My- No, Aster's old body has been trampled. His skull is either caved in or something took a big bite out of it. Both lower parts of his legs are missing, the remaining bones looking chewed on. One of its arm is too far away from its torso. We look upon this vision of the past with morbid interest. Even Aster within me seems perplexed at his presence here. He has little recollections of his many times upon the Ezian [planes]. What he had recalled during our stay within the village has turned into misty recollections. This previous life is lost to the mist for him.
Mewtwo is more curious as to why we are observing a corpse, even if it is one from Aster's previous life. "It could help us identify some greater monsters than the zombies, skeletons or spiders." I say, as I kneel to get a closer look.
A tap sees the bones break apart into dust. Damn, and it was not that hard of a tap. I wince at that. I did want to avoid desecrating Aster's corpse any more than it already is. He tells me he does not mind, and I kindly point out I am more worried how Princess will react. An awkward inner laugh ensues. I actually wish we could get that corpse back to the surface.
But right now, zombies and skeletons are slowly clogging the three passages once more. Mewtwo is maintaining reflect barriers on all three passages, blocking them for now. Yet the number of monsters just seems to keep on growing. Something is making them flock into this structure, and I am unsure what it is.
If we decide to go further in, you should condemn the passages we are not taking. Mewtwo suggest. I agree with him.
We leave Aster's corpse for now, and turn toward the passages. "I suggest we explore the central passage first. I'm curious of that weird spirit box thing drawn above it."
Agreed. It might even be a clue as to what is making these monsters.
With our decision made, we turn to the closest passage for us right now, the left one and start cleaning the monsters within its entrance. As we do, we take a look at what awaits further in.
The passage extend further and deeper into the distance. Doors can be seen at irregular interval, as well as another large room further ahead. Already more zombies and skeletons are pouring out of the doors and rounding the corners of the next room. Seriously, where are they all coming from? I quickly wall the entrance with cobblestone blocks and we move on to the right passage. It is similar to the one on the left, although tattered banners hang at regular interval along the walls. They make our light sources, my torch and Mewtwo's will-o-wisps cast shadows along the corridor. and stop us from seeing too far into it. Zombies, skeletons, as well as spiders are pouring from this side. I see something flicker in the distance, but decide to leave it for later. We agreed to start with the central way first.
The right passage is walled, and we approach the remaining one.
I plant a torch before the entrance, and behold stairs. Zombies are slowly climbing from the depths of the passage. We stroll down, cutting and bashing our way further.
"Want to try some music?" I ask Mewtwo.
He looks at me uncertain. Can we avoid the one we already heard... a bit too much?
I shiver at the memory. Already it feels like I can hear the notes starting. I shake my head. "Yeah no, those two can stay in the library for now." I open the music player and scroll through the proposed songs. There are no categories, no genres or even albums. Only the artist and the song name. None of the names are familiar to either of us, and Aster is of little help. One he thinks he recognize, but cannot place what sort of style it is. I sigh and hit random, making sure to remove both musics that played during Chaos's trial from the play order. I swear just thinking about these songs makes me see screaming faces on the walls around us.
The music that starts playing is another electronic one, mostly synthesizers and beats. The song is somewhat soothing, but also seems to be building toward some tensing. I make sure the volume is not too high. And we start our descent.
The way down is long. We cycle through two more songs before reaching the end of the stairs. More electronic songs, with tense undertones. However, now that we are at the base, we behold yet another corridor. Like the right passage, torn banners hang from the walls at regular intervals. The least damaged ones bear the mark of Eziakophael. Clearly this place was dedicated to the dark god. Or dark fateless? Was that not what Chaos called him? What does that title even means? They should have asked Chaos.
Zombies are pouring from side doors, coming in groups of three to five at a time.
"All right, we push ahead, wall the passage once we pass a door and find out where they are coming from."
Mewtwo nods, and we execute ourselves. We quickly isolate two doors facing each others. We then then close one of them, just to see if that would stop a zombie. Surprisingly, it does. A single wooden door is enough to stop zombies. A loud bang make us jump back as one zombie slam its arms upon the door. Okay... Maybe a wooden door might not enough to stop zombies. Still even if it does not hold, it will delay them. The banging continues, and we turn to the other door, killing another group of zombies to enter.
