She navigated the familiar areas with ease and confidence, smoothly and calmly bypassing each alert system. The pressure plates, trip lines at eye level, and the shimmer of body heat at the junction all became familiar landmarks. Dominic stayed close by, moving in sync with her along the dark path as they had planned, the concealment field overlapping them both for added safety.

The chimera chamber required patience. For fifteen minutes, they moved carefully along the wall, showing the kind of careful attention that only those who truly understood the importance of patience could have. They knew that taking their time here meant the difference between a safe, clear passage and a much more dangerous outcome. The chimeras kept slowly rotating, unresponsive to their presence, and eventually emerged into the next corridor beyond.

Dominic looked at the chamber behind them. Then at Theresa.

"So where do you think the loot is?"

She glanced at him. "Loot?"

"Yeah. With this many dead bodies, there’s probably weapons, gold, and artifacts. Things these people would have had on them before they stopped being people. Plus tools and materials."

"Should that really be our focus right now?"

"Hey. We’ve got to take every opportunity to make a profit. Besides, we need funds. A lot of it. For future purposes. We can’t just hope for guild pay." He kept moving. "So yes. Loot first."

A brief pause.

"Well. I suppose we’ll start looking into that since it didn’t come to mind previously when I was mapping."

The known area didn’t give up anything worth carrying. Whatever was here had either broken down over the years or been gobbled up by the creatures living inside. Dominic noticed this but chose to say nothing and continued.

They reached the wall.

Dominic felt the bond thread hum a little stronger, cosy and steady against the heavier miasma. He looked at Theresa. She briefly met his eyes and gave a gentle nod, not reassurance, just a quiet acknowledgment. They were in this together now.

The miasma here was thick enough to seem almost textured. It rested at the end of the corridor like a boundary someone might have deliberately drawn, with the concealment spell pressing against it, showing the particular resistance of a field meeting something eager to test it. Beyond the wall, the atmosphere changed completely — it felt heavier, more self-conscious, as if it carried a quiet, aware presence.

They stood at its edge, sharing a quiet understanding. The concealment spell was no longer needed beyond this point, and both of them knew it instinctively, without words. Dominic glanced at Theresa, who looked at the wall, before they moved forward together.

***

The contrast was striking right from the start. The area before the wall had a dark, corrupted feel, as if it had been abandoned and left to decay for a very long time. On the other side, everything was perfectly clean and pristine.

The stone transformed, becoming lighter in color and cut with an admirable precision that contrasted with its outer structure. Its patterns hinted at someone who cherished order as much as life itself. Ahead, a long hallway stretched out, with a ceiling high enough to give the impression of a space deliberately designed rather than just excavated. On either side, rooms opened through open archways, each visible from the hallway, meticulously arranged with an obsessive neatness that clearly took effort to uphold—and was maintained with care at every turn.

Dominic paused at the doorway for a moment, taking it all in. There was a certain quiet pride in maintaining such a clean space deep underground, especially when everything above had fallen into decay. He appreciated that, stored the thought away, and continued on his way.

The loot was here. The first room on the left greeted him, with weapons neatly racked along the walls, their orderly arrangement mirroring the care taken in everything. Blades, hafted weapons, and mysterious items hummed with a purposeful energy, their craftsmanship suggesting a specific, hidden intent. He hurried through, carefully selecting what was worth keeping and leaving behind what wasn’t.

Theresa was in the next room, her eyes smoothly scanning the artefacts displayed on carefully built shelving. The sealed containers along the far wall held treasures and memories from those who had made this journey and never returned. She moved with quiet purpose and a practical spirit, quickly evaluating each item- its value and significance- and skillfully packing what was important, while leaving the rest undisturbed.

There are four spatial bags scattered across different rooms, each containing the last belongings of a previous visitor. Now, these bags are ready for practical reuse, and Dominic has taken them all.

Their own spatial bag hit its limit first. Then the first extra bag. Then the second. Dominic handed Theresa the third and kept the fourth.

"We’re getting rich down here," he said with a small grin.

Theresa gave a dry smile. "Try not to get greedy. Greed gets people killed."

"Too late for that," he muttered, but the grin stayed.

They pressed on through the rooms, pulling free everything the structure didn’t anchor down. More than either of them had expected and still more than they could carry between them.

Wobbly was exploring a side corridor when suddenly, it was no longer where it had been. Dominic glanced at the spot where Wobbly had been standing and then looked down the side corridor. The darkness at the end still looked undisturbed. He patiently waited for three seconds, hoping to see Wobbly reappear.

"Wobbly?"

