Chapter 71: The Frozen Undead
***
The journey inside this dark cavern brought along a new sensation for Vlad who moved slowly followed by the Lunarian whose back was enveloped in burning flames with his wings being fully tucked to his back.
Dalyon instead of focusing on his surroundings remained in a hostile mindset against the black-haired man, just in case he might try something behind his back to mess him up, but as time passed his focus became split between Vlad and the uniquely shaped cavern.
The sights he would gain thanks to his fire which brought some light in this dark cavern was stunning, something he never saw in his young life.
The dark stalagmites and stalactites coming from the ceiling and the floor of the pathway was impressive at first hand, and while watching Vlad, he noticed how there was no sign of being impressed by what he was "seeing".
There was something else in this dark cavern that caught Vlad's attention, the unnatural flat of the floor which made him slow down, humming a bit and having the echoes move along the expanses of the cavern.
On their way, somewhere unknown, there were some bugs jumping off the stalagmites to attack them, which he took care of rather easily with a Flame Barrier. Yet, Vlad didn't even react, to say something of his gesture, he just kept on moving like someone possessed.
"... So … what is this place exactly?"
"Can't you see it for yourself?" asked Vlad sarcastically, while dropping to touch the cold floor of this cavern, where to his shock he stumbled upon something akin to a brick.
"A cave?"
"Does it feel natural to you, boy? Can't you see the tool marks all around you?"
The young lunarian shifted his attention to the place Vlad was checking, and using his flame to light around the frozen ground, he finally noticed the brick layout on the floor.
While remaining silent, in this dark pathway to the unknown, the group finally stumbled upon an ancient entrance to the next location of this dark cavern, but the moment they arrived in front of this ancient entrance the opening of a mechanism that shook around the place made them get vigilant.
"Was that the opening to something?"
"..."
Vlad remained quiet since he too had no clue what just happened, but a minute after the opening of the mechanism in the ancient entrance, the sound of slow movement and growls made the two watch carefully in the dark of the cavern.
Dalyon in his impatience to find out what this cavern under the Temple many generations of his people were tasked to protect without having a clue that something like this existed, formed a ball of fire into his right hand which he tossed in the direction of the sound.
"What the?? Frozen lowborns? But how are they able to move?"
What he could see were people with frozen appearances wearing clothes with different styles, but for the most part they respected a standard of being thick, as if for a long journey in the mountains. And before the young Lunarian could process the strange information, the frozen people growled at the presence of the fire, and dashed at the two with incredible speed which didn't make sense considering their state.
"Oho, you people are frozen and still possess such abilities? Interesting." commented Dalyon who formed a Flaming Spear into his right hand, which he used to block one of the attacking frozen people.
On the other hand, Vlad who also got targeted sensed the trajectory of the downswing strike from the frozen guy and with his black cane morphing into a curved blade, he swung at the man's hand only to experience heavy resistance, as if he was cutting into a glacier.
Dalyon's expression also looked to be confused since his Flaming Spear didn't manage to piece the flesh of the attacking enemy, and with another of the frozen people charging at him, he sidestepped unleashing another powerful spear attack, this time being covered in his Armament Haki.
"This one will surely send you on your way."
The clash between the Lunarians Flaming Spear and the frozen body of the man charging at him only resulted in some cracks on the icy armor barely visible to the untrained eye.
"Or not … Lowborn, what are those frozen guys? This doesn't make sense, how could they be alive?"
Hearing that question while facing 2 of those frozen people who showed reckless abandon in their strikes, as if not caring about his countering which might end their lives, made him take his time before answering since he wasn't sure himself.
Only after 3 minutes after fighting those frozen people, where he would dodge and counter, made him realize what they were facing, and it shook his sets of beliefs to the core.
"Those people … aren't alive. They are like … strigois."
"Strigoi? What the fuck? … What's that?" asked Dalyon who was facing 4 of those frozen undead, chipping away at their icy armor with brute force.
"They are undead monsters cursed to never rest in Heaven and always roam around the lands of the living.
Simply put, those are the people who committed a lot of evil acts that weren't worthy enough of ascending to God's Throne." responded Vlad with the information he knew from his first life, since there wasn't anything that mentioned such a situation in his almost 9 years of studying in this new life.
