The battle that ensued was a chaotic one. Faced with a swarm of enemies, Soren and Myrin deployed an onslaught of tactics to fight wave after wave. These were strategies that they had honed over the past two days after further observing the behaviors of the Soul Skinners.

Many of their actions at first seemed pragmatic, but under the scrutiny of [Eyes of the Fairy] and their inherent abilities both being able to track the enemy's movements, the Soul Skinners started to become more and more easy to predict.

Now, with their arms locked into each other, Soren could navigate the crowd of monstrosities using Violet Mirage far more easily than before. Every dodge felt effortless under the all-seeing gaze of the Hermit's Eye. Myrin on the other hand was busy casting nature magecraft to control the flow of the horde favorably.

As they navigated through the sea of shadows, the pair finally made it through one of the corridors—all around them, the shrieking wails of the Soul Skinners engulfed their surroundings.

This is a fucking nightmare…

The masterclass liar, Soren Andersen, was not lying this time. This indeed was a nightmare. One where a single bite from this swarm of beasts could mean the erasure of their souls…

"Focus on reaching the end!" Myrin yelled—almost accidentally breaking the illusion. He fired another volley of Blooming Burst spells into the crowd, distracting them.

In the meantime, they slid underneath another group of them while Soren nodded back. "I know! But there's too many of them! I have to keep track of all their perspectives or else the illusion fails!"

Not to mention, they had already discovered that these creatures had a supernatural instinct for locating living souls. This was especially true for Phantasms like them, who's Runic Existences contained fragments of an Abstract Rune as well…

So in a way, they were essentially screaming beacons trying to play hide-and-seek within a sea of eyes… Soren was putting as much anima into Violet Mirage as he possibly could, and yet, it all seemed futile in the end…

Out of nowhere, Soren felt something grab his shoulder. His heart instantly sank as he turned to see one of the Soul Skinners readying its soul-siphoning maw into a perfect lunge for his throat. In the last moment, he channeled his anima through his wand:

"Fairy Barrier!"

A glass-like texture manifested itself in between him and the fiend. Myrin saw this and casted Thorn Arrow, bursting a hole through the Soul Skinner's forehead.

Even though they had managed to stop this attack, the both of them knew that this was only the beginning. A thousand more similar assaults were about to head their way. Soren grit his teeth and sent more of his anima into Fairy Barrier. Soon, a massive glass bubble covered them both. The outside had already become submerged in darkness as the swarm raced to chew through his transparent shield.

"I guess it's time for plan B."

Myrin nodded in response, "Agreed." There was nothing else left to be said. Without hesitating for second, Myrin closed his eyes and imagined the proper axioms in their correct positions, then channeled his anima through the proper ratios.

His spell took no longer than a second to manifest:

"Summon Spirit: Lyiania."

Almost instantly, a form began to take shape before them. It was a strange snake with two dragonfly wings. The creature spun happily around Myrin, as if happy to see him.

"Hey there buddy…" He smiled nervously. "I get you're happy to be summoned into the real world again, but… Can you save it for later?" Myrin pointed to outside the glass barrier which was now covered in cracks.

"We're kind of in danger here…" He said pleadingly.

The creature looked out into the darkness then back at the pair. Soren was not amused at all.

"Tell it to hurry up—I don't think my barrier's going to last any longer…"

Myrin chuckled, "You heard him, right? Could you please help us?"

The spirit Lyiania did a quick spin before diving into the ground and vanishing from sight. The pair waited patiently under the veil of howling wails and the creaks of flimsy glass. Then, out of nowhere, the ground beneath their feet turned hollow.

Their bodies had become weightless once more.

It wasn't a deep fall—at least not in comparison to the chasm they had to descend just earlier. Up above, Soren watched in horror as the Fairy Barrier completely burst, flooding everything in darkness. With one final push from his willpower, he tried to hold them back for a few more seconds until the dungeon repaired itself…

And by some miracle, he was able to do just that. The hole that Lyiania had created was instantly sealed back up, separating them from the monsters. They were now buried beneath the dungeon's floor.

