The floor was cold as Quinn rolled into the stone room. A loud slam could be heard behind him. The door had been closed, blocking the spiders from entering. Regaining his sense of direction, Quinn stood up and made his way towards the center of the room where the others stood.

“Phew, that was a close one.” Lex breathed a sigh of relief before turning to Liz and Kiara who stood in disbelief, “Are you guys okay? You didn't die, so be happy about it.”

Kiara and Liz looked at him with eyes of horror. Liz's voice shook with each word she spoke, “Lets just get out of this layer as quickly as possible.”

Kiara nodded in agreement. Laughing, Alec gave them a smile, “There were no ghosts. No need to be so afraid.”

Kiara shot a sharp glance at Alec. Her cold stare impaled him and his body went cold, “Sorry, I was only teasing.”

Lex sat down at the edge of the room, he put his hands behind his head and rested against the wall, “Let's take a break. We don't have to set up camp, but it would be best to regain the energy we just lost.”

The group sat down, relieved that they had already made it halfway through the layer. Compared to the layer before, this one had been much easier to deal with. Winston's fire was useful in both layers, but he wasn't capable of using it to such effect with the void beasts as it did with the baby spiders.

As the group was talking, Quinn realized something he didn't realize before. During the first layer, his Echoes had advanced not just once, but twice! He didn't even realize it until now. Deep inside each person, one can recognize how many times they had advances just by trying to sense it using their Echoes. It helped remind Listeners how many times they had advanced, even though it wouldn't tell them directly. Quinn had only just now discovered this as he was testing out his Echoes, looking for any differences he could find.

But when did I awaken my Echoes the first time… Whenever Echoes are advanced, they will begin to whisper to you. A person can easily block out the noise if they wish to avoid the multiple voices in their head, or are incapable of focusing on the voices at the time.

Quinn had blocked out the voices without realizing it, but he didn't realize when. He thought back to what had occurred, trying to understand when he had first advanced. Finally, he realized when the advancement had occurred.

So it occurred after I killed a void beast. After that happened, my Echoes changed but were blocked out during all of the chaos. I remember it vaguely now. I will have to be more vigilant about when I advance from now on.

Looking towards Kiara and Alec, Quinn looked at them with curiosity, “Didn’t you both awaken your Echoes as well?”

Alec responded with a calm tone, “Yep, I advanced after defeating the giant void beast.”

Kiara nodded, “I did as well, but I also advanced after killing one of the smaller void beasts.”

Kiara had also advanced twice in the same time Quinn did. This caused Quinn to prompt a question to everyone else, “Did anyone else advance after killing the giant void beast?”

Lex raised his hand along with Winston, Liz and Cally.

“So everyone had the same or a similar task. Then how does the Echoes choose what task should be accomplished next?” Quinn turned towards Winston, hoping he would be capable of producing an answer. Nodding his head, Winston only left Quinn with disappointment.

It seems that question will have to wait for another day.

At the edge of the room, Quinn watched as Alec tried cheering up Kiara and Liz. Quinn smiled and laughed as he watched Alec miserably fail a magic trick, only annoying Kiara even further. Alec rubbed the back of his head, a flustered look appeared on his face.

As Quinn watched Alec’s failed attempts, Cally walked over and sat down beside him.

“How is your arm?” She spoke in a calm tone and acted as if she didn't actually care. Quinn gave a slight smile, understanding that was her own way of showing interest.

Quinn ripped off the bandages and stretched out his arm, “It's fine now. Look, there is only a scar left in its place.”

“That's good.” Cally said as she stared at Alec, reattempting the trick he had failed before.

“You were really good at fighting back in the tenth layer. You are really skilled.” Quinn’s compliment made her face become flustered in embarrassment.

Cally looked to her side, “T…Thanks.”

After Alec failed at trying to cheer up the girls, he changed his attention towards Winston, “Say, you remember your past life, right? What were you like?”

Winston looked at him, “My life? It's hard to remember. The only thing I can remember is that I had a beautiful wife and child.”

Everyone began to listen, wishing to hear more about what his past was like.

“I remember them, but I can only remember their blurred faces. I remember the joy, happiness… the type of life a man could wish for.”

“Then do you remember how you ended up in this mansion?” Alec asked out of curiosity.

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Winston searched his thoughts for a moment, “Sadly, I do not remember how I got here. All I remember is having a falling out with my wife. After that, I left our home and somehow ended up in this mansion.”

Quinn sighed inwardly, hoping to gain more information about the mansion, but he was once again left in disappointment.

Quinn tried to relax, passing the time and tinkering with the Echoes in his mind to see if he could find anything new to learn about them, but he found nothing.

After thirty minutes passed and everyone had regained their energy, Lex stood up and stretched his arms above his head, “Well then, looks like we should continue on.”

He walked beside the door to the next area and motioned for Winston to help with opening it. After Winston and Lex opened the door, everyone passed through and the door shut behind them.

Giant cracks ran up the walls of the room and large webs could be seen stretching across the ceiling and walls. The room was cold and an eerie feeling wrapped across the entire group.

