It felt as if a thousand steel plates were stacked on top of her, crushing her against a hard surface. Her limbs were strapped and nailed to the ground. Her head pounded, panicked from the absurd amount of pain in every part of her body. Her insides felt like a rampant factory about to self-destruct—throat squeezed shut and dry as a desert, stomach about to explode from the inside, lungs throbbing for seemingly no reason at all.

"Oh, you're awake!" an enthusiastic voice said in her head. "How are you feeling?"

Vivi couldn't respond. Her body tried to fight back the pain from the inside, heart pounding a million times a minute. It seriously felt like she was going to die. Lucius! she screamed in her thoughts. Ether!

"Ah, yes, coming right up," Lucius said. He pushed a slight amount of ether into her body, around fifty wisps.

Slowly, the explosive sensations inside her began to calm down. The feeling of being crushed to death soothed to merely a tight squeeze on her chest. Still concerning, but not deadly. Vivi lay perfectly still, making sure that no surprises were awaiting for her if she decided to move a limb.

Holy mother of ether… Vivi thought. Lucius, please never let me experience that again.

"Sorry, I thought you were recovered enough to withstand without ether," Lucius said. "Looks like you'll still need time to recover. Your body is so damaged that even existing without ether hurts you."

The ceiling was high and open. No, not the ceiling. That was the sky. The daylight gems were dim and blurry. Vivi wasn't certain whether it was morning or evening. She was laying on a patch of moss next to a brown lifeless tree. The fourth level was as dead as always, though this patch of forest was thick and surrounded by small mounds.

Burning logs crackled to her right. Vivi turned her head to see a man in a black jacket sitting by a campfire. It took her a moment to recall who he was. Black hair, smooth skin, no horms, and a slight coating of ether around his skin…

Vivi flinched.

"Good morning, Vivian," Andre said.

Vivi tried to push herself to sit. Ether helped her get halfway, before she collapsed on her own weight, back onto the moss.

"Lie down," Andre said. "You're in no danger."

The ether hunter sat calmly, holding a small slab of meat with a stick above the fire. His aura wasn't threatening or authoritative like it usually was. Vivi felt a sense of danger nonetheless.

"How are you feeling?" Andre asked.

"Awful," Vivi said. She tried to push herself up again, only to fall. No matter what she tried, her muscles were too weak. Using too much strength sent a sudden wave of pain through her body.

Andre snorted with slight amusement. "Rest, poor girl. I've never seen someone abuse ether as thoroughly as you. Getting up now is a fool's errand."

Vivi would have loved to argue, but Andre was right. She wasn't ready to get up. Not unless she abused ether further. She knew she was in no shape to smith proper weapons. Trying to push through would only slow down her recovery.

But lying down powerlessly next to Andre, of all people, was uncomfortable. Vivi tried to push herself up one more time, only to fall back on the moss, this time with a painful thump.

"You have proven yourself to be foolish," Andre said. "I'm not arguing against your lifestyle. But you really should rest."

"How long was I out?" Vivi asked.

"Three days," Andre said. "Lucius and I have had a merry time keeping your body awake."

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

Vivi blinked. Lucius, you've been working with him?

"To keep you alive, yes," Lucius said. "Andre's help was useful. I couldn't feed you potions on my own, could I?"

Has he actually helped me? This murderous man?

"He probably has some ulterior motives," Lucius said. "But so far, he has been adamant in saving you. Without him, we would have been caught outside Zand's walls, or we could have been killed by stray monsters."

My katana is missing, Vivi thought, looking into spatial storage. Every other weapon was there, except for the two-runed katana Uundref had wielded.

"Andre took it," Lucius said. "I doubt he's going to give it back."

Vivi watched as Andre turned the slab of meat around. He remained calm. Vivi's memories recalled a very different man from the one sitting next to her. She hadn't even been tied down.

Losing one two-runed katana was a small price. Assuming Andre really had just saved her life with no further tricks.

"Thanks?" Vivi said. "I guess?"

"This isn't out of kindness," Andre said.

