The hardwood planks continued down, dead kerosene lamps lining the path. Few weeds attempted to grow from the stone ground. None flourished. The creepy tunnel resembled the free dungeon with its subtle yet constant hostility in the air.

In the free dungeon, the hostile air came from nimrods watching Vivi. The source of hostile looks was obvious. Most demons didn’t care to hide their stares. Here, however, Vivi wasn’t certain where the feeling came from. Her every step was heavy and hesitant despite nothing staring at her neck.

Lucius? Vivi asked. Is everything normal? I feel like we’re stepping into danger.

“There’s just more ether here,” Lucius said. “Your perceptions have grown. You’re starting to sense ether in your surroundings. New hunters usually identify ether as an uncomfortable presence that they want to go away. The feeling will grow calmer as you get used to it.”

I didn’t feel this way in the fangling lair, or when I looked down into the brick stairway, Vivi thought. Something is wrong here. It feels like something intelligent is watching us. Waiting for us to arrive.

“Eh,” Lucius said. “I wouldn’t worry. We’ll approach with caution, as we always do. I expect tougher monsters. But nothing more than that.”

If you say so… Vivi thought. Lucius was the more experienced hunter. He was more familiar with feeling ether. Still, Vivi couldn’t shrug off the feeling. Something was wrong here.

The tunnel ended ahead, though no light came in from the opening. Vivi peeked into the dome-shaped cavern. The wooden planks separated into different paths. Columns of thick natural stone were spread randomly across the cavern. Most reached from ground to the ceiling, but a lot of columns had been snapped in half, hanging from the ceiling. Fallen pebbles cluttered the ground.

Parts of the walls were reflective and shiny. A subtle purple glow. Vivi squinted at the spot. Was that metal?

Vivi had worked with metal for fifteen years, but she wasn’t a miner or a geologist. Grandpa had always provided the tools and resources for her to practice with. She had never seen ores in the wild. Gathering metals wasn’t what Vivi was good at.

The purple spot, however, looked like venerium. A rare metal with interesting properties. The metal was venomous. Just touching it would cause skin to grow rashes. Drawing blood with a venerium sword, even without runic properties, could cause a human to lose their strength. In some cases, venerium was known to kill.

Vivi had never worked with the metal for obvious reasons. Only a special kind of weirdo would want to buy a venomous sword. Working with the metal was supposedly a nightmare, requiring special equipment that Grandpa didn’t have. On top of this, the metal was rare, and as a result, expensive.

Venerium probably wouldn’t be useful in Zand either. Vivi would have much rather found a rare ether root. The metal was an interesting find nonetheless. More common metals were spread across the walls as well. Some parts of the walls had holes and indents. Had some metals been gathered already?

“Vivi, watch out!” Lucius suddenly called.

Vivi flinched as she sensed the object flying toward her. It was a pickaxe. It missed her head by an inch.

The attacker stood by the end of the leftmost wooden path. It was a knight, fully covered in steel plate armor. The visor was down, and the face beneath was entirely black. The helmet was horned. No wisps of ether rose from any part of its body.

The figure held out its palm, as if pulling on something.

“Behind!” Lucius shouted.

The pickaxe it had thrown earlier came back. Vivi moved out of the way, dodging. The figure grabbed the pickaxe and faced Vivi. The knight pointed its pickaxe at Vivi. “Let’s fight,” the posture conveyed.

Vivi felt a chill. The knight could manipulate gravity. Vivi raised her weapon, going into stance.

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The knight bowed for a second. It lifted its weapon.

Then it attacked, running at Vivi with far more agility than someone in plate armor should ever carry. Vivi readied her sword, body filling with ether.

“Vivi, I don’t think that’s a monster!” Lucius said. “Whoever is in there, they’re good! But I don’t think they have much ether. We can win!”

The knight threw its pickaxe while running. This time, Vivi swung at the pickaxe, slashing it cleanly in half. An ordinary pickaxe was nothing against her runesword. The halves fell to the ground.

The knight paused.

Then It pulled out a runesword from a back-scabbard.

