Banda crouched in his meditative pose, deep in thought. Projecting the consciousness was just the Sense technique. Preforming it was simple enough. Attuning his with Eres’ was difficult.

  They needed to synchronize the ripples and waves of their Aura Sense with each other perfectly. He had never paid attention to such minute details, but it turned out that each Sense was distinct.

  There was a natural flow to his and to hers, which needed to be molded into single current. It was not as simple as joining two rivers. An Aura Sense was a cluster of rivers and lakes, each twisting and turning with no rhyme nor reason.

  In truth, it was impossible to perfectly imitate each other. The most they could do was find a temporary balance. A balance that bore greater risk of unravelling with every passing moment.

  But the effects were just as great. Together their Sense extended further and strengthened more than the sum of each. Sweat ran down Banda’s face as their Sense unity strained against its limits, and fell apart.

  Even with devoting most of their focus to it, they had only just become able to barely maintain it for half a minute. And it had taken them three days just to achieve this much.

  They’d gone without sleep and absorbed as many crystals as their Spirits would allow to replenish their aura. The limited time they had aside, neither wished to lower their guard against a Rank 2 mid-grade monster, no matter how reasonable it may seem.

  “To attack with intent is the equivalent of casting a cluster of raw mana.” The hobgoblin spoke, repeating things he had said before as he had done constantly over the course of their stay. “An advanced technique. Too advanced. Herbs are needed.”

  “It is time.” The Hobgoblin spoke, and the pair opened their eyes.

  It pulled up more herbs from its robes and scattered them around. Carelessly, it seemed at a glance, but the leaves fell in organized and equal clusters.

  The hobgoblin pulled out two glossy stones and struck them together. The sparks that rained down grew into small embers on the piles of herbs and colored fumes filled the cave.

  Banda didn’t sense any danger from the fumes. He signalled to Eres and they settled into a focus.

  It was strange, this so called trance. Different from the one he knew. Banda felt himself falling deeper into his subconscious as though he were drifting off endlessly, lingering between the state of sleep and wakefulness.

  Banda saw himself, almost as if he was separate from his own body. Then he saw the hazy outline of another. Eres’, he could tell in an instant, having interacted were hers so often these past few days.

  He attuned his conscious and reached out his hand, as she did hers. And the two swirled into a blazing force with its sights set on the boulder entrance.

  As they soared towards it, they were met by a stubborn, oppressive force blocking their way. The hobgoblin had given them no other instruction but to attack, and that is what they did.

  Their consciousness clashed with the intent. Fighting in this manner was not as it was with his body. It was a battle of pure wills. Resolve and desire.

  They intensified their focus in unison and struck at the intent again and again. With each blow, it shrunk back more and more. Its power steadily diminished until it was pushed down into the hard earth.

  Focus strained on the hobgoblin’s face as it let out a forceful sound. The cave trembled again with violent rumbles, and the boulder sunk beneath the ground.

  “The cure.” Eres said, the moment they opened their eyes.

  “Patience, patience. The day is not done.” The hobgoblin hummed. “Once I get the treasure, only then. Bargains must be upheld.”

  It walked towards the second tunnel slowly. Banda gave Eres another look, but her only answer was to quietly trail after. Banda frowned and followed as well.

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  The pathway they had opened wasn’t much longer than the first, and they soon came to a small cavern. It would have been as unremarkable as the cave they just left were it not for the opening overhead, from which a brilliant moon shone down clearly within a starless sky.

  Banda thought little of it at first, but then he remembered that the sky here was always cloudy outside of the town’s sanctuary. A trick. Of what kind, he did not know. He glanced over at Eres, who showed keen interest in the moon, but also seemed to be searching for something else.

  “...Why have you entered this tomb?” A deep voice echoed throughout the cavern Its presence was the same as the intent they had suppressed in the cave.

  The duo snapped alert, and even the hobgoblin seemed surprised.

  “The intent outside must have only been the surface.” He grimaced. “This is the true intent.”

  “Why have you entered this tomb?” The voice asked again.

