Path B – Grand Fortress Interior
“Shan, can you analyze inanimate objects too?” Champ pulled out a green microfiber cloth.
“Nope, just on whoever is attacking us. You asking because of your powers?” the gravity manipulator stared straight ahead.
“I was hoping to get some tips from you,” Yuka’s boyfriend replied.
“Uh, don’t really know if I can teach you anything since our powers don’t exactly work the same. But I’ll see what I can do. How exactly does your stuff work?” Shan questioned.
“This is really pleasant,” Jen remarked as we traveled through a large hallway with royal banners hanging on the walls.
“Really? I’m not really feeling it. Oh, our first obstacle,” I replied as we arrived at a locked door.
I observed two gleams from the ceiling, wiring extending below them. Shan pulled out a rock from his pocket but Jen spoke up.
“Shigetzu, I’ll do it,” she said, firing a single arrow at the left gleam.
Her projectile struck it before ricocheting over to the right gleam. The door swung open, revealing a divergent pathway. I referred to the rough outline Tess provided but couldn’t determine which one to take.
“The right path is dangerous,” Champ said, stepping back in fear.
”Pretty sure I don’t want to know but what did you see?” I walked toward the left path.
“The outline was really vague but a lot of mechanized and sharp objects,” Champ answered.
“Good job, I don’t have to do any work today,” Shan commented.
At the end of the left path was a magical barrier. I placed my hand on it and was repelled immediately. Champ poked it with his left finger with no repercussions.
“I don’t think you or Shan can go through,” Champ revealed.
“Wow, we’re VIP now, Yuki,” Shan commented, yanking his hand away as he made contact with the barrier.
“I’ll go,” Jen volunteered, her right hand passing through the barrier.
“Wait!” I grabbed Jen’s shoulder but her entire body already passed through it.
“Hmm, Jen can handle it,” Shan said.
“I really hope so! Tess is gonna kill me if anyone comes back with major injuries,” I said, summoning my grimoire.
“It’s clearing up,” Champ observed. “Whoa, that’s a huge bird!”
Jen stared upward at an enormous avian. It was the size of an airplane with long white streamers flowing from the side of its wings. On its large vulture head, white crescent markings were underneath its eyes. Unlike a typical bird, this beast had an elongated neck containing noticeable bumps which also covered its entire amber body. These strange bumps glowed an eerie orange, reminding me of burning coal. Its long yellow tail swished around in the air as it circled around the archer, observing the hero with its round porcelain eyes. The bird finally swooped downward and a cluster of bombs descended upon Jen. She strummed the string of her bow and sped away from the explosions. The hero aimed her weapon at the flying bird but didn’t fire.
“Oh, that’s like the B****G***E from Monster Slayer. Damn, that’s s*** luck for Jen to face something like that already,” Shan commented.
“I’m familiar with this game, Monster Slayer. I’ve read the novel adaptation of the first two games. The producers really did their research on the monster designs,” Champ said, nodding in agreement.
“Guys, can we please focus on the fact Jen might actually not make it out of there alive?” I slammed my hand against the barrier and felt it go numb.
“I said s*** luck but never said Jen couldn’t beat it. Even Darryl could beat this thing with the right strategy,” Shan elaborated on his previous words.
“Is your grimoire telling you anything?” Champ peered at the blank pages on my magical tome flipping back and forth.
I shook my head. This barrier was really resilient if the analysis took so long. Jen fired a purple arrow but the bird swung its wide wing, catching the projectile with one of its white streamers. The streamer immediately detached, plummeting downward towards Jen. She strummed her bow string and the purple arrow exploded, setting the streamer ablaze. The avian swooped downward again, extending its sharp talons towards her. Jen hurled a flashbang and it crashed into the ground three seconds later. The archer unleashed a barrage of arrows, hopping back each time she fired a shot. When the bird recovered twenty seconds later, Jen created a sizable distance between herself and it.
“That’s not good,” Champ said, adjusting his glasses nervously.
The enemy’s white streamers glowed crimson, streaks of red lines appearing, before detaching them from its body. I shielded my eyes as a intense light, accompanied by a massive explosion, flooded the area. When it was finally safe to open my eyes again, Jen leaned against a wall, coughing up blood. The avian landed on the ground, charging at the archer with its beak. She hurled another flashbang but it had no effect. The beast caught the canister in its mouth and swallowed.
Jen fired an arrow that bounced off of its wings and ricocheted up towards the bird’s eyes. Her arrow pierced the avian’s eyes but it continued forward. She dodged its beak and rolled toward the enemy’s talons. She fired five arrows, wire shooting out from them, wrapping around the bird’s legs. The avian tumbled downward, its head slamming into the ground. Jen focused her shots on the head, paralyzing the bird, before aiming her bow upward. The hero fired only one arrow but it split into over one hundred in the air and pelted the bird. It let out a loud screech when all the projectiles landed. All of the bumps peeled off, chunks of it landing around Jen, revealing a feathered covered body. The avian combusted, streaks of electricity appearing within the intense flames. It crashed into the ground and the barrier separating us from Jen finally vanished.
“Jen!” I ran toward her, hoping she didn’t suffer any severe injuries.
“Yuki, I did it!” she threw me a peace sign before collapsing to the floor.
“Champ, I want to check something with you. It’s not the real thing, is it?” Shan bent down and inspected the defeated enemy.
“Your suspicions are correct, Shan. It’s a familiar, a really bad imitation but still pretty strong,” Champ confirmed, staring at the bird.
“This was just a test. Hang on, let me document this,” the gravity manipulator said, snapping pictures of the bird from multiple angles.
