“We should leave. Immediately,” Savilar said. “We’ve gone far enough, even collected a rare treasure. We should count ourselves lucky and get out of here before we’re similarly lost.” No one spoke as they carefully arranged the bodies of Team Arrowhead. They moved them to the door back to the First Layer, hoping–but not really believing–that they might be able to get them back out when they left.

  “Where’s the Vanguard?” Valanor asked, looking around. “And why are they even on this side?”

  “Here,” Ethan called back. He was standing at a doorway leading to the adjacent section of the same Layer. It was closed, but fragments of armor were stuck in the thin gap between the doors. “Looks like he was crushed getting through. We’ll have to watch for that.”

  “And it left his Archers without a Vanguard to hide behind,” Cara said with obvious derision. “I’m not happy they’re dead, but this team always seemed foolish to me.”

  No one knew quite how to respond to that. They all knew what she meant. Archers could put out consistent damage and often employ a myriad of elements. They could bring down demons without a doubt, but this team seemed a little too reliant on the right circumstances. Even if they wanted to argue for compassion, it was clear that Cara was feeling this loss as a fellow Archer.

  “The mechanism on this door appears functional,” Selina called, getting everyone’s attention. They all gathered to inspect the large door leading to the Third Layer, then exchanged looks.

  “Well, do we proceed, or turn back?” Valanor asked.

  “I haven’t seen anything worth running from,” Ethan said in a frank tone. “If anything, this place is less dangerous than ever. I, for one, would like to know why.”

  “We’re standing not twenty paces from where an entire team died. Does that not give you pause?” Savilar demanded.

  “Honestly? No,” Ethan replied. “We’re Hunters, and dying happens, but Selina is here to keep us from traps like that one, and–with respect to Team Arrowhead–we’re not as vulnerable as they were.”

  Cara nodded. “I didn’t join this team for a chance at entering the Bleed, only to leave with a staff and some dead goblins. I want to go forward.”

  “Me too,” Selina said defiantly, but offering no more explanation than a determined expression.

  Valanor cut off the Rift Hunter, who was obviously going to disagree. “That’s a majority, and I’m inclined to continue as well.” He looked meaningfully at his brother. “Let us not forget that Prince Calevaro is in here as well. I’d rather not leave, only to find he was still marching into unknown danger.”

  “Besides,” Ethan said, “don’t we want to know what the hell is going on here? Something unusual is obviously happening, and we’re the only ones with a chance of finding out what.”

  Finally Savilar nodded, and once more the group moved into position. Again Valanor pulled on the heavy lever, then scrambled back in front of the door, shield ready. The rusted mechanism creaked and groaned as the doors slowly swung open, dust falling and air howling through the new door. Once again they were greeted only by silence.

  After waiting a long, anxious moment, Selina spoke up. “I think I actually preferred it when demons came out. This is too creepy.”

  “Agreed,” Valanor said, then stepped slowly forward.

  As promised, they were in yet another street-sized hallway of green stone, though it stood out from the previous two. As promised, this part of the City was much more than just a place to live or possibly trade; it was where the work was done–whatever that work had been. Dozens of small doors lined the walls, most open or destroyed, all leading to ruined workshops.

  There were Rune Circles everywhere, though clearly no longer functioning, and the carvings were worn away and difficult to see. “This will make searching for traps more challenging…” Selina said, then dutifully moved forward, eyes downward. Ethan continued to examine this new area, seeing no sign of monsters or demons, but sensing something odd he couldn’t put his finger on.

  “We should be fighting for every inch of ground at this point, right Sav?” he asked.

  The Rift Hunter seemed more curious than angry by now, and nodded. “This is as far as my team got the last time I was here. This entire section was like a living mass of demons. We fought for one of the labs, grabbed what we could, and ran.”

  That turned their attention to the line of doors, and Ethan gently steered Selina toward them. She barely seemed to notice, shuffling slowly forward, alternately erasing suspicious runes and copying them into a notebook. After a few minutes they’d finally made it to the first door, and the group went slowly down the line, checking each room for anything of value.

  They weren’t as lucky as they’d hoped, but wound up far from empty handed. Selina fared well, finding several items specifically designed to improve Rune Circles. The team also had a hefty payday ahead of them from the various supplies and artefacts that, while non-magical, would clearly be valuable to collectors.

  Valanor was the clear winner, finding a warhammer next to a body in shattered armor. It had looked ruined, but restored itself to perfection the moment he picked it up. “‘Wrath of the Goddess’,” he said with wonder. “It adds considerable holy damage to my strikes. It must have been lost here by one of the Church’s teams.”

