Dimensional Descent

The situation only seemed to continuously spiral more and more out of control.

Without any direction, Aina continued traveling down the path of least resistance. What point was there in battling many Invalids if she was no longer on the right path anymore to begin with? All she could do was try to head in the general direction she had aimed for in the very beginning, but without a map, compass, or strong sensory abilities, Aina was practically flying blind.

Though she felt like she was headed in the right direction, for all she knew, by now, she was already headed in the complete opposite.

The headpiece Aina wore that almost took the shape of a loose crown on her head did have a strong boost to her abilities. But, it was multiplicative, not additive. Since Aina's senses were weak to begin with, the effect of the treasure wasn't as great as it would be to someone with true sensory abilities.

However, it was still very helpful in clearing Aina's mind. Despite the situation, she managed to remain calm, brandishing her sword toward her enemies and maintaining a steady control over her heart rate and stamina.

She didn't know how long she would have to run and hide. But, what she did know was that since the density of Invalids could so quickly increase, it could very likely decrease back to what it once had been.

She just had to keep running toward where the least of them appeared. As long as she ran for long enough, she felt she could finally break out of this encirclement.

From her interactions with the Invalids, their lack of intelligence was clear. She didn't believe that they would know to expand their encirclement to find her.

Still, the situation just seemed off.

Why did that Invalid scream? Why were they acting so weirdly? In fact, to now, none of the Invalids had even used their abilities. One of the most dangerous things about Invalids should have been the unpredictable methods by which they made use of their powers. Yet, not a single one had taken advantage of this.

Also, now that Aina thought about it, another hallmark of Invalids, especially low level ones, were failed mutations. They often had extra body parts or an odd assortment of a normal number of limbs.

But, all of these Invalids looked… normal?

to 'normal' Invalids, these ones looked almost too human. They had no odd

for her life. But, the situation only seemed to become more odd even as the density of Force continued

though the air quality

she understood what

had climbed to. Obviously, so high up, the oxygen density had plummeted. The only reason oxygen would be increasing was

exit all this time, hoping that she would run back into a path where she

steeled her jaw,

no longer mattered. This wouldn't be the

blade, another

many things she needed to do, she had

Aina needed to cross. Every time her footsteps faltered or her arms grew tired, her resolve would be the light

Invalid, her breathing ragged. She sidestepped its uncoordinated attempt to swipe at her, lopping

'A light?'

find a faint red light ahead. It spilled out from several diverging paths, making it difficult to tell just where the source of it was or

her. Though she wasn't sure if this would lead to more danger or not, in these monotonous tunnels, such a change

devouring humans. If that was the case, then

brightest of the red lights,

rounded another corner, cautiously

new Invalid hasn't appeared in a

tighter. In the past, she hadn't been able to travel even 50 meters without coming across another Invalid. But now

slowed, her grip around her sword growing tighter as the red lights around her grew stronger. The crimson hue rebounded across

difficult to see clearly through the bright red light. After so long in perpetual darkness, the sudden increase