At the bottom of the Fourth Layer lies a wide stretch of land filled with patches of Flower of Resilience strewn all over the place. Marulk and I walked through the land, accompanied by Bondrewd and one of his Umbra Hands.
"Huh, these flowers sure grows everywhere huh?" I asked while staring of the wild patches of flowers around us. "Even deep in a place like this."
I can see Bondrewd shaking his head after hearing that. "No, the flower of Eternal Fortune is a native to this area," he explained. "Back then, this was one of the most beautiful landscape that the Abyss have to offer. A garden resembling the one near the hideout, but much bigger and much more wonderful."
Marulk and I looked around the terrain a bit more, picturing ourselves standing in the middle of a natural garden. "What happened? Climate change?" I asked, a bit sad that I wasn't around to notice this place in all its glory.
Bondrewd shook his head. "No, I burned it."
It took me a whole minute to process what he just said. "Excuse me? You burned down this place?" I asked in disbelief. "Why?"
"There was a migration of an invasive species known as the 'Amaranthine-Deceptor', they usually resides in the sixth layer, but for some reason they start migrating to the Fourth Layer," Bondrewd explained while Marulk seemed to have realized what's going on. "They slowly turned garden like these into a death trap among delvers."
Okay, Amaranthine-Deceptor sounds like a real monster to me. "What makes them so dangerous anyway? Can't you just drive them away?"
This time, Marulk answered my question. "Haios-san, the Amaranthine-Deceptor is an Irrational danger rating, parasitic insect that resembles Eternal Fortune. They plant their larvae into the host's body and it will start eating away the host from inside," he explained. "The adults will sometime climb into the mouth to feed on the brain matter."
I gulped a little and looked at the patches of flower garden around us warily. "You did stop them right? They're gonna stay the absolute heck away from the fourth layer right?"
Bondrewd shook his head. "One cannot know for certain, we can only hope."
[LINE BREAK]
"So this is the Fifth Layer huh?" I commented while staring at the vast ocean in front of me. "The sea of corpses… Ever try fishing here?"
Bondrewd put a hand on my shoulder. "Careful now, the curse of the fifth layer makes diving here synonymous with suicide," he looked at the ocean below. "And deep in the ocean is the sixth layer of the Abyss."
I can feel Marulk's hand grabbing mine as if saying 'don't even think about it'. "Not that I have any death wish for anything, but is there any way to counteract the curse of the abyss?"
There was a moment of silence and I felt like I just asked something I should've never asked. "There is," Bondrewd spoke. "However, the method is a bit… unethical to some people. So I'm putting it on hold for now and work with what I currently have."
Not wanting to get into any trouble with the white whistle, I decided to shut my mouth and move my attention to someone more familiar.
"So, Marulk, is this like anything you've imagined?" I asked the boy who seems to be enjoying the view of the ocean.
Marulk shook his head. "No, this is beyond even my wildest dream," he looked at me with a grateful smile on his face. "Thanks for letting me come with you."
"No problem!" I looked back at the ocean and saw an Umbra Hand driving a large boat towards us. "Is that our ride?"
Bondrewd nodded and stepped into it once it gets to shore. Then Marulk and I entered the boat at the same time.
With that, we start our boat journey through the Sea of Corpses. Right in front of us looms a gargantuan structure floating above the sea. Its shape reminds me of one of those futuristic building in the middle of dark cavern.
A bit like supervillain lair actually…
"Welcome to the Forward Operation Base," Bondrewd led us through one of the doors around the facility. "The two of you will be staying here before you can depart to the sixth layer."
Bondrewd led us through the corridors of Idofront and showed us some facilities around the area. From the library, bathroom, mesh hall, and a mysterious staircase that kinda impossible to climb because of the curse.
"And here is where you will be staying," Bondrewd opened a metal door for us, revealing a pretty darn comfortable bedroom resembling your ordinary kids room. "Make yourself comfortable, just let one of my Umbra Hands know if you need anything."
With that, the White Whistle bid his farewell and leave us to our own devices. Beside me, Marulk is already busy rummaging through some books around that place.
"So, Marulk, what do you think? Quite different from a certain White Whistle we know of right?" I asked him.
Marulk nodded with a pensive smile on his face. "You know, if the situation were any different I would've been terrified right now," he replied.
All right, back to reality. "What situation?" I asked him.
"Bondrewd has a… twisted sense of value over life in general," he looked motioned at the children room we're in. "This is a children's room. Ever thought why he needs a room like this in Idofront?"
I thought about it for a second and my blood ran cold. The facility, his shady reputation. "Don't fucking tell me… he's been doing child experiments?"
Marulk nodded grimly, though I can see that he's still pretty calm despite all this. "This was purely a speculation on Lord Ozen's part. She mentioned about Bondrewd in her notes, but she never get the chance to prove about all this."
I gulped a little, the situation looks more and more bleak. "Okay, we need a plan if we want to get out of here…" I said while looking around to see if we're being watched.
"Haios, calm down, we're not in any danger," Marulk said comfortingly.
"We're in a Mad Scientist's lair!" I exclaimed.
Marulk smiled and gently pat my head. "Don't worry, as twisted as he is, Bondrewd is not going to hurt us," he pointed at the whistles that we're wearing. "These whistles give us value, we're more than just a couple kid, we're a capable delvers. He's not going to hurt a delver without a reason."
I took a deep breath and nodded in agreement. "You're right, we've proven ourselves, he is not going to hurt us."
"That's right, he won't, it's less efficient that way. That's why he's been experimenting on orphans instead of delvers."
I seriously do not want to know about that. "What is he working on anyway?" though my curiosity got the better of me.
"I'm actually planning to confront him about this tomorrow," Marulk replied as if saying that he would like egg sandwich for breakfast tomorrow.
Tomorrow is going to be one heck of a day…