The lobby in front of the elevator was a rectangular room, 2.4 meters (7.9 feet) high and 7 meters (23 feet) wide. It reminded Lith of the company he had worked for in the Q&A department.
There was no furniture, only tags and signs to navigate the facility. The walls had been painted a pale green while the metal grate that covered the stone ceiling was white.
The magic cameras had been hidden between the grate and the stone, making them almost invisible to the naked eye. After a thorough scan of the room was completed, Phloria said:
“First the gas and now another ambush. If this is the response of an automated defense, then it’s likely to be a sentient cursed object. We’re at too much of a disadvantage to safely continue the mission.
“Does anyone have any idea if it’s safe to go back upstairs and leave Kulah? I’ll take full responsibility for the decision.”
The Professors pondered for a while before replying.
“I’ve seen that gas before.” Yondra said. “It’s a neurotoxin laced with magic crystal powder so that it can carry and amplify darkness magic pulses without being destroyed by them. Its half-life is about three days, so we’d have to wait at least a week before leaving this place.
“Otherwise even if we somehow carry enough fresh air to survive with us, another black pulse would travel through the toxin so fast that we would die before having enough time to open a Warp Steps.”
“We’ll all be dead before a week passes.” Morok said. His words caused more nods than glares this time, making Phloria realize that her real first issue was morale. Gaakhu was a symptom, not the illness, just like Morok had simply stated what everyone was thinking.
“What about the signs? Is there any indication of an emergency exit?” She prayed to the gods for good news.
“They only say: ‘Main Lobby’…” Gaakhu pointed at the tag in front of the elevator.
“…’Living Quarters’ and ‘Research Area’.” Those were the signs respectively pointing left and right.
“Good.” Phloria nodded while everyone looked at her as if she had gone insane.
“The Living Quarters are bound to be a safe spot. The Odi would never place a meat factory near their lodgings. Let’s move.” Phloria was way less confident than she appeared.
Yet she had to find a place to leave the Assistants before exploring the rest of the compound. Such a large group would be too difficult for her to manage. Along the way, they kept finding working cameras that were regularly disposed of, leaving the enemy blind.
The corridor was quite long and full of surprises. First, they found leaflets of bright colors hanging on the walls. According to Ellkas, they were just propaganda inciting the scientists to fight for the Odi cause and not lose hope.
Then, there were traces of ripped leaflets, replaced by what looked like a kid’s drawing of the outside world that covered most of the walls, until it turned into a wall text of gibberish repeated over and over.
“It says ‘doom’.” Ellkas said, noticing that it wasn’t the work of a single person. The word was the same but the handwriting was different. The nail marks and the almost faded bloodstains on the walls told a creepy story.
No one would ever leave such an unsettling message, let alone the blood if the phenomenon hadn’t become so widespread that the authorities had given up on removing the madmen’s message and left one of their own.
A message of violence.
Luckily, the double metal door at the end of the corridor was pristine, lifting their spirit. The Odi hadn’t let the insanity spread too far, so the humans could still hope to find a haven rather than an asylum.
The Living Quarters had another card reader. Phloria had seen Lith using the keycard and managed to swipe it right on the first attempt. The display turned bright green and several letters appeared.
“Commander card recognized.” Gaakhu translated without even giving Phloria the time to ask.
Phloria nodded and opened the door, revealing a space that extended as far as the eye could see, almost as big as Kulah’s residential area. Judging from the distance between the doors, each apartment was quite spacious.
The area was clean and perfectly lit, with no sign of vandalism. The pavement was covered by a soft red moquette and the cream-colored walls made everyone relax the moment the heavy door closed behind them.
“We only have one keycard.” Phloria said pointing at the card reader at the side of each door. “So, we’ll have to live together until we find a way out. Professors, please scan the area. I’ll look for the biggest apartment while the rest of you stay here.”
As soon as Neshal signaled her that the coast was clear, Phloria went to the nearest door and swiped the keycard, obtaining only a beep and a red light in return.
‘Maybe this is the commander’s personal key and it can open only their own apartments.’ She thought, but the idea of a commanding officer needing more than one key made no sense to her, so when after the second door refused to open as well, Phloria called for Ellkas.
“What does this say?” She asked after the swipe.
“Access denied. Permission revoked.” Neshal turned pale and started to chant a spell.
Phloria sounded the alarm as she walked back to the entrance and swiped the card at the door that they had opened barely a minute ago.
“Access denied. Permission revoked.” Neshal read the message accompanying the red light.
“Dammit, it’s a trap! This is no automated defense, someone has trapped us here.” Phloria could cast a Warp Steps to get them out of there, but her problem was that she had no idea where to go.
The apartments ‘ doors all opened at once and a small army of Golems stepped out of them. The constructs were nothing like those the expedition group had faced outside Kulah.
They were all humans, but their bodies had been heavily modified, most of their flesh had been replaced with stone and metal. Huge mana crystals had been grafted on all of their limbs, including their heads.
Thin tubes came out from their backs and pierced their abdomen. Their skin was deathly pale, their eyes bloodshot with the veiled pupils typical of corpses, yet they were still alive.
Lith looked at them with Life Vision as his worst fears about the Flesh Golems turned into reality. They still had a faint trace of life force, but no mana flow except for that exuding from their artificial parts, which bore an inhuman energy signature.
Morok didn’t wait for orders, he struck at the closest construct after shapeshifting his weapons into war hammers. The Golem reacted as fast as a magical beast, shapeshifting its hands into shields to block the attack while breathing fire at Morok.
The Ranger crouched down to avoid the attack and struck at the construct’s kneecaps at the same time, swinging his hammers in an X shaped motion. The impact was so strong that it shattered them but instead of falling, the Flesh Golem simply floated while its limbs regenerated.
< "Kill me."> It said in an unknown language as its hands emitted streams of lightning bolts that sent Morok slamming against a wall and into a seizure.
Once again, Lith somehow understood its words. He recognized that state, he had seen it happen once in the past when Protector was about to die.
The Odi had solved the mana poisoning issue by somehow destroying the mana core of their victims.
