Sweat dripped down his brow, the droplet of offending liquid landing center on the superheated bar of metal he was working on, sizzling into steam and nothingness in but a moment, only for another to share its fate a moment later.

The hammer swung downwards with enough force to rattle the surroundings, the loud clang of metal against metal echoing throughout the workshop's interior as flakes of metal scale fell to the floor amongst the shower of sparks, the action being repeated ad nauseum, until the hammerer was finished with the shaping of the piece.

The final bar shaped into an ingot, Naruto placed it away in his inventory, the metal joining the rest of the stack in his stock of supplies. What he was going to use any of them for right now he wasn't sure, but that was, hopefully, not long to last.

"You finally finished?"

The voice wasn't his own, instead Blake, who had been watching from the sidelines.

Naruto nodded, the back of his hand wiping the sweat from his brow. "That was the last one. Hit Level 27 Crafting, though, which is nice."

"Anything interesting?"

Naruto checked through his notification menu. "Quite a few new recipes at Level 25, but since then nothing. Biggest thing would be the little note that I now create potions at Regular quality, instead of Minor, which is nice. Don't really know what that means, but any improvement is good."

Blake hummed an acknowledgement, proving just how little she really cared about the intricate details of the less-combat-oriented parts of his semblance, which he could understand completely. She had been waiting for him to finish for the good part of an hour, since she'd arrived.

"We should get moving, though. I know we agreed we should go see how much further we can get into the Hallowed Quay, but are you sure your up for some spelunking?"

"If by 'spelunking' you mean swimming in potentially Grimm-infested water deep underneath a cavern with no way to breath underwater, then sure. I guess I have no choice."

Ah. Right. The whole water-breathing thing. "Scuba-gear?"

Blake quirked an eyebrow at him. "Not exactly a market for that sort of thing around here. Or a willingness to actually put it on."

Naruto navigated to his recipe menu with practised ease. "I could've sworn I saw something here for a water-breathing potion of some sort. Hold on a sec."

Blake did so, waiting for Naruto to speak once more, eyes already straying back down to her book. It was better than standing there awkwardly waiting for Naruto's eyes to refocus anywhere other than the blank, empty air in front of him.

He spoke up once more. "A-hah! One of my new potions, the Aqualung Decoction! One Alchemic Reagent, one Inert Dust and a sprinkle of Water Dust Powder. Shouldn't be too difficult, I've got almost all the components right here. Just gotta grind down the Dust."

He turned around, quickly pacing over to the nearby worktable, reaching into his inventory all the while. "One Grade II Water Dust Crystal plus grinder equals…"

His narration proved true as he watched the small tub at the bottom of the specially-designed grinder fill with the crystalline blue powder, and he scooped it up, placing it into a slot in his inventory.

Two sets of Water Dust Powder, according to his inventory, which was nice. One Grade II equaled two Dust Powder, or so it seemed.

He quickly finished the rest of the procedure, and turned around. "Tadah!"

In the palm of his hand was a small crystalline vial, filled with a glimmering blueish-green liquid, gently swaying from side to side within its container.

Blake, as was expected, quirked her eyebrow. "You expect me to drink that?"

Naruto shrugged. "It's either drink it or drink a hell of a lot of sea water. Your call."

She gingerly took the vial, eyeing it cautiously. "Are you sure this will work? I'd rather not find out it actually doesn't work the hard way."

Another shrug. "One way to find out. I'll make another one, just in case."

As he set about doing exactly that, he heard Blake's scroll buzz. "I thought communication was down?"

Blake shook her head, but elaborated nonetheless. "Local communication is fine, at least within the bounds of Kuo Kuana. Trying to get a signal out across the ocean is a lot harder, especially with Vale's tower being in the situation it was when I left."

That still left the question of the message's contents, and as to who the sender was. So, Naruto asked. "Who's messaging you?"

"Ilia. She's keeping me updated on the whole White Fang front. Apparently you caused a bit of a stir with what you did to their strike team."

Naruto placed the second potion in his inventory carefully. "I like to think of it as what they did to themselves."

"That's not what she's just sent me, though."

Naruto perked his head up, eyebrow raised. "Don't leave me on a cliffhanger here, Blake, you know I hate the suspense."

Blake rolled her eyes. "She's been ordered to keep a close eye on us, and report back our movements. She's apparently supposed to pretend she's swapped sides and allied herself with us, to get on our good side."

Naruto whistled. "That's either stupidly good luck, a massive coincidence, or she's playing the ballsiest game of lies I've ever heard."

"Ballsiest?" Blake asked, partially in disgust.

Naruto waved her concern aside. "Figure of speech. Valean thing."

He ushered the black-haired girl out of the workshop, quickly tossing a few thousand Lien to the shopkeeper who'd let him borrow it, before once again returning to the street. "So, how good a swimmer is Ilia?"

"You want me to what?"

Ilia seemed… frustrated. That was what Naruto was going to say. Frustrated was a good word for it.

"You're supposed to ingratiate yourself with us, right? And by us they mean use Blake to get to me, and then eventually kill me when my back is turned, unless I'm mistaken. So, I want you to come help Blake and I with clearing a place of Grimm!"

He said it with such enthusiasm that there was no way Ilia could possibly refuse! It was a brilliant move on his part, at least, in his opinion.

"Blake, please tell me he's kidding."

Okay, maybe not an instant sell, but what was life without a little challenge?

"He's not kidding, unfortunately. He's also not kidding about the whole place being submerged."

Naruto shook his head, quickly correcting his teammate. "Not the whole place. Just the main conduit. Most of the places inside have breathable air."

"Okay, for one second, let me just lay out a hypothetical. My weapon uses Lightning Dust to power it. What happens if you put electricity in salt water?" Ilia said, gesturing to the weapon on her side. "You really think that's a good idea?"

Naruto shook his head yet again. "Like I said, the main conduit is the only part with water, aside from a few special occasions. You won't have to use your weapon, so just keep it deactivated, and we'll all be fine. Easy peasy."

Ilia looked at Naruto for one long, extended moment, before turning to Blake. "And you said he's your 'leader'?"

Blake quickly hid a smirk. "For better or worse. Usually worse."

With a sigh, Naruto slumped. "Yet again you pass out a backhanded compliment like they're going out of style. Thanks, Blake, your faith in my leadership won't go unrewarded."

Ilia regained control of the rapidly-spiralling conversation. "Okay, fine. I'm in, not that I really have a choice. So, where to?"

"Hallowed Quay. Ever been there before?" Naruto asked the faunus as he paced backwards along the street, facing the other two.

"I've heard of it. Never been there before, but it's a place Brothers Corsac and Fennec bring up often enough. Apparently a human and a White Fang traitor have been 'interfering' with something there."

That was enough information to spark significant interest in both Blake and Naruto.

"The White Fang knew what was happening in Hallowed Quay?" Blake asked, and Ilia nodded.

"I only managed to gather bits and pieces, but Corsac went there relatively recently, when the settlement was still bustling. He said it was for a recruiting trip, but he came back empty-handed, but he told Fennec that it had been a success. I just thought the new recruits were staying there. Are you saying something else happened?" Ilia seemed genuinely concerned, something Naruto could respect.

"The entire settlement up and vanished, aside from a rather strange run-in with what we originally thought was a child."

Ilia stalled, unmoving. "What you 'thought' was a child?!"

Blake nodded. "Now we think it's some kind of illusion, or hallucination, or something like that. We're still a little unsure on all the details."

"What happened to the child?" Ilia asked, resuming her pace, though her expression remained concerned.

"They lead us towards a massive outcropping on the coast, and then something spooked them, and they dove under the water with a hell of a lot of speed. They didn't reappear, either. No trace. It was really weird."

Naruto's explanation seemed to leave something to be desired, in Ilia's opinion. "A giant outcropping. Right."

Naruto continued. "Blake and I ventured inside, but the first floor was just full of Arachnae and little Deathstalkers. We cleared them out, but the only way from there was to dive into the water, so I went down myself. I cleared out a sizable amount, but I think I'm only a quarter of the way through. There's an obstacle in the way lower down that I can't pass, but I think Blake can."

Ilia shook her head, as if to clear her thoughts. "I'll admit, I'm a bit lost."

Blake placed a comforting hand on Ilia's shoulder. "I'll explain more soon. Naruto's still a little… hesitant about trusting you with the full details, but we'll cover everything we can once we're clear of Kuo Kuana."

Ilia accepted that, but she still had a question on her lips, one she very quickly made vocal. "So, we're just walking all the way to Hallowed Quay?"

Perfect timing for the question, too, as they'd just reached the furthest border of the main settlement of Menagerie.

"See for yourself," Naruto remarked, stretching one hand out.

Shirdal appeared from a cloud of wafting smoke, stepping forward and bowing his head, allowing Naruto's hand to ruffle the golden feathers on his neck. The audible gasp from Ilia was as satisfying as he'd expected it to be, and he turned to face his new ally. "Meet Shirdal."

Ilia's mouth opened to speak, only to close once more, and then again it opened, only this time she actually managed to get words out. "That's a Grimm."

Naruto shook his head. "No, it's not. Well, technically. He was once a Grimm that I killed and reformed the soul of. The coloration and the intelligence are pretty good indicators of that. He's friendly, see?"

Shirdal took a step forward, head brushing past Blake's hand and centering itself in front of Ilia, who seemed increasingly nervous, becoming more so the closer Shirdal got.

She stretched her hand out, and Shirdal pushed his head into it, letting her fingers run over the feathered crest at the top of his head. "This is weird."

Naruto gestured to Blake quickly, and she scrambled up into the saddle, leaning out to snag Ilia's hand and pull her up behind her.

"Take Shirdal and go ahead, I'll be right behind you. I'll have Alcmena carry me," Naruto said, motioning to the two.

"Wait, wha-" Ilia managed to get out before Shirdal took off with a powerful flap of his wings, and Naruto nearly let out a laugh as she clutched herself around Blake in sudden surprise.

Once they'd cleared the area, Naruto allowed Alcmena to be summoned, bronze feathers shining in the sunlight. "Hey, girl, ready to go?"

