She wasn’t alone. There were the Arteroth clan troop with her, as well as Amalyse whom Rieren was rather glad to see then. Along with the ones Rieren had left, she found several of the other disciples she hadn’t seen in the dungeon yet—Cerill, Silk, Felorith and several older ones. There was Elder Gulit too.

No sign of Elder Alm, and if she wasn’t wrong, missing a few disciples too. Not to mention the majority of the guards and all the refugees. Perhaps they were securing the safety of those who wouldn’t be fighting.

Rieren would have been glad to see her father before entering the dungeon’s main chamber. She was also surprised the Sect leaders had decided against throwing everything at the Dungeon Core. It seemed they prioritized the safety of those under them, despite the fact they all had systems and classes now.

Or perhaps, if they all died, there would be others who could carry on the name of Lionshard Sect.

But aside from the expected ones, there were a large number of Ceramic Automatons who had been gathered at the far end of the tunnel, and they were all pinned to the ground. Strange metal stakes had them stuck to the floor of the tunnel, keeping them immobilized.

Rieren’s heart warbled in alarm at the sight, but a quick look proved that Kervantes wasn’t among them. That was somewhat of a relief. But the sight was still strange. Focusing a little Essence into her eyes showed Rieren that there was a strange white aura coming from the stakes and entering Essalina. Essence she couldn’t identify.

“You have found your entryway?” Elder Veylie asked as she approached. “Lady Arteroth?”

Essalina looked up from where she was trying to apparently murder an automaton by shoving around the stake it was stuck on. Rieren was just glad that Kervantes hadn’t come here with them to fly off in a wage against Essalina.

“Nearly there, Elder,” the Arteroth woman said. “I am glad you have managed to arrive here alive. And you’ve brought a guest as well, how delightful.”

Oh great, now Rieren was going to have a much more difficult time evading Essalina’s attention.

Thankfully, there was Elder Veylie to interrupt her. “How much longer will you need?”

“I’m not certain.” Essalina pulled out the thin metal stake then stabbed it back in, which made the automaton twitch a little. “These little mechanical dolls are more resilient than I had originally given them credit for.”

“We do not have much time.”

“I. Am. Aware.” Each of Essalina’s words was punctuated by a twist of the stake. “And. I. Am. Trying. To. Be. Fast.”

Rieren pulled away from the little group to meet up with Amalyse. They were too close to the others to speak as freely as Rieren would have liked, but they would have to make do.

“What is going on here?” she asked.

Amalyse had a look that was partly relieved at Rieren’s safe return, and partly angry. Though, Rieren felt the latter emotion was directed towards the Arteroth scion, not her.

“She will use the power of the dungeon to break through the dungeon’s walls,” Amalyse said. “I find the use of the Automatons to be deplorable.”

As did Rieren to an extent, but if the method would truly work, she couldn’t fault Essalina for attempting it. Kervantes would not appreciate it, however. Conundrums, conundrums.

“I need to go,” Rieren said. “Do you want to come with me?”

“If you were going to leave, why did you even come here in the first place?”

“To make sure you were alright.”

Amalyse looked like she wanted to be angry for some reason but failed to find a proper reason for it. “Where you will be going?”

“To help the final fight, but from a different angle. Tell me if you want to come along with me, Amalyse. There is no time to waste. I believe the Sect Leader is trapped on the other side of the chamber.”

Amalyse pursed her lips. “What happened to Folend?”

Rieren briefly told her what had happened, explaining the memories she had seen via Batcat’s powers. Amalyse’s anger intensified as she learned about the reason behind Folend’s death.

“I think I will stay here,” she said. “I can do the most while I’m with the others.”

A small part of Rieren was a little miffed at the rejection. She crushed it, though. Amalyse didn’t complain about Rieren leaving her all the time. She, Rieren, didn’t have the right to complain about Amalyse not tagging along.

They trusted each other enough to know that, despite their disparate moment-to-moment goals, none of it was a jeopardy to their friendship.

“Then take care,” Rieren said.

She was about to turn and surreptitiously head back the way they had come. They were far enough away from the others that it wasn’t supposed to be a problem. Unfortunately, that was when Essalina caught sight of her.

