Riiing!
Ruiki snapped back to attention, finding himself in the same place as he observed his surroundings warily.
"Guys, I think we should head back." He said, his voice hoarse and his forehead filled with sweat.
"Why?" The trio behind him asked in unison.
"This room... it's dangerous," Ruiki reasoned. "It's making us act in an... Impulsive way."
"Impulsive?" Hardwick questioned while Ployer rubbed his chin. "No, we are being rational."
"How else do you think we are going to go beyond?"
Ruiki frowned looking at Rose and Ployer.
"Although... I don't quite agree with James, I don't think heading back is beneficial," Rose said after deep thought, Ployer torn between the both of them as he nodded in the end.
This... Ruiki gritted his teeth.
"Why are you trying to go beyond?"
James and Rose narrowed their eyes while the Baron stood as if dumbfounded. Seeing this Ruiki urged them further, "Let's get out of this room and then come back again, alright? Wouldn't that be better and prove my claims?"
Silence sunk between them as Ployer was the first to nod, followed by James and Rose. Heaving a quick and concealed sigh, Ruiki led them outside the room as the three of them immediately had the same dumbfounded expression.
"What the hell was that?" James was the first to question, scowling, followed by Ployer and later Rose, who tried to analyse the situation.
"You weren't affected?" Rose suddenly asked.
"I was," Ruiki nodded, "But perhaps because I launched a spell and created a magical reaction of some sorts, I think I triggered something, which... broke me free from whatever that was."
The kid's talkative now, James noted, his expression grim. "Let's take further caution when we explore the area from now on. Best we head to the exit,"
"It's for the best," Ployer nodded seriously, no longer protesting to check if any wizards survived the explosion.
"I don't think that it's ideal," This time, Rose argued. "As unarmed as we are, I wouldn't be surprised if we die to a single fagosin,"
"Pretty sure the boy here already used one of the spells, our strength is limited right now." She said, pointing to Ruiki.
"What do you suggest, then?" Barlett Ployer asked, his voice careful.
Rose smiled, gesturing them to come closer as she drew a crude map of the cavern on the ground with her greatsword.
"This is the region we are in," She said, pointing to a particular place. "Now, all we need to do is head further north. She drew a crude "N" at the top," She then encircled an area near the north.
"This area here is the nearest to the "underground bunker" dug by the Order of the Black Pits, and also our biggest obstacle," She said, her face serious. "Without proper equipment and as we are, there's no doubt that we are marching to death."
"What are you suggesting?" Ployer urged.
Rose chuckled as she said, "Fagosins are creatures that hunt in packs, but they are also the creatures with the most amount of internal disputes among their numbers, with the tendency to often hunt alone, and considering the explosion earlier, they'd be feasting on the Wizards' corpses, very potent meal,"
Receiving nods, she continued: "I know of a way to make a poison with a fagosins' blood, pretty easy yet lethal to fagosins' themselves."
...So that's why Fagosins are non-canibalistic, While most creatures weren't, his textbooks mentioned that if two male fagosins were locked in a room, they'd rather suicide than eat the other, A rather weird thing to add in textbooks. Ruiki commented, wondering how Rose got the said knowledge. But then again, practical experiences were better than textbooks.
"The plan is simple, we kill a fagosin, make the poison by extracting it's blood, and then mix the poison on the mages' corpses — since fagosins can only perceive magic, I doubt they'd be able to detect it," Rose looked at Ruiki, as if waiting for his approval.
Then, after the food chain itself is corrupted, the poor things are dead, eating their beloved magic — poisoned, Ruiki mused.
Ruiki nodded slightly, adding, "They've got a sensitive nose, they can detect their kin,"
Rose smiled brightly at that, her face brightening the atmosphere. "Don't worry, I've got it covered. Although I think we should check the exit, leaving this damned place if possible, this saves us a lot of trouble,"
Though Ruiki doubted that fagosins would move from the place where they had likely made their nests to produce offsprings, he nodded. It was better to see if they could escape the easy way out before taking the complicated route.
Besides, he still had that sconce.
...
Climbing up the stairs up north and arriving at the so-called "second-floor" the polymorphed human had mentioned, Ruiki looked around.
It was a cavern similar to the one below, it was nothing special, the walls made with pitch-black stones carved with inter-mixed inscriptions as they shone in red, black and golden colours.
Except for providing a good source of light, they served less purpose, or at least they didn't know how to make use of them.
The party kept heading north, Ruiki keeping his eyes open and carefully examining their surroundings to find any sort of altar.
He soon, though, saw a small open-passage that led to an altar, with the sacrificial offerings still laying above it.
Getting closer to it though, he noticed that it was no sacrificial offering. The altar was covered with booze and ale, judging from the smell, it was the Arbitzars' that his father used to drink with his friends. It could be used as a sacrificial offering, though.
