Raven's lusterless wings fluttered gently as she landed on the murky waters. She looked around, observing the dark and eerie surroundings.
She had fought through an entanglement of vines on her way down, so she was extra careful in case there were more below.
The young, stoic lady began walking forward, with a sword and a shield in her hands and her crimson eyes coldly surveying her surroundings as she took delicate steps.
After a couple of minutes of walking, Raven saw something that made her frown slightly.
A centipede-like creature lay lifeless in the murky waters, its body burnt to a crisp, and a gaping hole in its belly.
Several smaller monsters gathered around it, ferociously tearing apart its body.
Immediately they saw her, they swung their faces and glared at her with crude and disrespectful bloodthirstiness.
The stoic lady readied her sword, swirling it at her side while holding the Ravenheart shield in the other hand. Her movements were fluid and ethereal, hinting at a magnificent level of mastery.
As the creatures darted at her, Raven streaked forward like an arrow of light, covering the distance in a flash. She swung her sword, and the heads of the creatures flew into the air.
Another one shot in from the side, but Raven, without a hint of expression, shifted her body backward to dodge.
As the monster swung past, she struck it down with the base of her shield, causing the hideous thing to screech painfully.
Then she gave it a final farewell, viciously wrenching her blade free.
The others, still fearless, began to dive at her from all around.
But Raven did not falter; her steps were practical and calculated.
She knew when to block, and her kills were always clean swipes.
She abandoned unnecessary movements and hid behind her shield, waiting for them to dive in before counterattacking, leaving their bodies lying as corpses marring the water's surface.
It was a long fight, one that continued even as she walked forward, but Raven did not lose stamina.
Her fighting style was not exaggerated like when she used twin swords; there was no needless footwork, and most of the time, she only moved forward when she launched a counterattack in the nick of time.
And that was how she continued forward and eventually finished off the monsters.
Not that she couldn't have done it faster.
But Raven suspected that this depth would be teeming with monsters.
It would be wise not to be careless and prioritize finding Northern.
First of all, she understood well that she didn't have to worry about him.
She just didn't want him to be alone.
She was worried about him... not having anyone to rely on has a way of making a monster out of people.
She could relate because she had lived her whole life with no one to save her from her hellish home. Those she called brothers and sisters were her nemeses and foes.
No one cared for her.
No one respected her.
She disgusted everyone.
All because she was a bastard... and because of it, she had to live every day growing up in hell.
All she could do was train hard, grow strong enough to protect herself, and one day surpass them all.
And so, when an invitation came from Rughsbourgh... it was an opportunity to be relieved of the hell she lived in.
It didn't matter where she ended up.
What mattered was that she left.
Because of all that had happened to her, she understood the weight of being alone and how damaging it could be.
She was not being unnecessarily caring.
She just thought that a guy like Northern becoming a monster much worse than she was would be a great loss to humanity.
They'd be lucky to leave this desolation without his help.
Even if he wanted to leave, she had no intention of stopping him, but she was at the very least going to enlist his help with one last thing.
And then do the rest herself.
She continued forward optimistically. However, the more she went, the more of these centipedal creatures she came across, some left with hundreds of crude lacerations, bleeding deep purple liquid that mixed with the murky waters.
Many others were burnt even more severely than the rest.
And she'd always have to deal with the smaller monsters that leeched off their meat.
That was how she continued to march forward and was sure she was on Northern's trail.
But at the same time, she couldn't help but wonder just how many monsters he had killed.
She had probably come across over ten of those centipedal monsters—all of them killed by him alone.
When she thought about it—it was kind of unbelievable that he had never taken any prior training before his first rift.
He was truly remarkable!
A diamond in the rough!
She pressed forward with determination, cutting through her adversaries with frightening precision. The more forward she moved, the more she found corpses of monsters.
Now there were distinct types. She could see insect-like creatures with no wings lying helplessly on the ground, their bodies violated in the crudest of ways by someone's blade.
She couldn't help but imagine how the battles would have played out.
At times, she wondered if Northern's stamina had even diminished.
'He should be tired. I will probably catch up to him soon,' she thought, but what she only caught up with was more bloody corpses and more leeches to fight off.
Full of anticipation, she continued forward and began to notice something.
The air around the area she was heading toward became much colder. She could feel that something was wrong.
Raven narrowed her eyes and displaced her shield, then summoned one more sword.
Instead of taking it slow, she deduced she might not be able to afford such luxury if there was something in this depth that could threaten her or Northern's life.
The stoic lady pressed forward cautiously...
And eventually, what she saw made her mouth drop.