The only way out through this garbage dump was through some kind of dimensional portal that only opens to allow water flow through it, built around a mechanism and lake she couldn’t touch.

She laughed at that. This was exactly the kind of challenge that was up her alley. This could only be solved by something drastic and reckless.

She was definitely going to have fun with it.

Holly stared at her strangely, wondering if her words had somehow made Akira go mad from hopelessness. But that didn’t seem to be the case. In fact, Akira’s eyes seemed to shine even more with a fire that wasn’t there before.

"What kind of monster have I created?" She couldn’t help but wonder.

"So... what are you going to do?"

Akira glanced at Holly, before staring back at the placid lake before her. As she pondered the question, a wild idea began springing up in her head.

She turned back to Holly, a wide grin appearing on her face. "Quick question. How many corpses can you guys whip up for me?"

"What?"

"It doesn’t have to be human corpses. I’m sure you guys have a lot of beast corpses lying around. This is the garbage dump, isn’t it? Don’t the dungeon dump corpses here too?"

"There are corpses." Holly nodded in astonishment. "But- But what do you need them for?"

"For a bit of necromancy, of course." Akira chuckled. "Let’s go."

***

Even though the entire Undercity was currently loud, there was a special sort of silence in the room of the building.

Outside, the streets groaned as the buildings moved, merging and separating from each other to scramble the playing field.

It had been almost twenty four hours since Akira had disappeared. While Lukas and Melody knew Akira was still alive, they hadn’t spoken much on the topic.

After all, they weren’t sure if Akira was actually in the Undercity itself or somewhere else. They only had to hope.

As for Karrakas, he’d stayed silent out of respect. While he still held out hope that Akira was alive, just like they’d said, a part of him couldn’t help but give up. Walls closing upon a Climber inside a dungeon? Especially this kind of moving dungeon? If that wasn’t death, then what was it?

The tiefling glanced at the two beside him, who had a focused expression on their face. With one person missing, things should’ve been harder since their workload had increased, but somehow, that wasn’t the case.

Lukas and Melody had gotten even more terrifying, taking out the beasts with more efficiency and speed than one would expect. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

Finally, the groaning outside stopped as the buildings slid to a halt. There was silence, then Karrakas rose to his feet, peeking out the window.

He turned back to them. "The street’s clear. Let’s move."

Melody and Lukas shared a glance, before rising to their feet. This time, Lukas took point.

He stepped out of the building already activating [Hex Shield]. The cursed energy snapped into place as shields layering ahead and above him.

Karrakas followed closely behind, an arrow nocked on his bow, while Melody brought up the rear, using her own [Hex Shields].

The shields appeared atop one another, covering the back and sides. With their usual turtle shell formation, they continued down the street.

This time, they didn’t need words. It was as if the recent tragedy had given them some kind of hive mind abilities or something.

Even Karrakas himself couldn’t understand what had happened, but he wasn’t going to be the first to point it out.

As the beasts appeared above them, Melody opened a small hole in the side of their shields, and he fired as many arrows as he could in that short amount of time before she sealed it.

His small rain of arrows blurred through the air, sending the Automatons dodging out of the way.

One wasn’t fast enough, with three arrows slamming into it and blowing a small hole through its torso, taking it down.

However, two of the beasts crashed into each other in their haste to dodge the arrows, the force sending their gears spilling out of their bodies. His remaining arrows finished them up half a second later.

As for the rest, Lukas mopped them up with his [Smite]. He wasn’t even trying to hide his mana usage.

The golden pillars descended like the wrath of a mad god, taking out the beasts with impunity.

He had enough mana to use the skill for long enough to kill anything that came within sight.

And so they continued down the street without breaking stride.

Soon, they arrived at an empty roundabout. At the center was the statue of a horse standing on its hind legs, its front hooves pawing at the air. It looked powerful and was made of stone.

"Finally!" Karrakas hissed.

"What is it?" Lukas glanced back.

"I recognize this statue. From here, we can find our way to the center section of the Undercity. Once we’re inside the center section, finding the innermost room is only a matter of time."

Lukas paused for a second before speaking. "Good. Where do we go?"

Karrakas pointed. "There."

Without further ado, Lukas led the way.

On one hand, he was glad that they were making progress. It also meant it was possible for him to complete his current quest and find the innermost room within three days.

But on the other hand, they had no idea where Akira was. Even if it meant not completing the quest, he wanted to drag his feet and focus on finding Akira.

But he’d given his word to Karrakas. They’d complete the dungeon run first and hope to see Akira on the way.

After a few minutes of walking and taking out beasts under Karrakas’ guidance, they arrived at a large courtyard.

On the other end of the courtyard was an arched road. Karrakas pointed to it immediately the structure came into view.

"That’s it, guys. The route into the center section. But that’s not the problem right now."

"Then what is?"

"The beast that guards it."