"Ven's map says that guard patrols check the main dungeon," Vivi said. She stood in the middle of the stairway, where she didn't yet activate the monsters below. "The guards check at least the entrance."

"That would make sense," Lucius said.

"I'm guessing that the guards peek into the first room to check that everything is in order," Vivi said. "But I doubt they'll look deeper than that. If the first room looks normal, they'll assume that the rest of the dungeon is good as well."

"So you want to leave the first room looking normal?" Lucius asked.

"Yes," Vivi said. "We'll clear the dungeon from the third room onward, just to be safe."

"We'll need to sneak past, then," Lucius said. "The waterfall again?"

"No, we'd need to cross through enemy territory," Vivi said. "And I don't want to get soaked. I'm thinking we'll just run past again."

"Oooh, are you feeling crazy today, Vivi?" Lucius asked.

"Well, we're stronger now," she said. "The venerium sword… Abyss Destroyer can probably cut through the skeletons in one blow. And our wisps are full again."

"Still, running through at full speed will dim out a lot of ether," Lucius said. "We'll quickly run out. If you want to start clearing your debts, the ether we gain can't be used. It will be spent on your debts."

Vivi thought about it for a second. "Spirits can transfer ether to their wielders, right?" she asked. "Your dim wisps should still work in clearing my debts."

"Yes," Lucius said. "But anything I transfer to you will be gone indefinitely."

"What if you transfer dim wisps that we use to my debts and replace them with the fresh ether we pick up from monsters?"

"That… could work."

She nodded. "We're ready, then. Eem, hold on tight." She smiled and had the urge to rub Eem's cheek. But the situation was serious. They both had to focus.

I can't believe I'm willingly running into a dungeon filled with beyond maxed-out skeletons…

Lucius flew back to Vivi's core. Ether surged through Vivi's body from her legs to her eyes. The dim stairway around her lit up from the glow of ether rising from her skin.

I'm starting to think that the hunters aren't blessed at all, Vivi thought. Their glow has nothing to do with their names. They're just coated with ether. That's why they look angelic.

"That, and expensive clothes," Lucius said. "You'd be surprised to know how much ether the hunters spend on stylists and nonsense hair products. Add some ether into that, and the hunters look like they're reincarnations of Ythar himself."

Must be tough, defending humanity for a living. Let's go, Lucius. I'm ready.

"Ready."

Vivi summoned Abyss Destroyer, filled its runes with ether, and bolted into the level below.

The first room was smaller than Vivi remembered. Upon her arrival, the dungeon and its skeletons awoke like a rotten old water mill squealing back to life. The same skeletons were standing idly. They sprung into stance. Coffins opened, and skeletons filled the room.

By the time they were ready to fight, Vivi had already run to the next door. The second room woke up a lot faster. A wide-shouldered skeleton cast down its mace at her.

Vivi side-stepped and ran past it. Not yet, she thought. It's too close to the entrance.

Arrows shot at her from traps in the wall. Vivi jumped over them, Eem clinging tight around her neck. When she landed, a swinging blade fell from the ceiling. She swung at it with Abyss Destroyer before it could hit her head.

The blade trap was cut seamlessly in half. Venerium's rot caught onto the steel. A void-like darkness ate the metal, disintegrating it.

Vivi ran for the door and entered the third room. It was filled with coffins. A sword skeleton stood ahead of her, burning with thousands of blue wisps of ether. She couldn't run past this one. Vivi braced herself for battle.

The sword skeleton was still ridiculously fast. Its movements were comparable to Andre's. Its blade radiated a strong misty aura. A fire of ether burned inside its ribcage.

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Vivi activated the negative branch of Shadow Swipe. Her sword disappeared from the ethereal realm.

The sword skeleton couldn't sense Vivi's weapon anymore. It charged Vivi as if she was defenseless.

Time to test the sword for real. She swung wide, meeting the skeleton's attack with a slash of her own. Their swords collided with a heavy impact.

The skeleton's stance was blown wide open. A sizzling crack came from its blade as wisps of ether rapidly leaked into the air. Void-like rot filled the crack in the skeleton's sword. The sword began losing its shape, and its blue wisps quickly dissipated into the air.

Vivi had a free opportunity to attack again. She swung at its sword. This time, the already cracked sword snapped in half. Vivi's sword crushed her target. The skeleton's bones shattered like glass as the crush runes of Vivi's sword cut through its insides.

Lucius collected 686 ether from the skeleton and pushed some of his dim wisps to Vivi's core. She felt a sharp stinging as the number in her soul lessened by five hundred. She was now only 99450 ether in debt.

The coffins around the room were open, skeletons rising from within. Behind Vivi, the mace skeleton from the previous room was in pursuit.

She had no time to stand still. She ran forward into the next room—the huge hall with the giant skeleton with wrecking balls for hands. The towering monster's limbs grinded to life. Its gaping eyeholes saw Vivi. Skeletons all around the room attacked her.