  Banda glanced at Eres, and she glanced at the hobgoblin, who felt compelled to speak up under their pressure.

  “...this cave has long caught my interest.” It spoke. “I wanted to see what lied within.”

  “It is merely the resting grounds of one fallen long ago… Barren of that which you desire… Turn back.”

  The hobgoblin frowned. “I… have dedicated a long time to reaching this place. Too long to turn back so soon.”

  “...I will reward you for your troubles… I will grant the last of my power… But only to one…”

  A flicker of interest showed on Banda’s face, but Eres’ eyes steeled over. “How will you decide?” She asked, in a neutral tone.

  “Choose among yourselves…”

  The hobgoblin’s face tightened in thought at the voice’s words, but it did not act.

  “So unconcerned, considering this is the last of your power you kept sealed away so fiercely.” A mocking smile spread across Eres’ face. “If you wanted to trick us into killing each other, you shouldn’t have acted so indifferently.”

  The intent raged out, abandoning its shallow facade in an instant. The storm of intent rose with the howling winds that swirled through the cavern unnaturally, and seeped into the earth.

  A skeletal hand pierced through the ground and pulled the rest of itself up. A skeleton in tattered armor stood before them, wielding a jagged broadsword. Emanations of a peak Rank 2 monster surged out, with far denser mana than any they had encountered so far.

  Moonlight drained from the sky above, and filled its bones with a glowing white aura, as two dull red lights swirled within the pitch black sockets of its eyes.

  “I gave you a chance…” The wight’s words bled with hateful vindication.

  It burst towards Eres faster than any of them could react to and cleaved down its sword. Eres did not even have the time to blink, but her thoughts moved just fast enough to conjure her shield in front.

  The broadsword dug into the shield with enough force to slam it into the ground, but the shield held. Banda struck fiercely with iron claws but the wight easily blocked it with the flat of its blade and flung him back crashing into the cavern wall with a flourish.

  It was strong. Too strong. Three times greater than him even in the base of Feral Form with the now two-and-a-half fold boost of Harness.

  The wight turned its chilling gaze to Eres once more, and Banda turned monstrous without hesitation. He stole the wight’s hostility with a frenzied assaulted, but his blows struck only the blade. Even surpassing his limits, he was weaker.

  “Fight with us if you don’t want to die!” Eres yelled at the hobgoblin.

  The hobgoblin hesitated, but only for a moment. It scattered a handful of seeds over the hard ground and splashed a wooden vial of liquid. The seeds sunk into the earth, and giant roots bloomed.

  The roots sprawled towards the wight, ensnaring it while it was distracted against Banda. But with sheer strength, it ripped them out and slashed them away. Its sword flickered, a deflecting the stone Banda threw, as Eres’ giant spear thrust out. Her avatar now conjured whole.

  It leaned away, but the flaming tip of the spear chipped into a bone of its shoulder, and it darted back in a blur. The wight held that small distance, its wariness obvious against the fire.

  The duo switched tactics without talking. Banda rushed into the vanguard, trying to create openings against this overwhelming enemy for Eres to exploit. But the wight kept vigilant against her spear.

  Hardened roots crawled towards it again and the wight readied to cut them down. But the hobgoblin yelled with a surge of mana, and the roots shot out like lances, impaling through the wight’s armor.

  The roots did no damage, but they stunted its movements for a moment, and the duo took advantage. The wight allowed Banda to shatter its left arm as it guarded fully against the giant spear. But at the same time, golden flames blasted from Eres’ palm.

  The wight smashed against the back of the cavern. Fragments of its charred bones crumbled off, and the white luster of its bones diminished greatly.

  They charged again, but the wight’s sword surged with radiant moonlight and it slashed out a blade of light. Banda ducked under it, and Eres’ shield was already protecting her, but the blade cut clean through the hobgoblin’s wall of roots and deep into its chest.

  Dark green blood gushed from the hobgoblin’s wound. It dropped to knee as weakness started to lay claim to the creature’s life. And Moonlight surged again.