52 『Great Labyrinth Teller』 (1/2)
The trio made their way to the next floor, leaving their friends down below in order to begin their training. Not that it seemed like Peter was all too up for it, he stayed nonetheless with Lukrut.
As they entered the third floor, it was unlike both the first floor and the second. Greeted by ash-colored brickstone walls and gothic hanging torches of strange blue everchanging hues.
”What kind of floor is this...?” Ninya looked at the seven different routes that were presented in front of them. All of which seemed to fade to darkness at some point or immediately turn at a right angle. ”It looks like at...”
”Maze? Something like that,” Vertum placed his arms over his pelvis, folding them over one another as he tilted his head to the side. ”It's the Great Labyrinth. Teller and his ilk roam here...”
”Teller?” The druid raised a brow.
”Another undead member like the Overlord you saw below on the ground floor, except its more of a warrior and has a pretty gnarly looking tail.” Vertum chuckled a bit at the description he gave the tail before he noticed the eyes of the Floor Guardian glowing from one of the nearby passagers seen from the archway they stood within.
Ninya bleated mutedly seeing the eyes that had suddenly appeared without warning, immediately fearsome of the eyes that appeared.
The soft tapping of bare skeletal feet could be heard as the creature moved towards them from the shadows. The spinal disks of its tail scratched against floor as it swayed with each step. An intimidating aura expanded in front of it, and its eyes grew brighter as it approached.
As soon as it reached the end of the passage however, it came to a halt.
”Hm... Vertum-sama, it was you...” Its high pitched and demonically overlapping voice gave the two humans the chills. Their eyes then shifted towards the two humans who were more intimidated by it than they were the Overlord from before. Its jaw shaped as a menacing permanent grin opened slightly, before clacking shut, ”Hello. You are... Guests, I presume?”
”Yes, Teller. They are here to view the divination chamber, would you care to lead us there?”
”Ah, yes. The Chamber has been since prepared, follow me,” The skeletal monster gestured for them to follow before it turned and began walking down the passage at the other end of the room rather than the one it entered through.
Vertum placed a hand on Ninya's shoulder and lightly shoved her in front of himself, before he began walking along with her.
Dyne followed closely behind, not drawing his weapon though, as he stared over the architecture. It was vastly different from the last floor, likely because it was created by a different individual. He was however even more curious about this teller, as it didn't appear to be like any undead he had ever seen. It had horns and a tail, he had no idea what it had been derived from, but it still had a humanoid shape overall.
Ninya's eyes scanned the various torches that lit their way, before resting on the tail which scratched at the floors ahead of her. It seemed to be like a natural weapon.
”Was he a Dragonoid...?” She quietly questioned to herself.
”No,” Vertum snickered quietly as he kept one hand on her shoulder as to keep guiding her forward, as well as to assure her he was there. The chemical reaction of her fear, he could smell it as if it was the morning dew on the village grounds.
Ninya had sweat visibly dotting the top of her forehead, Teller's presence alone making both of the humans skittish. No one could blame them, it was a natural ambient effect it had on humanoid races below its level.
After that small amount of talk, there was silence most of the way. The further they went, the deeper they transversed along those dark ash colored stonewalls, the less torches there were.
Eventually they came up to a wooden door, one made of a tannish hued material. Teller reached forward and pushed the door open, then stepped back. Its glowing eyes resting on those who were keeping their sights upon it.
”You have reached the divination Chamber, is there anything else I can do for you, Master?” Its gaze moved towards Vertum for a few seconds before going to the humans.
”No, we're fine. You're dismissed to return to your post.” Vertum nodded to him and ushered the two humans into the chamber before allowing the door to close behind them as Teller left.
The sound of water reached their ears and the chamber lit up, there a large protruding blue crystal above that brought light to the room was attached to the ceiling. The room was lined with bookcases with a moat of sparkling water a few feet down from what appeared to be a platform they were standing on.
Small lights danced around in the room like fireflies, being all different colors. At a closer look, those little lights were fairies, small feminine forms with iridescent glowing wings.
”This place is...” Ninya stared at the platform they were now standing upon, surrounded by water and the mystical lighting. ”Nifty...”
Chuckling at her use of the word, Vertum walked onto the center of the platform.
”So... Um... How are we going to use this uh... Chamber to get my sister's location?” She asked as she looked around at the books. They all were blank on the spines, but they were all different colors and sizes. Did they have information? What kind of divination were they going to use.
”For the most part, the Chamber does nothing,” Vertum snickered.
”Wha...” Ninya and Dyne both looked to him with a look of disbelief. ”You lead us here... For no reason at all?” She placed her hands on the back of her neck, her elbows out in front of her.
”I mean, your friends got to get some free training and... You got to learn more, right?” Vertum shook his head lightly with a grin across his lips. It was as if everything was done for them, but at the same time, for his amusement. Poking out the tip of his tongue, he moistened his lips before turning away from them.
With a mere gesture, the vapor in the room formed a magical screen of sorts which blanked out their surroundings. They were surrounded by moving walls of water, they couldn't even see the door. ”Now... It's time to see where your sister is.”
Closing his eyes, Vertum began to sift through magic energy as it moved around inside of him, regulating, he could feel his mana. He opened his eyes once more, casting a silent spell.
Suddenly their surroundings changed, a three hundred and sixty degree view of a dimly lit room. There were some fine furnishings, but the place had no viable windows, the faint sound of crying and sobbing could be heard. Flesh on flesh contact, screaming, beatings.
What they were hearing was a brothel in the capital City.
Vertum shifted their view downward, and laying on the bed, barely able to move was a petite blonde with an apt bosom. It was Tuareninya, Lysithea's lost sister who had been taken away by a noble. She was beaten and abused, that was clear from a glance, and drugs keeping her docile. She moved slightly as if feeling eyes on her, tears rolling down her face seeing nothing nor anyone.
”What did this happen to me...” She murmured, but Vertum and company couldn't hear it.
”Can you save her?” Ninya asked curiously looking up at him, she owed him a life debt, so she would do anything and will do anything he asked. There was no point in begging with the offer to do anything.
”Judging by the fact that this is a brothel... It is likely owned by the Eight Fingers Syndicate, the Theocracy had dealings with their leadership.” Vertum knew this through his assimilation abilities of those who he had devoured and killed in the process.
”I have no problem saving just her,” Vertum uttered as he could hear the other women. None of them were joyful moans, other than the ones who had already caved in to the unruly treatments.
Ninya lowered her head slightly, ”If we don't, she'll die there... I.. I can't let my sister die.”
”Then she owe her life to you,” Vertum turned to Ninya as he said this, his eyes narrowing on her. ”Do you wish to be the one who saves her? Or do you want her to owe her life to me?”