The room we enter might have once been quite cosy, but time has done its work, and most of the furniture is damaged in some ways. Still, It seems whoever lived here lived well. The room breaks from the stony walls outside of it by having wooden walls. A large series of bookshelves fill a side of the room. A worn and torn armchair is waiting sideways next to them. On the opposite side, a single desk stands against the wall, with broken writing implements and a single broken chair beneath it. The ground is covered with the same moth eaten red carpet.
And as we observe, a new group of zombies crawl out of thin air. They appear next to the farthest wall. This wall has a large painting taking most of it. It depicts an unknown snowy mountain range, with a ghost like white and purple figure figure standing alone and waving at us.
We kill the group of zombies, and look around the room. And find nothing.
The books are illegible, either by being rotted beyond saving, having their ink completely faded away, or their pages being torn apart. Another two groups of zombies appear and are dispatched during our search, we still cannot find what makes them appear. Mewtwo tries to use his aura senses to see if he can sense anything, but comes out empty.
A loud crack makes us look toward the door on the other side, and we wince. A zombie has managed to break it apart. So no, a wooden door cannot stop a zombie, we now have confirmation of that fact. Damn.
I leave a torch in the room and we quickly dispatch of the dozens of zombies that have accumulated in the other room. We enter it, and find something akin to a kitchen. Or maybe a laboratory? The walls are only stone here, but it appears different than the grey stone making most of this underground structure, it is whiter, somewhat cleaner. The room has a sink, non-functional. A couple cauldrons with extinguished pits underneath Counters with shards of glass and of some sort of orange rods. In the middle of the far wall, beneath a surprisingly well preserved banner, sits a chest. The maroon container stands invitingly beneath the symbol of Eziakophael, the eye looking down on it as much as it looks down on us.
Before we can decide what to do, a new group of zombies appears. We dispatch them, and notice that, like in the previous room, they appeared close to the far wall. One even appeared on top of the chest. I note that little fact for later, I am far more curious as to what is in that chest.
Hold on, what it it is trapped? Mewtwo stops me.
I freeze as I realize I once more was about to just rush possible danger. "What do you suggest then?"
Let me open it. Mewtwo suggest as another group of zombies appears once more.
"What? You're not risking yourself instead of me! I should have better chances of surviving whatever may be inside." I counter right off as I destroys the head of one right off.
I meant from a safe distance. Mewtwo adds with a roll of his eyes, crushing another into a meat cube.
"Oh... yeah... that should be safer." I concede as I tear the last zombie's head from its shoulders.
I collect their remains, and sigh. We have a lot, and I do mean A MOTHERFUCKING SHITLOAD of monsters remains. Need rotten meat? I have a few couple hundreds. Bones? I hope the surface is ready for some speedy agriculture, because I'm certain I can cover the entire forest in bone meal at this point. And don't get me started on the strings, the eyes, fangs or any other parts that I gathered along. Oh I also have a slowly growing pile of inferium. I have barely looked at what it does. I groan internally and return my attention to Mewtwo.
My psychic friend is telekinetically opening the chest lid. It creaks slightly, but beyond that, nothing else happens happens. No clicking sound, no sudden release of gas, or any traps activating.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
"Well, we're safe." I say and start to approach the chest.
I am forced to stop once more as yet another group of zombie appears. One does so right above the chest once more. It slides back from the half opened lid and tears the banner from the wall, revealing something behind.
"What... is that?" I ask aloud as we quickly dispatch of the zombies.
Hidden beneath the banner, was a strange metallic cage. Its bars appear to be made of a reflective black and blue metal. A skull with red glowing eyes decorates its center. As we approach, we realize there is something within the cage, something that shifts and pulses. As I squint, trying to make out what is within, it suddenly expands, and contract, taking briefly the appearance of a zombie. Tiny flames surround it and three new zombies appear. That... That was that the source?
Mewtwo kill all three in an instant and I realize something. I plant a torch, and we wait for a couple minutes. No more zombies appear. For some reasons, It seems light stops this whole process. We both look into the cage once more. The shapeless thing within shifts, turns, tries to expand, but retract before taking any definite shapes. It appears we have found what was producing all of these zombies. That might also be the source of the skeletons. The system identifies the cage as a spawner. It lists a long list of statistics it possesses. Maximum and minimum time before next spawn cycle, number of entities spawned, even how close one needs to be for it to activate or how far the monsters can appear form it.
