The end of the corridor opened up into a large room. Matthew clenched his nose as he walked in. He suppressed his gag as the stench of blood filled his nostril.
He moved his light around and noticed six more openings around the room.
Clyde walked up to him and patted him on his shoulder,
"You should stay back." Matthew wanted to protest but Yuni yanked him back and said,
"Stay with my brother."
She and Clyde walked forward towards the other corridors.
Matthew saw Yan limped in.
"You need any help?" Matthew asked out of courtesy but Yan shook his head.
Matthew left him on his device and moved the light around the room.
All six corridors were separated into groups of two. One of them looked collapsed. Matthew looked at the ceiling.
'That's almost twice the height of the room we were in.' Matthew let go of his nose. Each breath made him dizzy but he distracted himself with the room.
He couldn't help but wonder how deep they were. He could see small roots hanging down from the ceiling. Although odd, he moved on with the light to inspect the room. His light fell on a bush filled with flowers nestled between two other corridors.
'What kind of flower is this?' Matthew observed the thick foliage. Small red flowers grew from the branches. Its petals were twisted on itself like a ball. It looks like a small golf ball.
Matthew used the light to observe the bush from a distance before saying,
"That doesn't look like a normal plant."
"It's not. Nocturna wrightii also known as Night Flower. These can be found all over the places like dungeons or anywhere with blood." Yan replied as he leaned on the wall.
Matthew glanced at him with raised eyebrows,
"Are they dangerous?" He looked back at the bean-like flowers. They looked harmless.
Yan gracefully threw the empty bottle into the bush.
*swiss*
Out of nowhere, a bunch of vines shoots out.
'Shit!'
Matthew jumped on the spot but the vines wrapped around the bottle.
*snap*
The vine crushed the bottle and dragged it inside the bush.
Matthew took a deep breath but regretted it immediately. But the discomfort calmed his shaking heart.
Matthew looked down at hand. All his hair was standing like a porcupine. He clenched his fist,
'Calm down, Matthew.' He reassured himself and looked at Yan,
"Those...plants? What are they doing down here?" He asked for more information.
"Those plants have a symbiotic relationship with the void creature around them. They hold down the prey for any void creature to come. The creature gets the food while it gets the blood."
Yan explained as he noticed Matthews slightly shiver. He noted his reaction and continued,
"It is a death sentence if you can't light a fire."
"Are there more of these?" Matthew couldn't help but ask.
"There are far more dangerous things than that in these crypts." It was Clyde who replied. He and Yuni returned from the side after inspecting all the corridors. His words although predictable weren't any less reassuring.
Thankfully Matthew still had the doll in his possession. Clyde and Yuni made their way over.
"Except for the one we came through, all six corridors have a blood trail," Clyde spoke as he put on glasses that immediately hid the glow in his eyes.
"No sign of any resistance. Probably got ambushed." Yuni added.
"Which is concerning. All the blood has high traces of Void Radiation." Clyde looked at Yan.
"What does that mean?" Matthew inquired. Clyde looked at Yan who explained as he pushed off the wall.
"Beholder blood. Our blood has a high amount of Void radiation. But it seems they are not dead."
"How can you tell?" Matthew didn't see how much blood was spilled but it was certainly enough to reek. He can now almost taste it.
"When a Beholder dies, their energy reserve collapses. A sudden collapse in energy will cause their Gift to go into preservation mode. Which in turn pulls void radiation in to heal itself. A chain reaction will occur where their energy reserve is simultaneously collapsing and healing itself. But the void radiation is finite and such a rapid rate of absorption will cause a vacuum in the area. All the absorbed radiation will force out to fill in the vacuum."
Matthew flashed the light in his face. Yan squinted.
"What?"
"So what, they just go Kaboom?" Matthew asked plainly.
"Yeah, that's the gist of it." Yan looked at Matthew pulling the light away. He could see Clyde shaking his head as he spoke to Yuni,
"This is the first time I heard someone describe it as Kaboom."
"I like how it sounds. Better than all that nerd nonsense." Yuni shrugged her shoulder.
"Ah yes. Need nonsense." Clyde sneered at her as he turned away. Yuni glared a hole through him but he ignored her and looked at Yan.
"From what I can gather, we have something that's hunting Beholders. Looks like you lucked out from the Shifting doors."
Clyde gave a small glance at Matthew. Yan gave him a thankful nod but Yuni grunted. Matthew however was focused on something else.
"There were three corridors when we entered. Those roots... This room is too close to the surface."
He pointed at the ceiling. Everyone looked up too.
"Roots go deep don't that?" Yuni couldn't understand what the problem was. But Yan did,
"You think we are in a different part of the crypt."
"Beats me. I just know this..." Matthew pointed at the roots.
"There is nothing for them here to piece through concrete."
"What are you implying?" Clyde asked for more clarification.
"I'm not implying anything. It's just an observation." Matthew shrugged as he looked at them.
"And? I really don't see the point." Yuni alternated her gaze between all three. She didn't understand what was so damm interesting about some roots.
Matthew shook his in dismissal,
"I have a bad habit of noticing useless things. It could be something or nothing."
"Crypts are already as creepy as it gets. Any idea what to do now?" Yuni asked for his input.
"Anything that involved not going in those corridors," Clyde added.
