"Here…
…I'm down here."
"Huh…? Huh!?"
The hooded figure started looking around everywhere, waving around some stick while doing so. But after a few more seconds, the hooded figure finally met eyes with Lucian — but of course, the hooded figure did not actually look at Lucian for long before straying their eyes away. But after a few seconds of not finding anything or anyone else in the cavern…
"...Are you the one talking?" The robed figure breathed out; the gulp in between, echoing through the darkness.
"Who else could it be? Are you stupid?" Lucian squinted his eyes as he looked up at the hooded figure.
"W…what…!?" The hooded figure could not help but just take a step back, "What sort of—No…"
"Yes," Lucian looked incredibly offended as he watched the hooded figure seemingly afraid of him.
"I… I am the servant of the elements," the hooded figure then pointed the stick she was holding at Lucian, and very soon, it emitted a violent light, "Life is fire, and fire is life. Fire is neither violent or kind…"
"Huh…?" Lucian could really only squint his eyes as the robed figure started muttering and whispering to herself, "What are you—"
"...I summon Fire!" And as the robed figure said those words, a ball of fire materialized at the tip of the stick she was holding, "Tainted but Innocent Creature, May you be reborn into our lands and live the rest of your life one with nature and the elements…
…I release you from your suffering!"
"Eeh…?" Lucian then just stood there as a ball of fire shot toward him; a ball of fire that was not even comparable to the blazing fire that he had experienced from the mages who attacked the workers earlier, "What are you even trying to do…?"
"Huh!?" The robed figure once again took a step back as she saw Lucian just walking while his tiny body was burning. Very soon, however, she just watched as the flames casually faded away, "I… I am the servants of the eleme—"
"Shut up!"
"Uagh!" And before the robed figure could finish her incantation, Lucian leaped and slapped her right on the face and making her fall to the ground, effectively taking off her hood and revealing her scarred, and slightly disfigured face — half of it, at least. And the part where her face was disfigured also seemed to have discolored her hair, as while most of her hair was auburn, parts of it were white and obviously dried,
"Wh—!!!" The woman quickly tried to cover herself again, but could not help but just freeze as Lucian started approaching her, "What… what are you?"
"You should be asking yourself that in the mirror, wooh," Lucian shook his head while approaching the woman; his face, exaggeratingly twisted to show his disgust.
"You're… you're talking…!?"
"Yes. This is starting to get old — yes, I am talking," Lucian pinched the bridge of his nose, "I should be the one shocked since you look like a talking, breathing anus with hemorrhoids."
"W…what?" The woman quickly put up her hood again as she heard that.
"Not… not that I would know what that looks like, of course," Lucian let out a very long and deep sigh before just casually pointing the Geiger counter at the woman, "Oh…? 0.06? But those guys from earlier don't look like you…
…maybe you were just born ugly?"
"That… that's the device the Murcans are using," the woman pointed at the Geiger counter.
"Murcans?" Lucian squinted his eyes, "The people with the fancy weapons and nuclear tech? Huh… the name is fitting and I don't know why."
"That's…" The woman did not really know what to say anymore as she just stared at Lucian, wondering what sort of creature she was. She knew how much mutated creatures could vary, but never once in her life did she actually think that something like this tiny creature in front of her could exist — he did not look like a mutated creature at all, but rather…
"...Are you a spirit? Or maybe… maybe a god?"
"What did you just call me…?"
"Eep!?"
And all of a sudden, the woman felt a sudden weight tower over her as Lucian looked her right in the eyes; his face, seething with disgust; of course, it was hard to see if he was truly looking at her eyes due to his size, but for some reason, the woman felt like Lucian was towering over her right now.
"P… please, please don't kill me, Wrathful God! I know… I know we deserve to die for our sins, but please—"
"What are you even talking about?" Lucian let out a small but very deep sigh, and as he did so, the woman felt the weight on her shoulders suddenly fading away, "And please, can you stop calling me a god? That's almost as offensive as your face."
"O…okay?" The woman did not really know how to react to that.
"Anyway, what are you doing here?" Lucian then started slithering to where the woman leaped out from, only to see that someone else was actually there; curled up on the wall and also covered in robes, "And you didn't tell me you have a companion. You—"
"Kghk!"
"Adelfred!"
And before Lucian could finish his words, the woman finally stood up and just rushed toward her curled companion.
"Drink… drink this!"
"N…no. We… we don't have enough, my love."
"Stop being stubborn and just drink it!" And as the woman forced her companion, Adelfred, to drink from their bag of water, Lucian saw her companion's face…
…and it was even worse than hers; barely even a face there at all.
"...And you dare ask me what sort of creature I am?" Lucian slithered his way toward the couple while pointing the Geiger counter at Adelfred, "0.109, huh. Those Murcans you mentioned don't look like you and they have similar—"
"Please, do not compare us to those corrupters!" The woman raised her voice as she wiped the water on Adelfred's chin and then licked the water from her finger, "They… they taint the land and—forgive me for raising my voice, Sacred Spirit."
"Huh… and I guess they tainted you and Adelfred here too?" Lucian squinted his eyes as he slithered closer to the two, "Why don't you just use whatever they're using to get rid of the radiation?"
"We will never lower ourselves to their level and use their evil concoctions!" The woman once again raised her voice.
"Ho…?" Lucian squinted her eyes as he looked at the woman's face, "From your attitude…
…are you somehow from an important family? Royalty, perhaps?"
This is it, Lucian thought — he had read countless novels where the protagonists meet a princess or someone from a very important family out in the middle of nowhere; to think it was actually happening.
"...No, but my family owns a small bakery and—"
"Then why are you so prideful!?" Lucian wanted to hurt someone there and then, "And why are you even here and not back home!?"
"That…" The woman subtly embraced her companion, "...We are being—"
"I detect their mana here! I think they are here!"
And before the woman could finish her words, voices started seeping into the cavern as several people seemed to be closing in.
"They… they are here! Adelfred, my love… we need to go!"
"Hm?" Lucian blinked a couple of times, "Don't tell me you're being hunted by the Murcans?"
"N…no," the woman shook her head; closing her eyes in defeat, "I'm… being hunted by… Hestians."
"The fuck is that?" Lucian raised an eyebrow.
"Me…" The woman sniffled, "...My people."