Dimensional Descent

Aina pulled her sword out quickly.

She didn't quite understand what was happening. Shouldn't Invalids be creatures of instinct? They shouldn't have any intelligence or sense of comradery. Something like signaling one's allies was a distinctly human trait. Sometimes beasts of higher intelligence would engage in such matters as well. But, Invalids? That should never happen.

'It didn't become energy?'

Aina was shocked once again. The Invalid before her collapsed, but it didn't disappear into energy she could absorb. Just what was happening?

Aina's heart seized. Did she make a mistake? Was it not an Invalid at all?

No, that was impossible. Its eyes, its aura, its demeanor, it all screamed Invalid. So, what was happening exactly?

Aina didn't believe that she would make such a rookie mistake. Plus, what existence other than an Invalid could shriek like that even after having its head pierced through?

Aina was certain, it hadn't been a shriek of pain or unwillingness. It had no emotion behind it all, it was completely hollow and without conscience.

'I need to move.'

Aina thrust these thoughts to the back of her mind, taking a glance at the wall the 'Invalid' had been scratching at.

If Leonel had been there, he would immediately recognize the Tier 5 Black Ore embedded into the wall. It wasn't very valuable, but it wasn't worthless either. At the very least, it could sell for a couple kilograms of Black Urbe Ore.

'I don't have time to dig it out and it doesn't seem like a very high level ore either.' Aina nodded to herself. 'Run.'

a difficult situation for such a worthless Ore she couldn't even mine,

shot back in the direction she

time to run and create new markings on the wall. And, if she got lost in these tunnels, there would be no one to come out and save her. Therefore, her best chance was to

she thought, then it likely meant that there were more Invalids on their way. If she was correct, then her arrows wouldn't mean much if anything to them. With their low

confidence, only to come to a grinding

her. But, they all simultaneously rotated their heads in

her

she go forward? Or

would force her to forget her initial plans entirely. There was no way she would be able to keep a mental map of where she was going and

tunnels simply had too many diverging paths. If it wasn't for this, there was no way that Aina would only meet these Invalids on her way back and never even

her teeth.

way here. If that was the case, there might very well be even more if she headed in deeper rather than trying to exit. Her only way out of this situation was to leave this network of

boil, a faint red

shot forward, brandishing

their reactions seemed disjointed. Though they were as fast as Fourth Dimensional humans, their joints would often bend

and more like some alien species just learning how to walk on

sight send a cold shiver down Aina's back, but this was a good thing for her. The less coordinated they were, the greater chance she had

two, she shot by the gap she created after the Invalid toppled over, nearly hitting her head on the ceiling of the cave as she soared by

noise she might make. As long as the Invalids she came across continued to be so uncoordinated and slow, she

rounded several corners, almost lamenting her previous actions. Why couldn't she had traveled in a

But, a few came in groups of two and three. Still,

here? Why did none of them become motes of light? Why were they all acting so

how there were so many here. The more she ran into, the more she began to question how she had traveled so deeply without running into even a single