She thought back to the last System messages she had received. She had received the Monstrous title according to its words she would receive more body parts related to her “Origin”, whatever that was and would have better control over Varos.

“I received the same Title as you, Monstrous. It seems related to…this.” She gestured to the antennae.

With some moving she could just barely see them, and they were red in colour, thicker on the base before becoming imperceptibly thin on the very end.

“Ya did?...interesting.” Olga gained a curious look on her face as she studied Tisha with an intensity akin to a scientist studying a particularly fascinating specimen.

The intense look lasted for such a short period before ending that it was almost like an illusion as the woman turned away from her.

“We have to get a move on, I believe we have just over an hour left.” Damon’s worried voice washed over her like a splash of cold water, rousing her from her thoughts.

“Soldier boy is right, as much as I’d like more fights, we need ta defeat this Anchor asap.”

With everyone in agreement, they pushed onwards towards the door in the sky.

The peaceful nature of this floor gave Tisha a strange feeling of wrongness after the fights they had of such large scale but it helped to ease the pressure they felt under the time constraints as they jogged on.

“Thanks.” A sudden interruption came to her thoughts from Mel of all people.

“For?” Tisha tilted her head after a moment.

“’For?’ Saving me obviously, what else could I have been thanking you for?” The woman replied with a huff.

Tisha grinned under her scarf, of course she had known why, it was just funny to mess with the overly proud woman. If she was being honest saving Mel was not just about Mel herself, a death on the team would mess with the team’s overall morale. They had managed to get somewhat good at working together at an honestly incredible rate. Less that two hours of working together and they were already doing well enough that you would think they had been a team for a least a few days or weeks.

This phenomenon was not lost on Tisha, and it was not just about the team, but each individual member was almost too calm in the situation they found themselves in. Mel’s behavior was selfish but as Olga had said herself she had not been necessarily wrong to be wary. It was in fact decently mild all things considered. Tisha could not hep but wonder if something had been done to them beyond just improving their bodies and granting them abilities to make them so accepting even with kids like Finch.

“I would make sure to repay you.” Mel affirmed.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Oh?” Tisha exclaimed in surprise.

“I thought you were-”

“Just a selfish bitch, I know. No need to spell it out.”

You said it, not me. Tisha thought with amusement at the woman’s impulsive behavior.

“However, I make sure to repay my debts. If someone does something for me, I would not forget it.” The conviction in her voice was admirable.

“You can repay me by not trying to run again, honestly it would likely be Olga dealing with you if you do.” Tisha replied with mirth as she glanced at the large woman ahead. She knew that Olga despite spearheading the group, was keeping a close eye on Mel now.

“Haha, don’t joke about that.” The nervous laugh from the shorter woman betrayed that she knew she was currently on thin ice.

They finally reached the bottom of the large stairs leading into the air. This floor had certainly been the largest of the others so far and as they climbed and looked back they were able to see most of it barring what was hidden by foliage.

Eventually reaching the top of the stairs and the golden door Tisha grew curious as the door was seemingly hanging in thin air. She ran up to it and looked around the side while holding on to the door’s end and to her surprise it looked exactly the same even on the other side.

“Hey Olga, could you push open the door for me?”

“Sure thing girly, not like we were just going to stand here anyway.” The doors were thrown open with gusto.

She could not hide her curiosity as she watched intently from the other side of the door only to notice no change. Looking back from the front she could see that the door indeed lead to a place beyond the space. Her interest in this phenomenon skyrocketed. Two completely different spaces were linked by the doorway, she could somewhat feel an energy that separated yet combined said spaces in an impossible dichotomy.

Her Varos bled out unconsciously feeling the differences in the space, she could feel something, like she was coming to some sort of understanding, a limited one. But one all the same.

“Don’t keep us waiting, haven’t ya heard da sayin’ curiosity killed the cat?” Olga mocked in a playful tone.

“Yeah, on my way.”

As Tisha followed the group into the new floor, she could not help but notice that the majority of cuts on Olga’s body had been somewhat healed up, leaving small scars. In fact, everyone who had received injuries during the exploration of the Cave of Undead had healed up. The bodies they had now truly were amazing.

[Cave of Undead – Final Floor]

Darkness was what met everyone’s eyes a small pole with a lamp of purple light on it top was all they could see, that was until the bright doorway closed behind them and vanished into nothingness. Tisha’s Varos was still spread subtly, she was mildly borrowing what she had seen from the bear in its impromptu power up. So she was able to get a sense of the spatial transformation the door took in its disappearance. She got the feeling of the entire floor they had just been on moving away in a direction, but it was impossible to tell what direction that was in the impossible space she could sense.

[Varos level rank up G to G+]

[Varos Manipulation upgrades from Novice to Amateur]

[Skill Gained – Spatial Sensing]

[You are capable of detecting fluctuations in space]

She felt a foreign but familiar Varos nearby has and glanced at Finch who looked back at her, it seemed he had done the same as her and possibly gained the same skill.

Finally, she took the time to observe her surroundings…or lack thereof. They were on a hexagonal platform about twenty meters across made of the same purplish stone from the walls in the previous floors floating in a vast nothingness. A long distance away they were able to see what looked like a pyramid made of the same stone with a purple flame burning on its top.

A few meters away she could see another platform just like theirs.

“Guess that’s our next destination, lets end this thing.”