Chương 32: A Wall Built to Hold Back Water

Lio hurried them along faster, setting the pace at a quick jog. Living up to how Floor 2 was famous for being one of the safest and fastest floors to cross due to its small size and lack of natural creatures, they had managed to cover quite a lot of ground, meaning that the Floor 3 descent tunnel wasn't too far away. William's eyes closed briefly as he checked with his rune again without being asked.

"The two behind us are the same distance," he reported, keeping his voice down. He grimaced.

"The third one is different though."

"How?" Lio asked.

"It's somehow much closer than before," William said.

"But that's not the weirdest part." His brow furrowed deeply, an expression of confusion flashing across his features.

"Yeah, the weird part is the sound they're making. The other two, I can hear their footsteps in the water." He shook his head slowly.

"The third one doesn't make those sounds. I'm only able to hear them because of the sounds of individual drops of water displacing." Lio frowned. He must be using that rune… But it would be alright. If this particular scenario went the same way it always did in the previous loops, they would be safe if they reached the descent tunnel.

They moved through a wide section of ruins where two large buildings had partially collapsed toward each other overhead, their upper stories forming a low uneven arch that forced them to move in a crouch. The water here was much deeper, but Lio pushed through without slowing down, encouraging the others to do the same. Ahead, the ruins were thinning. The buildings were becoming less frequent, while the open water between them became wider.

The transition zone before the eastern wall, where the descent tunnel was located. It was only six minutes away at this pace. Maybe seven. William checked again.

"Its still closing in," he said nervously.

"And it's starting to sound even more weird now."

"What is it this time?" Lio asked. William shook his head.

"It somehow isn't slowing down for obstacles," he said finally.

"The other two, I can hear tiny changes in their rhythm when they navigate around something in the water. But the third one isn't adjusting. It's… going through the obstacles?" Lio tsked, adjusting their route sharply. Taking a left turn instead of continuing straight, he led them through a narrow channel between two buildings rather than across the open plaza he'd been planning to cross.

It added perhaps twenty seconds to their transit time, but it also took them away from the section of floor where the third presence was currently positioned, which would require it to angle its approach rather than continue on directly. But even then, it had only maybe bought them just thirty seconds. The channel was narrow enough that they had to move in a single file line, their packs brushing against the stone wall behind them. Behind him, William checked his rune again.

Lio had noticed the boy doing it more frequently over the last several minutes, the intervals becoming lower and lower as his anxiety mounted. Still, he gave it its due credit. Whatever William lacked in experience and composure, he made up for his fine consistency when applying his rune.

"They're accelerating," William reported, his voice pitched low.

"Both of the original two. They've matched our pace again but…" He faltered.

"But?" Lio said.

"The third one isn't catching up to us anymore," William said, his brow corrugating deeply.

"It stopped…?" Lio's feet didn't halt, but his interest was piqued.

"Where did they stop?"

"Just behind us." William's eyes remained closed, his head making those small adjustments as he strained to listen clearer.

"Maybe around ninety meters?" Lio recalculated the route in his head. The descent tunnel's entrance was ahead, roughly two hundred and thirty meters if they took the most direct and fastest path. Sixty meters of clear, completely open, water. After that, the final approach was a cramped passage running alongside the eastern wall where the stone floor was uneven and the water level dropped to ankle depth.

If the third presence had stopped ninety meters back, and if it was capable of covering ground at the rate William's observations suggested, then it could feasibly close the distance across the thoroughfare while they were still in the middle of it. Heeding this, Lio altered their route for a second time, taking a sharp right turn through a sunken colonnade whose stone pillars were still largely standing.

The passage between them was narrow enough to compress the group into a single file line again, which was unfortunate as it only served to slow them down further. William tapped Lio's shoulder once.

"What?" Lio asked.

"It's moving again," William announced.

"And—" The furrow between his brows deepened further as he continued listening.

"Its direction changed."

"Which direction is it going now?"

"It corrected itself to counter where we're going," William said.

"It's like they somehow knew we were turning." Lio's mouth thinned. But still, it wasn't like he was surprised. To be honest, he'd been expecting it. The colonnade ended and they pushed through into a smaller courtyard, this one with its ceiling partially intact. They were now only one hundred and thirty meters away. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

"William," Lio said.

"Don't stop listening. Tell me the moment anything changes."

"I know," William said. They pushed forward, moving along the colonnade's far side where the water was the shallowest and the footing was more reliable. Ophila kept her lamp turned on low, minimizing how far its light broadcast outward. Seventy meters now.

"The two behind us," William murmured, eyes still shut.

"Their footsteps are slowing down."

"How slow?"

"Very slow," William said.

"I even think they might be stopping…?" Lio felt some cold satisfaction. So even Lupin and Acacia were wary of them. That was useful information as it confirmed that the guy hadn't been affected by the changes to the loops yet. Which meant if the three groups arrived at the tunnel entrance simultaneously, the problem would cease to be Lio's alone. Lupin and Acacia would also have to deal with the third presence before they could deal with him. Nice. Only forty meters left.

The eastern wall filled their view, its dark stone surface slick with moisture and glowing dimly from mineral deposits. The tunnel entrance was a low arch set into the wall at its base, the familiar iron handholds descending downwards into the darkness. Almost there. William groaned.

