16 The Crazy Red Hair I (1/2)
Without saying a word to each other, the 41 survivors of the welcoming party walked through the opening in the coliseum's walls. Unlike the cave from earlier, several dazzling crystals scattered on the walls of the hallway-like path illuminated the path that laid in front of James and the others. Instead of admiring the beauty of the hallway, they had varying expressions on their faces, which ranged from stern to caution. After the events that took place in the coliseum, no one could not blame these youths for putting up such expressions on their faces. Meanwhile, Rowan's face was ashen, because he felt that everyone in the hallway were mocking him in their hearts. He honestly believed he did no wrong back at the coliseum, his eyes had a furious look in it as he stared at the back of the lady who talked him down earlier. Being a Prince from an Allied Kingdom, he felt humiliated by her actions. Since he was a child, they taught him to always maintain a positive image wherever he found himself. Now that the young lady tarnished his image, Rowan was transferring his anger to the young lady.
After walking for over twenty minutes in the hallway-like path, the forty-one youths reached a specious room, which had a dome. Within this illuminated room, one would notice that there were several doors marked with numbers on it. With 30 doors marked in the room. Unlike normal doors, the doors in this room had no handle on them and they were all painted in stripes of white and yellow. The moment the last of the youths crossed over to the room, they could hear a loud rumbling noise, followed by the hallway closing behind the youths, causing them to have serious expressions on their faces. The expressions on their faces became more serious the moment they counted the doors in the room, which was lesser compared to their forty-one man count.
At that moment, all the youths created a distance between themselves. They had a looming sense of foreboding within their hearts, especially when they remembered what happened in the coliseum. Just like the others, James was also preparing for an all-out brawl. Even though some youths within the room had higher levels than him, he was well prepared to take advantage of what would be a chaotic brawl. From his perspective, if he used the damned souls and the Army of the Fallen, coupled with his other skills, there was no way he would not emerge as one of the thirty people to pass through a door. Although James had this thought in mind, he could not help but marvel at how clichéd their situation was.
He was expecting something far more intriguing, but it seems the Kynar people were going the simple and efficient route, which was an all-out battle. With tensions rising within the room and everyone developing a case of paranoia, a bloody battle was not too far away from starting.
”Wait! There is no need for us to suspect or fight each other. No one told us to fight! So, what is the point in us having bloodthirsty looks towards each other? We don't even know if the doors in the room lead to an ominous location. Let's calm down and think this through, we will only stain our hands with blood if we murder each other,” Rowan said.
Although he said these words, he still maintained a serious look in his eyes, with his posture akin to that of some prepared for battle. Hearing his words, there was no reaction on the faces of the other youths, but none of them approached the other to begin the fight. Just like Rowan, they did not want to fight any unnecessary battles and just like Rowan said, there was no way to guarantee that the Caretakers wanted them to battle each other. There was also no guarantee that, what was lying behind the closed doors will favor anyone.
Those swayed by Rowan's words, relaxed their tensed bodies while also maintaining vigilance towards the others.
”So what do you propose we do? Although I don't know the intensions of those bastards, with only 30 doors in the room and 41 of us here, it is not too difficult to guess their intentions,” A bald youth said in a stern voice.
Taking a closer look at this young man, who looked only 17 years of age, one would notice that he dressed like a typical monk. Around his hands were prayer beads, which were black and red. On the bald head of this young man, one would notice that there were five black beautifully drawn circles. They could also find a miniature version of these circles on the forehead of this youth, which aligned down the path in between his two eyes, all the way to his nose. With his fair skin complexion, the tattoo like circles really stood out. Even though he looked only seventeen years old, he had a small goatee on his chin, tied into braids.
Unlike Rowan who was a handsome young prince, this young man was not handsome, but borderline ugly, but one would not really notice this, because he had an amiable aura around him.
Meanwhile, Rowan had an athletic physique with a height of 6ft. He had a handsome chiseled face, with no blemish on his tanned skin. The black hair on his head, curled in an unnatural and dazzling manner. Covering a section of his face, leaving only one of his eyes visible. Unlike the young man who wore a monk's attire, Rowan wore luxurious clothes befitting of a prince. Just like how their clothes were a total contrast to each other, the aura around Rowan was also different to that of the monk. While the monk had an amiable aura, Rowan had the proud aura of a prince far above the common man. The only thing identical with the two, was that they were from the same age bracket.
Hearing his words, all the youth in the room turned their attention towards the monk, with most of them agreeing within him.
That there were only 30 doors within the room, was a clear message to everyone within the room that only 30 of them would exit the room. Rowan's face became slightly ugly after hearing the words of the monk, just like the others he also came to the same conclusion about the brawl, but he did not what to fight in a free for all.
”Why don't we use one door as a sample? This way can confirm if the Caretakers want us to decide among ourselves who should proceed or not,” Rowan said.
”So, who gets to pass through the sample door? I hope you will not recommend yourself?” the same young lady from earlier retorted while sporting a smile on her face.
Looking at this young lady, one would notice that she cross-dressed as male. She wore silver tunic matched by a pair of black breeches, while wearing a shin high leather boots.
