Everything seemed normal for the most part. Frost held her breath as they ventured forth towards the light. A legion of one hundred moved as a single unit.

The Golden Middle personnel were stationed by the edges of the group, ensuring that no one strayed or was left behind.

They were happily compliant so long it was L.S who echoed her orders, although, they did find it strange as to why a Captain of the Golden Thumb obeyed this enigmatic adventurer they had all come to know as the Black Dove.

Frost had arranged everyone into subgroups. Throughout their journey across this relatively flat, barren field she had everyone state their professions one by one. Her leadership skills were splendid and were finely tuned thanks to the years spent as a medical profession.

However, as good as they were here, there were things that Frost could not pretend she was as an expert at. Namely, understanding how a large-scale group of adventurers were supposed to function.

Or a raid party, as everyone else called it.

Res and L.S, alongside the more experienced adventurers provided insightful information on how these parties usually functioned. Although, it was rare to have non-combatants amongst them. That was where the Golden Middle members chimed in, seeing that they were well versed in rescue operations.

And so, Frost led the group whilst entrusting L.S with most of the formations. As much as she hated to admit it, L.S had experience with handling many combatants and therefore made her suited for the job.

Res’ job on the other hand was simply to keep people in line and act as her own unit.

5 major subgroups were therefore created. 4 of them were strictly filled with combatants, and one was where all the unarmed men, women, and children were grouped together.

They were paired with the strongest individuals present. Each subgroup consisted of a vanguard, a handful of people with buffing magic, and those capable of ranged attacks in the far back.

This was considered a balanced formation. The only thing missing was their own personal healer.

Frost constantly relayed all relevant information behind her, which would then be echoed by specific people that lead these subgroups.

As much as they disliked a healer of all people to lead them, they could not help but to be enthralled by her leadership.

She was, unmistakably, a twisted version of a healer. The Black Dove perfectly encapsulated her.

They wandered for what felt like hours on end. Breaks needed to be frequented, and thirst could only be quenched with whatever spare resources people so happened to bring along. Their resources were scarce, and Frost had to wonder if there were any natural sources of nutrition down here.

“Glowberries usually grow underground. But not however deep we are.”

“The water’s dwindling fast. Liquor might need to go first.”

“We’re not going to start eating each other, are we?”

“Do you think we’re like those savages from S4?”

Chatter broke loose as worries over sustenance arose. The Derma layer could be a purgatory for all they knew, and they’d die of starvation before whatever malevolent beast got to them first. The panic, however, was actually minimal.

It was mostly the lower levelled adventures who caused this ruckus.

The non-combatants were too frightened to even speak a word, and the hardened veterans were optimistic despite their grizzly circumstances.

In the meantime, Ignis shared the good news regarding Ber. It turned out that the handless Ber was something created by a paper egg, almost certainly relating to the Librarians. The details were murky at best, let alone the reasoning behind it.

But Frost was no idiot to understand that it may be a method of directly attacking Ber’s psyche. After all, the Blood Festival was known to whittle the spirits of people until they were ripe for the organ harvest.

The lack of food and water, combined with a person’s resurfacing trauma might be why even Beholders wound up lost here.

“You greatly underestimate them. Returning is the real issue.”

That too. But you can never tell just how fragile people really are. Look at Res. She’s putting on a strong front… Just what are the Impuritas after? Destabilization of the Nexus? That might be it if they’re working closely with Iscario.

Frost’s hand naturally found its way onto Res’ head. The little wolf liked being pampered now that she realized it. She was quite needy in a way. Her face lit up to the familiar warmth of her hand as Nav spoke:

“But do we know if the other Impuritas are? Like the Crimson Hunger?”

We do know that the Gears might be working with them as well. Our safest bet is to assume that all Impuritas are our enemies.

Frost was adamant.

She was aware of her prejudices. Quite the irony for someone who despised all forms of it. But she could understand now why people felt this way. It was an innate, gut feeling that could only be mellowed in the ebbs of time, or through a common ground.

“L.S. We should get ready to move again. There’s a lot of shaking happening above us.” Frost noted as other Demi-humans present also detected the powerful reverberations. A few scurried up to her, raising a hand as they maneuvered through the seated crowd, minding their step.

“Black Dove! We’re hearing something above us!”

“Yeah, he’s right! It sounds like an explosion!”

“You can feel it too!? Black Dove! A lot of us are rested up already! Right!?”

The consensus arrived as a messy choir of agreements.

They quickly rose to their feet with a hundred stomps. The combined chatter made it difficult to pick up the rumbling from above, but if she listened very closely, then she could just manage to hear it.

Res looked up at Frost and nodded, but not without scrubbing her ears along Frost’s warm palm.

“Let’s go. I couldn’t be more thankful of Ignis… and you too. Please tell Cer as well. For her sake.”

“Cer says that she expected nothing less of Ber. Where is your trust, Res?”

Frost briefly called out to the group to resume their lengthy march. From what she could tell they were nearing another major opening. Their current cavern was like a tunnel compared to the one ahead. It was also where the light seemed to originate from.

Unfortunately, the light was far too strong to make out what else laid ahead. Hence the need for their formations just in case they were attacked all of a sudden. When everyone rose and were ready to depart, she gave the orders to follow as L.S joined her at the front.

Then, she quietly shared these solemn words to her little partner. Res’ already lit face brightened up by another few lumens. If only the other two were like that. But despite their idiocy and antics, Res cherished them more than anything else in the world.

“Of course she’d say that… she’s never changed, that idiot. Even though she was always the one getting us into trouble.” Res sighed, managing to finally laugh. “Ber was the one who was always there to fight for us. I was always the weakest… and I hated myself because of that. I’m glad that you’re not insane like a lot of people we know. Witnessing those things, they tend to stick with you forever.”

