It was like trying to fit a thread through a needle while running. Azaroth ignored the three of them and focused on his legs, but each time he put essence in different ways, he failed.

His thoughts spun. How did the Duskstalkers do it? If they concentrate their essence on their claws and at the same time able to work without making sounds, then there must be a trick he’s missing.

"It’s not working," Alex hissed. His legs were thickly covered in essence, and the ground under his legs was cracked.

Stallus tried to do it as she always did when she was fighting and put a wisp of essence on her legs, but apparently, it was too small to hold her actual weight.

Catena didn’t say anything about it and continued to try, again and again, as the moving wall slowly pushed them.

Think! Azaroth thought to himself. The Duskstalkers concentrate their essence and yet they didn’t see the essence when they fought with them. That meant they were either hiding the essence or it was just too thin to see.

Let’s try this again, Azaroth thought. Then he put the essence on the sole of his feet as usual, but the difference was that he concentrated them, pressed them as if he was wearing an undersized shoe.

The essence resisted him. It wanted to be free-flowing. To be bulky. But Azaroth used her will to press it against his feet. He was sweating with the effort but still, he continued.

He hammered the essence with his will until he felt something give mentally, then he stopped. The essence was now flat against the sole of his feet.

It was molded around his shoes, but you can’t separate the two should you see it.

Azaroth straightened and then without hesitation, he walked into the room and stepped on the stones. Nothing happened. No spear came for his head. He started walking to the other side. His steps making no sounds.

"Wait!" Stallus shouted. "Teach us! Tell us how you do it!"

Azaroth paused. Then he slowly turned, his red eyes locked on her. "And why should I?"

"Because we’ll be dead otherwise!" Alex snapped as his latest try sent him flying against the wall.

Azaroth ignored him and focused on Stallus. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

"Because you are our leader and we might still be of help to you too. This crypt is dangerous. And we are only entered. We should look out for each other," she said.

Azaroth tilted his head. She was halfway right. He might need their help. He should let them stick to me for at least until he knew what this crypt was all about.

"Compressed the essence on your feet. Just think about the size of the sole of your shoes. Don’t let it spring back, hold it fast with your mind," Azaroth said.

"Thank you!" She called. Already doing as she instructed, the others doing the same too.

Azaroth continued to walk the room and soon, he reached the other side. He heard the others behind him but he didn’t look back as he continued into the tunnel.

The tunnel was as dark as ever, but his light provided the much-needed light. He continued walking, and on a whim, he decided to continue with the essence he compressed on his feet.

Behind him, he heard the sound of a spear hitting the ground and a shout. Maybe Alex has finally managed to kill himself, Azaroth thought to himself.

But he was proven wrong as the three caught up with him by running.

"Why do you have to trigger the trap! You scared me, and I almost let go of the essence!" Stallus snapped.

"It’s not my fault that my sword decided it’s the best time to sag on my belt!" Alex snapped back.

Catena sighed as they began to shout at each other, but Azaroth ignored them. That was until he wanted confirmation on something. "Check if the wall is still following us."

It was. But more slowly now. That means the crypt didn’t want them going back. Any choice they made, they must be satisfied with it because there would be no do-over.

It must have been hours that they had been walking now and even Azaroth was feeling the hunger. Tiredness lined his face too but the tunnel was never-ending in its darkness.

And so they continued to walk and walk, the dark broken only by their light.

Until they reached the end too and saw another room. This room was different. Grass grew on the ground and insects cried sharply to each other.

Azaroth froze. Grass? In a crypt? Could it be an illusion? Or maybe it was a kind of monster? Azaroth crouched at the edge and touched it with his hand but the earth was soft and wet and clung to his hand darkly. This was no illusion.

But what was it doing here in the middle of a crypt? Azaroth stood there and looked over the whole thing. It was far bigger than the last room that he couldn’t even see the connecting tunnel from where he stood.

When he looked up he saw a fake sunny sky. Or was it real? But how? They were in a crypt!

From the last trap, Azaroth knew there must be one here too, but he was tired and hungry and the only thing in his head was food but he held back the hunger that crowded his head.

He needed his head for something else.

"What are we to do here?" Stallus asked. Her eyes were lined with dark as she looked around dully.

Even Alex didn’t have anything to say as his mouth was withered with hunger. Catena looked as if he would fall over if a small wind blew.

"I don’t know," Azaroth said.

The grasses are tall enough to his a huge numbers of monsters and that was one of the reasons he wasn’t going out there. Something moved underneath and his hand went to his sword immediately.