"I know. But I'm alive."

A slight smile appeared on Andre's face. "You helped me escape, and you dealt with Uundref," he said. "I respect the assistance, even if working with me was never the intention."

"I was never against helping you escape," Vivi said. I just don't appreciate it when your followers try to assault me. Or when you try to kill me because I don't follow your orders. She kept the last part in her head. Instead, she asked, "Is my bounty still active?"

"It is," Andre said. "I could take you to the third level for a quick profit. My locium stashes were lost as well. Without you, I'm leaving the fourth level with nothing at all."

"Will you take me to the hunters?" Vivi asked.

"That depends," Andre said. "I'm going to be welcomed back as a hero regardless of whether I bring you with me or not. I could tell them you ran off deeper into the underground."

"You're scheming something more profitable than my bounty," Vivi said.

"I could tell you exactly what I'm planning, and you'd say I'm lying." Andre leaned back, eyes on his slab of meat, and said, "I found Uundref's dead body next to yours. You killed him with your runeswords. A zero elevation hunter such as you should never hold a chance even with your swords. How did you do it?"

"I crafted a stronger runesword," Vivi said. "And I was hiding my powers."

That wasn't entirely a lie. Vivi was a lot stronger with Abyss Destroyer. And she did have an ascension skill now.

The real reason for her strength was foreign to her as well.

Vivi looked into her sixth sense. She felt the weird void core hidden within her, empty, but clearly hungry. Tendrils fluttered idly around it, as if the core was trying to grab something from its surroundings.

Vivi still wasn't certain how she felt about her new core. The void ether hadn't killed her, but its effects had taken away her eyesight, sense of smell, her hearing, replacing all senses with the odd death sense. With its help, Vivi defeated Uundref's countless years of practice. She hadn't defeated him by surprise; death sense made her faster and stronger, enough to overpower Uundref in a straight-up duel.

The one hundred void wisps in her core were slow to recover. Only ten of them had recovered during her two days of rest. Ninety were dim. The void wisps seemed to work somewhat similarly to regular ether.

We'll need to figure out how to gather more void wisps, Vivi thought.

"You're not worried about their dangers?"

Vivi took her time responding. Well, we're still alive. You seem to be just fine.

Lucius let out a wry smile. "You're growing hungry for power. You're hooked."

What? I'm still just a cursed runesmith. Are you saying I've changed?

"No," Lucius said. "You're not wrong. The void wisps are seriously powerful. We'll at least need to figure out how exclusive that power is. How hard are the wisps to gather? Is it harmful for us to use them long term?"

For now, we'll use the void wisps as a last resort, Vivi thought. We'll approach them with caution.

Andre watched Vivi suspiciously. He had a spirit too; he knew Vivi was talking to Lucius in her head.

"Sorry, I'll speak out loud," Vivi said. "I defeated Uundref with my runeswords. The katana you took from me is a two-runed sword. It's powerful, but it's nowhere near the level of my three-runed swords. Runesmithing is powerful. I think I've grown strong enough to prove my worth for the hunters now."

"Many hunters already have their eyes on you," Andre said. "Including me."

"Where's Eem?" Vivi asked. "You were with her."

"The fiend?" Andre asked. "Ran off with the nimrods. She's stuck in the dungeon with everyone else. The Twilight Shaman is containing the nimrods outside. The demon king's troops will arrive for cleanup soon. From there, nimrods will be brought to their next destinations."

"I see..." Vivi said. Eem was probably okay. She was a survivalist. Could we save her? Vivi thought.

"Would be stupid," Lucius said. "You're in no shape to fight the Twilight Shaman."

She bit her lip. Eem was alive, at least. For now, it seemed it would take time before they would meet again.

"You're on your way to the third level, right?" Vivi asked, turning to Andre. "Take me with you. If you help me, I can craft all of your hunters a runesword in return. I need to free Grandpa and clear my name."

"That…" Andre wore a difficult expression. "Is going to be difficult. Thomas Warren's Son is dead."

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.