“Skills, huh?” Vivi said. “Sure, skills would probably make us strong. But you’re forgetting something.”

“Forgetting what?” Lucius asked. His voice echoed from Vivi’s core, as he was still busy imbuing her with ether.

“Another aspect of strength.” She swiped another charging fangling and said, “Runesmithing.”

“Eh,” Lucius said, sounding doubtful. “Runeswords are cool. But there is a reason the ether hunters use spirit blades, and why we use my claws. There is a limit to the power runeswords can provide. Just as your steel sword has grown useless now that my claws are evolved, every runesword will eventually be outshined by a spirit’s powers.”

Vivi grinned, hearing that.

“What?” Lucius asked.

“Me and Grandpa have heard the same thing for years,” Vivi said. “Spirits this, spirits that. But the hunters never allowed themselves to be proven wrong. The ether hunters never gave our runeswords a chance. Our swords were instead bought by collectors and hobbyists.”

“Okay?” Lucius said. “What are you trying to argue?”

“I’m saying that I’m an ether hunter now,” Vivi said. “And I’m a runesmith. I’m free to smith a runesword and use it myself. There’s no need to convince the ether hunters to use my runeswords when I can showcase the powers of runesmithing myself.”

Lucius didn’t sound impressed. “Sure, Mrs. Runesmith. Whatever you say.”

Another lone fang destroyer attacked them. Vivi didn’t need to look in its direction to swipe it in half. She’d wandered across web-infested caverns for six or seven hours now, killing anything in sight. The monsters had grown rarer and disjointed within the last few hours, as if a link had been lost in their heads. A few stragglers were still remaining, and fanglings occasionally respawned, but finding monsters was growing difficult.

Vivi could consider the lair cleared. Lucius’s ether reserves had grown all the way to 2112.

Lucius must have been thinking the same thing. “I think it’s time we descend.”

Vivi nodded. “Do you remember the path to the tanker?”

“Uh,” Lucius said. “Down?”

Vivi let out a sigh. “Eem?” she asked, speaking to the crawl spaces above. “You’ve been watching us, right? Could you lead us to the fang monsters’ boss?”

Eem’s pink-eyed head appeared. She hopped down from a crawlspace and nodded three times in a row with a determined expression. Then she jumped into a different crawl space, signaling for Vivi to follow.

“I’d prefer the larger paths,” Vivi said.

Eem made a face.

Vivi lowered down and showed her back to Eem. “You can ride on my back. Just point where to go.”

The little fiend looked suspicious. Vivi waited patiently as Eem gathered the courage to climb on her back. Eventually, the fiend sat atop. From over Vivi’s shoulder, Eem pointed at a tunnel down below.

Damned kids… Lucius muttered, clearly sulking.

***

With Eem’s help, finding the path back to the fang destroyer took less than five minutes. Eem’s memory was impressive. To Vivi, the crawlways and caverns all looked the same. Eem, however, seemed to know the entire layout without an issue.

A few fanglings had attempted ambushes during their trip. Eem had closed her eyes when the first monster came, shouting a yelp, but Vivi killed the fangling without an issue. The trip was smooth.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Outside the fang tanker’s arena, Vivi finally recognized her surroundings. The damages of yesterday’s escape were still visible on the walls. A few loose rocks stood at the arena’s entrance, having fallen when the tanker crashed into the wall, chasing Vivi.

Vivi lowered down, letting Eem off of her back. “Stay safe now,” Vivi said. “This one is dangerous.”

Eem nodded again. Vivi smiled before turning around to face the boss.

The fang tanker had fallen inactive again, retreating to its position. Vivi saw it more clearly with enhanced ether. The tough exoskeleton, the terrifying mouth, and the claws that would crush Vivi in an instant.

“Will your claws pierce its defence?” Vivi asked.

“I don’t think so,” Lucius admitted. “Not head-on, at least. However, the abdomen behind its torso is slightly weaker. If we land hits there, we’ll eventually pierce the exoskeleton. We’ll need a few clean hits.”

