Ren slowly walked down the dark cave, tracing the walls with her right hand. It was too dark to carelessly move about, so she stuck to the wall instead.
Without a source of light, she kept walking what she assumed to be straight ahead. She slightly wished the mana veins, which Michael created earlier , were still present. They gave off a faint light and would have helped her find the way, however she knew too well, that pushing Michael even further would be irresponsible.
After half an hour she saw faint light ahead and made her way there. At the end of the tunnel she arrived at a dome like underground cave. It was dimly lit by the mana that emitted from crystals, that spread all over the place. A carpet of moss covered the entire ground of the cave and occasionally mushrooms showed themselves in between.
Rays of moonlight poured in from the top, down on the center of the dome like cave, through a gaping hole. Reverie was sure, that this was the center of the volcano.
The place where the moonlight shined upon, was covered with a big round stone plate. There were several unidentifiable insignia engraved upon it. Ren approached the plate carefully and observed the insignia. She had never seen anything like this before, yet it felt awfully familiar to her.
She took a look around, wondering if there was a kind of mechanism. While she did so, her eyes fell on a couple of fire stones in between two of the crystals that grew out of the cave walls.
She was ultimately reminded why she came here in the first place and went to pick the stones up.
There still was enough time to investigate this place later on.
After she picked up the 3 stones she found, she made her way back.
On the way, several questions roamed through her head.
Why were there so few fire stones, when they were in the middle of a volcano?
Why was there this weird stone plate?
Why did it feel like she knew this place?
Where did Gilbert end up? Was he alright?
-He's probably fine.. He's strong, he would manage even if he encountered a Zom.
Thinking that she continued forth.
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Meanwhile...
"ACHOO!" ,rubbing his nose, Gilbert thought to himself;
-Someone is talking about me...Michael probably. He should be fine, right? After all Ren is there with him, she's the strongest of all of us. Yeah...they will manage for sure.
"Now then..." , looking straight ahead, Gilbert gave a cold and heartless expression to his opponent.
Gil usually showed a bright smile to the people close to him, however he was more of a ruthless and heartless person than anyone could imagine. And right now, he only wanted to survive, no matter what.
He was relieved, that he was separated from the others, he didn't want them to ever see him like this.
For a moment he thought about how he ended up in this situation though.
After he was separated from the other two, he was catapulted to one of the deepest corners of the abyss. The moment he opened his eyes, they would fall on the giant catarpillar like creature in front of him.
It wasn't a monster, because monsters were living beings, meanwhile the thing in front of him was a creature born in the abyss. A being without a soul or heart. It didn't even bleed when being cut, neither did it have skin.
This being was a giant catarpillar like plush ,with the face of a baby doll. Several doll limbs stuck out of the body, which showed an endless amount of stitches all over. The body was covered in a patchwork of endless fabrics, it looked colorful and creative but also bizzare because of the beings head. The doll face had cracks all over it and hollow eyes. The bright creepy grin on it's face was just the icing on the cake, to give one the chills when looking at it.
"Hu-man...hun-gry...", it spoke monotonely in a cracked rough voice.
This being was what they called a Zom. Zoms were soulless beings , born in the abyss, constantly looking for food. But they were picky eaters. They would only eat human souls, because they thought, they could become actual living beings with their own soul, by devouring them. It's obvious to say, that that is impossible.
There were several class tiers in which the zoms were categorized into.
They ranged from F to S. In the entirety of the abyss, there was only one S class Zom, while there was as little as a handful of A class Zoms. The higher tier Zoms were very rare but they were special. Not only did they show signs of intelligence, they also made good combat partners, if one made a contract with them. They were extremely powerful and feared for a reason. However the price for a contract was high.
Contractors were very rare too, as the few humans that ended up in the abyss die
before they could encounter a high ranking Zom.
Gilbert cast several spells and a sea of ice lances grew all around the Zom. They rained down on it at such high speed, the mere eye couldn't even follow it.
The lances pierced the creature all over and melted away instantly. There wasn't even a scratch, yet Gilbert had used one of his most powerful spells.
He knew battling this thing was disadvantageous for him, as long as he was in the abyss. The Zom in front of him wasn't particularly strong, it actually was from the E class tier and usually really weak, however, within the abyss Zoms were invincable ,no matter which class they were from. The only attacks that could deal damage to them ,were by other Zoms of a higher tier. So right now Gilbert was on the losing end and he hated it.
Gilbert was frustrated, that nothing he did worked. He looked behind the creature. There was a door, that would lead him to wherever he was supposed to go to, yet it was blocked by this colossus of a plush creature.
He had to create a distraction somehow, to be able to sneak to the door.
It didn't take him long to come up with an idea, though he knew it was risky.
-My ice lances all melted the moment they touched the body...What if I-
He didn't even think till the end and decided to not waste time. He would die no matter if it failed or not, so it was worth taking the risk.
He cast another spell and summoned an uncountable amount of ice blocks all around them. He let them rain down on the Zom at the same time and the moment they hit, they melted away, creating a cloud of steam.
This is what Gil was waiting for. He ran with all his might past the creature, as it's view was blocked, straight towards the door.
Just when he was about to touch the handle, he was stabbed from behind into his left shoulder. It barely missed his heart ,but the wound was extreme. What stabbed him was the needle like tail of the Zom, which he didn't see till now. He cursed between gritted teeth, but didn't give up.
The Zom brutally ripped his tail out of Gilberts body and turned to face him. His clothes stained crimson in an instant and he touched the spot where the hole was with his right hand. He slowly staggered around to face the creature who just struck him and gave a wry smile in an attempt of mockery at it.
"Hu-man...yu-mmy...", it spoke again.
Gilbert made a grim and cold expression at it in response, before taking a step backwards towards the door. And another one. While the Zom got closer and closer, Gilbert placed his left hand behind his back , ignoring the pain that shot through him and opened the door, letting himself fall backwards.
Whatever awaited him on the other side, he hoped it wouldn't kill him.
-to be continued-