The Jackdaws

"Boss! Boss, there was a demon!"

The young man ran back to his party right away. His voice betrayed the fact that he was too young to be in the dungeon at all. He must have lied about his age to get in. As a youth, he had a much smaller body and could hide in tighter places. He also had a few skills which were perfect for recon, so he made a good scout. Granted, it was still illegal to allow minors into dungeons...

"Yeah, I would hope you saw the demon. That's what we're after, ya dimwit!"

The "Boss" was a shady looking man who's face was somewhat disfigured by burn scars. He was muscular, with about the same build as the first party's guardsman.

"No boss, you don't understand. It wasn't dead! I saw it break out and leave!"

The young scout started recounting everything he saw in the dark cavern. His words were frantic enough that some members of the party believed him, even though what he said was ridiculous. He recounted how he found the general area of the loot stash and was searching for it when he suddenly heard stone breaking apart. He was shocked when he saw a mechanical claw break free from the stone, followed by the rest of the demon. So far everything he said was fine, but...

"And then it did this weird kind of dance! First it did a bunch of squats, and then started walking around like this!"

The young scout tried to mimic what he saw, lowering his stance as low as possible and slowly taking large, lunging steps. He tried his best to move exactly how the machine did, but Boss stopped him after he saw the kid walking around like a complete idiot.

"...You honestly expect me to believe that!? These are the most feared creatures we have records of, and you're saying it moves like that?!"

"No, its true! There was clay in the cave, it left tracks so you can see for yourself!"

The boss closed his eyes and held the bridge of his nose in frustration. This was... absolutely ludicrous. He should have thought twice before taking in this childish dimwit. There's no way he was speaking the truth.

The Boss finally opened his eyes again, his emotions calmer than before. He then ordered the party to follow their little scout to the loot pile and collect whatever they could.

This was the Jackdaw party, an adventuring group that was infamous for their thieving tactics. They were perfectly comfortable with using underhanded methods to get what they wanted. There were numerous reports about their crimes, but law was difficult to enforce in the dungeon and little could be proven about what happened there.

Currently, they were following behind a 6-man team known as the Gentle Dog party. Their target was the corpse of a demon the Gentle Dog party had picked up a few days ago. It was something which was extremely rare and equally valuable. There were only a small handful of demons that had ever been defeated in combat and even fewer who's corpses both remained after death and made it back to the surface. If they could get their hands on it, this prize alone would set the Jackdaw party among the richest of adventurers. Well... most of the profit would go to the Boss, but it would still make a pretty penny for each of the others as well.

Before long, the Jackdaw party reached the loot stash and inspected the place. One of the party members was an excellent tracker, so he was the one to inspect the imprints found in the clay. He was a stout man with a dark goatee and slicked-back hair. He wore leather armor and carried a pair of swords, a normal straight sword on his waist and a larger, two-handed sword strapped to his back.

The tracker got down on one knee and inspected the demon's footprints in great detail. It took a minute since there were so many tracks and since he wasn't familiar with the shape of the demon's footprints. He struggled because he had never seen a demon before and knew nothing about how they actually moved, so he could only make assumptions and compare with whatever might be similar.

The party waited in silence as the tracker observed the ground. His eyes moved, following the pattern of the demon's steps.

"...Boss, you're never going to believe this, but I think the kid's telling the truth."

Everyone else began to speak in quiet voices about how the machine apparently moved. The young scout got back to demonstrating the lunging steps and other odd things the demon did. Meanwhile, the Boss furrowed his brow and looked over at the shattered stone which used to conceal the loot stash.

"And you're sure that thing is really alive? This isn't some trick?"

The goateed tracker looked up with worry apparent on his face.

"...Yes. These tracks couldn't have been faked."

Boss's eyes narrowed. Could it somehow be an undead? No, no of course not. Demons guarded the hell zone after all, it shouldn't be possible for hell's guardians to die and return as a vengeful soul. That simply wasn't possible. Which meant...

A chilling shiver ran down Boss's spine.

