Rana and Taye continued their slow but steady trek. They split with the other Fire Shield warriors and made their way inwards. Their primary concern was not their speed, it was safety. If they were to have the majority of the human forces survive, they had to make it to their destination, even if it meant sacrificing some of the others.

The weak would perish and the strong survived. The world had always been that way.

Rana personally would have liked to move with the entirety of the Fire Shield warriors, but Taye was insistent on just the two of them. The reasoning was not unfounded, and Rana knew that she would have agreed too if not for the unexplained sense of impending dread she had ever since she visited Sunset Spears.

The core issue was that Rana’s idea was still only based on a theory constructed through an observation. It could not be proven and there was a risk of it being wrong, and if that was the case, then Taye would’ve condemned her entire group to annihilation, and subsequently the remaining survivors as well.

The plan was now as followed. Rana and Taye would be the ones to move according to Rana’s instructions. The Fire Shield group would continue to locate the humans still tangling with the monster, and probe more information as well in the process. This was riskier since Rana and Taye would have less protection, but if they succeeded, the plan would save far more than if the entire group moved to the center.

Rana and Taye did not stop moving, but they nonetheless still kept their eyes on the others. It would help them track the monster’s movement, but it would also give them information, to see if the plan needed to be aborted or if they should make haste.

“They’re still doing pretty well,” Rana said as the warriors in the distance once again successfully repelled the enemy attack. “It seems like, however, the damage and the effort they expending is much more than before. Would you mind explaining your role in this, just in case my theory turns out to be true and we would be the one in need of surviving until aid comes?”

“What group without their leader would do better?” Taye answered, but she sighed after realizing Rana was not accepting such an answer. “I have the Talent Reject Size and because of that, I have to train even much harder to reach where I am now. I guess all the hard work made me a better commander and a useless Talent has finally found its use..”

The Talent Reject Size was a third-tier rank up of the Support Defend tree. When activated, the marked one would have an increased defense against large monsters and decreased the size penalty suffered. It was often considered useless since the other third-tier rank up was Defence Tactics, an area-of-effect buff that increased the VIT and AGI of every ally within range.

The Talent was often considered niche, to put it lightly, and even then the effects were oftentimes less desirable in a situation where Reject Size was applicable. However, that was only because, in the war against fiends, large monsters were still relatively small and could be overrun by concentrated attacks rather quickly. It was very rare to see a monster as large as the Chrysalis Abominations. When it did happen, the usual approach would be to back off and formulate a strategy in a safe location.

This time, they did not have such a luxury, and in such a situation, Reject Size was a godsend. Not only was the size penalty a ranked based penalty, but the Talent also reduced that rank directly. This meant that when defending, Taye would be on a relatively more even ground than what the size difference would indicate. Not to mention with her being in a leadership position, she had to compensate for the lack of a Tactic Talent with knowledge and commanding capability.

The monster continued to attack the scattered groups of humans and the Fire Shield warriors endured. The monster did not do anything special except swipe at them from the earth, and Rana knew her theory was getting more on the mark by the minute.

“We should pick up the pace,” Rana said and Taye nodded her agreement. “Follow me.”

Rana and Taye now stood before the ocean of waves made of stone, where the monster first erupted from the depths below and bore its sadistic smile. The pillars rose and fall, each time the chasms grazed and collided against each other, the earth rumbled. Like the maws of a beast, the stone waves opened and closed, to push whoever stood upon them into their depths so that they could chew and consume the poor souls who foolishly braved their domain.

Who knew that Rana was such a fool?

She launched her blades of ash and stabbed them into the side of the giant pillar. She released the ward within and chains shot out towards her. She gestured Taye to hold on and the two of them zipped up to the edge of the arena.

Yes, the two of them were challengers and they had to declare their identity of such by reaching the center.

Rana and Taye moved, their steps uneven and constantly needed to reform their balance. They had to focus as even one misstep would leave them literally crushed and buried. They moved slow, to see if there was a pattern or rhythm to the tide of stone, but they were too occupied with just staying upright that they could not spare a second thought.

It seemed like the better approach was to make haste.

They dashed, using the momentum of their stride to offset the uneven and unstable terrain. The quake would push them into the chasm, but they used the tilt to speed up and hop over the abyss. Stone pillars would break off and crash above them, but they kept on moving, narrowly dodging the fate of being flattened. Rana used a Support Defend boosted guard to overcome the debris and Taye expertly weaved in and out of them by using Support Defend to edge herself away from the most damaging parts.

The long and precarious journey expended a lot of their Focus, but the constant threat of death increased their Focus generation as well. In the end, they made it to the edge of the center, a large stone platform that was miraculously undamaged by the torrent of stones around it.

However, there was no time to celebrate. Just like the forever extending rise to the top at the Tree of Ashen Falls or the unchanging trap rooms of the Mines Without Blood, if one wanted to reach the core of a Dungeon, they had to go through their guardians. Sunset Spears was no different.

The Chrysalis Abominations was a guardian, an obstacle that prevented the core from being reached and a monster that defended its master. The entrance floors were their domain, and they would kill whoever reached it.

Rana and Taye stood entered the stone ocean, its arena. The waves stopped and the monster left the humans outside of the arena with a temporary silence.

Then, the waves burst into a rage and the pillars crashed and quaked. The outer pillars raised a wall and the ones within danced like tides in a storm. The beast roared and its muted scream beneath the earth breached through the chasm like a cold-cutting screech.

The Chrysalis Abominations jumped out of the waves of stone, the pillars exploded into the air and crashed down and was ground into bits within the reformed chasms.

The behemoth smiled, its lips wide and split its head into two. The monster opened its maw and rammed its body down towards Rana and Taye.