Their journey to safety was fraught with far more danger than Rieren had assumed. It seemed the mountain’s destruction at the hands of Destrinn was more absolute than she had thought. The ground was heaving up as lava cracked through beneath. Little landslides rocked off the mountainside. Danger was ever-present.

Thankfully, Rieren now had all the Fray Passage she could use. With her battle with the Anachrons over, the charges had reset, allowing free use of all her skills.

“I feel like we’d be faster if you let me walk,” Amalyse said as Rieren hopped across a small stream of smoking lava.

Rieren huffed when her feet touched down. The heat was now working through her boots, to the point that the leather was likely getting quite damaged. Thankfully, Divine Resilience extended just far enough to repair her apparel as well her body. “You mean hobble along?”

Amalyse couldn’t reply. Her right leg was broken, thanks to her own battle with her Anachron. They didn’t have the luxury to be as slow and careful as she would have needed to move on her own. Therefore, it was up to Rieren to carry her.

And Batcat on her head too.

It was good that the kitten’s agitation had gone down now that they had left the Anachrons behind. Rieren didn’t want to contend with an overactive cat. It seemed the Spirit Beast was smart enough to recognize that she had to concentrate.

Rieren couldn’t help looking behind when she reached the intersection where the path led to either the Sect or the rear entrance of the dungeon. They had come far enough that all signs of the Anachron was now lost to her. She couldn’t tell if they had died or if Forest had convinced Mountain to calm down and accept their demise in peace. Doubtful.

There was no time to waste. Rieren hurried on.

The path they had to take to the dungeon was shaded by a sheer side of the mountain that was nearly a cliff. This had safeguarded the path from the direct impacts of the scarlet lightning that had been destroying the rest of Lionshard mountain.

Unfortunately, this also meant the runoff from the rest of the destruction had piled upon the path. Several patches of the rough-hewn road to the dungeon were claimed by lava, stray rockfalls, or had collapsed entirely. Thankfully, Rieren couldn’t see any evidence of any deaths or injuries. Everyone should have reached the dungeon safely.

“I was afraid of this,” Amalyse said, her voice grim.

“There is nothing to fear,” Rieren said. “I can get us through.”

“At great cost to yourself, no doubt.” Amalyse went on before Rieren could deny that notion. “It’s time I used my skills. Put me down, Rieren.”

She did so, the tone of Amalyse’s voice brooking no disagreement. Besides, she was curious to see if Amalyse’s skills really would work here. None of hers would truly help against the obstacles they were facing.

All Amalyse did was summon her glowing red greatshield. It rose from the ground up to Amalyse’s shoulder, easily a pace wider than its summoner.

“Take it,” she said, indicating Rieren to take hold of the shield. “I don’t think I can move fast enough to use it properly.”

Rieren didn’t need to ask what she had intended. It was clear enough. Pressing her shoulder against the greatshield’s back, she charged forward as fast as she could. That allowed her to clear their path of both the lava and the rockfalls, Amalyse’s shield not allowing anything to pass through them, not even heat.

That was enough to get them all the way to the dungeon’s entrance. Rieren’s feet still tried to scream as she was forced to walk across the superheated ground where the lava had rested. At least she could accelerate through those sections with Fray Passage. It also let her jump across the gaps that were just a bit too wide.

“No one’s here…” Amalyse muttered as they entered into the cave with the unassuming opening. One would never have guessed that it led to the heart of the dungeon under Lionshard mountain. “Maybe they’re deeper inside.”

“That is the hope,” Rieren said.

It was all too possible. The mountain was still shaking terribly. They could hear how entire field-length slabs of the mountainside were falling off to crash down. The rising lava and collapsing edifice were making the whole tunnel shake terribly. There was no guarantee of safety, not until they reached deeper into the dungeon.

Besides, Rieren and Amalyse had been fighting for a little while now. The battle hadn’t been a short, quick fight against another cultivator or a quick monster. No, she’d been forced to slowly wear down Mountain’s thick hide before Reaver Stance had finally allowed her to deal a deadly blow.

