They had never been more terrified. Even their escape from the cult couldn’t compare to this.

  The whole party stood frozen, waiting for the grotesque thing to make its move with bated breaths.

  Sweat dripped from necks, fingers twitched in anxiety, cards waited to be manifested.

  Then the thing disappeared and everyone flinched as they heard it land behind them.

  They collectively whirled around and stared as the beast dug its front limbs into the dirt and then twisted space itself in a nauseating way.

  Layna made a strangled sound at the sight. Another pipe manifested out of thin air where the beast dug, jutting out of the ground and growing straight up. Once tall enough, the beast latched onto it and climbed it while continuing to create more of it.

  The party watched the beast make it all the way to the ceiling of the place where the tangle of pipes lay. With a blur of motion, it cut through one of the pipes without resistance, and then connected its new pipe to the collective up above. It climbed over the structure, scanning it every which way. Then, seemingly satisfied with its work, it sundered the space around it and disappeared.

  It took a few seconds for space to right itself, leaving unmarred pipes behind.

  The twins finally gave in to their shaking knees and collapsed onto their butts. Layna behind them didn’t fare any better.

  “W-W-W-What was that?!” she asked.

  Elis let out a shaky breath before replying.

  “The Shepherd – the rift’s caretaker, janitor, manager, creator… take your pick.”

  The trio turned around with their eyes wide.

  “That was the Shepherd?! I thought they were supposed to be friendly!”

  “Friendly is the wrong word – more like uncaring. Unless you try to attack them.” The elf shook his head. “On that note: Don’t try to attack them. You’ll die. And even if by some miracle you don’t, you’ll get arrested. Hunting these things is as illegal as it gets.”

  “Why?” Dusk found himself asking.

  “Because killing one destabilizes the rift and worsens the spillover. Ever heard of Jesterocco?”

  The twins frowned.

  “Isn’t that the city that got destroyed by– Oh…”

  “Yeah.” The elf turned around and looked into the distance. “We better get moving again.”

  “Right.”

  Layna and the twins steadied themselves and forced their still wobbly legs to move despite the harrowing experience.

  Luckily, they suffered no more Shepherd or even monster encounters on their way to the exit of this area. Unfortunately, it became clear that leaving wouldn’t be as simple as walking through an opening.

  “Damn. This is not ideal,” Elis cursed as he stared at the tunnel leading out of this place – high up on the wall. Then he glanced at the twins. “Can you two climb?”

  “Of course! We’re geckin.”

  “Could you help us up as well?”

  “Umm…”

  They could, but it would be very uncomfortable.

  “…Sure,” Dawn reluctantly replied.

  Elis nodded.

  “Go scout it out first. If it’s safe, help Layna up first. I’ll defend our position here.”

  “Right!”

  A quick wall-jog there and back later, the twins returned with information.

  “It’s actually a little alcove. There’s a narrow passageway leading out though, so not a dead end.”

  Elis thought for a moment.

  “How narrow? Can monsters come in?”

  “Probably not? Haven’t seen monsters small enough for that around here.”

  “Alright. Then let’s take a breather there. Should be a decently safe spot.”

  Yay! They could finally try Layna’s bread.

  “Go.” Elis nodded at the catkin.

  The twins positioned themselves on the wall and presented their tails.

  Layna grabbed them – one in each hand – with a muttered apology and they began climbing. A bit more difficult with the added weight, but nothing they couldn’t handle.

  At least until they focused a bit too much on one particular rock, making Dawn’s movement stutter for a split second as Dusk blanked out.

  “Gyah!”

  Dusk quickly caught himself again as Dawn gripped the rocks hard.

  “W-What was that?!”

  “Sorry! I, uh… I accidentally grabbed a sharp rock.”

  Luckily, the catkin seemed to buy their excuse and they continued up. With no more stutter incidents, they made it to the alcove and Layna began pulling things out of her backpack to set up camp.

  That could have been bad. Stupid stuttering…

  They took a moment to steady their breathing before heading back down. When they made it back, Elis eyed them for a moment but didn’t say anything as he grabbed their tails and let them carry him up as well.

  They returned to the alcove to see the catkin had set up ward stones around the edges and was in the process of pulling food out of her backpack.

  The twins eyed the inky darkness inside her pack, which seemed to hold far more than should’ve fit inside. She pulled out a sack filled with delicious-smelling bread.

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  It still looked soft and fresh.

  In the meantime, Elis sat down in the perfect spot to always keep an eye on the crevice, while also being able to see out into the sprawling area they had come from.

  “Okay! I can finally keep my promise! Here try this! It’s my own recipe! I call it Layna’s crunch!”

  “…Thanks.”

  The twins took some cookies from the excited catgirl and simultaneously took a bite.

  Seeing this, Elis narrowed his eyes.

  But whatever he was about to say got interrupted by a loud rumble as the entire rift shuddered again.

  Everyone stiffened as cards materialized in their hands.