Almost instantly, Soren collapsed from exhaustion. His headache grew by the second as the world spun around him. Even his Soul Realm had shrunk by the end of that ordeal…

If this was a video game, this would count as cheating, right?... He thought. We just glitched through the floor of the dungeon…

Myrin rushed to his side. "Good job lasting out there…" He patted his shoulder.

Soren smiled, "What use does that do? We failed. The both of us underestimated the swarm. There were more left over than Rodrick had assumed."

"Indeed," Myrin sighed dejectedly. "This is honestly becoming a bit too strange… Even if there exists a source that continually creates these Soul Skinners, its output is far beyond what's normal… If we don't deal with this situation, this could seriously turn into a catastrophe for Celestine."

As he said this, Soren watched the tiny snake spirit land on his shoulder. He glanced at it for a moment then frowned.

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"Let's leave discussing that for later—I am more interested in knowing how much you had to pay this time." He had seen him summon this spirit before on the first day of their entry. Witnessing its ability shocked him greatly since the walls inside the Avalon Ruins were said to be indestructible, and yet Lyiania was able to manipulate them into creating spikes and other formations easily…

However, earth manipulation was exactly why it worked. Rather than 'destroy' or 'harm' the structures, Lyiania simply moved them out of their usual place and molded them into different shapes. Because of this loophole that Myrin had discovered, Star Fate Guild was able to maneuver through the dungeon far more easily than the other teams during the expedition.

Still, the ability was not without its flaws. The Dungeon Shroud can easily detect the changes this spirit makes and almost instantly correct them—meaning that the time they had to utilize the structures was far too limited. Even now, the hole they were currently resting in had to be constantly maintained by Lyiania or else they would end up forever buried underground.

And besides that… There was also the matter of cost. The anima it takes to manipulate these indestructible walls was far beyond what normal 3rd Circle spells consume.

Hearing his question, Myrin chuckled. "Two day's worth of anima."

"Two days?!" He glanced at the spirit and frowned.

"Don't worry—I'll pay it back later. Lyiania is kind-hearted and doesn't charge me interest."

It worried him, but he decided to accept Myrin's explanation. From what he understood of Demonology as a field, Spirit Summoning usually didn't entail permanent contracts, but a transactional exchange.

For every spirit summoned into the world, an equivalent amount of anima must be fed to the spirit in return. This was usually measured on days of anima output. So Lyiania demanding two days worth of anima was exactly that—the amount of willpower Myrin could generate during that time.

What's more, the rank of the spirit also impacts this transaction. Like Phantasms, they too have nine tiers of progression: Wisps, Shades, Phantoms, Specters, Vestiges, Eidolons, Mythrals, Sovereigns, and Seraphyxes. These rankings also apply to Spirit Beasts, which are simply creations made from conceptual Mysteries.

As of this moment, the current overall rankings of the Soul Skinners was around that of a Shade or Phantom. As for Lyiania, she was a Rank 2 Shade. One that has the ability to manipulate the earth.

"We're going to need her help for a while longer, so I plan to extend the contract."

Hearing Myrin's words, the spirit spun happily around him. Soren could almost taste its greed.

How gluttonous… Though, he couldn't really judge the creature. Spirits can only advance if they spread the influence of anima after all… Their way of existence was fueled by that desire.

"No its not—we have more things to care about than just anima," said a childish voice that entered his mind randomly. Hearing Tazzith speak, Soren couldn't help but roll his eyes and not reply at all.

"What, are you too afraid to respond to me because your friend is here and he might think you're crazy?"

"....." He continued staying silent.

"Fine. I'll just wallow in my cell for longer. How boring."

Soren scoffed, then looked over at Myrin. "We should rest here for a bit to recover our anima before heading out again. I say we dig our way toward the source of this madness."