And even then, it had only stopped because of a timely distraction from Batcat and the other Anachron stopping his brethren in return for Rieren restoring it later on.

Amalyse tapped her staff on the ground, causing a little ball of glowing crimson crystal to rise at its head. “Behold, light.”

They had reached deep enough that it was needed now. The rear entrance was lost to a bend they had passed several dozen paces ago. Unnerving as the darkness attempted to be, it was still familiar enough to Rieren. What truly disquieted her was the lack of any other living being.

“Can we take a little pause?” Amalyse asked after a little while.

Rieren was loathe to stop until she had found her father, until she had determined how far the rest of the Sect had gone, but she halted anyway. Amalyse needed a break. Rieren probably did too, but she wouldn’t have minded going on.

At least the shaking and trembling were more muted here. They weren’t in as much danger as they had been closer to the exposed mountainside. Rieren still wondered if the lava was going to burst through and destroy the dungeon as well, but for now, they were safe. She would worry about what might occur later… later.

“What do you think happened to the others?” Amalyse asked as she was lowered against the closest wall. “And we’re not in any grave danger here, are we?”

“I do not know,” Rieren said. “For the former, that is. I suppose they have traversed deeper into the dungeon, for whatever reason. For the latter, I believe we should not be in any true danger until we reach the dungeon’s heart, which is where this passage leads to.”

Amalyse groaned as she stretched out her injured leg. Rieren winced at the same time as Amalyse when she tried to massage her leg. Her cut-off finger made her snatch her hand back in pain. “Abyss, I need a good healer.”

“We will find one soon enough.”

Rieren settled down beside Amalyse. Her mind still hadn’t truly processed all that had happened over the last day.

The discovery that it was the Masked Avatar who had been behind the attempt upon her life. The fact that the Emperor, or at least the imperial court, was being manipulated by the gods, and that all those who had gone against the gods were in danger. The knowledge that the Banishedborn now walked the mortal realm with impunity.

All of it was troubling. Things had been transpiring at a far faster pace than Rieren had been able to fathom. Stuck in her corner of the Elderlands, she hadn’t been able to acquire a solid means of obtaining news. Something she would have to fix as soon as she was able.

Worst of all, even Rieren’s former friends had been forcefully turned against her.

Auri had been the instrument behind many of the attacks upon her in the Sect. The attempted assassination atop the waterfall, the poisoning, she had tried to kill Rieren in more ways than one. In the end, when desperate times had called for desperate measures, she had turned the corpse of Aetherian into a puppet.

The knowledge had settled somewhere deep and uncomfortable in Rieren’s guts. Beside it rested the image of seeing all those webs over Auri. Somehow, she had fallen to the thrall of a powerful Gravemark Puppeteer. An Abyssal.

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If a clear-headed cultivator could fall to the clutches of such a monster, what hope could Rieren have for the rest of the Sect?

But even more alarming was the fact that Auri was linked to both Appraiser and the Abyssal. It led to the natural conclusion that the Masked Avatar has some sort of connection with the Abyssals. Rieren had ensured Essalina was the one who had dealt with the Avatar personally, but—

That made her wonder what had happened to the two of them. Had Essalina and the Avatar come to blows? No. The entire mountain would have felt it if they had truly fought.

The more reasonable conclusion was that the Avatar had foreseen the destruction of Lionshard with the rise of the Fellserpent and had left quickly. Essalina had decided to let him be, favouring the assistance she could provide the Sect in its battle against the undead Aetherian.

That brought the question where the Masked Avatar had disappeared to. Powerful cultivators could go wherever they wished within a matter of moments, but also, it wasn’t impossible that he was somewhere inside the dungeon as well.

More proof that the Avatar had to have some connection with the Abyssals, as the dungeon was where they came from.

“What in the world are you thinking about, Rieren?” Amalyse asked.

Rieren blinked. She turned to find her friend’s face, bathed in crimson by her crystalline light, staring straight into her eyes with a frown. “Everything that has happened.”

“Give it a rest. You look like your brain is about to pop out through your ears.”

