The Grave Part 3

“It’s so stinky !” she complained while safely tucked in his soul.

Agreeing with her , Jack picked up the pace , trying to hop over the littered skeletons that got in his way. It could have gone on a lot easier if the torch light he carried wasn’t so dim.

“How was your life in Praiyas like ?” he started when the air started to clear.

“Well most of Aiko’s memories are hazy at that point , but she remembers living on the slopes of a big valley with a wide river flowing at the bottom. Aiko once drowned trying to swim there but she was lucky to be saved by some people. They said they were her family ,”

“You didn’t believe them ?”

“ Aiko can’t complain , they gave Aiko everything she asked for ,she was kept satisfied.”

“ They must have suffered to pull that off,”

“ Hey Bossman , that’s not fair ! I’ll have you know that Aiko is the most humble and content person the Bossman will ever meet. Aiko’s honour !”

“Ookay fine, let’s get back to why you had your doubts about them,” this girl was forever cracking him up.

“Well , the System right now is trying to convince Aiko that she has never existed anywhere else apart from inside it. Aiko knows that this is a lie , and that’s the same way she felt when those people told her that they were her parents ,”

“ Is that right? So where do you think you actually came from ?”

“ Aiko’s memories were wiped clean beyond that point. She knows there is more , but it's like her brain has been cursed never to remember . Bossman , you gave that slave the chance to tell you her wish before she died. Could you do the same for Aiko ?”

Even when she was trying to gain sympathy , Aiko still found a way to be offensive . Jack was however willing to overlook that , given how serious their conversation had gotten.

“ Of course Aiko , but I hope it's not because you’re dying,” Jack tried to lighten her up.

“Naah , Aiko is too great for death. She however wants to ask Bossman to help her find out where she came from. Even though Aiko will never die , which is very obvious , she also wants to feel like she really belongs somewhere ,”

“ You have my word. And in the meantime , know that you will always have a place to belong to in my heart ,” when he said this , Jack was sure he heard Aiko sniffle back some tears. He would have asked , but she would have obviously been too proud to admit to that.

Their moments together were interrupted when they heard the sound of men shouting close by. Jack asked Aiko to be quiet so he could listen in and find out whether they could be friendly.He had been wandering in the tunnel for so long that it wouldn’t hurt to have a tour guide if the routes started branching up later on.

The smell of hot metal was now taking over , still carrying the slight hints of sulphur. Walking a few steps more , and going round a curve ,Jack was finally able to see an end in sight. It was just a red glow in the distance , but with the low light inside the tunnel it couldn’t have been missed. The sounds of the men were even becoming much clearer now. Listening in , he could hear them arguing about how to open a seal.

As he cautiously got out of the tunnel and out into the large but still enclosed space , one of the men approached the two large doors in front of them that went five metres all the way to the ceiling.

In his hand was a large silver disk with serrated edges that he placed on a matching silhouette depression on the left door. He then took a step back as large gears were heard turning , loudly fighting the rust that tried to hold them in place.

It all happened so fast that those who weren’t ready for it perished on the spot. A large tide of boiling magma poured out of the locked room when the doors opened , vapourising everyone who didn’t use magic to summon a shield around their bodies to protect themselves.

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Jack , standing far behind everyone ,was lucky to still have Flowing Paradise going. He lost a portion of the flesh on his face , swiftly healing it up with Rejuvenation and spitting out a red hot pebble that had gotten lodged in his mouth with annoyance.

“ Dammit ,” he looked at his charred clothes that made him look like a homeless beggar.

His shoes had also completely burnt off , leaving his feet bare to sink into the slow moving magma. There wasn’t any rock or platform that he could jump to as an escape , and so just had to endure the pain till his feet grew numb to it.

All of that was, however , about to become the very least of his worries.

When the doors opened , a seven foot suit of Plate armour without a head came tumbling forward , splashing heavily into the magma below. Some of the men who had already lowered their shields a little to conserve their manna got a mouthful of this magma , catching fire and dying on the spot. The rest were left choking in the rising smoke as they tried to understand what had just dropped in front of them.

In all appearances, the suit of armour appeared inanimate .

Jack’s System , however, was giving him cause to worry . The blue screen was already displaying rewards for defeating this suit of armour it had branded the title , ‘Nameless Death’.

[

System Information

Nameless Death :

Threat Level - 30.

Origin - World of Krassus.

New Quest - defeat the Nameless.

Quest Rewards - 2 Summoning Tickets , 550 Points , Nameless Mail Armour x 2 , Nameless Skull x1 .

]

Going off pure intuition and also basing it on past experience , Jack guessed that the highest ranked First class mage on earth was probably capped out at threat level 30. So fighting this new monster would be gauging his abilities against earth’s strongest.

“ Uuum boss , this thing is starting to move ,” one of the remaining men spoke , turning to the oldest looking man at the far right of the group.

“ The magical armour around your bodies , under no circumstances are you to let it fall , understood ?” the boss thundered , trying to keep the group from falling apart.

As the headless suit of armour rose to its feet and brandished an obsidian black sword from its sheath , Jack slowly started taking a few steps back.

If he could just drift away quietly , then the men in front could at least weaken or perhaps kill the monster on his behalf. Though fear carried some weight in his decision , it was the thought of continuously wading through a lava flooded room on his bare feet while fighting that really put him off.

The headless suit of armour pointed the sword at the man in the centre , daring him to be the first challenger.

“ Don’t approach Nathaniel , we will attack together as one. It is trying to separate us and pick us off one after the other,” the man at the left who seemed to be the group leader warned him.

“ And you , Elisha , you are human. Find a safe spot away from here so that I don’t have to keep on wasting my magic providing you with a shield. When this fighting starts , you won't stand a chance ,” the leader turned to the man standing close behind him.

When Jack heard the ‘human’ reference , he got curious and was finally able to note that all of the other men present apart from Elisha had an extraordinary amount of facial and skin hair on them. He guessed that they must have been the Beast folk that Aiko had told him about earlier.

“ Yes Master Allan ,” Elisha replied and turned away to retreat.

Just as Elisha’s eyes met Jack trying to hide in the shadows far behind the expansive room , the Nameless dashed next to him and with one swap of its arm sent the man flying.

The impact was so powerful that it shattered the protective shield that Allan had created to protect him mid-flight .

“Bossman , that slave is a human. The moment he touches the ground the magma will kill him,” Aiko shouted and Jack was already running to save the man before she was even done with her sentence. His movement caused loud splashes which caught the attention of everyone in the room.

“He is human yet walks on lava as if it's just water ? Who on earth is this monster?” Allan wondered as the Nameless brought its sword at him .

He was just in time to parry it from reaching his neck.

“Dammit , you’re just as strong as you’re fast ,” he said , sliding a few paces back from the impact.

The magma had by now started residing and cooling off . As its level reduced , a few boulders came out and Jack used one of them to rest Elisha’s body.

“ Thank you , kind sir,” the man thanked him , coughing out a large amount of blood after. It appeared that the hit had still injured him severely despite the shield from Allan.

“ Stay put ,” Jack was just about to leave him when he noticed the same tattoo he had seen on Aiko on Elisha’s forearm as well .

“Where did you get this ?” he quickly asked.