Even though she cut her brown hair to the length of a young boy, it did not hide how cute her face. Just like her hair, her eyes were also brown. From her facial features, one could easily tell that she was 16 years of age. Unlike most ladies her age who were already being affected by puberty, she was still as flat as a board; one of the major reasons she could pull off the cross dressing look. If she did not speak, she could pass off as a boy, but if she opens her mouth to speak, her feminine voice will surely give her away.
With an ugly expression on his face, Rowan wasted no time in replying as he said, ”Did you hear me recommend myself? Do you have…” before Rowan could finish his statement, a loud female voice drifted into the room, ”Children, I'm sorry for the slight delay. It is a good thing there were no accidents.”
The moment the voice drifted into their ears, all the youths in the room who were already tensed suddenly relaxed their muscles, while sporting smiles on their faces. Unlike the Call of a Siren, what was happening to youths was different. Instead of putting the youths in a state where they could be controlled, the voice rejuvenated their bodies and uplifted their souls.
At that same time, the sound of the system's notification went off in James's mind.
<Ding>
Scanning Completed!
Name: Cry of the Beloved (mimicry).
Rank: Good.
Path: Light.
Effects: Voice from the 'Pure Soul', used in soothing a raging and tensed mind.
The user will lose control of Item - Damned Souls, if subjected to the Skill.
Item - Army of the Fallen, will become purified if subjected to the Skill.
Limitation: Because it is a mimicry, the user has a 10% of stopping the purification process.
<Ding>
James had bland expression on his face the moment he read the system's update, he was tired of being surprised by the people within Kynar.
”Children, you can each go through a door of your choice. All doors lead to the same destination, you don't have to fight for the right to enter any door, because you are all esteemed guests of Kynar. Please make your choice within the next 5 minutes. Please try to make yourself useful before the feast. See you on the other side children,” The mysterious feminine voice said.
The moment after she finished speaking, all the youths within the room came to their sense. Meanwhile, Rowans had a smug expression on his face as he stared at the young lady who did not even bother to glance at him. Instead of waiting around to applaud who was right or not, most of the youths immediately made their way towards the door of their choice.
With what happened after the last five minutes declaration, none of them wanted to face the penalty of being late. Just like the others, James walked towards a door of his choice, which had the number 27 written on it. Unlike the others, he had a stern expression on his face, because he remembered how the old man repeatedly told him to make himself useful in the world underneath. Taking a deep breath to calm his nerves James pushed the door. But, nothing happened. Instead, a hidden trap door opened underneath his feet, which caught him by surprise. The strange way in which James exited the room surprised even the others who had yet to leave the room.
James had a wryly smile on his face as he slid down what looked like a tunnel, He felt as if the Kynar people were messing with them too much. With the night mode activated, he could see within the dark and cold tunnel. Since he could do nothing and did not know where the tunnel led, James cautiously enjoyed the ride to his unknown destination. While listening to the reports of the damned souls he out before the old man kidnapped him.
About ten minutes later, James who had being listening to the reports of the damned souls had a stern expression on his face. Because of the information reported by the damned souls. According to the reports of his damned souls, they had yet to find signs of any intelligent race on the Island. Coupled with the fact the island was far, far larger than what James had expected. Another thing that made him livid, was that an unknown monster living in the forest ate his damned soul and he did not even notice it. It was not as if it killed the damned soul, rather it stored inside its stomach. Even with Blay De Tovar's memories, James did not know which monster could do such a thing. However, as these thoughts flashed through his mind, he could see a light coming from about 10m. With the appearance of the light, James snapped out from his pondering demeanor, because he knew that whatever was waiting for him at the other side would require his maximum attention.
Unlike when an underground trap door swallowed him, James exited the tunnel from the ceiling of a spacious room. The height from the ceiling to the floor was more than 30ft, if a normal person fell from such a height, they would suffer serious injuries or may even die, depending on how they landed. With an ugly expression on his face, James used his past military training to good use, enhanced by his high Agility stat. Like a veteran gymnast, he flipped in mid-air twice, before landing on his feet with his knees slightly bent. On his home plant, such graceful skills would have won him multiple gold medals, but within the room he landed in, all it brought James was a series of loud mocking laughter.
Because of the awkward manner in which he exited the tunnel, James did not take a proper look at the room at first glance. But, having saved himself from any injury associated with falling, he had a stunned expression on his face when he saw the amount of people within the room. What made shocked him the most, was that not everyone within the room was a human. The laughter that occurred after he landed were from a group of humanoid creatures who had a gray colored skin, which was also rough. Looking at their sturdy bodies, it would leave one slacked Jawed, because even if James was to gain times three of his current weight he was nowhere near coming to the weight of these humanoids. Unlike the humans, these humanoids only had their stomach, privates and rear covered by a thick animal fur. Inspecting their faces, it would leave most people terrified, because these humanoids had massive fangs protruding out of their mouth. With a circular nose ring dropping from their round nose, their ears were also gray as it pointed outward, while their eyes looked menacing and bloodthirsty.
If their bulging muscles which had veins has thick snakes, did not induce fear; then looking at the eyes of these creatures would to do the trick. Although some of them had hair on their head, the others did not.A common feature among them, was the chains around their legs, wrists and necks.
The moment James looked at them, the system notification echoed in his mind.
<Ding>
Scanning…