“Perhaps I shall. But we still need to determine what we ought to do from here on out.”

“What do you mean? We’ll find the others. Regroup. And…”

“And?”

“Hmm, maybe we do need to determine what we’re going to do next. I suppose we can’t make a new Sect inside the dungeon.”

“…not so long as it is the home of the Abyssals.”

Amalyse sighed, getting lost in the same manner of thought that had possessed Rieren moments ago. Rieren would have restarted thinking as well, but she suddenly received system notification. She had been vaguely wondering when they would arrive.

New Achievement!

First greater spirit defeated! You have overcome your first C-Grade Anachron. Pray that it doesn’t draw the attention of others of its kind. One is bad enough. Several together…

Rewards

* 1 Level

* 1 Skill point

* 1 Credit

* 1 Perk Point

Ah. So Mountain had been a C-Grade Anachron. That explained its strength and prowess—immense, but not something beyond Rieren’s own. Forest had likely been C-Grade as well, which made sense considering how much Amalyse had suffered against it, and how it had managed to stop its companion. It also made sense by Batcat, being B-Grade, had given them pause.

For the moment, Rieren was more excited at the Perk Point. She distributed her stats—two to Body, one each to Mind and Spirit—and withheld from using her skill point for now.

Taking Divine Resilience to C-Grade had a similar kind of effect as the last improvement for her perk. Its effective range increased by a few fingerbreadths and the rate that it healed sped up. Rieren could already feel its improved effects. More important, however, was the fact that its healing range was higher. High enough, in fact, to make healing others a possibly.

An awkward possibility due to the limited range, but still. Awkwardness was a tiny burden to bear if it meant Rieren could ensure Amalyse no longer had to suffer.

“Oi,” Amalyse said with no small amount of surprise when she pulled her friend’s leg. “What are you doing?”

Rieren was gentle about it. She didn’t want to cause her friend any undue pain. “Watch.”

Once she had gingerly settled Amalyse’s injured leg between her own, she took the hand with the missing finger and settled it between her palms.

“What…?” Amalyse’s frown suddenly turned into surprise. “Oh!”

Rieren smiled. She could feel the healing. The range of Divine Resilience had barely risen above the space her clothes occupied. It certainly wasn’t something she could rely on regularly to heal people in the midst of battle.

But in scenarios such as this, where there was some time to be spared, she could at least take away the pain of someone she cared about.

Rieren glanced at her [Status] while she waited.

[Status]

Rieren Vallorne

Race: Human

Class: Divine Bladereaver

Profession: [N/A]

Realm: Awakened [Early]

Level: 17

Perks: Divine Resilience [B]

Titles: [N/A]

Stats

Body: 36

Mind: 20

Spirit: 20

Skills

Fray Passage [B]

Gale Blade [C]

Ground Truth [C]

Reaver Stance [B]

Techniques

Tidal Summon [E]

-

Domain

Ocean [E]

Good progress. So far, at least. It was going to be more difficult from here on out. Without access to proper Essence—much of the Essence in the dungeon was undoubtedly corrupted thanks to the Abyssals’ presence—she would be hard pressed to advance through the realms as easily as she had done.

Besides that, there was also the matter of time. Ensuring their survival and figuring out what had happened to the rest of the Sect would take up a significant amount of time. Considering how large the dungeon was, they might have to remain here for a few days at the very least, if not longer. Rieren also didn’t know what the Sect’s intentions were yet.

In other words, cultivating had fallen in priority. What a dastardly state of affairs.

The only positive was the Abyssals themselves. If there were as many of them crawling in the dungeon as Rieren assumed, she would be able to accrue a decent number of Credits. That would allow her to purchase some interesting things from the System Shop, things that would alleviate all the fears she held regarding her potential progress.

“You think we can actually go to sleep for a bit?” Amalyse asked. It seemed she had managed to overcome her abashment at being so close to Rieren.

Rieren considered the question. She didn’t need as much rest, thanks to her advancement to Early-Awakened, but the same couldn’t be said for Amalyse, especially considering her injuries.

