Vivi pushed herself up and patted her raincoat free of grime. She was lucky. Lars hadn’t kicked her when she was down. Fellwater’s bullies would have gone far further. One simple kick to the stomach was nothing. She could withstand that any day.

Uundref suddenly appeared beside Vivi. His bony figure shot up from a circular portal on the ground. The portal was purple, appearing out of nowhere, and disappearing as Uundref had passed.

“A skill,” Lucius said. “A rare teleportation skill at least. Why would he reveal that?”

Uundref giggled, staring at Lars’ group. “One would call those idiots. I came as a guide for a reason. They’re headed directly to established territory. The free hunting grounds are nowhere near. They’ll soon learn the dungeon won’t be as easy.”

“Free hunting grounds?” Lucius asked in Vivi’s head. “Ask him. What does that mean?”

“Free hunting grounds?” Vivi asked.

“The area where anyone is free to hunt, and where gangs are not allowed to set territory,” Uundref said. “In Zand, there are three different types of raids a nimrod can take. Outside raids, defense duty, and dungeon raids. Outside raids refer to hunts outside Zand’s walls in the wilderness of the fourth level. Defense duty is a station at the walls, defending Zand from monster attacks. These raids are only for the experienced, mostly for wolves and above.

“The vast majority of nimrods stick merely to dungeon raids. With so many hunters inside one dungeon, it’s inevitable that rules be set up. Unofficially, dungeon raids are separated into public raids within the free hunting grounds, and private raids organized by gangs within their personal hunting grounds.” He glanced at the leftmost downward staircase. “You might find success down there, dear.”

Another portal appeared before Uundref, and he prepared to descend. “We will meet in eight days, my dear.”

He disappeared into the portal. No traces of his presence were left behind. Vivi felt a chill.

“Finally,” Lucius said. “Some alone time. What a bothersome introduction.”

Bothersome? ‘Lacking’ would have been a better word. Vivi barely understood a thing. Uundref had left so many things unmentioned.

She felt like she was being watched already, likely from multiple directions. That was natural, she figured. In any hostile environment, people kept track of their surroundings and the people that entered. But Vivi could also guess malicious eyes were mixed within the cautious ones.

“What are we waiting for?” Lucius asked, somehow already excited. “Let’s see the dungeon!”

Right, Vivi thought. She headed for the direction Uundref had referred to. The free dungeon.

The staircase leading to the lower level was clearly man-built. Or demon-built. Whatever word Vivi was supposed to use. Stepping down, the daylight gems disappeared from the walls. The cavern was instead lit with ether lamps hanging from the ceiling.

Bones littered the ground. There were a few skulls, but most bones were the boring ones—legs, arms, broken collarbones. Paths existed where bones were pushed aside. The room was mostly empty, but for one demon sitting on a chair, watching the clumps of bones. A dull knife was strapped to his belt. He yawned.

Vivi stepped deeper. “Hello?” she asked the man on the chair.

The demon glanced up at her. “Huh?”

The man didn’t look angry. Rather, he appeared confused, as if not understanding why he was being talked to. His beard was dirty, and he hadn’t bathed in a while. His clothes were mostly in one piece with a few rips on the hem of his shirt.

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“Is this the free dungeon?” Vivi asked.

“Ah, you’re a new one,” the man said. “Sure, I’ll help you. I guess.”

“Are you a guard?” Vivi asked.

The man laughed weakly. “A nimrod. If I’m lucky, I’ll still be alive tomorrow.”

Vivi gave him an awkward smile. “I was told there would be monsters here.”

“Uh,” the man said. “I don’t know what to tell you. Head deeper. There are monsters. You’ll have to fight for the right to kill them.”

“Are you waiting for a monster to respawn?” Vivi asked.

The man rubbed his cheek. He appeared uncomfortable. “That indeed. Monsters are sparse up here, and the ones that spawn are recycled. They don’t give a lot of ether. Most consider the upper levels not worth their time. But someone has to collect ether from here, don’t they?”

