“Sierra? Rita? Hei?” Tepis’s voice calls out. “Anyone hurt?”

“N-No…I’m okay. Rita? Where are you?” Sierra replies. She pauses waiting for a response. But for the longest time, no one answers, “Rita?”

“S-Sis! HEEEEELP!”

My head is ringing. It takes me a second to realize that the high-level must have ambushed me and destroyed my brain. Relief floods my body.

I…I came back here. Not all the way back to Tiendas…thank you…thank you…whatever you are, thank you for not sending me back to that place!

Maybe I’m praying to no one. Maybe my thanks go unnoticed by whatever deities there are above. But I am grateful.

If I had to repeat that loop…no…it’s done now. I’m here. I’m still HERE!

Sierra leaves before I can get my bearings together. Tepis is looking back at me in the chalky rubble as he decides whether or not to go after her. However, this time I won’t let us separate.

“W-Wait…go…together!” My raspy hoarse voice breaks into coughs and he looks at me doubtfully.

“There’s no time. You can’t keep up, Hei. Stay here and I’ll come back for you once I…”

*Cough….Cough*

“J-Just…wait. There is…damnit…someone above. Dangerous.” I manage to choke out something which gets through to him. Goddamn my throat!

“Someone dangerous…is up there?” He points up to the surface with a strange expression. “How do you know this?”

“I…just…do. Wait. I’ll track the others for you.”

“I can’t wait. Sorry, Hei! Sit tight for a bit!” Tepis shoots off like a rocket with a regretful glance over his shoulder and annoyed as I am, I’m still just relieved that I didn’t respawn back in Tiendas. Shaking my head, I immediately do my absolute best to cough out all the dust in my lungs. Slamming water down my throat like it’s New Years and I’m trying to forget a bad girlfriend; I stagger off in hot pursuit.

Damn...I hate it when people won’t listen to me.

Vague memories of which turns to take speed up my pace and soon I’m almost on Tepis’s heels. As he stops to dispatch a Feral Goblin, he notices me behind him and freezes with a nonplussed look on his face.

Yea that’s right! Not so fast now, huh?

I wave him onwards, giving him permission to keep chasing Sierra. However, his shock holds him in place long enough that I actually get right beside him and start examining the footsteps on the dusty cavefloor.

“H-How are you so fast?” He stammers. Instead of answering, I just point at the trail and take the lead. Using my Basic Tracking, I intend to find Sierra and Rita before the high-level upstairs can collapse all the tunnels.

With any luck…we’ll be able to sneak out before he even knows we’re here.

It’s a solid plan.

Now that I’m paired up with Tepis, even though he’s slowed down a bit by my lower Agility Stat, our strengths compliment each other. My Basic Tracking skill lets me keep us directly on Sierra’s tail while Tepis’s combat power means I don’t have to worry about errant goblins.

*Shing*

The youth carves through a Goblin Desperado like most people deal with Feral Goblins and I sigh.

If we had just stayed together like this last time a lot of troubles could have been avoided. Although, I suppose now I know what’s waiting up there so that’s a plus.

Probably twenty minutes later we start to hear grunting and panting up ahead. The clank of weapons echoes and a Goblin Shieldmaiden comes running out of the darkness. A nasty bruise lights up its green forehead. I think I know what did that.

“Tepis.” I breathe and the boy knows what to do. His System Weapon glows blue and the silver scimitar swipes forwards like a tiger’s claw.

*Weng!*

The “maiden’s” shield is bisected in half along with the goblin behind. Up ahead, the grunting pauses and Sierra appears, her hair wild as she wrestles with a Goblin Archer. I quickly sprint up ahead and interject myself into their fight. Unfortunately for the poor mutant, Sierra has her shield pressed up against its short arms, which leaves it defenseless as I sling my cleaver sideways like an axe into its neck.

*Schlick*

It crumples.

Congratulations, you are now Lvl. 12.

“M-Mr. Hei? What are you doing here? And Tepis too? You both caught up?” Her shock is a mirror image of how Tepis looked when he saw me behind him. I quickly scribble on my notepad, holding it into a nearby lamp so both of them can see.

“I’ll track Rita. We need to get out of here, fast. There is a high-level on the surface who is trying to seal the tunnels. Stick together!”

The questions in their eyes only deepen, but seeing how serious I am, they can only nod helplessly. Casting my gaze down to the cave floor, I follow the glowing green outline of the goblin kidnapper’s footprints. It seems to be carrying Rita, because I only see one pair of tracks. Having reunited as a party, this time I’m much more confident. We bowl through the goblin patrols, and I see what kind of resistance Sierra and Tepis must have been dealing with on their own.

Is this really working? I think we’re catching up…

The tracks lead us to the edge of the 4th Floor before we manage to catch up to our target. In the distance, I spot a dark, squat, figure with something slung over its shoulder.

Gotcha!

