The cramped undecorated hallway resembled a catacomb. Vivi's hair scraped against the ceiling if she stood straight. The ground was cold and undecorated, and the space was narrow enough that a larger man would have had to squeeze their shoulders or move sideways. Weapon holsters had been carved into the wall.

There were two black masked figures. To her left was the man that spotted her awake. To her right was a shining black blade, coated with a misty aura of ether. An asmite runesword. The wielder was a tall man, wearing a similar black mask.

"That man is maxed out with ether!" Lucius called. "He's dangerous!"

Vivi immediately ran to the left—the direction where the old man had gone to toss Eem out. The black mask grabbed a spiked mace from the weapon holsters and held it out to defend.

Vivi summoned her runesword and activated Shadow Swipe. Her crystal mithril runesword lost its shape again, cloaked by a confusing ethereal aura, consisting of black and purple, weird colors and mirror-images. Vivi felt the sword in her hands as clearly as ever. The weird perspective-shifting cloak was merely visual.

And the visuals worked. Her opponent had no idea what he was looking at. He stood with the mace in a defensive stance while Vivi ran at him.

The mace had no runes. Vivi swung at it, cutting the mace in half. Her sword quickly pierced the man behind the mace. She kicked his body out of the way and ran for the exit.

"Behind, watch out!" Lucius shouted.

The maxed-out runesword wielder was already behind her. Vivi gritted her teeth and turned around, holding her runesword to block an overhead swing. The impact sent a jolt through her body. There wasn't much room to swing in the hallway, but her opponent was maxed out with ether. He was exponentially stronger. Vivi's only advantage was her inside-carved sword.

Her opponent's black blade had at least two runes—Vivi knew from the two interwoven vein networks carved on the outside. She had no time to spare a glance at the hilt to know what runes the sword had. The veins were expertly carved with far more precision than the average sword that Zand's guardsmen wielded.

Vivi couldn't fight this opponent. She had to run. Lucius, throw claws at him!

She turned around and ran for the exit. Lucius showed himself and threw a claw-swipe behind her.

The attack wasn't much of a distraction. The runesword wielder cut right through, barely losing any speed.

Vivi burst through the door, finding herself in a totally new area of the dungeon. The walls were shiny and reflective, making her surroundings hard to distinguish. An inch of water covered the ground. Rocks poked out as footholds. The ceiling looked to be made of ice or solid crystal. A ray of blue light cast through the ceiling, illuminating the cavern with a subtle beauty.

At the far end of the cavern was a raging river. The flow of water wasn't just a river; a waterfall splashed right beside her, loud enough to overpower the footsteps behind her.

Vivi's heart dropped. They'd tossed Eem in there!

She ran parallel to the flow of water. The runesword wielder was closely behind. Lucius threw claws in a desperate hope to keep him occupied. The man had no trouble cutting down every attack.

Vivi looked into the water, hoping to see where Eem could have possibly ended up in. The river continued down rampantly into the next cavern.

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The path itself came to a dead end. Vivi lifted her head to find herself running at a wall. Its shiny surface reflected light as if it were a mirror. There were no openings.

The runesword wielder was right on her tail. Lucius threw one last claw-swipe before returning to Vivi's core in a panic.

There was no choice but to fight. She filled her runesword with ether and prepared to exchange blades.

Her opponent approached as a flash of light. The black asmite runesword was in Vivi's vision for a fraction of a second, aiming for her head. The next moment, the sword collided. The impact knocked Vivi out of her weak stance. Even if her sword was stronger, her feet weren't. She stumbled backward. The black mask moved like the wind, leaving Vivi no opportunities to counterattack.

This was the power of a runesword wielder at full force, maxed out with ether and with decades of practice. Vivi didn't stand a chance. She was knocked back with each blow, uselessly defending.

Her new skill made it difficult for her opponent to see her weapon, making it difficult to land a fatal blow, but even with its help, Vivi had no chance of slipping in an attack of her own.

She gritted her teeth, blocking, looking for an opening to escape. Her opponent's blade leaked ether, slowly running out of power, but Vivi herself was spending a lot of ether just to keep herself standing. The black mask had a lot more ether in his reserves. Vivi would be the one running out if the exchange went on.

Lucius, whatever happens, keep me alive! she shouted, then prepared for something risky.

Vivi jumped backward, into the raging river.

The current devoured her, pulling her into the flow immediately. Water splashed into her eyes and face. The cold made her panic; she flailed her arms in hopes of grabbing something.

As the immediate shock calmed down, Vivi lifted her head above water. Lucius pushed ether into her body, protecting her skin from the cold and making her more aware. The river took her to the next room over. Ahead, the walls seemed to reach an end.

No, that wasn't the end. It was another descent. Vivi was headed for a waterfall.

She couldn't do anything to stop. Ether helped her stay conscious, but she couldn't fight the river's flow. The waterfall ate her, and she began falling.

She braced for impact, but the fall kept descending, passing hundreds of feet.

The impact hit. Vivi crashed into the rocks at the bottom of the river, her back taking the impact. The wind was knocked out of her lungs. Water flowed in. She coughed violently.

Miraculously, she stayed conscious. The hit was bad, but Vivi had suffered worse just days prior. The skeleton boss had hit her with much more force. Vivi recovered, finding her head above water. She coughed water out of her lungs.

Her eyes opened just in time for her to prepare for the next impact. The river tossed her into a rough patch of stone. Her back scraped against the prickly rock as the water redirected itself around the obstacle in the river's path—before Vivi, too, was tossed back into the violent stream.

Icicles lined the low ceiling above her, mere inches from her face. There was no room to pull herself up even if she managed to grab something.

She floated along the waves for another minute, looking for anything, the slightest hope of an exit, a glimpse of Eem's white hair. Anything to bring her to safety.

The next waterfall loomed ahead. Vivi cursed in her thoughts, yet nothing she could do would stop the waterfall from eating her. She entered the descent, bracing herself for another impact.

At the bottom was a lake. Vivi was thrust into deep waters, diving tens of feet under the surface, until eventually, she was pushed back to the surface. She caught her breath, finally out of the river's current. She pushed hair out of her face and examined her surroundings.

The ceiling was tall, at least a few hundred feet up. The lake spread all around her. The water was dark, but its surface dimly reflected colors. In the distance was one spot of land that led to a tall brick structure, glowing blue, that led to what Vivi feared was another boss room.

She didn't care about any of that. Where is she? Lucius, you see anything?

She scanned her surroundings for anything at all. Her throat felt increasingly heavy as she searched. The river and waterfalls would have killed an adult human. Without ether, Vivi would probably have died from the first fall. Even with ether, her back could still feel the impact.

Eem had been tossed into the same river. Those heartless, murderous black-masked monsters, they…

Vivi spotted something moving in the water. White hair with a little bit of pink. Vivi's heart sent a thump through her whole body. Eem was swimming with sluggish movements, face tired and afraid.

Behind Eem, a large fin poked out of the water, chasing after its prey.

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