"Say what!?"
After the Slumbering Beast withdrew, Marshall seemed to have returned to his usual self. He sat with Sylvia and stared at Gilgamesh with a hint of outrage in his gaze.
"You're telling me that the master of the mirelings is... a Game Master?"
Gilgamesh nodded, "It didn't just directly affect the quest, it put its location on a map and gave it to me. If what Crimson said is true, then the Beast must be a Game Master."
Crimson himself was finding the news a bit hard to digest. As the Scaled Emperor's Heir, he knew more of the empire's history than most. He almost couldn't believe that the being responsible was actually one of the mythological Game Masters.
"It has to be true. When I accompanied our father down into the royal crpyt, he showed me the records our forefathers left behind. The Creator provides every living thing with a System Variant, and the Game Masters oversee those systems, making changes wherever necessary."
Azure shook her head, "I thought Game Masters are meant to be neutral parties. This one was responsible for the Mireling Wars! What kind of Game Master is that!?"
The others shared her opinions; Verdant and Crimson shared a look.
"We barely know anything about Game Masters, Azure. Even their supposed neutrality is just speculation." When Crimson said this, Azure remained silent.
"It doesn't matter. If there's a chance that finding that beast will lead me to 'Truth's Mind,' then that's what I'm going to do."
Gilgamesh stood up, and the others prepared to leave with him. Now that he knew where he had to go, he wasn't going to waste any more time.
"Before you leave, there's something you should know."
All eyes fell on Verdant in this moment, and he gulped.
"When the beast spoke to you, I could feel its nature. We all could. I think there's a chance that 'Truth's Mind,' whatever it is, is linked to a nature very similar to my own."
Gilgamesh nodded, "It's possible that there's yet another base skill involved that, perhaps, the beast has already acquired. Even so, it changes nothing."
Gilgamesh gave a nod and started walking, but Crimson's eyes met his, and they motioned toward Verdant. Gilgamesh paused, growing curious.
"When I felt the Beast's aura, it felt the same as my own. My brothers and sisters think the same."
Verdant sighed and closed his eyes for a short while.
"I think that I'm somehow linked to Truth's Mind, similarly to how the beast is linked to it."
Gilgamesh spared a few seconds for thought but could not see how this information was useful to him. "So what? Are you saying you want to come along with us and test this theory?"
The Wyrm Lords were stunned for a brief moment, before being reminded that Gilgamesh was no ordinary person. His attitude made them think that, in his mind, he had already come out on top.
"Don't you want to at least try to understand that nature before going off to fight the Beast? It would undoubtedly give you an edge in combat."
To Crimson's question, Gilgamesh only grimaced.
"An edge? Who the hell do you think I am? I'm heading off to kill the beast, that's all there is to it. If I say it dies, then it dies. I couldn't care less about understanding its nature."
Gilgamesh waved his hand and Ishtar, Sylvia and Marshall were at his side in a matter of seconds.
"I will kill the beast, find Truth's Mind and leave this world once I'm strong enough. Nothing can prohibit that. Now, I ask again: Will you be joining us or not?"
His tone left the Wyrm Lords feeling as though they could say nothing more; there was very little space for doubt left in their minds. They believed every word coming out of Gilgamesh's mouth.
Crimson turned to Verdant and the rest of his siblings with a firm look, "I think we should go with him."
Most of them readily agreed; Black was a bit hesitant. Aside from Gold and Silver, Black also had troops under her command. They were at a bit of a loss as to what to do with them, and after a short discussion they decided to leave it up to the soldiers whether they would stay or go.
To the Wyrm Lords' surprise, the soldiers all chose to accompany them.
Thus, Gilgamesh and his group set off alongside the Wyrm Lords and about three hundred soldiers. Following Gilgamesh's lead, they entered the forest and vanished from sight. Far ahead of them in the distance, massive trees towered over the land like lifeless behemoths.