"It's changed again," he said.

"The third one. It's not moving toward us anymore." Lio didn't break his stride.

"Which direction now?"

"I can't tell," William said, strain audible in his voice now.

"It's not producing conventional movement sounds. I can only track it by the water displacement and there's something wrong with the—" He stopped. His head tilted toward the left wall of the passage they were moving through.

"It's in the wall!" William grabbed Lio's sleeve.

"I can hear the rock and sediment moving!" Lio nodded grimly. That had been one of the guy's powers. The tunnel entrance was just twenty meters ahead. William was now completely engrossed in his rune, not even daring to open his eyes. Ophila had grabbed his arm, guiding him forward while he listened. Meanwhile, Lio's mind was already working through the imposing problem upon them. The third presence was closing in inevitably.

At their current pace they had perhaps three minutes before it closed enough distance to become a direct problem. Options, options, options. What could he do? He could engage them. Lio could easily deal with them the way he had across hundreds of loops. But Ophila and William were both here, and the level of ability he'd need to display would raise questions. He could try to outrun them by carrying both William and Ophila using [Mach Heart].

But even with the rune, carrying two people against something that fast would be like trying to outswim a current while holding stones. The math just didn't work. What he needed was something else—something environmental. Something Floor 2 already contained that could disrupt the third presence's momentum without requiring him to reveal anything about himself. He thought back to the hundreds of loops spent on this floor. Then he found the solution.

Once, he had managed to gain access to the most detailed map of Ghenna, created by a master cartographer. And he remembered that inside the eastern wall, thirty meters ahead, there had been a section where the original city's drainage reservoir was still partially intact behind the stone, a hollow cavity filled with centuries of accumulated water pressing against the interior face. The wall there was compromised, the stone thin enough that significant force from the outside would destroy it entirely.

If something hit that wall at speed, the reservoir would collapse outward into the courtyard. The only problem was that he had no reliable way of knowing exactly where along the wall the reservoir sat. He would need someone who could hear it. He glanced at William. And the boy didn't disappoint.

"It's slightly faster than us," William said, his eyes still closed.

"Wait—" He let out a nervous chuckle.

"There's a gap in the wall a few feet ahead. I can hear a bunch of water inside. It should have to slow down once it reaches it." There. The break Lio had been looking for.

"Run." He reached back and pulled William and Ophila forward by their sleeves, breaking into a full sprint. They ran with everything they had, water erupting around their legs, Ophila's lamp swinging wildly, the eastern wall rushing up to meet them. Ten meters. And just then, the wall to their left produced a sound like a human voice. It sounded of muffled whispering, like someone speaking through a rusty pipe, the words shapeless and wrong and coming from everywhere and also nowhere simultaneously.

Then the sounds fell behind them as the pursuer ran into the water reserve. Lio hit the tunnel arch at a full sprint, ducking his head and swinging himself into the descent. Ophila was directly behind him, her pack scraping the arch's upper stone as she followed. William came through last, stumbling wildly but catching himself on the handholds. And just as they entered, above them at the tunnel's mouth, the water in the courtyard detonated. The boom ripped through their ears, enormous and immediate.

But it hadn't sounded violent or aggressive. Instead, it was more as though something extremely large had emerged from the wall and simply fell into the water. What followed was a strangely still silence. William, already descending, glanced upward with a pale face.

"What was that?"

"Keep moving," Lio hurried him along. And so, they descended. Luckily, Lio's assumption had been correct. The third presence hadn't followed them into the tunnel. This showed that the guy hadn't been too affected by the changes to the loops, as across every loop they had never pursued him beyond Floor 2's boundary, and this loop was no different in that regard at least. He gave a thin smile. I'll be seeing you on the 5th Floor, old friend.

For thirty seconds nobody spoke, the only sounds being boots on iron and the creaking of the handholds. Then William let out a quiet and slightly unhinged whoop.

"We made it!" he silently cheered, with the giddy relief of someone whose body had been running on pure adrenaline.

"We made it," Ophila returned drily, clearly not in the mood. She glanced at Lio with a question in her eyes, but Lio shot her down, shaking his head once. Pouting, she turned back to the descent without comment. Meanwhile, Lio's mind was preoccupied with something else. William Bone. Lio studied the back of the other boy's head as they climbed down. He had initially thought of William as a burdensome addition to the party. He had even planned to drop him at Trestfall without ceremony.

But his performance just now had changed his mind. William had given Lio the solution without knowing he was being asked for one. Maybe he was more of an asset than a liability. Lio pushed the thought to the back of his mind and turned his attention forward, to the fresh, grassy smell that was replacing Floor 2's cold mineral bite. Finally, their journey was truly starting. Floors 1 and 2 had been an introduction made by Ghenna.

Floor 1 was an orientation, a place that taught you the basic grammar of Ghenna, like its night and day cycle, its most basic creatures, and certain common dangers. Floor 2 was more of a museum, introducing the wonders and mystical elements to this seemingly infinite dungeon. But after you passed Trestfall was where it actually began.

The nonsensical dangers, the powerful Delvers and parties that had no qualms with killing, and monsters so powerful that it seemed to be a miracle that anyone made it past the upper Floors at all. Trestfall was the boundary where the romanticism of descending into Ghenna died, and the reality set in.