'Cammille!' Athelei inwardly exclaimed as he hid within the darkness and eavesdropped. 'What a pleasant surprise to see her here.'
The Adventurer who had fought at the God's Altar was now in the depths once again. But instead of being underwater, she was underground.
With short black hair and a slender build, Cammille stood well despite the exhaustion that was consuming her. The rapier at her waist had snapped given the sturdy natures of every single foe they had come across.
Her companions had a similar hardened and experienced demeanour, but their weakened bodies were betraying them. Their drooping shoulders and baggy eyes were the two details that were the easiest to catch.
Athelei listened to a more detailed account of the difficulties they had crawled through from Laffe, who was speaking with undertones of dread. He was answering the questions that Irene had just thrown at their little party.
"—At first we thought that the darkness was helpful. Rarely did those muscular goblins roam without the light of torches. We assumed it was due to their inability to operate in the darkness, but after we fell asleep on the first night, everything felt... different.
Even now, I can still feel something inside my head, and it's only because of some kind of mark that the four of us are keeping ourselves sane. The... other six in our party were unlucky."
Guilt flashed in Laffe's eyes as his three companions bowed their heads in shame. The loss of their old friends and long-time party mates had been a cruel blow to their psyches. All the more amplified by the fact that they had to put their very own friends down with their own hands.
"A mark?" Irene recalled those weird items that Athelei had warned her of. "Did you uncover a cursed Mystic Artifact?"
Laffe creased his brows, showing an expression visible through the gap in his mask. "No... It was more like a trial. Around the lower parts of the labyrinth, we came across a hall. There was some weird text on the giant double doors that we couldn't read but they weren't locked.
We just walked in, but after we did, some kind of force suddenly pushed us down. We had to fight through four different monsters and each of us got a tattoo after being the ones to make the killing blow."
Laffe glanced back at his companions for a moment as he pulled back the sleeve of his skin-tight clothes. On his right wrist was a black drawing of a ram with two giant horns.
"Is that the mark of Capricorn?" Irene thought the drawing was familiar, but her guess just made Laffe shake his head.
"We thought the same thing when we first saw it, but now, we're not so sure," Laffe said, "Whenever we killed a beast, our tattoos would shine for a moment, wrapping the things we killed in some kind of light. It would then tear the beast's skin off of its body and wrap us up in it.
While wearing the beast skin, we felt somewhat different. It was a good feeling, one that made us feel safe. But whenever we took it off, we could feel how the darkness was hugging at our bodies.
We also learned that we could trigger the tattoo to absorb the beast skin into it and vice versa. We tried giving the beast skin clothes to our friends, but without the tattoo, they couldn't achieve the same effect. Any beast skin we draped over them wouldn't be enchanted with the same abilities."
"So that's why you all survived the nights..." Irene nodded before asking, "When did you realise that sleeping in the darkness did something to your minds?"
"It was on the third night... One of us went insane. He was a Rank 1 Evolver, and from what we noticed, the stronger one's [Will], the slower the effects would take place. All of the Evolvers were the first to go mad, followed by Artists, and then the Dictators came last."
"I understand now," Irene then moved the conversation along, "So what are you planning to do from here? I'm pretty sure you've all noticed how the torches can stop you from being affected by the darkness. Will you be looking for a place to stay despite having a way to fight it?"
It was then that Cammille who had mostly been silent, found the opportunity to speak, "We plan on finding a way back to the surface. We've barely been holding on with the beasts we kill, but after a week or two, we might not be able to keep it up. The water here isn't fun to drink."
Laffe nodded, "Just a few days ago, we came across a few Orcs. They chased us into a corner and were surprisingly able to speak Illyasian. They were also very human-like. They said that if we could direct them to the kingdom-city near here, they would let us go.
And they really did let us go! After we showed them that place where the Greater Goblins were staying, they allowed us to run free. I don't know what they're planning on doing, but it looked like they were gathering information.
If there's going to be a fight, we were planning on sneaking our way in to see if we could use anything there."
"Well, there might just be a fight indeed. Your guess isn't too far off." Irene relayed what Athelei had lectured her on. She gave them information about the relationship between the three races and their eternal war.
Hearing Irene's words, the four Adventurers' eyes gleamed. They allowed themselves the hope of finding their own way out.
Asking Irene for help did not cross their minds at all. They had already been saved, and by a daughter of a famous noble family at that. Not to mention the status of being someone at Rank 3. Elites at such a level were legends to them.
The idea of asking for more made them uncomfortable.
After all, the way nobles treated commoners in Illyas was known to be the least oppressive in the world, as balance was not a loved practice in countries other than Illyas.
Illum was outright crazy, and infamously so. The three countries on the eastern corner of the continent, Ao, Erris, and Is'thal were warmongers where a patriarchal society bloomed and flourished. Lav'Li, the country to Illyas' southeast believed only in the strong. As for the two distant countries at the west corner of the continent, Hille and Halle, they were lovers of the noble system.
Stories born from the situations in different countries always lay in the minds of the commoners of Illyas. They knew that such a system would not fly in their lands, as such an 'imbalance' was essentially an act against Libra's teachings.
...But it did scare them at times.
The difference in ability, education, eloquence, and wealth brought about the side-effect of intimidation. The idea that their protectors were powerful was soothing yet alarming at the same time.
Irene though was used to conversing with those who were intimidated by her. Even other nobles were sometimes no different from commoners. With grand talent and a mysterious background to back her up, a lot of people rarely met her gaze when she was in no mood to smile.
Right now, she was actually quite interested in seeing what a battle between monsters would look like. War was something she had only heard stories of. Even her largest battle had been the recent one in Aren, as all of her conflicts usually lay in old ruins, against curses and weird beings.
Beasts and unpleasant Adventurers were her usual opponents out in the wild.
Moreover, after hearing about the Orcs and connecting a few dots, Athelei had informed her of the traces of movement he had spotted near Lioxus. The possibility that those traces were left by those same Orcs that had threatened the party of four was high.
It meant that these Adventurers were rather trustworthy, boosting the image they had in Irene's mind. And, while Athelei and Irene conversed through the mark in the latter's soul, the Dictator was able to feel the bubbling curiosity of her companion.
Thus, after taking the time to inform her fellow Illyasians of the situation in the [First Kingdom], she ended her lecture with,
"If you four are heading towards Lioxus, then I can take you with me. I can drop you inside when the battle starts, which would probably occur soon."
.
.
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A few hundred kilometres to the south.
Green-robed individuals were peering down a hole situated at the end of one of the labyrinth's corridors.
"This should be it," One of the Spiritualists spoke, making all of them nod.
"The journal claimed that the darkness is dangerous for any of those who sleep within it. Shall we camp here and send our Nightwalker bodies in? We can first look for a reliable place to stay, take over a kingdom-city, and then move from there." A Spiritualist, whose green robe was lined with silver, mumbled to himself as he gazed into the home of beasts and monsters.
After a brief argument with himself, he sent a command.
"Set up camp here. Head back up the upper levels to inform our brothers and grab those torches from the green vermin we had to exterminate. We are another step closer to ascension!"
The Spiritualist's eyes then lost focus for a few seconds. When he returned to his senses, his expression grew stern.
"Make sure to also prepare the welcoming of Assault Leader Claire! She and her subordinates will be arriving in three days. If she gets a whiff of any incompetence, don't blame me for the whips you will be blessed with."
The Spiritualist's brows twitched as he eyed each of his own subordinates. The questions in their mind were as clear as day.
"The Exiled had targetted her battalion, putting her in a rather irascible mood ever since, so I advise all of you to discipline yourselves."