[Author's Note: For bonus chapters, the goal every week is:
- 25 Power Stones
- 50 Power Stones]
Volume 2 Chapter 3: Room Down Below
Carmilla found the orb's light quite convenient, and as they continued to descend, her casual and somewhat lazy demeanor tempted her to consider sitting down and relaxing while she waited for her clones to explore and report back about what awaited them at the end of the staircase.
Carmilla, determined to stay focused, shook her head to dispel those tempting thoughts and continued her descent down the spiral staircase with Eve and Pepper.
As they continued their descent down the seemingly endless spiral staircase, Carmilla couldn't help but feel the never-ending nature of their journey. With that in mind, she decided to sit down and lean against the wall, taking a brief respite while Eve and Pepper continue ahead.
As Eve and Pepper continued to descend the spiral staircase, they didn't notice that Carmilla had lagged behind for some time, as she sit down against the wall.
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But Eve, who was paying attention to her surroundings, suddenly noticed the absence of footsteps behind her where Carmilla should have been. She turned to look behind her.
Upon not seeing Carmilla walking alongside them, Eve stopped.
Eve: "Master?"
Pepper heard Eve talking to Carmilla, so she looked behind her. Not seeing Carmilla or the glow of the orb that was following their master, she also stopped walking.
After not receiving a reply, Eve spoke to Pepper, who was looking at her.
Eve: "Wait here. I will look for our master."
Pepper: "I will come with you."
After saying that, the two of them decided to walk back. After walking for two corners, they saw the light produced by the orb that was following Carmilla. A few steps later, they found Carmilla sitting on the steps of the staircase, leaning against the wall, and wearing a relaxed expression on her face.
Carmilla, who was relaxing, heard the sound of footsteps and so she opened one of her eyes to see Eve and Pepper walking in her direction before speaking.
Carmilla: "You two, what are you doing here?"
Eve: "To look for you, master."
Pepper: "Yeah, yeah, master. We came here to look for you because Eve noticed that you were missing, so we decided to come back."
Hearing the reason why Eve and Pepper came back, she said.
Carmilla: "You two can continue; don't mind me here. Just come back here after you two reach the bottom of the staircase."
After saying that, Carmilla closed her eyes and continued to lay down.
Pepper started to walk down while Eve remained, and she began to speak.
Eve: "But what about you, master?"
Carmilla was a bit shocked when she suddenly heard someone speak near her. She had expected them to leave her alone and continue walking down. She also heard the sound of footsteps, leading her to believe that Eve and Pepper had already left.
So, she opened one of her eyes again and began to speak to either Eve or Pepper, as it was hard to differentiate between the two.
Carmilla: "You're still here. Don't mind me."
Like last time, Carmilla closed her eyes, and upon seeing this, Eve started to catch up to Pepper, who was already a bit far away.
Even though there was no other light source for them, as their only light source was staying with Carmilla, since the orb was [Soul Bound] to her.
But the two of them were perfectly fine walking in the dark with their [Night Vision] skill. They continued down the staircase for a while.
After three minutes of continuous walking, the two of them finally reached the bottom of the staircase.
Pepper was the first one to emerge from an opening, followed by Eve.
Upon emerging from the staircase, their first reaction was to look around the room.
Eve estimated that the entire room was as big as a basketball court.
Unlike Eve, whose first reaction was to check their surroundings, Pepper's attention was drawn to the empty throne at the back of the room. It was particularly eye-catching due to being dimly lit.
When Pepper looked up, there was a similar orb above the empty throne. Alongside that orb, there were four more orbs placed in each corner of the entire room.
Seeing that nothing was out of the ordinary except for the empty throne at the other end of the room and the five orbs that dimly illuminated the space.
Eve also noticed all of this, so she decided to go up and inform Carmilla about the room and then bring her down here.
Eve: "Pepper, I will be leaving to get the master here."
Hearing this, Pepper turned around to face Eve, but before she could reply, she noticed a lever near the side of the opening.
The lever seemed to emit some kind of allure, as Pepper found herself thinking of pulling it down without much consideration.
Pepper wanted to resist the impulsive thought of pulling the lever down and replied to Eve.
But the temptation to pull the lever down was too great, so she subconsciously approached the lever.
Eve, who was waiting for Pepper's reply but noticed that Pepper was acting strangely, so she followed Pepper's every movement with her eyes."
But eventually, Eve had to turn around since Pepper entered her blind spot in her vision.
When Eve turned around, she saw that Pepper's hand was on some kind of lever. Eve then noticed that Pepper was about to pull the lever down, so she hurriedly tried to stop Pepper by shouting.
Eve: "Wait, Pepper, don't!"
But before Eve could finish what she wanted to say, Pepper had already pulled the lever down.
Eve: "Pull the lever down!!!"
*Creak*
*Creak*
*Creak*
That's when the two of them started to hear the sounds of shifting in front of them. Eve hurriedly looked around to see what was causing those shifting sounds and what might have changed after Pepper pulled the lever down.
That's when Eve heard Pepper say something, so she looked at Pepper.
Pepper: "Eve, look in the front there."
Hearing that, Eve looked in the front and saw that Pepper was even pointing at something.
Upon looking at where Pepper was pointing, she saw that the staircase was shifting. It started at the bottom, and now the smooth steps had shifted at an angle of 45 degrees.
At the same time, at Carmilla's location, she suddenly felt some weak rumbling around her, coinciding with Pepper pulling down the lever."
Feeling this, Carmilla thought that Eve and Pepper had activated some kind of mechanism. However, instead of standing up and starting to walk down, she decided to remain seated, considering that Eve and Pepper might have already reached the bottom of the staircase.
But Carmilla remained sitting, planning to wait for either Eve or Pepper to come back and tell her what they had found, and whether it was worthwhile to descend down the staircase.
If it's worthwhile to go down, she will descend, but if not, she will simply let Eve and Pepper handle everything. She planned to return upstairs, relax, and let her clones do all the work.