“I certainly won’t mind if you wish to rest,” Rieren said. “I can attempt to cultivate in the meantime.”

Amalyse sighed. “And you don’t need any rest?”

“Cultivating is rest. Or I suppose it would be if I had access to the correct Essence here. Hmm, then again…”

“What?”

“I do have some of the Essence I want nearby.”

“What do you mean?”

Rieren looked around. There was of course no sign of any of the lava they had been forced to navigate around and suffer tiny sprays of on the mountain. But hopefully, there were some not too far away. “Fire-Aspected Essence. I might not be able to add another Aspect to my Domain just yet, but it doesn’t hurt to channel it in preparation for when I can add it.”

“Actually, fire-Aspected Essence can hurt you…” Amalyse paused as she came to the same realization Rieren was counting on. “But no, you use water-Aspected Essence. That should counteract the heat.”

“Exactly.”

Rieren began cultivating as Amalyse closed her eyes and tried to rest. Sleep was actually beneficial in her current condition. It hastened all healing effects, and they would need Amalyse to be in as close to tip-top condition as possible considering the dangers present in the dungeon. Batcat helped with the effort, curling up into a warm fuzzball in Amalyse’s lap.

As Rieren had expected, the Essence she drew in really did make her grimace. The tunnel was suffused with the same corrupted Essence that she had rejected before.

During the last moments of Lionshard mountain, her sword had been able to purify the corrupted Essence, but only via killing. There was nothing to brutally murder here, sadly, so she was forced to contend with the Abyss-Aspected Essence.

Thankfully, the Essence she had been able to cultivate for a few weeks in her favourite little waterfall had properties that made the corrupted Essence less deleterious than normal. The mountain’s water had been suffused with a myriad Aspects, one of which had been Divine. That helped negate the worst of the effects of the corruption she was drawing in.

Rieren wasn’t able to draw in as much of the actual fire-Aspected Essence as she had wished. It was too sparse in her current location. They were likely too far from the lava.

As such, she didn’t truly mind when her attempt at cultivation was cut short not too long after she had started. A few hours later, the ground began trembling, tiny rocks and dust raining down from the ceiling. It seemed the mountain’s collapse hadn’t magically stopped the moment they had entered the dungeon.

“We must move,” Rieren said as she rose.

“Monkey’s balls.” Amalyse groaned as she tried to use the wall to stand by herself. “No rest for the haplessly injured.”

Loud cracks thundered through the walls and ceiling. Rieren’s heart started thudding. Things were perhaps far worse than she realized.

Once more ignoring Amalyse’s protests, Rieren lifted up her friend into her arms. Batcat had already taken its habitual position atop her head. Wasting not a moment longer, Rieren headed deeper into the dungeon.

Only to find her way blocked.

“Alright, this is getting ridiculous,” Amalyse said. “Not only is the mountain breaking apart, our path to safety is blocked by a giant boulder?”

Rieren’s mouth twitched. This boulder couldn’t have been placed here naturally. The walls and ceiling were still intact enough not to have dropped it from above or the sides. Someone had intentionally closed up the rear entrance.

She had no time to consider whether it had happened before or after the rest of the Sect had passed deeper into the dungeon. The shaking had grown worse. Everything was about to collapse.

Rieren was looking around frantically, unable to see much in the meagre light provided by the red crystal. Amalyse was staring at the way they had come as if considering if there was time for them to get back outside. That would be better than being crushed by the mountain entirely.

But then, Batcat yowled loudly, leaning forward at an angle to their left. Rieren turned and wonder of wonders, there was a crack in the walls just wide enough for them to squeeze through.

“Wait Rieren,” Amalyse said. “We have no clue what—”

With no time to wait, Rieren charged forward and through the gap. Larger slabs of the ceiling were falling atop them, the ground threatening to give way.

Unfortunately, as Rieren had thought, there was nothing immediately beyond the crack except a dark void. A void they would have to cross. Wishing she could clasp a hand over her ears at Amalyse’s scream, Rieren jumped.