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?

ones looked almost too human. They had no odd mutations to speak of in the slightest

had no choice but to continue running for her life. But, the situation only seemed

though the air quality was increasing

she understood what

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

lost. She thought she had been heading in the general direction of her exit all this time, hoping that she would run back into a path where

steeled her jaw,

wouldn't be the place she

another two Invalids had their

needed to do, she had no intention of earning herself a nameless

flip in her mindset, this endless maze of tunnels and Invalids became nothing more than another challenge Aina needed to cross. Every time her footsteps faltered or her arms grew tired, her resolve would be the light that

Invalid, her breathing ragged. She sidestepped its uncoordinated attempt

'A light?'

diverging paths, making it difficult to tell just

wasn't sure if this would lead to more danger or not, in these monotonous tunnels,

had come across before, these ones in particular seemed to share a purpose outside of devouring humans. If that was the case, then something had to be controlling them. If

she made her way toward the brightest of the red lights, hoping

cautiously

hasn't appeared in a

past, she hadn't been able to travel even 50 meters without coming across another Invalid. But now she had travelled several hundred without even hearing a

grip around her sword growing tighter as the red lights around her grew stronger. The crimson hue rebounded across the dark walled cave, making some of the moisture clinging to it look no different from

finding herself facing an opening to an open space. But, it was difficult to see clearly through the bright red light. After so long in