Alcmena stretched her wings, quietly chirping, before she took off, talons snagging Naruto by the shoulders and lifting him off the ground as well, quickly catching up with Shirdal and his riders. One of which was clinging very, very tightly to the other.

The flight wasn't too long, about the same amount of time as it had been the last time, which didn't exactly come as a surprise to Naruto, and landing on the outcropping was virtually no different either, aside from the small encampment that had been set up not too far from the entrance to the first floor.

There was some commotion coming from the tents as guardsmen scrambled for their weapons, only to be rapidly dissuaded by the one who appeared to be in charge as she warily approached Naruto and Alcmena, Shirdal and his two riders being deposited just a bit behind him.

"You're the captain of this garrison, right?" Naruto asked, putting on his best 'authority' voice, which wasn't all too different from his usual voice. Acting wasn't his strong suit.

The woman nodded, quickly adjusting her hood so that it wasn't pinching her extraneous ears. "I am. You would be Naruto Uzumaki, correct? We've been asked to keep an eye out for you."

Naruto quickly glanced over in Blake's direction, a moment of concern flickering over his face. "Who asked you to do that?"

"Chieftain Belladonna. He wanted to know about all movements of anyone nearby, but especially you. For the safety of his daughter and her friend. Er, friends, my apologies."

Ilia shrugged, not caring much about being ignored. Blake took charge of the conversation instead, stepping forward. "Has anyone else come by as of recently?"

The woman took a moment, turning to one of her men and gesturing rapidly. There was a lull in the conversation as the guard that had been addressed quickly returned into one of the tents, emerging with a small clipboard, and the captain took it from his hands, a quickly nodded thank-you giving the guardsman a chance to back away from the giant bird that stood behind Naruto.

The captain looked down at the clipboard briefly. "We've had a few passers-by, mostly just travellers from other settlements trying to trade with Hallowed Quay. The only people that have come by this garrison have been a couple of brothers and sisters of the White Fang, inquiring as to why we were here. Nothing out of the ordinary."

Both Naruto and Blake glanced at Ilia, but that would have to wait. "Thank you for your help, captain. We're going inside, I won't leave my summons here for you."

There was a moment where the captain's professional facade dropped and on her face was pure, undiluted relief, but it was quickly covered back up. "Understood. Stay safe, Hunters."

Naruto hoped he could hold to that advice, but knowing his luck…

Well, he couldn't expect it to go smoothly. Nothing else ever had.

Ilia took one look at the whole in the ground, the murky water swirling around inside it, before she looked back up at Blake and Naruto. "We're supposed to go down there?"

Naruto nodded, as Blake sighed. As good a sign as he was ever going to get that she was ready, he guessed.

"Alright, here, one Aqualung Decoction for you, Blake, and here, one for you Ilia," Naruto said, handing each of them a vial of the blueish green potion. "That's half an hour of waterbreathing, so use it just before you jump in. Also, here."

He handed them a single Hearthstone each. "Push your Aura into it, and it'll bring you straight back here. Emergencies only, though, they're not cheap." His instructions were directed at Ilia, but he knew Blake might benefit from a refresher.

He shrugged off his coat and took off his shirt, stowing the both in his inventory. "I'll go first, wait a few moments, and then follow. It's a bit of a tight squeeze for more than one person at a time."

And with that, Naruto jumped into the hole in the floor, a splash of water the only thing he left behind, aside from the two girls.

Blake and Ilia shared a glance.

"Alright Blake, you first," Ilia said.

"After you," Blake said, at the exact same time.

There was another moment of silence, before Ilia immediately went on the offensive. "Nope. You're going first. I went first last time."

"Last time?" Blake asked, before the memory struck her. "Wait, you don't mean the Atlas facility in Frostwreath, do you? You wanted to go first!"

"I think that's a lie," Ilia replied, pointedly avoiding Blake's gaze.

"Look, you're going first, because I still don't trust you completely." Blake nearly regretted saying it from the look on Ilia's face, but she stuck with her point. "I want to, Ilia, desperately. But what I've seen, what's happened ever since I left… I'm a little short on blind faith. So, you go first, and I'll follow behind you."

Blake could tell Ilia was wrestling with something, but she accepted it, not that she had much other choice. "And you're absolutely sure this isn't poison?"

Blake went to answer, but decided to instead look at her own Aqualung Decoction. "Gods I hope not."

It didn't exactly strike confidence into Ilia, but she downed the contents of the vial all the same, letting it slip out of her hands once she'd finished it, a shudder running down her spine.

"Blergh, it tastes like sea water!" She exclaimed, but Blake was already gesturing for the chameleon faunus to dive in, so she did, plunging into the cold water.

Blake waited a moment, working up the courage to follow, before she too downed her awful-tasting potion and dove in after her, the water feeling terrible against her skin, instantly soaking her outfit and weighing her down.

Damn, if only she'd actually brought something better to wear. Not that she really had anything better to wear. At least Ilia's combat outfit was designed to be water-proof.

Blake swam deeper, through the twisting and turning tunnel, but it wasn't long until she felt the intrinsic life-required need to take a breath.

She was putting a hell of a lot of faith in Naruto.

She allowed herself to inhale.

And instead of water, she inhaled air.

There was a single moment of ludicrous panic. Where had the water gone? Where had the air come from?

Blake didn't know, and Blake didn't like not knowing things about her situation.

Gods, was this what Naruto felt like every single day? Confused, worried, but hopeful that it wouldn't all come crashing down on top of him?

There was a little more swimming, which Blake was willing to do, she'd made a promise to follow right behind Ilia, even if she hadn't actually seen her old friend yet, but that was soon to change, as the tunnel began widening, further and further, and she was beginning to make out a source of light.

She rounded a bend and emerged into a gigantic hollow column, filled completely with the same semi-murky water that she'd been swimming through already. The lightsource glowed dimly, and she swam towards it, noticing the two silhouettes in front of it.

Naruto waved hello, before motioning towards his mouth. Blake understood the message without the words, because the message was saying that they couldn't really speak. That made sense, they were underwater.

Naruto's second gesture was also simple to understand, a quick 'follow me' gesture being one they'd been taught to follow in Beacon. It was also the one the White Fang used, conveniently, so at the very least Ilia wasn't left out.

Naruto began swimming downwards, powerful strokes pulling him deeper and deeper, Ilia between him and Blake, who followed through the rear, for a change glad for the weight her outfit was providing, helping to drag her down without so much effort. A help rather than a hindrance, for a change.

Naruto led the two of them down until they reached a small outcropping with what looked to be a large bubble surrounding it, and both Blake and Ilia watched in mild shock and awe as he simply passed right through it, his body becoming difficult to see, distorted by the shimmer of the bubble.

Ilia, as she'd been instructed back on the surface, followed suit, and then finally Blake, dropping from water into actual air, a gasp escaping her mouth before she could stop it.

"There we go, any trouble?" Naruto asked, and two soaking wet glares met him.

He took a step backwards, out of striking range. "I know, it's not a pleasant swim. At least we got to the room?"

That was the moment that the two decided to actually take stock of their surroundings.

And by surroundings, it was more like two small rooms separated by a wall, with a door inset into it.

"What floor is this?" Blake asked, taking a step towards the door, trying the handle, to no avail.

Naruto quickly checked one of his menus, much to Ilia's confusion. "Six. Dunno how many there are in total, though. I'm guessing around ten, but I'm probably wrong."

Blake hummed in 'I'm-listening-but-not-responding-verbally', which Naruto understood quite well, as she knelt down and began fiddling with the lock.

"Okay, what the hell are you two talking about. You said you'd tell me, and the human gave me a potion that literally made me able to breathe underwater, so unless Vale suddenly became Remnant's largest pharmaceutical powerhouse, something fishy is going on."

Blake paused her work on the lock. "Might as well come clean, she's come this far. Can't really play this off."

Naruto nodded, but it was obvious he was deep in thought. "How do I even begin…"

Ilia leaned against the wall, impatience written into every part of her face. "The beginning sounds like a good place to start."

"You asked for it. When I was born, my parents named me Naruto, after my-"

Blake laughed, a small chuckle under her breath, nearly costing her the pin she'd pushed back. "Naruto, seriously, skip to the important part."

Naruto smirked, but continued. "A couple weeks before the beginning of the first semester of Beacon, I woke up with my semblance. I didn't have Aura, my new semblance had relocked it, but I did have a number of other things. Namely, it effectively converted me into a character from a video game."

Ilia had a look of pure disbelief on her face.

"Yeah, I know, it's a bit much to believe. Just know that for now, this place is a dungeon just like a dungeon from an RPG, and there's probably going to be a powerful boss at the end of it."

"A video game," Ilia stated, still in disbelief.

"Yep," Naruto answered succinctly.

"Like 'Trials of the Hunter'?" Ilia asked, frowning. "I used to play that when I was a kid."

Naruto's eyes lit up like a kid in a candy-store. "Yeah, like that! I mean, partially. 'Trials of the Hunter' was pretty much more of an action RPG, and it didn't have crafting mechanics or anything, but that's a good start!"

Ilia stared at him. "So what, you've got stats?"

Naruto nodded excitedly. "Yep! Strength, Endurance, Agility, Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma and Luck."

Blake stood up, the door swinging open with a click. "Well, as great as it is that the two of you are getting along, I'm done here."

Ilia was immediately on the defensive. "I'm not getting along with the human! I'm just trying to understand his insanity!"

Naruto ignored the insult, stepping forward and passing through the door. "Well, there's nothing too interesting back here. Just a lever."

Blake raised an eyebrow. "Since when is a single lever not interesting? It's a step down from a bright red button labeled 'do not push' for you."

"How did you- No, not important. I'm gonna pull the lever." Naruto did exactly as he said, placing one hand on the metal bar and pulling it downwards.

The chamber was filled with a loud grinding sound that stopped just as abruptly as it started.

The three remained silent for a long moment, before Naruto spoke up once more. "That was a bit anticlimactic. At least there's a chest for clearing the floor."

