Chapter 31 The Chaotic Duo Part 5

Dim lights flickered on the stone walls of the hallway, cold stagnant air with a nauseating stench pierced our noses.

“Eww!” Fay buried her face deep into my fur while I quickly ran along the hallway. The deeper we went, the worse the stench got and the feeling of uneasiness rose.

*grrr*

*whimper*

My ears twitched as I heard what sounded like animals screaming in agony and pain in the distance, getting louder the closer we came towards the single door at the end of the hallway.

I slowly tapped on the door, which, with a loud creak, opened.

Overwhelmed by the stench mixed out of blood, feces, rotten flesh, and whatever else this forsaken place held, I buried my nose in my paws.

“Nox…” Fay, with a shivering voice, clung tightly to my fur.

“It’s rare to see her frightened; I should hurry…” I thought and looked around the dimly lit room that looked like a dungeon. On both sides, cells with old rusty metal bars extend into the darkness.

*Grrr*

Hidden in the shadows of their cells, creatures moved, whimpered, and growled in pain…

“What are they? They resemble animals, but…” I took a closer look in one of the cells, some of them dead, left inside to rot right next to their living companions.

*whimper*

One creature came closer, half dead, its flesh rotting already; its eyes filled with despair gazed at me…

“…”

“Hahaha! Are you curious about these failures, little intruder?”

I turned towards the voice coming from the other side of the room. The suspicious man looked at me, his face contorted by a smile.

“I wonder what two little spirits brought here. Did you get lost?” The man, clearly underestimating us, said jokingly.

I calmly walked away from the cell towards him. “What are you doing here? What did you do to them?”

The man leaned against a desk and crossed his arms, “Can’t you see? I’m experimenting, but unfortunately I haven’t achieved the results that I want yet.” He said with a calm expression, but under it, I could feel anger boiling.

He slicked back his hair, “I even do the dirty work for this old deprived fool so I can continue my work in secret after these narrow-minded dunces kicked me out.” He clenched his hand into a fist, “You haven’t shown any fruitful results yet, they said! Pah! They simply don’t understand my genius! I will succeed in creating the ultimate beast and show it to them!”

“…”

While he threw his speech, I looked at the desk, small red crystals that scattered out from a small pouch laid on it. “They are smaller, but… like I thought, it’s the same feeling as back then…”

“Hey, crazy scientist guy, what are these crystals?” I asked him nonchalantly.

“Huh, these?” He took one from the desk and looked at it, “These are the key to my success! I stole them when I left.” He smiled sinisterly, “Implant them into a normal animal, and voila!” he looked at the creatures in the cells. “Unfortunately, I yet have to come across a specimen that can endure the effects of it.”

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

He looked with madness at me and Fay, who still had her head buried in my fur. “You are just weak lower spirits, but nonetheless spirits; I wonder what effects they will have on you.”

I looked at him bored and let out a sigh, “You have the ability to perceive spirits, but that doesn’t mean that you can simply catch us, so what’s your plan?”

“Hahaha” He laughed manically before activating his magic, “You left me enough time to prepare this!”

Magic circles appeared on the walls, ceiling, and ground. I unimpressed looked at them and let him continue his speech. “This is a powerful binding spell that makes it impossible to leave the room; even lower spirits like you are affected by it!” He said confidently…

I walked towards one of the magic circles on the ground and tapped on it with my paw.

“Ha, whatever you are doing is useless-” He stopped, observing flabbergasted what was happening.

From my paw, ice spread over the circle and froze it. With another tap, it shattered completely.

“Wha-, impossible… freezing a magic circle is like freezing the mana itself! A lower spirit would never have such an influence over an element!” He said in confusion as the other circles shattered.

“Sigh, you should never judge a book by its cover… anyway,” I looked at him and slowly walked closer.

“Fay, I don’t like this guy. What do you think, should we kill him?” My voice was calm and composed, while I observed him as I would an insect, which I could squish at any time. What he seemed to notice and backed away, fear slowly showing in his eyes.

“Let’s make his death as excruciating as possible!” Fay, seething with anger, flew up, seemingly forgetting the stench and her initial fright. “I won’t forgive what he did to these poor animals!”

I nodded in agreement, “I will leave it to you then.”

“W-What can you two possibly do to me!?” He backed away and continued, “Don’t you understand who I am?! I am the great Eitler Nichtsnutz! An unparalleled genius!”

Fay flapped her wings in anger, not listening to him while slowly approaching.

The grown man slowly overcame with fear from the small spirits stare got stopped in his retreat, “What is this?” He fell on his butt, frantically trying to remove the vines that winded around his legs, tying him to the cold stone floor.

“Hey! Stop! You can’t do this to me! AAAAH!” The vines grew into his flash, slowly but surely covering his whole body. He screamed in pain and terror until the vines reached his throat, tearing it apart, plants sprouting out of his mouth.

“Yikes… this is disgusting…” I made a mental note to never anger Fay and slowly approached the former human, now tree in the making.

“He is still alive?” I asked in surprise as his tear-filled eyes moved, pleading for death.

Fay proudly put her arms on her hips, “Of course, this way he can feel what those poor animals went through!”

“Oh, I didn’t know you were this considered!” I exclaimed in surprise, observing how the tree slowly grew bigger, devouring the human as nourishment.

“I always am!” She flew around the tree before stopping and looking at the cells, “Nox, what do we do with them? We can’t leave them behind.”

I looked at the former animals, winding in despair. “We can’t turn them back, so the best we can do is giving them a quick death…”

“I see…” Fay said in a somber voice before angrily kicking with her tiny feet against the tree man’s head, who groaned in pain.

After I positioned myself at the center of the room, in a fraction of a second, I froze the cells and its unfortunate inhabitants.

The ice broke into tiny pieces, scattering, filling the dark musty room with its cold. The dim light reflected in the thousands of small ice shards that glimmered like colorful crystals.

“…” Fay and I stood in silence for a while, until the room reverted back into its bleak self.

From the dark, now empty cells, small red lights shone menacingly. I walked into one of the cells and took a closer look.

“Hmm…” I crouched down, staring at it deep in thought.

“Do you know what this is?” Fay calmed down and landed on my head.

“I’m not sure, but I saw one before. Hmm…” I continued to stare and tapped at it with my paw.

“Should you really touch this thing?!” Fay exclaimed surprised.

“Its fine, at least the last time nothing happened~” I carelessly rolled it around.

“I don’t know what it is, but I’m sure now that it’s not from this realm or the spirit one.” I mumbled as I slowly lost interest and crushed it before putting it in my storage.

“Maybe I will ask Minerva about it the next time I meet her; she surely knows what this is.” I said while destroying the other crystals in the cells and on the desk and taking them with me, as well as all the research papers the tree man had lying around.

“Phew, finally done~” I looked at the tree, which was even bigger now. One of the man’s hands still protruded from it, twitching in pain.

“Fay, I think it’s time for what we originally planned.” As soon as I finished my sentence, she woke up from her nap and excitedly flew around me. “Yay! Finally!”

“But make sure you get the old guy.” I said calmly, slowly getting tired.

“Leave it all to me!” She confidently declared, putting her small hand on her chest.