Vivi killed one of the mace skeletons. Abyss Destroyer cut right through its armored shoulders, crush runes ripping the rib cage into bits. Monsters with seven thousand ether couldn't withstand the three-runed blade, even if they specialized in defense.

Lucius collected the ether, and Vivi continued the run. Too many skeletons were closing in around her. While she was strong enough to fight them one-on-one, getting surrounded by three or more could still mean death.

Vivi had always been a fast runner. She was Fellwater's cursed child. When she wasn't runesmithing, she was running from bullies. And now that she was maxed out with ether filling her legs, the skeletons struggled to keep up. Vivi ran past the dungeon, all the way to the shoreline, killing monsters that blocked her way.

The last few rooms still had the signs of battle from earlier. The skeletons Vivi had killed hadn't respawned. She ran past the coffins through the exit leading to the lake.

Vivi let Eem off of her shoulders, dropping the fiend into the safety of the shoreline. Then she turned to face the dungeon entrance, taking control of the chokepoint. Half a dozen skeletons still chased her.

The chokepoint allowed her to fight one-on-one. Without Eem on her shoulders, she could go all out.

Her first victim was another sword skeleton. Vivi activated Shadow Swipe, this time pushing out its full perspective-shifting aura. The sudden surge of ether coating her weapon made the skeleton hesitate. It chose to block.

Vivi cast a heavy overhead swing, snapping its sword in one blow. The skeleton died instantly.

The next one was a spear skeleton. This one, it turned out, was a much harder opponent.

Spears were a tough matchup for swords. The spear had more reach, letting the skeleton poke at Vivi from a distance. She was forced backward, trying to defend. If she attacked carelessly, the skeleton would have more than enough time to pierce her vitals.

Forward! Vivi growled in her thoughts. She side-stepped the skeleton's spear-thrust and lunged.

The skeleton attempted to jump backward, but a mace skeleton behind it blocked the escape. The spear skeleton was stuck.

Vivi swung from overhead, hitting both skeletons at once. The spear-skeleton died instantly, and the tip of her sword cut into the mace skeleton's upper torso. Venerium's rot ate into the burning blue wisps inside its ribcage, the glow in the skeleton's eyes turning black. It threw one desperate attack before it collapsed from the rot, dead.

Wow, Vivi thought. Venerium is that dangerous? If I cause a wound at all, it's enough to kill a monster with seven thousand ether?

Lucius was too busy collecting ether to respond.

Vivi was starting to feel Venerium enter her veins. The white obsidian wrap certainly helped, but it wasn't perfect. Vivi could only use Abyss Destroyer for a limited time.

Three more skeletons attempted to kill Vivi in the chokehold. She pushed forward, killing them with aggression before the venom could kill her as well. She overwhelmed a sword skeleton's blade, side-stepped a mace-skeleton's clumsy attack, then dashed forth, killing the last archer before it had time to take aim.

The dungeon fell silent.

Vivi hid her sword into spatial storage. She examined her right hand.

Her fingers were numb and pale. But only her fingers. Vivi felt like something was there, trying to kill her from the inside, but the ether in her hands fought the venom. There wasn't quite enough venerium to cause serious harm.

I'll need to find a better solution for this, Vivi thought. I can't poison my body every time we fight…

Lucius barely listened. He was ecstatic, munching on the ether on the ground. This short fight had earned them thousands of ether. Far more than what Vivi could have dreamed of earning on the surface.

After collecting it all, she was still over ninety-six thousand ether in debt. Everything they collected disappeared into the mountain of debt that Vivi was never supposed to clear.

But she had earned six thousand ether. In less than five minutes.

"Maybe this is possible," Vivi said. "Maybe I can actually do this."

"We can clear the first level, at least," Lucius said. "We'll have to see how difficult the lower levels are, and how many levels exist. Defeating the boss will be difficult without elevating your core."

"No, I'm not talking about the dungeon," Vivi said. "My debts. At this pace, I might actually live past my next birthday."

"Ah, right," Lucius said. "Of course. The debts should be easy to clear. Were you worried?"

"Lucius, you can be a little annoying sometimes."

The cat tilted his head. "What? When have I been annoying? I'm a spirit!"

Vivi sighed. She glanced behind herself. Eem was peeking into the dungeon curiously. She looked like she wanted to be involved in the hunt. Vivi probably needed to come up with something for Eem to distract herself with. The dungeon had no crawl spaces for her to traverse, and Vivi didn't need help navigating. For now, Vivi hoped Eem wouldn't do anything stupid.

Vivi wiped her forehead free of sweat, then summoned her two-runed katana. "Let's see if this one is any good. Fighting with a worse weapon should improve my skills as a swordmaiden if nothing else."

Lucius was already brimming with primal excitement. "We'll clear the first level today. Let's go."

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