Nothing came back. The bond thread pulsed once, sharper than before, as if Theresa was right there with him, even though she was standing just two steps away. He could feel her calm focus flowing through it, helping him steady himself.

Theresa looked up from what she was packing.

Then the first undead horde appeared at the far end of the hallway.

***

Skeleton soldiers shuffle in unison, each one guided by an unseen force rather than their own thoughts. These grave crawlers creep low along the floor, radiating a disturbing wrongness, remnants of humanity twisting in ways nature never intended. There’s a haunting, eerie quality to their coordinated, rapid movement, a chilling reminder of what was once human but is now something else entirely.

Theresa gently reached for his arm just before he started to move. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

She started her work with careful, high-energy buffing and layering. First, Kinetic Anchor anchored Dominic’s heels to the ground, giving him stability, followed by Density Sheath that turned his skin into a tough, ceramic-like surface. Neural Compression sharpened his focus, making the chaos of the horde feel more like a slow-moving puzzle. Next, she used the kinetic twins: Impact Dispersal to soak up the swarm’s force, and Impact Magnification to send it bouncing back. She wrapped up with Momentum Condensation and Thermal Edge. The blade hummed softly, its edge glowing with concentrated plasma. All the spells clicked together smoothly, like the gears of a finely-made watch. Dominic didn’t just feel powerful—he felt precise, like a scalpel in a world full of decaying wood.

Including his own physical amplification, he tapped into the bond and confidently moved forward into the first wave.

The skeleton soldiers shattered under strikes that landed squarely. The academy training paid off, a testament to years of mandatory combat classes that hadn’t quite prepared them for ranked opponents. Now, amplification and a series of layered buffs drove them forward.

Theresa took the grave crawlers. A low-grade force push went past the point where grade mattered. They hit the wall and shattered.

The first wave cleared.

The second came with greater force. Wights working among the standard soldiers, their presence making the air feel even heavier in the corridor. Theresa subtly adjusted the buff’s intensity without any prompt. He sensed the change instantly. She was intuitively reading the engagement and responding in real time, carefully recalibrating what she channelled through the bond based on what he was facing. He didn’t overthink it. He moved forward.

The second wave cleared.

The third wave appeared from further down the hallway, encouraging them to move forward rather than retreat. The fighting itself pulled them deeper into the structure, with each wave crashing against them, then receding, as if a gentle, slow tide were drawing them toward a central point. Dominic made his way through a chimeras and ghouls that were larger than the others, and he could truly feel the effort in his body—something the earlier battles hadn’t quite done.

Still no Wobbly in sight.

He observed the movement between the third and fourth wave during the brief moment of stillness, quickly noting it down and staying alert in the hallway. When the fourth wave arrived, it did so unexpectedly, without the usual pause he had come to anticipate.

High-ranking undead, well-armed and armoured. The kind that had a commanding presence even before they reached striking distance, the air around them carrying a heavy weight that made the space feel a bit smaller, with high skill to match, Death knights. Dominic’s amplification held steady, but the ongoing effort from multiple engagements was starting to be felt in his arms and left side. At the same time, the Shatter damage was completely healed, the memory of it still lingered in the muscle beneath. He wasn’t giving up, but he was aware of the toll it was taking.

He pushed through it.

Theresa worked alongside him with her trademark impressive precision, emanating a calm, focused energy that everyone appreciated. She moved with a steady, unhurried grace, carefully enhancing even the simplest spells to make them more powerful. She positioned each spell with the patience of someone who truly knew her purpose, taking the time to do it right even amidst the surrounding chaos.

The fourth wave cleared.

The hallway came to a quiet end, leading to a door at the farthest point. This door, as ancient as the building’s outer shell, bore intricate carvings that covered its surface, using the same script as seen on the outside walls. Densely packed carvings obscured the individual symbols. The stone frame around the door was darker than the surrounding wall, stained by something that had been there for ages, adding to the place’s mysterious, timeless feel.

Both of them felt what was behind it before either of them reached for it.

There’s something truly powerful about that feeling—when you sense a presence that has been in one place so long that it feels like part of it. It’s as if they knew it was there, standing at its door, even before they arrived in the hallway, and perhaps even before they crossed the wall. It’s a quiet, yet profound awareness that lingers.

Dominic looked at Theresa.

She was looking at the door.

"Still no Wobbly," he said.

"Focus. We can find it later," she said. "Besides, I doubt anything bad could happen to it."

"Ha. True." Dominic said, letting out a deep breath. "Alright, let’s get this over with."

The bond thread thrummed between them, warm and alive, as if it already knew what was waiting on the other side.