The quiet whispers of blood—the same ones that urged Isaac to resurrect the fallen monsters around him with the help of Blood Manipulation—had faded as quickly as they came. Yet their echo lingered, growing stronger with every swing, every kill, and every new collected puppet.

  “Prove your worth.”

  He still had no idea where those whispers really came from. It could be the work of his Origin and skills… or the bloodthirsty fragments of his half-sane mind. Either way, he didn’t really care, at least not now, not when enemies kept coming at him from every direction.

  His vision had long since turned crimson as he dashed from one beast to another. The Root sang in his grip, cleaving through flesh and stone alike. Nothing could stop him, not with his ever-growing army of puppets following his every move.

  Where did he even get enough Viron to raise that many corpses?

  Isaac had no idea, nor did he care. The only thing that mattered was the monsters ahead. Their pained cries that fueled the Symphony. The fear shining in their eyes that pushed him to move even faster. And their blood that somehow felt like an injection of the finest adrenaline straight into his veins.

  He couldn’t lie; he got a little lost in the carnage right there. At one point, he even flung an enhanced Crimson Death at one of Harry’s monstrosities by mistake. Hopefully, the man wouldn’t mind too much, because the creature definitely vanished the moment his skill hit.

  Either way, the accidental friendly fire did nothing to stop Isaac’s rampage. It went on and on until the beasts stopped coming at him or his teammates. They fled instead, either dashing into the mountain or down toward its base.

  Only then did Isaac start to slow down. The Symphony quietened, while the puppets at his side turned to dust one by one. He considered giving chase after the monsters to reignite the fire in his veins, but it was at this moment that he realized just how empty his Viron reserves were.

  He still had enough to defend himself. Not much more, though.

  As such, after the final beast before him dropped dead at his feet, he stopped and allowed himself to watch as his teammates dealt with the stragglers. Carmela, with her blinding fast flight and pinpoint accuracy. Harry, with his monstrosities and illusions that cut off the escape path of some of the fleeing monsters.

  Not bad, Isaac thought, chuckling quietly. Satisfied with what he saw, he dropped onto a jutting rock and waited for his teammates to join him. He also downed one of the few Viron regeneration potions he brought along.

  His mind, however, refused to rest. It circled back to what he had heard at the start of the battle.

  The whispers.

  Anybody there? he asked internally. I heard you once before. During my reawakening. Just what, or who, are you?

  Of course, no answer came. Just like the last time, the whispers arrived without a warning and vanished before he even had a chance to process them. He had simply followed their words without a question, as if deep inside he knew they only wanted him to succeed.

  Must be my Origin, or at least something connected to it, he reasoned, seeing no other option. I can’t be this insane yet, right?

  Again, nobody answered. Maybe that was for the best, though.

  With a sigh, Isaac summoned the Interface and the slew of notifications waiting for him. Like always, he ignored the kill confirmations and moved to the important stuff.

  You have leveled up. You are now level 39. Distribution of Ascension Power had advanced the tier of the following attribute: Insight (II->III). No further changes detected.

  The following skills have advanced tiers:

  Red Puppeteer (III->V)

  Mana Surge (V-VI)

  Given that this fight couldn’t have taken longer than ten minutes, this was decent progress. The two tiers in Red Puppeteer alone made this trip worth it already. And he was now only a single level away from forty.

  Still, that wasn’t all.

  Initial data gathering finished successfully. Connection to the occupied Unregulated Quarantine Site established. Neutralization possible. Destroy three Nests to uncover the next step.

  Isaac blinked. He had never seen a message like that before—certainly not back on Reprizem. Which, sure, wasn’t really a surprise considering how the Interface worked on a hostile planet, but still.

  So that’s how you neutralize Unregulated Quarantines, he hummed. All right then. Let’s see what we can do.

  Soon enough, his teammates joined him. While Harry just shared a brief look with him, Carmela was a bit more vocal.

  “You can continue, yes?” she asked, one brow raised.

  “No worries. I’m just a bit spent, that’s all,” Isaac said, then got to the point. “Did you two see the notification?”

  That got him a nod from both of them.

  “Good. Give me a few minutes to recover some Viron, and then we go in. Agreed?”

  Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

  No one objected.

  The inside of the mountain wasn’t much different from what Isaac had grown used to during his last few hours on Reprizem. The cavern tunnels were a bit wider, and there was way more lava everywhere, but aside from that, he almost felt right at home.

  Keyword: almost.

  If it had been scorching outside, in here it felt like his insides were melting. Not even the constant fighting and the Symphony’s song could pull his attention away from the sweat that constantly escaped his pores. It was a good thing they brought a lot of water with them.

  Though only he and Carmela really needed it.

  Somehow, Harry appeared unaffected by the heat. Dressed in his usual leather armor and long dark coat, he didn’t have a single drop of sweat on him. How that was possible, even the man himself couldn’t tell them.

  That said, there were also good sides to this annoying predicament.

  Carmela, as it turned out, hated high temperatures. She had been quiet during their trip through the red territory, but the moment they entered the mountain, her whining didn’t stop. Whatever filter she kept on her mouth was gone, leaving behind an angry and annoyed woman who couldn’t give a damn about her image.

