"We can only hope it will pass", Emina said after being quiet for some time. "If we try to run away, there is a good chance we will run into it."

From the security cameras, Kaden could see that the creature didn't seem to be in too much of a hurry. It wasn't hunting. That was the good part. It had not sensed them! Should it ever be able to do so, death would soon follow. If a group of True Magi was not able to destroy it, nothing Kaden and Emina could throw at it would even scratch it.

Kaden pondered on Emina's suggestion. Technically they could go to opposite direction from the stair. It would still take them closer to the creature. If it had been wandering the area, there had been no signs that it had ever tried to enter the stairway. It would go the corridors that Kaden and Emina could run to. Kaden didn't want the thing after them, but get past it. It was indeed best to hide and wait.

The risk was that it would notice their presence.

"We must hide and wait it to pass", Kaden finally said with nod.

In hindsight they should have left already by the time they noticed the True Magi fighting nearby. The security room was simply too close. It kind of made sense to have such a security station with easy and quick access to the area they were supposed to watch over. It didn't count for some mana horror wandering in the said area, though.

At the very least Kaden and Emina were able to see what the True Magi, that had not died, were doing. They seemed to still be fighting over something. Kaden put out of his mind what it could be. If a group of True Magi were fighting for it, he wouldn't get even near it. A very similar notion as the earlier one about the creature. Kaden and Emina were in areas that had things that were far beyond their ability.

The troops coming from higher levels were also entering the level very soon. Kaden wondered, if he should try to predict their path and create some trap formations on their way. That, obviously, would even be in consideration once the creature passed to some direction that would allow him time to do anything safely.

Kaden's ponderings were interrupted by Emina.

"Its coming close soon", she said with a frown. "We better be quiet and hide."

Indeed, the creature was moving according to the security cameras. It was coming and nearby. While Kaden and Emina were looking at the security, the creature suddenly disapeared.

"What?" Kaden muttered.

"If it can turn invisible, we are in trouble", Emina said. "Should it appear anywhere, we must leave immediately as it is the only way to confirm where it is."

*ksszzzhhhhh*

"Did you hear that sound?" Kaden asked Emina.

"I... did, but I'm not sure what it is", she replied.

*ksszzhhhh* *hhh...hhh...*

"That sounds like... deep breathing?" Kaden said. "But its like its in my mind. Not heard."

Then he turned around from the security feed and looked out of the windows. The skeletal creature was there staring the said window. As if it was staring right at Kaden and Emina.

Kaden recoiled in horror, but made no sound. Emina did roughly the same.

*ksszzhhhh*

*"Help me, I dont want to die..aaAAAAA"* *kzh* *"I can't see anything, I can't breathe*kzZHhh* *It hurst, it hurts, stop before* *kzzhh*...

Kaden fell to his knees. Vision after vision of experiencing someone's moment of death. Only other thing he could hear was the static sound in between and quietly in the background, the deep breath.

*KzzhhH* *Aiieieeeeee, put it out, put it out* *KZZHHhhh* *AAAAAAAAAA* *kzzhhsh* *my insides... my .. insides* *kzzhhhsh* ... ...

So many deaths. Kaden couldn't think too clearly, but some of them were even his own deaths. Possible deaths. In the short moment the visions abated, Kaden could see Emian curled in fetal position. She was completely white.

*hhh....hhhh....hhhh*

The skeletal creature looked elsewhere and wandered at the door.

*click*click*click*

It was attempting to open the door, but nothing else. Kaden wasn't sure if they locked the door, but if the door opened, they would die in torment, most likely. Luckily it didn't seem to open.

*RREEEEEEEEEE*

Kaden nearly blacked out as the creature screeched.

*I'm melting! I'M MELTING* *Kzhhhhh* *Kill it, kill it, kill it AIEEEE, its eating me , AAAH* *Kzhhhh* *the pain, it hurts* *kzhhhHH* *kill me, KILL ME, make it stop!* ...

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Each of these visions was of him dying in some way. Felt nauseous. He could see Emina pull a weapon, a small blade, out of her pockets. She seemed to be in some kind of terror as she placed the blade near her neck.

*hhhh.... hhhh .... hhhh*

The creature had stopped its attempts to open the door and seemed to have lost interest. It was finally moving away. Kaden no longer suffered more of the visions. For Emina this probably came just in time. In the depths of despair she was nearly ready to end her own life.

Kaden felt he wouldn't have gone that far at any point. Then again, he felt he was more powerful and more fearless than some humans... or elves. Also, he felt like he wouldn't act in such pathetic manner as he had in the visions.

Emina tossed the blade away and vomited in the corner.

Not that Kaden didn't feel horrible, but he was rather planning on just calming down now that the encounter was over.

"We are still alive?" Emina mumbled quietly.

"I don't think it actually saw inside", Kaden pointed out. "Those windows are one way. Perhaps... perhaps it is just powerful, but it has terrible senses. It lost its interest in the True Magi right after they left."

Emina didn't reply, but Kaden took the silence as agreement.