Kiara and Liz were once again shook with fear as everyone slowly stepped into the ominous room. With each step they took, echoing footsteps could be heard throughout the room. Alec watched them from behind, getting ready to poke Kiara for a laugh, but Quinn slapped his wrist before he could.

The door to the final room could be seen on the other end of the long room, about a few hundred meters from where they were currently standing.

They begin to walk quietly across the floor, no longer having to worry about stepping on spider eggs. The room seemed much more calm then the room from before, but Quinn knew that likely wasn't the case. He felt that at any moment, the room would unleash its horrors and they would once again have to fight to survive.

As they walked, a slight hissing noise along with a low scraping noise could be heard in one of the many huge cracks that were etched into the wall. It began to get closer and closer to the group as they watched in fear of what might appear.

A spider half the size of Quinn could suddenly be seen appearing out of the wall. In its mouth, a human arm could be seen rubbing blood across the stone wall. A smell of iron filled the air as the spider looked across the room, but it saw nothing.

Hiding in the cracks of the wall, Quinn and company sat in silence as they waited for the spider to pass by and leave. Quinn poked his head out to see the spider before bringing his head back in before he was spotted.

That spider is absolutely massive. How many of those things could be in here?

As the group waited for the spider to pass, another noise could be heard, but this time it came from deep inside the crack of the wall they were hiding in, slowly approaching them.

Quinn looked outside the crack, watching the spider holding the bloodied arm, hoping for it to quickly pass. Once the spider left Quinn’s sight, the group quickly left the crack in the wall before they were spotted by another spider.

Stress began to build as they quickly walked towards the direction of the door at the end of the hallway, scaling the wall as they walked so they could hide if another spider were to suddenly appear.

As they walked, they once again heard a noise, but this time it was directly above them. Quinn rose his head in fear as he looked at a spider that stared straight into the room. Everyone stood completely still, hoping the spider wouldn't glance down and spot them.

As they sat in silence waiting for the spider to pass, Kiara heard a clicking noise in the wall directly next to her. With a terrified face, she slowly turned her head towards the wall. Standing next to her in one of the cracks, a big spider loomed over her, watching her and the others.

Each click the spider made sent shivers down Kiara. She had never been close to such a giant spider before. At that moment, she had been the most scared she has been in her entire life.

The spider watched the group closely before sending out loud clicking shrieks, grabbing the attention of the other spiders that lurked inside of the walls waiting for prey to come.

Once again, the group had to run for their lives, running as quickly as they could towards the exit. As they ran, giant spiders half the size of a human began to climb out of the walls. There were much fewer spiders then the baby ones from before, but their giant size and aggressive nature made them just as formidable. They were much quicker as well.

Quinn felt a sharp pain as a spider impaled his leg with one of its eight arms, stabbing deeply into his flesh and muscle. He groaned in pain, stabbing the spider through its sternum with his steel sword before continuing to run with a slight limp. The pain slowed him down, but he was still capable of keeping up with the group.

Winston tried using his fire just as he did with the baby spiders, but the spiders were much more durable and were capable of running through the fire, barely receiving any burns.

Halfway through the long room, the spiders began to surround them, blocking the group from all sides. Trying to make a path for the exit, they stabbed and slashed at the spiders in their way, opening a small path for them to continue moving forward.

Though the spiders were much more durable, stabbing them was more effective then it was with the void monsters on the tenth layer. The spiders would fall down in pain after getting stabbed, slowly shriveling up and dying on the cold floor.

Kiara felt as if she was going to be sick, gagging as she ran, trying her best to avoid the spiders. Liz was in a similar state.

In the last quarter of the hallway, a spider tripped Quinn, sliding its leg under his damaged leg and sending him tumbling to the floor. Pain shot through his leg, but he had no time to recognize it before a spider jumped on top of him, its mouth opening and closing as it approached its face.

This is where I die… These were Quinn’s last thoughts before a sword suddenly sliced the spider in half and sent it tumbling into the wall.

An arm grabbed Quinn’s, pulling him to his feet and helping him to regain his footing. Alec and Quinn broke into a sprint as they ran towards the door where the others had already begun trying to open it.

“It’s much heavier than the ones from before.” Lex spoke with a low grunt as he and Winston tried raising the door, “We need more help.”

Even with Winston’s overwhelming strength helping Lex, they were only capable of nudging the door. Kiara and Liz grabbed the door as well, both of them had an overwhelming amount of strength. Their fear and adrenaline had helped in raising the door above their heads, allowing for Quinn, Alec and Cally to slide under.

Quickly following suit, the rest of the group let go of the door, barreling under it and missing its heavy weight by only a few centimeters. Everyone let out gasps as they began to catch their breaths.

“Why do we always get chased? I am getting tired of it.” Alec spoke between breaths. The mansion had been cruel when it came to running from enemies.

“Let's just be happy we made it out of there alive.” Kiara calmed herself down after finally being rid of those disgusting spiders.

With a fearful tone Quinn raised his voice, “Do not be happy yet.” Sitting in the giant room they had just entered, a massive spider, much bigger than the entire group combined, had been awoken from its slumber by the slam of the stone door.