  Isaac would have laughed if not for how brutally she killed every single beast that dared to step into their path afterward. It felt a bit like they had switched places. Outside, he was the one who had killed the most beasts. Inside, he and Harry barely had to draw their blades.

  Hell, she even took down two Nest Guardians all by herself. She only decided to take a step back and rest once they reached the third beast. Probably for the best, because the moment it fell, a new notification flashed before their eyes.

  New data processed. To continue neutralization of this instance, locate and slay the Quarantine Guardian. Failure to do so within two hours will close the path to its chamber again.

  “Two hours,” Isaac muttered. “We might have to split up. Too much ground to co—”

  “It won’t be necessary, friends,” Harry interrupted with a smile. “My dreams can guide us to our target. Leave it in my hands.”

  Isaac hummed and glanced at Carmela.

  She scowled, wiping sweat from her brow. “Whatever gets us out of here faster.”

  He snorted. As if he should have expected anything else from her at this point. He turned back to Harry.

  “Lead the way, then.”

  The man bowed low and started toward one of the nearby tunnels.

  “Of course it’s a spider, because why wouldn’t it?” Carmela grumbled, crossing her arms. “This place hates me.”

  Isaac ignored her for now, his gaze fixed on the monster sleeping in the middle of the massive underground stone chamber. As the woman had already stated, it was a spider, just not a normal one. Not even close.

  For one, it was massive, easily the size of the Minotaur from Sacramento, maybe even bigger. Its body looked like a grotesque fusion of flesh, cooling magma, and chunks of rock.

  Still, none of that really held his attention. No, that honor belonged to the somewhat humanoid torso jutting out from the front of the spider’s body. It had no real face, just a mouth dripping with molten lava. It had two arms, though, both long and bladed, serrated from top to bottom.

  Potential Threat: High

  Isaac swallowed, the image of the Minotaur once more flashing before his eyes. This thing didn’t look like it would be any easier to bring down. Worse, back then, he had hundreds of Hosts helping him. Now it was just three of them.

  Three Pioneers.

  All right, maybe it won’t be so bad after all.

  “Hit it hard, hit it fast, and hope it dies?” he offered aloud.

  Harry tilted his head. “I fear I don’t have much to offer in terms of firepower. It will be up to you two. I can, however, distract it.”

  “Your Nightmare Ultimate?” Isaac asked.

  The man shook his head. “Nay. It wouldn’t work here. The beast is too strong—I can feel it. There is something else I wish to try, if you don’t mind.”

  “Do it,” Carmela said, her eyes already glowing gold and silver. Two wings erupted out of her back. “If all fails, we just run. Think you can cover our escape, too?”

  “Of course,” Harry replied with a faint smile. “Although I doubt it will be necessary.”

  He stepped forward, the first to enter the Guardian’s chamber. Spreading his arms, he declared, “Witness the birth of a Dream!”

  At once, five figures crawled out of the ground. Those were the usual monstrosities Harry always created, beings without a describable form, nightmares in themselves. That said, they were only as large as an average human, not even close enough to be a match for the massive spider.

  Isaac frowned.

  Just what are you planning?

  Right then, Harry summoned his own Root—the short black dagger. Without hesitation, he hurled it at one of the creatures. The blade sank into its gray, deformed flesh and vanished.

  “Somnara, come forth!” he yelled, and just like that, the monstrosities moved.

  Four of them rushed toward the one struck by the dagger. Their bodies liquefied mid-charge, merging with their target. In seconds, only a single beast remained, one at least twice as large as a human. Again, it had no proper form, just an amalgamation of flesh, limbs, eyes, and mouths.

  Isaac watched in awed horror as the nightmare—Somnara—rose onto multiple legs and fused several of its arms into a single large one. A heartbeat later, it plunged this hand right in the middle of its ‘torso.’ Then, with a wet, tearing sound, it pulled out a long, flesh-made sword. Only the hilt remained black and metallic.

  What in the world? Isaac thought, his gaze snapping to Harry. You have been holding back on us, haven’t you?

  There was no time to dwell on that, though.

  Somnara’s appearance had awakened the Guardian. The spider rose onto its eight legs and unleashed a screech that shook the entire chamber, molten lava spilling from its gaping maw. Its twin blades rose too, both pointed at Harry’s creation.

  “That’s our cue,” Carmela muttered next to him. “Like you said, hit it fast, hit it hard. Let’s get out of here.”

  She didn’t wait for his answer. In a flash, she transformed and shot into the air. Isaac huffed and followed. Thankfully, the chamber was more than large enough to give them plenty of space to fly.

  Let’s do it, he thought, catching Carmela’s eyes across the chamber. They shared a quick nod. Freedom mode. Blood Moon.

  Crimson light washed across the chamber as a miniature Blood Moon flared to life just beneath the cavern’s ceiling. Strength flooded Isaac’s body, combining with the growing song of the Symphony.

  At the same time, however, something else happened.

  On the opposite side of the arena, at the same height as his moon, another celestial body, or rather bodies, appeared and combined into one.

  Eclipse.

  It was as dark as one expected a solar eclipse to be. Yet instead of the usual golden ring around the moon, there was a violet one. Its glow combined with that of Isaac’s Blood Moon, blending into a deep magenta that filled the chamber.

  He chuckled.

  Interesting…