The fear I felt from that rift monster was the main driving force pushing me onward.

  The memory of that abomination was all the motivation I needed to keep moving.

  The way it had smiled through a recording, knowing I was watching it in the future, was terrifying. If it could do that, it may very well be able to track me across dimensions without needing a rift.

  I shook my head, attempting to clear away those useless thoughts. Worrying about something I couldn’t control was pointless.

  Finally, I reached the end of the corridor, and the staircase just up ahead.

  I didn’t encounter anything else on my ascent, but the stairs abruptly ended between the 4th and 3rd floors, as if matter had just ceased to exist in a wide sphere.

  Luckily, there were some pieces of rebar jutting out of the wall where the stairs had fallen apart. Enough for me to use as hand-holds at least.

  I took a step back to get a running start, leaping up along the wall and latching my gloved hands around the metal rods, my tail flicking around for balance. I pulled myself up with a bit of effort, using the remains of an old ventilation duct as a makeshift ladder, taking a breath once I reached the top.

  If my [Needle Strike] lasted longer, I might have been able to create my own set of footholds to use, but I was pressed for time, and didn’t want to experiment right now.

  I really needed to expand my spell list, but I could work on that when I got back home.

  It would be nice to breathe in air that didn’t taste like rust and death.

  Upon reaching the 1st floor, I noticed footprints scattered through the dust and debris. Fresh footprints.

  I took a moment to catch my breath while I studied the tracks.

  It looked like there were four sets. Their size and spacing matched with Myra and her team. But if they had reached the stairs, why hadn’t they come looking for me? Did they think I’d died?

  A frown tugged at my lips.

  Were they just planning on leaving without checking?

  Following the tracks, they eventually led to a sealed emergency exit at the top of the stairs, the lines scraped through the dust showing that it had been opened and closed as they passed through.

  After a quick check to make sure it wasn’t trapped in some way, I pulled it open, revealing a small mechanic shop, complete with an old, rusted vehicle raised off the floor.

  I quickly scanned the room for hostiles, confirming it was all clear before shutting the door behind me. It pushed almost seamlessly into the wall.

  Without my enhanced eyes, I wouldn’t have been able to notice it was there.

  Relief flooded through me as I put my back against the door and slid to the floor.

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  I was out at last.

  Not completely safe, but at least I wasn’t confined to the claustrophobic hallways anymore.

  After catching my breath, I took out my shard. But for some reason, I still didn’t have a signal.

  “Yeah, figures.” I sighed, tucking away my shard and standing. “I guess I’ll just have to make it back on my own.”

  Carefully dodging loose tools and parts, I moved to what I assumed to be the exit, and slowly pressed against the door. It gave way easily with a subtle squeak of unused hinges, revealing another abandoned street.

  I didn’t have anyone to guide me this time, but it wasn’t hard to move in the general direction thanks to the massive skyscrapers. The main issue would be finding the tunnel itself.

  Standing around wasn’t doing me any good though, so I began to move, sticking to the shadows and avoiding open spaces if I could avoid it.

  But soon, I ran into a problem.

  A corrupted rift had torn a hole in reality in the center of the street I was using, the monsters it spat out completely cutting me off from my chosen path.

  Just as I was about to turn around, I felt that familiar tug of mana. I quickly ducked back into the shadows, casting my gaze towards the source.

  A second non-corrupted rift opened less than one-hundred feet from my hiding place, and to my surprise, four figures stepped out, each holding a different set of gear.

  They looked like the Dragonkin of the Agency Valerie had described at the Restaurant.

  Upright, wingless dragons slightly taller than your average human.

  “Really?” One scoffed when they saw the rift, a younger woman, if my guess was correct. “They called us out here for that?”

  “Pfff, can’t be more than a level 40.” One of the more heavily armored men agreed, popping a mint into his sharp, powerful jaws and chumping down. “Should be an easy shift at least.”

  “Regardless,” the tall, skinny one spoke up, appearing to be their leader. “We should take this seriously. There have been reports of unusual activity near the city center. Squad Six has already been sent to investigate. Could be looking at trouble in the future if those greedy bastards tried to get in again.”

  The last one, slightly shorter than the rest, just nodded silently, carefully studying their surroundings.

  [Friendly Network Detect]

  [Friendlies Identified As Rift Extermination Squad Seven]

  [Would You Like To Establish Connection With Their Network?]

  [Yes] [No]

  NO! I quickly denied, slight panic creeping up my spine as a terrifying thought crossed my mind.

  What if they got the same message?

  I needed to get out of here before they noticed me!

  I carefully made my escape in the other direction, keeping an eye on the Dragonkin’s movements.

  I had a brief scare when the quiet one glanced in my direction for a split second, but thankfully, they seemed to be focused on the corrupted rift, and showed no signs of noticing me as I retreated into the darkness.

  ———

  It took a lot longer to go around, but I wasn’t going to take any risks when it came to the Agency. I didn’t know enough about their motives to chance an encounter.

  Especially since I had their tech in my body, and I wasn’t too keen on them discovering that fact.

  Flickering lights filtered down around me as I finally reached a street I recognized. From there, it was fairly easy to retrace our steps back to the underground entrance.

  “Still no signal.” I muttered, checking my shard again before I climbed back down into another dark hole. I’d been checking for a signal every so often, but for whatever reason, the shard still wasn’t picking anything up.

  Maybe it was broken from the fall?

  Well, nothing I could do about it right now, anyway. I knew I was just stalling for time while I worked up the nerve to go back into the creepy tunnels.

  Taking a breath and holding for just a moment, I dropped down, lifted the heavy lid, and prepared myself for the long trek back.

  Hopefully nothing else had decided to take up residence after we killed the Darkstalker.

  My left hand closed around the metal rungs as I lowered myself down into the opening. I kept my right hand ready to cast in case anything else was hiding down here, lying in wait for a juicy morsel of flesh to pass by unaware.

  With my free hand holding my flashlight, I carefully made my way down the tunnel, keeping an ear out for any unusual sounds as the walls closed in around me.

  It wasn’t any easier now that I knew just what the corrupted rifts were hiding.