"Sounds like a lot of bullcrap if you ask me. Do you believe what you've just said?"
"Boy, when you lack information about something, you tend to stick with what you've gotten."
Dalyon only scoffed at Vlad's explanation, and without a care in the world, began unleashing a storm of burning attacks which even melted the icy ground they were standing, while for the undead monsters it only weakened their defenses.
Such ability of the fire correlated with the high defense of the undead monsters made the fight easier for Dalyon, while Vlad still struggled to inflict major damage to the monsters.
"Wash my undead into some of your flames so I can take them down."
"Why should I help you? Wouldn't it be in my interest if those monsters kill you?"
"... Makes sense." remarked Vlad, while dodging the sharp claws of the frozen undead, before he started moving around, slowly taking the monsters to Dalyon.
"Hey, hey. What are you doing? I adjusted to fighting 4 of those monsters, not 6. Are you looking for a fight, you lowborn?"
The Lunarian was quickly to ignite and thinking Vlad planned his demise by utilizing the frozen undead, he did a
"Not really. You can focus on those undeads of yours, while I will take care of those 2."
Saying that Vlad used his
Even the young Lunarian noticed the differences after utilizing his
"Ahh, finally! Those monsters can go to Hell." remarked Dalyon who shifted to a swifter spearplay which worked like a charm on the monsters, being left without their sturdy armor.
Making quick work of the monsters, with a wide smirk on his face he turned to Vlad thinking he might need his help on ending those monsters, only to see the black-haired man gaze at him with both undead monsters being left decapitated and without limbs.
"What are you looking at, lowborn?"
"... Nothing in particular." replied Vlad casually, not giving a single thought to the fact this brat was calling him lowborn, before turning to walk at the ancient entrance, followed by Dalyon who was tense around him, thinking of what happened in the fight.
Stepping inside this entrance the lunarian could see a particular architecture of this place, which reminded him of the stories of his predecessor about their ancestral home ravaged by war and aliens who came from the moons.
There was mastery ingrained in the decorations of the walls with various motifs, from the moons to the stars, along with the endless tree roots taking to nowhere.
Vlad could sense with his Echolocation those decorations, and instead of implanting themselves into his mind, reminding him of anything from his life similar to Daylon, it only confirmed to him how he reached the right location.
And as he got out of this hallway, he and the young lunarian found themselves in a room splitting in two directions.
"Crossroads? I say we take the right path." mentioned Dalyon taking the first step toward the right pathway of this cavern, but Vlad didn't follow but instead remained in this crossroads room bifurcating into two.
"Hah, if you want to remain here, I'll go ahead. Don't die." said the young lunarian, who distanced himself from Vlad, slowly but surely returning the cavern room to its natural habitat.
Thinking about his experience with the Galena Mountain and its challenge to claim the Black Sword, he slowed himself down, contemplating his next choice while moving around in circles.
"Let's see if that guy left me any message at the crossroads. Afterall, from what I could undersand, he is the type to set you up and mess you up psychologically."
In his circling motion, all sorts of thoughts were brought up and with a check of the walls in case he might stumble upon some characters giving a message, he found none.
It was when he returned to stand at the branching of the room, in the center that he thought of the Ancient Hallway and how it was the point that opened the way for the frozen undeads.
"The branching of the roots from the center of the ceiling started going in all directions, branching themselves, while the moons and stars were directed on the …"
Pondering about this, he chooses to walk back to the ancient hallway, only to discover to his shock the passage being blocked by a wall.
"Really Atlas? You got to mess with me even this early?"
Taking a deep breath of air, he placed his fist on the wall closing his access to the hallway, and using his
"That strong? This isn't some normal stone. Maybe if I had the brat's ability of Armament, I could have broken out … or not. Let's try one with the sword, and if it doesn't work, I'll just have to wait until I get the mapping of the roots."
Morphing his weapon it sword form, he took some distance from it, before swinging with everything he got, to unleash a dark-red colored Energy Blade colliding with a lot of intensity with the wall, which only worked to lift the dust around the room and revealing a scarring on the wall which began closing up swiftly.
"Not even this works? Why even waste so much material and effort to build something which would stop me … is not as if I try to get out. Don't worry, just open the way, and I will return."
"..."
