The Vampires were extremely tough, and the Adventurers had a difficult time breaking through them, even with Couzart, the Shadow Reaper. The Vampires had the intelligence and resilience of a Wight, and in addition, they had an innate ability to use the Mind aspect. Jeze felt the undead intruding on her thoughts, but she and the Proven were familiar with this type of enchantment from the Wendigo. It was, in some ways, easier to defend against than the Affliction Madness spell, which inflicted insanity on the entire body. The Mind aspect added thoughts, and if the target was aware, they could differentiate the intrusive thoughts where they became more annoying than controlling.

"Get out of my head," Rolfe growled.

The large Frostsworn Protector faced off against three pale-skinned Vampires armed with curved swords. The undead were unarmored and wore rotted clothes riddled with holes and dust. They had long white hair that reminded Jeze of cobwebs and red eyes. They showed their sharp fangs whenever they hissed and snarled. Rolfe deflected their attacks with his shield and countered with powerful thrusts of his spear. The undead moved fast and were graceful, except one dodged to the side where they entered Helga's line of attack.

"Ya! We faced the Wendigo, and that made us mad!" Helga roared. She cleaved the unfortunate Vampire in two with a devastating chop of her Dane axe.

Rolfe impaled another one, and Mikal flash froze the third when it was distracted over the loss of its comrades. Jeze blew the frozen Vampire apart with a fist-sized fire dart. Undead were typically more susceptible to fire, and Jeze had improved that aspect on this floor.

"Jeze, focus on finding the entrance," Dunar reminded her.

"On it," she replied.

Jeze replaced her Fire-channeling rod with the stone eye of the Corpse Eater. She closed her eyes and poured her Will into the object.

"Can you work a little faster?" Mikal snapped.

"You want to do this?" Jeze shot back.

"Enough!" Dunar shouted.

Undead rose from their graves all around the adventurers. The Vampires hid among the shambling corpses, which made it difficult to target them.

"We will help protect Jeze," Ahanu stated.

The Spirit Walkers were beside the Proven and assisted with creating a defensive circle around her. Paca's Sun aspect was a tremendous help against the Vampires. Her spell hampered the undead's impressive healing abilities and allowed the adventurer teams to kill them faster. I need to learn that aspect, Jeze reflected to herself. She knew that it was a combination of the Light and Fire aspects.

"Jeze, can you focus? In case you didn't know, we are fighting for our lives here!" Mikal snapped again.

She scowled at the Healer, but he was right. She returned to focusing on the Corpse Eater's eye.

"It's not here," she said.

"Then we keep pressing forward," Dunar ordered.

To their left, the Carls and Couzart charged a large group of undead and paved a way forward through the tombstone-filled cemetery. Jeze noticed that the Elite was not flying or showcasing incredible strength and speed. If she hadn't known better, she would have guessed Couzart to be Adept or even Adventurer ranked. What set him apart was that his Scythe shimmered and crackled with dark energy, and whenever its blade was sliced into a Vampire, the undead was immediately destroyed. This was even when they were out of range of Paca's Sun aspect spell. Elites have their limitations, she reflected.

"Miss Heng, we are defeating the Vampires with ease. Does this make us Adept ranked?" Rolfe boasted.

The tall Protector had just impaled a fast-moving Vampire with his spear, and he smashed the squirming monster with the edge of his shield to free his weapon. Helga and Dunar fought by his side against the howling undead.

"These are not the tier 6 or 7 Vampires. What you face are Lesser Vampires," Miss Heng replied.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Jeze snapped back.

Miss Heng glared at her and explained, "The curse of Vampirism can only be inflicted on a strong host. Most people flat-out die. The slightly stronger ones turn into ghouls. Stronger yet will become lesser Vampires. They will need to consume blood in order to grow stronger."

"So, we are facing hungry Vampires, ya?" Helga replied.

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Miss Heng nodded. "Precisely. That is a very accurate assessment."

Jeze's focus drifted from finding the entrance to the Core Tunnels to her friend, Swordslayer. He was trained in the Sanquine Blades style from the Vampire Lord, Vornicus.

"What about Vampire Lords?" Jeze dared to ask.

Miss Heng paused to glance at her with her narrow, dark eyes. It was another moment before she answered, "Those are Vampires that have fed on hundreds if not thousands of souls. Very dangerous and, fortunately, very rare. The Guild only knows of one reported Vampire Lord, and he wishes to expand his influence."

Jeze's heart sank. What dark future awaited Swordslayer?

"Everyone, prepare yourselves!" Dunar barked.

More zombies and ghouls charged the adventuring teams, and several fell to the ground from Zena's arrows. Rainia and Mikal provided constant healing. They not only healed the Proven and Spirit Walkers, but the other teams as well including Kash's team of Amber Guard. Despite their successes, they were severely outnumbered. This was the largest attack yet, and they were at risk of being overwhelmed.

