"Woah!" Grey jumped in sudden fright and fell backward against the hard red coral.
Sara's footsteps echoed loudly as she slowly approached.
"Didn't I tell you? We agreed you'd wake me up in two hours, but I ended up waking on my own, and with the sun already rising!"
She moved even closer to Grey, who had already sat up and was avoiding eye contact with her.
"Imagine my surprise seeing you there, sitting with your eyes closed in the middle of the coral. I thought you had fallen asleep!"
"What if a nightmare creature had crawled out of the sea to devour us?"
"Of course, I would've woken up before they attacked, but still, you shouldn't have fallen asleep!"
Grey kept looking away every time Sara tried to face him. After a minute of scolding, she stood up and cleared her throat.
"I wasn't asleep. I was just... in the sea of my soul."
She looked at him, clearly doubting.
"I'm serious! I entered my soul, and the sea pulled me in! I saw two beings made of light and darkness battling in the sky."
"So, you fell asleep."
"What? No, I..."
"See? You fell asleep."
Both of them went silent for a few seconds until Sara sighed and walked to the center of the platform.
'It does sound like a dream... but it was real. Those two beings must be connected to my powers, or else that wouldn't have happened.'
Grey watched Sara as she grabbed some pieces of meat and began cooking them.
'First, let's eat.'
...
Grey took the piece of meat Sara gave him and took a big bite. Spider meat wasn't particularly delicious, but it wasn't bad either.
With the right seasoning and cooking, the meat from these beasts could rival the real-world meats he had eaten at the academy.
"So?" Sara swallowed her bite and continued, "Where did you say we're heading now?"
He swallowed his own bite and gave her a confused look.
"What? Didn't you say where we were going?"
Sara stared at him for a few seconds. Although her eyes were on him, she seemed lost in thought, trying to remember.
"Uh, I don't remember, so... what about heading south?"
"South, huh? I wouldn't mind, but... any reason to go that way?"
She ate more before answering.
"Nah, it was just the first direction that came to mind."
Grey looked south and thought about possible routes to high ground that would keep them safe from the black sea.
A while later, both were standing at the edge of the platform, looking in the same direction.
Sara summoned her sword, and Grey summoned his spear. They exchanged glances.
"How do you plan to get down?" Sara asked.
"I'll jump and slow my fall with my spear, then jump again and repeat."
Sara grinned and, without another word, threw herself into the void.
Grey didn't lag behind and followed a moment later.
Sara drove her sword into the coral after several meters of falling. Grey did the same, though his descent was rougher.
He jumped off his spear with a spin and fell again to repeat the process.
Both of them continued this for a few minutes until they landed on the muddy ground.
Sara's landing was so forceful that mud splashed all over Grey just as he touched down a second later.
The impact made Sara stagger, but she quickly regained her balance.
Covered in mud, Grey landed more softly, without making as much of a scene.
Sarcastically, he looked at Sara and said, "Thanks, I needed a mud bath."
Sara turned her gaze away, completely ignoring him.
With a defeated sigh, Grey began walking, and soon both were heading into the coral maze.
Grey led the way, easily cutting through spiderwebs with his spear, clearing the path much faster than Sara could have.
"Seriously, your spear is so convenient. When I came to this coral, it took me a whole day just to cover two kilometers."
Grey made another cut and glanced at Sara.
"Well, it's an ascended weapon, while yours is just an awakened sword, right?"
Sara looked at her sword for a moment, tilting her head slightly before glancing behind Grey.
"Yeah, it's level four. It was hard to get."
Grey turned as well, adjusting his spear to a more comfortable position.
Sara stood behind him, sword at the ready in her hand.
A steel spider appeared in front of them.
It moved easily across the webs, but both Grey and Sara had enough experience with these creatures.
The spider lunged, growling and with its mandibles wide open, but Grey quickly knocked its head aside with his spear.
The creature was thrown to the side, and before it could get up, a sharp sword with silver edges appeared in front of its crazed eyes.
Its heavy body thudded as Sara's sword pierced through its skull. Her strength was immense, moving the steel body of the spider with a single strike.
Grey approached Sara, who was pulling her sword out of the spider's head, and examined the hole in the beast's skull closely.
"I don't think I'll ever get used to that strength of yours."
She walked to the side of the spider, and with her impressive physique, flipped it over, exposing its belly.
"Well, what can I say? I'm the best you can expect from an awakened."
Without another word, she plunged her sword into the creature's stomach and searched for its soul core for a minute.
Grey just watched the whole process.
When Sara broke the awakened core in her hand, Grey raised his spear and rested it on his shoulder.
"Shall we continue?" he asked, watching as Sara walked back to him.
"Sure. No need to take its meat, we'll find more closer to the rocky peak."
They continued on, Grey in the front and Sara behind. Her sharpened senses detected enemies far faster than Grey could, so that was her role: to stay alert and spot any danger.
She remained focused on following Grey as he cleared the webs.
...
After a while, they reached an open, web-free area.
"Nothing?" Grey whispered, keeping his spear close to his body to avoid standing out.
Sara, a few steps behind, had her eyes closed and her brow slightly furrowed.
"No, there are three enemies. They're silent, so they must be hiding near the webs by the third entrance, on the other side of the clearing."
Grey gripped his spear tightly and looked in the direction Sara had pointed.
He couldn't see anything.
"Do you think we can handle them?" he asked, looking more closely.
Sara opened her eyes and stared in the same direction, her sword still stained with the blood of the beasts they had killed along the way.
"They're probably steel spiders. They move silently on the mud, so they must be on the webs."
'Three spiders... I can handle two on my own, and Sara can take the other.'
"Alright, let's go."
Sara adjusted her grip and dashed behind Grey at full speed.
Both of them moved like a blur, crossing the empty clearing in seconds.
And, indeed, three steel spiders emerged from behind the coral walls as soon as they sensed the fresh souls of two humans.
But... one of them looked different.
Sara watched in surprise and with a hint of horror as the strange steel spider, larger, better protected, and with more legs, lunged directly at Grey.
She had no time to process it, as the other two steel spiders claimed her full attention.