With his Echolocation constantly checking to see if the wall would lift, there was no such response which made him murmur something, cursing in a peasant and old dialect of Romanian, before returning defeated to the crossroads, beginning to think about what he managed to pick with his "sight".
'So, from the branching roots they would twist around various parts of the hallway leading to this door, but there were also the moons and stars which directed one to a direction. Some were on the left side, while others on the right side of the hallway.'
'It doesn't make a connection since there are on both sides the same hints.'
'Wait, let's go with the direction there were more irregularities. Meaning, to the left.'
"Left is it, then."
Taking off toward the left side, ignoring that Dalyon choose to go with the Right path, on his slow walk it didn't take long for him to experience the irregularities and the traps spread around this entire path.
His senses were on alert all the time he was in this path, and with a random step he placed on the ground, he set off a trap that began launching at him some sharp projectiles which moved with such a speed that he could barely dodge some daggers with the rest stabbing him mercilessly.
"Crazy fuck. Setting up traps as if you don't want people to get your treasure. What's the point in making such an intricate story about your life and exploits, if you don't want someone to claim your treasure…"
Taking out the daggers from his body, which brought even more pain to him, he noticed how the effects of the
With a cold expression on his face, he began moving on the dark path and on the second he activated another trap, he morphed the black cane into a shield receiving all the projectiles which sent him flying back to the starting point of the pathway.
*Buzz* *Buzz*
The black shield started shaking in his hands, clear dissatisfaction on how it was wielded, but did Vlad care about the complaints? His response annoyed the weapon past the normal average.
"If you have complaints, sent them to your stupid master for making it hard on me."
*Buzz*
"What do you mean, I am the one stupid? Scrap metal, so you can guess, I took the correct route otherwise, I would by now be fighting some monsters."
Akin to some prophetic words, the underground cavern started shaking while the temperature raised along with the maddening roars of the young lunarian who gave the impression he suffered greatly at the hands of the "Great Atlas" and his challenges.
"What's this sticky substance?! I can't fly!!"
"BURN YOU STUPID NET!"
Vlad, who gave the black shield a condemning look as if he was aware that something bad might happen to the youngster, couldn't help but mock his weapon, rubbing some salt in its spirit's arrogance.
"Haven't I told you scraps? While I agree that I might make some bad choices … At times … when I focus on my tasks, I am always making the right choice. Like this one."
*Buzz*
"Tch, if I don't drop you in some dirty sewer, letting you rot there, don't call me Dracul."
The back and forth between the master and weapon gave the impression that Vlad had some brain problems for talking to himself out loud, and resuming to his journey, he pushed past the traps using the Black Shield to tank all of the damaging shots, until he reached exited the section packed with murderous traps, even with his Observation Haki he couldn't figure out in trajectory, speed, or power.
'Brat, if you manage to survive this experience, you might have a big chance of becoming a man.' mentioned Vlad to himself, thinking about the commotion Dalyon caused on the right branch of the cavern, since he failed to hear his voice, as if he got dragged deeper in the underground cavern.
.
Meanwhile, the young Lunarian who initially thought he hit the jackpot for not experiencing any traps, after he entered into a bigger chamber. It was when he got the taste of the inability to respond back, that his luck turned around for the worst.
From all sides of the chamber, various tubes made from copper appeared in his sight, beginning to spew at him a substance that he was trying his best to evade.
Yet, because he got flanked from all sides it didn't take long for him to get touched by the substance which initially didn't show an instant effect, but he could feel his flames being extinguished.
"What's this sticky substance?! I can't fly!! My flames are dying down."
"No, no, I can't allow this. A Lunarian without his flames is just like a lowborn."
Acting panicked he ignited himself, but without any success.
The substance began hardening itself, and immediately with the hardening as if someone was watching him.
Then from the ceiling, the large head of a monstrous spider covered in frost began spewing its spider net enveloping Dalyon in its trap, leading to extra psychological effects on the youngster who never experienced such a situation.
"BURN YOU STUPID NET!"
He tried to force his way using brute force, but as if he got trapped in quicksand, his flames died down faster, and with the spider net enveloping him, he felt doom.
"My powers! Come on, work!! AHHHHH!!"