"Agreed," Myrin nodded. "It's much safer this way. We'll leave Rodrick to handle those Soul Skinners above us."

"According to [Eyes of the Fairy], we have enough oxygen in this tunnel to last us a few hours." Soren leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes. "I don't know about you, but I am taking a nap."

The time Soren spent trying to sleep was plagued with visions of that mountain. A towering summit that pierced through the heavens themselves… He couldn't tell whether it was due to stress or the Dungeon's Shroud messing with his psyche. Though, whatever the reason didn't matter—he was simply annoyed beyond belief.

"Something's bothering you?" Myrin asked as he crawled forward through the tunnel Lyiania had created. Soren was following behind him as the screeching wails of the monstrous horde above continued to echo through the thin barrier. He could feel the Soul Skinners scratching at the surface of the floor—trying to claw their way through.

"Nothing, just annoyed that those bastards above us never get tired from their barking."

Myrin chuckled, "Nothing we can do about it. At least, for now."

"Oh? Did you think of something?"

"Nothing concrete yet," he nodded. "The geography of this dungeon floor is very strange, you see. It's almost as if they were manufactured to trap whatever was placed here from escaping. So our theory of there being a source… It's likely not the same type of source most dungeon explorers are familiar with."

Soren recalled the grand chasm they needed to enter and how deep it was… What's more, there was a strange barrier which blocked Myrin's illustrated bird from passing through.

"Now that I think about it," Soren said, "It is kind of strange how that barrier allowed us through… Do you think it's meant to be a trap—to allow humans inside and to never let them out?"

He had no previous experience in exploring dungeons unlike Myrin, so this sort of pattern was not yet something he could recognize. The handsome elf, however, shook his head:

"No, I believe it's the opposite. That barrier—it's meant to keep whatever was here originally from leaving. And most likely, the wards used for its creation have some sort of criteria for that kind of access control."

Soren recalled his own barrier spell which was created using material runes he had found on that Vynasian Voidstar Voyager's schematic. It was indeed true that wards allow for spatial control to be programmed with certain conditions in mind. His own spell also operated similarly—whatever he imagined as his ally could pass through the barrier without any obstruction.

Similarly, a condition must have been applied to the chasm's barrier too. Something that doesn't allow manifestations of Mysteries (like Myrin's illustrations or the Soul Skinners themselves) from passing through, but does allow human access…

"This doesn't make any sense though. If that barrier is still active, how were the Soul Skinners able to leave? They had managed to consume most of the other Spirit Beasts within the dungeon and even leave it entirely to hunt for humans on the surface…"

And it was then that Soren finally remembered something…

"The other side of the chasm?!"

"Indeed…" Myrin chuckled.

Before they had descended down the chasm, there was another path they could have taken… A path that was extremely dangerous according to Myrin's Flower Divination. It was across the other side of the chasm where the arched doorway was flooded in darkness—even with [Eyes of the Fairy], Soren had no way of seeing through its deception.

"Now that I think about it, the path we chose—descending down the chasm itself—was marked as less dangerous than simply crossing over it by your divination technique… And yet, look at the situation we found ourselves in anyway.

"If the chasm is this dangerous, then how much more deadly is that other path?..."

As he said this, Lyiania's tunnel curved sharply upwards. His Soul Weapon's map was not completely accurate but the path ahead was still correct—he could see above the floor using the Hermit's Eye while his Soul Realm was expanded out of the tunnel.

Myrin and Soren were now climbing up a steep slope. One that was likely leading to the other side of the chasm they had seen earlier. And with every step they took, the echoing wails of the shadow horde grew weaker and weaker… As if they too were afraid of what lies beyond the darkness.

At that moment, Myrin couldn't help but chuckle nervously at Soren's question.

"Isn't it obvious already what lies ahead?

"The Floor's Guardian. The one who freed this horde of shadows… and is probably now leading them…"

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