Oh no, Vivi thought. The runesword was a single-runed black asmite blade, powered by a swiftness rune. Asmite was an insanely heavy metal to swing, but a swiftness rune made the sword lightweight without sacrificing any of asmite’s power. The veins were outside-carved, but expertly carved in intricate patterns. The sword was far more powerful than the guards’ runeswords. An intimidating aura of misty ether coated the sword.

Vivi and the knight exchanged blades. The knight was confident in pushing Vivi, fully believing in its sword. Its armor didn't have an aura of ether, yet the weight of its swings was almost on Serena’s level.

Vivi’s sword held. The difference between carving methods immediately became clear. The veins of Vivi’s sword glowed upon impact, strengthening the blade. The knight’s sword flickered. With each impact, the outside-carved veins leaked ether. The knight’s small aura became even lesser.

Once again, Vivi’s sword was stronger. She just had to overpower her opponent.

She threw forth a claw-attack. Confidently and quickly. Red claw marks cut into the knight’s armor. The knight didn’t move, letting its armor block the claws. Its focus was entirely on Vivi’s sword.

Vivi continued throwing claw swipes. The plate armor could block her claws, but it wouldn’t withstand infinitely. The claws were slowly cutting into the steel.

The knight charged forth, defending with offense.

Vivi swung into the knight’s attack, swords clashing. She pushed ether into her sword, while reinforcing her lower body for a strong footing. This, combined with a growl, was enough to knock off the knight’s form.

Another claw swipe. Vivi stepped forward, slashing wildly with her left hand. She raised her blade for a heavy attack. The knight was on the defensive now, holding its sword to block. It knew its armor was about to give up.

Now! Vivi thought. She swung directly at the knight’s block.

The asmite runesword snapped in half. Vivi’s sword cut right through.

The tip of her sword sliced the knight’s helmet. She hit skin, though it didn’t seem like she cut deep.

The knight fell to his knees. The face beneath the mask had the scorched marks of a demon. He was a younger man with dark eyes. He sat there in shock.

Vivi had won. The knight was weaponless and defenseless. Vivi’s sword could easily cut through his steel plate, killing him. Yet, for some reason, Vivi didn’t feel like finishing the job. The knight looked so docile.

The creepy feeling in the air remained. The knight wasn't the cause.

“You beat me…” the knight eventually said. “I can’t believe it. My sword snapped?”

“Uh, sorry,” Vivi said.

The knight looked up at her. He was bleeding from the face. “It pains me to lose to an invader. But that was well fought. I will die to your blade with honor. Finish it.”

He lowered his head, as if expecting Vivi to kill him. Vivi smiled awkwardly. The knight wasn’t a threat anymore. He had surrendered. Vivi couldn’t just kill him. Who was he? A guard? Staff? He didn’t have a symbol anywhere.

“Ivwi!” a voice called. Vivi glanced behind herself to see Eem running in. The fiend waved her arms up and down, panicking.

The knight lifted its head. His eyes opened wide at the sight of Eem. The fiend continued waving her arms.

“Oh, crap,” he said. “It’s the guards. We gotta hide.”

“What?” Vivi asked.

“You beat me,” the knight said. “But trust me on this. Hide your ether. The guards are coming. That’s a signal.”

A signal? Vivi thought. What’s a signal?

The knight picked up the pieces of his runesword and brushed aside broken bits of his helmet. Then, he rushed behind one of the columns, hiding from the main path.

Eem hugged Vivi’s leg. The fiend nodded repeatedly.

Footsteps were approaching from behind. Vivi followed instructions, quickly hiding behind one of the columns. A simple hiding spot, but effective if nobody was searching for her. Lucius, get rid of our ether!

Lucius recovered any active ether from Vivi’s muscles, sucking it back to his hidden reserves. Her sword was retrieved to spatial storage.

As the knight had warned, two guardsmen in Zand’s leather uniforms stepped into the cavern. The orange glow of a handheld kerosene lamp lit the path. Vivi stayed silent, listening to her heartbeat.

“I felt something here,” one of the guards said.

Vivi recognized the voice. It was the same old voice that had mocked her when she was captured outside of Zand’s walls.

The two guards were Jeli and Hoss.