Vivi stood before the descending stairway leading to the second level. A creepy feeling of ether oozed from the darkness beneath like a bad smell. Vivi couldn't sense much down below, but what she did sense felt off.

"What do you think, Lucius?" Vivi asked.

"I can feel monsters," Lucius said. "There's a lot of ether."

"And nothing else?"

"Well, I think we should see what's below and try to kill whatever we can," Lucius said. "No use thinking of strategies when all we know is that there are monsters."

"Right…" Vivi said.

She held her katana firmly in two hands and stepped into the stairway. The glow on the bricks disappeared. Halfway down, the stairs turned to a thick black substance with a rough surface. It resembled hardstone or obsidian, though stepping on it felt weird. The black ground seemed to react to Vivi's boots, as if something was alive underneath.

The second level was pitch black. Vivi focused ether into her eyes. The slight glow of her skin and her sword gave her just enough light to see.

The ceiling was low and cave-like. Vivi had to lower her head to fit in. The walls were of the same black material as the ground. In the far-left corner, Vivi spotted slight movement. Something was pulsing near the ceiling. A blob?

Vivi sniffed the air and wrinkled her nose. Something smelled like death.

"Lucius, can you give me more light?" Vivi asked.

Lucius sounded uncomfortable. "Sure."

He flew deeper into the room. He filled himself with ether and glowed bright like an ethereal lamp.

The light revealed the most disgusting monster Vivi had seen since the Life Devourer.

The blob in the corner of the room had eyes. Dozens of them, originating from the heads of different monsters. Vivi saw a skeleton head. A crying head of some humanoid ice monster. A demon head—even a human head. Each head was combined together with some sort of dark and pulsing slimy goo. The blob had two arms made of that same dark goo.

The blob fell to the ground, each one of its heads letting out a pained screech. It flung itself at Vivi with its arms.

"An amalgamation!" Lucius shouted. He flew back to her core in an instant. "Run!"

Vivi held her ground. She slashed at the monster with her katana.

The katana slashed it cleanly in half.

And the monster split into two.

Vivi had the urge to gag. She summoned Abyss Destroyer and slashed in a panic at one of the halves.

Her sword cut through with no resistance. The monster turned into three. Venerium's rot left no effect.

"Run!" Lucius shouted again. "Swords are useless against amalgamations!"

This time, Vivi listened. She turned around while the blobs of pure disgust were tossing themselves at her with nightmarish speed. They didn't seem to have weapons, but Vivi guessed she'd die from some curse if she as much as touched one of them.

She ran upstairs, where Eem was curiously peeking down. The amalgamations chased up, into the first level.

Idiot fiend! Vivi thought. She picked Eem up mid-run and dashed for the upper level.

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The blobs chased. Their bodies left gooey marks on the ground as they tossed themselves with their floppy arms. Everything about the blobs looked clumsy, yet they moved fast, like poisoned snowballs that were cursed into life.

What are those things!? Vivi screamed in her thoughts.

"They're called amalgamations!" Lucius said. "Because that's what they are. They're like a mangled mistake of ether. When the gods of ether can't decide what monster they want to spawn, these things appear! Don't touch them, no matter what, don't touch them!"

Vivi was too busy running to listen to Lucius's explanation. She was gaining space. The amalgamations were nimble, but their speed lacked over a large distance.

The rooms of the upper level passed in a blur. Vivi ran to the exit in under a minute. She sprinted right through the remaining two rooms with skeletons still alive. She ran upstairs, past the skeletons, and found herself in the fang tanker's empty lair.

Is it chasing? Vivi asked, taking heavy breaths.

"I think it got stuck fighting the skeletons," Lucius said. "Looks like the skeletons aren't friends with the amalgamations."

Vivi looked down with an awkward smile. She'd survived. But she still had over seventy thousand ether she needed to earn. And she definitely wasn't eager about the enemies she had to hunt next.