The demon had been playing dead in the Gentle Dog's cart the whole time.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

The machine found himself at a crossroads. He had long since lost the trail of the cart, but it didn't matter too much. He wasn't sure if he even wanted to encounter those people again. After all, he was nothing more than loot to them. If they were to find him again and see him walking around, they might end up trying to kill him.

He had conflicted feelings about that. He didn't really have any kind of bond with them, but they were the first people he had come into contact with and they seemed to be decent people. He had only spent a few days and nights in their presence, but he had learned a lot in that short time thanks to them.

He felt good about them, but he worried about what would happen if they were to meet again.

While standing there at the crossroads, the machine tried grunting to himself so he could better express his feelings, but no words made it out. After all, the machine didn't have vocal cords, and thus wasn't able to produce the same sounds that humans could.

Instead, a reverberating sound filled the tunnels around the demon. It started off soft, like two heavy slabs of steel gliding against each other. Then, the intensity of the sound ramped up. It was loud and heavy, enough to be felt in the chest. The sound was powerful and strange, but also mesmerizing.

'I guess communicating with them is off the table for now. Its best I keep my distance until I find a way to let them know I'm not dangerous.'

Releasing himself from his thoughts, the machine looked up again and chose the next path to walk down.

The tunnels around him were quite large, perhaps twenty meters in diameter. The tunnels also looked naturally-formed. As he walked down one of the many paths available, he noticed small crystals growing on the walls.

Curious, he approached and rested the palm of his claw on the surface of the wall. He gently felt the surface, wondering what kind of crystals he had discovered.

Most of the crystals were clear and fully transparent while a few had a cloud of red dust swirling inside. They were incredibly beautiful.

After picking out one of the larger ones, the machine used his incredible strength to pry it free from the wall. The crystal snapped away from its base, which was completely clear. Bringing the crystal closer, he saw that the swirling cloud of red held within the crystal was undisturbed.

The machine observed the crystal for a minute or two, admiring the beauty. It felt kind of like staring into the sparks of a campfire, it was fun just to see the red cloud swirl around and flow in random directions within the crystal.

He recalled how the marksman used crystals not too different from this one to power his rifle. There was the blue crystal that fired little shards of ice, and the red one which launched a bolt of crimson lightning. The machine wondered how many kinds of crystals there were. Would all of them be usable as ammunition, or were there certain conditions they had to meet?

The machine picked out two more crystals of the same kind and pried them free from the wall. He also collected one of the clear crystals that didn't have any red clouds swirling in them. He didn't have anywhere to store them yet, so for the time being, he just held the four crystals in one claw.

He then made a mental note of where he found them so he could return later and collect more if he needed. Then he left to continue his explorations.

He planned to find a place to conduct experiments on the crystals. If he wanted to survive in this world, he would need to collect all kinds of information on all sorts of topics.

The machine continued walking down the tunnel. Whenever the tunnel split, he would randomly decide which way to go. However, he still felt confident that he wouldn't get lost. Since his reincarnation, he had acquired an incredible memory. He simply didn't forget things any more. It was a very useful gift, which perhaps had to do with his new race.

'Haunted Machine...'

He thought about what it meant. Was he actually just a soul that was somehow tied to the machine? If the machine was living before, would that make him an undead? Or instead, was it possible that the machine was made to be "haunted" and was actually just a normal race that had an odd name? There was much to consider.

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard something snap somewhere farther into the tunnel. He immediately stopped and listened for a moment.

'Snapping branches?'

He made his steps lighter and slowly moved forward. As he got closer, he could hear more sounds. It wasn't just snapping, but constant crunching as well. Something was gnawing... on bones? He wasn't certain since he wasn't there yet, but he felt confident it was the sound of a predator chowing down on its most recent catch. The crunching sounds were now very close.

He was anxious, not knowing how dangerous the mystery beast would be. Just a few more meters and he would be able to peek around the corner of the tunnel to see what it was. But just then...

The machine froze, not daring to take another step. With no prior indication, the crunching and snapping was gone. The cave was left with a stark and disturbing silence.