Pell grabbed some rope from his backpack. He looped it around his shoulder and went towards the door. Enya followed closely behind him, taking a deep, steady breath as her eyes began to flash.

Skill: Absolute Focus has been activated.

Pell opened the door and stepped out of the study, with Enya in tow. He led the way, choosing a different path from the one that led to his shop. The route between his shop and the study was a safe one, carefully mapped out with minimal encounters with monsters. But if they were going to try and find a skeleton, they’d need to take a different path.

Enya stuck close to Pell as they navigated the dimly lit corridor. The scent of death and decay filled the air, bitter and uncomfortable but not unbearable. She didn't mind it too much, though she couldn't help but compare it to the sweet, flowery aroma of the blue lily potion she had smelled previously. It made her realize how pleasant the world outside the dungeon could be. Would the entire world smell fragrant?

Pell was on high alert, scanning for any signs of a wandering skeleton. His vigilance wasn't limited to skeletons, however. He was also keeping an eye and an ear out for something that wasn't a skeleton or zombie—the demon rat. Though he called it that, Pell was pretty sure it wasn't demonic. It was just a rat that had been mutated by the high concentrations of death and mana in the dungeon. What had once been an ordinary rat had become a catastrophe—a devourer. He was sure that nothing could take it head-on, lest they were level 15 or higher and held a combat class.

Enya's senses were also heightened to the extreme with her Absolute Focus skill active. Her eyes glowed faintly as she walked, her gaze flicking left and right, taking in every detail. She could feel the air brushing against her skin, the sound of her shoes and Pell's bones creaking as they walked. Even the heat radiating from the torches lining the walls washed over her. It was as if she were walking into a sea of flames herself.

After almost ten minutes of meandering through a maze of shadowy paths and winding intersections, Enya suddenly flinched, her entire body tensing as something stirred within her sensory field of detection. She could hear the unmistakable clatter of bones in the distance.

“Pell, there’s a skeleton up ahead, to the left,” she whispered.

Pell halted mid-step. “What do you mean, there’s a skeleton up ahead?”

“There’s… a skeleton up ahead. To the left, at the next intersection. I can hear it. I… can almost see its shape. It’s walking to the right,” Enya explained, her brow furrowed in concentration.

This time, Pell’s skull tilted to the side as he looked at Enya with the utmost confusion and disbelief etched into his skull.

“How fucking far can you see with that skill?” he asked, his voice tinged with a hint of skepticism. He glanced ahead into the abyss of complete, utter darkness. The torches, spaced about fifty meters apart, cast only the faintest glow, barely enough to pierce the heavy, damp fog that cloaked the dungeon. “I can’t even see the next intersection. Are you messing with me, brat?”

Enya shook her head, her expression serious. She really could see that far, though it wasn’t seeing in the usual sense. It was more like sensing. Trying to explain it to Pell was difficult; it was as if all her physical senses had been amplified to impossibly high-extremes. She couldn’t physically see the skeleton nearly two hundred meters away, but she could feel it—its movements, its shape, the way it clattered as it walked. It was like a blurry yet unmistakable image in her mind. All of her senses helped to form an almost ethereal image inside her mind.

Pell paused once again, still uncertain. “Alright… if you say so,” he muttered. “Then, is there anything else? Zombies? Demon rat?”

“No, I don’t feel anything else,” Enya replied, her voice calm but focused.

With a nod of acknowledgment, Pell ushered for them to keep moving, both their paces steady but cautious. Pell's anticipation grew with each step, until finally, the intersection came into view, shrouded in a veil of impatient tension. Enya on the other hand, walked with a calmness, already knowing what was up ahead.

Moving ahead, Pell took a left and disappeared into the darkness beyond. Enya followed along, but kept her distance away from Pell, remaining in the hallway where she could continue to sense anything that might approach.

Pell had repeatedly stressed the importance of retreating at the first sign of Mr. Rat. It was some type of high-level, mutated terror, most likely capable of outrunning both of them. Unlike the skeletons or zombies, whose movements were sluggishly slow and predictable, Mr. Rat would be much more agile and fierce, and on a whole other level, compared to the zombie that was behind the bookcase.

None of the creatures on the current floor were a match for the demon rat. Not a single one.

Enya's enhanced senses picked up the faint sound of Pell whispering. It seemed he was trying to negotiate with the other skeleton. The rustling of rope followed, then the sound of shuffling steps as they both performed some sort of dance around each other. A few moments later, Pell reappeared, dragging a comedically bound skeleton along with him.

