In the southeast passage that was short yet illuminated by the inscriptions written on the walls, the party took a right turn before they heard some noises.
Sizzle, sizzle!
Rose stretched her arm out, stopping the rest.
"Stay here, I'll go check it out."
Getting a nod from the Baron, she proceeded onward, before signalling the group to follow behind.
Normally, Rose stayed with the Baron in the front while Ruiki and James stayed at the back, Ruiki supporting James and helping him walk while maintaining caution.
But this time, the Baron gracefully asked them to go forward.
And the both of them did so, with James and Ruiki at the front and the Baron a little far behind.
"If we're gonna die, everyone's gonna die," Hardwick grumbled, not liking the Baron's demeanor.
The Baron didn't reply, his eyes forward.
Soon, they reached some sort of a device.
Its front was made with glass as it occupied the small hall they had entered at the centre. Inside its glass though, there were buzzes of blue energy that ran back and forth, with numerous levers attached to the device's back and below.
"That is?" Ruiki questioned, noticing that Rose was somewhat surprised seeing the device.
"Something I used to hear in stories, " Rose said, chuckling. "Let's proceed onward.
Everyone nodded, looking ahead.
There was only one entry-point to the area forward, through a passage.
After walking for a minute or two, they arrived at a rather "chilling" place.
In the centre of the area was a red spire which was encased in frost, its tip almost reaching the ceiling, while on the sides were four different types of pools with frog-like reptiles living underneath.
Touching the frozen spire, Ruiki felt his fingertips freeze, retracting his hand and seeing that half of his palm was frozen.
"How cold, yet worse for summer vacations," James said, laughing as he saw Rose carrying back his enchanted greatsword.
"You can keep it," James said, turning away. "I'm in no condition to use it, obviously."
"Okay," Rose nodded as she adjusted the greatsword on her back, quite content with its weight.
"How did your greatsword end up here?" Ployer questioned nearby, trying to get a look at the frog-like creatures in the lake.
"Probably some creature carried it," James dismissed, "There are plenty of them who do. Or probably that one right there,"
James pointed ahead where the ceiling had collapsed, falling upon a creature with only its green feet visible, but none of the members of the party went close to it, wary.
"The timing doesn't match— but never mind, let's continue, shall we?" The Baron urged.
Coincidentally, the part the rubble had covered was the doorway to beyond, but there was little problem to the party as they climbed over the rubble and reached another long passage.
Walking through the passages, they arrived at a spruce door with a round golden handle attached in the centre,
The members of the party took turns in prying it open to no avail.
Rose lifted the round door-handle, finding a keyhole beneath.
"Let's search for a key... Or something resembling it,"
Receiving nods of approval, the party headed forward with Rose in lead, finding another small passageway in the west as they followed.
Scrunch.
Their almost imperceptible footsteps ceased immediately at the sound of paper coming from ahead, the party stopped dead in tracks.
"Uh-oh, we've got trouble!" James whispered, being supported by Ruiki.
"Quiet!" The Baron said from behind, stepping forward to look at what it was.
But unfortunately, the flame chandeliers in front of them had extinguished, and there was no light.
Drip.
Ruiki looked at his forearm, where a drop of water had fallen as he looked up cautiously, but the ceiling was merely obscured by darkness.
"Mi swordh!"
A childish voice said from the front as Rose immediately got on-guard and pulled out the greatsword, Ruiki pulling out the Chain Lightning Scroll.
Since unlike Chain Lightning, Fireball was a wide area-of-effect spell, in this congested space, there was a chance that it would bring everyone's doom. Being considerate of that, Ruiki pulled out the Chain Lightning Scroll.
"Careful! Underground creatures usually have infravision," Rose shouted, no longer concealing her voice as footsteps resounded from the front.
Hardwick leaned on the wall, his eyes scanning the surroundings.
"Kraaa!"
In Ruiki's vision, something green yet small charged forward, hitting Rose's greatsword.
But Rose merely stepped back two steps before gathering enough momentum to push the creature back.
The creature went back whirling in the air as it landed on all fours, its pitch-black eyes scanning the group with nothing but unintelligible hostility.
"A Green Goblin!" Hardwick said from the side, his face slightly pale.
"These slick bastards," Hardwick cursed. "Stealing my greatsword..."
Ruiki cast a glance at Hardwick, his eyes fixated on the green goblin.
But fortunately or not, the green goblin merely growled, saying indecipherable words before scurrying away into the darkness.
"We should be on guard," Rose warned, "Since one of these managed to survive, there will definitely be more."
Ruiki nodded as the Baron rubbed his forehead, regretting his decision to "explore" the area.
...
The party continued amidst the small trouble, eventually heading further west and coming across a room filled to the brim with test tubes.
"What in the world..." The Baron said, slightly shaken.
Ruiki went closer, his expression complicated as he peered inside the test tubes.
Half-polymorphed humans...
