“What a shame. Didn’t think that gal would stay with them.” Lavenna commented as their group waited in the lobby for the others to pass through first. A head start may have been advantageous, but it was not something to be overly concerned about.

“‘Gal’?” Avali shot a questioning look at the fox.

“Just another word for ‘girl’.” Lavenna clarified, giving a few light pats to the Arakian’s head until her hand was slapped away.

“Perhaps she’s loyal to that nobleman.” June suggested, also curious.

“Or maybe it’s a little more…ominous than that.” The Kitsune smiled, but it did not reach her eyes. “Anywho, maybe we’ll meet them in the depths. Who knows?”

Minutes passed before they were the only group remaining in the room. Stepping forth, they entered the blue doorway and into a hallway illuminated by cool blue lights. The doors hissed shut behind them soon after, the echo rebounding off the featureless concrete wall, accompanied by the sound of their own footsteps.

Lavenna taking the lead, the four eventually arrived at a rather peculiar sight. Instead of a door as one would expect, the end of the corridor was a swirling vortex of pale energy that took up the entire wall.

Exchanging looks, the four walked on through.

“Ohhhhhhh, you’ve gotta be shitting me.” These were the first words to come out of the Kitsune’s mouth as she witnessed what awaited on the other side. Equal amounts of regret and disgust filled her heart as she covered her mouth and nose, suppressing the urge to puke.

Taking up the rear and being the last to come through, Zexus naturally took an extra few seconds to adjust to the sight.

“This is…” His gaze shifted to the sides, noting the barren walls of grey and the disturbing entities that protruded from them.

Within the high-ceiling room, dim flashing lights shone down upon shelves of rusted metal holding containers of all shapes and sizes. They filled up the empty spaces, lining the walls whilst boxes and canisters littered the cracked floor. Joining these miscellaneous items were the handful of cylindrical masses of flesh with flat ends stuck out from the concrete. Some were as long as three metres, while the shortest was a mere head’s length but nonetheless revolting in its appearance. Regardless of size, all of them swayed back and forth, side to side as if following the changes of the imaginary wind.

“Ugh. Ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew!” Lavenna thought, the first sparks of her spiritfire appearing around her wildly thrashing tails. “I’m gonna burn all this. Any objections?”

“Please go ahead.” Avali gestured, covering her own nose as she caught a whiff of the stench of decay.

“Hold on a second.” Zexus interjected, picking up a pebble on the ground. Targeting the nearest mass of red, he gently threw the small stone. It bounced off harmessly, the strange organism unreactive.

Seeing this, her Bonded would take yet another piece of rock, this one the size of his fist. Then, steadying his footing, he pulled his arm back and tossed it hard. It was far from his best, but still leagues better than the average man, courtesy of his unique constitution of muscles.

Cutting through the wind as quickly as an arrow, the stone found its mark upon the appendage’s bulbous centre. Blood spewed out like a fountain as the projectile punched clean through, tearing apart the pulsing veins and causing the organism to emit an ear-piercing screech.

“Holy shit.” Lavenna covered her fox ears whilst another pair of hands covered her human ears. It was times like these she wished she only had the one set, and much less sensitive hearing.

Gritting her teeth through the noise, no less than two minutes passed before the creature ceased, its form now pale and wrinkled like an empty leather sack. A pool of viscous blood gathered around the shrivelled corpse, sinking into the cracked earth below.

Blinking blankly, the Kitsune stared at the gruesome scene before her, not that the remains of bones, rusted metals and other miscellaneous objects had not already made it so long before the death of the giant…leech.

As the group gathered their wits, many of them exhaled, relieved that the horrific throes of pain were finally over.

“Well that was certainly…something. Felt like I was sent to the Abyss.” June shook her head, shaken by the ordeal as she sat against the back wall that was thankfully free from any corruption. On the other hand, the portal they had come through had disappeared, the whirlpool of concentrated mana vanished into thin air as if it had never existed.

“For all we know, this is the Abyss.” Avali sighed, still cringing. “This program is so fucked up…”

“Thinking about quitting?” The mage asked with a knowing smile.