"It might be a safer option," Yan suggested. Matthew smiled,
"My thought exactly. Now let's see enny minny menne..." he pointed at each of the corridors when,
*rumble*
Suddenly the crypt shook violently.
This time Matthew fall on his butt. Yuni and Clyde remained upright with Yan leaning back against the wall.
"This again!" Yuni grumbled when a loud bang startled them.
Weapons were drawn but there were no threats. Matthew pointed his light he heard something sliding up. The corridor they came through got blocked by a stone gate.
Matthew pointed at other corridors. It took less the five seconds for all of them to shut down.
"Looks like it was the wrong answer." Matthew snickered.
Clyde and Yuni keep their weapons out.
'Looks like we are really being funneled towards somewhere.' Matthew licked his lips from an unknown sense of discomfort l.
And then the floor slowly started to shift down.
...
The control room was not big. It was fit for a few people to operate. The girl leaned back in the chair as she pressed some buttons and watched the platform descend slowly.
Her dark purple hair was cut just above her shoulder. She looked around 17 wearing a dark blue jacket over a tank top and tight leggings. One handgun was strapped to her thighs. She put her feet on the control board as she focused on the other monitor.
*static*
[Why did the crypt shake again?]
From the earpiece, a voice came through. It was slightly out of breath but still relaxed.
"These idiots missed four Agents."
She looked back at the Royal Merchant Guild's security force. Their black and grey outfit was an eyesore for her. Piled on top of each other all three of them were simply knocked out.
[Any Beholder- *bang* *bang* Any beholder among them?]
She could hear gunshots but she wasn't worried about him.
"Three. Two Absorption and One Mutation. All Green."
[What about the fourth one? *clink* ]
She looked through the database on her phone. She has already hacked into the Royal's mainframe to see the details of this commission.
"No record. Probably someone new or last minutes addition." She replied. Her hand itched to dig through the files to find his identity.
"Let me dig it up."
would love to dig around to solve it.
[*bang* *bang* *bang* Tch. Leave it. We are on the clock. Status on the progress.]
"We are doing fine. Let me take a look. It will just take a few minutes. I can find him." But the response came swiftly in a resounding no.
[*clink* Rose, don't make me ground your ass. Status on the progress.]
"Jeez. You sound like my brother. D'Marcus managed to capture nine. We need nine more."
[*bang* Keep me updated. I'll lure the RCUVA away. Inform me when they try to flank me.]
*static* The signal cut off.
She sighed and looked at the monitor. The descending platform was nearing the bottom. She zoomed in on the boy with red hair.
'Focus on the mission Rose,' She took out a tablet to observe all the Agent's positions in the crypt. The red dots represent all the Free Agents. Blue ones are her allies while Purple ones are RCUVA agents.
The 3d hologram showed a picture of the crypt. One entrance branched into three main hallways which connects to three primary open rooms. Each room is connected to six more corridors that connect to the lower levels. There are a total of five levels.
The first level consists of the entrance and three large corridors that connect to the primary room. They are designated A-1 to A-3. The entire level one was clear except for the four that somehow avoid detection in A-1. The four of them now making it down to level two.
A-1 is the only Room that's connected to level two. It was filled with yellow dots. Void Creatures. She can see one blue dot there.
"D'Marcus. I'm sending three Beholders down."
She spoke in her earpiece.
[What? I thought level one was empty.]
"Don't worry about it. They are descending from A-1. Two Absorption and One Mutation."
[Dammit Rose. I can't control the Morre-3 for an extended battle. The Royal Guild still doesn't know they have been infiltrated. I don't wanna risk getting cornered by them out of the blue.]
"Hey, D'Marcus." She said with a calm tone.
[Yeah?]
"If I don't see your ass moving, I'm gonna tell Inae about Jeris City." She reminded him.
[...Fine. If something goes wrong, I'm not taking the blame.] He quickly folded and cut off the connection.
Level two was just a big room with large pillars. It has only one corridor that connected to the burial chamber and the entrance to Level Three.
Level three was very different. Connected to A-3 directly it was filled with lush vegetation and small pools of water. Also, the place where another blue dot was surrounded by four purple dots. Hammer was running away from them as purple dots trailed behind. She noticed the other three were on level five. For now, he's safe from an ambush. But as long as Hammer keep them on level three he'll be fine.
Rose closed the hologram and looked at the monitor. The platform was near the second level. She kept looking at the red-haired boy. No matter what her mind kept nagging about him.
'Just a peek. Hammer won't know. Yes. Just a peek.'
She logged back into the RCUVA Records.
Something no one apart from Holy Knights can access to. Or at least those who can keep their access hidden instead of leaving them on their bed. She just hoped her brother doesn't look too deep into the login schedules. Then again, he might be too busy with his concert tour. It was postponed a month last time she checked.
She used her access to shift through all the records. Running facial recognition and looking for matches in Citizen Records. And the Royal's Commission database to find the Free Agent that can match his physical description.
*No Match* *No Match* *No Match*
The more she shifted through the records the more confused she became. She used the RCUVA to access the public records and kept searching.
*No Match*
She looked at the blinking red line. There was no record of any kind. No footage of any kind. There is nothing on him. As far as the records are concerned he might as well not exist.
She looked back at the red-haired boy. He was talking with the three Beholders. He looked unprepared without any armor or weapons. A curve appeared on her lips,
"So mysterious. And interesting."
She took a photo and sent a simple message to D'Marcus.