Having lived the life of a troll it’s not the first time Wu Yan’s on the receiving end of getting trolled. Logically speaking therefore he should be adept at dealing with this kind of ‘holes’. Oh how naive he was.
He’s not sure what amount of time has passed but judging from his arms that is on the verge of going limp from hugging the girls one could tell it is definitely not a short time.
And yet, there’s still nothing but a dark abyss in his line of sight.
Like a bottomless pit, it’s not that big a hole but it’s bone chilling how deep this thing is, they have flew for so long and still no ground in sight. Just when Mikoto is about to complain, he saw something that brightened up his eyes.
“Ikaros! Stop for a bit!”
Ikaros braked suddenly and steadily halted with a whip of her wings.
“What’s with you stopping so suddenly like that…”
Rubbing her forehead in irritation she looked at him in a displeased manner. The sudden brake just now made her knock into his jaw. What she didn’t think about is who really got hurt more in that collision.
“Look at the walls…”
The boring unchanging walls are now filled with countless holes like that of a beehives. Each of the caves had the exact same size.
Drafts blew from the countless holes out into the giant pit. One couldn’t tell what’s the wind direction either, the winds are all blowing in a strange and abnormal manner.
It’s weird how one could see the wind and yet not feel it, the scene made them very befuddled that’s for sure.
Looking at the countless caves and subsequently feeling bedazzled with the sheer amount, Mikoto looked away and grumbled silently.
“So many caves, which one are we going into?”
When he heard Mikoto, he turned to Ikaros.
“Ikaros, an you please scan the structures for any special markers or unique differences?”
She instantly switched to sky queen mode and used her deep red eyes to scan over the place.
“Results of the scan revealed a 99% similarity with negligible variance…”
“In other words, they’re all the same?”
His head started hurting from the implications, if Ikaros can’t do it there’s not much he can do about it, the same applies to Mikoto.
Hinagiku moaned in his chest, noticing this he reckons its probably the sign of her awakening.
She would surely faint again if she were to wake up when they’re still in this state. He decided straight away.
“Screw it, let’s try randomly entering one!”
Mikoto and Lirin concurred with this decision, being hugged for such a long period would make anyone feel uncomfortable. At this rate, they wouldn’t know how long they would be descending and waiting is not an option either.
Ikaros glanced over the available options and chose the closest one to fly to.
When they landed Mikoto and Wu Yan breathed a sigh of relief and Hinagiku woke up just in time.
“Both of you.. what’s with the look?….”
Being observed by people, the bossy Kaichou-sama felt a bit disturbed by them.
“Oh right, just now…”
“Just now nothing happened! It’s best if you don’t try to recall it Hinagiku…”
Understanding her acrophobic attribute he tried to reassure her.
Ignoring the giggling Mikoto and Lirin as well as Hinagiku who had question marks floating above her head he stood up and looked around the cave.
As usual, everything’s made of stone and there’s nothing particular to note. Rubbing his palm, he continued.
“Let’s delve deeper, lady luck be courteous perhaps we might chance upon an exit.”
“Since they’re going through the trouble of creating a map why didn’t they do proper annotation on the situation of the treasure.”
Whined Mikoto.
Wu Yan & company didn’t say anything, they only wrly smiled. Barging into other people’s treasure hiding place, getting lost and then blaming the master of the treasure for something like that, what can one say, she’s an interesting one…
And so they set forth once more…
It’s fortunate that they aren’t any traps that are of the same magnitude as the one before, for one, they aren’t walking in some seemingly endless path, they came out of the other side of the cave in a jiffy.
Rather than came out, it’s more like they found the exit.
3 teleportation circles appeared…
Exchanging glances, Wu Yan & company walked over to inspect the circles.
“So, which one?”
said Mikoto while fiddling with her hair.
“This 3 circles look exactly the same, how do we choose 1 from them?”
She said after making a conclusion that they are identical.
Looking over the 3 magic formations again he helplessly resorted to the same method they employed before.
“Well they do look the same, why not we randomly choose one like before?”
“Let’s go with that..”
The group sighed in unison, they all had second thoughts that maybe coming to this place just isn’t worth the trouble.
Stepping on the circle, it lit up and sent them away.
They are in for a surprise when they saw what appeared before them.
“This.. this…”
Subconsciously taking a few steps back, Mikoto went pale and Hinagiku took Lirin into her arms to cover her vision. She closed her eyes as well as she can’t take a look at the place. He on the other hand has a stern face on.
What they are seeing is a place littered with dead bodies. Dead bodies everywhere.
They are all the bodies of the treasure hunting group!
Among the littered bodies there are those that are pincushion-ed by stone spikes with their blood flowing into streams. And then there are those staked to the wall, even those with headshot turning into meaty chunks, it’s an understatement to say their bodies were not in one piece.
Against this scene from hell, except for Ikaros and Lirin who is in Hinagiku’s arms, the trio can’t help gasping. Even the air had a tinge of iron smell that of a slaughterhouse.
The casualty here is about 70% of the turnout this time!
“What… what went down here?… why are they all like this?”
It’s not the first time they have seen blood but they still can’t regain their senses fully.
These people were still alive when they came here, rid the same airship, went into the stash out place. And now, these people are dead!
They can’t deal with the reality, not with their kind hearts. They are clenching down on their lips so hard it looks like if they were to put more strength into them then their lips might just get cut.
“Why so many of them died? What the hell did they come upon?”
Grasping his fist, his face looked anxious, it’s not a lack of guts, rather it’s the fear of the unknown. Before he could determine their cause of death, even he would feel uneasy.
kakaka…
The sound came as if something is breaking apart. It was faint in the beginning but as time passed the sound became louder and louder before finally turning into a complete clutter of sounds.
“What is this noise…”
At a place where there are countless bodies and a ground that could only be described as the river of blood a sudden abnormal sound came. Anyone would be a little bit afraid, what more to say of the girls?
Hinagiku and Mikoto huddled close to him. They were practically cuddling up to him. They are looking around trying to locate the source of that sound.
He’s a bit hard pressed but he has some experience for stuff like this. What’s more he’s a man, if he can’t be a proper pillar of support at times like this then he wouldn’t be fit to be called a man.
He took the vanguard in front of the two girls and brought out Nietono no Shana. Grabbing the hilt he kept the sword at his waist.
“Hinagiku,Mikoto don’t stray too far from me, we will act according to the situation, the little girl’s protection is priority number one. Ikaros, cover Mikoto and Hinagiku!”
“Understood!”
“Yes! Master!”
It appeared. The source of the sound…