A dozen monsters warring over the sky drew Poppy’s gaze up and over the treeline. One of them was the memory of the Gale Titan; it appeared as a black beam that split the sky and decimated whatever it touched. Corpses fell as it danced across the sky; lesser dragons and giant rocs fell like rain drops in its wake.

They were fighting not only the Titan, but each other.

“What pissed them all off? You think the chamber is just… like this?” Dale asked. Unmasked fear haunted his gaze. He didn’t look away from the sky, his eyes dancing as he followed the fight.

He hadn’t been wrong about this chamber being far too dangerous for him. A monster in the first tier could hardly be compared to one below it.

Poppy’s eyes lingered on Dale’s shadow when she glanced down at him. Anna had discretely placed two of her shades inside of Dale and the counterfeit Feng’s. The third shade was in Eros’s shadow — he lacked any close quarter combat skills to defend himself.

They were ready for an inevitable betrayal.

Anyone below level 50 had no chance defeating someone above level 50 in a fair fight. The first Tier provided a qualitative leap, improving stats, skills, and the effects they had. Dale and Meat wouldn’t have had any chance in the world at fighting the monsters in the sky from range. Shadowmancers were notoriously weak in daylight.

Their party had killed a half dozen of the more placid floating dragons and other monsters that surrounded the area as they worked their way inland from the chain of floating islands connected by azure thieves.

Dale had asked a quesition. Poppy was just staring at Feng and thinking still. She coughed and cleared her throat.

“The chamber opened to others at the same time. The dungeon is about to collapse and is forcing everyone out.” She grunted. “We need to hurry and clear this chamber.”

“We’re going to fight them?” Feng said. He, too, was staring at the sky. But he looked hungry rather than afraid. He sounded nothing like Sai.

Letting these two out of their sight would have been far more dangerous than keeping them nearby. If the dungeon wasn’t on the verge of collapse, Poppy would’ve interrogated them on the spot. With force. As it was, she barely held herself back. She didn’t think this was some kind of illusion or memory produced by the dungeon. Feng had to have been someone — or something — with an infiltrator class. And whatever they were, they would know something about Sai.

It had to wait until after the dungeon. Poppy didn’t care if she had to take these two to pieces in the field the moment they cleared this place. And if they had killed him… she would finish the interrogation there, too.

“The goal of the chamber has to be the mountain.” Eros said.

“But can we get through that fight without getting involved?” Anna asked. Her eyes never left Dale. She stood on the opposite side of them, flanking Feng. Her hand rested on one of her daggers.

“We’ll go wide around the fight and through the woods, angling for the mountain.” Poppy said. “Dale, Feng, you two lead the way.”

Feng smiled, saying nothing before jogging for the treeline. Dale followed a second later with a grimace.

“What is a floating island doing all the way out here?” Eros asked. “Or did the Gale Titan visit Illyria at some point?” Eros was on her left, watching Dale and Feng begin to jog forward.

“It’s more likely the island floated over. I think.” Poppy said. “There’s no records of one being here, but that doesn’t mean none have ever made it over the ocean. Could have been small at the time, too.”

“Would they even float if they touched the water?”

Poppy shrugged.

“It’s not important right now.” She said. “Once we get under that fight, break into a full sprint.” She shouted the second part so Dale and Feng could hear it.

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The five of them sped up as they began weaving through the forest. Anna slowly slipped out of sight, staying at Feng’s flank, even if they showed no outward sign of hostility.

Dale and Feng were the slowest of them, having not consolidated their skills into the first tier. Even still, with attributes from levels all the way in the high 40s, they ran with superhuman speed, far outstripping a lower levels sprinting speed.

The sound of the storm of clashes above them gradually grew louder.

And closer.

Poppy heard wood splinter and groan as a stray strike sent a tree crashing down into the forest. The old growth here was huge, easily hundreds of years old; the trees were monolithic towers. Its fall took a half dozen trees with it.

“The fight is almost right above us!” Eros shouted. He had the highest Perception stat out of all of them, so he would see it first, even with one eye.

