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Chapter 182: The Botanic Creature
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What lies in the ruins is none other than one of the most dangerous calamities if not the most dangerous, Brion which has the appearance of an enormous sphere on top of a human body, where the head should be.
The ground and the ruins in general are made up of ashen stones, though most of the ruins are completely hidden by the greenery that took it as its home and grew all over the place.
It added to the place's vibes making it look more ancient than it already is. All they can hear is the sounds coming from outside the ruins far into the forest.
The ruins however were utterly still and nothing was seen inside for quite a while as they moved towards the center.
Most of the buildings were as predicted in ruins except one that looks a bit more well-kept and held up.
Their destination is that building that lies in the center of the city, the labyrinthine.
Beyond was understandably tense and so is everyone else though he more than the others as he knows what the creature can really do.
He was however doing something interesting on the way. He was concentrating his Aura on his right hand which started shaping into a small golden ball, and it slowly became bigger and bigger.
Until he lifted his hand high up in the air with the large golden ball resting on the palm of his hand. Nataly next to him also seemed strange as her face is completely red while having a faint shade of pink as if she's choking.
They slowly walked into the labyrinthine, a large building compared to the ones surrounding it but nowhere near big enough to be called a labyrinthine.
It became quite apparent why it was called as such once they were deep inside, they found a series of stairs leading hundreds of meters down into the dark.
This time the one who leads the way is none other than Yasuo. The ruins are incredibly ancient and the stone could possibly be quite frail by this point even though they don't appear as such.
So Yasuo who can create portals is a natural option. They cautiously walked with Beyond's golden sphere acting as a natural source of light guiding their way, the ones that can't see in the dark anyway.
"It's written in Don's book that there are only three levels of the labyrinthine. We know he hasn't passed all of them but somehow, he was able to judge how many levels there are... The previous expedition reached the second stage where they face the calamity."
Beyond explained while following closely behind Yasuo. How they were able to reach the second stage became apparent once they reached the bottom, once the stairs came to an end.
They were faced with a large hall that leads to a large metallic door, the hall was completely vacant. The only thing noteworthy is what looks like a small artificial garden at the far left of the hall.
A garden strangely vibrant with life, various strange plants, some could even be seen growing between the stones of the hall, time certainly left a mark on the stones but life remained as vigorous as ever.
They surveyed the area before Beyond and Yasuo as well as Ging started taking a close look at the small colorful garden, Sanshi also followed closely after them as he will be needed.
"None." Remarked Beyond frowning. "Not one Zoi herb, in the previous expedition, they said they found one in this garden but went deeper into the labyrinths in hopes of getting more."
Sanshi's eyes were shining looking at the herbs in the garden, the trip so far was miraculous.
he cocked so many things he didn't imagine himself ever doing and created many new recipes and now he sees what his senses as a chef tells him will be marvelous ingredients.
He asked curiously unable to wait to get his hands on them, "Zoi herb? What does it do and does the name mean anything?"
Beyond signaled for him to start his job in here before starting to explain, "The name is what Don gave it, he was the one to discover it and find out its effects and write them in his book but we don't know what it means."
Sanshi received the signal and approached the plants in the garden before starting to smell them and taste them one by one.
Once he learned some general information about them, he started eating the ones that are more abundant and left the rare ones as per instructions. He only ate one of each for his ability to fully work.
All of that was happening while Ging provided his hypothesis, "The name is most likely from the language of the people that once lived here or some unknown language we don't know.
And in the previous expedition, we found no signs of languages in the ruins except some inscriptions on the walls but we're unable to learn anything from them."
Sanshi then listed what he learned from the plants. He used his ability quite well and learned a lot to advance his cocking even more. He studied anything that has to do with plants as well as animals so his role in the expedition is quite vital.
"We're taking too much time so let's continue and from this point onwards, be cautious, more cautious," Beyond stated noticing that Nataly's face has become incredibly pink and her signaling for him that she can't keep this for much more time.
"Can you create a portal inside it? The golden sphere I mean?"
Beyond asked Yasuo as they walked, many things seemed much easier to him with Yasuo's ability added to the equation and if that can happen, it will make what would've been an otherwise troublesome process extremely easy.
And Yasuo nodded bringing a bright smile to Beyond's face, "Hahahaha! Good good, that will make things much easier. Everyone except Nataly and Yasuo! Retreat to the back of the hall and hide behind the wall unless you want to stay but it might just be a bit dangerous."
Beyond then turned his head to Yasuo expecting him to understand what he wants to do. The latter looked at Nataly for a moment before creating a portal in front of her and a small one inside the large golden sphere.
Nataly seems to already know what she has to do as she closed her eyes and retracted her head a bit back before simply opening her mouth.
A sonic bomb was launched, a sound so loud it almost turned the people far away deaf and that's just the residue sound that didn't enter through the portal.
In fact, she would've been sent back far away due to the astonishing power of that scream if not for the fact she's using her Nen to remain stuck to the ground and Beyond keeping his hand on her upper back as to keep her balance.
Beyond doesn't seem affected by the sound that caused a small earthquake to the already frail labyrinth as the place was constantly shaking and the dust that accumulated throughout the years ran in fright from the sound.
He likely wasn't affected due to the golden spheres that are apparent in his ears acting as a form of protection while Yasuo just wasn't affected.
Nataly started to slowly lose the pink shade on her face as she released all of the sounds she saved up then Yasuo instantly closed the portal making sure nothing leaves.
"Hehehe this is gonna be interesting." Beyond let out a laugh before spreading his hands as far as he can encircling a small portion of the sphere and started applying pressure on it while also focusing his Aura on it.
Slowly the golden sphere started shrinking until it only became the size of a football, Beyond deemed that this is its limit so he stopped and warned.
"Change of plans. Mascher, send a shadow down to the second stage and let me know what you see, and make sure it remains hidden.
The rest can stay here or go up or go down with me, it's up to you. Only a few can go with me as it will be extremely dangerous."
Then he waited for Mascher to finish the reconnaissance process, waiting for the shadow to come back. The only ones that waited with him are Ging and Yasuo.
Strangely Pariston remained standing at the far back of the hall with a gloomy expression on his face. He didn't seem to be interested in going with them but he will still remain on the first floor.
Beyond didn't seem to be paying any attention to that as he walked towards the plain rusty metallic door. The three Nen users started cautiously going down the stairs beyond that door.
Stairs similar to the ones before leading to an even darker place, leading hundreds of meters down below the ground.
They reached another hall, a much vaster hall with two metallic doors, one at the dar front of the hall and one to the left and in contrast to the first floor as this one has no apparent garden within.
The three's eyes were glued to a specific part of the hall, Ging and Beyond's expression were certainly a bit weird seeing the eerie scene before them.
The chilling scene of a Brion standing next to the metallic door with its round strange head resting on it.
The clanging sound reverberated throughout the hall as the botanic creature continuously head the metallic door with its round smooth head, the spherical head was colliding with the door gently making this scene even stranger.
The eerie atmosphere became even creepier as the creature took a few steps back and turned its round faceless head towards the group.
That got Beyond out of his daze as he also noticed a small portal appearing in front of him. He didn't question anything, instead, he sent the golden sphere through it and directly started running back towards the portal that appeared behind them.
Ging also reacted quite fast and retreated with a solemn expression on his face. The creatures' behavior was soo strange and unexpected it put them in a state of bafflement.
Yasuo was the last one remaining in the hall as he watched what will happen with curiosity apparent in his eyes. He watched as the golden sphere appeared from a portal behind the creature's round head then...