Struggling to get himself freed, the feeling of doom increased even more after noticing the monstrous spider opening its mouth spewing some extra saliva on him which hardened his body like a stone statue.
"I can't die here! My people! I have to take revenge for my people! HELP!!"
"LOW…" he wanted to ask for Vlad's help, but he didn't quite remember his name when they introduced each other.
"DRACUL! HELP ME!! I WILL OWE YOU ONE!!" shouted the youngster who noticed the monstrous spider covered in snow and ice, beginning to descend on him, holding itself with the icy spider net.
When he said that, giving the impression someone was listening closely to the young Lunarian, the floor opened up like a double door, sending the boy descending, away from the spider which shrieked in anger and displeasure that his food escaped, but from deeper in the cavern a strong blizzard hit the face of the spider, making it return to the ceiling with fear in its body.
"AHHHHH!! SORRY TEACHER!! I am just a fool who didn't listen to you and your teachings."
Dalyon who was experiencing a free fall without having the ability to fly and resisting thanks to the spider web and sticky substance, went down thousands of meters losing the sense of what altitude he was at until some spider webs caught him into one rock.
"..."
"Am I alive?"
Without his flames, and with the ability to move, he was like a captured bird inside a tight cage, and understanding he was alive, he started calling out for help, the first sign a sane person would do to escape from hardships.
"Help! Can someone hear me?"
"Help!"
He continued like this for 30 minutes, and getting his throat sore from all his shouting, he began having all sorts of dark thoughts about being left here to die in darkness, with the coldness starting to catch up to him.
Closing his red eyes and feeling defeated, the proud Lunarian, unable to even escape from such a situation, looked pathetic.
"I can't die. I have to think of a way out."
Beginning to swing around, thinking he might cut off the spider net caught into one sharp stone, it only backfired on him, by getting the sticky net get stuck to the rock, and instead of being a cage bird, he became an insect pinned down on a board.
"Fuck! Why did it backfire like this?
Cursed spider net, cursed mountain. I shouldn't have sworn to remain in the temple and instead roam the seas being on the run. Those Marines wouldn't be able to catch me anyway since I can fly."
He talked to himself, cursing the mountain, and his situation, all until he heard some signs of activity when the voices of some women passed past the section of the mountain he was trapped inside.
"The weather turned rather harsh all of a sudden. We should find a safe location or we'll freeze this high."
"You are right, Fairy. But there's no cave around this part of the mountain."
"Let's lower some more … maybe we will get to one of Vlad's camps."
Daylon was absent-minded initially, and listening to those women's voices distancing himself from him, with the last resort, he shouted with everything he got, to attract the attention of the passerby.
"HELP ME! I GOT TRAPPED INSIDE THE MOUNTAIN!"
"..."
"You heard that little Bonney, Titania?"
"Mhm, from the rocky side of the mountain."
With the girl's voices approaching closer and closer, Daylon heard them question him.
"Where are you exactly in the mountain? Give us some feedback, maybe we can help you."
"Anything you ask me off and I will give you."
"Huh, you sound quite desperate about your situation. Badly hurt? Frozen to death? Broken bones?"
Daylon, who received the responses from a woman who had a mesmerizing tone that quickly captured his attention, but the manner she was speaking to him, cold and detached, as if not giving 2 belly coins on him, irked him inside, since he knew his body was stronger than any humans alive, capable of recovering from deathly wounds, never having to worry about sickness.
'Stupid, fucking spider NET!!!'
"None of the above, woman."
"... I don't like his tone. Let's let him freeze to death for all I care."
"Wait, you can't be cruel to someone in need. We got to help him out."
"Ohh really? And what if he attacks us so high? Will you protect me, stupid Fairy? Remember, I am the one in charge when Vlad is away."
Dalyon's eyes, who had that particular name in mind, got bigger and immediately told the girls about the person they were mentioning.
"I've met Vlad Dracul … Help me out, and I will tell you more about him."
"So he didn't kick the bucket trying to ascend the mountain. I am glad to hear that, but I still don't like your tone. You should be someone that got defeated by him in the process."
"Please, I will be in your debt."
"Heh, a bit better, but you have to try more to impress me. Tell me your story, and I will consider it."
.
.
A/N: Now this is what I call some Indiana Jones exploration, with some twists of fate along the way.