Vivi thought for a moment. Getting behind the boss would be difficult and risky. If she failed, she’d be trapped in the room with the tanker with no way to get out. The tanker obviously knew of its own weak spot; it wouldn’t let Vivi freely cut the abdomen open.

“It would be way cooler if we could blast its exoskeleton open,” Vivi said. “How much ether will you need for that?”

“At least five thousand ether,” Lucius said. “My claws aren’t meant for destroying strong defences. I’m much better at exploiting weak spots.”

“I see,” Vivi said. Ideas and hopes popped up in her head. The types of ideas that got her heart pumped.

“What’s with the face, Vivi?” Lucius asked. “Why are you grinning again?”

“We won’t need five thousand ether to blow that thing up,” Vivi said. “All we will need is a few tools and a smithy, and our firepower will quadruple.”

Lucius frowned. “And where exactly will we find tools?”

“Axback’s smithy had most of what we need,” Vivi said. She turned around. “Eem? Could you lead us back to the facility? The most sneaky way possible.”

Eem gave a salute, standing straight. The gesture looked cute more than anything. She climbed onto Vivi’s back, and the ascent back to Zand began.

Vivi’s heart raced on the way up. It felt as if it had been ages since she’d last smithed a runesword. In the last ten years, before teleporting to Zand, the longest time she’d spent away from runesmithing was, at most, twenty hours.

***

Eem’s directions led Vivi into crawl space after crawl space, twisting all throughout the cave. This time, Vivi didn’t argue against Eem’s paths. She trusted Eem knew where they were going. Though Vivi certainly would have enjoyed more space to crawl in.

Eem didn’t take Vivi to the same lake they’d arrived from. That was good. Diving through piranha-infested waters was uncomfortable at the very least, and the lake could have possibly been watched. Vivi had disappeared there, after all.

How many exits and entrances could this cave really have? There was the barricaded main entrance. The free dungeon didn’t have crawl spaces to pop in and out from. Surely, the Stewards and organizers had examined the cave more carefully to ensure no hidden paths were available.

Some minutes later, Eem looked down from one of the crawl spaces. She examined the area, making sure there were no monsters. Then she jumped down. Vivi followed.

“Mmh,” Eem said. She pointed at a wall.

Vivi stared at the spot, trying to see what Eem was pointing at. The part of the wall was roughed up, and it had a slightly crooked indent, but otherwise, it looked like any ordinary piece of wall. “What is this?” Vivi asked.

Eem grabbed the indent on the wall. It worked vaguely like a handle, though Eem’s hands were too small to grab it. She tried pulling at it. The wall didn’t budge.

Then Eem pointed at Vivi.

“You want me to pull it?”

Eem nodded.

“Okay…” Vivi said. She grabbed the indent and pulled, as if opening a door. The wall didn’t budge. Eem, however, looked determined.

“Lucius, give me some strength,” Vivi said. Ether flowed into her body, strengthening her arms and core. She pulled at the stone with all the strength she had.

The stones made a grinding noise. Vivi blinked. The wall was moving! She kept pulling, until a slab popped open from the wall, revealing another crawl space.

“Gods,” Vivi said. “Someone built a secret exit?”

Eem was hopping up and down, celebrating. Then she hopped in, ushering Vivi to follow. Vivi did just that.

She entered feet first in order to place the cover back into place. The inside of the stone slab had two study handles attached to it. The handles helped Vivi pull the slab back into place, hiding the exit once again.

The tunnel was too narrow for Vivi to turn around. She was forced to move feet first. The surface of the crawl space was smooth and straight, unlike the rough and rocky crawl spaces spread out in the cave. Vivi guessed this crawl space was man-made. Had old nimrods crafted the hole, perhaps?

Reaching the end of the crawl space, Eem pushed a trapdoor above them. She peeked up to examine her surroundings. She nodded to Vivi before fully pushing the trapdoor out of the way. Eem hopped up. Vivi followed awkwardly, rising feet first.

She found herself in a small bedroom.