“Vivian, there’s another on the left. Keep it busy while I deal with this one.”

“I can’t ‘keep it busy’ when I don’t have time to chant!”

“What did I tell you yesterday?” Nora retorted. “I’m not going to babysit you. Handle it yourself.”

While Theo was taking a well-deserved rest, Vivian was very busy. The mage quickly dropped Tarq’s battle-axe out of her storage, creating a quake that knocked both her and the monster trying to eat her to the ground. Hissing in annoyance, Vivian’s assailant flailed its eight spindly legs in an attempt to right itself. Just before it succeeded, nails seemed to dig into the spider’s body. It had been paralyzed by Vivian’s magic.

After finishing off his own target, Linderman swung his monstrous arm in Vivian’s direction and released a blast of energy. His attack pierced the spider’s head, killing it instantly. As the giant arachnid fell, Linderman grimaced at his crackling arm. He still hadn’t fully recovered from their battle with the hydra.

Vivian was panting as the three of them regrouped. Nora looked at her with a concerned frown while Linderman’s eyes constantly scanned the area for threats. It had only been two days since Theo’s disappearance, but their plan was already coming apart. There was no sugarcoating it. Vivian simply wasn’t ready to enter the fourth layer. Her support was useful, but any party member that couldn’t handle themselves in a fight was dead-weight in the lower layers.

“How much longer until we reach the fourth layer?” Vivian asked warily.

“This tunnel isn’t that long.” Nora replied. “At this pace, we’ll get there in a couple hours.”

Vivian made a strong effort to keep her expression neutral. Rather than show disappointment, she merely nodded and kept walking. She was the reason why they were travelling to the fourth layer. Because of that, Vivian couldn’t complain even if she was struggling the most.

The tunnels between the third and fourth layers were extremely similar to the devil’s maw passageway that lead into the third layer. Both were steep inclines filled with dangerous spiders. However, the mist that filled the devil’s maw had been replaced with a blisteringly hot atmosphere. It was common knowledge that heated air from the fourth layer rose into the third, and it did so through these tunnels. While the trek between layers wasn’t long, it was certainly risky. Sudden gusts could dramatically raise the temperature beyond habitable levels. Even the fourth layer’s desert couldn’t compare in terms of pure heat.

A distant roaring filled Vivian’s heart with dread. Linderman immediately responded by stepping in front of the two women. He held out the curved sword that he’d gotten from the Torrent Guardian and channeled mana into it. This treasure released a blast of water and air as he swung it downwards. The cloud-like projectile rushed down the tunnel to collide with a torrid swathe of air rising from the fourth layer. Linderman’s weapon couldn’t completely diffuse the heat wave, but it did lessen the blow. Nora and Vivian’s magic blocked the rest, allowing them to keep moving.

“Stay close and don’t lower your guard.” Nora said, looking at Vivian. “We’ll reach the fourth layer in no time.”

“Although, I can’t imagine we’ll be faster than him.” Linderman grumbled.

Vivian tensed up at the dour raider’s words. Linderman was probably right, but in her opinion, that was just another reason to hurry. Until Vivian reunited with Theo and Mavis, she would just have to trust in their resourcefulness. The mage bit her lip as she thought back to the night when they had disappeared. From that point onward, it felt like trusting was all she could do.

- - -

“GET BACK HERE!”

While Theo rushed out of their hollow to pursue Ravens, Vivian felt paralyzed. She knew that it would be impossible to catch up with either of them. After a moment’s hesitation, Vivian stored everything that Theo and Mavis had left behind and chased after the outlaw. Theo’s movements weren’t exactly quiet, and so she had no trouble following him to the one-way portal. A lump in her throat formed when those sounds suddenly cut out. When Vivian reached the portal, her fears were confirmed. Theo had gone to the surface.

“What the hell?” Nora complained while she stood up. “That was Theo, right? What’s happening?”

“Someone stole Mavis!” Vivian yelled back.

“…Stole?”

“He took her core!”

Nora cursed and took out her bow. “Let’s go.”

As they approached the portal, one part of it began to churn strangely. Nora held out her hand, signaling for them to fall back. Ravens stepped out of the portal without any ceremony. His eyes passed over the trio, but he didn’t say anything. Instead, he turned and walked towards the forest.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Nora asked as she nocked an arrow.

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Ravens ignored her and kept walking.

Nora’s hands shook as she felt a bad premonition. Even so, she released the arrow. Ravens tilted his head and dodged it with ease. Drawing his dagger, Ravens spun around to block Linderman who had charged forward. At the same time, the missed arrow suddenly curved in mid-air towards its target. Linderman clamped down on Ravens’ dagger with his crackling left arm. As the arrow drew closer, Ravens stepped towards Linderman and thrust a knife into the raider’s gut.

Linderman’s eyes widened in shock and pain as Ravens wrenched his dagger away and dodged the arrow. The dour raider was very aware of how lopsided he was in combat. His left arm couldn’t attack and defend at the same time, and so he worked hard to minimize his openings. Even when he did make mistakes, the platinum-tier treasure was far more flexible than a human arm. It had been a long time since he’d taken an attack like that. Ravens was both faster and stronger than he’d expected. Linderman’s enchanted armor barely offered any resistance.