"But that ... whatever that was, some kind of aura of death and terror", Kaden continued. "I think, anyone weaker than Formation stage might even die or at least lose consciousness to simply be in its presence."

Kaden was now clear headed enough to ponder. He could only give some educated ideas what the thing was, but perhaps it was some kind of condensastion of death or more like dense pile of death experiences of numerous people. What Kaden could remember, they had not even neccessarily been something that had happened inside the remnant. Did it gather passing concepts of death? Or did it just simulate possibilities?

It didn't matter.

Kaden stood up and looked at the cameras again. He could see the creature float away in the cameras. This time away from their intended way. Kaden hoped to never run into it again.

"We should leave soon, if we are still going to do so", Kaden told Emina.

"I understand... I just... I just need to gather myself for a moment", Emina told him.

"I will leave as soon as I feel it is far enough", Kaden told Emina. He wouldn't suffer any weakness. "I feel like it patrols at least this level, possibly others nearby. The best moment to go is now."

Emina didn't reply.

Kaden wasn't certain how or when the creature had disapeared and appeared outside of the security station. At least it didn't seem to do so again as Kaden followed it through the cameras. It was the best he could think of. If it could appear anywhere instantly, there was nothing to do anyway.

"Its far enough", Kaden told Emina who begrudgingly did stand up and follow after him as he marched through the door.

With the fight having ended or moved further it was relatively quiet in the corridors.

Despite the uncertainties, Kaden and Emina managed to make their way at the place where the True Magi had fought with each other and the creature.

"Where is the corpse?" Kaden questioned. He had planned to see if he could find anything from a corpse of a True Magus. It had been ignored, but now it was gone entirely.

"I have no idea", Emina replied. "It could be anywhere. For all we know know this space could be layered. Be at the same place, but not the same layer."

"Shame", Kaden muttered and continued forward.

There was a doorway on the other side of the room. Next to it should be stairway up to a walkway passing over an opening to lowest levels. The other ways had been blocked and the actual area below the walkway was full of mana and could not be accessed. The armory had been in corner of the map. Perhaps the most defensive position away from everything else.

As Kaden and Emina approached the doorway, things started to change. The density of mana started to rise.

"I think we can still continue, but we might have to be quick about it", Emina told Kaden.

As they continued, the area started to seem like it was filled with slightly scintillating mist. Kaden wasn't sure what it was exactly, but it was for sure replete with such density of mana that he had not ever experienced before. It was on the limits he felt he could safely traverse.

For the record, the mist had not been visible in the security cameras. It was something that one could only experience by themselves. Despite all this, its presence was not surprising. It was, after all, just above the lower levels, the deep and core levels of the great remnant... and they would have to pass over it.

"I can just rush through, if its bad", Kaden thought to himself. "I should be able to do it before the dense mana starts to cause problems. Too long and no one can predict what happens."

They stopped at the entrance to the area with the walkway. There was some stairs up next to them. If they were to continue forward, there was a drop to so dense mist that they couldn't even see what was down there.

"We need to get up", Emina said and similarly to Kaden, she knew they couldn't stay for long. "We must hurry."

The stairs and the walkway above the mist filled depths seemed to be in good order. They probably had become nigh invincible over time too. If not, Kaden expected that even simpler spells might just break them.

That became a concern about the time some Sacronan's soldiers appeared at the other end of the walkway. Three of them.

"How did they get here?" Kaden said to Emina.

"Must be part of the groups that were making their way down here", Emina suggested.

The soldiers were preparing for a fight. As far as Kaden could tell, they were weak enough that he and Emina could kill with relative ease. He planned to do so quickly.

Kaden blasted a Fire Beam at them and started to rush towards. The soldiers were able to avoid the beam, but it did slow down their own spell casting and made it easier for Kaden to avoid them. Not that he had to avoid all since Emina provided some kind of shielding.

They collided roughly at the middle of the walkway and brawl started. Despite Kaden's earlier estimation, the soldiers seemed tougher than usual and took some effort to fight.

"They must be some kind of elite, but not ready yet just like Verdict", Kaden decided quickly. "They wouldn't be down here otherwise. I wonder, if someone expected them to actually survive this?"

Still, Kaden felt he wouldn't have trouble to eventually kill them.

Yet, things didn't end there. Once Kaden killed one of the three opponents and it was two against two, things just worse. A lot worse.

"Haha, what do we have here?" A voice sounded from behind. "Couple rats?"

Kaden turned to look. It was the True Magus! The one that the skeletal creature had seemed to kill. This, clearly, had not happened. He must have faked it somehow.

Everyone stopped fighting.

"You? We watched you die", Emina blurted out in surprise.

"Oh, you saw that?" The True Magus said with some amusement in his voice. Then he turned back his attention to everyone again. "Hehe, now continue fighting. Its amusing me."

The soldiers from Sacronan didn't seem happy about that. They had seemed rather calm earlier. It had seemed they thought Kaden and Emina would die as soon as the True Magus acted, but now it seemed the man had no such intentions.

"What are you waiting for?" The True Magus questioned? Then he clapped his hand together. "Fight fight!"