All dungeons utilized space magic in one form or another. Back when dungeons were still new, this school of magic was viewed with extreme skepticism. All magic was, actually, but people were understandably more afraid of teleportation than elemental magic. Conjuring flames or lightning was certainly dangerous, but at least it was simple and straightforward. Yet, space magic inevitably became one of the most popular schools of magic—both in terms of magic tools and spellcasting. The reason for this was simple.

Space magic was convenient.

Storage crystals were incredibly useful for anyone, not just raiders. Unfortunately, these crystals were part of a special group of treasures that couldn’t be farmed reliably. Items like these had a very low chance of dropping from any treasure core. By this point, there were enough storage crystals in circulation that mid-tier raiding teams could afford one. Though, they were still considered to be a hefty investment.

Mages with an affinity for space magic were just as valuable as they were rare. Even so, most of those mages could only cast weaker spells in the space magic school. A mage that could replicate the effects of storage crystals would be regarded as a living treasure. The small handful of mages with enough affinity to use space magic offensively could wave their hands and make even nobles quiver.

This was why Theo had to upgrade his assessment of Vivian when he saw her pull the supplies that Nico had discarded into a magic portal. Theo and Mavis had obviously taken what they needed first, but they were planning on abandoning the rest. Theo eventually decided to put this incident out of mind, since there was no point in coveting an ability that he couldn’t have. Theo himself could never be a mage, and Vivian wasn’t joining their party consisting of one ‘human-like monster’ and one ‘monster-like human’.

At least there was one type of space magic that any raider could enjoy—portals. Teleportation was a staple form of transportation in Jigou. Raiders used transport crystals to travel in and out of the dungeon, as well as between floors. Naraka’s structure was much more organic, but it still had portals. There was at least one in every floor after the first. These exit points only worked one-way, but it wasn’t impossible to teleport into Naraka. Just like with Jigou, when certain conditions were met, raiders would gain the ability to teleport from the entrance of Naraka to any of its layers.

Naraka was just stingier about giving raiders permission.

From the second layer onwards, there were rare monsters that could grant access to these shortcuts. These monsters were much stronger than any other creature in that layer, which meant that raiders couldn’t teleport to the floor that they were currently exploring. Mavis grew excited when it heard about these ‘boss’ monsters. But the slime’s curiosity was quickly extinguished when Vivian clarified that they weren’t any smarter, just harder to kill.

Mavis learned about these monsters and many other things while escorting Vivian to the one-way portal. The trip lasted a day and a half, mainly because none of them were up for a full day of travel after fighting Nico.

“Wow…large…crystal…thing.”

“That’s called an arch.” Theo clarified.

The second layer’s portal was indeed an arch. This jagged crescent structure stood in the center of an empty field. A web of trails connected it to the forest from all directions, but the only foliage that grew inside this area was grass. Much like the trails themselves, it seemed that plants were forbidden from sprouting there by some invisible law. The arch looked like it had been cut from of a single mass of crystal. Though, with its multitude of natural imperfections, it seemed more likely that someone had forced a crystal to grow into that shape. Black and blue waves of mana undulated within the immense crystalline structure. The pulsating colors made it appear mysteriously lively for an inanimate tool.

It was also, as the slime pointed out, very large. The portal itself stood over twelve meters tall while its width exceeded eighteen meters. The area directly beneath the arch was shrouded within a swirling rift. Just like the crystal that created it, the rift was constantly shifting between various shades of black and blue. This curtain of space magic implied that there was an equally impressive structure outside of Naraka, but that was not the case. When a raider stepped through the one-way portal, they would be teleported to the dungeon’s entrance. The two points in space were not actually connected.

“Sure…have to…go?”

“I’m sure.” Vivian replied.

The mage wore a sad smile as she patted Mavis on the head. By this point, Vivian had already explained her situation to Theo and Mavis. The slime understood, but it had trouble accepting this.

“But…don’t…want…go.”

“Even if you don’t want me to, I still have to go.”

“No…” Mavis shook its head. “You…don’t…want.”

“Haah, that’s true.” Vivian sighed. “But humans have certain things that they just need to do. It doesn’t really matter what I want.”

“Does…matter.”

Vivian opened her mouth to refute Mavis, but she ended up shaking her head. Then, she turned to Theo and bowed slightly.

“Thank you for taking me this far. I’m not sure what you did to get that brand, but I hope you’ll be able to remove it.”

Theo nodded and Vivian turned back to Mavis. She stepped forward and the slime panicked slightly as she embraced it.

“I didn’t know you for very long, but I’m really glad that we met. Honestly, I never expected to call a slime my friend.”

“F-Friend…?”

“Take care of yourself.”

Vivian patted Mavis on the back before breaking away. After taking one last look at the pair, she set her gaze on the portal and started walking.

The grassy area around the portal was filled with people, which was why Theo and Mavis were standing a healthy distance away. Many of them were raiders enjoying one of Naraka’s few true safe zones. The others were merchants. Plenty of savvy raiders predicted the blood moon’s appearance. This gossip was passed down to traders, who rushed into the dungeon to make some easy coin. Naraka wasn’t situated near a town like Jigou, and so merchants rarely travelled there in person. However, after hiring a guard or two, getting this far into Naraka was quite easy. There were other merchants waiting just outside, but these ones were either braver or more desperate.

