The howl came back through the cave, this time closer, and Greg felt every hair on his body stand on end. It wasn't the sound of bats, wind, or any of the other harmless animals that Bork had talked about. This was something else entirely that made his instincts scream danger.

"Ready your weapons!" Bork yelled and dropped his beer as he rushed to get his pack. "Get something, everyone!"

"We don't have any weapons!" Greg yelled back. "We only brought tools for mining!"

"Then take the mining tools and use them to protect ourselves from what's coming!"

Things started to show up in the dark parts of the cave. They looked a lot like people, but they were mistaken in every way that mattered.

Their skin was a sickly gray color that seemed to soak up light instead of reflecting it, and their eyes glowed with a dim red light that made Greg's stomach turn. They walked in a way that was jerky and not natural, and when they opened their mouths, the howling sound came out again.

"Cave ghouls!" Bork yelled and took out a round shield from his pack that Greg didn't know was there. He picked up the Frying Pan of Eternal Flame that Marina had given him months ago with his other hand. "Boss, I thought you said there were no monsters in these caves!"

"I told you there were only rats and bats!" Greg protested and raised his pickaxe in defense. "You are the dwarf! You're supposed to know this stuff, not me!"

"Usually, cave ghouls don't come this far south! Something must have brought them here!"

Felix had his own pickaxe and was backing up toward the fire, his face pale. "This isn't like the game! You can respawn in the game! Can we come back to life here? Please tell me we can come back!"

"For fuck's sake, Felix! This isn't a fucking game!" Greg said.

"I KNOW THAT NOW!"

The first ghoul lunged forward at an unexpected speed. Bork blocked its clawed attack with his shield and then swung the frying pan with enough force to show that he had done this before. The pan hit the ghoul's head with a satisfying crack, and the creature fell back, with smoke rising from where the pan had hit it.

"The fire spell works on them!" Bork yelled. "But we need more tools! Can you make something, boss?"

"I'm not a mage! I'm a blacksmith!" Greg swung his pickaxe at another ghoul that had gotten too close and said, The Pickaxe of Tireless Mining cut through the creature's arm, and it screamed in pain and ran away. "I need time and stuff to make things!"

"We don't have time!" Felix yelled as he fought off two ghouls at once with his pickaxe.

The ore detection spell also seemed to work well at finding enemies, since the pickaxe seemed to guide his strikes toward weak spots. "There are about twenty of them! Maybe even more!"

Greg's thoughts raced. Felix was right, there were too many of them, and they were being surrounded. The pickaxes were good tools, but they weren't made for fighting. They needed something better, something that could fight more than one enemy at a time.

Then he remembered something. A system notification from months ago that he mostly ignored because he was blaming himself for the death of Elias.

"That skill...!"

[SKILL AVAILABLE: INSTANT FORGING]

"I have an idea!" Greg yelled. "But I need you two to hold them off for a minute!"

"One minute?" Bork said, hitting another ghoul with his shield. "Boss, I don't think we have a minute!"

"Don't worry. I'll give something in return that's worth all of this!"

Greg focused on the skill, and he felt it come to life with a rush of energy that made his hands glow with a soft golden light. He held his pickaxe tightly and put all of his will into it. He wasn't trying to make something new, but he was trying to change what was already there.

As it happened, new runes appeared on the metal and the pickaxe began to hum with power. Greg could tell that the spell was changing, adapting, and becoming something that would work better for their current situation.

[MODIFICATION FINISHED]

[PICKAXE OF TIRELESS MINING → PICKAXE OF EARTH'S WRATH]

[NEW PROPERTY ADDED: DEFENSIVE STRIKE]

[WHEN STRUCK AGAINST GROUND WITH HOSTILE INTENT, CREATES LOCALIZED EARTH MANIPULATION]

"Finished!" Greg gasped because he could already feel his energy draining. "Give me your pickaxes! Quickly!"

Bork and Felix thought he was crazy, but they also believed in him. Bork threw his pickaxe and kept fighting with just his shield and pan. Felix threw his pickaxe while he was running away from some ghouls.

Greg grabbed both pickaxes and did the same thing again, making the Instant Forging skill work on them even though he was running out of energy quickly. His hands were shaking, and his vision was getting blurry by the time he finished the second one.

"Okay," Greg said, throwing the pickaxes back. "New plan! Everyone hit the ground at the same time when I said, 'now'! Go for the middle of the group!"

"That's your plan!?" Felix said. "Only to hit the ground?"

"Believe me!"

The ghouls were getting closer and closer, making a tight circle around their camp. Greg could see more of them coming out of the deeper passages because of the noise. They had to do something right away.

"Hit it when I say three!" Greg yelled and raised his pickaxe. "One! Two! THREE!"

All three of them hit the ground at the same time, and the result was instant and mind-blowing. The ground beneath the ghouls suddenly gave way and fell apart, making a giant crater that was about twenty feet wide and fifteen feet deep. As they fell, the ghouls screamed and rolled over each other, their limbs flailing and their eyes glowing.

And then, exactly three seconds later, the earth closed up like a giant mouth, completely swallowing the ghouls. The disturbed soil around the crater was the only sign of something happening.

The cave was quiet except for their heavy breathing.

Felix said, "Holy shit! That was..."

"...fucking awesome!!!" Bork screamed while looking at his pickaxe with new respect. "Boss, why didn't you do these before?"

"Because I didn't think we'd need them," Greg said, and then he sat down hard because he was exhausted. "And also this... I think I'm going to pass out now."

"You can't pass out!" Felix said. "What if more of them show up?"

Greg's vision was blurry as he said, "Then you two will have to deal with it. That skill takes a lot of work for me."

"I need to take a break."

Bork quickly went to help Greg by helping him sit against the cave wall. "How long do you need, Boss?"

"Maybe a few hours. But when morning comes, I'll be fine."

Bork said firmly, "We'll take turns keeping watch."

"Felix, you're first. In three hours, I'll wake you up."

"Why me first?" Felix looked confused.

"Because you were the one who touched the strange ore!"

"That's not right!"

"Life isn't fair! Now pay attention!"

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