"And...a perfect 10/10 landing!" - Bloom
"Mhm, I'd give it a 7." - Garami
"No, 6. Since she has wings, she should have performed better than those without flight capabilities." - Percel
"How merciless are you two!?" - Bloom
Never change, Bloom. You're an oasis to this poor heart dried up after having encountered incident after incident. Still, this place here takes the cake, at least for today.
"So tell me, Percy. Why is there a sci-fi tunnel underneath the park?" - Garami
"Sci-what now?" - Percel
Ouch. It seems my fellow Migrants haven't brought enough culture to this planet. By the way, I'm not in the wrong calling this place "sci-fi", because this place rocks the futuristic look better than the Black Baron's vacation home.
After Percel's crew and I finished sharing information, the big guy sent his crew of five knights (and six raptor rides) to look for Mira and Alf where I last saw them. I had ordered the two Ghosts I sent out earlier to rendezvous with them and lead them to the crime scene. Meanwhile, Percel had me come along for some spelunking.
Underneath a cellar in an abandoned building, Percel introduced me to a secret entrance to the "first underground level of the Grey Park", as he calls this place. If I had to describe this tunnel with just two words, I'd be forced to say "server room". There are a lot of technological gizmos and lights on the walls and ceiling of this manmade tunnel, enough to make one doubt if this came from the same technological civilization as the rest of the planet. I bet the guard room was connected to this place's electricity network before it went boom.
"Nevermind. Now, back to those diamonds you mentioned." - Garami
"They should be further down this subterranean road. The Church of Chaos is using them as components to create magical catalysts, artifacts, and other items that their vile cult can use to spread their misguided faith." - Percel
"Aaaaand that's a bad thing." - Garami
The "Church of Chaos" is a wacky group that worships the Ultimate God of Chaos, the same guy responsible for monsters, Dungeons, and Feral creatures tormenting the rest of the world. Why anyone would give him their prayers is beyond me, though it could be worse—like worshipping a certain Darkness Goddess.
"Where and how did you sniff this juicy adventure out?" - Garami
"It was both easy and difficult to find out. The Church has been quite active lately, using different Werecreatures to attack settlements across the desert. Their reasons why is not within my reach, nor do I think anyone would understand them anyway." - Percel
Werecreatures, ey? I know a certain mayor living close to an oasis that might wanna hear about this... Or, maybe not. Those guys could end up dead if they tried messing with such a messed-up cult.
"So they left behind a lot of clues which you guys followed to this secret factory of magical diamond-studded doohickies?" - Garami
"In short, yes, you are correct. They weren't exactly trying to be 'subtle' about it. The part locating this secret diamond mine was the toughest nut to crack." - Percel
I find that hard to believe. They sound like pretty common "nutjobs" to me.
"Though to be honest, what confused us the most was the barrier placed around the facility." - Percel
"The anti-demon one? Speaking of which, how am I supposed to pass it?" - Garami
"Oh, did I fail to tell you? The barrier cannot reach these underground tunnels." - Percel
"For real!?" - Garami
Wait, we should be getting close to the "city limit" by now. One step, two steps...ten steps...
"Bloom! What does the map say?" - Garami
"Yes, ma'am! We have successfully infiltrated the inner sanctum!" - Bloom
Bloom replied while giving a salute to no one special. She's good at going with the mood~. As for me, I'm feeling a little embarrassed over not having thought about walking underneath the bump-inducing dome. While we're not exactly rich in barrier experts in our party, it was foolish of us to not think of this option.
"Haha! Take that, Chaos Church!" - Garami
"Sorry to spoil your fun, but I doubt this wall in your path was made by them," said Percel while walking past Bloom and I who was currently busy in our small celebration party. I ran up to him and continued our conversation as we strolled on deeper into the darkness. I wonder how he deals with it. Does that knight helmet he's wearing have night vision goggles installed?
"Huh? On what account?" - Garami
"On the account that the Chaos Church's HQ is located in the demon country of Solomar." - Percel
Geh!? Solomar!? That's the home of that demon king Filyn wanna squash! Ugh, so do I have to go and eliminate the Church guys hiding in the park? What a pain. Plus, how can I excuse myself to this Lawful Good guy and go and do a little massacre? Not that I think it will be that easy either. That wolfie with the plants in Oasis Town was tough enough on its own, so I'm scared of what its potential "parents" can do.
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.
"Okay, setting up anti-demon walls ain't the best M.O. for a cult renting land in demon town, got it. And I guess it's safe to say you guys aren't the culprit for the damage to my poor head?" - Garami
"Sheesh. Grudging much?" - Bloom
"Zip it!" - Garami
"Ahahaha. No, thankfully, we are not the bad guys here," said Percel while unsuccessfully trying to hide his laughter from seeing Bloom and me quarrel. Rude much? "We do have an idea of who they are, but that is not important right now."
"It is to my poor skull!" - Garami
"Get your revenge at a later date, because the culprits have already fled the scene. There is no one here left except us, your party, the Chaos Church disciples, and the remains of the 'true culprits' magecraft." - Percel
"...Tch. Just leaving town without cleaning up your barrier? What lowlives." - Garami
"*Sigh*. If it had just been the barrier..." said Percel while looking up in the air..., er, up at the ceiling with a sigh.
"Please don't tell me there's something else nasty down here." - Garami
"Not down here, at least. I will tell you on the way. Let's pick up the pace." - Percel
"You know where we can find Alf?" - Bloom
"Not exactly. But if he is as clever as the rumors go, he will wander to the same location we came across during our trips down here." - Percel
...That's vague. Though less talking and more running. I wanna see more of this sci-fi place. Damn, I should have thought about adding undead horsies to my Necromancy summons. My legs are gonna kill me after this adventure.
