“And it just… freaked out when you called it ‘Red?’” Shia asked as they made their way toward the edge of the fragment. The strange being had been handed off to a slightly unhappy Scule to bring back to the infernals' village for now. Vin had been concerned about them finding the village again now that they knew about the mass concealment ritual Madam Trebella had in place, but Scule reassured him that so long as they went slow Reginald should be able to follow their scent back the way they came.

  “Threw a tantrum like it was a toddler and I’d told it to put back a candy bar at the supermarket,” Vin nodded, carefully following the trio’s tracks back to the strange being’s fragment. “Oh, a supermarket is where we bought food on my world. And candy bars are… hard to explain.”

  “Markets aren’t exactly a unique thing, Vin,” Alka pointed out, walking alongside him and keeping a keen eye for any more monster swarms. “Though I am curious what makes yours so super.”

  “You know, so am I. I never really thought about it.”

  Tracking increased to lvl 7! 700 exp gained.

  Double checking the charm Madam Trebella had given them, Vin confirmed they were still heading in the right direction. Combined with the description Turmal had written in his journal, that meant the divine warrior most likely was still in the strange being’s fragment like they’d hoped.

  It seemed the dwarf brothers hadn’t managed to get very far into the infernals’ fragment before running into the spider swarm, because only a few minutes after leaving the scene of battle the three of them came upon the edge of the world.

  Peering past the end of the treeline, Vin stared at the strange being’s home world beyond the fragment border. Similar to the stone villagers’ fragment, this one looked rather arid and barren at first glance, without a lot of plant life other than a few withered looking trees here and there and some brownish grass. Though rather than rocks strewn about all over the place, Vin could just make out what looked like large cracks running through the ground all over the place.

  “Well, it’s just like Red said it was,” Vin said, glancing at the directions he’d been given. “According to it, we need to head over to… that crevice and start making our way down.”

  Vin pointed at one of the cracks off in the distance that had a sad looking tree growing right next to it. Just as the being had promised, Vin could just barely see what looked like some sort of marking scratched into the side of the tree.

  “How exciting! The last time I was underground was when I was rooting out a warren of borgals that were terrorizing the farms,” Alka grinned, drifting through the invisible barrier between fragments. “It’s a unique experience, fighting underground. You never know what direction your enemies might burrow out from.”

  “Can’t say I’ve ever really gone underground,” Shia admitted, following the ghost across worlds. “The Sacred Forest’s root system is far too large and complex for anything other than tiny critters to dig in the soil.”

  “I hope you don’t mind tight spaces,” Vin said, remembering one of the few times he’d ever gone caving back on Earth as he followed them over the border. “No idea how large this guy’s home is, but it may be tricky getting there.”

  Third ring fragment discovered! 1,500 exp gained.

  The first thing Vin realized as they stepped through the boundary was the dryness in the air. If the withered plants weren’t indication enough, the fact that the air felt like it had never so much as seen a drop of water was all he needed to feel in order to guess this fragment didn’t see a lot of rain.

  “Ancient One's sap it hurts to breathe!” Shia commented, flicking out her tongue and glaring up at the sky. “...at least this place doesn’t reek of death mana.”

  “Small victories,” Vin chuckled as he led them over to the marked tree. It wasn’t until they got closer that he realized just how deep the random cracks spreading through the land seemed to go.

  Each crack was only a few feet wide, short enough for them to hop over easily enough. But a quick glance down into one was enough to make Vin flinch backwards, nearly falling on his backside in his haste to get away from the hole.

  The many cracks were actually entrances to a host of ravines running deep into the ground. Vin couldn’t even see the bottom for most of them, which resulted in a concerning feeling of vertigo as he imagined just how long it would take him to hit the bottom if he slipped and fell into one of them.

  “Damn, that’s a big hole,” Alka commented, floating directly above one of the cracks and staring down. “Sure am glad I can fly.”

  Rolling his eyes, Vin decided to ignore the ghost as he began hunting for the handholds he’d been informed about.

  Stolen story; please report.

  “Ah, found them!”

  Calling Shia over, Vin glanced over the edge of the ravine, taking a look at the handholds carved into the wall. About twenty feet down he could make out a small platform next to a large hole in the wall, which should lead into a long tunnel based on what he’d been told.

  “Alright, we climb down, try to find Red’s people, and see what information we can get on this divine warrior and the ‘True Queen’ he’s working with,” Vin summed up, turning towards his party in case they had any objections. “Sound good?”

  “Sounds fine…” Shia said, giving him a strange look. “But… how exactly are you planning on climbing down there?”

  Vin blinked at the elf, wondering what she could possibly mean before it clicked. Holding up his left arm, he stared at his missing hand, doing his best to ignore Alka’s laughter.

  “...I have no idea,” he said after a few seconds. “Maybe I could like, tie my sword to my forearm? Shove it into the earth like some sort of makeshift pickaxe on my way down?”

