Vivi stood by the stairway with her claws ready. If the skeletons still chased, a narrow stairway was her best bet at cutting them down. Eem was focused, staying in stance, as if intending to fight as well.

They held the position for a minute. No skeletons came.

“Looks like this is as far as the skeletons come,” Lucius said. “We’re out of their area.”

“We escaped…” Vivi said. “I can’t believe it.”

Lucius laughed. “You sprung all the traps. A hundred different objects must have tried to kill you, Vivi.”

“What was that giant skeleton?” Vivi asked. “Was it a boss?”

“No, that looked like a regular monster,” Lucius said. “Just an elite one. The boss is a lot deeper.”

Vivi’s breathing slowly calmed down. She gave Eem a smile, still in disbelief over the whole situation. She’d lost her weapon. Her raincoat had holes all over, revealing skin beneath. Thankfully, it wasn’t ripped into pieces.

But she’d saved Eem from the depths.

Behind her, she sensed a weak ethereal aura charging after her. A fangling ambushing her from the dark. Vivi swiped a lightly charged claw in its direction, cutting it in half as if it was a blade of grass. The fangling appeared slow now. Its claws appeared dull. At most, they’d give Vivi a light cut.

Lucius’s tail moved back and forth. It wasn’t a full wag, but he was excited nonetheless. His eyes pointed down in the dungeon. “A dungeon of this scale must drop a rare skill at the very least.”

“You’re not thinking of heading back down already, are you?” Vivi asked.

Lucius turned back to Vivi. “It would be good if we cleared it.”

“That would stop Zand’s monsters from respawning,” Vivi said. “The Stewards would know we cleared the dungeon.”

“If we clear the boss, we might grow strong enough to defeat the Stewards.”

Vivi sighed. The last time they won a fight against a boss, she passed out and got captured. The same would probably happen if they fought the main boss.

“For now,” Vivi said, “let’s head back to the hub and reassess our goals. And let’s move carefully. The hidden dungeon has demons in it. The black masks are probably looking for us. Eem, what do you think is the safest exit?”

The fiend pondered for a few seconds, then climbed on Vivi’s back and pointed out of the boss arena. They were back on familiar ground. Eem knew this part of the dungeon like it was her home village.

Lucius, don’t push more ether into my body than we need, Vivi thought. Nearby demons can sense large surges of ether, right? I could sense stronger monsters down in the dungeon. If we walk with a lot of ether, we might be found.

“Correct,” Lucius said. “I’ll give you just enough to defeat the fanglings.”

Vivi exited the arena and was immediately ambushed by more insects. During the few days she’d been away, webs had been rebuilt and most of the fanglings had respawned with the exception of their boss.

Even without her full aura, Vivi one-shot the fanglings without issues. The fanglings could barely be called monsters anymore. Swiping them down with Lucius’s claws was as easy as stomping on ants. Lucius collected half an ether from each kill.

Vivi kept her sixth sense active. If there were demons around corners, she tried to sense their auras. If someone dangerous was lurking around, she could probably feel their ether. After practicing activating Shadow Swipe, Vivi’s sixth sense felt a lot clearer.

The dungeon seemed free of ether, but for the weak fangling ambushes. Vivi doubted the black masks occupied this part of the dungeon. Their gang was still just nimrods. Vivi guessed they, too, were hiding from the Stewards.

Still, Vivi stayed cautious. If it wasn’t the black masks hunting her, she could get caught by a guard patrol. The hidden dungeon had always been a risky hunting spot. Vivi just hadn’t understood how risky.

Eem led Vivi to the exit where they’d last entered—the trapdoor leading to Zand’s hollow walls. Vivi crawled into the hidden trapdoor within the wall, and through the hole leading back to Zand. Eem peeked past the black curtain to see if the area was clear.

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Nobody was waiting for them. Eem climbed down the wall. Vivi followed, dropping down to the alley behind the storehouse.

Peeking into the hub, Vivi saw people for what felt like the first time in ages. She almost felt like she was returning to civilization, if Zand’s screwed up hub could be called that.

A commotion could be heard in the distance. A crowd of people were talking near the center of the hub. “Is it collection day already? Have you counted the days?”

“Collection day should be today,” Lucius said. “I don’t think it has started yet. We would hear whipping and screams if it had.”

Right… Vivi thought. “Eem, let’s buy some more orbs to pay off our part to the Stewards. Do you remember how we did it last time?”

Eem nodded, and Vivi told Lucius to offer two hundred ether to Eem. Lucius was usually reluctant to get rid of any ether, and he pouted, but agreed to transfer it over.

With Eem on her back, Vivi moved to the transfer orb store. To her right, she had a clear view of the hub and the crowd within. A crowd was gathering around the central fountain—the same one where Vivi had first met Uundref. Spiked fences had been built around the fountain. Demons in black construction outfits were building something.

