Chapter 49: No way out, but onward
Zhen Liu took several steps back, giving Nepherage more room to do whatever she had in mind.
“Step back guys, I’m gonna try something,” Zhen Liu lied. [Do what you gotta do.]
Nepherage walked up to the stone wall and placed a hand upon it. Closing her eyes, Nepherage’s aether began to stir.
[Tremor Sense]
Earth aether traveled through Nepherage’s palm, releasing an invisible pulse of energetic sound that reverberated from her palm and through the wall. As the pulse traveled onward, Nepherage could detect everything that was in, out and around the wall and everything it was connected to.
[Huh…that’s odd.]
[What’s odd?]
[I can clearly sense that main lobby is just behind this wall, but there’s something weird about this wall. It feels like it’s growing…thicker?]
[Okay, it was concerning when you mentioned the term “growing”. Can you break this wall?]
[Let’s find out, Quartz Driller!]
Nepherage pulled her arm back as the aether circulating in her arm suddenly churned in a much more violent manner. Her hand quickly morphed into the shape of a large crystal drill, pulsating with veins of red energy. The moment the drill had solidified it’s form, it began to spin at a rapid pace.
“Whoa!”
“That’s a new trick…”
Nepherage slammed the spinning drill into the wall, the sound of stone grinding against stone echoed through the hall as sparks began to fly alongside chunks of loose dirt and shattered rock.
However, despite all of the debris being kicked up and the digging of the drill, the wall didn’t seem to fall apart. In fact, it looked like there was a lot more dirt and stone than what should reasonably in a wall
[No good milord,] Nepherage stated as she stopped drilling and pulled her arm back, [It feels like the wall is regenerating at a rate faster than I can break through it.]
“So…good news, bad news,” Zhen Liu called back to his family and Sullivan, “the good news is that the room we were in before is right behind this wall.”
“What’s the bad news?,” Zhen Yue asked.
“This wall can apparently regenerate whatever damage we do to it.”
“What? Let me see…”
Zhen Hai pushed both Zhen Liu and Nepherage as he made his way to the wall. He quickly inspected it with an open palm before readying a strike.
[Orca Slam!]
The blue silhouette of an orca manifested around Zhen Hai moments before he slammed his fist into the stone wall. A sizeable hole formed in the stone wall after Zhen Hai’s powerful blow.
“Hah! Told you it’s not that-”
The wall then proceeded to rumble a bit before chunks of earth began to refill the hole in it and reverse any damage that had been inflicted upon it.
Everybody watching was a bit stunned at the turn of events.
“Well shit.”
“What do we do now? Combine our powers to break through the wall and escape?,” Zhen Yue suggested.
“Pass. There’s too much of a chance of us getting separated then taken out by the other teams or this crazy place. I say we just go down the hall and see if there’s a way out,” Sullivan suggested before immediately walking down the hall.
At his words and actions, the Zhen Clan heirs began to give Sullivan a leery look and a small grimace. But they quickly screwed their faces back to normal before just following him. However, they made sure to hang back a bit in order to converse with one another.
“So… I’m gonna be keeping the puppet out for now…he’s definitely leading us to someplace in the ruins, right?,” Zhen Liu asked.
“Correct. If you believe the rumors, it’s probably where his teammates got wiped out,” Zhen Yue confirmed, “shouldn’t we be stopping him then?”
“Nah. I think whatever got them wiped out was probably super valuable, right? We should just go along for now. Besides, we’re way stronger than some diggers,” Zhen Hai added, “well…I am at least.”
[Can I punch him milord? I’m pretty sure he’d go down quick,] Nepherage asked as she followed up the rear.
[No… not yet. But keep an eye on Sullivan. Something tells me this is gonna go south fast.]
[Aye milord.]
As the three heirs were discussing their course of action, Sullivan just kept walking forward.
‘I’m almost there, just hang on a bit longer…’
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“SKRRAAAA!”
[Hornet Barrage!]
The image of a swarm hornet manifested around Gianna’s hands moments before she released a flurry of pinpoint strikes against her opponent, a Bronze-Shell Crab Beast.
At every vulnerable point in the Bronze-Shell Crab Beast’s she’ll, a lethal dose of toxic aether was injected via Gianna’s finger tips. One was enough to paralyze a full grown bull, thirteen in a row…
“Skraa…”
The crab beast fell, foaming at the mouth as blood began seeping out of it’s eyes.
“Foul beast, I knew we should’ve gone through the doors with ents…is everyone alright?”
“Aye mistress, but I think Raquel has a busted rib.”
“I’m fine mistress” Raquel answered while holding her side, “I can still move.”
“Hmmm. Stay in the back and make sure not to get involved. There should be some Bone suturing pills in the packs, take one and don’t agitate the wound.”
“Yes mistress, thank you!”
“Now then, onward march. There’s only one way out and that’s deeper.”
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“Whoa…that’s a lot of rooms boss.”
“It is…but they lead to the same end,” Donovan assured his teammates, “now come on, quickest route is this way.”
Donovan had managed to lead the Wolfe Family team to a secret passage way that was high and above the main rooms of the wandering ruins, revealing to them that all of it was shifting and changing…to an extent.
All who entered the main building would come across the same circular room with the three pathways leading elsewhere, however, once someone or a group a of people entered a particular threshold, the way would close behind them and be switched out with another passageway altogether.
Donovan wasn’t sure of the number of rooms and passageways that composed this accursed place, but he did know where they all ended.
As to how he gained knowledge of all this? It had only costed him the lives of a few lowly diggers.
‘Price well paid…too bad I couldn’t get rid of all of them though…’
