I got the impression that Seria was being strange. But then again, she's a pretty odd girl.

She might have been hiding something? Well... then again, she is basically a walking tome of ancient secrets given her age.

Compared to her...

I know nothing.

Hehe... do that in your best silly fake Spanish voice.

I know nothing!

I snicker to myself, getting a strange look from Aria and Kiku, whom are flanking me. Kali is in the middle with Kaede, and our mage girls are lagging behind a bit.

The depths are pretty crazy. It switches back to some kind of dark cathedral theme all of a sudden, with brickwork and stone tiled floors taking over from the previous cavernous dungeon littered with obvious traps.

We all come to an overlooking ledge and bunch up, to look down below...

What the hell is that?

Walking resolutely round and around in circles... are twenty... things...

It reminds me of a strange YouTube video I saw once of birds circling a corpse.

But in this case, at the centre is an honest to goodness gout of purple fire. A necrofire, of course. It is by far the biggest one of those I've seen. It is like a pyre, big enough for two of those big skeletons to walk out abreast, and roaring with intensity.

The things... are like poorly made clay people. A rusty red colour. Stubby legs and arms connected to a torso, but no head. The chest has its own grinning mouth, and each arm has hands with three fat fingers. No discernible eyes, but they are avoiding the fire well enough, and their constant circling is actually highly precise. I get the impression if I looked from above, it would actually be a perfect circle.

"What are those things?" Aria asks for me.

"Mmm... honestly... I have no idea..." Seria shrugs.

"They creep me out... ugh..." Rishya comments, grabbing my sleeve. I pat her head.

Kiku looks shocked as if she just figured out something but missed the timing. Heh... yes... girls acting scared is a frightening thing, isn't it?

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Aria rolls her eyes.

"Well, Elijah, the only way out is through. Should we engage?" Aria asks.

I ponder.

This is an unknown factor. That's kinda risky. But we have our own ambush and height advantage for once, as they seem to be entirely distracted by their... ritual?

"The necrofire is most concerning. Will reinforcements arrive?" I whisper.

"Mmm... it is strange, that... it doesn't feel that oppressive here." Seria notes.

"Nn, the void is surprisingly weak." Rishya agrees.

That’s strange.

It couldn't be... the creatures are... pacifying it?

Suddenly, they all stop circling.

Uh oh.

Then they all pivot simultaneously as one, facing our direction. Rishya squeaks involuntarily. It is a very disconcerting thing.

Well... it may be a moot point. Will they...

I start to dodge pre-emptively, and yank Rishya down with me in a roll. She squeals. I barely avoid the swipe of the thing, and actually feel nauseous.

What!?

Suddenly they are there, everywhere, surrounding us. Their entire circle transmitted here.

Kiku and Aria react violently, both stabbing the creature closest to them. Kaede cartwheels away and leaves Kunai in a third.

The creatures hit... explode in a cloud of black dust and smoke.

Unfortunately, with how close they are, my dodge away from one only takes me into the range of another.

It hits.

Everything goes hazy.

I feel as though my stomach has just shifted sideways, and my ears pop.

What!?

I am suddenly elsewhere, a cavern with an underground lake.

Rishya was brought with me, and has fallen on her rear in the shallow part of the water about six paces away, grimacing.

And the thing came as well. It is now some distance away.

The others have gone!

These things are some kind of dimension shifters!?

It charges at Rishya suddenly, blinking and flash stepping, and suddenly gaining massive scythe-like claws. She screams in panic, backing up against a rock ineffectually and dropping Michael. Fortunately, her backwards fumble makes the claw just cut off her hat and hit the rock in a screeching spray of sparks.

I need to protect her!

A vial will blow her up! Electricity will kill her if she's in water!

Almost involuntarily, I fumble and draw Kiku's sword from my waist, leaping at the thing with a clumsy attempt at a swing.

I need to hit it! She'll die!

Bizarrely, it hits.

I take off an arm, and then the backswing cleaves it in twain.

I thought I was short, terribly misjudging the distance, but apparently, I'm better than I first thought. It was still a shoddy attack. I almost fall over from being unbalanced.

The creature explodes into dust, like the ones Aria and Kiku hit.

It seems there was just the one of the creatures here. Fortunately.

Rishya sneezes repeatedly from being covered in swirling dust. Or is it... ashes?

I rush up to her.

"Rishya! Are you okay!?"

"Achoo! Eh!? Eh!? Elijah-sama...?" She looks at me with her red eyes wide as I grab her shoulders.

"You... you saved me!" She whispers.

"Err... apparently... mayb..." I stutter.

She leaps up and cuts off what I was about to say, pressing her body against me and kissing me.

She pulls away slightly, but her nice chest is still rubbing up against my arm. She's rather soaked, understandably.

"I... I am grateful..." she looks away bashfully, blushing.

She then creases her brow.

"Ummm... but where did you get that sword?" She asks, cocking her head quizzically.

Huh? I've had it for awh...

What I am holding is certainly not a short-sword, anymore.

It has extended.

It's now like a comically long rapier.

What the heck happened...?!?