Cursed Heir System: Revenge Against the Gods

That same evening,a guard patrolled the tunnels as part of his daily duties, navigating the passage where the mine's expansion work was taking place.

The darkness was pushed back by the glow from his mana torch. When reached the tunnel's edge, where the new cavern had been found, he pointed his torch at it, but the light was sucked away by the darkness inside.

After finishing his patrol, he turned to go back.

Grrrrrrk.

Behind him, a faint sound came from the cavern. He spun around, focusing the torchlight, but saw nothing, easing his tension slightly.

He shrugged. "Fucking rat."

Chuckling, he turned again, eager for a drink after his shift.

Grrrrrrk.

Another sound, closer this time, stopped him cold. His grip on the torch trembled with an unfamiliar fear as he sensed something behind him. Slowly, he turned, only to freeze.

Before him stood a monstrous, unidentified creature, pale, nearly twenty feet tall, and standing on four legs.

Its human-like limbs twitched as they were abnormally long, thin, and curled. There were stitches where eyes should have been. It sniffed, as though it could smell him.

Slowly, its enormous mouth opened to reveal rows of sharp, jagged teeth that could instantly grind anything.

The guard's trembling hand reached for his sword as he stood motionless. However, he was grabbed by the creature's long arm, crushed his head and swallowed, consuming his whole body in one gob.

___

The morning arrived, and the slaves shuffled toward the tunnels, exhaustion weighing them down as they resumed work.

Two guards stood over a shattered mana torch scattered across the floor.

One guard crouched, picking up a piece. "Where the hell did he go?"

"Didn't even report back last night," the other said, kicking a broken shard.

The first guard stood, tossing the fragment aside.

"Yeah, well, Sir Dakel's gonna smash his ass to pulp if he drags himself back today."

"Idiot's done for."

The guards walked off, their voices fading down a side tunnel. The slaves passed by, heads down, none daring to look or question.

Further down, Alan swung his pickaxe with mechanical precision, the dull thud echoing through the busy tunnel. Blood stuck to his shirt, but he didn't stop. He couldn't. Another beating would break him, or worse, draw Dakel's full wrath, which could kill him.

The fat bastard was itching for an excuse to end him. Alan gritted his teeth, ignoring the pain, his grey hair matted with sweat and blood as he drove the pickaxe into the rock.

Beside him, Moriko worked sluggishly, her pickaxe barely striking the stone. Her ears drooped, her eyes fixed on the ground.

Alan paused mid-swing, noticing her. "What's wrong with you, Kitty?" he asked, his voice rough from dust and his battered throat. "Trying to get beaten half to death?"

Moriko's head stayed low, her hands trembling around the pickaxe's handle. "It's my fault," she muttered. "You got punished because of me. All because I was careless."

Alan snorted, swinging his pickaxe again. "Yeah, that's our deal," he said flatly. "I get food, I keep you safe. So shut up and get back to work, girl."

Moriko's ears twitched, but she didn't move, her eyes shifting to him. "Aren't you angry?" she asked, her voice small, almost pleading. "At me? At… all of this?"

He paused, the pickaxe hovering mid-air. She didn't know his past, how his family betrayed him, how his father's grip had twisted his right hand, fracturing it, leaving it still in pain. She didn't know how long he'd been sharpening that anger.

He drove the pickaxe into the rock with all his strength, the impact jolting his battered body. "Angry?" he whispered. "Maybe. But anger just keeps me going."

He glanced at her, his expression unreadable. "Now swing, or we're both in for it."

Moriko's pickaxe hit the stone with a dull thud.

"AHHHHHHHHHH!"

A horrible scream tore through the tunnel, raw and terrified, echoing wildly. Alan's head snapped toward the sound, staring into the dark where the torchlight faded.

The other slaves stopped, all looking into the shadows.

"Rubble collapse again?" Alan muttered.

A slave stumbled into the dim light, his face pale, eyes wide with fear. "Help!" he screamed, collapsing to his knees, clawing the stone floor. "It's coming, run!"

Before anyone could move, a grey, twisted hand with long, bony fingers shot from the shadows. Its sharp black claws seized the slave's leg, dragging him into the dark.

CRUNCH.

His scream cut off with a sickening crunch, followed by a wet thud.

