"What do you mean?" Nier asked as he was alarmed.
"Dungeons are usually already in existence with the only task left being discovering them. But it's not unprecedented for them to suddenly manifest for unknown reasons or because a group of strong sorcerers decide to make one. A squad member reported to me that she spotted a building here while on a mission. She felt it was dangerous to investigate an unexplored territory alone. Today I decided to visit this place but she didn't mention these statues" The prince said with a frown.
"This is weird...Is it a coincidence that the person who spotted this happened to be squad mate and no other person did. Also- do you know what these represent?" NIer asked
"Coincidence? Heh, my teacher said that he didn't believe is coincidence. 'A coincidence is just a mask of the non-physical. A disguise that is unforeseeable unless you are prepared for it. They are tool that can hide a puppeteer's fingers as he let's the plot unfold and the children wonder in astonishment how he does it'.
I'd say that while you can think of it as a coincidence. You have to keep the probability of it being a plan in your mind but never get consumed by that threat."
Nier nodded and after a moment of hesitation replied "You think they are actual humans? Though I cannot sense any mana in the statues" 'Or see any'
"Same with me. I was informed of this dungeon two days ago at eleventh of Aperil- which is a day before you arrived. Human mana dissipates in less than a day which can be a reason to why there is no mana. This...Let's enter the dungeon before we jump to conclusions."
Reaching the building, they spotted an 'ancient' door. Magnus put his palm on the door and pushed it. It didn't immediately open so he put more force and the door opened.
*Grrrr
The sound of the door opening echoed inside dungeon as darkness came into view.
Magnus pulled out a small ball from his pockets and poured mana into it as the ball suddenly produced a dazzling light and settled down to a comfortable light.
Nier was curious about the artifact but didn't probe as he focused on his surroundings.
They were in a circular room with a hole in the center where there were spiral stairs made of stone which went down the hole.
Looking around, the wall had several paintings- murals.
In front, he saw the painting of woman that wore a regal black dress with a veil on her face that only left her lips on which there was gentle smile. There were many gems embedded in her dress which were different in color. Orange, blue, green, brown etcatera. Behind her were trees and pointy branches with flowers of different colours. Her hands were carrying a blue coloured baby that had trees emerging from its skin. His eyes went further left where he saw two moons- one blue and the other purple shining brightly on the top and a tree in the background which Nier couldn't completely determine as it was too faded. To the right of the lady- he saw that the mural was painted dark red and a mountain of skull and bones stood under the red sky...He could see a what looked like an upside down tree painted with it's roots in the sky.
Nier frowned looking at the mural.
"Have a clue?"
Nier asked taking a deep breath.
Magnus thought for deeply for some time before he he pointed at the left of the smiling lady.
"Those two probably represent two of our three moons, Arorus the purple and Aropus the blue. I don't know why the gray one isn't here. I don't know what tree that is...
Magnus walked to the right of the lady and calmly looked at the paintings for a moment before he said.
"This is a bit worrying honestly...Completely dark red sky...A mountain of skulls-...This..."
Magnus turned silence, his face focused with a frown.
"What?"
"No idea...I am frankly not an expert in this department so I'll have to check the royal library or ask someone who is..."
Magnus said as his expression changed into indifference.
"As for the lady, I have no idea. None of the five gods have been depicted like her. She could be one of those arcane unorthodox gods that a cult might believe in" Magnus said.
"How'd you jump to that conclusion?" Nier asked with his eyebrows raised.
"Sigh* There are many secret organisations that unfortunately plague the world. As a squad leader, I have to be knowledgeable on such organisations. Many people have been disappearing lately which prompted me to brush up my knowledge. I guess it just got to mind" Magnus said with a tired expression
'Secret Organisations? I'd like to know'
Nier's expression froze when he heard the word as a childlike excitement seeped into him but he forced himself to be indifferent.
"Anyways- do you wish to continue?"
Magnus asked with a gentle smile.
'You could have sent someone to peek and come back to inform us of the danger but you wanted to be first" Nier silently lamented but he nodded as curiousity got the better of him. Besides, he believed in the Prince's strength after having trained with him for a while.
'He is probably a Master Sorcerer or above it..'
Magnus took the lead as he walked down the spiral staircase.
Nier followed through as the artifact that produced light allowed vision. Although he had a level of 'night vision' it worked best when he actively poured mana in his eyes. Wanting to keep his reserved full, Nier silently appreciated the light.
The staircase seemed to be long as they walked for more than 5 minutes before seeing another floor.
