Ruiki dusted his hands, pulling on the gloves given by Barlet.
"This is done?"
Ruiki looked around, corpses of fagosins' were sprawled all over, many of them dead due to the poison mixed in their blood, the rest few swept over by them.
"Yep," Rose replied cheerily, "Except for one or two stranglers near the exit, all the fagosins must be dead,"
It was a great feat, even though they had used covert and insidious methods such as poisoning and such, killing more than twenty fagosins with a party of four was something written in novels.
He didn't feel any good knowing that though, Only if these corpses could be sold in the city... Ruiki looked at the Baron, hoping he would provide some compensation. Although Ruiki didn't really fawn over money, he'd appreciate some.
"Let's pack our supplies and head for the exit, hope this damned thing is over," James threw his arms up in exhaustion, balancing on one leg.
Ruiki looked at him and couldn't help but remember their conversation.
James had mentioned a treasure, but after Ruiki had asked for the intricacies, James had shook his head, details unknown even to him.
Ruiki then looked at Rose who was extracting the blood of the fagosins openly for "further uses" as she has stated.
Let's hope I won't have anything to do with him or her after we leave this cavern, Ruiki looked at Rose and Barlet Ployer, shaking his head.
After packing up their food supplies, the party headed towards the exit which didn't take long even after maneuvering over the traps and the dead bodies of fagosins' scattered across the cavern.
The poison had worked extremely well, which was unsettling Ruiki a bit, even though its purpose was to work properly, otherwise they would've died in the cavern, starving.
Ruiki, being the one in lead this time along with Rose, glimpsed at the exit first.
The wooden crates were sprawled all over now, with many of the cocoons already broken, strange yellow liquid overflowing from them.
"The fagosins killed their own offspring?" Ruiki said aloud, walking forward to get a better look as silk had obscured his view.
After getting closer, however, he froze, prompting Rose to come closer to look when she froze as well.
Crunch!
There, behind one of the wooden crates was a human — though it wouldn't be of right sense to call the creature as such — crouching and silently eating the cocoon and drinking the yellow fluid as if in a banquet.
Seeing the two of them, it got startled as it backed off, whistling through a "hole" in his face, its body naked as it revealed all of its features.
It was a man, he supposed. But half of its body had been morphed as if its skin was stitched, its facial features missing with only an "eye" in the middle, the "eye" further splitting open to reveal what would be teeths and a "mouth."
Ruiki froze looking at it as it communicated with its peers. Before he could do anything though, it was too late, as buzzing sounds echoed in all the corners of the cavern and a mass of polymorphed humans stood before them.
Men, women of all ages, elderly, with some missing their nose, some their eyes and mouths. Many of them, though, bore transparent wings on their backs, which was the only pristine part of their body.
"What the fuck are these?" Ruiki heard James shout in horror as even the Baron stood still, petrified like the rest of them.
Ruiki looked around though, regaining his demeanor among the buzzing noises, gesturing at Rose who had recovered earlier.
"That one," he pointed at a polymorphed human in the distance, who had more prominent features than others, "...that's the one which had given me the sconce."
Rose sighed and nodded, looking at the polymorphed humans. "They're recovering. From somewhere, somehow."
"We need to stop them before they fully recover, their strength would be increasing throughout the battle,"
Ruiki nodded, seeing the polymorphed humans get into a fighting stance. "They don't look so strong, now,"
As if offended by his words, the mass of polymorphed humans rushed towards them, swaying and swinging their arms wildly.
"Ready," James was the first to react, firing an arrow and killing one of them as it exploded further and injured the others.
Before Rose could act, seeing the mass of polymorphed humans closely bound, Ruiki used up the last spell in his arsenal, Chain Lightning, as the scroll transformed into lightning, instantly closing distance and killing many polymorphed humans.
It didn't stop there though, it hit the walls and grew in size, taking a few more down before it finally hit the wall and dispersed.
"Good," Purple patterns with complex symbols spread all over her body and face as Rose swung the enchanted greatsword with all her might, Ruiki holding his dagger with James nocking another arrow.
Although Rose had managed to gather the attention of the many polymorphed humans, there were many that escaped and flew beyond her, attacking Ruiki and the rest.
Ruiki gritted his teeth as he confronted the creature flying towards him, stabbing the dagger right in its face and killing it as blood splashed.
They're weak, very weak. Weaker than an average human, Ruiki felt some hope despite the numbers amounting in dozens, but things still felt bizarre, but there were not so many test tubes in that room,
Just as Ruiki pondered, he saw the polymorphed human's hair near his feet extend, its colour changing as it turned yellow.
An idea clicked in his mind, "Brirads!" He shouted, drawing others' attention, "Few of them are Brirads!"
Brirads were creatures that could shapeshift into the living things they had seen before, eventually taking their form and appearance, even inheriting some of their characteristics, although retaining their original strength.
Although they mostly imitated creatures with powerful magic, he supposed the polymorphed humans were powerful wizards and mages when they were still alive.