  “If you want to go that route, you might as well just run back and grab one of the dwarves’ actual picks,” Alka said, still chuckling to herself. “Granted, I’d bet my sword Scule’s already shoved them in his bag, so that might not be the best idea.”

  “You could just jump down,” Shia shrugged, peering over the side. “It’s only about twenty feet down. Twenty-five tops.”

  “Only twenty feet?!” Vin repeated, staring at the elf. “Sure, if you want me to break my legs or something!”

  “Vin, your endurance is in what, the forties at this point?” Shia asked, rolling her eyes. “And with Alka’s bonuses, your strength and vigor have to be in at least the twenties by now. A twenty-five foot drop shouldn’t faze you in the slightest. Not unless you land on your face.”

  Vin blinked yet again as Shia reminded him about his attributes. It was easy to forget he was technically superhuman at this point. Running faster or seeing farther than should be possible were one thing, but dropping a few stories and landing unscathed was much harder for him to imagine for some reason.

  “Huh… You know the thought didn’t occur to me.”

  “Yeah, just don’t miss that tiny platform. Seeing as we can’t actually make out the bottom, falling all the way to the bottom most certainly will kill you,” Alka added with a grin.

  “Thank you Alka, that makes me feel so much better,” Vin said, glaring at the ghost.

  Taking a deep breath, Vin carefully lined himself up with the handholds, double and then triple checking he was in the correct position above the lower platform. Before he could listen to that tiny voice inside his head screaming at him that humans were not meant to fall twenty-five feet like it was nothing he stepped back, plummeting into the ravine.

  The handholds flashed past him in an instant, and before he could even have a chance to second guess himself Vin hit the platform, his knees bending to absorb the shock. Realizing it was already over, Vin stood up, doing a quick check of his body and confirming he hadn’t damaged anything.

  Holy crap, he thought, willing his heart to stop racing as he came to the realization he could fall nearly three stories without so much as a sprained ankle.

  “See, was that so bad?” Alka asked, drifting down beside him with a toothy grin. “You looked so freaked out I half expected you to ask me to take over and do the jump for you.”

  “Still trying to get over those pesky human fears I guess,” Vin grinned, feeling more alive than he had in days. Glancing up at the Druid slowly descending the handholds, he called out. “Come on Shia, what’s taking you so long?!”

  Shia began grumbling something under her breath about ants, and Vin could only grin as he looked at the tunnel set in the wall beside him.

  The tunnel stretched deep into the wall of the ravine, and was large enough that for a second, he had a horrifying sensation that he was once again inside the insect dungeon. The spacious tunnel instantly seemed a hell of a lot smaller, and Vin could swear he heard the steady thrum of thousands of insects closing in on him from all sides.

  “Vin!” Alka shouted, suddenly looking a lot more panicked. The ghost’s arms were outstretched as if to grab him, and Vin blinked, looking down at his feet. Without even realizing it he had taken a large step backwards, away from the tunnel entrance, putting his foot precariously close to the edge of the small platform.

  Peering into the yawning chasm that was now but a single step behind him, Vin took a shaky breath at the close call, carefully moving closer to the tunnel and away from certain death. Once he was sure he was safe, he glanced up at the concerned ghost.

  “Are you okay?” She asked, any signs of her earlier mocking smile completely gone. “What happened inside that dungeon that you didn’t tell us about?”

  “You know how I said Shia’s master saved us from certain death?” He asked, seeing Alka’s nod. “Well… Let’s just say it was a lot closer than I made it sound in my retelling.” Even now, Vin swore he could hear the faintest sounds of swarming insects coming from deep within the tunnel, causing him to shudder if he listened for too long.

  “Don’t worry, you won’t be going into any more dungeons on your own,” Shia said, letting go of the final handholds and dropping beside him. Placing a comforting hand on his shoulder, she gave him a small smile, clearly making an effort not to flash her teeth at him. “If my master hears I became incapacitated enough to give you my staff again, I’ll never hear the end of it.”

  “Thanks guys, I’m good,” Vin said, offering them both his best reassuring smile. “Not sure what came over me for a moment there, but I’ll be fine.”

  “Just warn us next time you’re thinking about leaping to your death, alright?” Alka demanded, forcing a shaky laugh. “It’s going to be a pain to retrieve my sword from all the way down there, so at least have the decency to drop it first.”

  Frowning, Shia reflexively went to flick Alka like she did to Scule whenever the petian made an inappropriate comment, but her finger went straight through the ghost’s ethereal form. Realizing what she’d done, the three of them all burst out into genuine laughter at the same time as Shia’s face heated up.

  As Vin laughed alongside his friends, he realized the sounds of swarming insects coming from deep within the tunnel seemed to have faded away for the moment, and the tunnel walls didn’t seem quite so constricting as they did a moment ago.

  “Come on,” he said, still chuckling as he pulled out his glowing gem and led them into the dark tunnel.

  “Let’s see if we can’t find some locals.”

  tiny bit of trauma from nearly being eaten alive in that dungeon by hundreds of insect monsters. Thankfully, the focus attribute helps with that!

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