Inside this rift one monster stood apart from others. Not only in terms of strength and speed but also self-awareness too. As it moved with graceful silence between the lesser monsters that were in forms of trees, it considered its prey.

Hunger suffused the monster thinking of what lay ahead. It was going to bring death to another hated creature.

Upon reaching a clearing, the Deadly Encounter whiffed a strangely familiar magic. One that almost felt welcome. Perhaps, its curiosity would grow further if not for the sight of its prey. A lone two-legged creature stood in the middle of the clearing.

The clearing was full of dead bodies of the lesser monsters. But it mattered not, they were known as lesser monsters for a reason.

The Deadly Encounter’s skills activated.

[Hunter’s Stealth], [Hunter’s Vitality] and [Hunter’s Speed] came instantly alive then followed with [Enhanced Limb Coordination], [Venomous Fangs] and [Presence of a Hunter]. Its passive skills had already increased its power.

It surged toward its prey with a hidden glee.

***

From above, Keynes watched the creature shoot in Esopp’s direction. It looked like a car-size spider with four very thin legs. Even though it was only Level 3, it had several nasty passive and active skills and inherent bonus due to its special status.

Are we going to intercept this thing? Alice asked, scrunching her tiny nose. Its nature is so twisted I cannot stand its presence! It must be killed.

Esopp wants to kill it by himself and I’m curious about the extent of his abilities. Hopefully, this thing would push him hard enough.

What if he is overwhelmed? Will you step in, master? Alice asked with a hardly concealed hope.

Keynes smiled.

You’ve seen his profile. You tell me, will he need my help? They glanced at Esopp’s profile after he’d used [Shatter]. Just in case.

Alice didn’t answer straight away but their bond told Keynes about the conflicting emotions the spiritual companion had.

He will be fine but that is a poor excuse to leave it alive!

The creature reached Esopp and he welcomed it with [Ice Shot] right in the face. The monster didn’t seem to even notice the attack though Keynes felt a weak impulse of spiritual energy come out of the monster.

A skill? He asked Alice.

I am not sure; while its [Presence of a Hunter] aura is active, it masks its skills and buffs.

Even when I’m in the Superior stage? Keynes was surprised by the fact that a Level 3 skill could block Alice’s spiritual sense.

Master, I told you already. You must train your Spirit to gain better control. Sometimes strength is not the way to beat a stronger opponent.

Huh. Keynes felt like her words were worth keeping close to his heart. He couldn’t explain it, but there was something in them that felt … right.

A split second later, the monster stabbed one of its thin limbs at Esopp. The Level 7 dodged but the monster wasn’t done. It reacted instantly, reorienting its body toward Esopp. Its limb shot again. Keynes didn’t know if Esopp had planned it or improvised but the other man grabbed the leg in an iron grip.

There was a serious flaw in the design of the monster’s body. It could only use one limb to attack. If that one limb was out of commission it seemed to be immobilised…

The monster’s limb fell off its body and before a new one replaced it, the monster was already on the move toward surprised Esopp, two sickly green fangs ready to bury in Esopp’s chest.

Master! Alice squeaked but Esopp threw himself to the side, two more [Ice Shot]s came out of his hands.

Two more impulses of spiritual energy reached Keynes. They were weaker than the first one and Keynes could see that some damage was finally inflicted. But the fight was far from over. Unless… Esopp used up all his mana on [Ice Shot]s in a short order. [Ice Shot] didn’t have a cooldown but it was likely offset by a higher mana cost.

Esopp had a different plan. Several times, he baited the monster to lunge at him, which he always dodged at the last moment. The monster didn’t seem to learn from its mistake and it eventually fell into Esopp’s trap. Esopp rolled over beneath the monster, then grabbed its rear and stuck to it while the monster turned left and right. Its weak spots were glaringly obvious at last and Esopp exploited them without mercy.

As the man stayed stuck to the oval rear, his Talent slowly started to affect the body of the monster. It kept yanking to the left and to the right but its physiology didn’t allow it to roll over, which would take care of the intruder. Having only four legs didn’t help either as it couldn’t spare them to fend Esopp off its rear.

After five long minutes, frost started to spread over the monster’s body. It was a painfully slow spread because of the monster’s many skills. Eventually, the monster stopped moving but essence didn’t leave its body, meaning it wasn’t dead yet, somehow.

Did it have a way to get out of this predicament? Keynes hoped it didn’t because this was only a Level 3 Deadly Encounter. What kind of nefarious creation could be born from a Level 10 rift?

Do not even consider it, master! These things are abominations.

He didn’t understand her hatred toward Deadly Encounters but he was surely going to ask questions later.

Keynes landed twenty metres from Esopp and the monster. He waited while Esopp glared at the monster. What was he doing? When seconds started trickling into a minute and Keynes was about to ask the other man, Esopp said.

“Shatter.”

Surprisingly, the creature didn’t explode like the tree monsters, though its body cracked all over. Thick essence reached Keynes, informing him of the monster’s demise. Keynes looked over to where Esopp stood. He didn’t look tired in the slightest. After all, one of his skills was [Endurance]. Keynes was surprised to find such a skill in Esopp’s profile but the current skill market wasn’t expanded enough to affordably offer all kinds of skills.