"Alright, I got the little bastard. Hey! Hold still!" Pell muttered, struggling to keep the skeleton under control. He had tied the rope around its arms and torso, looping it several times over, possibly a bit more than needed. The result was a rather unwieldy skeleton slung over Pell's back with one end of the rope gripped tightly in his hand. It was probably the world’s first skeletal backpack.

He glanced at Enya, his voice low but urgent. "Come on, let's get back to the study first. If I smash his skull now, it'll be too loud. Skeleton skulls, along with their spines, are hard to break with just a swing or two."

Enya nodded, stepping aside to let Pell take the lead. They retraced their steps in silence, the only sound that they heard was the soft clatter of bones and the faint echoes of their own footsteps. Two minutes passed uneventfully, but then, something sharp and distinct pierced through Enya's sensory range.

"Pell, stop!" she whispered urgently.

Pell froze, his grip on the skeleton tightening. He turned to face Enya, his voice a tense whisper. "What? What is it?"

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Enya’s eyes darted around, her senses on high alert, searching for whatever had triggered her sudden alarm.

Enya's body tensed, her posture lowering slightly as she leaned forward, her senses honing in on the faint, rhythmic sound. Pitter. Patter. Pitter. Patter. One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. Her expression grew serious as she whispered, "It's Mr. Rat. I can hear the sound of something stepping in a four-by-four rhythm."

Pell raised a metaphorical eyebrow, thinking, That's not how you describe a quadruped walking. That's how you measure music. But he quickly dismissed the thought—this was hardly the time for corrections. He shifted his focus back to the dark hallway ahead. They were still about two minutes away from a junction that split into a bisecting hallway, but for now, all he could see was a wall of impenetrable darkness. This side of the dungeon wasn’t well lit, with the torches here much weaker than those on his usual route.

"Is the demon rat in this hallway? Or is it up ahead in one of the bisecting hallways?" Pell asked quietly, his skeletal sockets narrowing as he strained to see anything beyond the dark.

"It's in this hallway. It's walking straight towards us," Enya replied, her voice barely more than a whisper.

Pell's grip on the rope tightened as he cursed under his breath. "Has it already passed the side hallway, or no?"

"Yes, it just passed it."

"Shit!" Pell hissed. "Alright, on my count, turn around and run for it. When we get to the hallway where I grabbed this guy," he added, jerking his head toward the bound skeleton slung over his shoulder, "we'll take a left, then keep going until we loop past the rat. After that, we'll make a run for the study."

"O-okay," Enya stammered, her voice tinged with anxiety. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest, the sudden rush of adrenaline making everything feel more intense. Pell’s urgent tone was doing little to calm her nerves; if anything, it made the situation feel all the more dire.

Enya gulped, her body taut with tension. Maybe having heightened senses also amplified her anxiety—every sound, every faint movement seemed to carry an ominous weight. She wasn’t used to this kind of fear; the feeling was new, raw, something she hadn’t truly experienced until the recent zombie attack. Her mind raced, trying to process Pell’s instructions as she prepared herself to run.

Enya began to inch backward, her focus locked on the rat’s approach through her sharpened senses.

"Alright...3...2..." Pell’s voice cut through the tension as he started retracing their steps, "1...Go!" he suddenly shouted, far louder than necessary, jolting Enya out of her concentration. With a lurch, he took off in an uneven sprint, the skeleton strapped to his back flailing wildly.

Notification: Absolute Focus has been disrupted.

“Argh! Pell, I was right next to you! Why did you yell?" Enya hissed in a frantic whisper, her yellow eyes flickering as her irises reverted to normal. The sudden shock sent her reeling, her vision spinning as she stumbled into a run behind Pell. It was like someone had shoved her into a barrel and sent her careening down a hill—it was not a pleasant feeling.

"Deal... with... it!" Pell called back, nearly tripping over his own feet as the skeleton on his back writhed in protest.

Enya pushed herself into a full sprint, trying to shake off the disorienting after-effects. The nausea gnawed at her, but she managed to force it down, refocusing her mind. After a few frantic heartbeats, she reignited her skill.

As her eyes flashed again, Enya stretched her senses out, though the disruption had severely shortened her detection range.