A blazing red arrow flew towards Ravens, forcing him to back away. Vivian ran out to heal Linderman while Nora attempted to suppress Ravens with a shower of arrows. This quantity over quality approach backfired when a slew of ghostly arms sprouted from Ravens’ cloak like rapidly growing flowers. Because Nora’s arrows didn’t explode, Ravens had no trouble batting them away. Realizing her mistake, Nora held her fire and started to chant. Nora’s red eye gleamed and she quickly dropped everything to dodge as a transparent dagger cut through the space where she’d been standing. Even though Ravens’ throwing motion was designed to mislead its target, he couldn’t hide his murderous intent from Nora.

Vivian hadn’t missed this exchange while she was healing Linderman. Ravens’ movements bothered her in a way that she couldn’t place. Something about them seemed eerily familiar. It only took her a moment to realize that this monstrous veteran reminded her of Theo.

“This is a waste of time.” Ravens muttered as he turned away.

Even though she wanted to stop him, Vivian couldn’t bring herself to raise her voice. If they forced Ravens to stay, then he would be forced to kill them. In this situation, Vivian knew that she should be grateful that Ravens had decided to prioritize his business over fighting.

Nora’s bowstring didn’t grow slack until several minutes after Ravens disappeared. She sighed in a mix of relief and frustration and then turned to Linderman.

“How are you holding up?”

“Good.” Linderman replied. “She’s faster at healing than you are.”

“That’s great~” Nora’s face lit up in an ominous smile. “With her, you can run into knives as often as you want.”

Linderman fell into a conveniently timed coughing fit while Nora’s eyes shifted towards Vivian.

“That was the guy who stole Mavis’s core, right?”

“Yes.” Vivian nodded solemnly.

“Then where’s Theo?”

Vivian clasped her hands and squeezed them tightly. “I…I don’t know.”

“Well…” Linderman cut in. “There’s only one place to look.”

Nora and Linderman approached the portal while Vivian stayed rooted in place. Theo and that intruder had both teleported to the surface, but only one of them had returned. At that moment, Vivian couldn’t imagine anything except the worst-case scenario. The scenario where she was left alone in Naraka for the second time. Shaking her head, Vivian forcibly dispelled her memories from the blood moon.

“I’m coming too!” She called out while stepping towards the portal.

If Theo was alive, then he was likely injured. If he was injured, then Vivian needed to get there as quickly as possible. This morbid, yet optimistic thought gave her the strength to move.

Linderman entered the portal first, followed by Nora. Vivian took a deep breath and then connected her mana to the enchanted structure, sending her to the surface. The first thing she saw were the tense figures of Nora and Linderman. They had their weapons raised and were staring ahead. Vivian followed their gazes towards a transparent man sitting in front of a crystal. While he looked like an illusion at first, Vivian quickly realized that this man was something else.

“But…we…we just fought him.” She breathed.

Nora narrowed her eyes as she drew her bow taut.

“Transparent weapons, transparent clones. He’s definitely the one who attacked me yesterday.”

The clone slowly turned away from the teleport crystal and looked at Nora. His eyes showed no fear or surprise. Instead, he seemed to be measuring her up. After a tense few seconds, he turned back to the crystal.

“What do you want?” Nora asked aggressively.

“I want to sit here and wait…that is all.”

“What are you waiting for?”

The clone didn’t reply. Nora, Linderman, and eventually Vivian all tried to probe him, but the clone refused to acknowledge them. A bead of sweat trickled down Vivian’s brow. She didn’t see Theo anywhere. Asking the clone proved to be useless, and so she began to search the area. Nora and Linderman looked at her like she’d lost her mind, but they eventually lowered their weapons and explored the cave. Their search was fruitless, which was actually good news.

“No corpse.” Nora muttered. “What now?”

“We should leave.” Linderman replied while peering at the clone. “I don’t like being near that thing.”

“What if we forced him to talk?” Vivian asked. “He can’t be as strong as the original.”

Nora shook her head. “If he’s bluffing, then it’s enough to fool me. Plus, this one won’t leave after a few exchanges. We’re heading back.”

Vivian grit her teeth, but she followed the two rising stars to a teleport crystal. Nora tapped it and selected the third layer. When Vivian saw a glowing ‘3’ appear on the crystal’s surface, a light went off in her head. She stepped away from the crystal and glared at the clone.

“You…You’re waiting for Theo, aren’t you?”

The clone glanced back and appraised Vivian in the same way that he had with Nora. In the end, he turned away without saying anything.

“I’m right, aren’t I?” Vivian pressed. “But why are you waiting for him?”

There was no reply.

“You, the real you, ran away to the surface and then quickly teleported back to the third layer. That doesn’t make any sense. If you were trying to escape, then why would you return after a few minutes?”

There was no reply.

Vivian pushed her imagination to its limits. She didn’t want to think about the worst-case scenario, so instead she tried to imagine the best outcome.

“Theo succeeded. He took Mavis’s core back.”

The clone looked at Vivian again, but she wasn’t done.

“If he’d escaped to the second layer, then you would have followed him there. But you returned to the third layer, and immediately left for…”

The clone stood up and Vivian quickly tapped the nearest crystal. Nora and Linderman hastily followed her back to the third layer. The three of them stared warily at the portal, but the clone didn’t chase them.

“Nora, Linderman.” Vivian said. “You want to work with Mavis, right? Then take me to the fourth layer.”