Ilia looked where Naruto was pointing, before doing a double-take. "Where the hell did that come from!?"

Naruto waved his fingers mockingly. "Magic~!"

Ilia resisted hitting Naruto as he knelt down in front of the chest, searching through his inventory. "Man, I hope I have a Citrine Key in here, otherwise I'll have to come back for the chest…"

He didn't. That was a shame. Naruto sighed, before he was struck with a bright idea. "I wonder…"

He put one hand on one end of the chest, and the other hand on the other end, and heaved, lifting the chest from the floor.

It took a bit of trial and error just trying to actually find where his inventory was floating relative to his position, seeing as he had a chest in front of his face, but he managed to find it, and was pleasantly surprised when the chest slotted into an open inventory slot without so much as a word from his inventory.

Not something that could be said about Ilia. "What."

Naruto figured it would just be best to let Ilia acclimatize to her situation at her own pace, and promptly ignored her outburst of shock, instead favoring to simply step back out into the flooded column to check for any discrepancies.

There was a discrepancy. In fact, it was a large discrepancy, one that, now that Naruto was looking at it, was quite a sizeable discovery.

He re-entered the bubble to the sixth floor, or at least his face did, enough so that he could speak. "Last bit of swimming for a while, I think. Come on, follow me."

Even despite the fact that Blake had known she would have to go back into the water, she still sighed. She'd been desperately hoping that it wouldn't pan out that way, but to no avail.

The two of them joined Naruto in the water, once again forgetting that they didn't have to hold their breath, but it wouldn't matter too much.

Naruto swam downwards once again, but this time it was apparent that it was a significantly shorter distance, as the flooded column ended in what basically amounted to a U-bend, taking them down, around and then up, where they surfaced in a large chamber, a ring of stone surrounding the large pool of water they were currently treading in.

He swam to one edge, grabbing a hold and pulling himself out, before offering a hand each to Blake and Ilia, dragging them out of the water and onto the stone.

While they recovered, Blake struggling in her attempt to dry herself off, Naruto took in the surroundings in more detail.

He made it about half a second before he noticed something rather important.

There were around fifteen Alpha Beowolves charging at them, all at Level 66.

Naruto's eyes widened as he raised one hand, a yell emerging from his vocal cords as he opened fire, a Mana Bullet speeding down-range, his first panic spell not being any of his more powerful ones.

He'd panicked, and used it over anything else, it'd been the first thing to pop into his head. He could only hope it would be enough to keep them back just long enough for Blake and Ilia to get their weapons ready.

The Mana Bullet hit the lead Alpha square in the chest, but it barely fazed the Grimm, and it's sharpened claws were inches from Naruto now. These things were fast, faster than he'd expected.

He ducked backwards, thankful that Ilia and Blake had moved back, and quickly hit the closest with a Mana Blast, just to get him a little bit of space to work with, reaching into his inventory and withdrawing Tranquility.

He wasn't about to let a few Beowolves stop him, and he almost immediately put that sentiment into action, ripping the lead Beowolf in half with a powerful blast of buckshot to the midsection.

He racked the shotgun once more, taking another shot before he had to throw up a Mana Field. These things were persistent, and strong, too. Not particularly tough, but when they all threw themselves at his Mana Field and practically ignored Ilia and Blake, despite the constant gunfire and lightning that the two of them sent into the cluster, it was safe to say Naruto wasn't exactly, well, safe.

He could see his Mana Field already cracking under the onslaught.

He quickly began prepping for the moment it would break, hitting the ground all around him with a Mana Calamity, watching as the Mana took to the very air, sapping the Grimm of their HP, withering their very flesh.

"Keep back!" Naruto shouted. He wasn't sure how it would work with friendly fire, and he definitely didn't want to find out, especially not now. He'd play it safe until he had time to test it in a more comfortable, less hazardous environment.

The Mana Field couldn't hold any longer, unfortunately. It shattered underneath the clawed onslaught, and Naruto had to quickly break free of the incoming attacks, Phaseshift triggering as he pushed forwards, through the Beowolves. It was a quick movement, enough that Phaseshift didn't drain too much of his large Mana pool, and he was on the other side of the cluster.

They were quick to turn around, the rear-guard suddenly becoming the fore-guard, but they weren't quick enough to do anything about the next step of Naruto's hastily constructed combat strategy.

Gravitus and Glacius made for one hell of a combo, that was for sure. With Gravitus' Blackhole and Glacius' Blizzard, the two elementals could pull anything within range into a damaging field of altered gravity, and then freeze them in place, making them unable to resist the crushing damage. It was honestly brutal to watch.

Naruto didn't even have to do anything as chunks of frozen Grimmflesh broke off the Beowolves and was nearly disintegrated under the pressure of the gravitational field. Instead, he simply took a step back, to prevent him from accidentally getting sucked in alongside the beasts.

Of course, this did mean that both Gravitus and Glacius would be without their powerful moves for the rest of the day, but he could accept that. It had saved not only his life, possibly, but also saved him a lot of crucial time and ammunition.

[Hallowed Bay: Floor 7 Cleared!]

[A reward has appeared!]

[You've gained 4,574,325 XP and 21,780 Lien! You've acquired 42 Inert Dust, 11 Alpha Beowolf Pelts, 6 Alpha Beowolf Claws, 3 Beowolf Skulls, 10 Alpha Beowolf Spines, 3 Rinade Herbs, 8 Eogenlit Herbs, 1 Grade IV Lightning Dust Crystal, 2 Crimson Keys, 1 Opal Key and 1 Cobalt Key!]

[You have leveled up twice and gained +10 Stat Points!]

Well, that was a lot of stuff. The notification nearly scrolled out of Naruto's periphery, and he had to condense it to read it properly. Not his biggest notification by far, but still enough to be worth making note of.

"You alright, Naruto?" Blake asked, sheathing Gambol Shroud as Ilia did the same with her weapon, looking a little more wary than before, her eyes not straying from the two crystalline golems that stood (or in Gravitus' case, floated) behind the blond teen.

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, I'm good. Didn't get hit, but it did put a bit of a strain on my Mana. I'll be topped up in a minute or so, don't worry."

He shrugged his shoulders, if only to release the tension he'd been feeling moments before, and scanned their surroundings once more, looking for what the notification had promised.

He noticed it in only a few moments, as Glacius stepped aside, allowing Naruto's vision to go past the towering arctic elemental, and towards where the Opal Chest sat, as locked as the rest of them when they appeared.

He paced towards it quickly, already pulling the key he'd just earned out of his inventory and slotting it into the lock with a satisfying single try, turning it to hear the even more satisfying click of the lock unlocking.

He could feel Ilia's gaze on him, and he accepted it as mere curiosity, already too distracted by even more potential loot to care about any other meaning.

His arm went to reach into the chest before he stopped, taking a step back and reaching into his inventory, withdrawing Crocea Mors and holding it in front of him.

This caught Blake's attention moreso than Ilia's, and her hand strayed back to Gambol Shroud. "Is it…?"

Naruto didn't know. He poked it with the tip of his blade warily.

The Opal Chest did nothing.

He poked it again.

Still, it did nothing.

Naruto kicked the chest, and then swore loudly, clutching at his booted foot. "Not my smartest move…"

The chest continued to do nothing in spite of the injury it had just caused.

"I think that concludes today's testing. I'd say it's safe enough," Naruto uttered, though the back of his mind told him the chest was just playing the long game.

He really only had one option, and that was to take the plunge, and plunge his hand into the chest.

So, he did exactly that, one side of his face squeezing up in the anticipation of losing an arm.

The chest, once again, did nothing. It didn't even clamp down with razor-sharp teeth and separate his arm from his body, which was a pleasant surprise.

Instead, he pulled out a notification screen's worth of goodies.

[You have opened an Opal Chest containing; 14 Adamantite Ore, 7 Eshanche Seeds, 6 Mithril Ore, 2 Gold Ore and 6 Grade V Water Dust Crystals!]

Well, he definitely couldn't complain about that, especially with the benefit of the chest not being another Mimic. That had really, really sucked.

There were a couple new things in there, things he'd not previously acquired before. Like Gold Ore, which sounded great for a whole variety of reasons, and also Eshanche Seeds, which he could probably grow. Somehow. Naruto wasn't entirely sure on that part, but he knew he had quite a few seeds in his inventory.

Some that made sense, and some that really, really didn't. He wasn't even going to worry about those just yet, especially not down here. This wasn't a great time for it.

Naruto stood back up from the now empty chest, turning and facing the other thing he'd noticed when looking for said chest. "I guess that's the way we've got to go."

He completed his statement by pointing in the direction he was looking, towards the gigantic stonework door that sat embedded into the far end of the cavern, looking remarkably ominous.

"How did none of us notice that earlier?" Ilia asked, only just taking her eyes off of both Naruto and his flanking elementals to look at said gigantic, ominous door.

Naruto shrugged. "Probably something to do with the onslaught of Beowolves."

"Where does it lead?" Blake asked, closing the distance between where she had been standing to the doorframe, inspecting the solid craftsmanship that went into it. "More importantly, how do we even get it open?"

Naruto didn't have concrete answers to either question, but he did have a solution to that issue. "Let me take a look."

And he did take a look, stepping closer towards it and keeping his attention focused on the intricate details of its construction.

"Well, it's definitely a door."

He could feel the double glares that hit the back of his head, and he winced. Instead of turning to actually face Blake and Ilia, Naruto placed his hand against the door itself and pushed.

It swung open with a loud groaning sound, dim light spilling through as the opening widened, far enough now that Naruto could see in.

It was another cavern, surprise surprise, but this one was different. Not only was it incomprehensibly gigantic, but it was full of luminescent lichen, like the second floor had been.

That wasn't even the most crucial of details, however. All throughout the cavern were old buildings, carved from the very stone they sat on, scattered around the underground landscape like an old town. There didn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to their placement, and the winding paths that lay between them reached all the way up to the door Naruto had just opened.

"I guess this is floor eight." It was all he could think of to say.

Naruto was quickly coming to learn that "Floor" was a less a definitive term of floor by floor progress and more of a way of determining an area of challenge.