Desperately, she honed in on the hallway behind them, pushing her senses to their limit. That’s when she felt it—the rat was no longer just walking. It was sprinting after them, having caught their scent or sound, she couldn’t be sure. But one thing was clear—they were being hunted.

Fear spurred Enya’s legs into overdrive. The echo of thudding footsteps from behind, growing louder and closer, boosting her fear and strength to run. Pell had a head start, but the weight of the struggling skeleton on his back slowed him down. Enya quickly caught up, her heart pounding in her chest as they raced through the dim corridor.

The guttural roar of the rat reverberated down the hallway, spurring Enya to push even harder. She reached the hallway where they’d found the now-backpacked skeleton and risked a glance back. Pell was a few seconds behind, struggling to maintain his pace as the skeleton-backpack thrashed violently, trying to break free of Pell’s rope.

"Don’t worry about me, just keep—" Pell’s words were cut short as Enya had already darted down the left hallway.

"Agh, you filthy brat, at least pretend to care!"

Pell’s shout echoed with frustration, but Enya didn’t even glance back. She could hear him grumbling, but she was too focused on the path ahead. Pell had drilled it into her that whenever danger loomed, her priority was to run—no hesitations, no looking back. He made it clear that she only had one life, and she needed to make sure she kept it.

The dimly lit hallway ahead was littered with scattered bones, but Enya paid them no mind. She was too caught up in the adrenaline-fueled rush, her heart pounding as she raced forward.

For a brief moment, she found herself grinning. This is kind of fun! she thought, feeling a spark of excitement. It was like the adventure stories she had read about—but the thrill quickly faded as exhaustion began to set in. She wasn’t used to running like this. How do people do this for so long?

Her breath turned ragged by the time she reached the second intersection. She had to make a left turn and keep going until she hit another intersection, which would lead her back to the neutral hall. She glanced behind her—no sign of anyone, but the uneven stomping of bones on the ground told her Pell was close. Enya turned and started another sprint. With every single stride, she felt her muscles telling her to give up. She wanted to stop and take a break.

As she ran, there was some type of large root that stuck out of the ground. It may have been from a tree or some other underground vegetation. Right now, it blocked her path forward. She had to either crawl underneath or jump over it.

Enya ran up to the root, placing her hands on the large, green plant, ready to vault over it. But the moment her fingers touched the root, it crumbled away like ash, dissolving into tiny particles of dust. Caught off guard by the sudden disappearance, she lost her balance and stumbled forward, crashing onto her hands and knees.

"Arghh, what the hell!" Enya yelled in frustration, her voice echoing through the hall.

"I heard that!" a faint, distant voice called back, barely audible but unmistakably Pell’s. The only reason Enya caught it was because of the echo in the corridor. Her Absolute Focus had worn off long ago, unbeknownst to her—thankfully not due to another disruption. If it had been active just now, the sudden shock would have probably knocked her out cold.

Enya winced, pushing herself back up and forcing her legs to move again. She muttered a spew of curses under her breath. The words she spat out would’ve made Pell either proud or deeply concerned—probably the latter, considering noble children weren't supposed to swear.

For what could have either been a few seconds or a few minutes, she ran, breath ragged and her heart pounding in her ears.

Suddenly, a figure appeared in her line of sight—a zombie. It was a regular, non-enhanced zombie from the dungeon, frail and weak-looking, but the sight of it filled Enya with hesitation.

The zombie was in rough shape, missing its entire left arm, and its right leg wasn’t much better, dragging along the cold stone floor with every sluggish step. It let out a low, guttural groan, stretching its lone arm toward Enya as it trudged in her direction. Though still several meters away, it was clearly trying to attack her.

Enya quickly glanced over her shoulder—nothing there. She turned her attention back to the zombie, deciding to stick close to the left wall as she ran. Maybe she could avoid it if she kept her distance. She hugged the wall as she dashed forward, knowing she’d be only a couple of meters away from the creature as soon as she passed by it.

Just as she was about to pass it, the zombie suddenly lurched forward with a grotesque, unnatural motion. Its body twisted sharply, a full 90 degrees, as its left leg flicked over its right, causing it to stagger towards her. It leaned its head forward, almost not caring about gravity as it motioned its body to fall straight at her.

Enya's eyes widened with utter fear and disgust, as the zombie's mouth opened, unleashing a wave of its putrid breath towards her—its decayed teeth and bloodied maw closing in on her faster than she could naturally react.