The Collapsing Mine and the Dragon’s Fury

“Earthquake?!”

“Lady Rachel!”

Miriam’s and Vera’s exclamations were swallowed by the deafening roar. The entire underground space felt as if it had been seized by an invisible giant hand, shaken, and torn apart. The hard rock layers overhead groaned under the immense strain as massive, web-like cracks instantly spread, and loose rocks and dust cascaded down like torrential rain. The ground beneath their feet heaved violently, as if they were treading upon tempestuous waves.

“It’s not an earthquake!” Rachel shrieked, her voice almost inaudible amidst the thunderous collapse. “It’s bombs! This mine has been rigged with bombs!”

Rachel understood in an instant. The Cult had withdrawn, but to erase all traces, they had long since installed self-destruct devices. Now, the entire Gray Mountain mine was collapsing from within.

“Run!” Rachel bellowed, the shadow of death never having felt so close. “Find an exit! Any exit!”

The instinct for survival overwhelmed their fear. The three women scrambled like headless chickens through the violently shaking, constantly collapsing space. Vera desperately shielded Rachel, using her body to push aside falling debris. Miriam, meanwhile, displayed astonishing agility, leaping and weaving through the plummeting boulders, all while anxiously scanning her surroundings.

“This way!” Miriam suddenly pointed to a corner of the rock face, where, amidst the violent tremors, a long, irregular fissure had miraculously appeared. Through the gap, a faint, almost imperceptible sliver of natural light—a beacon of life—seeped in.

“There’s light! It might lead outside!”

This glimmer of hope acted like a powerful stimulant. The three rushed headlong towards the fissure. The gap was narrow, barely wide enough for one person to squeeze through sideways, but it was their only path to survival.

“My Lady! You go first!”

Vera unhesitatingly pushed Rachel towards the crack. Rachel did not hesitate; she knew every second was critical. She turned sideways, struggling to force herself into the fissure. The cold rock wall scraped against her body, but the chilling, earthy air from outside was already rushing into her nostrils.

Just as Rachel had half-emerged from the fissure, with Miriam close behind and Vera preparing to follow as rearguard, a critical moment arose—

BOOM!!!

An even more terrifying explosion erupted above their heads. Amidst countless massive rocks and broken support beams, a colossal, grotesque silhouette, shrouded in dust and the aura of destruction, slammed down like a meteor onto the open space directly in front of the fissure, completely blocking their only escape route.

It was the massive dragon-human!

It had evidently suffered severe injuries in the collapse. Its body was covered in thick dust, its tough scales were cracked in many places, oozing dark red blood, and one wing was grotesquely twisted. Yet, its golden vertical pupils still burned with savage fury, fixed intently on its escaping prey. A low, menacing growl rumbled in its throat, and hot, sulfurous breath spewed forth.

“Damn it!” Rachel’s heart plummeted instantly, despair engulfing her like a cold tide. With a terrifying monster blocking their path ahead and the endlessly collapsing mine devouring everything behind them, they were trapped in this final, narrow passage.

The dragon-human clearly recognized these three ‘insects’ that had eluded it, and its rage overpowered its pain. It ignored the constant barrage of boulders crashing down from above, which struck its body with dull thuds but failed to inflict fatal wounds.

Its enormous body, imbued with a crushing momentum, took a single step. Its massive claws, accompanied by a shriek that tore through the air, savagely swiped towards Rachel and Miriam, who were jammed in the fissure’s opening. Its posture declared its intent to smash them, along with their last chance of escape, to smithereens!

“Lady Rachel!” Vera’s eyes were bloodshot with desperation. Just as Rachel’s back was about to be exposed to the deadly claws, Vera, who had been guarding the rear, suddenly unleashed a burst of strength and speed beyond her limits!

There was no thought, only the instinct to protect!

Vera lunged forward, not to evade, but to collide head-on with the lethal claws!

CRUNCH!!!

