Naasaria decided to go for it. Usually, two people were needed. One was a distraction. The other bags the loot. Usually, she was the decoy and pretty adept at it too.

She took a breath, then exhaled slowly and laid her steps across the yellow floor. Finally, she walked towards the Elven blade in a circular pattern, then semi-crouched and took another deep breath concentrating and revolving her mana and leapt one hand outstretched. Her fingers touched the sheath, and tentacles from the mist sprang like vipers; they grabbed onto her rolling form but instead caught a cloud of black smoke.

Nassaria was already a few paces away, far from the reach of the mist.

She felt elated and couldn't wait to tell her companions what she did. That feeling of joy quickly died. Her stare turned bland while the writhing tentacles acted like dogs that couldn't go over a fence. Then slowly, as if reeling from pain, they delved back towards the mist.

She sniffed and slowly unsheathed the blade. Her eyes sparkled when she saw the dark Maroon blade, not a hint of rust, and it looked magnificent.

"Oh my," she thought. Her face turned to a grin, and her thumb lightly went over the blade when suddenly a hint of pain and a drop of blood fell to the ground. "Weird, I didn't even touch the blade", she thought when her mind paused, and she looked quickly around her.

She was about to take a step when a gush of red poured from the blade and enveloped her. Naasaria tried to drop it, but too late, her hand was glued to the hilt. She screamed and tried to pull her hand off with the help of her free hand.

Blood surged from the blade like a fountain and sprayed her face, and dripped down her arms. She screamed for her life and swayed left and right, trying to get rid of it, but the sword would not leave her.

She suddenly stopped screaming and held still as an immense killing intent flooded her mind. The words Kill Kill Kill alongside a scene of blood swallowed her vision. The sword turned into a cloud of red and ventured into her open mouth until it disappeared.

Nassaria's eyes were vacant, and her pale eyes turned bright red. She stumbled, then moved closer and closer towards the misty walls. Once in range, the tentacles hiding in the mist quickly sprang onto her and latched on like an octopus wrapping around its prey and steadily lifted her, then reeled her in an instant towards the mist.

Moments later, her belongings were spat out like one would the spit bones of a fish. A distance away, a large naked man with antennas stopped momentarily when he heard the death cry in the distance and ventured towards it warily.

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[https://i.imgur.com/h8DcCPP.png]

Zef

Zef woke up to the touch of something pulling his antennas, which he almost shoved off with the back of his hand until his senses kicked in.

His eyes opened, menacing gold pupils stared at the interior of the dome above him. He quickly remembered where he was and sprang to his feet, his body made a cracking sound from the sudden movement, but his attention was more so on the creature that hung from his antennas. The inertia of his jump startled the animal, which held on to its mortal life, baby arms held on the giant's long antennas before it swayed from side to side towards his front, bouncing off his face twice.

Zef both felt and saw the little critter. It was quite small, probably around 2 feet with a round figure, almost perfectly round. Cotton candy came to mind while two large gem-like eyes stared back at him, then a cooing sound almost made him claw the thing off his face.

Luckily he decided against it. Whatever it was, it looked harmless, even somewhat cute, but Zef wasn't taking any chances. His antennas were feeling uncomfortable.

He put his large hands around it carefully. The creature said nothing as he gently picked it up like a child; it released its hold, and Zef was relieved then sat it on the ground to take a better look. He could have sworn he felt a pout on its face.

Since his large arms were on the creature, he continued and slowly prodded its body and was surprised at how synthetic it felt. Curious, he continued his investigation. Moments passed, and Zef concluded it was basically a round ball with two eyes and two baby arms. He couldn't even feel its bones when he touched its limbs; course, it only had arms, no legs whatsoever.

How does it move?

Zef lifted it gently and tried to look underneath its lower form and ended up with a swat to the face as he bent down his neck to look. He was shocked by its strength as he tasted a bit of blood within his mouth.

Guess it didn't like that...

He stared back at the little figure's eyes and realized its eyes were completely amber. No pupils or iris whatsoever. Moreso, its eyes were literally gems, as they did not look organic. The light kept reflecting off its surface.

His steady hands kept it in the air, and after a minute passed by, he realized it wasn't alive as he didn't feel a pulse or a heartbeat.

"Drone", he groaned. Zef put it back on the ground carefully, and the strange creature lifted its hands and made fists which it moved frantically.

Zef cursed and slowly backed away, expecting it to blow up, but nothing happened. Instead, saw the little drone grow two little buds from its head. Those buds grew to two antennas similar to his and then sloped forwards.

Zef's mouth dropped like an anvil.

The little drone, proud of its accomplishment, rolled to its back as if tired. Zef did not know what to think. Whatever it was, it felt and looked harmless, but he wasn't sure if it was alive or not. It acted like a toddler, but it didn't feel organic, and he was worried it was a drone.

Drones usually led to people blowing up to bits from his experience.

"What are you..uh little one and where are your owners or uhh friends?" Zef questioned from afar. The drone jumped to its...uh bottom and cooed loudly as if mimicking him with questions too.

Zef stared at it, and it stared back.