The first one came in high. I sidestepped and drove the spear up, catching it through the belly. Black blood sprayed. The bat shrieked and thrashed on the blade until I yanked free and let it drop.

The second bat came in low, aiming for my legs.

I fired my upgraded Wave Motion.

The golden-white spiral caught the bat mid-dive and blasted it backward into the tunnel wall with enough force that the impact crater glowed from heat. The projectile was bigger now, faster, and it barely touched my stamina.

The third bat circled, looking for an opening.

"Jace! Above!"

Naomi’s warning came half a second too late.

A fourth bat dropped from the ceiling directly onto my back, its claws digging through my tactical suit and finding skin. Pain exploded across my shoulders as teeth scraped against my helmet.

I reached back with one hand, grabbed a wing, and activated Sensory Hijack.

Not the pleasant version I used on the girls.

The nasty version.

I focused on touch and dialed it to maximum pain receptors. The bat’s nervous system lit up like I’d set it on fire from the inside. It released me immediately, shrieking and flailing and crashing to the ground where it convulsed.

Misato’s boot came down on its skull.

"Nice trick," she said.

"Thanks."

"Don’t get cocky. There’s more."

She was right. The screeching intensified from deeper in the tunnel, and suddenly twenty more bats poured from the darkness like a living wave.

"Formation!" Misato barked. "Back to back!"

We clustered together. Naomi in front. Belle and Jordan on my sides. Misato and her clone covering our rear.

The bats swarmed.

Jordan’s shadows exploded outward in every direction, a web of black tendrils that caught five bats simultaneously and held them suspended in mid-air. "Got them! Someone kill these fuckers!"

Belle fired. Reloaded. Fired again. Each bolt found a target. Each target dropped.

Naomi unleashed a sustained beam of blue-white energy that carved through the swarm like a laser, vaporizing three bats before the strain showed on her face and she cut the power.

I launched myself upward with Wave Motion, the energy bursting from my feet and propelling me six feet off the ground. Hovering there, I fired twice into the densest cluster of bats. Golden spirals detonated among them, sending bodies crashing down in pieces.

My stamina dipped. Fifteen percent gone from those two shots and the flight. But I stayed airborne another three seconds, orienting, scanning for threats.

A massive bat broke from the pack, easily twice the size of its fellows. Red eyes locked onto me with focused intelligence that made my blood run cold.

"Alpha!" I shouted.

The thing dove.

I fired point-blank.

My spiral caught it in the face, and the bat’s head simply ceased to exist. The body crashed past me, momentum carrying it into the wall where it stuck for a moment before sliding down in a smear of black ichor.

I dropped back to the ground, my legs almost buckling from the landing.

"You good?" Belle was beside me instantly, her hand on my arm.

"Yeah. Stamina’s at like sixty percent though."

"Conserve it. We’re not done yet."

The remaining bats scattered, fleeing deeper into the tunnel with terrified screeches that echoed into silence.

Jordan dropped his shadows, breathing hard. "Did we just win?"

"Clear," Misato confirmed, her clone dismissing into vapor. "Nineteen bats. One alpha. Good work."

"What about the ones that ran?" Naomi asked.

"They’ll regroup or die alone. Either way, not our problem yet." Misato surveyed the carnage. "Core collection. Belle, Jordan, start harvesting. Naomi, watch our six. Jace, help with cores."

I moved to the nearest corpse and located the core embedded behind its ribcage. The crystallized mana felt warm through my gloves, pulsing with residual energy. I cut it free and dropped it in my collection pouch.

Twenty minutes later, we had nineteen cores and one alpha core that glowed brighter than the others.

"Not bad for ten minutes of work," Belle said, weighing a regular core in her palm.

"We’re still on the clock," Misato reminded her. "Keep moving."

We advanced deeper into the tunnel.

The walls changed as we walked. The smooth black stone gave way to rough granite shot through with more of those glowing veins. The veins pulsed in rhythm, like the whole cave system was breathing.

My Treasure Sense pinged again.

Stronger this time.

"Belle."

"I feel it." Her eyes had gone distant, focused on something only she could perceive. "Mana crystal deposit. Big one. Maybe thirty meters ahead on the left wall."

"How big?"

"Ten, maybe fifteen thousand credits if we could harvest it properly."

Jordan groaned. "Stop telling us about money we can’t collect."

"Just documenting opportunities for future reference," Belle shot back.

"Future reference is great. Present survival is better."

"Both of you shut up," Misato hissed.

We all froze.

Her head had cocked slightly to the left, her entire body going still in that way predators do right before they strike. One of her clones materialized silently, moving to cover our flank.

"What is it?" I whispered.

"Movement. Multiple signatures. Sixty meters and closing." Her lime green eyes caught the cave light. "Fast ones."

"Rippers?" Jordan’s voice cracked.

"Don’t know yet. But they’re hunting. I can feel it."

The temperature dropped ten degrees in three seconds.

My breath came out in visible puffs. Ice crystals formed on the walls around us, spreading outward from some central source deeper in the tunnel.

"Naomi," I said quietly.

"I see it."

Her staff came up, blue-white energy already gathering at the tip. The spiral formed slowly at first, then faster as she channeled more power into it.

Belle had her crossbow raised, a bolt loaded and her finger resting against the trigger guard. "Whatever’s coming, it’s cold-based."

"How do you know?"

"Because my tits are freezing and that doesn’t happen unless mana gets involved."

Fair point.

Jordan’s shadows spread wider, covering more ground. "I’ve got eyes on the rear. Nothing yet."

"Hold," Misato commanded.

We waited.

The ice continued spreading. Frost crept up my boots. My tactical suit’s temperature regulation kicked in, warming the interior, but I could still feel the cold seeping through.

Something clicked against stone.

Then another click.

Then five more, rapid succession, coming from everywhere and nowhere simultaneously.

"Fuck," Misato breathed.