  The walls surrounding them groaned, and the crevice Elis had been watching sealed itself shut. At the same time, the trees outside seemed to rapidly grow, swiftly reaching the height of their resting spot.

  Once things settled, Dusk risked a peek out and blanched at the sight.

  “What the heck?! We moved down! How?!”

  Whereas before, monsters would have a hard time reaching them at all, now their alcove was low enough for some of the frogs to jump straight into it.

  “Another Elite’s dead,” the elf explained as got up to take a look. “That’s three – next is the boss.”

  The twins’ eyebrows rose.

  “Wait, that earthquake means an Elite died?”

  “Yes. The rift shifted. There were two others earlier. The first one separated us from our groups and you probably felt the second one as well.”

  “…Yeah, we did.”

  Well, now it made sense the snake would drop an Epic essence if it had been an Elite. But at the same time, something felt off about it dying so easily.

  “A huge tunnel just opened up in the right side,” Elis reported.

  “Um, that’s a bad thing, right?”

  He hesitated, then sat back down.

  “It could mean a horde of monsters is coming, it could mean the path to the Boss opened, or it could mean nothing at all. We’ll keep resting but keep vigil. Hopefully the Boss falls soon too.”

  “Right… Is the earthquake thing gonna happen again when the boss falls?”

  “Yes, but more extreme. The rift usually reshapes itself to make it easier to leave after being conquered.”

  “Never knew about that…”

  Elis grunted.

  “You wouldn’t if you’ve never entered fresh rifts. The conquered ones are way tamer than this. Not as dangerous. No Elites. No Boss. Lower rarity essences.”

  “Oooh, that makes sense now.”

  The elf eyed them.

  “You’ve been to managed rifts, I take it?”

  They paused, trying to keep the grimace off their faces.

  “…Yeah.”

  With the cult back then.

  Elis seemed to understand the touchiness of the subject and only grunted to end the conversation before grabbing some of Layna’s bread to eat.

  Speaking of Layna’s bread, the twins couldn’t help but keep staring at the unnatural darkness from which it came from.

  “By the way, is that thing a skill too?” Dawn gestured to Layna’s backpack.

  She laughed and shook her head.

  “No, it’s a relic.” She gave a painful smile. “A very expensive relic, but it’s bound to me.”

  The twins nodded.

  “Challenge rift?”

  “Haha… Yeah. I found one when I was five and accidentally ended up solving it.”

  They stared.

  “How do you accidentally solve a challenge rift?”

  “Well, that’s a long story…”

  The makeshift party continued to eat and chat while keeping watch for about half an hour as they rested. The twins also took a moment to heal the whole party of any minor injuries they had accumulated since they had the time.

  After half an hour, the rift shook once more.

  Though this time, not because the surroundings shifted, but because of the bone-rattling roar that cut through the earth itself.

  Layna gasped, the twins stiffened, and Elis cursed under his breath.

  Stomp.

  Stomp.

  “It’s coming here!” the elf gritted through his teeth. “Through the big tunnel! We need to move!”

  The party hurriedly repacked everything and the twins rushed the other two back down. They hit the ground running in their previous formation, frantically scanning their surroundings to not accidentally run into smaller monsters.

  “Oh, drat…” Dusk mumbled as the giant monstrosity finally emerged from the tunnel.

  A colossal metallic basilisk with huge pipes coming out of its back. Steam gushed out of them in a rhythm, letting out deep blaring sounds.

  “Dear Kat…” Layna gasped.

  “Move! Don’t let it distract you!”

  They did, desperately running away from the thing despite not being sure whether they could find any escape tunnels nearby.

  Then Dawn stuttered and Dusk tripped.

  “Gah!”

  “Get up!”

  Elis grabbed Dusk and forced him back to his feet as Dawn recovered.

  Stupid blanking out! I knew the cursed skill was too good to be true!

  They kept running.

  Miraculously, they didn’t run into any monsters, nor did the Boss behind them find them worthy of its attention. It almost seemed like they could safely make it out if only they could find another tunnel.

  Then bright flash of purple tore through the cavern, followed by a loud metallic clank.

  “What the–”

  A beam of purple had just slashed into the Boss monster, denting some of its pipes and making it stumble to the side.

  The creature let out an angry hiss of steam out of its mouth as the pipes on its back began building pressure.

  “What was that?!”

  “That’s… Lightslinger! An S-class rift hunter!”

  “S-class?!”

  “We’re saved!”

  But that hope died a swift death when the Boss’ back exploded into a huge cloud of steam and dozens smaller shapes shot into the air before raining down everywhere.

  Two of them crashed into the soil not too far away from the party. One in front, one behind them.

  They turned out to be the same metallic frogs they had fought before, except triple in size.

  “Watch out!” Elis barked. “Be on guard! We need to defend ourselves until the Boss goes down!”

  The frogs gathered themselves and opened their mouths.

  Cards appeared in everyone’s hands.