“I see. Thanks. I’m Vivi. What’s your name?”

“My name?” The man looked away. “Uh. Jorr, I guess?”

You guess? Vivi thought. Something was seriously wrong with this man. But he didn’t appear hostile.

“You should head down,” Jorr said. “As I said, this place is not worth your time. I already have this covered.”

“Um, okay,” Vivi said. For some reason, Jorr sounded defensive. He barely looked in Vivi’s direction at all.

Suddenly, Jorr shot up from his seat. His eyes opened wide, staring into the clump of bones. Movement spurred there, followed by wisps of ether. The aura was weak, but it was a monster. A humanoid figure with purple skin emerged from the bones, like a zombie crawling up from a grave.

“A ghoul,” Lucius said. “It’s aura is weak. Jorr is right. Fighting monsters here is not worth it.”

“MINE!” Jorr shouted. He pushed Vivi aside with force, then rushed for the monster, his eyes wide and primal, dagger lifted. The ghoul was stuck in its grave, struggling to push itself up.

Jorr charged, thrusting his dagger at the ghoul’s head.

The ghoul lifted a hand, grabbing Jorr’s blade. The dull weapon pierced the palm. Jorr tried pulling it, but the weapon was stuck.

Jorr lost his weapon. He, however, didn’t quit. He kicked the ghoul in the head.

The ghoul grabbed his foot and pulled. Jorr fell. Then the struggle between fists started.

Oh no, Vivi thought. He needs help!

She ran past the bones to the struggling fight. By the time she arrived, the ghoul had grabbed Jorr’s throat, squeezing with insane strength.

Lucius! Vivi thought, spreading her fingers.

Her spirit understood immediately. Her nails turned to claws. Sharp talons, as Lucius had promised.

While the ghoul focused on Jorr, Vivi slashed with her left talons, hitting the ghoul’s face. Then, she drove the right talons right into the ghoul’s brain.

The monster gasped. It lifted a weak hand at Vivi before its limbs fell limp. Its purple skin disintegrated, leaving sizzling wisps of ether behind. The kill was Vivi’s.

“Jorr!” Vivi said.

The demon was already dead, eyes having lost their light. Bone showed in his throat. His ragged tunic was ripped in half, revealing whip marks all over his body. Two whip marks were particularly deep. The slash marks, Vivi guessed. The ones that nimrods received if they couldn’t deliver their ether.

Lucius showed himself from Vivi’s consciousness. He collected the ether from their kill. His reserves rose by 0.5 ether. “Not even one wisp?” he asked, annoyed.

“Jorr is dead, Lucius,” Vivi whispered. “He killed himself for half an ether.”

Lucius frowned, watching the body. “Unfortunate. We could have saved him. But he pushed us aside. He wanted the kill, Vivi. We can’t blame ourselves.”

“Yeah…” Vivi said. She felt sick, but she wasn’t planning on taking responsibility for the death. Jorr had turned crazy in his last moments. He was driven by utter desperation. With two slash marks in his back, and with the collection day being tomorrow…

Wisps of ether rose from Jorr’s body. With any death, of course, ether was ready to be collected.

“Robberies weren’t an acceptable reason to kill,” Lucius said. “But this one died on his own. Nobody said collecting ether from the dead wasn’t allowed.”

Without further consideration, Lucius collected Jorr’s ether. His reserves rose by six.

“Six ether?” Vivi asked. “He held six ether?”

“Probably a little more,” Lucius said. “The Goddess of death takes her share when one dies. Only a small portion of ether can be collected when someone dies. I’m guessing Jorr held closer to seventy ether. His weapons were trash, and he hadn’t eaten enough. That’s why he lost.”

“I see…” Vivi said. She watched the scene for a moment longer before turning around, a new disgusting memory embedded in her head.

Lucius, get back to hiding, she thought. Let’s head deeper and examine the dungeon.