“Not on your life.” The Arakian retorted, recovering some of her stoicism.

“Four more to go. Go ahead and burn them when you’re ready.” Zexus stated, seemingly unfazed unlike the others.

Lavenna could not help but feel concerned for him however. Strong as he may be, mentally and physically, his senses were still delicate. While she may have wanted to protect her own sense of hearing, she did not want it to be at his expense. Thus, her magenta orbs stared at his ears for a long moment, ignoring his words as she was too afraid that blood would come spilling out at any given moment.

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

“...”

“What were you trying to test?” Avali asked, her arms crossed. Her expression remained aloof, but there was a glint of curiosity in her judging gaze. Having been with them for a week, the Arakian was used to the man’s habit of testing the unknown.

“For the most part, I wanted to know the creature’s abilities. To see if it reacts to foreign objects in its surroundings, and whether or not it has any defensive mechanisms.” Zexus answered, gesturing to the remaining wall leeches. “Besides that, given their strange appearances, there was also the possibility of the creature being connected to a bigger organism. That screaming could be an alarm of sorts.”

“Is that theory off the table now?” June questioned, massaging her temple.

“Not completely. Just because that one died and nothing came at us doesn’t mean it’ll be the same for the others.” Lavenna said, her tone even in spite of the guilt in her heart and her ears still ringing. “Either way, it doesn’t change what we have to do here.”

“Right. Delving basics 101.” The mage smiled. “Secure a base of operations before going off on any adventures.”

“Yup. Plus we’re trapped here for a whole day, five if we want to ‘maximise our gains’. I’d rather not look at those slug things throughout our entire stay.” The Kitsune added, a ball of blue fire igniting to life when she clicked her fingers. She looked at Zexus, who simply nodded. “Everyone ready?”

“Just do it.” Avali said, hands on her ears and already bracing herself. The girl was quick if nothing else.

“Alright. Here goes…”

Channelling the warm mana stored in her abdomen, her Soulcore where her Spiritfire and another less pleasant Ego were stored, a handful of fireballs the size of apples soon danced around her. Unlike the usual cool blue flames, these were bright as the sun and pale as the moon. Concentrated mana that burned hot as the liquid fire of volcanoes.

With a flick of her wrist, these spheres of blue were sent flying towards their targets. Just as before, Lavenna covered her fox ears whilst Zexus covered her human ones. Guilt flooded her heart, but was soon forgotten once the screeching began again.

As it turned out, the burning of fire seemed to be much more painful for the wall leeches, though their screams of agony lasted less than half as long. The tongues of blue flames not only engulfed their bodies and burned them to a crisp, but also spread through the filth stuck across the walls. Despite half the room becoming alight within moments, there was no smoke. The temperature remained largely the same, and the fire was controlled through Lavenna’s careful manipulation of mana.

When it was all over and the fires dissipated into particles of ethereal light, little remained of the cylindrical masses except piles of ashes. The blackened ooze that once covered the wall was also gone, revealing the massive open vault door on the other side of the room.

“Not too shabby.” Lavenna commented, taking a look at the ‘cleaned up’ space. Of those that she burned, only a few items remained intact, most of them metal and still red hot. “I think we can call this our ‘safe space’...y’know, until other random crap starts popping out of the walls or through that door.”

Standing next to her, June examined their surroundings with a hand to her chin. “Well, I could probably plug everything up. I’ll need some time to do it well. Half an hour to fill the cracks and then another hour to block the entrance.”

“Sounds good.” Zexus nodded, his eyes scanning a map displayed on his holobracelet. It was a maze-like complex with only their nearest surroundings fully mapped out. Each of their locations were marked with a separate blue dot while a bigger green dot with the words ‘Extraction Point’ hovering above it was shown in the unmapped regions. “Seems like we’re somewhere in the centre. It doesn’t show much, but it seems we’re in ‘Storage Area A11’.”

Lavenna’s ears perked up at that. “Loot!”

“There’s probably some goodies around. Food, medicine, clothes…anything and everything will help us since we’re pretty much naked.” In part, what she said was true. Black Box had not given them anything for the ‘event’. The only things they had were the clothes on their backs. However, given that they were now in a hostile and wet environment with low temperatures, they would also need additional clothes or at least some way to generate warmth.

