Sariel's eyes widened as he caught sight of the breath-taking mountain before him. Its peak was barely visible, shrouded in a misty haze amidst the blue sky. The jagged ridges and craggy cliffs of the mountain seemed to stretch up to the heavens, as if challenging any who dared to scale their formidable heights.

As he took in his surroundings, Sariel noticed the rivers that flowed around the base of the mountain, their waters sparkling and glittering in the sunlight. The gentle sound of the flowing water was a soothing contrast to the rugged, untamed landscape.

The beauty of the scene before him crashed into his mind. He knew it was fake, and yet he still felt a sense of awe and wonder at the majesty of the mountain and the natural world that surrounded him. The colours of the landscape were vivid and rich, from the deep greens of the lush trees that hugged the base of the mountain, to the warm oranges and yellows of the rocks that formed its foundation.

Yet around the mountain, stone walls rose from the ground to the sky, reaching the height of the mountain. Waterfalls poured and fed into the rivers, and it was at this moment Sariel realised they were in a crater.

The walls of the crater were steep and imposing, rising up on all sides to form a natural fortress that protected the valley within. The valley was a lush oasis, with verdant fields and gentle meadows spreading out before Sariel like a patchwork quilt. The area was nothing less than absolutely massive, yet at least everything was in the range of vision.

Most importantly were the fruit bushes around; however, they each held a mockingly small amount of berries. Sariel wasted no time leaping towards them, gathering as many of them as he could. He threw all of them within his Spirit Inventory, eating a few of them whilst directly pathing between bushes.

He could see the other Dreamers in the distance, each of them having been placed in varying distances around the mountain. They also made their way between bushes, gathering the few fruits they could. He made his way over to regroup, but the sudden shattering of the clock broke his concentration. What? Already?

The question immediately answered itself; a massive beast, dark as the depths of the water around the platform they were trapped in, rose up and smashed the clock with brutal strength. It spread its wings and let out an earth shattering roar.

The bird creature loomed above, its grotesque silhouette casting a sinister shadow on the ground. Its wings were massive, spanning twice the height of a man, and they beat with a deafening roar that shook the very earth beneath it.

The creature's beak was razor-sharp, gleaming in the dim light with a malevolent glint. Its eyes were deep and dark, swirling with black threads as everything tended to do, gleaming with an otherworldly intelligence that sent shivers down the spine.

Feathers the colour of midnight adorned the creature's body, each one seemingly imbued with a malevolent energy that pulsed with a sickening glow. The bird creature's talons were long and deadly, each one curved into a wicked, serrated point that could rend flesh and bone with ease

As the clock crashed down, so did the waterfalls. The waters surged from the top of the cliffs barely out of sight, overflowing out of the basins of water below. It seeped into the ground, but quickly overflowed onto the plains around the base of the mountain.

The sound of water crashing which was once distant suddenly became a permanent part of the atmosphere that was impossible to dismiss. The waters flew even faster still, and Sariel saw the water race towards him. The beautiful fields were crushed under the weight of water; the beautiful berry bushes that afforded him respite met the same fate.

The depths are death. It was simple knowledge; it was as if the water itself was malicious, but what truly was the problem were the creatures that could sit within. Sariel lost no time in running to the only reasonable place where he could evade the rapidly rising water levels; naturally, the mountain in the centre.

The other Dreamers got the cue, and began sprinting towards the mountain as well. The water pooled on the floor, quickly engulfing the area, and as Sariel leapt onto the mountain and grasped the rock above him, the water had crashed into the base of it, finally coating the entire plains.

But it wasn’t stopping. No, indeed, it was still rising. Sariel's hands burned as he pulled himself up the sheer face of the mountain. Though the rate of the water’s rise wasn’t too dramatic, there was more than just one reason to keep climbing.

He had no time to waste, and so he pushed harder and faster. The rock face was unforgiving, offering little in the way of handholds or footholds.

Sariel's practised hands swiftly found purchase on the rocky surface of the mountain, as he rapidly ascended its sheer face. His feet deftly found the smallest of holds, and he climbed with agility and confidence.

He, quite unexpectedly, had quite the great experience with mountain climbing. In the search for the most optimal conditions to grow Song, altitude was not forgotten, and the requirement to continually ascend higher and higher peaks to try and produce Song of the highest quality was fulfilled by continuous practice.

The water below him was rising still, but Sariel kept his focus on the task at hand. He was determined to climb enough to give him a little bit of breathing space, and check up on the other Dreamers.

His muscles worked in perfect coordination, his body moving with fluid grace. Beads of sweat formed on his forehead, but he ignored them, his eyes locked on the peak looming above. Yet the peak was obscured suddenly, as the demonic beast flew above Sariel.