"Apprentice?"
Ruiki turned back. Seeing that the Baron was asking him what these were, he said. "Half-polymorphed humans, probably"half" polymorphes because the spell ended in failure."
Or... The spells were intended to be used as such?
He peered in, looking at the half scaled and frog-like hands of the half-human in front of him, their gender unknown as they lay dormant in the yellowish liquid.
Just as Ruiki was watching, the dormant human suddenly opened their eyes as they moved forward, a big palm along with countless tiny fingers upon fingers filling his vision.
Stepping back in horror, Ruiki froze as the half-human inside reached their hands forward desperately.
"Help..." The half-human called out as Ruiki froze in surprise and horror.
"Surface dwellers!"
"Oh, hoh! It's the creatures that walk the land, just like my companion here!"
"The land? What a myth. Does that even exist as of now?"
Various voices resounded as if triggered by a stimulus, the party members looking around with wary gazes.
"Hey, tell me... Can you remove this surface dweller from my skin? He bothers me alot. Y'all with those magic tricks shall know to do so, right?"
Amidst the buzzing noises, Ruiki merely frowned, not answering their questions as he looked at the half-human in front of him.
"Can you talk?"
He asked. But seeing no response, he said aloud.
"Can you talk? If you can, then what are these and where are we?"
The half-polymorphed human in front of him opened his eyes, struggling to do so as if in a great peril.
"Imprudent... mages," bubbles flew as the half-human's mouth opened. "Take the sconce to the altar and free the poor souls..."
"Altar? There's an altar here?" Hardwick asked, amused. "What altar is it?"
"Altar of the ancient death..." The grotesque creature said, its face twisting further as red patches appeared beneath its skin. "It's... on the second floor..."
"Take the sconce and please," the red patches spread, going further down its neck. "Free us."
As if burning in agony, the being's skin crawled, the redness inside coming into view as the pale skin faded away.
It writhed in agony, curling its body as it went silent.
The Baron glanced at the sconce where a black and unlit candle laid, not sparing it another glance as the voices in the room quieted down.
Ployer eventually asked, "What do you make of its request?"
"The sconce," Rose pointed at it. "It doesn't look enchanted nor dangerous. We could take it with us if we want to,"
"These test tubes, whoever made them..." Hardwick trailed off, only to cough once before continuing. "A bit... of an irony coming from me but, whoever made this needs to be judged by death."
Ruiki nodded, glancing around and looking at the test tubes which were now silent.
"This one's probably the power source, or some sort of stimulus that springs others awake," Ruiki concluded, "Although there aren't any enchantments on them, I think some of... technology is involved here."
"A mad scientist?" Ployer asked, disdain evident on his face. "There are none in our Kingdom that does such things, they are probably from the north,"
Well, that's what I had thought, until I got imprisoned by the Order of the Black Pits. Ruiki's eyes twitched at the thought, Is this underground cavern a part of the order where they conducted experiments?
Gathering his thoughts, he asked Rose a question. "What is this place?"
Rose looked at him and smiled, answering, "Something you wouldn't want to know about,"
"Part of the Noble Order?"
Rose shook her head, her smile a bit bitter. "If that was the case, then the lands we lived in wouldn't be called anything near peaceful,"
"My Wind Flower City is peaceful at the very least," Ployer interjected, ending the conversation, "Let's go forward, please."
"You are in a hurry?" Hardwick asked, placing his arm on Ruiki's shoulder for support.
"In such a place, who wouldn't be?"
...
The sconce with the black candle was taken by Ruiki and stuffed in his Wizard's Robe's inner pocket.
While he had the thought of keeping it in the magic pouch he had gotten, he realised that pulling out something so eye-catching would cause severe consequences especially with Ployer here, so kept the sconce in his robe's pocket, which was fortunately big enough.
After about three to four minutes of walking and stumbling about, the group, with no other options, returned to the ice-encased area.
Most of the passages in this cavern had wooden and spruce doors that were locked behind traps and snares, it would be suicide to open them without their respective keys.
Ployer sighed, sitting down on the rubble that covered the doorway as he gestured at Ruiki to come closer.
Ruiki obliged, sitting beside the Baron.
After a quiet moment of silence, Ployer asked.
"How's Gina?"
Ruiki frowned. "My mother's fine, as I had told you before."
Ployer chuckled. "She could've been finer, better, richer," He then sighed. "If not for your father,"
"What do you want?" Ruiki frowned as he looked at Ployer, annoyed.
But Ployer merely ignored him, continuing on. "If not for her choices, then you would be in a palace right now, one that would invoke jealousy and envy even from the dukes and counts,"
"But a pity," Ployer shook his head, as if greatly troubled. "Her choices led to her current state."
"But I hope you could do better, Ruiki." His voice suddenly became cold, his gaze sharper as he stared, "And not trudge down the path and mistakes that your mother did,"