"We must be near! Keep on fighting!" Berserker Orn roared.

The mighty Forstsworn was a sight to behold as he fought gracefully with dual battle axes. He dodged, parried, weaved, and countered with fluidity and grace. Each blow channeled power that was beyond human limits. Any undead that challenged Orn fell, whether they were zombies, ghouls, wights, or Vampires. It made no difference. Orn was at the peak of human ability and threaded on the supernatural. Jeze felt that he was ready to advance to the Elite rank.

The Corpse Eater's eye trembled and glowed with a faint light. Jeze's hands shook with excitement as the fighting intensified around her. Dunar, Rolfe, Helga, and Ahanu kept the monsters at bay, and the zombies' grasping hands came within inches of Jeze. But that did not deter her focus as she poured her Will into the stone. She needed to enhance the range of the detection spell that was placed within it. Jeze's mind ran through options and ideas, and then it came to her!

She tapped the Channeling tool necklace that Rainia had gifted to her and shaped the glyphs to Summon the Spirit aspect. Jeze grimaced as she felt the pain and sadness of the Spirit as it entered this realm. This strained Jeze's Will, but they were close! She had to succeed! With extreme effort, Jeze poured her focus into the stone and into the Spirit spell. This was challenging because she also had to fight off the doubt that threatened to consume her thoughts. Faith was needed for the Spirit aspect to be accurate. The answer came to Jeze! Just up ahead, an unassuming solitary tombstone was at the entrance.

"There!" Jeze cried.

"Everyone push forward!" Dunar roared.

The adventurer teams fought against the overwhelming odds and trudged forward through the mass of undead. Jeze Summoned the Earth aspect and Shaped walls of stone that she Controlled to push the mass of undead to the side to create a path. Mikal and Gunhild flash froze other groups and the way was clear!

But not without a price. A heavy price. Out of the corner of Jeze's eye, she watched a fast-moving vampire move past the defenses and attack the lady with the heavy jacket. The adventurer failed a Rune spell under pressure and was snatched away by the powerful undead.

"No!" Jeze cried. She tried to strike the Vampire with a ball of flame but missed.

With horror, Jeze watched as the Vampire sunk its fangs into the lady's neck and heard her final screams.

Miss Heng dragged Jeze away toward the Core Tunnel entrance. "She is lost. There is nothing we can do!"

The horde of undead broke past Jeze's walls of stone, and like a tsunami, they threatened to crash down upon the teams.

"Get in!" Orn roared.

The Berserker had pushed aside the tombstone and revealed a trap door. Orn lifted the heavy iron portal and stood guard as Couzart leapt in. Jeze was disgusted over the Elite putting himself above the others. In the end the Proven, the Spirit Walkers, Kash and his Amber Guard team, and the remaining Carls made it inside the Core Tunnels before Orn closed the door.

“What of the others?” Jeze asked.

Gunhild shook her head. “It is the nature of this cruel tower. The higher we go up, only the strong can persist.”

Everyone bowed their heads in silence for those that were lost. Mikal made a holy sign.

"Hmm, why was the door unlocked?" Kash wondered.

Jeze wondered at the tough life the veteran adventurer with the heavily scarred face must have had to be this callous. It’s the life we live, she reflected to herself.

The Core Tunnels looked exactly like the ones on the third floor. It was spacious enough for the teams to spread out. The walls and floors were tanned colored and lit up with glowing lines. The tunnel ran off in either direction and ended in opaque darkness. Jeze paused to study the dusty floors, and her sharp eyes discovered very faint tracks.

"That's because we are not the first to enter through here," she answered.

Couzart nodded and cautioned, "Everyone stay alert."

Jeze rolled her eyes and whispered to Mikal. "We should change his name to Captain Obvious."

Mikal's eyes went wide and the Healer shook his head while he silently admonished, "You will get us in trouble!"

"No respect," Miss Heng muttered. Of course, the Amber Guard Captain would hear Jeze's joke.

Couzart didn't seem to have noticed as he walked ahead to study the odd glowing walls.

"Which direction did they travel, and how many?" He asked Jeze.

She shrugged and answered, "It is very hard for me to tell. I just know others arrived through here based upon the subtle disturbances of the dust. Also, there are some marks that indicate weapons or armor had scratched the floor. I can not determine when or how many."

"I got another question for you all. How come the Vampires did not follow us here?" Kash asked. The scarred-faced Amber Guard studied the walls.

"That's simple. Something in here scares them," Miss Heng responded.

Her answer hung ominously in the air like a heavy fog before a rainstorm.