Nurous pairs of glowing red eyes blinked open in the suffocating darkness above, and before anyone could take a proper breath, the ceiling seed to collapse. The swarm poured down like a living flood.
"Get down!" Tyler barked.
But Zuzia was faster. She snapped her wings open with a thunderous clap, wrapping them around Lanny like a shield. Her tail coiled protectively, her horns glowing faintly with molten lines of light.
Mana, true to her nature, didn’t bother with dramatics. She simply vanished, her form dissolving into the air as though she had never been there.
Tyler didn’t move at all. He stood like a mountain against the tide of shrieking bats. The creatures slamd into him one after another, like raindrops hamring stone. Their claws scraped against his scaled skin, their wings beat furiously against his body, but he did not so much as flinch.
Beside him, Myrtle raised both hands. Her body shimred faintly as a curtain of water rose up, forming a barrier around her. Droplets spun together into a fluid screen, warding off the snapping jaws and scraping talons that sought to pierce her flesh.
The bats hissed, their throats bulging, and then dozens of them spat arcs of sizzling acid. The air filled with the stench of corrosion.
Tyler swept his hand through the air.
Mystic Ice Arts.
A thick cube of crystalline frost instantly solidified around them. The acid sizzled and ate through the first layer, gouging holes into the walls of ice, but Tyler was unshaken. With a flick of his wrist, fresh sheets of ice replaced the lted ones, sealing the cracks as quickly as they ford. The walls grew thicker, harder, colder.
"Mutated Blood Bats," Tyler said flatly, his golden eyes narrowing. "I’ve seen them before—in my old world. But these... these are even more frenzied."
Zuzia’s wings unfolded with a sudden flare, forcing Lanny to stumble back. Glowing orange patterns traced across her horns, down her tail, and over the span of her black wings. The glow pulsed like veins of molten lava, spreading heat into the air.
Tyler opened a doorway in the ice cube with a casual gesture. The bats surged for the opening, shrieking as they rushed forward. But Zuzia was already there. She flapped her wings once, sending a gale like a hurricane through the cave. The rushing wind hurled the first wave of bats back into the swarm, their bodies crashing against one another in chaos.
Tyler cracked a smile. He flexed his scaled hand until it beca a claw, sharp and gleaming, prepared to leap into the fray—
But Myrtle’s hand clamped down on his arm. "Don’t," she said calmly, her voice steady despite the chaos. "Let the princess play."
Tyler blinked, then chuckled under his breath. "Alright... then let’s move."
And so the bizarre sight began: in the midst of the cavern, an ice cube slid steadily forward, glimring with frost as it crept deeper into the passage, while outside, Zuzia unleashed chaos.
Her dragon breath ignited the dark, a cone of blazing fla that scorched dozens of bats at once. The creatures screeched and scattered, their wings catching fire before they spiraled down in ash. Her claws shredded through those that managed to slip past, tearing wings and snapping spines. She caught one by its legs, ripped it apart in midair, and tossed the twitching halves aside like trash.
Her orange eyes glowed with a wild brilliance, fiercer than the crimson swarm surrounding her. She wasn’t just fighting—she was reveling in it.
"This place must have been abandoned because of these things," Tyler muttered inside the ice. He frowned, then asked aloud, "Mana, where’s the passage?"
Mana reappeared without warning, her voice carrying a rare note of discomfort. "Those bats are scary," she admitted. "Go straight. There is a giant hole leading below."
"Should we call Sister Zuzia back?" Lanny asked, still trembling.
"Let the princess have her fun," Myrtle said smoothly, adjusting her robes as though this were nothing new. "She can sll us from anywhere. She’ll find us when she’s ready."
Tyler nodded. "She can also sense . Let’s go."
They pressed on through the chaos. Behind them, the cavern burned with Zuzia’s rampage, the roar of flas and the screeches of dying bats echoing like a storm. Ahead, the path widened, and then the floor vanished.
Before them yawned a massive hole, its walls stretching downward at a steep angle. The descent wasn’t sheer— it slanted like a slide into the bowels of the earth. A faint draft rose up, carrying with it the scent of minerals, damp stone, and sothing faintly tallic.