  Selina and Ethan shared a look at that, but said nothing. They found a few other small items, several at Dusk rank, but nothing else that was an immediate replacement for their current gear. Finally they were about to discuss moving to another door when Ethan froze.

  He felt something, but couldn’t place the feeling. “Hold on everyone,” he called, then tried to follow the strange sensation. It led him to a large blank spot on the wall between two labs. They’d passed it during their search, but Ethan had been too focused on treasure to notice anything. He activated [Predator’s Gaze].

  He’d found nothing in the second layer, but this time a massive section of the wall glowed suspiciously. It wasn’t broken, weakened stones he saw, but something that clearly wasn’t just a wall. “Selina,” he called. “Come check this out, I think there’s a hidden door.”

  Everyone eagerly moved to join them. While they were all concerned about everything happening in the City, the call of treasure was strong for all Hunters. Selina happily began inspecting the stone, and soon found a small, hidden circle.

  “How has no one found all this?” Cara asked.

  Savilar barked a laugh. “You try searching for hidden rooms when demons are literally crawling over one another for a chance to kill you. Most teams are grateful just to cut and run with anything not nailed down.”

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  Suddenly Selina made a happy sound, and stood back as the circle she’d been fiddling with began to glow brightly. The shape of a door outlined in light formed on the wall, and with the sound of stone dragging against stone, began to open up. Ethan grinned as the crack appeared. It had just become very easy to recognize the feeling, and he knew immediately where he’d felt it before.

  “Rifts!” he called loudly, while simultaneously yanking Selina back behind him.

  “Rifts plural?” Valanor called back while moving into position. Wrath of the Goddess glowed brightly in his hand, and Savilar quickly joined him. All hesitance was gone from the Rift Hunter, suddenly in his element.

  “We must seal them; I should just barely have the supplies for it. If we don’t, we’re about to experience the Forgotten City exactly as I remember it.”

  The team wasted no time, each one hurrying into a strategic position. Valanor’s shield began to glow as it formed a wall, and Sylvie the steel crab appeared in front of him. Cara’s quill-covered bear was there as well, meaning the Archer already expected to be overrun. Savilar stood halfway between his brother and the ranged fighters, clearly intending to intercept whoever he could. For Ethan’s part, he quickly cycled Mystic, suspecting he was about to need his newest ability.

  As the door creaked wider, all their fears were proven correct. There was no way of knowing how long the rifts had been there, but the room beyond was packed to the ceiling with demons. They were crammed together in a single writhing mass, just waiting to collapse.

  Ethan moved rapidly, [Karmic Threads] shooting from his hands to create a nearly invisible web of steel wires. As the mass of demons began to fall forward, their own weight forced them against the makeshift net.

  The enemies at the front were largely goblins and other small, horned creatures, and were obviously being pushed by something far more significant behind. More than a dozen were shredded by the wire before it snapped, dumping wet chunks of demon all over Valanor.

  He’s going to remember that, Ethan thought with a wince.

  Soon the low Dawn rank ability was overwhelmed, however, and the wave surged forward, even knocking the Shield Knight back. Sylvie and Sav’s stone golem did their best to contain the demons that managed to fall past Valanor, and Cara’s blow was a blur as she began peppering them with empowered arrows. Selina wasn’t idle either, throwing charged shields at whoever she could, their somewhat bouncy nature pushing the enemy back.

  Ethan began by tossing charged daggers at the top of the mass of demons, the Dusk rank explosions blasting the enemy in every direction. With his higher limit on charges, he even threw a couple in front of Selina and Cara for protection–it likely wasn’t necessary, but gave him peace of mind as he put his class skills to work.

  As soon as he was able, he became a Trick of the Light, then began chaining his [Knife in the Dark] with [Fleeting Shadow] abilities. Many of the enemies were weak enough to allow him to cut them down in one hit, before fading away and moving to the next target. It wasn’t the fastest way to clear a horde, but it was too dangerous to rely on [Nova] in such a contained space. Ethan also knew that he’d need as many stealth kills as possible in order to prepare for more serious threats.

  He’d gained his final Ruin ability after all, and it was hungry.

  Finally the wave seemed to stop, as the larger beasts of Potentia forced their way through. There were Dusk rank simiavus, the bird-like monkey creatures, but Ethan understood now that those were low-powered monsters for their rank. The new threat was what caught his eye, as two creatures the size and shape of rhinos charged outward, forcing Valanor back with their massive armored bodies.