---
Mira's PoV:
"HEY! You coldhearted, crude, creepy, childish crustacean! Come and get it!" - Mira
The giant diamond lobster was too busy acting like a bad dancing drunk to notice me, which was good when I was preparing my trap, but now that it's ready, you should pay more attention to the trapper acting as bait! How rude!
The rum from before did a big number on our big shiny friend down there. I think I could have located the treasure and fled this field without problems if I hadn't been so busy preparing this deathtrap. Whoever had the bright idea of making a boss monster weak to alcohol in a literal harbor of rum should... Whoops. Almost spoiled the surprise there~.
"Start listing to me, you big jerk!" - Mira
I vented my frustration at the nearest lamp post, causing it to come crashing down on one of the other posts I had "tempered with" while the lobster was busy doing its dance routine. That was enough to start a domino effect, causing the poles to come crashing down until they reached the one closest to the diamond lobster and made it smack the big guy right on its head...oooor, on its eyes. Details, schmetails.
"*Angry diamond lobster noises*!!!!" - Deca Diamondeater Doomship
"Okay, that would get your attention alright!" I said, forgetting it could not possibly understand me in my panic. I mean, the lobster turned into a giant walking pink diamond from pure anger! I thought you needed to boil those to make that happen. The lobster part, not the diamonds. I'm not that out of touch with jewelry.
Still, even if it had unexpected bad anger management abilities, I caught the lobster's attention. With a color scheme only Noire would love, it came charging towards me like a Bloodrush Bull...which made me doubt whether this was a good idea at all. Argh, no stepbacks now, Mira! But you better do a side-step!
And that I did. Using the [Flash Step] skill just to be safe. A high increase in speed, even if it's just for a single "movement's" worth, was just what I needed here.
Having missed me, the lobster, still quite drunk after its last bar visit, couldn't get itself to stop before going headfirst into the building I had stood in front of while doing all of this. It was also one of the buildings where I had the privilege of cutting the support beams halfway to make the whole thing a lot easier to break. Pirates aren't the best constructors out there.
One dust cloud later and the lobster was half buried in the rubble. Geez, one house's worth isn't enough to conceal this thing? And it wasn't enough to keep it down either. Standing up from the debris, accompanied by rivers of rum from the barrels stored in the former building, the diamond lobster looked at me with murder in its eyes.
"Hey, you can't blame me for you driving while drunk~." - Mira
I taunted the guy a little before turning around and running to the next rum storage I had done my handiwork on before starting this operation. The lobster did as I predicted and launched another one of its crab punches when I paused in front of the sabotaged building. A crash and a splash later and the lobster's gotten another serving of highly alcoholic beverages. Two more houses later the lobster was starting to look shabby on its many legs.
"Aww, is the pirate wannabe not able to take a few gallons of drinks~?" - Mira
This time, I didn't have any particular need to taunt the monster, but it's been bugging me for so long, so give me some slack. I had a few more houses prepared, luckily none of them were exactly stone solid, but the big bad lobster seems to have gotten his fill from just three. To finish the job, I created a phantom sword before covering it with the effect of one of the skills I obtained after the whole gig on Iron Isle: [Lightning Edge].
Seeing the blade fully charged, I threw it at the rum-soaked wooden boat on the lobster's back before running taking a sharp turn around the corner of one of the buildings and getting the hell outta here. The lightning-infused sword hit the sip and caused sparks to fly. And do I need to remind people what happened to wood that's deeply infused with burnable, alcoholic liquids?
So yeah. I managed to get the lobster "fired" in the most literal way possible. It started to run around in panic and pain, crushing more houses while doing so. That caused it to be drenched in more rum, which was adding fuel to the fire. Literally, yet again. Not a smart idea.
"Hmm, I'm starting to want a seafood barbeque." - Mira
I ran a good few neighborhoods away before turning around and seeing my work, but the heat can be felt from even here. And it's turned into a splendid city fire. A very gigantic one. All the stored rum across town isn't helping either...
"Craaap... Is the treasure safe?" - Mira
Who can blame me for worrying? The fire here's almost as bad as what a Fire Dragon's breath could perform! Not that I've ever seen one for myself. Dragons aren't exactly commonplace in either Solomar or Velantas.
"A...ahahaha... WAIT! Now I remember! That Torturalte guy, wasn't he one obnoxious guy?" - Mira
Uhm, I think the stories about him were something about him being one nasty piece of pirate work who stole from the rich in different countries and used them to make a glamorous home for himself...was it? Yeah, now I'm starting to remember...
Torturalte, a pirate who could easily call himself a "pirate king" and not get his teeth knocked out by his colleagues, stole the riches from people aboard and gathered them in his luxurious mansion. However, his vanity and greed prevented him from sharing with his crew, so they asked adventurers for help to overthrow Torturalte and steal back his loot. My dad told me these stories to teach me never to grow up like Torturalte and to treat my friends and allies with respect...
"For some reason, I'm not so worried about this pirate king having stored his shinies downtown anymore." - Mira
The town, outside the harbor area, is mostly built on an upwardgoing hill. And on top of that hill is...
"Yuck. How did I manage to miss something that eye-catching?" - Mira
Leaving behind the diamond lobster to crash and burn the downtown area, I climbed up to the giant golden mansion that sported a giant pirate flag on top of the roof. Note to self: trust Daddy's bedtime stories and never turn into someone with this much bad taste.