Like, for example, the fifteen-or-so Ursa he, Blake and Ilia had killed a short while ago, in Floor 8. They hadn't descended a floor afterwards, Naruto making sure to have scooped the chest into his inventory before they moved on, but they had continued onwards, into what seemed to be the ancient ruins of a market square.

Which, as it turned out, was Floor 9, at least, according to the System. He wasn't sure why it worked like that, only that he knew it did. It lined up with his prior experiences inside Dustcairn Mine, that had been almost horizontal in layout.

Speaking of the market square he was currently in, Naruto, Blake and Ilia were not its only occupants for the time being.

No, he couldn't leave the Level 70 Epic Boarbatusk and the two Level 70 Boarbatusk Matriarchs that were supporting it out of the population count, that would be rude.

Of course, the Matriarch's were barely a threat, even at Level 70. They had barely over six-thousand HP, so Naruto could easily kill them with a well-placed shot from Telum even without a critical, but the Epic was a bit different. It would take at least four arrows from Telum to kill, but that was implying that Naruto could even land that many shots, considering it was moving faster than he could track.

Well, moving faster in a straight line. It couldn't really turn, so that lead to his current situation.

With a very angry, now lone, Epic Boarbatusk charging straight at him. What had he done to deserve this?

A number of things, probably, but his plan wasn't to tank this thing head on, regenerating body or not.

Naruto Phaseshifted out of reality for a single moment, and the porcine threat passed straight through him, slamming into the wall right behind him with a sickening crunch, cracks spider-webbing up the stonework and sending reverberations through the ground he stood on.

For a single second Naruto was made intrinsically aware of the potential of a massive cave-in, but the shaking passed within a moment, and Naruto remembered that he had to move.

And by move, Naruto really meant he had to stab the Boarbatusk in the back of the leg, severing the tendon and leaving it stranded on one rear leg, scrabbling in the dust in a failed attempt to round on its opponent.

Naruto spared it a single moment of thought, before he killed any concept of mercy for a beast like this Grimm, and he severed the other leg with a swing of Crocea Mors, before ramming his blade down and through its back, severing what he could only imagine was some kind of nervous center, because the entire creature stopped struggling, collapsing uselessly on the ground, already beginning to fade away.

He turned back to face his companions, who'd already dealt with the two Matriarch's, their weapons already sheathed. He hadn't gotten a clear line of sight on exactly how Ilia fought, or what she'd done to her target, but the charred corpse suggested something not particularly nice. Probably lightning, he was familiar with that scent.

Actually, he wiped his mind of that thought. Being able to tell what kind of Dust was used based on the scent of the Grimmflesh wasn't a pleasant skill. Useful, perhaps, but not at all appealing.

That floor had even leveled him up again, which he definitely appreciated. Dungeons were an excellent source of XP, that was for sure.

He grabbed a hold of the chest, after jabbing it with Crocea Mors once just in case, before putting it in his inventory next to the others. Opening them inside was taking too much time, and it didn't help that he really couldn't wrap his head around consolidating the new items when he got so many over a long period of time. He'd rather save them for some instant gratification later on.

He dismissed the notifications for drops he'd received without reading them. He was going to have to sort out his inventory soon, and he'd get to them when he got to them. Instead, he motioned to his allies to follow him, and decided to press on.

They were going deeper, towards a temple looking structure about a minutes walk from the market, and Naruto was worried. He didn't know what was coming. So far it had been weaker Grimm he could deal with, Beowolves, Ursa and Boarbatusks. Common Grimm he could kill without expending too much effort, even if they were higher tiers and higher levels.

Going deeper was more dangerous. That just made sense. They were going onto Floor 10, and with the difference in difficulty Naruto had experienced from Floor 4 to Floor 5, he was particularly worried. Round numbers meant milestones, and milestones meant spikes in challenge.

Tensions were running higher than ever before. "We might be walking into something serious here."

His remark was heard, but there was no verbal response. Instead, the shuffling of gear being readied carried across the cavern, and made sure to do the same, running a quick check through his inventory.

This was not a time for idle chatter, or for misplaced or mishandled weapons. This was a time for careful approaches and distinctly cautious action.

He kept his eyes peeled in the proverbial sense, his Sixth Sense running pretty much on overdrive. He didn't want anything to sneak up on him if he could avoid it.

Noise.

He heard it before he saw the source of it. Chewing noises, like stone grinding on stone. There were few things that could make that kind of noise, and fewer still that were Grimm.

"Creeps," Naruto whispered, ducking low and taking cover behind a pillar only a few feet from the entrance to the temple. "Inside."

Blake and Ilia took cover behind the opposite pillar, nodding in response to his announcement.

He quickly motioned with his hands, instructing the two to stay put for the time being. He'd go in, check it out, and then return, and then they could plan an attack.

He didn't address what they'd do if his stealth failed him, but he was hoping it wouldn't come to that.

Naruto crept forwards, slinking quietly between the doors to the temple, and waited a moment for his eyes to adjust to the light, before continuing onwards, down the steps and towards the noise.

If he wasn't concerned about the potential threats within, he would have admired the scenery with awe. Giant statues of what looked like humans standing in various poses stood on either side of the immense stone steps, all facing the center, where a much smaller door sat, guarded by two more statues, though of what Naruto couldn't tell.

Now, though, halfway down the stairs, Naruto could see exactly what had been making the crunching noises.

He'd been right in his assumption, three Creeps were lingering in the center, occasionally gnawing on some stonework. The area they were lingering in was covered in bite marks, and one of the statues was missing a leg.

Naruto soon located that missing leg, as he noticed it was in the mouth of one of the smaller of the three.

The biggest of the three was what worried him most, though. It was nearly twice the size of the other two, and where they had Grimmbone on their hides, the largest of the three had crystals growing out of it, refracting what little light there was inside the temple.

Now he needed to return, departing back the way he'd come in, but first he was going to Observe the Creeps, just in case it led to any crucial information.

Like, for example, how they were all Level 71, the two smaller Creeps were Alphas, and how the biggest was a Malignant Creep.

That was pretty crucial information.

Naruto backed up slowly, remaining as hidden as he could, sticking to the side of the steps. It didn't seem that the Creeps had noticed him, thankfully, but there was a good chance that wasn't because he was particularly stealthy. It was more that they weren't exactly the smartest of the Grimm out there.

"So?" Blake asked, once he'd gotten back outside the temple doors.

He was quick to relay the information back to both Blake and Ilia, but formulating a plan was going to take a little bit longer.

"It's not exactly a walking tank, so we can definitely kill it, I just don't know what it might be able to do. I've never seen a Creep with crystals on it before."

Apparently, neither had Ilia or Blake, which didn't bode well.

"How much health did it have?" Blake asked, already in thought. "If we can hit them without them expecting it we might be able to kill them pretty easily."

That had been Naruto's train of thought as well. "A little over twenty-four thousand. The other two are much lower, at just over four-thousand, so you two should easily be able to handle them. I can probably do more than enough damage with a Mana Cannon and the guaranteed stealth crit, as long as we stay hidden. Shouldn't be a difficult shot, they're right in the open."

With their plan decided upon, all that was left was to execute said plan, which meant stealthing back inside the temple, remaining hidden, and then making sure that Naruto landed his shot.

Not too difficult, he was pretty good at aiming now. He rarely missed a spell, except on things that moved remarkably quickly. Not something this Malignant Creep, or any Creep, for that matter, was particularly known for.

The three remained completely silent as they stalked inside, careful where they placed each foot as they crept down the stairs, eyes firmly locked on the hostiles in front of them.

Naruto raised one hand as Blake and Ilia readied themselves, weapons held at the ready. The moment Naruto fired, they'd be in melee with the two Alphas, though not for very long.

He began charging the Mana Cannon, hoping against all hope that it wouldn't garner any attention from the three Grimm.

It didn't. He though one of the Alphas had noticed him, but it had turned completely around to gnaw on a rock.

Just in case, though, Naruto pushed a bit of Lightning Infusion into the Mana Cannon. Just in case it didn't do enough damage, that extra ten percent of damage might just be enough to tick it over the required threshold.

He nodded briefly, Blake nodded back, and he released the Lightning Infused Mana Cannon at the Malignant Creep as both Blake and Ilia leapt into the fray, their weapons tearing the Alphas apart.

The Lightning Infused Mana Cannon struck the Malignant Creep with a bright flash, and Naruto watched in satisfaction as it took a step back, looked right at him, and roared.

Wait a minute, that wasn't right.

The crystals on its back flickered yellow.

Naruto's eyes widened as he dove sideways, a torrent of lightning belting from the Malignant Creep's maw and nearly frying him on the spot. If he'd been a second slower, he'd have been hit, but even as it was, he could hear the ringing in his ears, and the black trail of scorched stone that went from the steps and up the wall, charring the head of one of the statues, and across the ceiling was enough of a sign that this hadn't gone quite how he'd expected.

"Get to cover!" Naruto shouted as he dove behind the leg of one of the statues, wincing as another blast of lightning, weaker this time, rocked the inside of the temple.

The Malignant Creep still had full health, that was one of the worst parts. He'd hit it with an incredibly powerful spell, and it had absorbed it and was now doing its best to redirect it at him.

Not good. It seemed that unconventional combat was out, and conventional would have to do.

Naruto reached into his inventory and withdrew the only weapon he'd been yet to use thus far. Everything was a learning experience, his mother had once said. He didn't think this was quite what she meant, but oh well.

He shouldered Sandstorm, the massive LMG weighing a considerable amount, even in his hands, and swung out of cover, flicking off the safety and pressing down on the trigger.

The first round of 7.62mm fired out of the end of the barrel would not be the last, and despite the large amount of recoil, Naruto kept it trained in the general vicinity of the lightning-spitting Malignant Creep, the onslaught of bullets impacting against hardened hide and crystalline growth with incredible volume. Stealth had well and truly been thrown out the window with how loud this firearm really was.

His first burst of gunfire had to be halted as a reply was fired in his direction, a short spurt of lightning threatening to turn his head into charcoal, if it had hit.