  They were red, like most of the creatures of that world, and truly could have otherwise passed for rhinoceros back home–almost. Rather than horns, their entire ‘heads’ were nothing more than thick spikes sprouting from round skulls, looking like morning stars. Their initial attack wasn’t enough to knock the Shield Knight from his feet, but they easily pushed him back far enough that the flood gates opened, and demons poured out in every direction.

  This was bad for the team, as wide area attacks weren’t their strong suit, and both Ethan and Cara were hampered in this type of battle. Ethan’s explosions would definitely hit his own team, and Cara’s bread-and-butter technique [Rain of Arrows] needed to arch upwards over the battlefield–not possible even with these high ceilings. She wasn’t entirely without recourse, however, as she used one of the abilities Ethan almost never saw from her.

  Charging up a powerful, glowing arrow, she fired it directly into the walled-off chamber that was glowing with rift energy, and still filled with numerous demons. Rather than striking an enemy, the arrow bounced off a wall, splitting into two when it did so. It continued this pattern, each contact making it split again, until nearly a hundred glowing arrows were ricocheting in every direction.

  It was still a risky move, and more than a few arrows reflected back through the doors and toward the party. Thankfully Selina was prepared for this, throwing more shields where they were needed. More and more demons fell, looking like living pin cushions, but ultimately the attack wasn’t enough to end the battle. Even with the demon’s superior numbers whittled down, it was clear that the real fight would be against the Dusk ranks, who Valanor was struggling to hold.

  Impressively, he’d managed to attract both simiavus, as well as a single rhino. Savilar had raced to intercept the second as it made its way for Selina, and was now wisely backing it away from the others. Ethan knew his damage would be needed against the larger targets, but the dozens of the smaller demons couldn’t be allowed to run wild. He dumped some mana into [Ghost Among the Reeds], then quickly cycled to Dimension.

  His reflection appeared at once, and five Ethans charged into battle, even if three were mere distractions. At the same time, Deevee–still seeming odd to Ethan’s eyes given the hydra’s significant size change–appeared in the air above him. The beams of dimensional energy the heads fired down were precise and devastating, methodically carving through the various horned foes.

  The battle turned into a careful extermination at that point, with both Ethan and Cara trying to take out as many of the smaller demons as possible. While they did so, Selina was preparing their final targets for elimination. Her first ability was weakening the Dusk rank monsters against other afflictions, while her newest ability was more insidious.

  Once again useless on its own, [Echo of Pain] was still a remarkably effective attack, and quite at odds with Selina’s sunny disposition. It was an effect that lasted a long duration, and was capable of serious damage–though sometimes that took some luck. Once a minute it would repeat a random attack the target had suffered. This was gamable if you only hit something with a single, powerful attack, but with the realities of battle, it tended to be one attack randomly selected from many.

  To make good use of it, though, Ethan did try to pop over once a minute for a quick stealth attack, and smiled with glee when he occasionally saw another explosion of Ruin reproduced soon after.

  This went on for quite some time, and the large demons kept forcing Valanor back. Meanwhile the smaller ones began fleeing in every direction, only to turn and attack again. Hunting down the weaker enemies was a tedious task as they raced away from Ethan and hid from Cara, but their deaths were inevitable. When they were finally cleaned up, Ethan raced over to assist Savilar.

  The Rift Hunter nodded in gratitude as the small army of Ethans went to work on the now bloodied and weakened rhino. He empowered his Ghosts to reflect damage, and the colossal strikes of the large demon turned out to be its undoing, as the conjurations sent its damage back at it. Thankfully it was in the ‘strong but dumb’ category that made Ethan’s Mystic Affinity shine.

  When the rhino finally fell, Savilar wasted no time, racing into the now empty secret room, with Ethan right behind. They trusted their team members to at least hold the other demons while they went to work. As expected, the room contained multiple rifts, and the Rift Hunter shook his head as he began removing components from his inventory.

  Ethan stood his ground, fighting the inevitable trickle of demons that came through while they worked. Each ritual took about five minutes with Savilar’s practiced hands, and they were both grateful that the gates into Potentia were only Dawn rank. The Rift Hunter was swearing as he got to the final portal.

  “What’s wrong?” Ethan asked as another goblin fell to his blades.

  “It’s unusual to find one rift in here, let alone three!” he answered, red faced. “I’m going to be out of materials after this. We better damned well not encounter another rift, or that’ll be the end of it.”

  Ethan nodded in understanding, though internally he was conflicted. He knew that Deevee could likely have sealed these rifts–the hydra had done it before. But he wouldn’t risk it. He needed to cling to every secret he had if he was going to make it out of here alive.