Immediate alarm bells rang through Sariel’s mind. It was common knowledge that killing the boss monster within a dungeon would end the instance, but flying beasts were another story. How do you lure a beast that can fly into a range where it can be killed?

It dove towards him; exactly the situation he hoped wouldn’t occur. Its black wings contracted as it swerved towards Sariel, who swiftly swung his body sideways to attempt to evade the dive. He succeeded, the bird diving past him and getting submerged in the water.

Birds with wet wings were much slower, but it was never that easy within the Abyss. Sariel focused on regaining altitude, but he heard the damn beast rise out of the water with a splash, and it forced him to give a backward glance and ensure he wasn’t its target.

Indeed, it had redirected its attention to a different Dreamer, with each of them being on different sides of the colossal mountain. Sariel grit his teeth and continued climbing, taking note of everything he could see from his perspective.

There was a cave up ahead; that would’ve been useful if he was being targeted by Hugin. Perhaps there would be more ahead to provide refuge from the bird.

The Abyss was brutal, and yet somehow very fair. It was never simply impossible to succeed in a dungeon, and they were never simply death traps. There was never a dungeon that was impossible to clear, and there were never enemies that were impossible to beat. However, victory required sacrifices, and the amount of sacrifices required to succeed occasionally became too much to bear.

But what was the condition for victory here? They need to kill Hugin whilst split up, on a mountain ascending vertically, and escaping the rising water levels. How do they even begin to do such a thing?

No matter. There was only one direction that Sariel could go, and that was up. There was no need to ask such questions.

However, as he swung next to the cave he spotted earlier, he noticed it travelled diagonally through the entire mountain. A light went off in his eyes; he swung himself upwards and began sprinting through the cave. Meeting up with one ally would be an invaluable resource to attempt to take down the bird.

---

Two minutes.

That’s how long it took to cross through the mountain. Two minutes the water level was rising, two minutes that wretched bird wrought havoc on the dreamers, and yet it was two minutes not at all wasted.

As Sariel broke out of the entrance and peeked up and down, he saw the familiar figure of Pane. Her tall body rose swiftly above him, showing her practice in climbing as well. Her silver hair shimmered in the sunlight; something he never took notice of in the dim darkness of the cavern. Was it time to give a name to the cavern? He’d get to that question later.

‘Hey!’ Sariel called out loudly, drawing a downward glance from Pane. He jumped upwards to join the ascent, climbing at breakneck speed to match her altitude. 'Around four minutes ago, the bird was on the other side. Have we seen it since? Have you had any contact from others?'

Pane sighed. 'Just so you know, I still don't fully believe in your innocence from today.' A pause. 'But we have a bigger objective to worry about, I suppose.'

'I haven't seen anyone else. I haven't seen the bird, either. I'm just climbing to climb, but I don't know the situation anywhere else. If there isn't a saving grace at the top of this mountain, we are going to be so very dead.'

Sariel looked up; the peak of the mountain looked so far away, but it wasn't out of reach. His estimate from his climbing experience stated that it would be around thirty minutes of continuous climbing to reach it; naturally, at his pace.

'Keep up the pace. We're going up.'

---

Rosary hated climbing.

It was entirely bothersome, and more often than not there was nothing worth reaching at the top of the climb, anyway. If it really was important, people would've built stairs, wouldn't they?

This perspective of hers had been forced to change after she was placed into Otherside. Climbing became an essential activity for survival; more often than not, there was always some hill, pillar or column that needed to be scaled to achieve some sort of advantage.

It was one step after another in this case as she escaped the rising water. Beside her was Globe; one of the supporters of brutal and instantaneous lynching. Despicable and incredibly irritating. Rosary herself wasn't one to care too much, but when the subject of said lynching was incredibly useful, it became a different matter altogether.

As she continued with her ascent, she had to listen to the constant yapping of this idiot beside her, telling her how wrong she was to vote for neutrality. It was in one ear and out the other for Rosary in all honesty, but the urge to ignore this girl infused her with energy, sending her barrelling upwards vertically.

The flowing wind currents halted suddenly, sending her into high alert. Something was blocking the wind. She span her head around, witnessing the abyssal bird emerge from a cave behind her, chasing another Dreamer that leapt out of the sky.

A burning light seared Rosary's eyes before she could close them, and another irritating Dreamer teleported beside her, accelerating his climbing.

'Hey, Rosary! Great to see you! I think we should be climbing, now!'

She glanced down towards Globe, who was swinging to the right to avoid the bird that was desperately chasing its target.

'Sure thing, Crown. You've finally done something helpful for me.'