He was lucky it hadn't, though considering he'd bruised the damn thing enough with his bullets he wasn't surprised it wasn't dead-accurate. He was surprised it wasn't dead, though, and he was very much not appreciating that it seemed to continue to tank the damage he was dealing.

He wasn't the only one firing at it. Blake was taking shots whenever she could, peeking around the cover she'd taken and firing, but her pistol-caliber rounds were not doing all that much.

Ilia, wisely, had decided that adding more lightning to the creature that had just belched lightning at them was not the greatest decision, and as such was basically sat on her hands behind cover, an annoyed look on her face.

Naruto stepped out of cover once more, holding Sandstorm as low as his arms went, holding down the trigger and stepping towards the Malignant Creep.

He could see the HP meter dropping, each bullet doing plenty of damage on their own, but it still wasn't enough. It was stalling the thing, though, it couldn't quite get its head high enough to hit Naruto, each round like a hammer, but it was getting closer.

Naruto kept the trigger held down, and let loose a shout of anger, accidentally activating a skill he hadn't used in a long, long time. Battle Cry activated, and despite the fact that he hadn't dipped in any of his meters aside from SP, simply from the exertion of controlling the recoil of Sandstorm, he felt the other effect take hold.

One he'd never used or felt before. It gave a morale boost, that he had known, he'd read that when he'd gotten the skill in the first place, but he'd never really understood what that meant.

Now, though, as he felt as if he could practically taste victory, he understood exactly what it meant. It was a little extra push, that little bit of emotional edge that put him and his friends above those they faced.

It was a kind of motivation, and though he wasn't necessarily in the need of it at that exact moment, he'd be damned if he had to argue it didn't help just a little.

Sandstorm clicked empty, and Naruto swung it up and over like a baton, slamming it against the Malignant Creep's head with a loud and very wet thunk.

The Malignant Creep hit the stone floor and refused to get back up.

Naruto stomped one foot on its already-fading head, just in case.

Then he felt the weight of Sandstorm in his arms, and slumped down somewhat. He'd need to reload the weapon, but that could wait. He'd have to feed one-hundred-fifty rounds into a belt, so he'd do that when he had some down-time.

Now was not downtime. Now was notification time.

[Hallowed Bay: Floor 10 Cleared!]

[A reward has appeared!]

[For clearing half of Hallowed Bay you have been awarded +5 Menagerie Reputation!]

[You've gained 705,761 XP and 15,620 Lien! You've acquired 5 Inert Dust, 4 Alpha Creep Bones, 1 Alpha Creep Hide, 4 Malignant Creep Bones, 2 Malignant Creep Hides, 1 Crimson Key and 1 Damascus Key!]

Naruto appreciated the keys more than anything else in that list of items. He'd gotten quite a few from the past few floors, but he was starting to realize it was a crab-shoot when it came to them. They seemed to come at complete random.

He didn't even bother to check the chest that had appeared, like the ones before, instead just giving it a kick and then, when it proved it wasn't a Mimic, grabbing it and dropping it into his inventory.

"Naruto, what was that? I thought you said-"

Naruto interrupted Blake before she could continue. "I know. I wasn't exactly expecting it either. It absorbed the spell and redirected it. I think it had something to do with the crystals."

"Is it always like this?" Ilia asked, staring at the partially disintegrated corpse of the Malignant Creep.

Naruto shrugged. "Sometimes. It's not always bad surprises, but delving deep into a dungeon is probably not the best place for pleasant surprises. Good rewards, but balanced by the dangers in here."

Ilia looked back up the stairs, where bullet casings and scorch marks littered the ancient stone. "I can see that."

Naruto frowned, re-checking the notification. "We're halfway through the dungeon."

His words had both a positive side and a negative side, much like a half-full or half-empty cup.

"Meaning there are ten more floors?" Blake asked, simply for the clarification.

Naruto nodded. "That'd be the way math works, yeah."

Blake rolled her eyes. "We haven't been down here too long. We can continue for longer."

He'd been about to ask, but Ilia nodded along with Blake's statement, so he doubted he needed to even state the question. "Guess we're going through that door, then."

The door remained as ominous as it had been up until that point.

Naruto offered a weak "ladies first?" that was immediately shut down, and he slumped.

First into the unknown yet again.

It turned out that, for once, the unknown was not as dangerous as he'd expected. In fact, it was just a series of winding corridors.

A series of winding corridors that felt like they'd been wandering through for a few hours now. Or a few years.

Naruto was very confused.

"Haven't we been through this intersection before?" He asked, frowning.

Blake shook her head. "No, I'd recognize if we had. I've been leaving marks behind as we move."

"Marks like that?" Ilia asked, gesturing to a chunk of missing stone in one corner.

There was a moment where Blake just stared, before she spoke up again. "Yeah. Like that."

"I'm gonna be honest, I'm super lost. I don't even know where we came in anymore."

The admission hurt, but it was a definitive truth. If it weren't for the Hearthstones they were all carrying there was a good chance they'd've been stuck amidst these corridors for the rest of their considerably shortened lives.

"So now what? We just wander aimlessly and hope for the best?" Ilia asked, folding her arms and leaning against a wall.

Naruto shrugged. "Not much different from what we've been doing already. Let me see if there's something I can do to help. Maybe if I put some points into Intelligence?"

"If Weiss has proven anything, it's that intelligence doesn't equal wayfinding. Let's not be so hasty," Blake remarked, and Naruto cracked a smile.

"Wait, Weiss?" Ilia asked, a confused frown gracing her face. "Like-"

Naruto saved Blake the hassle by interjecting straight over the top. "So, you're suggesting Wisdom over Intelligence?"

Blake, grateful for the save, nodded quickly. "It seems a bit more prudent. All the intelligence in the world doesn't matter if you don't know how to use it, but even then, we don't know if a stat boost is what you need to help us out."

Naruto shrugged. "Call it a hunch, call it my semblance giving me little hints that I'm not quite where I need to be in terms of stats. One or the other."

"It's just telling you what you need?" Blake asked, one eyebrow raising in suspicion.

Naruto shook his head. "Not quite. It's more like I can feel a slight… feeling, I guess. It's pretty much just a hunch, but I didn't think of it on my own. Like my mind was led towards the idea. It's hard to explain, I just feel like I needed to be smarter, or wiser. Something to do with my mind, at the very least."

Ilia looked very concerned at who she was entrusting her safety to.

Naruto brought up his stats, checking through them. "I'll just drop ten points into WIS, see if that helps. That'll boost me up to 62, so it should help."

He did as he said, dropping ten of his Stat Points into WIS. It was two level-ups worth of Stat Points, but that being said, he was okay with it. He was doing this to progress further into the dungeon, so that meant he'd definitely make back the XP it had cost, even with the increased level-up costs.

He didn't feel too different, he never really did, but he could tell that something was up with the walls around him.

Something was definitely different about some of the stone. There was a specific pattern in the way it had been carved, a kind of texture to the grain, almost like wood grain.

It had been carved all in one direction, a pattern he only just now recognized from his own earthworking with Terrakinesis.

Which meant he could follow it back to its origin point.

"I think I've got it. Follow me."

He didn't wait for an affirmative, instead taking a step forward down one of the many corridors, hand trailing against the stonework, feeling the grain against his hand, the rock smooth against his hand.

Blake and Ilia were close behind, watching with concerned expressions as they progressed deeper and deeper within the maze-like structure, but it wasn't long before Naruto's claim was proven true.

Another door, slightly ajar already, a bright light pouring through the cracks.

Naruto pushed it open completely, and smiled as the notification popped up, this time directly depositing the chest into his inventory. He didn't even have to pick this one up, which he appreciated. It definitely meant it wasn't a Mimic.

He also noticed the room he'd walked into. More of an antechamber than anything else, it featured something that, for some strange reason, Naruto felt intrinsically drawn to.

A stone door, which, at this point, would have been strange to have been absent, but it was also inset with a large glowing gem, swirling white energy contained within its crystalline structure.

Naruto stepped towards it, as did Ilia and Blake, the three of them unable to take their eyes off of it.

He recognized it, or so he thought. It was so incredibly familiar, this feeling, like warmth and comfort wrapping around his very Aura.

Ilia stepped past him, awe in her eyes, and placed her hand against the crystal.

Her Aura began swirling around her hand, being drawn into the crystal. Blake did the same, standing next to her, her own Aura siphoning off her hand.

Naruto nearly did the same, but something in the back of his mind prevented him from outstretching his arm.

It wasn't technically his semblance that was stopping him. Ouroboros was wrapped around his arm, the serpent struggling against Naruto to prevent him from touching the crystal.

Callisto had a hold of Ilia, wrapping the girl in her arms and was tugging her back away from it, though it seemed the large bear was having some difficulty.

Freyja, Cadejo and Ishara were struggling with Blake, the boar and the scorpion pushing from the front and Cadejo having snagged a bit of her coat between his jaws, pulling her back.

It was tough going, but Ouroboros broke the hold first, snapping Naruto back from what he now realized was some kind of trance. "What...?"

He didn't have any more time to comprehend what had just happened, instead reaching for Blake and wrapping his arms underneath hers, pulling her back from where she was touching the crystal, yanking with all his strength.

Blake broke free after a moment of exertion, and Naruto stumbled backwards, Cadejo barely dodging to the side as Naruto, Blake, Ishara and Freyja landed in a tangle of limbs.

He scrambled out of the pile quickly, getting just in front of Ilia and pushing against the large paws of Callisto, lending what help he could to break the chameleon Faunus free.

Blake joined in a moment later, trying her best to push Ilia free, and suddenly, she was, the three of them tumbling backwards, landing atop Callisto in yet another tangle of limbs.

Naruto managed to extricate himself, turning to look at the crystal.

It almost looked satisfied, but it definitely looked more full now, with more white energy swirling within it.

At least Naruto now knew exactly why it looked so familiar.

It reminded Naruto a lot of a gigantic Soul Orb, just in a more crystalline fashion, and that hypothesis was more than confirmed with what it had just done.

