Dead silence, and for good reason. Higan was listening. When one sense fails you fall back on the others, and sometimes what you can hear beats what you can see. Higan’s efforts were rewarded, nothing else would be crazy enough to live in such a vile creature’s lair so there wasn’t any consideration that the sound up ahead was anything other than Slimy. Faint of course, and not altogether pleasant sounding, but audible none-the-less. A little more enthusiastic the Mech started moving again, Higan making some adjustments to make things bearable while it stomped through the cave at a brisk walk. The rifle was once more levelled towards the path ahead, while the left hand remained glued to the Optics protectively. It seemed he had no choice but to pursue the sound, so Higan trudged off in a decisive fashion, scouring the area with what remained of his vision.

Every so often the Mech stopped stock-still and paused, almost as if listening, searching for its prey and confident that if nothing else its path would take it to the surface. Higan was never much fond of caves.