“Leaving already?” the Arteroth woman asked with a sly grin. She was already near them. Rieren hadn’t caught sight of her moving. It seemed she was content enough to let her soldiers handled the rest of the business with the captured automatons. “We are just about to begin the invasion of the Dungeon Core’s chamber. Will you not join us, Rieren?”

Rieren made an exaggerated showing of looking around. “I do not see any Masked Avatars anywhere near us, Essalina. As such, I see absolutely no reason to help the Arteroth with anything. In fact, you ought to be happy that I am not hindering you in the first place.”

Essalina tutted. “Your paltry efforts at diverting the subject won’t work on me. I certainly won’t be stopping you from shattering your honour.”

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

“I will return before the fight begins. But unlike you, I have people I care about that I wish to find and speak to before I sacrifice myself in a vain pursuit of glory and power.”

Essalina frowned at that but didn’t reply immediately. It looked the conversation might die down then. Rieren had come up with the little lies as she had approached just in case she was stopped and questioned. And now, they had come in handy.

But as she was about tot turn ad head off again, Amalyse spoke up. Apparently, the anger that had bene building within her could no longer be held back.

“I would watch myself if I were you, Essalina,” she said.

The Arteroth scion slowly turned her head to stare at Amalyse. It was somewhat nice to see that she too had to raise her head, if only a little, to meet Amalyse eyes.

“What do you mean?” Essalina asked.

“Exactly what I said. You should remember that the last time you got caught up in some stupid trouble of your own making, your whole clan died.”

As a master of cultivation, Essalina was more than adept at hiding any reactive expressions from popping up on her face. But her eyes held all the anger that her face refused to betray.

“Is that so?” she asked.

Amalyse snorted. “You might have killed me, but you died to Rieren, and you know what happened next? Your whole clan came one after another to claim revenge, and eventually, they all fell as well. Your entire Archnoble clan eradicated because you were the one to die.”

That was not the whole truth. Rieren might have managed to defeat Essalina in the previous timeline, but she certainly hadn’t had the strength to take on an entire Archnoble clan by herself. It was simply a matter of others coming into the fray that caused the true destruction of the Arteroth clan.

With Essalina’s death, a significant enough vacuum of power had opened up in the Arteroth’s ranks, which had led to sever internal strife. Enough that other clans, both minor and major, had done their best to take advantage of their disarray.

And of course, there were all the monsters ravaging the Elderlands. The Arteroth clan hadn’t lasted long after that.

Essalina’s face had turned hooded at the reminder. She was still attempting to suppress her anger, but it was flaring brighter and hotter than ever in her eyes. “Did you not mention that there were no Masked Avatars among us? Perhaps I should take advantage of that fact as well and end you where you stand.”

Amalyse was undaunted as ever. “My family charged you with my protection. If you don’t intend to keep your word, well…”

A big part of a clan’s power was in their ability to keep promises to those they weren’t in direct enmity with. Under the auspices of the Forborne Emperor, they were all supposed to cooperate. As such, they were all allies now, whether they wished it or not. They didn’t have any recourse to betray each other, especially not with so many witnesses around.

“Commander!” one of the soldiers yelled. “They are ready!”

Behind them, the automatons flared to life. A soft white light seeped from cracks all over their body, shimmering as they sought to come out.

Essalina glared at them both. Her eyes settled on Rieren for a moment. “Pray that you survive your next counter with the Masked Avatar, Rieren Vallorne. I won’t be there to save you again, but I desperately need you to live. Once this all dies down, once all the ties that keep us constrained are no longer in effect, I will destroy you.”

She whirled around to march back to the automatons before Rieren could reply. For herself, Rieren licked the inside of her mouth, then turned away as well. It needed a force of will.

“Take care, Rieren,” Amalyse said faintly behind her.

She paused. Then she plucked Batcat, who had been sleeping on her head all this while, off her head. “Keep it safe for me, will you?”

Amalyse blinked as she accepted the kitten into her arms. “I am about to enter a vicious battle. You wish for me to keep Batcat safe?”