Gasps and whimpers erupted as the slaves backed away, their chains rattling. The slave's body flew back into the light, slamming onto the stone. His head was half gone, skull split, blood and brains spilling out.

"Gods, no!" a woman cried, stumbling back.

From the darkness, the massive creature emerged. A slave dropped his pickaxe, the metal clanging as he stepped back.

"No, stay back!" he screamed, but the creature's hand grabbed him, crushing his chest.

With a loud crunch, it tore into his body, devouring half of him in seconds, his screams turning to a wet choke.

Moriko stood frozen, staring at the monster. "Run!" Alan yelled, grabbing her arm. She snapped out of it, stumbling as he pulled her into the fleeing crowd. Screams echoed through the tunnel, chains clanking as slaves ran in panic.

The creature pursued like a spider-limbed blur, snatching slaves with ease.

Bodies snapped in half with cracks, blood splashing the stone walls.

Alan and Moriko ran with the panicked mob, the narrow tunnel choked with bodies. The creature's claws scraped behind, gouging the stone.

Ahead, two guards pushed through the crowd, their faces pale as they saw the horrific creature. "What in the hells is that?" one muttered, drawing a short sword, his hand trembling.

"Kill it!" the other shouted, raising his hand. Pebbles and dust floated up around him, then shot toward the creature.

The monster dodged with eerie ease, its eyeless face tracking the attack.

The first guard raised his hand, conjuring a large, sharp ice shard that flew forward, stabbing the creature's skull.

The guards grinned briefly. "Got that fucking thing," one said, lowering his weapon.

But the creature didn't fall. It yanked the ice shard out with a wet squelch, its wound healing instantly. The guards' faces went white.

"That's… impossible," the second guard whispered, sweat beading on his brow. Before they could flee, the creature's claws seized both men. Their screams stopped as its jaws tore through them, shattering bones and flesh in one motion.

Alan glanced back, watching the creature was a storm of death, it snatched slaves one after another, leaving mangled bodies in its wake.

Moriko was just ahead, her tail flapping as she stumbled, and Alan knew he could be next.

A slave beside Moriko tried to shove her aside, hoping to escape by sacrificing her. Alan spotted a loose stone on the ground and kicked it, smashing it into the man's head. The slave fell forward, and Alan ran past as the creature's claws dragged the man into its mouth with a wet crunch.

A few guards reached the emergency room, a sturdy chamber at the tunnel's end. The lock clanged as they slammed the heavy iron door shut. When Moriko and a few slaves arrived, they pounded on the metal, their voices frantic.

"Open the door!" Moriko cried alongside the others, her fists hammering the door.

Thud.

Thud.

Thud.

"Please, let us in!" the slaves screamed, but the guards inside ignored them, saving themselves.

Alan grabbed Moriko's arm, pulling her back. "Move, now!" he growled, dragging her into a run as the creature tore through the last slaves behind, their screams fading. The paths to the surface were blocked, rubble and locked gates trapping them. The mines were a maze, with death at every turn.

The creature's scraping grew louder, its hunger insatiable, like a void in its belly.

They ran and ran and ran.

They reached the newly discovered cave—a dead end.

Alan skidded to a stop, leaning against the chilly wall, his chest heaving with fatigue. He nodded toward the cave. "We jump inside," he said, his voice steady despite the chaos and screams behind them.

Moriko froze, her eyes wide with terror, tears streaming down her face. "No… I can't," she muttered, trembling as she stepped back from the cave's edge. "We'll die in there! We'll all die!"

CRUNCH.

In a single, horrifying snap, the creature's wide maw bit through Moriko's upper body. She didn't scream—there was no head left to scream.

Her legs stood upright for a moment before collapsing, blood pooling beneath them as her torso vanished into the creature's mouth, crunching.

The creature turned toward Alan. He stepped back, his foot catching on a jagged rock. The tunnel's edge was behind him, and before he could catch himself, he slipped.

The floor vanished beneath him as he fell into the dark cavern.

A sharp stone slashed across his side. The fall spun him like a rag doll. Then—

Crack.

His skull collided with a jutting outcrop.

Pain exploded through his head, white-hot, then, it's nothing.

The last sound he heard was the creature's screech echoing from above.