Though they simply wanted to rescue their sister, Ursel and Tirto now found themselves in danger as well. They were beset by constant barrages of wriggling leeches that were sizable enough to cause serious damage with their teeth before draining the blood from their bodies. Worse, their senses were being dulled by the swarm, making it hard to even feel where they were being attacked.

“We need to run!” Ursel declared. “I’ll charge forward… you stick tight behind me so they don’t drop on you!”

Tirto had no time to complain or protest, nor did he have a better option. All he could do was keep track of her from a single step away, and run as she ran. A canopy of branches and leaves grew atop Ursel’s shoulders and head, providing some amount of shelter from those dropping from above. Ursel stomped heavily as she ran, crushing leeches underfoot while Tirto did his best to protect himself with a bubble of water.

It was unclear to either of them where they were going- they were just running as fast as they could. That meant some leeches dropped behind them, but some still clung to them and others leapt from in front of them. It seemed as if there was a never ending swarm of tens of thousands, perhaps more. Anything that wandered into these caverns would die.

Ursel, despite having just advanced to the Soul Expansion Phase, did not have enough energy to keep up most of her defenses. The canopy simply kept some of them from landing on her, while she had to deal with the rest directly with her body, counting on Diamond Defense. Against a reasonable number, it would have been- but they were still not individually weak enough to ignore.

Tirto was already bleeding profusely, his spiritual energy basically empty. He began forming layers of ice over his wounds to staunch the flow. And the hail of creatures seemed as if it would never end.

Suddenly, the oppressive, nasty darkness full of writhing creatures was replaced by another darkness, that of a protective blanket. It shrouded them, comforted them. Tirto felt so safe he almost stopped running- at which point a hand yanked him off his feet, dragging him along by the back of his shirt.

Salvation had arrived in the form of their grand-uncle Aydan, each swing of his blade cutting down dozens of leeches. In an instant all of the critters attached to the siblings had been eliminated, and at least in their little bubble they could feel, hear, see. What Tirto felt was pain, but also relief.

Ursel continued charging forward while Tirto was carried. That didn’t sit right with him. He could still run. He had to. But his feet never got close to the ground, and he didn’t want to disrupt his uncle. They’d already done enough to make him upset.

It took what felt like an hour but was probably little more than a few minutes for them to reach a tunnel, though they were still assaulted by leeches the whole way and even beyond. Even still, they were no longer being rained upon. Their movement didn’t slow- though Tirto was allowed to run on his own feet. Aydan held the rear, slashing at the tides following behind.

And then… they were alone. Tirto continued to run after Ursel until Aydan stopped them both. The sibling collapsed into separate heaps.

Their uncle was still a flurry of movement, pulling out salves to stop the bleeding, pills to purge the internal effects of the leeches, and Ursel’s club- which landed on the ground with a thud.

This was the point that Aydan was supposed to yell at them for being stupid. Chastise their mistakes. Perhaps threaten uselessly to send them back. But he didn’t. Instead, he began binding his own wounds. Wounds which he should not have gotten.

“You… snuck past the leeches,” Tirto said. Aydan nodded, crushing a leech in one hand and using some of his spiritual energy to push its teeth out from the inside so as to not tear the skin. “Then you had to go back in for us.” Aydan didn’t have to say more. Tirto was correct about that. “... Sorry.”

“I’d ask what you are doing here,” Aydan said, finishing his motions, then standing and pacing around the chamber they were in, eyes searching, “But I can easily surmise. How did your sister get unbound?”

“... I broke the shackles,” Ursel admitted. Sensing that would not be sufficient, she added, “Using my new totem.”

“How could that even…” Aydan’s senses swept over her. “... If only you were a bit less talented.” Aydan threw them some rations, munching on some himself. “Eat. We need to get moving. This isn’t a safe place to remain still. Nowhere is.”

-----

Two light cultivators stood at a split in tunnels, only expending enough energy to light up the immediate area around them. The woman, Zoubida, started walking down the one to the left.

“We should go right,” Nik declared.

“Oh?” Zoubida tilted her head. “Now you have an opinion? I’ve already made my choice. Feel free to go off on your own.”

Nik sighed, watching her stride down the tunnel. Then he shook his head and walked down his tunnel of choice. He doubted she expected him to split up, but he had the feeling that this tunnel was much safer. He simply hadn’t offered input before because it hadn’t mattered- everything felt the same.

Of course, this way he was giving up Zoubida’s assistance. Having someone fighting by his side might make up for the difference in danger. Along with that, he was picking up more danger in the form of the watcher. Now he was alone, an easy target. Yet even so, he felt slightly safer going this direction, in a manner he would have preferred was actually alone. Not that he ever expected to get out of these blasted tunnels. He would never have come to a darkness infused place had not the circumstances forced it.

Well, if he was going to die he might as well get it over with. “If you’re going to kill me you might as well get it over with. You have the advantage here.” His muscles tensed. No, he really didn’t want to die. But he could hope it was at least swift. She was usually quite efficient with her attacks.

But none came. Nik turned around, “Oh come on, I can sense you there, you know? You’ve been following us for… days, maybe?” he shook his head. “Quite a while. We had to lose out on sleep because of our watches.”

He still couldn’t see anything, but he felt the presence step closer. “You lost out on sleep,” Melanthina’s voice came from the darkness. “But your lady friend passed out on her shift.”

“That bitch!” Nik grimaced. “Acting like she was so good. Couldn’t you have just slit her throat or something?”

