Southwest Days (Semiautomatic Sorceress Book 2) by Kal Aaron (ebook reader for manga .txt) 📗

be present, or there might be more of those creatures. A few aren’t a challenge, but a larger number might pose a risk to nearby towns.”

“Not going to let me have my moment, huh?” Lyssa chuckled. “But you’re right; I’m sure we’ve got a couple more hiding somewhere. My primary contract is for recon, and that’s not done yet. We know they can kind of see in the dark, but not all the way, and we also know they have good hearing. I hope we don’t have some sort of new sorcery-enhanced invasive underground burrowing species. It’s hard to make self-sustaining monsters, but it’s not like it’s impossible.”

Lyssa kicked a body onto its back. There was nothing noticeably different on the bottom of the creature’s body. She’d expected evidence of segmentation or a seam but reminded herself that monsters could be created to look like almost anything. Without an active sorcery infusion, physics provided limits, but normal Earth biology principles didn’t always apply, and Sorcerers usually didn’t mind if a monster had a short lifespan.

“Why do I get the feeling I’m going to be spending the next two weeks checking every nook and cranny of this place?” Lyssa asked, shuddering and considering nose plugs.

“You could offer support for the National Guard plan,” Jofi suggested.

Lyssa shook her head. “Samuel would kill me if I said Shadows should clean up a monster nest. Besides, the more tedious and annoying this is, the more favorably the Society will look at it when I finish the job.” She peered at the fallen monsters for any signs of movement. “We’ll finish up here and see what we can find. We can’t ignore the possibility of other monsters. We’ll go from there. I hate it when things are underground.”

Lyssa spent a couple of minutes inspecting the rest of the bodies and confirming no regeneration. Most monsters wouldn’t be able to pull that off without emitting obvious active sorcerous energy, but making assumptions about mutant snake-roaches while she was alone in a hole in the ground might lead to an unpleasant surprise later that could end with her dead and supplying nutrients to a new generation of snake-roaches. She’d deserve it if she were that sloppy.

She walked past the bodies and found slime trails interspersed with the shallow holes she now understood were monster prints. There was no hint of blood or human footprints.

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure our guy didn’t survive. Damn.” Lyssa clucked her tongue. “File another case under ‘brave but stupid.’ You’d think people would get that there really are monsters hiding in the shadows, and they should be more careful. Sorry, Jake. There’s nothing I can do for you, but I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen to anyone else.”

Back in wraith form, Lyssa delved deeper into the mine and found another intersection. She’d not bothered with the map, more interested in following the slime trails back to their source. They went off in different directions, but there were greater numbers of trails converging one way.

“It looks like we’re getting closer to their nest.”

“What’s your plan when you arrive?” Jofi asked.

“I was going with ‘Shoot them all, then shoot them all again if they move.’ These things are nasty but easy to kill. How does that sound?”

“Simple but effective. I applaud your audacity.”

“Yeah. This doesn’t call for overly complicated schemes. Yet. Let’s hope it stays that way.”

Lyssa kept her guns in hand as she walked, the minutes passing in near-silence except for the crunch of her boots. On occasion, she heard distant scratching but didn’t know if that marked monsters or more conventional vermin. There were no new enemies, but one fact grew more obvious with each step deeper into the mine.

Lyssa holstered one of her pistols and ran her hand along a wall. “It gets a lot smoother and rounder the farther in we go.” She motioned around her current passage. “It looks wider, too. I think we’ve left the main mine tunnels and entered new tunnels. I don’t know if I like that.”

“Do you have a theory about where they came from?” Jofi asked.

“Yeah.” Lyssa nodded. “I think our snake-roaches have been expanding the tunnel system, and they might have had help.” She frowned and surveyed the area. “I haven’t seen any metal or wood in a while, but I can’t be sure. Wood braces could have decayed over the years. Seeing all this makes me wonder if the deputy was right about these monsters being an older threat.”

“You think they did encounter an ancient nest?” Jofi asked.

“That’s the part I’m tripping on. The victims barely stepped into the place.” Lyssa shook her head. “I’m not saying it’s thousands of years old, but if these creatures can dig tunnels, they might not have originally been in this mine. They could have been somewhere else and spent years digging until they connected to it. That also could mean there’s no rogue to find at the end of it, or the one who did this was involved twenty years ago and forgot about it.” She frowned. “There’s no way that group I fought could have managed to dig out that much material. It’d take centuries.”

“There are many more enemies,” Jofi said. “That’s your conclusion.”

“Yeah. A lot more. A hell of a lot more. I’m doing recon, and they were too, in their way.” Lyssa ejected her magazine and loaded explosive rounds. She tucked the pistol away before retrieving her other magazine, still loaded with normal bullets. “Their digging means we can’t end this by collapsing the tunnels. It’ll just mean these things emerge from the ground somewhere random years from now like a bad Tremors sequel.”

“You don’t believe light troubles them?” Jofi asked.

Lyssa continued following the slime trails. “Evidence points that way, but I can’t be sure. I’m not going to bet people’s lives on it. I haven’t sensed any sorcery, so no spells are containing them. They had plenty of hours in the night to come out in, and they didn’t.” She