Something shot past him, but he couldn't get a good glimpse. All he heard was the rattling of a chain. A chain was visible quickly following what shot past him.

He jumped up in the air, nearly hitting the ceiling when something shot by the area his legs used to be.

He landed awkwardly and had to slow himself, lest he tumble down the stairs. There he saw what was ahead of him.

(“S-s-seriously!?”) He screamed internally.

Floating in the air, parallel to the ground was the priest. He flung himself down here to reach Kevin. He stopped whatever made him levitate and landed softly on the stairs. Kevin jumped down to kick him immediately after he landed and both began tumbling down the stairs.

The priest quickly stopped himself but Kevin continued for a few moments.

(“I must say, it's been a while since I've had an opponent, I truly couldn't take my eyes. Every opportunity, without a missed beat, he takes to attack me when my guard is down.”) The priest thought as he watched him fall.

For several painful seconds, Kevin slammed against the stone steps and the worst part about it was, it was better than whatever the priest had in store for him, according to his eyes. Which worried him, considering he was covered in bruises and welts.

But the falling wasn't for nought. When he stopped and tried to pick himself up, he was surrounded by lights in all directions. This wasn't a stair he landed on but flat ground.

(“I'm-”)

He quickly dodged and not even a second later, the priest landed beside him, with his chain quickly following. Again he stopped himself, this time just inches before his feet touched the ground. Kevin was too slow to dodge the sickle and it nicked his shoulder, leaving a shallow wound as he tried to roll away on the floor.

Daniel managed to get his blade stuck between two stone bricks in the dungeon and hurriedly tried pulling his blade. While making sure to keep in mind the boy was near. (“Punch me already, I'm wide open!”)

Kevin gave a muffled groan, trying to keep down the pain as he rolled away. He pushed off the ground and got back to his feet. He turned himself around and began running, clutching his shoulder as he ran.

Daniel finally managed to pull the blade out and followed in pursuit but amazingly the white-haired boy had lost him, within a few turns of the dungeon.

The priest wasted no time and ran towards the second-floor stairway.

(“Just to be safe I have to make sure he doesn't sneak to the second floor. I can imagine his strength would increase tenfold if he used my men as human shields in this battle. His evasion is no joke and with my men around and the way he can seemingly predict movement, it'd be a disaster to fight with them around. But it wouldn't be impossible.”)

The priest had the first two floors of the dungeon memorised to a tee and quickly made his way towards the stairway.

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As he mapped through the floor in his head he realised the path he had taken was the third fastest available path from the stairway. It should have been more than enough to catch the white-haired boy off guard if he did try to get to the next floor.

….

Kevin gritted his teeth as he ran and slowly removed his hand from his shoulder. He briefly looked at his hand and wiped the blood on his pants, trying his best to ignore the wound. The damage from the stairs didn't do his body any favours either.

His breathing got more ragged and his face was covered with sweat. Yet he was amazed he could still run at her current pace. (“I know the only reason I'm here is because of him but without his training, I would gassed out before I even got down here. Let's just hope this wasn't in vain.”)

He felt his knees weakening but pressed on. After all, his eyes showed there was hope, he just had to follow the path it provided.

“Huff I Huff have to get there.”

The closer he got to the goal the more it changed from blue to turquoise. He could see in real-time as his path to escape became more and more unviable.

He forced himself through the pain for 5 gruelling minutes and saw his reward in sight. There wasn't a single enemy in sight as he ran through this floor but it didn't matter to him. There was the place his eyes led him.

Another stairway.

Frustration washed over him and he yelled out a blood-curdling “Dammit!” when he saw it. How many more of those stairways would he have to run down and what were his eyes even pointing him to? He knew they benefited him but what that benefit was, was anyone's guess. If he was running to a stack of gold or something, he would curse whatever God brought him into this world for the rest of his afterlife.

Yet he ran down the pathway without so much as a whimper. It was the only choice he had.

But his shout was not unnoticed. As the priest ran closer, he heard the shout and didn't know whether to smile or rip his hair out.

(“Luck, it has to be luck right? That's the only explanation for how he's been able to out-wit me and outrun me so far.”)

The priest reached his hand into his pocket and quickly pulled it out without anything in it.

(“No, not yet. I'm not going to use it this early on a foe like him. I injured him at the stairway so I know his magic isn't invincible. I just have to press him further. I should corner him in one of those rooms on the second floor. Yes, yes, he's had too much free space or spaces where it's easy to hide. If I corner and limit both our movements, I should come out on top. Even if he can predict my moves he won't have enough time to dodge my attacks.”)

The stairway soon came into view and he wasted no time jumping, posing like a superhero as he flew down.

And in a nearby room close to the stairway, Kevin emerged, breathing heavily after holding his breath for so long.

He held his head in his hands and leaned against a nearby wall.

(“Oh thank God I noticed.”)

The stairway had gone grey when he reached it but a nearby room turned blue in its place. After Daniel dived down, the stairway turned green and then blue immediately after, signifying that the little guy (hopefully) left.

He looked back to the path walked to come here and contemplated going back into the forest to wait on his friends. But it was still grey. And whatever existed deeper in the dungeon still showed signs of positivity in his eyes.

Was it really worth encountering that man again? Would it really turn the tides of an eventual battle in their favour?

He chose to believe so and with nothing more than the armour on his body and a few ounces of hope, he entered the stairway.