*Boom~!*

*Bang!*

The two guns were fired at the same time. One big bullet hit the bed of the steel cart and bounced back, smacking into the metal helmet on the rifleman’s head. The other shot five big lead balls that hit Jade’s almost flat chest and either flattened or ricocheted away.

“Ow!” Although her ‘skin’ was barely chipped, it was still really painful and her clothes had a few holes in them, making her feel embarrassed.

“You Little Shit! Die!”

“Go to hell, Tall Bitch!”

The two women screamed at the same time. One threw a lit stick of dynamite and the other reached out, causing the tunnel above the Dwarves to collapse! All three of them quickly bolted out into the more open cavern, dodging the rocks and crystals falling from the ceiling. The fuse on the dynamite took a few seconds, so Jade easily caught it and threw the stick over behind a big metal mine cart that was conjured by the shorter man. He only had time to conjure up another cart to ‘cover’ the blast, but the shockwave still passed through the metal as he shot up into the air along with the damaged mine cart.

“Jimmy!”

*Boom~!* The bigger man fired the blunderbuss at Oliver, who was darting around in the darkness and trying not to get crushed to death. He didn’t hit, but he just kept conjuring and firing more buckshot at a rapid pace! Even when the blunderbuss exploded in his hands, he just created a new one to keep firing!

“Catch~! Hahaha~!”

*Boom~! Boom~! Booooom~!*

Oliver jumped around behind the falling rocks and tossed some lit dynamite from time to time. It really didn’t take that much effort or energy to create compared to a giant steel cart, but after it exploded, he wouldn’t get any energy back either. The mine carts on the other hand, could be ‘recycled’, so they were less expensive.

Jade darted over and kneed the Dwarf woman in the face, completely destroying her gas mask and sending her flying into the wall. A sharp rock shot out from the stone and almost pierced the woman’s spine, but a thick metal pan appeared to block it! Another mask was also conjured so that she could breathe to a certain extent. But the three Dwarves were already having trouble. Their skin was burning, not to mention their lungs, eyes and ears.

‘Jimmy’ managed to recover from the shock of the first explosion, at least very slightly, but then a bunch of big pieces of rock and crystal pierced his throat, chest and abdomen from those other explosions nearby. He conjured a new rifle, took aim and shot a bullet into Jade’s left temple… Well, it chipped off a small chunk of stone and disoriented her a little.

“Ah! Ow!” Jade screamed as she rushed forward again and grabbed that tiny woman by the throat with her glowing orange hands! She couldn’t even say any last words as she had her whole neck melted off by the incredible heat and pressure!

“Lisa! No! You tall bastards are gonna pay for this! Hahaha~! If I can’t have this lode, nobody can have it!”

The whole cavern was already trembling with the relatively ‘small’ sticks of dynamite, but the crazy Dwarf conjured up a dozen sticks at a time! The dynamite was already tied together and the fuses were incredibly short. Usually as soon as he threw one, it would explode in mid-air! Huge rocks fell from the ceiling and parts of the cavern were already collapsing…

“Damn it! Jade, run!” Oliver saw a massive stone crush the Dwarf to death, but it was immediately blasted into tiny shrapnel. Needless to say, the three ‘claim jumpers’ were already dead.

“What does it look like I’m doing?!” Jade retorted as she flew through the air a few meters from the ground, the two of them were heading towards the hole in the ceiling… But now the tunnel they dug was missing and there were several other holes to choose from.

“Ollie! Hold me! Aaaah~!”

“Aaah! Shit~!”

Just when Oliver jumped up and hugged her waist, the two of them started falling rapidly! The ground opened up like a terrifying glowing green maw and the beautiful crystals on the ceiling were ‘chomping’ down from above!

“Ollie, I love you~!”

“I love you too, Jay-ow~!”

They hit the ground and fell through, then rolled down a steep slope, along with a bunch of rocks. Fortunately, Jade quickly transformed those loose boulders into a big hollow ball around the two of them. Which Olvier quickly reinforced with steel ‘rails’ all along the sides. He also created new masks, helmets, clothes and air tanks for the two of them.

“Ollie! I think… I’m gonna puke~!”

“I feel like… We should’ve just gone to Kale Town~!”

The temperature inside the ball was extremely high, which didn’t bother Jade much, but Ollie felt like he was being cooked. The sphere eventually leveled off and got stuck somewhere. A few minutes later, the hollow boulder unraveled slowly.

Oliver looked around at the small tunnel section and sighed, “Jade… I got greedy. I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault, Ollie. It’s my fault for hesitating!” The stone girl took off her mask and helmet, which quickly disappeared in the glowing green dusty air.

“I hesitated too.” He turned on the bright flashlight on his helmet, quickly illuminating the confined space.

“You’re different. You’ve never… It was your first time. Taking a life.”

“That’s not why I hesitated.” Oliver shook his head, “I was just thinking. If I killed them, would anyone find out? Would there be someone with a special Word that could figure out that they were dead and whether someone killed them?”

“You don’t feel guilty?” Jade walked over and looked into those bright green eyes, “Nothing?”

“Why should I feel guilty?” He shrugged, “They wanted to murder us. From the moment they appeared, I knew they’d never leave, because I wouldn’t let us leave either. We were almost millionaires, Jade! All those uh ‘Uranium’ crystals! Plus the gold! We were so close!”

“Ollie…” Jade started crying glowing green liquid from her crystalline eyes, “I’m scared… Do you think… Do you think Verde Village is okay? What about Barry?”

“A cave-in that huge… I don’t know.”

Oliver sighed and sat down on a simple metal chair he conjured, “I can’t help them… And they can’t help us.”

“We’re so far down…” The crying stone-girl looked up at the ceiling that was only a centimeter from her forehead, “I don’t know how long it’ll take to get back outside… I’ll be fine, Ollie, but you…”

“I won’t suffocate.” He conjured up a bottle of water in his right hand and said, “I won’t dehydrate either. We’ll see how long I can last without food. I think we have enough time… But… If I don’t make it, uh, never mind. There’s no point saying any last words now. I won’t starve to death that quickly, hahaha~!”