“Well, I was speaking to Batcat.”

They stared at each other for a moment, then shared a little laugh. It died quickly, but it did finally rouse Batcat. The kitten murmured and stretched in Amalyse’s cupped hands.

“So adorable,” she whispered. She looked up Rieren with a fierce smile. “But yes, I will keep Batcat safe. If there is time, I will send it over to your father, for I suspect you aren’t going there.”

“I am not. See you later.”

Nodding a farewell, Rieren quietly left the group. She thought she noted some eyes following her. The back of her neck itched as it often did when she suspected she was being watched.

But that concern felt old. It felt selfish. Ever since she had entered the dungeon, her priorities had shifted. Everyone’s priorities had shifted.

The deaths of Auri and Eneyra didn’t necessarily mean there were no more disciples—or others—who wished ill upon her. But at the same time, it was hard to care about things like that when they were all so desperately trying their best to survive.

Many of them wouldn’t survive if the Sect didn’t.

Rieren wound through the tunnels until she arrived at the fork that Kervantes had mentioned. She took the path that led left—now her right, since she was coming back up—and soon found the crack that led to the Fellserpent-dug tunnel that Kervantes had mentioned.

As Rieren headed on, darkness shrouded her for the most part. There wasn’t much light in the dungeons, but here, it seemed as though the lightlessness was much more absolute. Rieren couldn’t tell if the floor before her or the walls and ceiling around were in place or not. She was forced to feel her way forward, which greatly slowed her down.

Worse, the floor was slippery too. There was the constant tip-tap of water like rainfall, and Rieren was constantly pelted with tiny droplets. The Fellserpent’s digging must have breached the bottom of a pool on the mountainside.

“Have you finally arrived?”

A light went up ahead, revealing Kervantes’s location. He was kneeling on a rocky surface, sending pulse after pulse of his violet aura into the earth. She focused some Essence into her eyes. All the little raindrops had golden lines shooting through them, proving they carried bits of Divine Essence, but it also showed her that Kervantes was using Essence too.

It wasn’t unheard of for non-living things to channel Essence. Many weapons held the ability. So did the Malformed Root. Though, all of those required their user to channel through them. The act of taking in and using Essence required a conscious will, which most such things certainly didn’t possess.

So, was it the fact that Kervantes possessed a will that allowed him to control Essence like a cultivator? Or was it something more sinister, like the dungeon controlling him in some way…

Rieren decided to push those thoughts out of her head for the time being. They had to focus on their main objective for the moment.

“Have you finished?” she asked, stepping carefully over him. For all she knew, one unwary step was what would cause everything to collapse, and then they’d fall into the chamber before they were ready. A potentially disastrous development. “I was not confident about walking towards you, though I suppose you are weightier than me.”

“Is it not a custom for you humans to not make comments about one’s weight?”

“Why do you know of human customs?” Rieren paused. “Actually, do not answer that. It would only make me more curious about… things, and we do not have the time to sate my curiosity.”

“You are correct. We are almost ready. Did you meet with the rest of the invaders? How are things looking?”

Rieren grimaced, hoping Kervantes couldn’t see the expression. She couldn’t very well tell him that Essalina was taking advantage of his companions for her own gain. Even worse, none of them had stopped it.

So, she focused on what mattered.

“We can use them as a distraction,” Rieren said. “They are about make headway into the main chamber.”

Kervantes looked up sharply. His face was still mostly a blank ceramic mask, but Rieren got the suspicion that he might have been surprised. “You intend to sacrifice them?”

“I said distraction, not sacrifice. But before we make further plans, I need to see what exactly is within that chamber. You can grant us a view without alerting anyone to our presence, yes?”

“Yes. That is what will happen with the first part of my plan. The second part is determining our best of approach.”

Coincidentally, that was when the whole place began shaking. Rieren knelt down as the surface they were upon threatened to give way. Her heart spiked in alarm at that prospect but managed to calm down when she found she wasn’t in any immediate danger. Though, that soon gave way to trepidation when she heard the screams.

In the distance, her companions had entered the dungeon’s main chamber. The battle had begun.