It had just harvested the Aura directly from Blake and Ilia, and nearly him, too. If his summons hadn't sprung into action, there was a good chance it would have drained them so completely that it would have left them dried-out corpses. Not a good look.

He took Blake's hand and helped her up, doing the same with Ilia once she'd seemed to have recovered her mental state.

"What the hell was that?!" Ilia exclaimed in a mixture of confusion, shock and horror.

Yeah, Ilia was fine.

"It was trying to steal your soul," Naruto explained, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Uh, don't touch it."

He added the warning as an afterthought, just in case it hadn't been clear before.

"No shit, human," Ilia replied. "What the hell pulled me out? Was that an Ursa?"

Naruto gestured behind her. "That's Callisto. You should probably thank her."

Ilia turned around, noticed the large bear sitting on her rear, and quickly nodded in gratitude.

Callisto performed a very short, quiet roar in reply.

Naruto ran his hand through the fur of Cadejo as Blake ran hers through Freyja's. "Thanks, all of you. You saved our lives."

His other hand ran across the smooth chitin of Ishara, and Ouroboros curled back around Naruto's shoulders, head nuzzling against the blond.

Once he felt his summons had been thanked enough, which was never enough, in his honest opinion, he turned his attention back to the alluring crystal…

No, bad Naruto, don't fall for the stupid, pretty, beautiful crystal again!

It was definitely inset into the door in such a way that he couldn't open said door without first removing it somehow.

It was a lock, that was obvious, at least with the information he now had. A lock that harvested Auric energy and stored it.

"So, empty the crystal to unlock the door, right?" He spoke the words aloud, and seeing as Blake and Ilia weren't privy to his inner machinations, it came as a surprise to them both.

"How do you plan on emptying it without touching it?" Was Blake's question, and it was a fair question, but one he definitely had a concrete answer for.

"I don't need to touch it to use Soul Harvest, so I can try and deplete it of energy from here."

"I'm sorry, what harvest?" Ilia exclaimed again, but Naruto, once again, tuned her out. He could tell that was really starting to get on her nerves, but he really didn't have the time to explain everything, and besides, he still didn't fully trust her.

Blake might, but Blake had a history of… debatable choices.

He reached his hand out, not touching the crystal, but not so far that he couldn't feel the pull it gave off. He fought that pull, of course, now that he was aware of exactly what it was, but it was strong.

At least, it was a strong pull all the way up until he activated Soul Harvest.

Then it became a very strong push, almost like the crystal was fighting back, trying its best to prevent him from doing exactly what he was about to do.

He'd never used Soul Harvest like this before. The crystal didn't have an Aura, of course, so he doubted it would work on a person, but he was drawing Ambient Aura from a specific target rather than the general area, and it felt… different. It felt like he was causing the crystal pain, even though he knew that was impossible.

He was creating Soul Orbs at an incredible rate, though. One, two, five, ten…

He reached twenty-five Grand Soul Orbs before he was done, and only then did the crystal stop fighting back, now devoid of any light within.

[Hallowed Bay: Floor 12 Cleared!]

[You've gained 1,000,000 Soul Harvest XP and 25 Grand Soul Orbs!]

He took a step back, swaying slightly, and Blake quickly grabbed him before he could collapse. "You okay, Naruto?"

Naruto nodded slowly. "Yeah, yeah, just… gimme a sec to catch my breath."

He didn't know what was wrong. He felt strange, like his body was on fire, and yet, at the same time, he knew nothing was wrong. Physically, he was completely healthy. Mentally, too, no adverse effects.

Something just felt… off. Like the crystal had been alive after all.

No, that wasn't right. Naruto knew what it was the moment Cadejo closed the distance, the wolf providing mental and physical support.

Naruto had just harvested a lot of souls that had been trapped within a crystal for gods knew how long. A lot of negative energy, that was for sure.

He shook off the feeling as best he could. "We need to keep going. We're closer now than ever before."

Blake nodded, determination set into her expression. "I can take the lead if you want."

He shook his head, already moving towards the door. "I'm the only one of us that can take a hit and keep fighting without issue. I'll be fine."

She let the issue sit, not interrupting as Naruto swung the door open, stepping through, and she and Ilia followed close behind, a pattern they were more than used to by now.

Naruto wasn't surprised by the corridor. Everything was basically blending together now, and he could barely tell one floor from another, though he supposed that was deliberate.

He was momentarily impressed by the two statues of what looked to be ancient warriors standing guard at the door to the far end of the cavernous corridor.

And then, to top it all off, he was nearly caught off-guard by the gigantic Elder Deathstalker that stood in between his group and the far doors.

No cover, nowhere to hide, nothing but a straight line to a Grimm that looked a lot like the one from Initiation.

Of course, this one was a lot higher of a level, sitting at 72, with a rather large sum of HP to go with it. Naruto was definitely not looking forward to the next few minutes.

He crossed his fingers, hoping that it hadn't noticed them.

It had. It screeched in their direction and began rapidly scuttling towards them, pincers snapping open and closed in what would have been a very intimidating presentation if Naruto hadn't seen it before, but even still, the sheer numbers advantage it held was a definitive threat.

So Naruto figured he'd go with a tried and true strategy. A single Grimm wasn't much of a threat when he could hit it with a Mana Tether and follow that up with his most powerful attack.

Electrus formed behind Naruto, the Stormbolt nearly deafening everyone inside the dungeon as it vaporized a good chunk of the left side of the Elder Deathstalker, and the scorpion Grimm let loose a loud chittering scream as it floundered, scorched black ichor dripping onto the floor beneath it as it struggled to move.

It wasn't dead, though, and although it seemed to be a little stuck at the moment, that didn't mean it still wasn't a threat. Naruto could see those beady eyes staring straight at him, and he knew its injuries weren't going to be enough to prevent it from trying to kill him.

Already it was scuttling closer and closer, dragging its half-ruined carapace across the floor, the black murky trail it left behind beginning to obscure the rear end of the corridor.

Naruto responded to its approach by pulling out Predator and firing at it, Blake doing the same with Gambol Shroud and Ilia joining in with her own weapon, the occasional lance of lightning joining the barrage of gunfire, impacting against destroyed carapace and blackened Grimmflesh, the chittering increasing in volume and frequency as the Elder Deathstalker slowly but surely died.

He ejected the magazine from Predator, snagging it in his other hand and quickly holstered the handgun, reaching into his inventory and withdrawing a handful of rounds, methodically loading them into the empty magazine as he read his latest notification.

[Hallowed Bay: Floor 13 Cleared!]

[A reward has appeared in your inventory!]

[You have gained 2,903,089 XP and 12,672 Lien! You have acquired 1 Deathstalker Skull, 2 Elder Deathstalker Eyes and 5 Grade II Lightning Dust Crystals!]

[You have leveled up once, and gained +5 Stat Points!]

He finished loading the mag, slotting it back inside Predator and dropping the weapon back in his inventory. "That was fun."

Blake rolled her eyes. "Yeah, it was a real blast."

Naruto pushed past the decaying corpse, swinging open yet another door. "Man, I'm starting to get sick of this."

"Only six more floors to go," Blake remarked. "Hopefully it won't take too long."

Naruto didn't know what to expect the further they went down. So far it had been a mix of traps, puzzles and Grimm, so guessing at what the next floor held was a shot in the dark.

An ancient dormitory was not what he'd expected. "Huh."

Blake and Ilia filed in behind him, and the three of them shared a look before splitting up, searching around the large, stacked stone bed-frames.

It took a few moments before Naruto heard a voice. "Blake, human, over here! Found the next door, but it's locked!"

Blake was much closer to where Ilia was standing, so by the time Naruto had jogged over, she had already knelt down, trying to pick the lock, to no avail as of yet.

"Any luck?" He asked, despite the fact he already knew the answer.

Blake paused her attempts to glare at Naruto for a moment, before resuming. "It's a strange lock. It doesn't have any real pins to it, or if it does, I can't move them."

Naruto frowned. "This has to be a puzzle room, right? So there's gotta be a key in here somewhere. We've just got to find it."

He turned to look at the large expanse of beds. "Shouldn't take too long."

The sarcasm in his voice was so thick he could've used it as a springboard.

It took nearly an hour of searching before they found the key. It had reached a point where Ilia had just started throwing things aside in an effort to relieve her frustrations, but it had been that exact tactic that had led her to finding the key, which had been hidden underneath one of the bed-frames that she had practically toppled in her annoyance.

Ilia, almost silently, had simply picked up the key and walked over to the door, unlocked it, and startled Naruto when the notification for the floor being cleared popped up while he was halfway-through searching a ruined mattress.

He smacked his head against the top bunk as he jolted, before turning and glaring over at Ilia, who was doing a very good job of looking completely innocent.

He called out to Blake, who'd been on the furthest side, and she quickly joined both himself and Ilia by the door.

"Good find," He remarked dryly, rubbing the back of his head for an actual reason this time.

Ilia didn't respond to his sarcasm, instead gesturing for him to go through the door. "After you, meat shield."

Well, it wasn't necessarily an inaccurate statement, and he didn't have a good reason to dispute it, so he just pushed through the door, into a large chamber that featured a well-carved, domed ceiling, intricately carved patterns etched into the curvature.

Around the floor were bits and pieces of what looked to be some kind of ancient machinery, various cogs, gears and other mechanical components scattered into different-sized piles.

"Another puzzle room?" Naruto asked, almost to himself. That was strange, normally there was some kind of mini-boss on milestone floors.

Blake and Ilia joined him inside the room, and the moment the third of their group passed over the threshold into the fifteenth floor, the door slammed shut behind them.

Naruto resisted the urge to spin and look at the source of the noise, instead reaching into his inventory and withdrawing Crocea Mors, expanding the sheath into a shield, holding the sword calmly. "Something's in here with us."

His concerns were not unfounded. Something was in one of the piles of ruined machinery, he could see it shifting slightly, the occasional clang of metal colliding with metal causing his nerves to twitch. If it weren't for System Mind he'd have no doubt he'd be panicking right now.

The pile of ancient machinery unfolded, and a single eye stared straight at him, burning with fury.