Vivian trudged towards the portal with her fists clenched. She ignored the traders that called out to her and kept moving. Once she was close enough to hear the dim thrumming of the rift, Vivian hesitated. The mage realized that she was afraid. Afraid of letting Marco repeat his mistakes at the cost of others’ lives. Afraid of finalizing her marriage and everything that came with it. Though, surprisingly, what scared her the most was walking through that portal under her own power. Vivian stared at the portal and realized that she couldn’t move any further. Just as she turned back towards Theo and Mavis, someone called out to her.

“Oh, Vivi! It really is you!”

Marco pushed his way through the crowd and walked over to the stupefied mage. Vivian’s jaw drew slack as he stood in front of her.

“I had a feeling I’d find you here.” Marco’s cheeks rose in a rare self-deprecating grin. “We already lost those three during the blood moon. I don’t even want to imagine how mad my father would be if I lost you too.”

Vivian continued to stare at him in stunned silence.

“But that’s mostly your fault. What the hell were you thinking? You should have run while Nico was distracted.”

This time, Vivian opened her mouth to speak but he cut her off.

“-Actually, we can talk about that later. Did you get a good look at that slime? It actually spoke! The instant we get home, I’ll gather up as many raiders as I can and search for it. A talking monster…If I present something like that to the king, then we’ll become famous overnight. Our family would be one step below royalty, just like the Wallaces.”

Marco grabbed Vivian’s hand and began pulling her towards the portal.

“We have to hurry. It’s only a matter of time before someone else finds it.”

Vivian dug in her heels, nearly causing Marco to stumble. He whirled around and glared at her. Vivian glared right back. The two stayed like that for a moment, until Marco raised his other hand.

“What’s with that look? I said we’re going, and so we’re goin-”

*Thwack*

Marco was interrupted as a particularly weighty hand pushed into his gut. He let go of Vivian and stumbled backwards. This gave him a brief moment to stare at his assailant before their kick knocked him to the ground. A masked figure stood over him. This person tugged at their dark green cloak in a subtle attempt to hide one freakishly large arm. Marco’s jaw fell open as the arm deflated before his eyes.

Slimes weren’t particularly good at punching things. However, Mavis could literally add weight to its blows by placing more of its mass in one body part. This was a fairly useless skill, since ten out of ten slimes would prefer to strangle their prey instead of punching them. Even so, Mavis was very satisfied with its attack.

“Mavis, what are you doing!?”

“You…don’t…want…to go.”

“Well, no. But-”

“-Then…I…help.”

Mavis grabbed Vivian’s arm and started running. Vivian could have easily resisted, but she chose to follow the slime. A crowd of confused onlookers watched them escape.

“Five-hundred gold pieces!” Marco yelled, standing back up. “That masked bitch is taking my teammate against her will! I’ll pay five-hundred gold pieces to anyone who saves her! Double if you catch the woman in the mask!”

It didn’t matter if they were merchants or raiders, every human’s eyes suddenly locked onto the fleeing duo. Five-hundred gold pieces was no small sum. A frugal person could live off that money for weeks. More importantly, a raider could use it to buy a potentially life-saving piece of gear.

Merchants hastily gave orders to their bodyguards while raiders drew their weapons. It didn’t matter if this portly man was telling the truth. He’d shouted out a price in front of dozens of people. So long as they delivered the girl, forcing him to pay would be trivial.

One raider used a speed-enhancing enchantment to appear in front of the pair. He reached out towards Vivian, but his hand never touched her. A man in a tan cloak charged into him from out of nowhere. At first, the raiders thought this man was trying to take out his competition. Then, the man raised his hands and suddenly flung them down. A conical blast of air shot out, knocking several raiders over. The other humans stared at him with bloodshot eyes as he turned to run away with the targets.

“You’re on their side, but we don’t even get gold for stopping you?” One of the greedier raiders shouted in rage.

The chase was on. Over a dozen raiders followed the trio through the woods but each of them was rebuffed. Some were blown away by the opportunistic man in the tan cloak. Others were confused by the masked woman’s strange movements. Some went out of their way to help the kidnapped mage, but she seemed to be running away with all her might. The raiders were disheartened, but no one was willing to quit just yet.

After the first round of failures, an odd topic sprung up among these pursuers.

“That mask…and the green cloak.”

“There’s no way, right?”

“Who else but an outlaw would brazenly kidnap someone in a safe-zone?”

“It’s the masked outlaw! The phantom of the first layer!”

“The phantom?”

“I thought that was a joke?”

“It’s no joke! My cousin got jumped by that guy a couple weeks ago.”

“She’s obviously a girl, though…”

“Whatever, it’s the phantom!”

Vivian looked at Mavis with a concerned expression. The slime visibly shrank while its hair twitched nervously. At that moment, Mavis wanted to curl up into a ball and hide where no one could find it.