"There has to be one in the other room." I realize.
Mewtwo goes back and confirms it moments later. It was behind the painting. Same shape as the other.
Alright, we now know the source of the monsters, and a way to remove them. Light, if close enough seems to completely shut the spawners down. "I think we can safely assume there is one in each rooms."
Mewtwo nods. Light seems efficient enough in stopping them, so let us brighten this place up.
"Yep, but first, the chest."
Oh right!
We approach the once more closed chest, and open it. Our hopeful expressions fall as what we find within are glass flask, only one being filled with a bluish liquid along with a bunch of glowing powder called glowstone dust. Mewtwo gathers the dust into a neat ball as I take a look at the one filled flask. A potion of swiftness. For three minutes, I would gain 20% more speed. That's an interesting effect, but how would that work on me? Would it even work? It might be better to keep that for Mewtwo. I'll experiment once we have ways of reliably obtaining those.
The glass flasks along with the potion and the glowstone dust are all stored, and we move back into the hallway. I open a hole in our little barricade and sigh. The other side is packed with zombies. The moment the hole is made, almost a dozen of hands try to stretch through to grab us. "Alright, just... Can you just wipe them please?" I know that means I am losing on experience, but right now? I just want to go further in.
Mewtwo looks at me in surprise, but shrugs and comply. He extend his right hand forward, and a sphere of blue energy burst forth. He lets it grow, and then shoots it. It breaks through my wall without slowing and maws down through the horde of zombies. Good for the speedy removal, bad for the future of any structures I build. Mewtwo has yet to reach level one hundred and already he can destroy... Well they are stone walls. Still that means we'll need stronger material if I am to make a shelter at any points outside the forest.
"Thanks, you take the rooms on the right, I take the rooms on the left." I propose as I take out a bunch of torches for Mewtwo to plant.
He takes the torches I get out into a telekinetic grip,and we start lighting up every rooms in our way. We have to remove more zombies, but soon we are done.
I have found two chests, as well as maybe something we can take.
"Yeah I also found a chest as well as some barrels. Let's see what we have in them."
We return to the rooms where we found the containers, and slowly examine what we have. The final haul is... disappointing. We have found ores, some weird seed that seems to be constantly growing called an overgrowth seed, as well as paper, leather, and other miscellaneous items. And bones, lots and lots of bones, like I was short on them. The thing mewtwo though we could take is a strange extending contraption that seems to have been used as a table. Once I collect it, I find out it is called a piston. Beneath it, we find a red block of glowing material, a block of redstone.
We finish looting, and arrive at the end the end of hallway.
The room it leads into is large and circular. Its walls are decorated with depictions of people fighting against spirits escaping from a box as well as a line? Above all of it, at the top of the dome ceiling, is the watchful eye of Eziakophael. At the center of the room stands a squat pyramid, with stairs on each sides. Mewtwo floats up, but can see nothing except for a strange decoration at the top of it. It does not appear to be another spawner.
I cautiously make my way up as well, curious to see what it is.
I never reach the top however. midway through, a beam of red and purple erupt from the top of the pyramid and the shockwave makes me fall back down. Mewtwo land next to me, his ability to fly somehow momentarily negated.
YOU WHO DARE CHALLENGE! OVERCOME AND BE REWARDED!
The annoncement echoes all around the room, and little wisps of light start to appear all around the room. A semi-translucent reddish barrier appears upon the exit, blocking any hope of retreat.
The wisps explode into monsters, more zombies, as well as skeletons and spiders, but also strange floating heads on top of burning tornadoes of rods. These creatures seem to catch on fire and with a guttural growl, launch flaming balls straight at us.
Mewtwo is quick with a barrier to stop them, and the projectiles crash harmlessly against his protection. The barriers are then peppered by arrows.Next come the zombies. As they crash against the barriers, cracks start to appear. The monsters all seem to be moving with surprising speed and strength. As I take a closer look, I realize every monster in the room has a strange aura emanating from them. All have a strange auras emanating from them. The spiders and blazes, the name the system gives to the floating monsters, both have the whitish cyan while the zombies and skeletons have mixed ones. Both have the whitish cyan one, with a gold one for the zombies and a brown one for the skeletons.
