceiling as usual, and Elijah quickly flew around the cave looking for an exit only to find this cave was a dead end if he ignored the hole in the ceiling. Did I go the wrong way? The map I received was tailored to this exact cave with the surrounding caves marked as reference. 

What was once silent before, soon returned. Elijah carefully made his way up the small cavern in the ceiling while holding his right hand out in front of him, and his left covering his nostrils. Currently, shallow breaths were being taken through his nose due to the horrid stench of dead and rotten beasts. It would be stupid to breathe through his mouth considering the countless diseases he could potentially pick up as his mouth did not filter air like his nose did.

The long jagged stone tunnel curved slowly that led inside a larger cavern. Elijah kept asking himself how hunters would get up here. Either he was in the wrong place, or the next cavern had been closed off. Slowly, Elijah dragged his hand against the floor beneath his floating body, and quickly pulled it back. Six inch fangs erected from the dirt, and came together swallowing up the ground it encircled.

The entire cave went haywire as the trap moles inside the floor had realized they would not be able to kill their prey with their current guerilla tactics. Hundreds of sharp teeth viscously swallowed up the ground, and spit out the earth directly at Elijah.

Red cores beasts like these didn't necessarily have deadly attacks, but instead a spell they made with the combination of their primate brain, magical affinity, and innate ability. This did not mean by any means these beasts were weak. In great numbers, trap moles are devastating when combining their strength. 

Elijah was in a predicament. Water was created within the air all around Elijah as his surroundings went completely black besides the small opening above him. The earth bombs smothered Elijah's spell, and even made its way through to his body. He was being buried alive, in mid air! 

This wasn't supposed to happen. I must have gone the wrong way. Was the map wrong? Was I played?

Thumping inside of his chest was the heart of Elijah. The skin on his body was becoming soiled and the toll his body was taking underneath the weight of the floating earthen rock was becoming too much to bear.

A distortion all around Elijah's body in the form of dozens of lines of space ripples materialized that destroyed everything keeping the floating coffin intact. A wave of mud splashed against the floor riddled with holes, and shortly following, Elijah flew higher into the air and unleashed a massive wave of water that appeared into thin air. The air previously inhabiting the space had turned to water creating a tidal wave that temporarily drowned the trap moles.

The pointed heads and bald bodies rose from the ground begging for air, but only received a slash across their soft and wrinkly bodies. The space was split horizontally just above the surface, slaying almost every single beast alongside causing the entire cave to tremble.

"Oh, my, god." Elijah was out of breath while continuing to end the lives of the few amounts of moles still squirming. "I need to find a way to the next cavern…"

Close by, Elijah noticed not a single entrance or exit in sight besides the way he came. After slowly making his way up the jagged tunnel, Elijah saw what seemed like what should be an opening, but was covered with a rough stucco-like stone. This looked man-made, however, Elijah assumed it was instead made from a beast.

The earthen rock was slowly split apart into a metal opening. Elijah's breath was hitting the wall as he slowly but surely carved the space into a vaginal-like shape using a new method of space magic, spatial carving. Once cut, he held his ear up to the side, and slowly pulled with his fingers between a small crack that he could fit his finger behind.

Dust flew out from underneath the fallen stone blockade, and revealed what was behind the wall of mysteries.

A horrid looking beast with wrinkly bald skin, pointed mouth, and fangs the size of limbs that protruded straight out of its mouth and slowly curved to the center. This beast was definitely adept at moving underneath the ground, and was much bigger than the average trap moles. This was its evolution, a pincer mole!

When it comes to the evolution of beasts, the kingdom does not know the details. What's assumed… is after a long period of time surviving in mana dense environments, the cores are saturated with enough mana to then develop a second layer, which would create the orange core. Human cores and beast cores are assumed to be different due to this assumption. Instead of having stages within each core, there is only the core. Maybe due to the intelligence of the beast, or maybe even the complexity of its soul? You can't forget the difference in the way humans level up their cores either… Usage.

Munching and gnawing sounds were the only thing coming from the beast. It was eating its own kind, and maybe even saturating its core faster. A red glow came from the beast it was eating, and was quickly gobbled up by this monster. Elijah had never noticed the cores in the beasts beforehand. At the Hunter academy he was taught that red cores would instantly diminish to black, and then disappear. Cores were only able to be grabbed if the situation was right, and the beast was at least an orange core beast. However, almost every beast core that came from The Catacombs was completely useless and unable to be used for some unknown reason.

Elijah quickly sat on his knees while peeking through the bottom of the crack. I understand what is happening. The strength of the catacombs must be advancing, however, this advancement is not something the guild has noticed. The average increase in stronger beasts is sure to be reported soon, however, I know I can catch this beast by surprise and kill it. I must continue. I must grow stronger!