NOVEL NEXT 532
Through hazy darkness, hostile architecture that would tear through the skin of lesser-creatures covering the walls at intervals, light emitting from the smallest mana-crystals they had seen, lesser than even naturally occurring crystals from quarries; almost as if they were deliberately shaved down to their miniature sizes. And a hazy-mist that entered the noses, tickling them with a stench of iron so rancid that they could even taste it like a lingering afterthought.
A single line upon the floor in which the two intruders almost missed, if it wasn't for Robin accidentally slipping upon in, that outlined the path inwards and downwards.
Believing the small indent to be a pathfinder unique to only the evolved, as only they had the ability to smoothly follow it by dragging their tails within, the two humans painstakingly slowed their encroachment down the tunnels that offered no markings, no patterns and no sign-posts to clarify their location or the structure's designation.
With only the sporadic screeching, screaming, crying and whimpering of the poor souls who were imprisoned down below as their guide, the two could only focus intently upon their ears as well as their feet as they blindly traversed the foreign tunnels that kept spiralling down seemingly without end. Occasionally, gentle breezes would entice them, tempt them off-path as many branches presented themselves with crystals that provided better lighting.
Ignoring their humanly-desires to traverse within the comforts and safety of light, over darkness and uncertainty, fighting against their instincts to diverge off-path and straying from their goal, the two fought off mental-trickery as the screams filled with horror echoed throughout.
Confusion would assault their senses as often times, the noises would emerge from multiple sources, like sirens who sang songs not off pleasure and lust, but of pain and suffering, misleading their thoughts.
Asai bit his lower lips hard enough to draw blood, feeling the pain jolt through his body and mind, he shrugged off the thoughts that invaded him. As a human who had interacted with Lemon, a succubus who excelled in enticement and misleading humans, it was clear to him that although the voice within his brain sounded like his, it certainly was not. The only problem left to him now was to filter out which line-of-thoughts actually belonged to him, and which did not.
As for Robin, whilst her mind was assaulted of illusions, visions of Asai's death in the most gruesome and horrific ways possible, hallucinations that depicted his head being decapitated just like her father's, to only fall lifeless, motionless, as it rolled towards her feet. Another illusion changed her memory, as false-memories depicting Asai's failure to overcome the lycan dungeon boss due to her inability to awaken her mana-heart.
At every crucial moment, every memory she held dear to her heart, they twisted and turned into nightmares as she failed to be useful in any meaningful way, left to only watch Asai, her platoons, Chloe, Rosemi and the orphans at Trichia die.
she continued to will her legs onwards. Surviving through the mental-infliction by only holding onto the man's cloak, the gentle pulling and tugging of him moving onwards was the only thing reassuring her that such unpleasantries weren't real.
..
As if their situation couldn't get any worse, Asai's feet faltered and paused as Robin bumped into his back. Underfoot, Asai repeatedly planted his lead foot to feel out the indent, the line that had guided them thus far.
"Fuck, the path splits."
-
"We should split up and cover both paths at the same time, it would be much more efficient, faster and safer for the mission."
"Time is of the essence, splitting up would increase our search radius, with the amount of humans the dekans feasted upon, perhaps it was only a matter of time before His Highness, Prince Victor Del Lagos was served upon a golden-plate himself."
"No, we should stick together, I can't risk losing Robin. If Robin Sol dies... If I lose her..."
"Staying together would be better for our safety, the prince is probably dead already, better to prioritize mine and Robin's safety over someone who's probably already turned into sashimi."
"We should turn back, this is a waste of time. He's already dead, and I know it, Robin knows it, everyone knows it."
"I'm glad Victor is dead, the prick tried to kill me times before I rose, he doesn't deserve my forgiveness, not the kindness he receives from his sister. I should head back and just report sighting his corpse and be done with it."
-
Asai slapped himself across the cheek, feeling the pain sting, and the droplets of crimson that spilt from the torn skin, he took a deep breath as his mind refreshed itself once more.
Foreign thoughts, inclinations and worries immediately re-entered his mind, flooding his thought-process with pleas, shouts, screams and threats, finding it increasingly hard to ignore the voices within his mind, he could only hope Robin was faring better than he was.
"Robin, the path splits. Do we stick together, or do we split up?"
As he was about to slap himself once more, agitated by the voices that screamed and shouted louder than his own, Robin's soft and gentle touch found their way upon his cheeks. The warmth and tenderness caused the surging thoughts to subside in volume.
"I don't want to do this, but I think we should split up. The faster we find clues as to the prince's current condition, the faster we get out of this place..." Thankfully, although they weren't able to cast any active abilities, [Robin's Desire] in addition to [Marked Shadow] remained active, albeit in a highly weakened and barely noticeable degree.
Feeling his hesitancy, and his reluctance to act, Robin brushed passed him and took the second path. Slowly dragging her feet forwards as she ensured she never left the little indent-line.
Hearing her feet shuffle away slowly, the human decided to also trudge on, whatever potion the half-elf consumed to obtain such courage and willpower to act, he could only wish that he too had such an incredible elixir.
"Man up. Man up and go!" Mentally preparing himself, reaffirming his mind and heart, Asai took the other path down.