“Yeah. I get what you mean. I’ve also seen some things I don’t think I’ll forget either. And I doubt that’ll change.” Frost glanced behind her shoulder, seeing so many expressions that she couldn’t help but to feel sick to her stomach.

Many people were going to die whether she liked it or not. Her job was solely to mitigate that as much as possible. Reality was cruel, and Frost despised it from the bottom of her heart. Even with her power there was no way to protect everyone.

She had to wonder if maybe Carpalis felt the same way.

With eyes glistening in the light, her hand slid onto Res’ shoulder as the wolf eagerly awaited her sisterly reunion. A day hadn’t even passed, yet it felt like a thousand years had for these triplets.

“But you did your best, didn’t you?” Frost firmly said.

“I like to think so as well.” Res declared with all her heart. “I wonder if we’ll really see them soon.”

Whether by a stroke of fate or bad luck, the universe seemed to react to those words. Because in the next moment, the ceiling began to shatter. Panic instantly ensued, spreading like a deadly plague as people began running towards the light before Frost could even shout.

Their flight or flight instincts were thankfully in perfect order.

“Frost. Something happened on Ignis’ end. I believe you should start running.” Nav said with comical timing.

Without a second more to lose, she shouted at the top of her lungs:

“R-RUN! RUN! EVERYONE RUN AS FAST AS YOU CAN TOWARDS THE LIGHT!”

The entire ceiling from beyond the gorge collapsed into itself. A massive cave-in threatened to reap their lives in one fell swoop. It tumbled in massive chunks, revealing another cavern not too dissimilar from their beyond.

But Frost did not have the time to investigate. Her legs were already moving. Not towards the light, however. She instead ran to those that lagged.

She snatched a man by his waist and hoisted him above her shoulder like he was an old oak barrel.

“W-what the –! T-Thank you! Oh thank you!” He cried as Frost snatched another person, all the while ordering those capable to tug anyone that needed help along.

To her surprise, the Golden Middle members were able to conjure a giant golden hand above them like a spirit. These hands were capable of fairing multiple people at once, although, they seemed to have a weight limit as very few disintegrated when this limit was reached.

Frost found a familiar blonde-haired woman and spared no time in hoisting her above her other shoulder. She was the one she had promised to find her brother for. Unfortunately, that promise was unfulfilled.

The woman yelped as Frost made a mad dash towards the light, towing the two along as Res fired electrical beams behind them.

Projectiles the size of busses were flung into their direction. But they were of no match for a galvanizing wolf. She sniped them mid-flight with utter ease, ridding them of their destructive energy.

The remaining pebbles measly rolled into the dirt before they were crushed by the falling earth.

“Hehehe… It goes from a picnic to a deathly marathon! S-since you’re obviously in charge, miss Frost healer Black Dove, you must have some kind of plan! For sure I imagine! For sure!?” L.S desperately tried to pry something – anything out of Frost whilst gigging uncontrollably.

“KEEP RUNNING! DON’T STOP UNTIL YOU’RE IN THE CLEARING!” Frost yelled, watching as a few of the boulders ran past like deadly tumbleweeds. They were lucky that they didn’t run into the group. Otherwise, it would have been an utter massacre. “IF YOU CAN USE RANGED MAGIC THEN START LAYING DOWN FIRE BEHIND US!”

“Lay down fire!? Y-You mean –! OI! Throw whatever you have behind us!” A Golden Middle member cried, translating Frost’s foreign tongue for them.

People were already doing this, but not nearly as much that soon followed. Res’ beams were swift, destructive, and precise. But the sheer magnitude of the collapse made it impossible for her to cover everything.

Alone, Res was not especially good against multiple targets. Never at this kind of scale. Not to mention that much larger chunks were prone to exploding into multiple, large projectiles.

An array of magical missiles erupted from the group as fireballs, giant stones and glistening nets were flung behind. Every desperate attempt was made to keep the rolling boulders at bay, all they while the cavern caved in.

They were only a few dozen meters away from exiting their cavern now.

The emphatic light hummed at a strange frequency as they stumbled into a spectacularly large world. The cavern’s height could not be measured in hundreds of meters anymore. It was kilometers. It was so high that one could not even see the ceiling no matter how far they reared their head.

For only a moment, total silence enveloped them as their magic subsided. Miraculously, everyone stood a few tens of meters away from the collapsed cavern entrance. No one cheered, cried, or screamed.

A simultaneous pant of a hundred breaths echoed here beneath the light. It was so intense now that they could no longer see what laid beyond. However, what was behind them was as clear as day, and they unanimously felt their hearts sunk into the darkest recesses of their guts.

“… W-what the fuck… landmasses… stacked upon each other… like layers…” Frost was in utter disbelief when she stared up at the world they left behind. “Unbelievable. And I thought that cavern was huge. Shit… Shit.”

Their exit was one of perhaps a hundred, each stacked upon each other like floating landmasses. A lasagna could better describe this, with the filling being nothing but a gaping cavity. The sheer scale of the Derma layer awed her to no end, for such a formation should not be naturally plausible.

The next cavern above their collapsed one was at least a hundred meters high. And there, she saw something. Something red. She squinted her eyes as if unable to believe them, but as it turned out, that red figure was none other than Ignis!

“SORRY ABOUT THAT!” Ber’s voice could be heard from somewhere above as well, causing Res to gleefully smile. “BLAME THE IMPURITAS! I DIDN’T DO NOTHING!”

“She obviously did something, that idiot.” Res ended up sighing.