Vivi woke up instantly after the discharge killed her. She flinched and sat up.

The scent of rain was gone. Vivi was back in the dungeon. She breathed in musty cavern air and let out a long sigh.

"Well," Vivi said. "The hunters are as nice as always."

"Yeah…" Lucius said. "Paradise is usually a good place to practice alone, but that can sometimes happen. Another hunting party spawned on us. It's rare, but it happened a few times with my old wielder too. The dream realm looks a lot larger than it actually is."

"I was just sitting peacefully and they decided to kill me," Vivi said. "I didn't even try to fight back. I didn't have a hostile aura active."

"Next time, we should just fight," Lucius said. "Even if we're sure to lose, we'll gain experience fighting at our limits."

Another sigh came out on its own. Vivi stretched her upper body. She moved the fingers of her right hand, feeling if there was any pain. Everything seemed normal. Venerium hadn't left lasting effects in small amounts. Maybe she was growing resistant.

Eem had cuddled around Vivi's leg beneath her raincoat. Her head was twisted in a way that would have caused lasting neck pain to any human. Vivi tugged Eem away with a laugh. "Did you sleep well?"

Eem yawned. For someone with so much energy, Eem sure was slow to wake up.

What was up with Ellinoir's weapon? Vivi asked. She just shot us with pure ether?

"Ellinoir is a mage," Lucius said. "Her attack was a classic ether discharge. It works by channeling ether into her staff and releasing it all at once. A discharge of ether is the most basic attack that almost every mage uses. Most mages also have interesting skills that require a staff to activate."

It didn't seem too difficult to dodge, Vivi said. I just didn't expect to be killed while sitting down doing nothing.

"Don't let it bother you," Lucius said. He looked slightly concerned.

I already know what the hunters are like, Vivi said. That was nothing new. Let's keep hunting. I'm interested to see what the hunters will say after my debts are cleared.

*

The next monster in the dungeon was the large giant skeleton with boulders for hands. According to Lucius, the giant skeleton was a basic monster—a stronger elite with twenty thousand ether, but still basic.

Regardless, it was the most ether-filled monster Vivi had fought. She decided to approach the elite as if it was a boss monster. Or at the very least, she treated the monster like it was a threat to her life. Its boulder-like hands would crush her in one blow if she got careless.

That meant Vivi had to make sure the playing field was as safe as she could make it. There were a total of six smaller skeletons alongside the larger one. She would have to clear the smaller skeletons first. Vivi prepared what she thought was a foolproof strategy: she threw a rock at the smaller skeletons in hopes of attracting them one by one.

The rock hit the ground, and the entire room became active all at once.

Oops, Vivi thought. Archer skeletons drew their bows and spear skeletons rushed toward her. The giant was awoken from slumber and took heavy steps.

"Don't panic," Lucius said. "The giant is too large to fit through the opening. Let's lure the smaller skeletons out."

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I know, Vivi thought. This will be a good warm-up.

She summoned her katana and focused on the archer skeleton. The ethereal arrows were the largest threat to her life. If one of them landed on any part of her body, she would probably just explode.

The archer didn't release its string. The giant skeleton approached first. Vivi stood behind the doorway, confused. The skeletons hadn't behaved this way before.

The giant skeleton raised its hand and slammed the boulder at the doorway.

Vivi was blown backward. The doorway and the wall around it collapsed into rubble. A gaping hole was left behind—large enough for the giant skeleton to pass through. It chased Vivi into the next room. The smaller skeletons followed. The room quickly filled with monsters.

Vivi gritted her teeth and pushed herself up. She called Abyss Destroyer and Lucius pushed out her full aura. This would get ugly.

It was already ugly. Vivi defended against two spear-skeletons, managing to barely keep herself alive. She glanced to her right, at the exit to the next room. The giant skeleton and an archer blocked her path. She was locked into the fight.

Adrenaline and ether pushed outside thoughts away from her head. Her warm-up was skipped; Vivi was immediately thrown into panic. One mistake would mean having her body blown open.

She weaved past spear tips, redirecting their shafts with her sword. She defended desperately. If she was just a little faster, she could keep up with two spear-skeletons.

The giant approached with surprising speed. It slammed its boulder down at Vivi, intending to crush everything.

The boulder slammed against the ground with explosive force. The shockwave flared Vivi's hair. One of the spear-skeletons was crushed beneath, killing it instantly.

The boulders seemed to be made of ordinary bone strengthened with ether. My sword should be stronger, Vivi thought. But its attacks are a lot heavier.

Smaller skeletons were already around her before she could worry about fighting the larger one. Before Vivi could get surrounded, she dashed at the leftmost skeleton and slashed at its sword.

Her venerium greatsword made short work of the sword skeleton. Vivi felt strong. Her movements felt a lot sharper, and she could feel the ether inside her body with much more clarity. Vivi couldn't control the ether yet, but she could feel the flow of ether violently strengthening every part of her body.

She ran for the next skeleton—an archer in the corner. It loosed an arrow directly at her. She slashed at the arrow, and a jolt shot through her limbs, but Abyss Destroyer was strong enough to cut the arrow in half. Vivi continued her run.

The archer panicked and pulled out a dagger. It was too slow. Vivi cut it in half in one clean blow. Venerium's rot devoured the corpse. Three out of six lesser skeletons were dead.

The giant skeleton had recovered from its attack. The three remaining skeletons approached Vivi with the elite behind them. They were about to trap her in a corner.

Vivi charged forward to offer herself more space. There was a spear-skeleton, a sword-skeleton, and a mace-skeleton. Nothing too worrying.

Vivi killed the sword skeleton with pure strength, Abyss Destroyer demolishing the skeleton's block. Simultaneously, the spear-skeleton thrust at her. Her chest was wide open.

Lucius! Vivi called in her thoughts. Lucius appeared in shield form, blocking the spear. With maxed out reserves, his shield was just strong enough to block the spear. Lucius's being blinked, taking heavy damage from the blow. Cracks appeared in his shield, and a thousand wisps were exhausted in an instant to keep him conscious.

Vivi growled and counter-attacked, killing the spear-skeleton.

The mace skeleton was last. It raised its weapon and cast it down at Vivi. Before its attack could land, a boulder-handed figure loomed overhead. The giant skeleton attacked, crushing the mace skeleton and cracking the floor underneath.

The edge of the boulder grazed Vivi as she was jumping back. This alone was enough to send her sprawling back to the ground. She tumbled, eventually collapsing ten or so feet away from where the blow had landed.

The skeleton was already lifting its boulder. Vivi's eyes were dizzy. The giant skeleton moved far faster than something its size was realistically allowed to move, but the weight of its boulders was still a disadvantage. The boulder came, and Vivi rolled to the side, jumping back to her feet. She resummoned Abyss Destroyer and swung at the skeleton's boulder, now stuck on the ground.

Her sword ripped through with little resistance. Vivi blinked in surprise. The boulder cracked, slowly crumbling.

The monster, however, didn't scream in pain. It almost seemed to be grinning. Vivi felt a chill.

The boulder shattered to pieces, revealing the skeleton's arm. A broad dagger—a katar—jutted out of the skeleton's forearm in place of a hand. The katar was twice the size of Abyss Destroyer. The blade was made of pure white ether and its surface was unstable and disfigured, barely holding together. Its presence filled the room with an aura of pure sizzling power, just like Andre's spirit blade. Except, the skeleton's blade had twice the amount of ether, and its swings carried three times the weight.

The skeleton swiped at Vivi. She gritted her teeth and blocked.

The impact sent her flying, and her back crashed against the wall, vision flickering dark.

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