Suddenly Magnus was alarmed as he he kept a stoic expression.
The floor in view seemed to have light from other sources. The sources came in view as Nier jumped of the stairs on to the floor. There were many lamps attached to the walls of what seemed like a spacious hallway. The stairs continued further down but Nier kept it out of his mind.
"There are mana residuals here"
Magnus said calmly
Nier realised this as soon as the prince said it.
'Sigh* He surpasses me in sensory abilities as well' Nier thought as he focused on the location of the residuals.
Usually speaking, remnants of mana faded in less than one day if the said mana was extremely potent and the remnants weren't tampered with in any way.
'Their was probably some activity here recently, the perpetrator could still be inside the dungeon'
Just as he said this, he realised he could sense an active mana source.
'Don't tell me there is actually someone here?'
He looked towards Magnus and found him nodding.
'They are in separate rooms?'
As he was thinking, Nier realised that walls had many cracks and many ashes that seemed to have painted the walls
'Signs of battle?'
Magnus thought the same after noticing the peculiarities
The duo arrived in front of the room which had the residuals. There was no door so Nier could see the room.
He immediately frowned
It seemed like a spacious hall with many lamps on the wall allowing vision. Magnus had already turned off the artifact which produced light. The walls had many burns and cracks, infact- there was a giant hole on the wall between the hallway and the room.
What was most striking were the corpses that laid on the floor with flowers blooming out of them
Nier felt creeped out but curiously walked over to a nearby corpse.
It was the corpse of a tall man. It was mangled and covered in green fluid as many of its organs were visible and twisted. There were blood red flowers growing from the body. The man's head was open on the top as his brain had spewed out. The man's eye sockets were empty but his nose and mouth were intact. There was a wide smile on his face. The corpse strangely didn't smell, infact it was fragrant.
"!"
Nier's expression warped, he realised the other corpses were similarly destroyed. Not everyone had their faces left but whatever had a face, had a smile.
There were total of three humans but there animals as well. All with smiles on them. There were also the red flowers growing from all of them.
Magnus was similarly disgusted as he looked around.
"Flowers that feed on blood? They couldn't be mana suckers since they are growing even after their death" Nier muttered as he looked at the bodies
"There was probably a battle here. The flowers are either someone's magic or could be an unknown species. Though it is probably the former" Magnus said after some thought
'Hmm, that's.. if they are part of someone's technique- it's got to be a powerful one since the flowers do not need mana to function. They could be planted once and the user wouldn't need to waste mana in maintaining them. They would suck their opponent's blood passively weakening them. There could be things I am missing because of my weak knowledge and understanding of mana and magic. The prince should have more idea'
Nier suddenly had a thought and activated manaview.
'This...this guy has some other residuals but the one most common are fire and wood mana' Nier saw extremely thin fog like auras enveloping the body of the deceased man.
He moved his towards the other human.
'Fire and wood...water and wood...wind and wood...The animals have similar composition'
Nier realised that the probable user of the blood flower was not inside the room. His eyes widened as he stormed out of the room leaving Magnus baffled as he activated his eyes to look at the walls that had ashes.
'That...wood mana. Those ashes...are they the perpetrator's? Ashes...there are no bones and I am sure that it would take at least an Enlightened Sorcerer to be able to wipe someone who can take on that many people completely...Was it a plant monster? Or it could be someone who is weak in a fight directly but is good in secretive attacks. Wait...why not both?...Or neither? There is some else in that room as well'
Nier explained his hypothesis keeping his ability to mana a secret by claiming that he felt a plant was more likely to have the ability of producing real plants.
"What you said could be possible...but there is a problem with that...the statues outside. They had similar flowers and smiles but their body was intact and turned into stone. There is a high possibility that their were more than just a plant monster. Anyways, we should meet the person in that room"
Nier nodded as the duo walked towards the room diagonal to the corpse filled room.
The room was same as the other rooms but without any damage.
There was a woman standing in the room looking at the walls. She had dark green hair cascading and was average in height wearing a dark gray coat with a skirt that reached her knees. she wore black leggings underneath with high heals. There was a suitcase right besides her on the ground with tag attached to it that read a name on the suitcase.
"Alexa Moiera?" Nier said out loud.
The woman had already turned around revealing an average face that was pleasant to look. As soon the words left Nier's mouth, she revealed a shocked look with her mouth agape.
"You know me? Finally! Mother...I am famous" She muttered looking towards the ceiling with a blank expression.