It had been three days.
Three long, crawling days, with seventeen courtyards conquered. And the worst part? Each of the courtyards had been designed to be harder to beat than the previous one. Either that or the Deep was ramping up the difficulty by itself.
Not to mention that the courtyards were not the only things they had to face. The red snakes had also given them a lot of trouble, but fortunately, they'd disappeared on the second day.
Every battle they had, every trap they faced, and every puzzle they solved had chipped away slowly at their strength and morale.
At this point, they were like zombies. Exhausted, sore, and held together by sheer fucking will.
Over the last three days, sleep had been rare, stolen in shifts and scraps. They couldn't afford rest. Not when the ceiling above continued grinding slowly down to them. It was like a hammer of judgement, descending with an inevitable weight they couldn't escape.