“I-” the voice hesitated. “I could have.”

“And you could definitely kill me here,” Nik said. “I’m barely managing to keep the spiritual energy from eating me alive. You’re basically overflowing.”

Melanthina stepped closer, into the couple meters of light he had, a hand held over her face. “Or maybe leaking,” she shrugged. The bags under her eyes were at least as big as Nik’s own, and she was pale. Not that she ever had a lot of color in her skin. How could a sheltered princess of a darkness clan have her skin touched by the sun? But at the moment, the specific brant of paleness spoke against her health. “... Do you know how to get out of here?”

“I don’t,” Nik admitted. “I was just planning to travel anywhere away from this pervasive darkness. Should suit you, though.”

“In other circumstances,” Melanthina agreed. “You’re actually more efficient with killing the darkness creatures, though.”

“Listen,” Nik sighed, “If you’re going to kill me just do it now. I’m not going to wander around with you making your life easier before that.” Which was the main reason he had stayed with Zoubida. She was very aggressive against the monsters here, and willing to expend her own energy.

“I’m not going to kill you,” Melanthina said. “I just… didn’t want to lose to a- to someone like you.”

Nik narrowed his eyes, and Melanthina squinted. She was really not good with even the little light he was putting off. “It sure felt like you were trying to kill me.”

“You nearly killed me.”

“Yeah right. I fought you to some stalemates or won by a hair. No way I could have killed you.”

“Your attacks are scary,” Melanthina admitted.

“Really?” Nik frowned. He honestly hadn’t felt that.

“They’re fast, powerful, hard to react to…” Melanthina shook her head. “Without special training, they would have torn me apart.”

“Yeah, well, as much as I’ve tried to conserve myself down here, I don’t have that much left in reserve.”

“I can w- protect you while you rest.”

Nik couldn’t be certain if he believed her. So far, he had no experience to indicate she was a liar. And if she killed him in his sleep, at least it should be fast. “Not here,” he said. “Too dangerous. We need to keep moving. If we find a good place… I guess we can alternate watches.” If Zoubida really fell asleep, then Melanthina couldn’t do any worse.

-----

Walking behind Nik was no good. There was that blasted light which made it impossible to see. So instead, she kept ahead, where it wouldn’t give away her position and she could actually see.

He thought she wanted to kill him. Which was true. Or had been, sometimes. But she supposed he wasn’t really an enemy she should want to kill. Just an obstacle she had to overcome, a rival to temper her skills. But sometimes she wanted to kill him, just a little. Not that different from her siblings, really. Though it was a little different because- just because.

Progress was somewhat easier. Even though they could not pass unnoticed, many creatures of darkness could find Melanthina regardless. Keeping herself constantly shrouded was exhausting, regardless of the abundance of energy. Shadows especially were surprisingly quickly defeated, with spears of light passing right by Melanthina to strike them. Strangely enough, she wasn’t worried that they would hit her.

Corporeal enemies she could deal with herself, and thus for single enemies the division of labor was based on who could most efficiently defeat something. Melanthina tossed a throwing dagger right into the throat of a giant bat, piercing its energy defenses and causing it to plummet to the ground. Melanthina couldn’t help but look at it, her stomach churning with hunger and revulsion simultaneously.

“The creatures here have been relatively weaker,” Nik began. Melanthina had half a mind to remind him she killed it easily in one hit but… he seemed to have an actual point instead of just saying that. “We should take a rest. There shouldn’t be anything dangerous that comes here regularly, with easy food unclaimed.”

“Alright,” Melanthina said. She hadn’t had actual sleep in… forever. Not that she could sleep well here, on rocks being watched over by Nik. But it would be better than being alone. Almost anything was better than that.

A squelching sound brought her eyes to Nik and a sharp knife he had driven into the bat. What followed was a bloody scene of absolute butchery… in the most literal way possible. He cut it apart into pieces, then pulled out a metal dish. “I’m not going to be able to do this a lot,” he said, “But keeping spiritual energy isn’t any good if we collapse.”

He dropped bloody chunks of meat into the dish, positioning his hands on either side. Light poured out of his hands, but instead of blinding Melanthina it was basically contained to the dish. It only hurt her eyes a little. She saved her sarcastic questions about why he wanted to see it that badly and just watched. Soon enough, the meat was sizzling.

Nik flipped it over, pulling out small pinches of something from his bag and throwing it in. Not a terribly long time later, he handed her a chunk of cooked meat. Melanthina took it gingerly, protecting her fingertips from its heat. Then she took a bite.

“Too bright,” she said as she immediately turned around- though Nik was barely making more light than absolutely necessary to see the foot in his hands.

Melanthina took another bite, then another, as tears streamed down her face. She hadn’t eaten anything cooked in forever. Whatever that burnt garbage was that had been left behind totally didn’t count. This was actually, properly cooked. And with spices? Not a lot, but it made all the difference. She was able to just eat until she finished it without forcing it down.

“... That was pretty decent, considering the circumstances,” she said, still facing away. “Why didn’t you cook before?”

“Zoubida insisted,” Nik said. “And since she was expending energy instead of me, I just let her.”

“I see. Thanks,” Melanthina said. “Why don’t you sleep first? You need to try to replenish that energy.”

“... Thanks,” Nik said. “Make sure it doesn’t hurt when you kill me.” She wasn’t sure if she was supposed to see his slight grin or not. Then he just curled up against a wall.

Well. Now it was her job to watch Nik. For danger. Watch for danger.