Nathan slid his hand over the red mist, moving it slightly before it fell gently back down. Before he had not had the opportunity to observe the strange mist, but now that he was wearing the gas mask that Mary had given him, he could see it clearly.
There wasn't much to tell, it was just mist... but red.
As much Nathan was wearing the gas mask, he still felt lethargic. The mere touch of the mist to his skin was enough for the sleeping effect to affect him, but it was not enough to make him sleep.
This was also because the mask was an artificial relic made by Mary, and just like the skin mask, it also absorbed his essence to function.
Nathan had no doubt that any normal gas mask would not be enough to resist the effect of the mist.
He followed Mary through the corridors while she followed the bartender. Nathan had never been near this area before, so he could not really find his way around. Maybe that was the reason why he had never met Mary... or almost anyone else.
'Do you know that woman?' Amelia asked inside Nathan's mind.
'Yes' Nathan answered as he looked around.
It wasn't more than half an hour before the three of them reached the end of a corridor. Nathan was surprised because usually corridors led to more corridors, it was the first time he had ever come to the end of one.
More importantly, there was a large wooden double door and just outside it a metal lever. Roderick approached the lever and pulled it before taking a couple of steps backwards.
Nathan heard some mechanisms behind the wall activate and couldn't help but be curious.
"What's behind it?"
"A lift" Mary replied as she folded her arms waiting for the doors to open.
'A lift?'
A dozen seconds later, the gears behind the wall stopped and then the door began to slowly open.
Roderick followed by Mary stepped into the lift and then Nathan quickly followed. Once inside, Roderick grabbed a handle and started to turn it.
Nathan watched Roderick in silence and then turned his gaze towards Mary.
"Where does this lift go?"
Mary removed her gas mask and fixed her hair before answering.
"To a safe zone. By the way, you can take your mask off now, we're safe now"
Nathan took heed realizing there was no mist in the lift and removed his gas mask, then put on his usual mask taking advantage of Roderick's focus on turning the handle.
"A safe zone? Inside an upper realm?"
Mary nodded.
"Strange, isn't it? Well, we discovered it by accident while exploring the place"
Mary stared at Nathan, who felt a little intimidated by the gaze of the beautiful woman.
"So... What did you do all this time?"
Mary's eyes naturally drifted to his two bear arms.
After the battle against Gril and Tana, the wounds on his arms took almost a full week to heal. Fortunately, the damage had not been severe, at least not to the functioning of his arms.
However, the scars were not at all pleasing to the eye.
In addition to his arms, he had several other wounds around his body, but they were not too serious to mention.
Nathan rubbed his burned arm lightly, still feeling a little itchy on his burned skin.
"...Things happened"
Mary frowned slightly.
"Calamities?"
Nathan shook his head while under his mask he wore a somewhat sour expression.
"No, it wasn't the calamities that did this to me. I just ran into a couple of bastards"
Mary fell silent and just then the lift shook slightly as Roderick pulled away from the handle. A few seconds later the lift doors opened and then Nathan could see the supposed safe zone.
"This... A wine cellar?"
In front of Nathan, dozens of barrels arranged in rows stretched all the way to the bottom of the cellar. Apart from the barrels, in the wide aisles there were dozens of people talking to each other with tense expressions while others looked at them with different eyes.
Some people looked at them with fear while others with hope.
'Survivors?'
Nathan couldn't notice a hint of essence in the bodies of these people, which gave him to understand that they were mundane humans who had somehow survived.
It was then that a middle-aged woman stood up and quickly approached them.
"Lady Mary, welcome"
Mary smiled warmly and rubbed her arm gently trying to calm her down.
"Thank you... Where is Herfir?"
Nathan raised his eyebrows slightly when he heard the name of the man, he had met a couple of weeks ago in the dining room.
"Herfir is in the meeting room" the woman replied respectfully.
Mary nodded and dismissed her before she started walking. Nathan followed her and looked around.
"Herfir is here?"
Mary looked at him as she continued walking.
"You know him?"
"Yes, I'm surprised to hear he's here" Nathan nodded.
After a moment Herfir had stopped returning to the dining hall, Nathan could only assume the worst, but it seemed he had somehow stumbled upon this place.
Soon they came to a small room with a circular table with eight chairs. Three of the chairs were occupied by Herfir, Seinor and an unknown woman.
Seeing them enter, Herfir, who was talking to Seinor... although Seinor did not respond, looked towards the door and greeted Mary.
"You're finally here, it took you long enough..."
Suddenly he noticed Nathan standing next to her and opened his eyes in surprise.
"Boy, you're alive!"
Nathan frowned slightly and sighed internally.
'Why does everyone take me for dead?'
"Good to see you alive too, Herfir"
Herfir laughed gleefully, then his smile disappeared and was replaced by a serious expression and he looked at Mary again.
"So, how do we proceed?"
Nathan noticed how the whole atmosphere was darkened by everyone's expression, then Mary raised her finger pointing at the ceiling.
"Simple. We go upstairs and finish that bastard off"