Getting even closer, Ruiki examined it, making sure the altar was of the God of Ancient Death before cleaning off the booze and spreading Atletico Flowers that laid around in a sacrificial order.
"Are you sure it's safe?" Rose asked warily, refusing to come any closer to the altar than seven feet.
"It's safe," Barlet answered in his stead. "Blaspheming the God of Ancient Death... It's worse than a death sentence, believe me, no evil gods or their believers dare come close to ancient death Themselves."
Ruiki nodded and confirmed his explanation as Barlet kneeled next to him, facing the altar.
Ruiki, though, collected what remained of the booze and sprinkled them on the Atletico flowers — for it was the part of the ritual, taking the stray wooden sticks and lighting them by placing it between his thumb and forefinger, rubbing it gently with magic.
The wooden sticks produced a trial of smoke, emitting a sweet smell.
The altar is relatively intact except the spilled booze and ale...
Ruiki then clasped his hands as he placed the sconce above the pitch black altar, reciting a small prayer alongside Barlet Ployer after he had lit the candle.
James, whose belief laid on a different god, stayed away along with Rose, watching from afar as the Baron and Ruiki conducted a small ritual.
"O Death, of the Ancient times,"
Both of them recited in unison.
"I implore thee to offer peace to the tormented soul," said Ruiki.
"And accept them within your eternal embrace." Ployer ended.
The two of them soon got out after a small prayer, nodding to Rose and James.
"Let's continue, with the blessings of God," Barlet Ployer added, looking at the two.
Ruiki stole a glance at him, Ployer seemed in high spirits for some reason. Was he really so religious, Ruiki doubted.
Although the concept of "gods" wasn't really widespread in the "new world", there were many churches and temples established, which held political power on their own, some of them holding enough power to challenge the Royal Family's authority.
But the Royal Family and the temples didn't challenge each other, strangely. None of the suzerains challenged the authority of the latter either, although they did so frequently for the former.
As far as he knew from his mother, this was the political situation of the Kingdom of Shattered Stars. Whether it was true or not, he didn't know.
The "squad" as Rose called it, heading further north for that was all there was to it — the second floor was simply a straight passage, no rooms whatsoever except the sole altar they had found.
They soon arrived near the stairs that led down, the area ahead opening up into a large cavern beyond.
Rose gestured at them to be careful as James and Ruiki prepared themselves, Ployer twisting the ring on his middle finger.
With Rose in lead, they went forward, the cavern opening up as expected.
Ahead though, there were many wooden crates atop, while looking even further was a crudely dug hole next to a small stream of dirty water — the exit.
To Ruiki's horror, though, he realised the wooden crates were being used as breeding grounds as multiple cocoons lay on them, wrapped in thick silks to keep them safe.
And just near the cocoons lay numerous four-eyed fagosins, their different numbered yet tall legs making them stand at least two-metres in height as they looked around the cocoons, protecting them while eating the corpses of mages.
Ruiki looked at Rose. There must've been Brirads as well, right? He thought to ask but refrained from doing so as Rose signalled them to head back.
There were at least a dozen Fagosins here, something a Fireball or Chain Lightning couldn't handle.
If they had at least three scrolls of Fireballs though, Ruiki thought they had a chance.
After withdrawing a fair distance, Rose sighed. "There are too many Fagosins for us to handle, we'd be better off poisoning their food supplies."
"That's not the permanent solution, though." Ruiki shot back. "We'd have to fight the remaining fagosins which will have their guards up after seeing their companions get poisoned."
"And you mentioned there'd be some Brirads here as well,"
"Brirads," Rose laughed. "Just some pesky rats, they don't pose a problem."
Seeing Ruiki frown, she quickly added. "As for the former, it's inevitable. Would you face all the fagosins or a weakened, lesser version of them? It's obviously the latter,"
"But they aren't on-guard now, are they?" Ruiki questioned. "Due to the havoc, we might make the fagosins spread all across the cavern come over to guard their offspring."
"Fagosins do not care about their offspring," Rose said, her tone a bit cold. "The only reason they're even relatively near their offspring is to feed them. Not protect them."
Ruiki shook his head. "We have too little information and... trust. I'd rather wager that we wait, observe their movements and then strike instead of going in blindly."
"I agree!" Barlet Ployer interjected, nodding to Ruiki's idea. "Although I trust you all with my life, we just can't rush there blindly, though."
"So you'd rather wager on your lives and wait for the cavern to collapse on your head, fools?" Rose responded, her tone cold along with her gaze as she eyed the two.
Seeing this, Ruiki slowly slid his hand in his robes' inner pocket.
"Trust me," Ruiki said, "We don't want to do this, at least right now."