She placed Eem down and took a moment to catch her breath and calm her head. The headache she thought she'd soothed had come back. The odd rotten smell of the second level was stuck in her nose.

Just as Vivi thought she was safe, Eem's head perked up. Noises were coming from outside the boss room. Footsteps and talking.

"Everything is dead?" a man's voice said. "The fanglings are the quickest to respawn. This is recent."

"Don't tell me the boss's been murdered as well," another man said.

Crap, Vivi thought. She looked around herself for a place to hide. The fang tanker's arena was open; she had no place to hide other than down.

Vivi was too late. The two men entered the boss room.

They paused, meeting Vivi's eyes. Both were clad in Zand's blue uniforms, insignias on their shoulders. Runeswords were sheathed on their hilts. Guardsmen.

"You!" one of the guards said. His hands moved to his sword.

Vivi recognized the man. It was Jeli. One of the guards that had dragged her to Zand on her first day underground. He wielded the same asmite greatsword with red veins. The room filled up with red misty ether as the runesword leaked ether. The second guard was Hoss. The old man that had treated Vivi like a piece of entertainment. He carried a crossbow with ethereal arrows.

"Human!" Jeli shouted in shock. "Get on the ground! What are you doing here?"

Vivi considered her options. She was already spotted without a disguise. Running wouldn't do much good. The guards knew her identity, and they knew she'd killed bosses.

Can we fight? Vivi asked.

"They are maxed out," Lucius said. "I don't think I can block that arrow. Not cleanly, at least."

They don't look too strong, Vivi thought. That's just a two-runed sword. An intimidating one, but nothing special.

"This is a forbidden area!" Jeli shouted. He stayed still, as if he was afraid of Vivi. Hoss stood next to him with a cautious look. "Get down at once!"

Vivi made her decision. She summoned her katana, activated Basic Ascension, and dashed at Jeli.

The demon went into stance. A practiced stance; Jeli was far from an amateur. He waited for her attack to come.

Jeli defended expertly. He wasn't as fast as Andre. He wasn't even as fast as the sword skeletons. But his stance was smart. He observed Vivi's movements and defended accordingly. His eyes were focused. Vivi felt pressure. If she made a wrong move, Jeli would counterattack in an instant. Hoss stayed in the back, ready to kill Vivi if she attacked hastily. Vivi gritted her teeth.

She activated Shadow Swipe, turning her katana into a perspective-shifting cloud of ether. Jeli's eyebrows rose in surprise, but he managed to block.

The skill distracted him from Vivi's left hand. She swiped with Lucius's claws, cutting past Jeli's sword.

The guardsman screamed in pain. Red-claw marks ripped his uniform, drawing blood from the skin beneath. He collapsed to the ground, until his screams died down.

"No!" Hoss shouted from behind. He released the arrow.

Vivi held her sword haphazardly to block the ethereal arrow. The two halves flew astray, one inches away from cutting her cheek.

The arrow was a distraction. Hoss unsheathed a runesword of his own—a two-runed dark mithril greatsword—and swung while still dashing mid-air.

Vivi stumbled back. Hoss's swings carried serious weight. His glowing eyes left a trail of ether. The old man moved like an assassin.

"He's a second elevation," Lucius said. "Close to the third. Fight with all you have!"

Vivi was already struggling to keep up. Fighting intelligent beings was entirely different from skeletons. Hoss threw feints, dominating Vivi with an array of attacks. The room was filling up with ether mist, making it hard to sense his attacks.

As always, Vivi only had one advantage. Her stronger swords.

While their swords were in a bind, Vivi summoned Abyss Destroyer on her left hand. She swung wildly and aimlessly in Hoss's direction.

The sword's sudden arrival made Hoss jump back. He assessed the situation again.

"Curse the damn abyss," Hoss muttered under his breath. "One surprise attack, and the student I've taught for five years is dead. You'll pay for what you've done."

He turned around and ran for an escape.

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