Lavenna gestured to the shelves, or at least those that were not burned in the use of her spiritfire. “I’ll search through this lot and keep an eye on things in here.”

“Then I’ll take a look outside and gather as much intel as possible.” Zexus said, his feet already moving towards the gaping dark hole in the wall.

“Sounds like a plan.”

That left the youngest of their group, Avali. Although the girl seemed indifferent, the Kitsune could tell that she was uncertain of her own role. That much was to be expected however, as the Arakian had only been with them for a week. Unlike June who had a wealth of experience as a Delver and mage, the slumrat had never been properly educated, simply getting by on her wits and knowledge picked up on the streets. Besides that, the girl had no Ego nor any particular skills to speak of, at least for the situation they were in.

“Avali, wanna help me with this?”

The girl in question hesitated for a moment, but accepted the proposal and quickly followed Lavenna to the back where the containers remained untouched by the flames.

“So cute.” The Kitsune smiled in amusement as the girl followed her like a puppy.

June soon began her work, the earth trembled and shook as stone made to close the gaps with her Ego’s guidance. Zexus had already left, while Lavenna and Avali also began to take the containers off the shelves and get on to opening them.

Contrary to how they looked, they were all quite easy to open. They simply had to pop off the lid after clicking a button on the side that unlocked the latch, and that was it. Unfortunately, the contents were a bit more disappointing, but not unexpected given the worn down state of the dust-covered boxes.

“What is this exactly?” Avali furrowed her brows in question as she held up a thin tube of crimson liquid. It was as thick as blood, but was transparent enough to see through.

“Honestly, I’ve got no clue. If I had to guess, a potion perhaps? Just set it aside for now.” Lavenna shrugged, sifting through her own boxes.

Many had what seemed to be packaged foodstuffs and medicine, but most had already deteriorated to the point where all that came out of them were stiff lumps and dust. From what she knew of the Lost Empire from the few lessons she paid attention to in Hearthwood Isle, she figured that the contents were supposed to be frozen. Hence, when whatever energy that powered the cold frozen storage units expired, the food spoiled. It was a shame.

That said, a few boxes did contain goods that managed to survive the tens, perhaps hundreds of thousands of years. Two had packets of food stuffed tightly in a see-through material she knew to be called ‘plastic’. From the way the outer material clung to the contents, the air seemed to have been sucked out completely. Another had cans filled with liquids that smelled close to apples, but for a lack of a better word seemed ‘fake’ to her nose. The last was the unmistakable heat of alcohol, though made with what material, she was unsure.

“Yay! Wine! So this room’s definitely a food storage. I wonder if there’s anything else nearby-”

*SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE*

All at once, the three women in the room froze. The noise, halfway between a screech and angered roar echoed from the unknown beyond. It sounded distant, much too far to be of immediate concern, and yet the three could not help but remain still as chills ran down their spine.

“What…was that?” Avali asked, unnerved as beads of sweat began to form on her face.

“I’m not sure. It kinda sounds like a weird…bird…goat…thing? Definitely something we’d want to avoid.” Lavenna’s ears flickered, alert for another roar that may help her pinpoint the direction of the unknown beast.

None came.

“...Best we just dig in and hide.” The Kitsune said, unashamed by her own cowardice. This was how the ‘fittest’ survived.

“Aren’t you worried about Zexus?”

“Pft.” Lavenna scoffed, waving her hand in dismissal. “What do I have to worry about him for? He’s wayyyyyyy better on his own. Y’know, without us getting in the way. Besides, I can ‘feel’ when something’s wrong.”

…

“You’re worried, aren’t y-”

“OF COURSE I AM! But I don’t want to think about it so stop talking, jerk!” Lavenna said ‘calmly’.

…

“Pft.” Now it was Avali’s turn to scoff, smiling as she watched the fox exaggeratedly tear up. It was the first time she had seen an ounce of anxiety from the Kitsune.

“What are you laughing about?!”

“Your face. Literally.”