"Un! Lead the way! Everyone, follow him! I'll guard the rear!" Exile roared as he rushed to intercept a Deep Stalker that was targeting Old Un. 

The others did not hesitate and immediately chased after Old Un who had run off. They were not going to argue with Exile, since he was the one who had the best chance of holding off the mobs anyway. The only thing that they could do was not get too far ahead of him.

[-7 HP]

[-7 HP]

'Damn! There's too many of them!' Exile groaned as he looked around. Even though he could see them, they were beginning to coordinate with each other to try to overwhelm him. He spared a glance towards his comrades and decided it was time to make a run for it, even as he ducked under the outstretched hand of one of the mobs. 

[-7 HP]

[-7 HP]

[-7 HP]

They surrounded him again pretty quickly and cut off his retreat. What annoyed him the most was that he could never hit the same one more than a couple of times. These creatures seemed to be quite intelligent. Whenever he injured them enough, they fell back to the rear of the crowd. Preventing him from gaining a kill. 

'If we even want to properly explore this place, we'll need to have enough power to overwhelm them quickly...' Exile grimaced as sharp nails scraped across his cheek, leaving bloody marks behind. He quickly tucked himself down and rolled away from the next blow, saving himself from sustaining more damage.

[-7 HP]

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Exile briefly checked his health pool to discover that he was dangerously close to the half health mark. '56/105... It's not looking too good!' The brief respite from their attacks allowed him to identify a slight gap in their encirclement. With a grim expression, he raised his shield and rammed his way through!

An angry screech came from the mobs he left behind, as they began to scurry along the broken walls like spiders chasing their prey. 'That's just creepy...' Exile pulled an ugly expression when he saw how quickly they were moving. 'They'll catch up again soon! Damn, I didn't want to do this so soon...'

Exile slid to a halt as he spun to face the enemies. He raised his axe to point at the tide of mobs closing in on him. The edge of his axe began to glow red hot as he activated his spell. 'Cleansing Flame!' A wave of fire burst forth from his axe as he heard the Deep Stalkers screech in fear and pain. It was the most potent offensive that he could muster. Its only drawback was the cost!

[You have dealt -19 HP]

That notification appeared a number of times in his mind over the next seven seconds before he cut the spell off. He did not even wait to see what damage he had wrought on his opponents. His mind was fully focused on catching up to the others. Notifications continued to appear, but he paid them no mind.

[You have killed Deep Stalker (Infant)]

[New Milestone: Deep Stalker: 8/100]

This was the only notification that actually caught his eye, causing him to click his tongue in annoyance. 'I thought I'd take out more than that!' The ones who fell to his spell must have been the ones who had already been injured. He took solace in the fact that he must have heavily injured a large number of them. With their careful nature, it was likely that they would fall back and wait for fresh mobs to lead the charge.

"Hurry up!" Clay's voice came from up ahead. Exile squinted as he realised they had come to a stop right in front of the dwarven statue. 

When he had almost reached them, Old Un placed a hand behind the bottom of the tower shield and a loud click followed. The smooth ground in front of the statue started to separate, revealing a staircase that led deeper underground. exile groaned when he saw this. 'We need to go up! Not deeper into the depths of this place!'

One by one, the group disappeared down into the hole. Exile sighed as he quickly followed. He could hear the sounds of the Deep Stalkers swiftly chasing after him. 'Guess I didn't give them enough of a scare...' As soon as he disappeared down the staircase, the ground rumbled to a close behind him. Sealing them off from their pursuers.

Exile heaved in a deep breath, as he could finally rest a bit. The ordeal had made him tense without realising it. "Where to... now?"

Old Un frowned as he stared downwards. It was the only path that they could take, anyway. However, he wondered why he had been directed this way when he thought about seriously getting out of this place and back to Valheim. 

The group wore exhausted expressions as they picked themselves up off the stairs and began the journey. Old Un took the lead in case his abilities revealed something. However, the stairway just kept going and going. Deeper and deeper. Ever onwards, as if they were descending into the very depths of the divine realms themselves.

They easily spent more than a day following this path. It never diverged. Not a single turn. No split passageways. Just as they were considering returning the way they had come, they heard the sound of stone sliding against stone. 'Maybe I could see what it is if Clay uses that horn again...' Exile sighed as he remembered the feeling of having that extra power. Unfortunately, it had worn off long ago by this point and it would just be a waste to use it again now...