Poppy leapt over the base of the falling tree. It ripped out a huge section of the earth as it tilted sideways. The wood splintered under her metal greaves. She grunted as she kicked off, the bark slipping and cracking beneath her. Dale and Feng whipped around to the side of the tree. She kept them in her sight.

The forest was full of debris — broken trees, branches, and bodies littered their path.

Collateral damage from the Skills being used in the sky left scars of freshly turned earth. The monsters wouldn’t have been so territorial in the real world. The dungeon was making the more aggressive. There were also many more than would have realistically been in this forest.

True to Eros’ word, the fight above them moved closer until the epicenter seemed to be directly above them. Shockwaves rocked the air as the aerial monsters used dashing skills to clash with each other. The force tickled Poppy’s scalp. The air heated up from the high speed clashes.

There were no trees left standing in the clearing ahead of them, the forest in ruins. The Titan must been in the first tier when this chamber opened, as were the monsters it was fighting. Poppy’s stomach sunk.

This must have been the memory of the Titan reaching the second tier. If it reached the Second Tier before the chamber was resolved, they would all die.

“Hole!” Dale shouted.

Poppy was focusing mostly on him, so she was unprepared when she jumped over a fallen tree as tall as a house just to find a hole in the island below her. A stray attack from the fight above them must have carved through the entire island at some point. She wouldn’t make the jump. She was going to hit the side of the hole below her, and hard.

She stuck her arms out, planning to dig into the dirt as she fell and climb up. She was already in midair, sailing forward.

Then a whip of black shadow caught her in the waist. Poppy’s eyes bulged, rage burning in her mind. She prepared to activate [Void Fist,] ready to use the attack to strike Dale through his connection to the shadow whip he controlled.

Instead of an attack, it was a rescue. Dale flung her forward, shooting her over the gap and onto the ground. She landed with a grunt, knees and hands digging into wet, turned soil before she pulled herself back up and continued running.

“Thanks!” She shouted on reflex.

“Keep running!” Dale said.

A stray blade of wind cut through the top of a dozen trees, sending branches and wood tumbling to the forest floor. Worse, they were smoking and crackling with fire.

Above the broken treeline, a pillar of black rose into the sky.

Poppy had a gut feeling that was their destination.

“That way!” She shouted, pointing, and threw herself fully in that direction.

The fight above them didn’t grow distant — it seemed to follow them. Maybe the monsters had seen it too. Whatever was there had to be the key to clearing the chamber. She knew it in her gut.

The treeline broke, revealing an ancient ruin on the floating island. Poppy didn’t find it too surprising; the island must have floated here from Illyria, especially to be of such a huge size.

Dale and Feng stopped running a few dozen meters away from the forest. Dale’s hands rested on his knees as he panted. Feng’s endurance must have been higher. He stared into the center of the valley before them with a curious expression before turning back and looking at the aerial fight above. The clashes drew closer.

Now two dozen shapes swirled around a single, tiny, boiling cloud. It erupted in a black blur, a line dividing the sky and leaving corpses in its wake.

“Shit.” Anna said.

For a brief moment, Poppy looked away from both Dale and Feng.

“Yeah. I think this is where the Titan reached tier 2. We need to escape before it finishes this memory.” Poppy said.

“Hold… Hold on.” Dale said.

As a mage, he was ill equipped for long distance sprinting. The three of them had balanced stats to make up for their low numbered team.

“Good save back there.” Anna said, slapping him on the back.

Dale coughed, nearly tumbling over. Feng alerted like a hound, eyes widening and leaning forward. Poppy frowned at him. He wasn’t even sweating.

“It could be dangerous up there!” Dale said. He was the only mage out of all of them, and it showed.

“That’s why you two will go first.” Anna said. She had a wicked smile. “Let’s get moving before that fight catches up with us.”

Dale licked his lips. He seemed to consider for a second, looking between Anna and the memory of the Titan fighting in the sky. He seemed to have decided the Titan was more dangerous.

“Thanks for the help back there.” Poppy said. “Don’t worry. We’ll protect you.”

It was true. After all, Poppy couldn’t interrogate them about Sai’s fate if they were dead.