[Machina Gigas (Epic Geist)]

[Level 75]

[HP: 185,625/185,625]

Naruto dove out of the way of a gigantic metal limb that slammed into the ground right where he'd been standing, grabbing Ilia as he fell and pulling her out of the way of the stomp that had nearly crushed her.

She was panicking, which, considering the circumstances, was entirely fair. Ilia, unlike Naruto and Blake, was not a Hunter, nor was she familiar with the serious kinds of danger that he constantly found himself in. This wasn't Shai-Hulud or Wyvern levels of danger, but it wasn't too far off.

He dove out of cover, gesturing to Blake to take care of Ilia, or at the least snap some sense into her, and quickly grabbed the attention of the tripod-like Machina Gigas.

Not that it hadn't kept its attention focused on him already, as another metallic fist nearly clipped him, sending the entire chamber shuddering from the impact.

He was lucky this thing wasn't all that fast.

Unfortunately, it had every other advantage. Like, for example, the fact that it was nigh-bulletproof, as one of Naruto's rounds from Predator skipped off the ancient metal, barely doing anything to the Machina Gigas.

Naruto swore under his breath as a large metal limb nearly kicked him into the ceiling. That had been a close one.

He hit the thing with a concentrated burst from his Spinning Mana Bullet, but even that simply splashed against the metal. This thing was armored, so much so that even his Mana was having trouble dealing damage. That didn't bode well for his near future.

He rolled again, just trying to stay clear of the constant attacks, but he could tell his evasion was starting to aggravate the giant golem, and he knew he needed an actual plan. Otherwise this adventure was going to end with him as a large stain on the ground, and possibly the wall if he got hit hard enough.

An idea struck him like a metal fist nearly did. Ferrokinesis.

He Phaseshifted through a swinging blow that would have removed his head from existence had it landed, becoming corporeal at just the right moment as he slid underneath the Machina Gigas and placed both his hands on its left leg, hoping that this wasn't about to get him killed.

Ferrokinesis took hold of the limb, and suddenly Naruto could feel the Geist within the Machina Gigas. A very, very strange feeling, almost like there were veins he could feel infesting the machinery.

He pushed hard against those veins, forcing the metal to crush them, and he could see the HP meter of the Machina Gigas suddenly drop dramatically, lowering by nearly sixty-thousand.

He could also see a now released leg-shaped chunk of metal tipping towards him, now disconnected from the rest of the Machina Gigas.

Naruto scrambled backwards, just getting clear as it slammed into the floor.

Of course, the Geist within the Machina Gigas didn't care too much for what Naruto had just done, and if he hadn't been so concerned with the falling ex-leg, he'd have noticed the arm swinging at him.

It hit him in the chest, and it felt like he was on the receiving end of a truck.

"Urgh!" He groaned as it hit him, and he went flying backwards, smashing into the wall and peeling off, the feeling of a plethora of broken bones very, very prevalent.

That attack had completely shattered his Aura, and he wasn't surprised. The impact against the wall had done the rest of the damage, and he could feel that multiple ribs weren't quite where they were supposed to be, including one that was currently sticking out of his back, having punctured straight through his left lung.

He coughed up a literal lungful of blood onto the stone, but he could already feel his body stitching itself back together. He could even move his neck now that the majority of his spine wasn't turned to splinters, and he glanced towards the Machina Gigas, now down to only two of three legs, currently attempting to hit Blake and Ilia, its attention being diverted by the two.

It was evident that Blake and Ilia had fought together a multitude of times before. Every movement was practised and honed to a level that even Naruto and Blake didn't share, though there were multiple reasons for that.

Ilia strafed sideways as Blake flickered into shadows, leaving behind a target that kept the attention of the Machina Gigas for a single moment before the clone was destroyed, allowing the two of them to land hits against the metallic torso.

They were close to the mask it wore, but every time any attack got close enough to potentially hit the mask, the metal would shift, repositioning the face within the core.

Well, that pretty much confirmed that the mask was the weak spot.

Naruto could move his arms, now, and he lifted himself up, feeling the bones and muscles in his legs reforming as he tried to use them. He was a little shaky, but he was getting closer to being able to move, his regeneration prioritizing movement over tertiary injuries, such as the multitude of bleeding gashes all over his body, and the near infinite bruising that was more likely to make his skin purple, blue and green with the occasional patch of his usual coloration.

Combined tactics time, or so Naruto thought. Land his hands on the torso, sever the Geist's connection, and then take out the Geist itself. Three step plans were his forte, this should be no problem.

He stepped forwards, somewhat off-balance, but he quickly regained that with a shake of his head as he broke into a run, very quickly closing the distance between where he had been laid out and where the Machina Gigas was, hands splayed, ready to execute the plan.

Or, if it failed, ready to be executed by the giant metal golem. One or the other. He knew which one he'd prefer.

He slid underneath a limb, thankful that the Machina Gigas' attention was elsewhere, and jumped, landing feet-first on its back, activating Surface Walk to keep him firmly affixed to the torso segment, and he placed his hands against the cold metal.

The moment he landed the Machina Gigas knew something was wrong, backing up rapidly and attempting to twist and reach Naruto, limbs unable to quite get the angle they needed to knock him loose.

He remained attached, focus entirely on his Ferrokinesis as he found those shadowy internal veins, and he began severing those connections, shaping the metal around and closing it upon the Geist's internals.

He could feel it writhing in pain, and he could tell it was trying to throw him off, but his attention remained solely on his Ferrokinesis, unconcerned about anything else. This was the only way to win against a metallic behemoth like this.

The Machina Gigas might not have been able to reach him, but that wasn't the only way it had of hurting Naruto.

It backed up faster and faster, until it crashed into the wall back-first, but even as Naruto gritted his teeth from the impact, he was saved by the fact that the walls were round, so the Machina Gigas couldn't quite use its full size against him.

It still hurt like all hell, he wasn't going to lie, and it broke what little Aura he'd managed to regenerate, but he didn't care. He kept concentrating, until he found the final strand.

He closed the final connection, and found himself falling, barely managing to scramble out of the way as the torso became just another chunk of metal, nearly crushing him as it fell to the ground.

Naruto withdrew Predator, lined up his shot, and pulled the trigger, watching in abject satisfaction as the floating Geist suddenly found itself with a large hole in its mask.

Unlike all the commotion before, the Geist died silently, simply content with fading away in a near instant.

Only once it had completely disappeared and Naruto had received the notification did he slump over and groan.

[Hallowed Bay: Floor 15 Cleared!]

[A reward has dropped!]

[You have gained 2,362,605 XP and 23,100 Lien! You've acquired 23 Inert Dust, 1 Geist Mask and 50 Low Steel Ingots!]

Great, he thought. He would've cheered, but that would mean having to move, and he really didn't like that idea. Right now he just wanted to stay laid out on the floor. It was nice on the floor. Comfortable.

Well, okay, it wasn't comfortable, but it was at least not as painful as standing. Standing, right now, was the last thing he wanted to do.

"Naruto, are you alright?"

That was Blake. He could tell from the fact that it sounded like Blake, which meant he was already off to a good start on voice recognition. No severe brain damage, that was good.

He lifted one arm wearily and gave Blake a thumbs-up. It would have to do.

She dropped in next to him, quite literally, in fact, seeing as he was in what was effectively a metal pen, surrounded on all sides by no-longer-possessed metal limbs, and placed her hand on his side, heaving briefly to flip him over onto his back.

"Oh, hey Blake, when did you get here?" Naruto asked, now no longer staring at the floor. Instead, now his gaze was directed at the ceiling, with Blake's head in his periphery.

Blake raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure you're okay?"

Naruto nodded. "Yeah… just gonna relax for a bit. Everything sort of hurts all over, and it's probably gonna take a bit before that subsides, you know?"

He gestured down at his leg, where a gash was slowly stitching itself back up. "See?"

Blake winced. "Doesn't look great, if I'm being honest. Good job, though."

Naruto grinned, though it was with far more exhaustion than usual. "You two did great too."

He sat up now, arms stretching as he checked the offending limbs for any significant injuries that were yet to heal. They seemed fine, now, which was good, but there was still a lot of bruising that was still yet to heal.

Blake held out her hand and Naruto took it, the black-haired girl pulling him up to a standing position.

He groaned in mild agony as a particularly prominent cut resealed itself along his back. "That was a close one. Too close."

Ilia clambered up the side of one of the piles of wreckage that had once been the Machina Gigas. "The human's still alive?"

It almost seemed like she was warming up to him. Naruto turned to face her, pulling aside his coat and showing off the large cut on his abdomen. "Barely."

Ilia paled. "How the-"

He couldn't help but laugh. "I've told you already."

She looked stunned, and Naruto clambered out of the metallic pen, Blake following close behind.

She shook her head, shaking aside the previously gruesome image. "I was gonna say something's on the ground over there." She gestured over her shoulder, towards the center of the room.

Naruto dropped down, wincing as his strained muscles replied in anger, and he nearly stumbled as he landed. Luckily for his reputation he didn't collapse, managing to ignore the intrinsic urge to stumble.

Instead, he focused his attention on what he could see in the center of the room. And what a sight to behold!

"What am I looking for?" He asked, looking around.

Ilia stepped over a chunk of broken stone and bent down, grabbing whatever it was on the floor and tossing it at Naruto, who caught it in a feat of agility that impressed only him.

He Observed the item, twisting it around and admiring the craftsmanship.

[XII. The Hanged]

[Artifact]

[An artifact of a long-past age, this device affixes to the wrist and fires a long cable with a specialised hook on the end, which can be retracted and extended at will. The cable is stored within a separate portable dimension.]

Naruto's eyes widened. He was literally holding a grappling hook. An actual, real, legitimate grappling hook. Naruto's eyes widened even further.

He put it on his arm, watching as the device attached itself, small limbs unfolding to wrap around his wrist, and he aimed at the ceiling, very carefully.

"Naruto, what are you doing?" Blake asked, wholeheartedly considering just keeping her eyebrow permanently raised whenever Naruto was involved.