Vivi would have loved to ask what was happening, but passing demons weren’t all too pleased to see Vivi back in the hub. She received the usual weird looks. Today, the looks were more cautious than hostile, as if Vivi was some ghost that rose from the dead.

She doubted the events with the black cloaks had made it to regular nimrods. But one could never tell. Vivi had to be cautious.

Will the Stewards sense that we have a skill? Vivi asked.

“If they scan us with an etherprint scanner,” Lucius said. “The scanner scans your core, and since the skill is inside, it’ll be scanned.”

Are there any ways to hide it?

“We could put it in a skill container and hide that in spatial storage,” Lucius said. “But that would mean you can’t use the skill until we return it. And we’d need a skill container.”

Vivi thought for a bit. For collection day, we might need to give it to Eem while we get examined. Then we’ll switch it around while Eem gets examined.

Lucius frowned. “That might be the only option. But Eem might steal it, or get caught trying to activate it.”

Vivi sighed. More crazy nimrods were causing commotions around her. Vivi ignored the brawls and shouts. So far, nobody had attacked her. She moved to the orb shop.

She chose a different vendor in hopes of dealing with someone less rude than the spectacled woman from before. A man wearing a black tuxedo was free. He looked annoyed and bored. Seeing Vivi, he fixed his posture but scowled.

Staff will be staff, huh, Vivi thought. She didn’t bother being polite as she asked for two orbs worth one hundred each. Eem transferred the ether, and Vivi got the orbs.

With the orbs in spatial storage, Vivi moved toward the crowded center. Nimrods stood outside the spiked fence, as if waiting for a circus to start.

Are there more guards than usual? Vivi thought. Looking around herself, she couldn’t open her eyes without seeing a guard and a runesword standing by in the crowd.

“The air does feel more tense,”

Lucius said. “But your perceptiveness has also improved. You feel the area much more clearly now. You have an easier time sensing the guards around you.”

Lucius was right. Zand’s outer walls felt a lot smaller than they had before. Vivi could hear and feel movements around her. If someone tried to kill her, she would know right away. All of her senses were sharper even without active ether in her body. She could map out guards around her, and she felt the nimrods’ gazes on her back much more clearly.

She also spotted Ven.

He stood near Aang—the white-tattooed gang leader. Ven appeared normal. He had a serious posture and a stoic expression. Nothing to indicate that he was a part of the gang that had tossed Eem into a river.

As Vivi was looking at him from a distance, Ven glanced back. She flinched, then quickly turned away.

You’re certain that you saw Ven with the black cloaked gang? Vivi asked.

“He was there while you were out,” Lucius said. “And so was that guy.”

Lucius, in Vivi’s consciousness, pointed at a man on the opposite side of the fence. He was a tall demon with a sheathed katana. The blotches on his face were rough and cracked. His dark skin was wrinkled. He had long hair, but the middle of his head had a scorched spot with no hair. His left horn was curled, and the right was cracking. He wore a blue open shirt. Gauze wrapped around his stomach underneath.

He stood with what Vivi guessed was Bwern’s gang. Around him were a lot of muscular red-skinned demons. The man, too, felt Vivi’s gaze. He frowned as he spotted her.

Vivi felt a chill. She hid in the crowd where the man wouldn’t see her. He’s the same size as the maxed out asmite runesword wielder.

“Yeah,” Lucius said. “That might be the same man, but I can’t tell for sure.”

Vivi bit her lip. Any one of the nimrods around her could have been a secret gang member. Her opponents could have been anyone. To her enemies, however, Vivi’s identity was clear. She hadn’t used a disguise. Vivi really wasn’t safe in Zand.

Nobody would try to assassinate her in the hub. For now, she should be safe.

As Vivi traversed the crowds, she spotted Stewards entering the fenced-off area along with a group of construction workers. They were pulling in a handcart filled with skulls. Vivi raised her eyebrows.

She’d need to ask someone what was going on. Was there anyone that didn’t look like they wanted her dead? Every group she passed either stayed far away from her or tried to block her path.

Except for one group. The blacksmith dwarves. When one of them spotted Vivi, he flinched in surprise. Vivi walked up to one of the dwarves she knew by name.

“Vivi?” Aruid asked. He looked around himself. The rest of the dwarves detached from him. He whispered aggressively. “You can’t be here! You’ll bring us trouble!”

“What’s going on?” Vivi asked.

“Vivi, I can’t talk to you,” Aruid said. “If you’re seen with us, they’ll come back and ask more questions.”

“I’ll leave after you answer me,” Vivi said. “Nobody else is willing to talk. I just need a bit of information. What’s going on here?”

Aruid bit his lip. “A surge is spawning inside Zand.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep