The ambience of cave built as they both stood in the middle of ahead and back. Shugel told Laya about everything that had happened. He could sense that she was at least willing to listen till the end.
"The truth is..."
Laya grabbed Shugel's collar and pushed him against wall. He could feel her mind trying to understand the situation but failing to do so.
"You know what you are saying is..."
"Truth. I am not dumb enough to lie to you like this."
They both were alone if she wanted, she could simply slit his throat. The cold sensation of gurgling blood from his windpipe from his previous death was still lingering.
The pressure on his collars subsided as Laya stepped back, her hands released him.
"Why would she do so!?..." Her complain escaped in form of murmur.
"That's what I want to find out too, I am pretty sure Celena realized something so let's go."
***
As they walked ahead, Laya's gait became slower. Shugel noticed it too,
light guiding their path was flickering and its brightness was gradually decreasing. It was slow and not that noticeable few minutes ago but as they went ahead the diminishing of light became even more clear.
"There is some short of interference, the spell is costing lost Mana to keep stable."
"Is something ahead? How much can you tell?"
Shugel turned back to look for anything suspicious, and narrowed his eyes to make out details beyond the light could reach.
"Nothing much, just that there is an opening ahead. We have to take one of the paths from there."
The diminishing of the light looked similar, just a recent memory. Shugel didn't know enough to make the connection but the way the crimson light got observed into the room, and the way Laya described how the spell was costing her more mana to maintain.
"Say Laya, I did tell you about how I got there right and that a crimson light guided me there. But I find it strange."
"I am listening."
"From what you have told me the light was supposed to guide me to the bracelet you were carrying. But when there was a fork the light all of the sudden changed the path and led me to the dead end, that room covered with vines and that cocoon."
"I must give you some praise to have thought of that connection even when you are incapable of using magic. Yess, I can tell without making the connection that something is sucking up all the mana from the environment."
Laya seemed to be complimenting him, but her tone made it sound like a taunt to Shugel.
"That is strange, don't you think?"
"'It fishier than the fish of great salt.'"
Was that an idiom? Shugel seem confused on how to take it.
"I suppose...? Anyway, how far are we?"
"Just there" Laya replied as she decreased the strength of light on her side. A purplish dim light was coming from the exit which was ahead. Shugel and Laya leaned closer to the shadow, formed by the light source, as light was coming from an angle and depth. Hence the path remained fairly dark, and shadow formed lower.
Both of their mind turned to finding out what was going on. Shugel's heart pounded as he realised this was furthest, he has come beyond all those loops. Cold bead of anticipation formed on his face, even in this fantasy world.
He put his ears on the wall to hear anything but nothing. There was no vibration in the walls.
Laya peeked her head, when they reached the exit, to look for anything suspicious. She shook her head. It seemed that she didn't see anything. Signaling Shugel to follow her she moved out in a crouch manner. The opening was large. And at this point the source of purple light was clear. They walked towards the parapet, the low wall that is built on the edge of indoor small coliseum. The light was coming from whatever was below.
Laya had this tense expression on her face that said fear. She had to peak no matter what and as she did her expression turned to shock. Her eyes, Shugel peeked down and what he saw. Nothing but demonic. Seven ghostly figures in clad black robe standing in a circle, purple glow coming from the circular pattern on the ground. It was sickening, as if a body had suddenly become aware of the wounds after seeing it.
It was a large circle, a faint chanting of words resonated through wall.
Don't tell me she became aware of this even before me.
Shugel's senses were dull, and compared to mana enhanced senses of others he might as well be considered a sloth. Laya had sensed the faint murmurs resounding after crossing the exit.
Shugel also noticed a group of three statue looking figures, each holding a sword in their hand. If Black knight was a term, it would suit them. Nothing was moving except the vibration of chants.
Laya eyed him to look towards the circle, and then pointed at the stone in her hand. Nervous look on her face was enough to communicate that it was better to get out of here. The stairs became visible as they crawled, and before he could ask her if they really had to go down, Laya had turned her head and nodded.
As she tried to walk ahead, Shugel caught her hand. She looked back in surprise. He put his is finger to his lips, indicating her not to speak anything.
Until now they had been walking in shadows, but if they went downstairs the shadows would be overtaken by light. He wasn't sure if Laya had any plan to hide them, but if this coliseum was like any other circular structure there must be other stairs on other side.
He didn't had to explain himself as Laya herself understood she was risking it without checking for other options.
As a result, they turned back and circled the viewing point, they came across few stairs but after passing few of them, they come across an area that was completely submerged in shadow.
Laya glanced over him to confirm if they both agreed, and he nodded. Lights where being blocked by structural obstacles here and there. The pillars that were visible from here would act as good hiding spot. With a plan formed by common sense they didn't have to communicate.
Shugel followed Laya as she was the only one who knew how to find others.
this useless feeling was bit frustrating him, but there was nothing he could do to change that. He was glad that he could rely on Laya, even if memories from second loop had left bitter taste of blood in his mind. For now, he had to do his best to not cause any problems.
After getting down the stairs she hid behind a pillar just near to the staircase, Shugel followed her lead and to the tip and hid himself with her. They were close, trying to not lose sight of each other, they remained at a warmth distance.
Shugel had not expressed this till now but, he definitely felt slimy and probably smelled musty, the smell created by combination of bacteria, sweat and moisture and what more on his wet clothes. Obviously, Laya had been keeping him warm and that helped him remain functioning but there was nothing they could do about the smell.
Remaining so close to her, Shugel felt bad for her.
He tried to create distance between them and moved back slightly. Laya noticed this but her mind was already on full alert, and diverted to give any reaction, she had to get them out of here safely.
Shugel could not use magic and was pretty much unaware of many threats that she could sense. and it seemed to her that to some degree he was aware of abnormal and unknown from her expressions. He had stopped her from taking risk on that stair when her mind was consumed by restlessness.
But even then, they didn't have any time, they had to get out of here soon.
They walked towards to the path, and as they were about to pass one of the pillars. She noticed, his eyes. They noticed the same thing she had noticed. The knight like three stone states, there were supposed to be three of them but one was missing.
Am I tripping or something? thought Shugel.
Shugel was sure he had seen three of them, but now there were only two. The 7 figures had not moved, and inch and it seemed no one had noticed their presence. But why was a statue gone?
Just a moment ago there were three.
On his peripheral he could sense, that made it sure he was not tripping. Laya was looking at the same direction, and as soon as she pulled him to increase his pace.
She could not say any word, because she couldn't risk catching attention or losing focus. But even Shugel was surprised by a sudden word that seemed to have instinctively leaked out of her lips..."fast"
They cautiously moved towards the exit to this coliseum. And for a moment there was silence, enough that every tick of time had slowed. And next thing was loud clang the reverted just next to him. When his eyes opened from reflexive closing, even though it was supposed to in an instant a lot seemed have happened.
A dagger was blocking a sword. The wielder of the sword was a pitch-black figure, something not human. Its sword was asserting enough force that a crater formed beneath the person who was using the dagger to block the sword from reaching any further for their lives.
The person holding dagger was holding Shugel close to herself from another hand trying to protect both him and block the enormous force that was being exerted by the knight like figure.
No, it was the same knight. So, they weren't just statues.
In the next instant, the ghostly knight jumped back to create some distance.
Shugel heard a cracking sound, Laya's attention was completely on the threat in front of them, so Shugel needed to act as her second pair of eyes and senses, he turned to look at the direction. When he looked at the place where the ritual was taking place, his eyes went from one corner to another, then there was another creak and when his eyes landed on the one the remaining two statues his face contorted in a way that said nothing but 'it can't be.'
"The statues are breaking, whatever is inside to is going to break out."
Laya clicked her tongue. The figure was not attacking them all of a sudden, and when it stopped moving other statues started to break. Even if it made sense or not, their mind screamed ominous.
She took a step back, and Shugel followed her movements.
It also took a step forward.
"Run towards that exit...!" In the next instant after saying that to Shugel, an enormous wall formed in front of the knightly figure.
Shugel caught Laya's hand and dragged her with with him.
"What are you doing!?" Laya retorted.
And as they ran Shugel pointed towards the statues, they could break at any moment. Which meant even if Shugel managed to get away Laya would have no support to handle three of them and escape. He didn't know how long they would follow them.
"Being rational don't you think." he had to use all his strength to run. He was exerting every muscle in his body to run.
Just before exiting the coliseum, he saw that two of the statues had broken and whatever was inside was now starring at their direction. Next thing that followed was the exploding sound of the earth wall that was created by Laya to block the path of the black knightly figure. Like a wild beast it would consume them.
Shugel didn't turn and ran straight and after running, in the passage that would lead them to Celena, for who knows how long he was about to collapse but Laya caught him.
"Looks like we will be fine here, let's rest. Those things are bound to that coliseum, so you should catch your breath." Laya moved to the front and increased the intensity of light.
She didn't look to be struggling at all. Running so far without breaking a sweat, Shugel couldn't help but be impressed Laya's stamina. Meanwhile, he was breathless like a dog on the ground. His legs hurt from all that running, but after a few more breaths he stood up, and looked at his surroundings. The passage was slightly wider and larger than previous ones.
"Just what were they? What was going on there?" Shugel asked.
"I thought the knowledge to trigger those died long ago."
"What do you mean by that?"
"I will explain, hurry up, we must keep going now." Laya looked toward the path they should take, with concerned eyes.
"Is something wrong?"
''The abnormal mana from that place is disturbing the artifact's mana. We need to take a gamble on one path for now."
Shugel looked towards the path Laya was looking towards, "I guess it can't be helped."
Laya started walking towards the left path. Shugel followed her like always because he was useless like ever, with no ability to cast magic or to light up his surrounding he was forced to rely on Laya.
you need to be aware of what may lay ahead, something Shugel who was not from this world couldn't even try to guess as he lacked common knowledge and experience that people who had been born in this world possess.
"Those statues," as she walked ahead looking around and looking for threats started to recall what she knew about those statues meanwhile also explaining Shugel the same. "Long ago, I once read about seven great treasures of elven Kingdom. some of them got lost, some are used by kingdom, and some became mere showpiece as the knowledge on how to use them got lost."
That when it clicked inside Shugel's mind.
*-"I thought the knowledge to trigger those died long ago."*
"Does that mean? those statues are one of the forgotten treasures."
Laya nodded, "yes."
Shugel could not see Laya's face, but it was pretty obvious from her tone that this was bad, on the top of already bad situation they were in.
"Just what the going on?!" Laya almost quiet cursing was heard by Shugel, and in a way her frustration was reflection of what Shugel had been thinking.
For Shugel who had only seen the aftermath, this was the first time he was being part of things that would lead to death of all these people. The two aftermath he had seen had been different each time, by being involve in this loop to this extent just how much was he seeing what led to those aftermaths in each loop he did not know. But one thing was for sure no matter what he had find out how to get out of this.
Just what could he, one who has seen the aftermath of all this, yet did not knew how, do to reach an a future where he could be alive along with others?
It was just after Laya cursed, something seemed off. Not about her, rather the path they were on, to be more specific what was ahead. Before he could speak about this it seemed Laya too had sensed it.
In the almost quiet echo of tunnel Laya had grasped what that something off was, and the fact that the presence had disappeared just as she noticed it meant that presence was also aware of their presence, and it did not want to be noticed by them.
"Do you know any blocking magic?" Shugel Whispered to Laya, to which rather than whispering back she shook her head in a no.
The reason Shugel felt off was because he had sensed this sensation twice, once which was accompanied by a death, he was not even aware of, and second time he had escaped death by strand of a hair thanks to Celena's quick, rather insanely insane reaction timing and defense magic.
That's why even if he didn't know what lay ahead, by Laya's reaction he was willing to bet on his gut feeling, death had engraved this sensation in his guts.
He held Laya's hand, "Don't look back" ensuring not to distract her gaze he came close her ears.
Laya was shocked by his sudden move but soon realized from his seriousness and anxiety in his tone that he too understood their situation.
As soon as she nodded, "Trust me on this one, as soon as you see a splash of light do not even hesitate, push me and yourself out of the line."
Through her hand she realized Shugel had started to back off, they both understood that they needed to go back. They couldn't risk facing any unknown threat before reuniting with others, and in that shared understanding she also took a step back without looking back and maintaining her gaze upfront.
one step back, two step back, three step back, four step back... few steps back. Just when they felt that they had almost reach where they had started. He saw it, they saw it, the white flash. A second later Shugel felt a shattering impact, and by instinct he had closed his eyes, so he did not lose his eyesight this time, that's why when he opened eyes thanks to that impactful push that was felt by his entire body, which resulted that in him crashing against the wall and avoiding that scorching white ray of death that was fired at them.
His mind did not have time to rest, as he had only avoided the game ending first blow, what he had to do right now was "He can't use it on rapid succession now's our time!" Shugel screamed.
On getting this piece of information, Laya, who had witnessed first hand the pure killing malice behind the attack hardened her resolve, and to which the mana inside her body reacted and in the next moment two things happened: first, very thick wall, the result of very dense earth mana, sealed the path from the direction that attack was fired towards them. and secondly,
"Luma!" the whole path lit expelling all the darkness in there surroundings and for the first time he could see everything. Laya was on the other of she had used powerful wind magic get them out of the fire line. She didn't seemed to be injured but it was clear that she was exhausted from over exerting herself to avoid both of their deaths. After all as long in one is alive there will always remain the innate fear of death, no matter the world.
As they both exchanged gaze they both understood now was the time to run, Shugel got up, his body retorted in pain as he felt his organs and bones creak, he almost lost his balance at unexpected pain, but it looked he could move so bracing the pain he first limped and slowly pushe his body to run.
Laya to had similar reaction as Shugel but due to having more pain tolerance than him she looked unfaced by it. As they got out of there, She created another wall of earth and sealed the path once more at the entrance.
Now having only one path to walk, they both took it as going back to that coliseums filled with statues that had now broken was out of option.
"Are you alright, sorry to have asked a lot of you." Shugel casually showed concern, as it had been his request, if he had and better way of avoiding the problem then maybe-
"You should ask that question to yourself."
Laya was right in saying that, as more than Laya who was walking normally and looked bit tired, Shugel was almost limping and it was pretty clear from his constant expression of sharp pain that it was very much to to be walking with who know what broken bones and damage inside. For now as long as both of them didn't suffer from life threatening injuries she had to restrain from using healing magic. As she had already over exerted her mana supply way to carelessly previously when faced with near death experience. Not sure what they may encounter ahead she had reserve her strength.
On that note Laya asked very important question "But a better question would be how did you know about that coming attack?"
Shugel could not simply say that he had already died to it once but luckily or unluckily he had already escaped death from it thanks to Celena's in Queen's room.
"I have faced once before when we were in Queens room we were attacked by it."
on hearing her mothers name Laya looked towards him, this time she did not hold any anger at, but her eyes simply asked him to continue so he did
"Due To Celena's quick reaction we avoided the first attack but, soon we were cornered and She used some kind of magic with distorted the space we were in, and all the chaos we got separated."
Then it came circle in Laya's mind as his explanation met with What Celena's Butler Fors had predicted. but she could help but feel sad as more evidences pilled toward a reality she did not want to be true.
That's when she could feel it, this time she was hundred percent sure as she had spend many hours days and even months with her, in this unfavorable situation the path they were on had, miracle led them to reunion with her.
It was her at first who could sense the other presence but soon after Shugel could two silhouette in the arching hallway, the intensity of light increased on other side finally there faces became visible.
"That was great hell of maze you threw me into, Celena" Shugel sarcastically said to the person in from of him.
"looks like I was thrown into same maze as you, unfortunately looks like your path was more happening one." Celena replied in tone similar to Shugel's as she looked at both of them. one tired, and other limping in pain and exhaustion.
The long-awaited reunion finally was here.