Naruto clicked his hand down, and a hook fired out from the device on his wrist, impacting against the roof with a quiet hiss.

"Huh."

He squeezed his hand again, and was suddenly pulled upwards.

Too fast, Naruto realized, as he smashed his face into the ceiling.

Ilia burst into muffled laughter as Blake turned away, one hand covering her face as she slowly shook her head.

Naruto slowly lowered himself back to the ground, very deliberately looking anywhere else. "I, uh… still need some practice. Not an easy thing to learn, I guess."

He turned to face the door, detaching the hook and reeling it back into the device. At least that part was easier, and he didn't accidentally brain himself with it.

His attention returned to the door, which was currently ajar. "So, we wanna go on? Cause I'd be alright with a quick break to regenerate my Aura."

Blake looked towards the door and then back to Naruto. "That's… probably a good idea."

Once Naruto had rested, and by rested he meant 'used Meditation to completely refill all meters', Naruto and his companions pushed further into the dungeon.

The sixteenth floor had been almost a letdown in comparison to the fifteenth. Just another room full of rubble, but Naruto had to admit, at least this rubble didn't spontaneously come to life and try to kill him.

Instead, it just hampered their progress up until Naruto tried Terrakinesis on it. Then it didn't do much, aside from whatever Naruto demanded of it.

The seventeenth floor had been a bit more of a threat. Grimm Naruto didn't recognize had dug through the walls, leaving long, winding tunnels that Naruto could just barely fit into, if he'd wanted to actually go in them.

He hadn't. Nor did he need to, luckily.

The moment they'd stepped inside the seventeenth floor, which was almost indistinct from the fifteenth, aside from the rivulets of water that ran down the walls, a cluster of Level 70 Centinels had sprung from the ceiling.

The creepy centipedal Grimm had attempted to spin in his direction, for some reason, mandibles chittering up until Blake cut the first one's head off, leaving the body to jitter and flop on the wet stone floor.

Ilia had electrified the second with a stab that left it twitching in a way Naruto really didn't like, so he leant a hand, or rather, a foot, stomping down hard on the insectoid Grimm's midsection, severing it in two.

The third died to a shot from Telum as it tried to regain the advantage, crawling up the wall. Naruto pinned it in place with an arrow, already dismissing it as he moved onto the next target.

The target that Blake had just sliced into three pieces with a rather impressive feat of maneuverability.

Okay then, Naruto would move onto the last target, the one that Ilia had just shish-kebab'd with her weapon.

Naruto sighed. He didn't have a right to complain that the fight had been remarkably easy, but he'd wanted to at least use more than just Telum. It almost felt a little wasteful.

Blake and Ilia were already moving on, though, towards the next door, the eighteenth floor, and whatever it held in store for them.

The door itself didn't bode well. Solid steel, arranged in bars, it wouldn't look out of place in an ancient dungeon.

Well, an ancient dungeon where they held prisoners, not an ancient dungeon like what he was delving through. Although it could be both, or neither, he really was losing track.

Daylight seemed like a distant memory.

"Naruto, hurry up."

Oh yeah, right.

Naruto jogged over, dismissing the notification without so much as a brief glance, instead focusing his attention solely on what was beyond the door yet again, as Ilia swung it open.

Ilia and Blake both took a very distinctive step back, pupils dilating as Naruto felt his entire body twitch, Sixth Sense lighting up like he was surrounded on all sides by an imposing force, and the worst scent overcame his nostrils.

"You two are getting it too. That doesn't bode well."

Despite the fact that he was in the running for 'most obvious thing said ever, by anyone', Naruto found himself more concerned about what could possibly be in there than how he was getting that message across.

So, as usual, Naruto stepped in first, one hand at the ready. Whatever was in here was going to take a handful of Mana first, and then Naruto would stop to ask it questions.

From the door led a series of branching paths, organized like a series of streets, but instead of houses surrounded by roads, there were instead steel-barred cells not unlike a prison. At least five rows' worth of cells, occasionally broken up by a crossing path that connected to the others.

The paths weren't the most concerning parts of this prison floor, however. What was far more concerning was the amount of skeletons that lay within. Skeletons and other near-skeletal corpses.

Naruto paled as he moved through. Some of the bodies were half-sunken-in, some small, some larger.

Adults and children, equally treated. Some of these corpses were more recent than others, if the smell was anything to go off of.

He kept moving, very aware of his movements and the movements of Blake and Ilia. He was even more aware of the noise they were making, and he resisted the urge to shush Ilia as she choked back a sob. Blake was teetering on the edge, and once again he found himself incredibly thankful for System Mind. Without that, he'd be struggling very hard not to lose his composure. Even now, with it, it was a tough fight.

"Please let there be some survivors, please let there be some survivors."

He repeated the mantra under his breath over and over, clenching his other hand into a fist and then releasing it to the rhythm of his chant. He just didn't want all of this to be for nothing.

They kept creeping through the cells, as quiet as possible, trying not to think about what had to be at least a thousand victims. He found it almost strange that none of them appeared to have been restrained, but he shook that aside. Where was there for these people to go? They were already deep within a dangerous dungeon, and they were locked inside cells.

Naruto twitched, almost sensing movement before he saw it. There, in the cell three down and two to the left! A small hand, twitching back and forth.

He darted towards it, Blake and Ilia spotting the motion just after he had and chasing behind him, sticking close.

A girl, small and frail, almost drained of life. She was twitching occasionally, but her eyes stared dead ahead, unblinking.

Naruto stuck his hand through the bars without a second thought, gently waving them in front of the young girl.

She gave no response.

"Naruto… there are more survivors…" Blake whispered, and Naruto whipped around, noticing that there were more populated cells. The girl seemed to be alone in hers, aside from some definitely-not-alive people, but there were plenty of other living people, all in the same state as her.

"What's wrong with them?" Ilia asked, keeping her voice as low as possible.

Naruto shook his head, not trusting his voice. Then, realizing he couldn't really carry out a conversation without speaking, spoke up anyway. "They're in some kind of catatonic state, like a trance or something. They aren't dead, thank the gods, but they aren't really alive, either. There's gotta be a way to break the control somehow."

Something clinked against metal, back near where they'd come from.

The three of them spun quickly, drawing and aiming.

A slight glow in the dark, floating in the air. Another metallic clink sounded out, and Naruto charged a Mana Cannon, the glow of the Mana distorting his vision slightly, but not enough to prevent him from seeing what was drifting towards them.

It was a Grimm Naruto definitely didn't recognize. Almost like a floating orb with a series of blade-tipped tentacles dangling beneath it, Naruto kept his aim steady, waiting to see if it would move any closer.

It didn't. Instead, it remained floating a short distance away. Naruto didn't even know if it had seen them, or if it could even see. He couldn't make out any eyes, unless the orb was the eye.

One of the tentacles slowly drifted out to the side, and gently rapped against one of the cell bars, a delicate ringing filling the eighteenth floor.

It was almost demanding that he fire at it. It was just floating there as if it wanted to see what Naruto would do. He could tell it could see them, now, he could feel its gaze. He involuntarily shivered.

Observe only gave him the name and level of the Grimm, but it was enough information to get him started. A Level 76 Alpha Seer.

The words really meant nothing to him. He'd never heard of a Seer before, but it didn't strike him as a particularly dangerous kind of Grimm, unless that giant eye let it fire out lasers. If it did, well, he'd at least called it.

"Do we attack?" Ilia asked, a frown on her face. She didn't know what to make of the enemy she was staring down, and neither did Blake, from the look on her face.

Naruto fired his fully-charged Mana Cannon.

The Seer popped like an over-filled balloon, tendrils chiming as its remnants hit the ground.

Blake lowered her weapon. "That was a bit anticlimactic."

Naruto shook his head. "Last time I said that I had my arm removed. Keep your guard up. The floor's cleared, but these people are still catatonic. Whatever's holding them here, it's deeper in."

His words made a lot of sense, even if he was pulling them out of thin air. His Semblance seemed to agree with them, at least, a feeling of affirmativeness overcoming a part of his mind as he made the assumption. He couldn't really explain it, either, which was disconcerting.

That also wasn't important right now, so he filed that away for later. "There's a door back here, seems to be the way forward. Two floors left, so I guess what we're looking for is on that last floor."

He walked towards it and unflinchingly stepped through, finding himself face to face with a small antechamber, a couple stone benches laid out, one cracked down the middle, the remnants of a small fire-pit half-full of old wood ash.

He'd chided Blake only moments before about verbalizing how anticlimactic it was, but he nearly did the same out of reflex.

Up until a notification startled him.

[Rest Area Discovered!]

[You have discovered a Rest Area! Rest Areas serve as a universal location within most Dungeons, where you can establish a base-camp to rest, recuperate and restock! Rest Areas can be upgraded to provide more bonuses and effects, at the cost of resources, once the potential upgrade has been unlocked! There are a number of upgrades to be constructed, and a number of unlocks to be uncovered!]

[All Rest Areas share the same pocket universe! Any upgrades or unlocks constructed within a Rest Area in one Dungeon will appear in all other Rest Areas in all other Dungeons, as they are all technically the same Rest Area!]

Naruto blinked. "All in the same pocket universe?" He asked aloud, to which Blake and Ilia both looked to him for some kind of explanation.

He didn't even bother with a brief summary, seeing as how he barely understood it, instead reading word for word the notification to the two of them.

Ilia seemed pretty lost, but Blake seemed to grasp the basics. "So, you can upgrade this place?"

Naruto shrugged. "Seems like it? I don't actually have any of the materials to do that, though, considering…" He trailed off, peering at the semi-used fire-pit. "This wants Gneiss Chunks, and I don't have any of those."

He looked around. "There's a few other spots, too. A spot for what looks like two beds, a spot for a bookcase, these benches can be repaired. Stuff like that."

"Does it matter right now?" Ilia asked impatiently.

Naruto shook his head. "No, it doesn't. Maybe if I had the materials, but I don't. Let's keep going."

The final floor lay ahead of them. The final door he'd have to open.

He grabbed the handle and swung it open.