'It looks simir to the smoke above the Tainted Wasetnd ba Wolford. Do you think that's the case here?' Nyx asked as they tinued watg the violet-crimson fog in the distance.

  With all the buildings around them and some rown trees hiding the path towards London, they must have missed it. However, now that they had cimed the roof of one of the rger ruins in the area, the smoke finally revealed itself.

  Leo shook his head. "The color and iy are pletely wrong. The fog from the Tainted Wastend was thick as hell, and you barely see this one... No, something else is at py here. Well, that or this is some new Westnd type."

  'So that's our arget for today?'

  "Yeah," he nodded, returning his gaze to the river. "Nothing really ges. We were going there anyway. And who knows, maybe this is the reason why the Thames is dry. Let's go; we will stick close to the shore. At least there are no Voidlings down the..."

  Just as he almost finished speaking, words died in his mouth when he spotted movement down in the river el. He squinted, eyes widening a bit as a familiar round mouth full of sharp teeth dug out of the ground.

  "A Rock Eater? Here?" Leo mumbled, still in part disbelief.

  To his knowledge, apart from the subway system, London didn't have any underground. So why was a Rock Eater here?

  This is not even Londo, and I already have more questions than answers. He sighed, jumping on the hree and sliding to the ground. I fear for my Ether if this goes on. We need more information.

  'Are you gonna call the mert now?' Nyx asked, finally joining his side.

  Not yet. I will leave that for the night. First, let's get to London and find out what's going on. Maybe the System will be niough to expin some stuff once we get there. Though I doubt it for some reason.

  'Got it.'

  Thanks to a small 'green' area between London and Dartford, the beginning of their trip was quite calm. Apart from a few stragglers, nothing even came close to them. The real challenge appeared only when the capital's outskirts came into sight.

  Wherever Leo looked, Voidlings were there, and this time, he could barely spot any that hadn't evolved yet. Hell, in this short distance, even their average level raised slightly.

  heless, along with Nyx, he cimed the roof in the area and used the vast Vetilim juo sneak above the army of monsters. Not that it always helped, as unlike in Wolford, here, flying-type Voidlings were almost everywhere. Stealth could only do so much, and so oftentimes, he had to fight back or travel through the ruins to lose his tail.

  This is getting really annoying. Leo growled, sending another volley of shadow arrows at a group of Harpies. This time, the monsters didn't get a ce to dodge ao the ground with a squawk.

  'Look at this from the positive side,' Nyx sniggered as she took care of anroup. 'With all that practice, we're getting good at this. My aim has never beeer.'

  Mioo, but still. Where is their self-preservation? He almost screamed, leaning away from a Harpy that dived at him.

  He quickly snatched the beast by its ned pou into the roof. The monsters screeched but didn't get time to do much more as a foot desded upon its head, crushing it like a melon.

  Fug birds. Leo g the sky and scowled at approag Spitfires in the distance. Yeah, no. e on, Nyx. No stopping this time, just run. We will never get there if we try to kill them all.

  Yet, despite saying that, he khey were getting closer and closer. The pressure weighing down his shoulders already got a bit stronger, and the fog in the distance was much easier to see now. However, now that the visibility had improved, he also noticed aroubling fact.

  Somehow, the crimson-violet smoke stretched farther than his eyes could see. And sidering his Vision attribute, his sense of sight was nothing to scoff at.

  At least now, I'm pretty sure it's ing from the Thames, or at least near it.

  With that thought in mind, Leo pushed his body to run even faster. They were getting close now, and hopefully, soon, the System could shine some light on what was happening around these parts.

  For an hour, maybe more, the Prime and Apex ran close to the Thames' shore, always using the rooftops to avoid most of the hordes below. Yet even with the ability to e Voidlings, their bodies slowly tired, their movement slowly growing sluggish. Even with the ret growth they went through, they still had a limit.

  However, all of that didn't matter in the face of what they discovered ohey got close to the old Thames Barrier. Or rather what was left of it and the river.