A hiss to my right breaks my musings as a spider bypass our barrier and jumps on me. It sinks its fangs upon my right arm, and a window pops up.
/!\ Warning /!\
You have been afflicted by "Poison III" effect.
Remaining time: 0:10
I swat the spider away and watch with worry as lines of sick green start bulge and spread from the two holes where the spider bit. How did it manage to bypass my resistance?
Another one attempts to attack, but I swat it away before it can reach me. It splatters where it lands.
I am going after these floating things! Mewtwo announces before he lets go of the barriers and flies toward the closest blaze.
An arrow immediately bounces off my shoulder and the zombies close in on me. Hold on, they have swords I realize, as well as armor!
The closest one clumsily raises his weapon and strike. I barely avoid the surprisingly swift strike, and end up having to swat another spider off me. Once more the window pops up, and this time I feel a weird tingle where the spider bit. Shit! It's messing with my nanite repair system. Each bites seems to slow my healing.
Another zombie strikes at me, and his blade almost sever my left arm. What? What sort of bullshit is this? How are they bypassing my body resistance?
I strike back, pulverizing both the monster's armor and torso in one swift strike. At least my strength still holds up. Another two spiders manage to bite me, and I feel a bit of panic rising as my energy dips below its halfway point. How did I consume that much already? Oh Trio, they are not slowing my healing, they are dissolving the nanites, forcing me to produce more, and while the nanites are not here, the poison dissolve my internal parts! No wonder it feels like I am bleeding energy! I need to kill the spiders in priority.
A scream of pain makes me look up. Mewtwo has been struck by a fireball on his leg. The projectile seems to adhere on his skin and continue to brun away against his skin. Already I can see it bubble and I wince at the gruesome sight. Mewtwo sends an aura sphere in retaliation, destroying the offending blaze in a single shot. However, the skeletons beneath seems to take notice and fire a volley toward my friend.
"Watch out!" I shout out, hoping to help him.
It does, with my shout, he quickly summons a protective bubble around himself. The arrows impact harmlessly against the blue sphere encompassing him, and he aim his hand down, before making a raising gesture. The ground under the skeletons erupts as Mewtwo makes his mastery over the earth powers known, destroying almost all of the archers in the process.
I turn back to my immediate opponents as the remaining spiders are already circling me for another go. The zombies are also closing in far too quickly. I have little options, so I chose the most straightforward. I strike first.
I charge the incoming zombies, killing two almost instantly, and then crushing a spider that attempts to jump on me. A zombie goes to strike me, and another couple spiders jump.
I decide to need care of the spiders, so I let the sword strike my side. I grab both spiders out of the air and crush them, but one still manages to bite me. I wince at that, and then wince even harder as the zombie sword almost goes straight through my abdomen. A quick punch from my left arm sees that threat removed. I hear a guttural whisper and see the last blaze fall from the sky.
Mewtwo sports a couple new nasty burns along his body, and he seems to be breathing a bit heavier than before.
With the floating monsters removed, Mewtwo is able to come assist me, and we quickly clean the remaining monsters.
We finish the fight both exhausted. My energy reserves are at an all time low since entering the magical forest, and Mewtwo has almost burned through his entire stamina reserves.
YOU ARE VICTORIOUS! CLAIM THE SPOILS OF WAR!
The announcement echoes along with a little reward from our sponsors.
Achievement got: Hey look, it's like what we do!
(Discover and triumph over one of Eziakophael's trial chambers.)
Rewards: 5000xp; 5 Exp. Candy XL
As we marvel over the new implications of Eziakophael also having trials, a chest made of red metal appears on top of the pyramid. I opens by itself, and spew forth ressources.
We make our way back up, and behold our rewards. Glowing books, gold ingots, iron ingots, even a few manasteel ingots, as well as something called alchemical brass ingots. But most importantly, diamonds, twelve of them. Our first diamonds. We can have self repairing tools on the go. We collect our reward, and decide to call our expedition off for the day.