"There was another escapee?!" the commander roared. He clicked his tongue and shoved me further back with his shield. "I'll have to end this quickly or else we'll be annihilated!"
The commander was diverted by Myra's abrupt appearance and was not focusing on whom he was battling.
"Aren't you a stupid leader?"
"What did you say?" he yelled as he turned his head back.
"Leaving yourself open like that isn't good, ya know?"
All around him were icicles I have formed in that split second of an opening. With a snap of my fingers, the commander was then bombarded with magic. It took everything he had to block them all with his sword and shield as he frantically paced around like it was hopscotch. While he was dealing with the ice, that was when I made my last move. Just as he finished crushing them all to pieces, panting heavily, he addressed me.
"What now, basta-"
In a heartbeat, his head was sliced clean off with my crystal blade.
"Your death, that's what."
Man, that was a cool one-liner I just spouted. Being a badass is easy as shit. Now, what about Myra- Oh.
As I glanced ahead, Myra was leaning against the wall with a disinterested expression. Behind her stood the corpses of the mages and swordsmen with petrified faces. A blood trail was visible right behind her feet.
"Took your ass long enough," she said in a dull voice.
"I'm still a little woozy," I replied as I jogged to her. I inspected her appearance to find any signs of fatigue, but she seemed fine. Actually, Myra looks as if she was never affected.
"Why do you look… healthy?"
"That's because the poison didn't work on me."
Poison? What poison? Ah, wait… it's coming back to me now…
"Oh… the cookie was poisoned. After consuming the cookie, we both passed out at nearly the same time. Hold on, if the poison didn't affect you, did you fake passing out?!"
Myra rolled her eyes and said, "Duh."
No wonder! It was weird that she passed out before I did, and I ate the whole cookie while she took only one bite. Did she see this coming a mile away? The grandma's charade of being nice was a farce, and I fell for it. They left us here to become sacrifices for the Chimera project. Have I really become too trusting of a person who is easily fooled? Myra hadn't succumbed to their tricks in the slightest. Cath even warned me to not stay, and Myra was adamant about leaving…
Myra stood pressed against the wall, quietly observing me as I was lost in thought, mumbling to myself.
"Hey, scatterbrain. Wake up," she snapped while waving a hand in front of my face. I lazily lifted my face at her.
"Did you forget where we were? Frankly, I'm getting tired of this shitty alarm piercing my pretty ears. Let's keep moving forward, mkay?"
She turned my body around and gave me a light shove.
"Yea… my bad. Now's not the time to brood."
Determined once again, I slapped both of my cheeks to wake myself up. That gesture seemed to have done it, as I could feel the effects of the poison were finally gone. If I were to get poisoned again, my body's immune system will take care of it quickly. Oh! Speaking of body…
"Status."
Name: Isaac
Rank: Undecided
Strength:26 Agility:20
Durability:27 Mana: 39
Masteries: Marksmanship Lvl 2 Swordsmanship Lvl 3 Energy Manipulation Lvl 4 Heat Resistance Lvl 1 Poison Resistance Lvl 1
Aha! Just as I expected. I gained a new mastery from the poison. The effects of anything poison-related should be reduced. If I want to level this any further…
"Should I just inject myself with poison until it's maxed out?" I blurted out.
"The hell are you going on about?" Myra called out in front. She was way ahead of me. I hadn't noticed that she was going to leave me behind if she hadn't piped up.
"Get your ass over here already! We have to find the branch leader!"
****
As we ran deeper into the underground facility, Myra spoke about her experience while she was still conscious. We were transported via carriage, and the caskets were dropped off to a group of men waiting for the old couple. With Myra's acute hearing, she heard most of the conversation. It went along like this:
"Although the sacrifices you brought are off schedule, it is a welcoming surprise," said a raspy voice.
"So what! You got your sacrifices! When will we be able to see them again?" A shrill voice rang from the Grandma.
"Ah? Oh, right. Hehe. For being Ruins lapdog for months, I guess a reward is in order…"
"Then…!"
"You'll see them by next week alright… hehe"
After that, the caskets were taken somewhere, their whereabouts unknown. Myra stood still in her casket as an ugly man pried the lid open. He dragged Myra's body onto a metal sheet and was about to conduct his experiments when a red alarm beeped. Distracted by the noise, that was when Myra killed the man by strangling him.
"I knew you triggered the alarm somehow. That was when I thought it was time to start my next course of action."
"So… You were going to let him do whatever with your body if the alarm wasn't set?" I asked. She looked over at me with a dumbfounded expression.
"No, you idiot!"
"I'm just messing with you," I cackled as her eyebrows furrowed. A minute of jogging later, we finally arrived at the lowest level.
A big metal door was mounted in front of us, with no latch or keypad visible.
"How do you open this thing?" Myra said, scanning for any secret levers.
I traced my hand along the cold metal exterior of the door. On my fingertips was a gray residue. It must've been at least a year old, at minimum. I exerted a little of my mana outside of my body, hoping that the door would activate like that special wall inside the mineshaft from before. Nothing happened.
"Screw it. If you don't know how to open it…"
I infused some mana into my hand, and with a wide swing, struck my fist against the door, blowing it away.
"Well, this works too," Myra mumbled as we poked our head into the room.
"So what's in here- HOLY SHIT!"
Test tubes were arranged in a column on different sides of the room, large enough to fit an entire hippo. Inside the tubes was a blue liquid that bubbled periodically. Submerged within were monsters and other humanoid species. The darkness of the room was only punctuated by the blue liquid, providing a dim illumination. The floor was a chaotic mess of pipes and wires, twisted and tangled from the tubes and ground, a vibe similar to that of a sci-fi underground facility. On the far end was a figure hovering over a desk with papers and jars.
"You lot finally arrived," the calm voice rumbled.
"Are you the branch leader of Cronas!" I called out to the shadowy figure.
"…Yes, I am the branch leader of Cronas, Isaac the human."
At the sound of my name, my heart stopped. "Okay… so you know my name and that I'm from Earth. What of it?"
"What of it you say?" It cackled loudly into the quiet air.
Over time, I could make out that the voice sounded oddly feminine. The figure slowly turned around and retreated away from the darkness, revealing itself. The woman glided through the room wearing a graceful robe of white and gold. She had a thin shroud draped over her blonde hair, with horns appearing close to puncturing through the fabric. An aura of holiness emanated from her green eyes, yet an undertone of something sinister was present.
"I am archbishop Catalina of Aglona. My body and faith are for the church and the divine Pillars alone. I have received an order from Cardinal Nicholas that you humans need to be rid of immediately."
Catalina reached her hand out into the open air, and a bright light soon enveloped the room in a ray of brilliance. Myra and I shielded our eyes from the glare. Moments later, it died down. Catalina was now holding a staff with the end having a circular hoop ring. In the middle of it was a small bell.
She opened her arms wide, as if wanting to embrace us. "As per my duty as archbishop, I will carry out the wishes of the Church of Pillars!"
"Myra! Get ready to fight! She seems bat-shit crazy!"
I grabbed my favorite crystal sword out from the Inventory and got into position as Myra pulled her bow out. We both stood together side by side against this new threat.
"Good! I thought my ears would fall off from listening to the fanatic bitch drone on!"
The lady in front of us frowned at us, ready to begin her holy mission.