  Warning! You are nearing the London Supercluster. Threat asserted and ra D. Good Luo information is avaible about this particur instance.

  The notificatio fshing in his vision, but Leo paid it no attention. Just as with his initial discovery about the Thames, this time too, he couldn't pull his eyes away from the sery in the distance.

  You know what, Nyx? I will never pin again about having it tough in Wolford. And if I do, please give me a good sp...

  The feline remained silent, and he even couldn't bme her. After all, who could have anticipated that instead of the Thames River, they would enter a trench stretg for kilometers?

  Not me...

  The anomaly was wider than the river and so deep that Leo couldn't see its bottom from this ao make matters worse, every surface of the trench was posed of a mixture of Vetilim, Corcera, and some glowing rock that released smoke into the air.

  All of that cast an eerie darkness over the area, which, bined with the stant pressure, could scare anyone away. The Voidlings stantly climbing out of the trench or flying above it also didn't make the situation aer.

  Time to retreat. Leo nudged his panion. I know this is a lot, but we o get going. The Sun is getting close to the horizon.

  'But your... What if...'

  He let out a heavy sigh, momentarily closing his eyes. Trust me, I want to go to, but we 't. If Lily has survived this long, she wait one more day.

  The feline bowed her head. 'I'm sorry, Leo.'

  He winced, averting his eyes. Don't be. Maybe I shouldn't, but I still believe... e, let's find a pce to rest for the night.

  In the underground subways of London, Leo dropped on the floor of a freshly barricaded bathroom. o him, Nyx already id on her side, eyes closed and ready for rest.

  'Will you call him now?' She asked.

  He nodded, summoning the transmitter into his hand. With a click of a button, the menu ignited, and he quickly selected the only ta his list. Just like a normal pho rang ohen twice before someone picked up oher side.

  "Young Akirian?" Naz'Tor's voice came from the device. "I didn't expect a call so fast, but I'm happy heless. How I help you?"

  "You said you have an idea what's going on in London," Leo reminded. "Well, the System calls it a Supercluster. It's a deep trench that goes on farther than I see."

  "Ah," the mert sighed. "I was right then. Tell me first, what's the rank of this instance?"

  "D."

  "Could have been worse then," Naz'Tor murmured. "Alright. For the price of two thousaher, I expin what a Supercluster is and how to deal with it. You pay me after I finish."

  Leo frowned. "You trust me to not screw you over?"

  "Yes."

  Iing. He noted. Not that he ever po scam the mert, but still. "I will take the deal then."

  "Excellent... Now, Superclusters. As the name suggests, those instances are clusters of the worst the Void offer. Multiple s, Tainted Wastends, rifts, nightmare factories, Void Gates. You , and it be there. They appear anywhere, be it inside a mountain, forest, city, or even in the middle of nowhere as long as the area is rich with Essence."

  After a short pause, Naz'Tor tinued. "Voidlings from within are usually about twenty to thirty pert strohan those from the surroundings. Not much, I know, but if you sider that all of this applies to Nightmares a Guardians, it bee quite the problem."

  "What about this one? Have you ever heard or seen a simir one?" Leo cut in.

  "Many times," the mert admitted. "D-ranked Superclusters, while dangerous, are not the end of the world. At most, they have a few s, a single Nightmare factory, maybe a Tainted Wastend, and a bunch of Void Gates. Not a big issue if dealt with correctly."

  "Not a big issue?" Leo scoffed. "It certainly sounds like oo me."

  Naz'Tor chuckled. "Oh, trust me. In parison to some of the stuff you will enter in the Void, this is nothing. Take Divarkh for example, it's a phat became a Supercluster. To this day, denizens of the Void have to stantly defend against its never-ending waves of enhanced Voidlings. Many tried to end it, yet none succeeded."

  The whole p? Eyes wide, he found no way how to reply to that.

  "But enough about that," the mert excimed, his tone ging within a sed. "I'm sure you're more ied about ways to deal with those things. Which, I will admit, isn't easy at all..."

  Chaos65