"Was it trees like those that annoyed you without end?" Azure went out of her way to try to make conversation with Gilgamesh, alarming the others.
"Yeah. Those trees appear to possess the lingering spirits of long dead humans, and they all seem to have a tale to tell. They're insufferable."
Azure chuckled, "That much I grasped from your memories. I once had a similar run in with a family of seven dwarves. I was investigating rumors of a young maiden being held hostage in a dwarven village, you see, and they were the ones that had her."
"Oh, I see," Gilgamesh nodded.
Ishtar eyed the conversation strangely, but she was not alone in this. None of the Wyrm Lords expected Azure to be the one to strike up conversation, and were in awe as they tried to guess at her motives.
And so an all too familiar period of travel ensued.
By day, they would walk, talk and hunt whatever animal they could, and at night they would make camp and Ishtar would summon the house.
At first, its appearance shocked the Wyrm Lords and the soldiers, leading them to ask a number of questions. Eventually, they got numb to it and treated it as just another tent- albeit a magical one.
Everyday, Gilgamesh would check his system's map, and notice that it constantly changed the more they travelled. Before they departed, if he tried to look at their destination, it would just be an icon surrounded by blank space.
But now, if he looked at their destination, there was a lot less blank space on the map surrounding it, meaning that the system would slowly fill in the details on his map the closer they got.
Gilgamesh quite enjoyed the leisurely travel, and he was glad to see Marshall and Sylvia lighten up and interact with the Wyrm Lords.
When he would sit and talk with them, he was reminded of a time where he shared their enthusiasm and zeal. A time where he himself was young, and got to enjoy the company of friends.
One friend in particular, he could not forget.
Before long, the group arrived at a massive river. It flowed through the forest of giant trees, and as they went further and further upstream, they realized that they were steadily getting higher and higher above sea level.
"What a massive troop of travelling fleshlings. Be careful now! My wrath knows no bounds. Cross me, and I cannot guarantee your survival..."
Following an exasperated sigh, Gold and Silver both lamented the fact that they had working ears.
"Even if you were deaf, you'd still hear them. The only way to silence them is to kill them, but then you'd be fighting a losing battle." As he said this, Crimson looked around at the innumerable trees in the forest around them, and sighed.
"It's quite amusing when you get used to it," Violet chuckled, clearly enjoying the bullshit story the tree was telling her.
Black flashed a wry smile, "Amusing is... not the word I would use."
They continued on like this for a few hours, and eventually started to hear the sound of crashing water.
It started off as just a minor drum, but it soon exploded into a blaring noise that was both calming and terrifying. They stepped over a ridge, and saw both the plunge pool and the massive waterfall pouring into it.
Marshall looked around a bit before frowning, "I thought you said we were close, Gilgamesh. Looks pretty beast-free."
"Just keep your eyes open," Crimson warned.
When Gilgamesh checked the map again, he finally saw the exact location they were heading to. Far below them there was a system of cavernous channels that ran deep into the earth.
The map gave him a general outline of those caves in the form of a three dimensional image, before showing him that his destination was at the very bottom.
"Azure, could you do me a favor and take a look around that pool," Gilgamesh asked without looking.
After Azure dove into the water to take a look, she told him that the entrance was in kind of a hard to reach spot, but thankfully no water was getting into it.
They would have to swim under the water, then further under the rock before finally swimming back up and into the cave. According to Azure, it was quite a spacious cave, and would have no problem housing their number.
So, without wasting any time, they all jumped into the water and entered the cave.
It was as massive as Azure said it would be, or perhaps a tad bit larger. The cave was perfectly rounded, as though a sharp instrument had carved it out expertly rather than it being a natural formation.
It was dark, but simple darkness would not hinder the senses of those present. Even so, Crimson took it upon himself to kindle a flame in his hand, before lightly tossing it out.
It hovered in the space a few meters away from them, moving whenever they moved. Like this, they begun their decent into the cavernous earth, not knowing what awaited them at the bottom.