It had taken a while, but Nox and Levi completely got rid of all the Nightlings.

Luckily, no other Eclipsed had been drawn in by the residual SE in the air… which might've been a good thing, or a very bad thing, depending on the reason why.

But that didn't mean they didn't have to move, since they didn't know whether or not the Eclipsed would suddenly change their minds and start approaching.

"Let's find a place to set camp," Elias said as he and Lorenne walked towards the duo.

Lorenne clutched her book closer. "Preferably somewhere with walls. Many, many walls."

"Yeah," Nox muttered, scanning the dark forest, "somewhere where we can only expect attacks for a single spot."

Levi landed silently beside them, his feet barely making a sound. He pointed toward the east, into a thicker part of the forest.

"You saw something?" Elias asked.

He gave a small nod and immediately started walking towards that direction.

With Levi leading, they moved through the trees cautiously. The deeper they went, the more oppressive the air felt.

The feeling of dread Nox felt only got worse as the farther in they walked, but it wasn't like he could turn back now.

After all, the way a rift worked was simple, once solar knights walked in, the exit would disappear and only reappear when the 'boss' was defeated.

Though, solar knights from outside could still access it, they'd also be stuck within until the rift was 'cleared'.

The quartet continued forward and soon enough, they spotted something.

Just up ahead, partially hidden by massive roots and vine-like shadows, was a large crack in the side of a rocky cliff.

It was a cave big enough for four people, completely sheltered, and with only one entrance.

The perfect spot, if only there wasn't something else inside already.

"I'll scout ahead," Elias said, "Nox and Levi, make sure nothing sneaks up on us."

"Alright," Nox muttered while Levi just nodded.

Elias then proceeded to take out a drone from within his inventory, and with it came a controller with a screen on it.

He requested for Lorenne to lay out her palm and he placed the drone on it before activating it and it gently took off.

The screen also turned on, reflecting everything that the camera on the drone could see.

Nox watched in awe, the drones he always fixed back in the slums were obviously a lot inferior to this.

He imagined how much credits this would've earned him if he was back in the slums before shaking his head, he was not in the slums anymore.

Besides, thanks to the scavenged solar tech during the entrance test, he had more than enough credits to not worry about it for a while.

With that, he went back to keeping guard and he turned to Levi who had disappeared...again.

Nox's golden pupils took on a glow and he soon spotted Levi.

It seemed he was a lot more comfortable invisible as he sat on a tree, making sure to take down the occasional Nightlings that passed close to him.

Meanwhile with Elias and Lorenne, they watched the drone slowly approach the cave and enter it.

The light from the drone illuminated the cave's interior. Contrary to its position, the ground was surprisingly flat.

The stalactites hung high enough from the ground to allow them to stand upright without worrying about hitting their heads.

Not that Nox had to worry about that....

The cave walls had markings but it was mostly due to weathering than from an Eclipsed.

The drone soon reached the end of the cave without encountering anything strange or any indication of an Eclipsed so Elias announced,

"It's clear," he said turning to the duo that were on lookout duty.

Fzzzz!

The Eclipsed stuck on Nox's sword let out a sizzling sound as it went up in flames. Levi hopped down the tree again before they started walking towards the cave.

They still hadn't let down their guards, Levi especially so, as his eyes continued scanning around.

They soon reached the bottom of the rocky cliff and looked up, before Lorenne asked, "right, how're we getting up there?'

"Well..." Elias placed a hand on his chin before looking at both Nox and Levi, "you guys have solar techs that allows you to teleport right?"

They nodded before he asked again, "can you get us up there?"

Levi looked up before he extended his hand towards Elias who calmly took it and a second later, they disappeared without making a single sound.

"I guess it's just you and me," Nox said before extending his hand to Lorenne.

She looked a bit hesitant before sighing and taking his hand, the moment she did, the world slowed down as a golden glow covered the two.

The next second they were gone.

***

Lorenne slowly opened her eyes, only to realize that she was now on a ground made of rocks.

One moment they were at the bottom and the next, they were now standing in the cave.

"This should be fine," Elias muttered, "it's too high for just any Eclipsed to climb and there's only one spot we can expect attacks from."

He was right, the less entrances the better, since they wouldn't have to worry about being ambushed.

Elias took out a couple of items from his inventory causing Nox's eyes to widen.

"How'd you fit all that in there?" He couldn't help but ask.

After all, Elias had taken out a couple of solar tech, something that looked like lights, and a bed..... No, BEDS!

"Well," he turned to Nox with a smile on his face, "I hacked the inventory giving myself a lot more space than provided."

"Is that allowed?" Lorenne asked.

"As long as they don't find out," he muttered with a smile, I could do the same for you guys, but I didn't bring any of my hacking equipments.

Nox looked down at his own watch thinking about how useful it'd be to have more space.

That meant he could hoard as much solar tech as he wanted.

"Alright," Elias clapped both hands together, "let's get some rest, we'll start figuring out how big this rift is and the boss's location, tomorrow."

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