I heaved a sigh of relief when the scan results of my grimoire indicated Jen suffered no serious injuries.
“Jen, I want you to take it easy for the next battle. Let Champ and Shan handle it,” I decided, helping her up.
“Only for the next one. I want to help out as much as I can!” Jen reluctantly agreed.
After scouring the battle area and discovering nothing of interest, we arrived at another door two minutes later. No fancy activation triggers like the last one. I pushed it open with caution and caught a glimpse of a throne in the back. No signs of elevated magic or any threats from my initial check of the interior. Still, it couldn’t hurt to just have my grimoire scan the entire place just to be safe. The results appeared thirty seconds later and showed no signs of life within it.
“Whoa, is this a treasure room? I’ve read about stuff like this in history books but didn’t expect to ever see one in person. They got a huge selection of literature here too,” Champ exclaimed, running over to the massive bookshelves located on the left side of the room.
“Oh, they’ve got stuff from Za’ard here. A lot of interesting blueprints,” Shan remarked, checking the strewn papers on top of a nearby desk.
“Is this a dead end? Don’t tell me that we have to go all the way back and actually get past all those traps Champ detected,” I said, searching the room for a way forward.
“All these books have blank pages. How could anyone even think about pulling off such a rude prank? Wait, these gold coins are all fake too!” Champ realized, picking one up from a pile near the books.
Jen pointed at a fancy chandelier hanging above us, jewels adorning each of its seven arms. Champ tapped his left foot on the ground and then clapped his hands. The throne and large painting behind it at the back intrigued me. I suspected those two objects were connected with the chandelier.
“Ruby, sapphire, emerald, amethyst, topaz, cobalt, and amber. I’ve never seen such pretty ones before. They match the royal crown in the painting back there,” Champ listed.
“Yuki, you know what that means, right?” Shan glanced over at me.
“Yeah. Jen, can you break each of the gems from right to left?” I pointed at the king’s crown.
“No problem!” Jen pulled back her bow string and started firing.
There was a faint rumble before the throne descended downward into the ground. We walked over and discovered a ladder extending all the way down into the unknown. The hole was wide enough for one person to enter at a time. Jen fired a flare arrow down and it vanished. I leaned in for a closer look at the huge oil painting and noticed a familiar face.
“Huh? Is that Princess Fei?” I checked again one more time to make sure I wasn’t seeing things.
“Yeah, that’s her. They just hoarded all sorts of things here from different places. I’ll take a picture and let Long know,” Shan said.
After discussing how to proceed, we decided to send Jen and me down first. With my ability to use Shan’s gravity manipulation, I could float both of us. Jen would stick flares on the sides, lighting up the entire descent for Champ and Shan once we arrived at the bottom. The main reason I accompanied Jen was the high possibility of encountering any enemies on our trip down.
“Let me know if anything is off and I’ll adjust, Jen!” I climbed down first and hopped off, floating in the limited space available.
I lit up my immediate vicinity with magic but it always dimmed every few seconds. It was unnerving to descend without knowing what was beneath us but having Jen above me made things better. This was a good chance to chat but this environment really wasn’t the best for that.
“Yuki, I apologize if this is too intrusive but how are you feeling now that it’s been a couple of months since Ichizen’s passing?” Jen initiated the conversation.
“No, it’s fine. Honestly, I was really mad at everyone for the first couple of days but it’s no one’s fault that Ichizen decided to keep on trying to find out more. I felt really guilty about going along with him but that’s how he’s always been, I should have known better,” I answered.
“What about now?” Jen plunged a flare near the ladder rung.
“Ichizen’s always said it’s no fun to do something without any risks. He probably wouldn’t have listened to me anyways. Its just really frustrating because to me at least, it always feels like I could have done more. It’s a little messed up but it’s better that I was there for him at the end instead of him doing dumb things alone,” I replied, sensing no danger.
“It’s probably strange to hear but everyone is really worried about you. They always act like idiots around you but that’s just their weird way of making things normal and not awkward,” Jen said, her voice echoing in the narrow space.
“Yeah, I realized pretty early on. I’d prefer it that way so it’s nice to hear it from you. Okay, enough about me, Jen. What about you and Ichaival? Anything special going on there?” I bumped my back against the side, almost scaring myself.
“No comment, Yuki,” Jen responded with a small laugh.
“I didn’t think you would pull that on me. Well, it’s not like it’s any of my business as long as everyone can still work together. Oh, I think I might see the bottom,” I observed.
“I’m running out of flares soon so I sure hope so. Sorry to invade your personal business again but are you interested in anyone, Yuki?” Jen asked with such pure innocence.
“Nope. Like you said, they’re all a bunch of idiots, not really interested,” I answered.
“You sure know how to break someone’s heart, Yuki,” Jen responded with a giggle.
“Hold on, the way you said that, are any of them actually interested?” I felt my feet touch the surface.
“I don’t think so. It’s just the first thing that popped up in my head. I didn’t mean to give you any weird ideas,” Jen replied.
“No, it’s my fault for overthinking it. I’ll let Shan and Champ know that we’re done,” I said.
Jen strummed her bow string and the entire way down was lit up by her flares. I was so preoccupied talking with Jen that I didn’t even keep track of how long it took to arrive here. Three minutes later, I heard a panicked shout as Champ flew towards us. However, he landed without any issues as Shan hovered above him.
“It was faster to just send him flying. You said it was all clear, right?” Shan explained.
“I guess? Let’s keep going,” I answered, deciding to not question him any further.
