From the sky, bursting winds break apart for a figure in blue.

Racing through the sky he easily broke the sound barrier, while windows were broken, eardrums were burst.

He headives into the ground below.

A small crater is formed around his crouched form.

Slowly he arises, a large S on his ches-

Bang

Waynev’s head snapped up at the sound, the sight shocked her until she remembered the earlier encounter.

The dungeon entrance had teeth.

Something that had shocked the two of them, until the sun rose far enough that they could see that the teeth were actually massive blocks of granite.

Watching the ‘teeth’ descend Waynev wasn’t surprised when she saw one of the older guards pushing a crystal to the wall on the other side, around her a few other adventurers watched idly.

Passing past the guards, Waynev’s legs carried her past the teeth and into the stairwell, the sound of her footsteps being the only indicator that she had entered.

As the two descended Waynev was reminded of her earlier daydream.

Smirking as she remembered superhero movies and their cliche powers but as she was about to dive back into the relaxing thoughts, she heard the voice.

“Status.”

Passing down the stairs, Waynev could only last a few more steps before she stopped and also checked her progress of the quest.

Quest:

Find or create a Magic Catalyst.

Find an object that can be used as a Catalyst. OR Create an object that can be used as a Catalyst. Merge with the Catalyst.

Consequence:

You lose your innate ability.

Time Limit:

Three days, 10 hour, 10 minutes remaining.

“We need to hurry, we only have two-three days, until Vein takes away your ability.”

“All we have left is to merge with our catalyst.” Waynev flexed her fingers against the cool bone, mostly focusing on her descent.

“All we have left to do is to gather the materials, create and merge with the catalyst. We’re not home free, or anywhere near yet.” Shadow commented as Waynev leapt off the stairs and towards where Shadow had found a demon cultist days beforehand.

Fortunately for Shadow, Waynev had been the one to ask whether she could remember which floor imps could be found, which led her conveniently lead her back to the hole in the wall.

“Hold on.” Having Waynev pause at the entrance, she quickly noted that the cavity had shrunk in size and the wooden boards were missing.

Good news and bad news.

Either Leer or one of the assassins associates had checked out the area or a cultist had come back and sacrificed someone.

Scanning for red outlines she saw-

A complete lack of any life within the hollow space.

Bugs included.

“There aren’t any signs of life Wayne but demons can’t be detected.” Shadow said offhandedly.

“Wait they can’t be detected, how do you know that?” Her head peaking through, about to enter before she stopped herself and pulled a torch from her pack.

‘Lack of focus…’ Shadow thought annoyed at herself for getting complacent in Waynev’s safety and her secret.

“Without your vision we’re both blind, so before I get stabbed or eaten do you have any idea how to counter it?”

“Yes. Imps are fast but they aren’t strong, as long as the areas are well lit and we take it slow we should have the upper hand.”

‘And since the former sacrifice Iris took the last knife if there were any other imps they should be unarmed, though if there was another sacrifice…’ Pulling herself from the world of if’s Waynev finally began the slow pace into the now decaying room of sacrifice.

The walls which one had runes now had smears of blood, and as they approach the familiar corner the slab had two distinct marks of red compiled with broken stone.

“Jesus… I knew what we were getting into when it came to demons, but still.” Each time she needed to breathe she would breath into her shirt to avoid the stench.

Looking ahead Shadow saw the familiar body along with a new but smaller body.

Waynev gasped before she released the tension.

“They looked like toddlers a second ago but now…”

As Waynev inspected the bodies as Shadow kept her eyes on the second imp body.

It was smaller.

It was turned away from Waynev.

But it's skin seemed more solid, less grey than the other corpse.

It was alive.

“Horns and it's head is intact but it's ribs are cracked. What abo-” Before she could finish Shadow quickly cut in.

“Wayne, on-my-count. Use the torch to burn the imp then prepare for it's counter-attack. It’s. Not. Dead.”

Her body stiffening, Waynev tried to act natural as she became keenly aware of the smaller imps posture and the fact that she couldn’t see what was in it's hands.

Not making a sound she gave a miniscule nod as she brought both her hands closer to her body, ignoring the heat of the torch.

“Ready.”

Crackling, her heart competed with the flame in noise.

“3.”

Did she see it stutter?

“2.”

Tensing her arm the shadows behind her danced.

“1.”

“SCORCH IT-”

The handle flew as her body burst into action, treating the torch like a spear would she pierced the imps body.

A loud hiss filled the cavern as Waynev was temporarily blinded by the flash.

Hearing a crash she jumped back, nearly crashing into the slab before she saw the imp-

Lying still on the ground.

It’s head cleanly cut and staring back at her against the wall.

It’s eyes were empty but blood began to flow outwards.

The death was recent.

Slowing her breathing Waynev was thankful that the abomination was dead, walking closer to the body she noticed it's ribcage was still intact.

“Look at this Shadow, it's a perfect size!” Waynev held her fist over the imps ribs, it was barely bigger but while Waynev was tunnelled on the ribs Shadow was focusing on the elephant.

‘If there was another sacrifice this soon after yesterday… As well as the summoned demon sacrificed, how many cultists are there?’

Not waiting for Shadow’s response Waynev gruesomely cut into the creature, after all the death surrounding the duo it shouldn’t have come to a surprise that even butchering monsters was becoming desensitised.

Easily taking the ribcage the two checked the upgrade menu before tracing their steps back.

Bone Knuckles

DUR (Durability)

9/10

ATT (Attack)

8.00

PRO (Protection)

0.00

UPG (Upgradable)

Royal Slime, Self-Hardened Bone-root, [Hollowed] Imp ribcage.

“That took.. Less than an hour, we could also go to the forest and get the bone root today. That way we won’t have to bother our group PK about it.” Waynev’s mind went to Kresley.

“Hmm, that way we could push off finishing the quest and have a few days to prepare as well… Wayne, if you’re ready. Let’s beeline there.” Shadow agreed easily, she was liking Wayne finally taking initiative.

“I wonder how the forest is?” Waynev tucked the ribs inside her bag before hurrying through the gab and making way for the stairs.

“Dangerous.” Shadow remembered her first day of freedom, the only way she could keep Waynev’s body unharmed was by avoiding any signs of life.

Navigating through there during the day?

“But we’ll manage.”