“G-Get it!” I howl and Tepis and Sierra explode into action from behind me. The goblin up ahead turns its head as the light of the Solar Gems in their fists illuminates its face. A hideous, tiny, misshapen skull scowls back at us.

Lvl. ??? Goblin Kidnapper

Huh…what species is that? I’ve never seen that before.

Though I’ve heard the legends regarding goblins and their penchant for kidnapping human children, I’ve never personally seen a mutant variant that specialized in “kidnapping”. After dying to the high-level, and respawning for the first time in years, a little bit of the numbness of that place has sunk back into my bones. But when I see Rita’s prone form on the goblin’s shoulder, even I begin to see red.

This piece of crap! Kill it Tepis!

The Goblin Kidnapper has an inordinate amount of agility. It must be completely dedicated to evasion and speed because it makes no move to fight Tepis or Sierra head on. However, now that the boy is not stunned by falling multiple stories, Tepis is a different opponent. No matter how the thing dances back and forth, Tepis is unshakeable. His scimitar flashes and the Goblin Kidnapper whines in desperation.

“Eeee!” It throws Rita at his blade.

“CRAP!” Tepis hastily jerks his scimitar to the side at the last second and it carves out a section of the cave wall. The Goblin Kidnapper doesn’t stick around for him to recover. Now that it’s not carrying Rita’s weight, it’s speed doubles and it soon zips off into the darkness while blowing a disgusting raspberry back at us. “Damnit, it got away!”

“Rita!” Sierra arrives a second later and hurriedly checks over the girl. “What’s wrong with you? Wake up!” However, no matter how she shakes the younger sister, Rita refuses to stir. “Sis? SIS?”

“S-Sleeping powder.” I notice a trace of purple glitter under Rita’s nostrils. “N-Not…permanent.”

“Thank god!” Sierra hugs the girl’s prone form to her ample chest. She seems content to just stay down here forever, until Rita wakes up.

“Hei, you said something about there being a high-level on the surface?” Tepis, remembers my prior comments with a suspicious face. “What’s going on here?”

I try to explain more but end up just coughing so I get the notepad back out.

“We need to find an escape tunnel. Fast. Then sneak out as quietly as possible. Whoever it is, he is hostile, and stronger than you!”

“…” The other two digest my message for a while. Itching to go, I start walking around, checking out side-passages, searching for one that might go to the surface. To my left, the hole the Goblin Kidnapper jumped down to gapes. The 5th Floor. I wonder what the hell is going on down there to produce so many mutants up here.

“Mr. Hei, I’ll follow your lead. I trust that you have our best intentions in mind. But afterwards, I’ll want a full explanation.” Tepis decides sharply and joins me on the hunt for side-tunnel. “Sierra, can you carry Rita?”

“Leave it to me!” Judging from Sierra’s face, not even the System could separate her from her sister. Eventually my investigation of the loamy earth yields results.

“Here!” Firmly, I call out. My voice is getting better again. And we’re all together. Maybe we have a shot!

Ascending up my chosen path, I go in front, hoping that my Basic Prescience skill will give me an advanced warning if the bastard up there decides to sneak attack again. However, last time, he managed to kill me without any warning, so I’m not hopeful. Turning around, I raise my notepad to Tepis,

“You go first. But remember…we CANNOT fight! This man is much stronger than any of us! Be quiet!”

The boy nods, understanding the seriousness of the situation. A bead of sweat trickles down his brow as he moves past me and takes point. I fall in behind him and resume marching. Stealthily, we creep our way to the surface one floor at a time.

3rd Floor.

2nd Floor.

This is it.

A faint trickle of light slips into the tunnel and alights on our face. Like a fluttering ribbon, it provides a tenuous connection to our salvation…or a fast fall into damnation.

Is he up there?

*Crunch*

Something moves behind us. I don’t care who or what it is. It doesn’t matter. If it catches up to us, we’re going to be in deep crap between it and whatever is up there.

“Run!” I breathe and Tepis shoots out like a shot. I reach back and yank Sierra in front of me. “Go!” She looks back at me with wide-eyes, her fingers tightly clenched on Rita’s sleeping body.

“Mr. Hei?” She whispers but I just shake my head and smack her in the back.

“G-Go! If you want your sister to live!” It’s the first full sentence I’ve said out loud to her. Even after all this time, I still break into coughs, but she gets the message. Nodding, she starts to jog while balancing Rita on her shoulder.

*Crunch Crunch Crunch*

“So, this is where the rats were.” A spinechilling voice whispers from behind me.

He’s…why is he coming from behind us!

I’m terrified of what I’ll see when I turn around. Unfortunately, it is exactly as I feared. The crimson-cloaked man stands behind me, his sapphire-blue eyes appearing dark and twisted rising from the tunnel.

“W-Why are you down here!” I try to speak as loud as I can to let the others know we’ve been flanked. Wait, they might come back to help me.

“Mmm?” The man stops, watching me with amusement. “You were expecting me? I don’t think we’ve met before.”

It’s him. It’s really him! But why is he in the tunnel this time?