A sickening thud that made teeth ache echoed through the air. Vera’s petite body was struck as if by a battering ram, sending her flying back like a cannonball, slamming violently against the rock wall beside the fissure. A pained groan escaped her lips, and the fabric of her sleeves instantly tore, revealing bruised, swollen, and even slightly deformed arms. Blood trickled from the corner of her mouth. Yet, her desperate collision had miraculously deflected the dragon-human’s seemingly inevitable strike!

SLASH!

The sharp claw tips scraped past Rachel’s back and Miriam’s cheek, leaving three deep gouges in the rock wall as debris scattered. Rachel could even feel the stinging, burning sensation of the wind from the claws grazing her skin!

“Now! Miriam! Go!” In the instant the claws missed, Rachel roared with all her might, simultaneously grabbing Miriam, who had frozen in terror, and shoving her fiercely towards the brief gap between the dragon-human’s swinging arm and the rock wall!

Startled awake by the rough push, Miriam’s will to survive overwhelmed everything else. She burst forth with astonishing agility, like a startled rabbit, squeezing precariously through the less-than-half-meter gap. She brushed against the dragon-human’s thick hind leg and scorching scales and darted towards the outside world!

“Vera!” Rachel did not immediately escape. She spun around abruptly, lunging towards Vera, who lay limply against the rock wall, blood oozing from her mouth and nose.

The dragon-human, having missed its attack and allowed another ‘insect’ to slip away right under its nose, reached the pinnacle of its fury. It let out a thunderous roar, its massive head suddenly turning towards Rachel and Vera. Its blood-filled maw, lined with razor-sharp teeth, gaped open, and an ominous red glow ignited deep within its throat—a prelude to Dragon’s Breath! It intended to incinerate these two defiant insects into ash!

Just as the deadly breath was about to erupt, Rachel, using every ounce of her strength, dragged the almost immobile Vera, scrambling and tumbling towards the gap Miriam had just passed through!

BOOM!!!

Flames, hot enough to melt rock, erupted in a torrent of Dragon’s Breath, grazing Rachel’s heels and igniting and melting everything behind her—the rock wall, debris, even the air itself! The terrifying wave of superheated air violently flung both her and Vera outwards!

“Gah—!” Rachel felt as though she had been thrown into a furnace; a searing pain shot through her back, but she held onto Vera with a death grip. Like broken kites, the two tumbled and fell out of the collapsing mine’s perimeter, crashing heavily onto the cold, debris-strewn ground.

Almost simultaneously with their fall—

RUMBLE, RUMBLE, RUMBLE—!!!

A final, cataclysmic roar, as if from the depths of hell, erupted, shaking the entire earth!

The towering, grayish-white rock face behind them—the entire Gray Mountain—collapsed inward with an earth-shattering roar, like a sandcastle whose foundations had been pulled away. A colossal dust cloud rose like a tsunami, instantly engulfing everything within several hundred meters. The massive dragon-human, which had just poked its head out and let out a roar of defiance, along with its not-yet-fully-expelled Dragon’s Breath, was instantly swallowed and buried by the endless boulders and dust!

The earth shook, and dust blotted out the sun! It was as if the apocalypse had arrived!

Rachel, Vera, and Miriam lay sprawled on the cold ground, far from the epicenter of the collapse, coughing violently and greedily gasping for the precious, albeit dust-laden, air. They were covered in wounds, disheveled, and Vera’s arms were severely injured, blood staining her lips. Yet, they had survived! Against the dual assault of a self-destructing mine and a tyrannical dragon-human, they had miraculously escaped death.

“Ha…haha…we…we made it…” Miriam, covered in dust, laughed foolishly in the aftermath of their narrow escape, tears mixing with dirt as they streamed down her face.

Vera struggled to sit up to check on Rachel, but the movement aggravated her injuries, making her gasp in pain.

Rachel lay supine on the cold ground, gazing at the sky, which was stained yellowish-gray by the dust. Her ragged breaths pulled at the searing pain in her back. The moments she had brushed with death, the scorching Dragon’s Breath, the destructive scene of the mountain crumbling—all were deeply etched into her mind.

‘At any rate, we survived…’