"Heh," Lanny said, peering over the edge. "It looks like a slide."
Mana suddenly appeared at her side, grinning. "Then let’s slide." Without further warning, she shoved Lanny forward.
"Ahhhhhh!" Lanny’s scream echoed as she tumbled down, arms flailing. Mana dove after her, grabbing her hand mid-fall and pulling her into a tandem slide. Their voices overlapped—one panicked, one laughing hysterically.
"Hahahaha!" Mana’s giggles trailed behind them as they vanished into the darkness below.
"Tsk. Kids," Myrtle muttered. She turned to scold Tyler—only to find his scaled hand pressing against her back.
Her eyes widened. "Don’t you dare—"
He shoved.
Myrtle didn’t scream, but her glare could have killed gods. She slid down with rigid posture, eyes locked on Tyler with fiery betrayal the entire way. She could have fly but she didn’t.
Tyler grinned. "Worth it."
He looked back at the cave one last ti. The swarm still howled, their numbers seemingly endless, but Zuzia’s laughter carried over the chaos like the roar of a true predator. She was in her elent.
Now, the mutated blood bats screeched in panic, desperately flapping their wings as they tried to flee from Zuzia’s relentless pursuit.
"Zuzia, I’m leaving!" Tyler shouted. His voice echoed, but he knew she’d hear.
And then he jumped.
The cold wind whipped against his face as the ground dropped away. He could have flown, of course. It would have been easy. But where was the fun in that?
He tucked his arms and legs in, letting the slide pull him into the darkness. The stone blurred past in streaks, the air rushing louder and louder in his ears. His heart beat steady, not with fear, but with anticipation.
┉┈ ◈ ◉ ◈ ┈┉
"What isss thisssss?" the man with a serpentine lower body and a tongue that flicked like a forked blade hissed, peering at the bottle cradled in his companion’s hands. His eyes — pale, vertical-slit — glittered with a dangerous curiosity.
The other man, cleaner-cut but clearly nervous, held the wine like a relic. The cork glowed a malevolent red. "This," he said in a low voice, "is our boss’s favorite: Virgin Blood Wine."
"Virgin blood?" The snake-man’s voice slithered. He leaned forward as if to inhale the aroma. "Isss that real...?"
"Don’t be an idiot." The man’s jaw tightened. "You know how expensive this is. They distill it from Virgin girls deflowered blood and they were killed after that—" He choked on the words, and a cold silence fell between them. He swallowed and forced a laugh that didn’t reach his eyes. "It’s for the boss. Don’t touch it."
A faint, fragile sound — like an echo— seed to vibrate the air. The two n froze.
"Do you hear that?" the cleaner man whispered.
The snake-man cocked his head, listening. "Is it true? When you open it, you can hear their... souls?"
"No! No —" the man began. "No, it’s still closed. It only happens when—" His words were cut short by the sound itself: a high, keening shriek that rose and rolled.
"Aaahhhh...." Lanny fell from above like a fallen star, slamming directly onto the crate the man held — and, disastrously for them, onto the wine bottle itself.
The cork burst with a sound like a bell struck by a hamr. A terrible chorus erupted: wails and cries layered over each other, sharp and raw, as if a hundred throats had been opened all at once. The air went thick with the sound; every hair on the n’s arms rose.
"AEAEAEA—!" Sound of souls fragnts screeched.
Mana also fell with Lanny, but phased through the floor instantly. The wailing seed to recoil at her presence, as if sound itself feared being consud.
Lanny scrambled to her feet. Her mask glinted under the dim light. She accidentally stepped at the shattered bottle and scattering dark, viscous liquid across the floorboards.
Looking at the girl with so sort of mask and another girl who phased through the floor like a ghost. The man blinked. He froze like a statue as confusion etched in his mind. Before he could understand what is happening,
The snake-man staggered back, a look of pure curiousity flashing across his reptilian face. "Is that the Sssoul of a Virgin girl? "
"Is your brain filled with pig brain? Seize her!" the man barked, voice cracking. "She ruined the boss’s wine — do you understand what She have done? We’re dead if he finds out!"
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