When Gustav thought about the crawler demons, he associated them with comfort. Sure they were problematic from time to time, but he guessed or at least wished that they wouldn't attract any massive issues.
They were even seen as indispensable allies, as each victorious battle had their claws imprinted on the battlefield.
This time around, however, the trouble which one of them brought along was immense! That one demon's repetitive chant, summoned a really weird wave of trouble.
"Run!" Gustav shouted.
They dashed deeper towards the tunnel, without a sense of where they were supposed to end up next. They wanted to survive primarily, from the sudden shake that enveloped their surroundings.
The quakes and rumbles got worse within ten seconds, and they could even hear how portions of the tunnel collapsed. A gravelly-sounding crash spooked them even more, to the point where their hearts were strained up with both fear and adrenaline!
"This way!" Arila yelled out, as she took the lead.
After about twenty meters of a toe-torturing run, they found a couple of other tunnels, which led away from the linear line of trouble they had followed. It seemed like a good idea to pierce through one of them, with the idea that they could avoid the collapse there.
She was right to do so, as it didn't take long to realize that they entered a significantly safer zone. Gustav stopped on his spot even, to get a better sense of what was going on.
He spotted the demonic moles who followed along, which was relieving because he partially turned around for them as well. They used the dirt and rocks to their favor, and barely acknowledged this situation as a threat.
"Lagging behind, huh?" He said, as the last demon popped around the corner just when the quakes in the far distance, reached their pique of destruction.
The team was far away from the threat now, but could still hear all the ruckus. Loud thuds reverberated, and the tunnel's constricted structure only amplified those scary sounds!
"What happened? Did I do all that? Can't be that heavy, I tried to walk softly." Gustav joked afterwards, to shake away some of the adrenaline that they just experienced.
It was apparent that they can't go the same way up again, at the time when they're supposed to leave this underground nightmare. The paths they took were blocked now, as those quakes hadn't calmed down just yet.
Arila shared the same humor, she said. "Your large ass is… impressive, but even you can't shake all them rocks down."
The stress-factors were large enough already, so a few jokes didn't sound so bad. It was fair to take a breath or two, without suffering a heart twitch.
Little did they know, a dire problem was spitefully following them.
That demon who came in last, called for attention now, and said. "Terruga!"
"What now?" Gustav asked, and jerked his body towards the ground.
His spike of attention was led by paranoia, but it would've been stupid to ignore these demonic moles. They could read an alien language, and now something got just one of these demons excited; This was alerting!
"Terruga," It repeated. "Blood roots!"
Such a sentence could spook most souls, especially since they didn't understand what it meant. Even as a large and supposedly brave mammoth, Gustav heaved in a deep sigh and begged for a break.
A moment later, he asked. "That doesn't sound good… is something chasing us, kid?"
The excited demon simply nodded in response, and ran in the opposite direction of all those prior loud quakes.
Such behavior was odd, as each of these fluffy comrades would follow Gustav down to the depths of hell if they had to. They were attached, so it was odd to see one of them run away. Disaster surely followed along!
"Run, again!" He shouted, and the rest of the team didn't think twice about that advice.
Subconsciously, they all thought that these quakes had something to do with the 'blood roots' which were just mentioned. Even the rest of the demonic moles who had not read that specific scripture, still understood their sibling well.
Everyone ran with all their power, and eventually met with another problem because of it. Well, Gustav and Arila suffered the most damage!
They fell down a large hole, which thankfully had a pool of water at the bottom, just about five meters below! It was still a splashing shock nonetheless, especially since they sank a few meters below surface level.
"Where are you! Do you see anything?" He shouted, but was muffled by all the water.
The demonic moles were better off, since they could crawl around this cave's walls. They didn't have to get wet, unlike these couple of people who had their torches shunned down, and simply didn't know where to go!
Gustav smacked the water all around him, until he reached the surface and could finally take a breath.
"Arila!" He shouted upon the first chance.
"I'm here," She answered, and clung to the other's arm.
The lady was fairly small, even when fully transformed so she didn't take much space on Gustav's limb.
It sounded smart to get out of these waters afterwards, so they could continue running. This cave remained pitch dark, however, and it wasn't so easy to light a damped torch.
They couldn't find those torches anyway, as the heavy coal that was attached on the torch's head, forced these advocates of light to sink.
Still, there was no logic in giving up, so Gustav insisted. "Let's paddle this way, maybe there's another tunnel nearby."
They didn't know how deep this pool was, but if their feet met with something solid, it would be a good way to orient towards the better.
He thought of calling the demons for help as well, but he choked on his own words shortly after.
"Huh," Arila grunted, and dug her fingers tighter towards the other's flesh.
The cave was suddenly enveloped by a red wave of light, but this wasn't necessarily a blessing. They recalled the name, 'blood root' which freaked them out beyond bounds, as they immediately understood what was happening!
"It caught up to us... we're fucked!" Gustav said.
He noticed a few arm-thick roots on one of the cave's walls, near the ceiling. They were very lively, and jiggled around like hungry animals!
It was terrifying, but there was a small opportunity in this plausible disaster. All the light which those blood-roots emitted, helped locate the dry grounds about eight meters away, to their right.
He flung Arila towards that direction, and yelled. "Kids, get her out of here!"
Gustav was fed up, and he was tired of running. It wasn't in his mammothian nature to flee, regardless of how tough these recent, traumatic experiences were.
While he swam for the dry land where he could take a proper stance, he thought. "Lost my torch, but not my sword or my bloody honor. I'm not backing down this time!"