“That was a tough opponent,” Keynes said, breaking the silence but Esopp didn’t hear him, paying attention to something else.

“Oh, that’s interesting.”

Keynes crushed an urge to say a snarky remark and stayed silent until Esopp shared the System message.

Congratulations! You have successfully completed a Deadly Encounter!

You have now an option to create a Hated Foe.

Would you like to create a Hated Foe?

Yes/No

Check the System for more information.

Both men checked the System and found a new section about Deadly Encounters and Hated Foes. Once a Hated Foe was created, it’d randomly spawn for the ascender who had created it (inside the rift only). Each time a Hate Foe was killed it grew in strength regardless of rift’s modifiers and Level. Loot dropped by a Hated Foe was upgraded each time a Hated Foe was slain. A Hated Foe loot included an exclusive drop not available anywhere else.

Keynes was going to say that it wasn’t worth the risk when Esopp showed him the drop from the Deadly Encounter.

Tears of Gyra (Rare)

“Sometimes even martyrs dream of second chances.”

-

Instantly heals all injuries.

-

Does not revive dead.

Does not work on ascenders above Level 10.

Cannot be consumed more than once every 10 years.

[Consumable]

Level 3

The drop was insane and according to the System, the next drop would be even better than this. Esopp seemed to have a similar opinion because he was going to go for it but then Alice warned Keynes that Hated Foe was a trap, in a metaphorical sense. A vision of ever-better reward would cloud a mind and make it forget about the monster that stood in between. Keynes saw merit in her wisdom but the longer he thought about these rewards, the stronger pull grew so he wasn’t surprised to find Esopp pick ‘yes’.

Still, Keynes asked, “You sure about that?”

“Crystal clear,” Esopp replied, smiling with confidence.

It was hard to not share the same attitude considering the ease Esopp had defeated the Deadly Encounter. Now, the question was: how strong would be the Hated Foe? Nonetheless, neither man returned to the topic.

What would you do, master?

If I had an option to create a Hated Foe? I think it depends on the Deadly Encounter. If it was easy, I’d likely go ahead with the Hated Foe thing.

Silly, Alice murmured.

The rest of the rift was turned into a slow grind. The whole rift was one gigantic forest with every monster being a tree. There were several types of trees with two treant sub-bosses that put up some fight but eventually died to [Chaos Aura].

The rift boss was on an island surrounded by a swamp that smelled like a trap. It appeared in the form of a larger-than-others tree. Its canopy shuddered evilly when Keynes and Esopp arrived beneath it, which was their folly. Hundreds of small, sharp leaves dropped on them.

They managed to get out of the area of damage but Keynes had to use his spiritual aura to slow down the leaves. It worked only to a certain degree as his aura wasn’t very strong against physical objects.

Both men decided to finish the boss quickly as they were weary from the glacial pace of the clear. While it was an easy but very slow grind for them, Keynes realised that most skill-less ascenders with insufficient attributes would have a hard time clearing the rift in a safe manner.

After Keynes activated [Spiritual Ghost] and killed the boss with [Chaos Aura], they sighed with relief and got the reward chest, which produced two rewards:

An epic rarity trident and a lesser orb.

Then Keynes’s spiritual senses noticed a hidden door and the rewards stopped mattering.

“We’re for a treat,” Keynes said with new enthusiasm. “Watch this.”

Once his aura touched the gate, it became visible. It was intricate and represented some otherworldly scene of battle between monsters neither men had ever seen.

“What the hell is this?” Esopp turned to Keynes. “Who built it here?”

“No idea.” Keynes shrugged. No one knew a thing about it. Even the System had no information about the origin of hidden rewards. They just existed.

“Now’s the hard part,” Keynes added as he placed his hand on the ornate door. They were made out of some metal that resembled well-polished dark stone but that was the extent of Keynes’s knowledge. Touching wasn’t required, and perhaps not advised. What if the door had some sort of defensive mechanism? Nothing happened though and inwardly Keynes sighed with relief. Growing out of being an idiot didn’t happen overnight.

He unfurled his spiritual aura and touched the large door. The experience was very different from the last time he had encountered this type of hidden door. His presence was resisted but the resistance was negligible. Keynes pushed forward until his senses found what he was looking for -- a lock.

For the first in his life, Keynes had such a clear understanding of his Talent. The lock was like a labyrinth and to unlock it, Keynes’s Talent had to find a way to the other end. On some deeper level, his Talent knew which way to take to open the lock. It still cost Keynes pretty much all his mana, stamina and spiritual energy. He didn’t collapse like the last time though, which was a sign to his growth.

The double door slid apart revealing a wide corridor, lit by bright, electrical light.

“Should we go inside?” Esopp asked and Keynes nodded.

“Pretty much,” Keynes replied but didn’t move from his spot. “A word of warning, be careful. I don’t know what we’ll find inside.”

Esopp nodded and they entered the corridor. The moment Keynes crossed the threshold of the corridor, an odd sensation washed throughout his body. He couldn’t describe it.

What happened, Alice? He asked but his spiritual companion didn’t reply, then he blinked and with shock realised that he stood inside a large cellar-like chamber. In front of him stood a black, hooded apparition.

Keynes was alone.