"There are humans among them too," James shouted, thrusting an arrow at the face of the polymorphed woman in front of him, who nimbly dodged and caught his wrist.
Ruiki frowned as he threw the dagger at the woman's back, giving James a moment of respite to free himself as Barlet took James' mace and hit the woman on her head, killing her.
"Thanks," James thanked as he nocked another arrow. Many were coming their way.
Ruiki gritted his teeth as he chanted, "Doraemon," purplish-blue flames engulfing his dagger's blade as he joined the fray, targeting the weak Brirads first and ignoring the humans.
Since Brirads needed time to get accustomed to their new form, striking them when they were still getting accustomed was vital!
Ruiki first stabbed his dagger at a Brirad donning the appearance of a woman his age, finishing it quickly with a thrust to its neck.
Their features are getting more prominent, It wasn't good though, that meant the creatures were getting more control over their new form.
Ruiki hacked and slashed wildly, covered in blood as he suffered many wounds in the process, his chin and neck bleeding while his eyesight was blurring.
He saw Rose fend off many Brirads in his peripheral view, but eventually getting overwhelmed by the polymorphed humans who still possessed some intelligence.
He also saw that the polymorphed human who had given him the sconce was idle, not moving a finger or toe as it stood.
But regardless of all that, he knew clearly, they were losing. Badly.
And they were going to die at the rate the things were going.
"Ahhhh!" At this moment, Ruiki heard a loud shout and turned to see while blocking an arm targeting his neck, crouching and sliding.
After he got up and got free for a moment, he saw a filthy barrier covering a part of the cavern, rotting the many Brirads and polymorphed humans', whichever got too close to the barrier.
On the other side though, he also saw Baron Barlet Ployer, whose complexion was pale as he sweated profusely, James nowhere near him.
Dammit... Ruiki felt sharp pain engulf his back as he turned around with a shout, grabbing the female Brirads arm and tossing it aside as he thrust his dagger with all his strength to save his life, backing off to gain some distance.
His back soon touched a dead end, though, as his thoughts came to a standstill.
"So this is the end, huh?" He looked ahead at the Brirads advancing towards him with unconcealed malice in their gazes, his eyes slowly dropping.
But just at this moment, his eyes widened as he spotted a figure standing in front of him.
"I owe the kid a life, y'know." James, who had appeared in front of him, confronted the Brirads and polymorphed humans, throwing his mace towards them as he held the quiver in his hand.
The mace hit a Brirad in its face, killing it as the Brirad fell, making others stumble over it and slowing their charge. James took the opportunity to confront the horde.
But as he gradually got overwhelmed by the mass of Brirads, James shot a grin at Ruiki, detonating all the arrows' in the quiver, "Don't forget to tell my family how heroic my death was."
The next moment, Ruiki's perception blanked as he heard a loud explosion in front of him, splinters and chunks of rocks hitting his face as he shielded himself, curling and spitting blood.
...
Ruiki stirred awake, feeling a scorching heat beneath as his head felt heavy and blank, fatigued.
Recollecting himself, the last thing he remembered was Rose dealing with the remaining Brirads and polymorphed humans, the latter strangely being easier to deal with.
Ruiki was later helped by Rose when he was barely conscious as he was laid against a silver rock beside the gushing Strenzo River.
Looks like we really were near River Strenzo, bordering the north,
He then looked ahead, spotting Rose near the river's steam as she cleaned herself. Ruiki looked away as he stood, sighing and searching for his dagger.
Ruiki soon found his dagger, for it lay near him and cleaned it in the river stream, burning his skin in the process, for the river water was too hot.
The dazzling afternoon sun shone dazzlingly amidst the bright sky, not obscured by clouds as it cast light, forming the shadows of the shining rocks lined near River Strenzo.
The rocks had black and white papers tied around them with a rope. Ruiki remembered, since the Strenzo River was called the "River of Undead," many family members paid their respects or sent messages to their dead relatives in such a way, hoping their messages would be conveyed.
Ruiki didn't know its authenticity, however. He'd had done the same when his father had died, being disappointed when he didn't get a reply.
That was when he was younger, though. A foolish ordeal, he supposed.
"You're awake," a familiar voice sounded behind him, startling him as he turned around, his eyes widening.
"You are..." Ruiki looked at her, whose skin had become more pristine, her long red hair black as she wore a purple medallion on her neck along with a luxurious purple dress. "Rose?"
"Rosalyn De Avarice, to be more precise," she corrected, now looking only a year or two older than him.
Ruiki, surprised by the following events and moreover fatigued, asked, "Just who are you, really?"
"I don't think it is necessary for you to know me... yet." Rose dismissed, looking north. "There's a troublesome fellow up north. If fate allows, we shall meet again."
Ruiki merely saw as Rose was covered with blue and purple lights, eventually vanishing from his view, her gaze fixated on him until the end.
Ruiki chuckled weakly, leaning against a rock as he splashed some hot water against his face, staring at the passing clouds and noting their shapes as his sister's voice resounded in his head.
"Isn't it a beautiful afternoon, Ruiki?"