Levi ran across the open ground, pushing mana into the air around him in hopes of changing his silhouette to something that could be mistaken as a normal creature instead of an attacking warrior. Though, realistically, if anyone spotted him it would be bad regardless of his perceived shape.

The compound was in an uproar already over Stunner's attack. Unsurprising. It was normal to be distracted by a giant electric dragon-horse running around.

Would it distract absolutely everyone? That was the dangerous question.

Lash and Becca had taken care of the guards on the watchtower, but Levi would have felt better about his chances of sneaking in if he'd been able to revive Tink. Illusions would be very helpful against human opponents, but he didn't have four hours to spare waiting for his revive cooldown to end.

Lash sliced open the lock on the back gate a moment before Levi could reach it to do the same with his manablade. This group may have access to high level equipment and be leveling faster than anyone Levi had encountered yet, but they hadn't reached the point of creating their entire compound out of mana-reinforced materials yet.

Lash held out one of his tendrils to Levi, who passed it to Skarm on his back. Soul-seekers were not the fastest of creatures. They could move in quick darts, but needed to pause after any such quick movement. Levi's stamina-powered sprint would outpace Lash's best speed by a lot.

The biggest problem with this part of the plan was the compound's bright lights, illuminating the interior clearly. The brightness may have helped Stunner avoid immediate detection, but it would make Levi and his group impossible to hide.

He could only hope the distraction Stunner had instigated would be enough to draw their full attention.

Before they'd crossed half the distance to the block of a building which contained the dungeon entrance, Stunner's health dropped to nothing and his name went grey in Levi's minion overview. That put them on a timer; the distraction over, the survivors would be looking for anything else that may have slipped in.

Their target building stood on its own, with nothing else nearby. It had a single door, and unlike the fence this structure was mana-reinforced.

Quite impressive to already have so much manasteel, but at the moment this was a problem to be overcome rather than an achievement to be celebrated. Whoever this group were, they were far too powerful and well equipped for Levi's peace of mind.

Trying to slice open its deadbolt was much like trying to cut open a regular deadbolt with a regular sword; that is to say, fairly ineffective. Levi wished he had Gordon's control dagger right about now, he could have used the chainsaw-like attack mode to great effect here.

Lash gently nudged him out of the way and stuck one thin shadowy tendril into the lock. Levi stared in amazement as the soul-seeker surged his mana to sharpen it, then twisted sharply.

The door clicked, and Lash shoved it open.

Levi stepped inside. Lash pushed the door closed behind them and flipped the deadbolt, once again proving himself remarkably multi-talented.

Beast Dungeon: Level 21

Levi stared in stunned disbelief. He'd expected a high level dungeon, probably level ten, maybe close to fifteen. But this...

Twenty one.

Things were escalating faster than Levi thought possible. He wasn't anticipating a group of Awakened to go around kidnapping people and he didn't expect any dungeons to be much above level 10 yet.

Clearly, his information about the early years of the invasion had some pretty major gaps in them. Of course, by the time something like this got noticed, it would be buried by the much bigger news of fiery monsters invading through mysterious death portals. Compared to that, a few dungeons that only bothered anyone if they got close were practically insignificant.

Crackle hummed anxiously against his shoulder, reminding him of their objective. Levi didn't have time to stop and puzzle this out. Was running alone into a dungeon four levels higher than him near suicide? Yeah. But his family was already trapped inside it. Their safety wasn't something he was willing to gamble with. He'd already made that mistake too many times.

Becca landed beside Levi, jumping out of thin air and promptly sitting down to lick a giant paw. That put them at a grand total of one rift-cat, one soul-seeker, one tamer, and one gremlin. Not the most impressive team.

Levi narrowed his eyes, bringing up the minion screen. "Where's Two?"

The gremlin's health wasn't falling, in fact it had stabilized at full, but he hadn't joined them.

Lash shrugged with all eight of his shadowy limbs, Becca continued licking her paw as though nothing else mattered, and Crackle only buzzed anxiously.

Levi glanced again at the dungeon's tag. Level 21. He'd been struggling against dungeons half its level with Gordon and twenty minions an his side. But he'd survived worse.

"You're absolutely certain, Irene and Peter are inside there?"

Crackle buzzed affirmative, flying ahead and looping back in a perpetual vertical figure-eight.

Levi stepped into the portal.

Immediately the atmosphere weighed down on him, oppressive and overpowering. He'd almost forgotten it over the weeks spent grinding through dungeons well below his own level. Now it hit him with unmistakable force. A sense of being outmatched and overwhelmed. Unprepared and doomed.

The same feeling that had eventually pervaded the entire planet, one he'd once lived with on a daily basis.

Old instincts kicked in and he froze in place, anxiety skyrocketing in an instant.

He shouldn't be alone.

Find the group. Stay with the group. Any fighter who was separated from the group was as good as dead.

Wait for the others. Don't advance alone.

Stay together no matter what.

If they'd ever taught him anything, they'd taught him that.

He gripped his sword, blind unreasoning panic flickering through his mind.

The impossible dream that was the past month seemed to melt away as reality pressed in against him, demanding its due.

Then Skarm squeaked questioningly in his ear.

Levi gasped in a breath, the paralysis broken. But the dread remained. His heart raced. This was wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong. He shouldn't be here. He especially shouldn't be here alone.

Crackle buzzed in his face, flying out, then back, urging him onward.

Lash held on to Levi's backpack, braced for him to run.

Becca had meandered through the portal, then sat down again to resume licking her paw, clearly disinterested.

This was real. It hadn't been a dream. He had a reason to be here. A reason stronger than mere self-preservation.

His anger at his family's plight warred with common sense that demanded he retreat and wait for reinforcements. Gordon would be there with Pierce and the rest of the minions within a day or so. The harpies he'd left behind might arrive before then. This would be a whole lot more likely to succeed if he had them at his back.

But he knew he'd never forgive himself if anything happened. A few hours could be the difference between life and death.

Crackle hummed and flew forward, then back, in his looping pattern that Levi had come to interpret as 'come this way, follow me!'

"It's not safe," he growled, torn. "I'm no use to them dead."

Crackle flew more urgently.

"Even if we can run past everyone here, the boss room can't be skipped, and I don't like our chances with just us."

Crackle hummed more insistently, wings a blur as he zipped and looped.

"I don't think--"

Skarm prodded him in the back with one long pointy claw.

"You too?"

Skarm pointed after Crackle, who'd finally given up on looping in place and was flying toward the end of the room in a straight line.

"It's his own fault if he gets himself--"

Skarm poked him harder, hard enough that Levi's health dropped by a point, squeaking commandingly.

"I'm not Centoo, you don't get to order me around."

Skarm repeated his gesture, pointing after the now barely-visible Crackle and squealing urgently.

Becca bounded off after the scarab, her passage rousing the dire-turkeys into pursuit.

Skarm kicked Levi's shoulder blade.

Now or never; if he waited, the oncoming monsters would fill in the space between them, leaving him cut off from half his team.

"Fine!" Levi surged stamina and burst into a headlong rush. "But if we all die, know that it's entirely your fault!"