182 Vol. 3 pt. 52 Patch 9.0: The Catacombss Secre (2/2)
”I don't know whether that makes you sound more like a furry or more like an edgelord, onii-chan. Ooh, a furry edgelord! Are you going to go and draw edgy furry wolf OCs to post online now and write fanfiction about?”
”You know this is mental abuse right, right?”
”You know I only tease you like this because I know you like it, right?”
”Why are you blushing?” Cassiel asks Fenrir.
”Because my assistant is being cruel to me,” Fenrir answers. ”Go away. I'm exploring a dungeon.”
”Fiiinneee. Talk to you later, onii-chan!” Saya replies. Fenrir may not be able to see her, but he feels her blow a kiss to him.
”Woah, we really did clear this place out,” Oleander says. They've been walking for several minutes and haven't found a single enemy.
However, despite them feeling like they're just walking in circles and not making any progress, they haven't come across any of their previous battle sites. Fenrir hasn't seen any of the torches that he knocked down off the wall, either.
”Maybe we should just – wait, what's this?” Fenrir asks, stopping in his tracks when he sees some charred corpses.
”Random bodies burnt to a crisp in the middle of a hall? They look like they were zombies, so somebody with fire magic might've been down here before us?” Oleander theorizes.
”How long does it take bodies to deteriorate and despawn again?”
”They'll become skeletons within two in-game days, and then despawn after a week. These corpses are… I can't think of a better word and this sounds gross, but fresh,” Cassiel explains.
Fenrir kneels down and places a hand against one of the bodies while Rock and Shogun sniff them. ”Still warm,” he says. ”Must have been pretty recent… so think that somebody else is down here?”
”How come we didn't see anything on the way here then? There weren't any signs of fighting and the tunnel was full of trash.”
”Maybe they snuck past all the others or found some other way of getting in here?”
”Somebody sneaky with fire magic? I hope they don't mistake us for some zombies,” Oleander says.
”Maybe… maybe we should go back, bro. I don't want to get scorched,” Rao says, unable to look at the crispy bodies that Fenrir and the canines are inspecting.
”It's possible it could have been a monster that just got pissed off at its fellow trash – maybe a boss?” Oleander suggests.
”I don't know, but I do know that now I'm even more curious than I was before about what else might be down here,” Fenrir says.
”We're already this far, so we might as well keep going I guess,” Cassiel says.
”You can go back if you don't want to come with us, Rao.”
Rao turns around and looks down the dimly-lit tunnel they came from. ”I'll – I'll come with you, bro,” he answers.
The group continues onward.
More bodies show up with signs of being scorched by something extremely hot and, going by how there are occasionally limbs being splattered all over the place, the group assumes that the person or monster responsible has got some explosive tricks.
”Whoever or whatever it is, they've done some work,” Fenrir says.
The tunnel they turn into is full of charred corpses. ”Either a really strong player did this, or a boss did it. I'm starting to lean toward the former because… what boss would want to kill this much of its own trash?” Fenrir asks.
”Yeah, I can't imagine a boss being this wasteful even if it's an undead one. We're getting close, so we should be careful,” Cassiel says upon noticing some smoke rising from one of the nearest corpses.
A burst of fire and smoke comes from around the turn at the end of the path.
”Yeah… definitely close,” Fenrir says. ”Get ready in case this goes bad.”
”I'll take point. I'm the only one wearing some real armor here,” Cassiel says.
Fenrir doesn't like the thought of his girlfriend being in the lead since it puts her in danger, but from a gaming point of view, it's the smart thing to do.
Rock walks up next to her and barks back at Fenrir. She's probably the most immune to fire here, so it really makes sense for her to be up there.
”Wow, Fenny, letting your girlfriend and dog take the lead while you stand back? What kind of man are you?” Oleander teases after seeing how conflicted Fenrir looks.
Then, when Oleander looks at Shogun, he sees the fox looks just as conflicted about Rock being up there.
Oleander's theory about Shogun and Fenrir being the same, and that being why Rock likes Shogun so much, gains more evidence.