Chapter 45 – Underground Exploration

As she said, Selene descended through the tunnel using spiritual platforms she kept creating under her feet. The fall wasn’t that high, something around ten meters total, but there was no need to risk crashing into Miria who went first, or anything else that might be located under the hole she created.

After a few moments, they exited the carved passage and fell into a completely dark stone chamber, safely landing on the hard pavement. Selene’s wisp of spiritual fire soon emerged from behind them and illuminated the room enough to see it as a whole, allowing them to spot the panthergirl near the door leading out of the place.

“There was nothing here. No traps either,” she informed the rest of the party as she turned around to face them.

Selene let Asterios down and they glanced around. This room seemed to be some kind of a storage judging by many wooden crates, barrels, boxes and shelves or wardrobes placed against the walls. It wasn’t too spacious and its purpose wasn’t that easy to guess, although it definitely wasn’t a food or similar supplies warehouse.

They decided to check the contents of a few boxes and barrels and found many scraps of leather, old, withered clothes and various other pieces of material. Whatever was stored here, had been taken away long ago and only leftovers stayed behind. Selene brought out a chest containing sets of iron manacles and chains and the group started to realize what kind of underground area this might be, but to confirm that they had to explore further.

To not rely only on Selene’s source of light, Asterios activated the technique letting him share Miria’s senses and focused on her vision and hearing. Both could be very useful when walking through an unknown place where possibly at least one monster could be lurking around. Miria had a hard time not to continuously steal glances at his charming eyes, but after a few moments she resolved herself enough to focus on the task ahead and she shifted into her panther form again.

Selene opened the wooden door and they took a peek through the gap she created. A long corridor spanned ahead, without any light up torches or other things either, also being enveloped in complete darkness. They didn’t see any monster and walked out of the chamber with Miria in the lead.

A short trip through the passage confirmed their suspicions. As they moved further, smaller rooms on both sides started making an appearance. They all had gates made out of iron bars installed instead of commonly used doors and the interiors consisted of a long plank hanging from the wall on two chains, one or two buckets and usually some bones and tatters, or even full skeletons. No matter how you looked at it, it was an underground prison at some point in the past. An abandoned one. As seemed to be the previous inhabitants.

Miria tried to guide them according to the intensity of the brother’s scent and they walked through a few corridors in this place. She confidently took her turns when they stumbled on intersections or chambers with multiple exits. Nothing of importance caught their eye during that journey.

Few minutes in, at one of the crossroads, Miria glanced towards a short corridor with a half-open door. Everyone stopped and waited for her to speak.

~The strongest lead guides me there. It feels quite fresh and very condensed. The boy might be inside,~ she informed them.

Selene closed her eyes and expanded her Spiritual Sense further by sending waves of mana from her body. 

“There’s a single spiritual signature. I’m pretty sure it belongs to a Human child and feels at least slightly similar to the boy we met. I can’t sense anything else in the room.”

Asterios nodded after she finished scanning the surroundings. “Alright. Let’s go in. Be careful.”

Miria morphed into her humanoid form and he cast Steel Skin and indirect Sensory Boost on both of them, attaching those spells to his gloves. Selene joined her palms together and created seven orbs of spiritual energy which started circling behind her back like that day in the dungeon. She would be able to use them as a base for her techniques and shorten the casting time. 

The panthergirl unsheathed her blades, activated Mana Coating, deepened her connection with Asterios and prepared Physical Strengthening, mostly in her legs. Haste would be too inconvenient in such enclosed spaces and she felt like she didn’t have enough control over it to not accidentally run into a wall.

With everyone ready as much as they could without finding any traces or hints about the possible enemy, Miria led the group towards the entrance to the room. Bracing for an unexpected attack or trap, she slowly opened the squeaking door but nothing of that sort happened. Selene sent her spiritual fire inside and increased its intensity to illuminate the chamber.

It was similar to the rooms they went through before, purely out of stone blocks. It was more spacious than them though and mostly empty if they excluded a small silhouette lying on the side by the furthest wall. They nodded at each other and slowly walked inside. Miria kept her gaze glued to the young person on the ground, most likely the boy they were looking for, while Selene attentively scanned the whole room.

They passed half the distance but nothing happened. Asterios stopped the girls and they awaited his further orders.

“Maybe there is no monster? But then, how would he suddenly disappear and end up here… Unless the other brother was lying or something…” Miria pondered out loud.

“It’s not impossible, but I’m still worried about that laugh he mentioned. It might very well be some kind of incorporeal monster,” Asterios replied.

“I’m pretty sure I would have sensed it by now if that was true. I don’t mean to boast, but my spiritual senses are quite sharp,” Selene added.

“I know, but they are obviously not perfect. And the enemy could be able to conceal their aura as well. Anyway, pondering like this won’t get us anywhere. Be ready.” Both of the girls nodded. “Hey! Can you hear me! Garry! Is your name Garry? Hey! Are you awake?” he shouted towards the body but there was no reaction.

Asterios brought out a marble-like crystal from one of his pouches, filled it with his mana, which made the orb glow in bright light, and tossed it at the boy strong enough to hit him in the back of the head as he was lying with his face on the ground and directed to the other side. Again, there was no reaction, but they had one more source of light that allowed the group to examine him from distance. Nothing looked out of the ordinary at the first glance, although they saw mostly the boy’s back.

“I can at least confirm he is still alive. I can see him breathing, Master,” Miria informed Ast.

He sighed. “I bet it’s a trap…”

“What now?” she asked.

“Miria, stay vigilant. Selene, come with me. Have something to shield us ready.”

“Okay.”

“Understood.”

With the foxkin by his side, Asterios carefully moved closer to the lying body, leaving Miria behind in the middle. They arrived in front of it and waited for a while to see if it would trigger any trap or hidden attack, but as usual, nothing happened. Asterios kneeled by the boy and reached out to flip him over while Selene kept herself ready.

The moment Ast’s hand grabbed the kid’s shoulder, the body moved and a hand suddenly grabbed his arm. In a flash, the boy used it to pull himself up, and with impressive agility, he jumped behind Ast’s back. The attack he tried to make by vertically swinging his arm with extended fingers was blocked by the appearance of a cyan-tinted wall of energy. Seeing his ambush fail, their opponent took a few hasty steps back and dropped to all fours.

Asterios and Selene finally got a chance to see the front of their assailant. It definitely was the brother they were looking for, Garry. But, there were a few things amiss. His eyes were completely bloodshot and strained veins were clearly visible on the uncovered parts of the boy’s body. 

Additionally, his face was twisted in a beastly manner, almost snarling at the man and his comrade. If that wasn’t enough, they noticed the boy’s fingertips being much longer than they were supposed to be. They definitely looked sharp and dangerous.

“What’s wrong with him? Illness? Disease?” Selene asked, not losing her focus for even a second.

“No. He’s possessed. Judging by the symptoms, it’s a Nightmare, a ghost-type monster. That kind of explains it, they merge with their hosts so it’s impossible to distinguish them with spiritual abilities.”

Asterios could feel Miria’s increasing anger towards the boy, most likely due to the attack aimed at him, so he quickly raised his hand before she took action.

“Wait! His body is already pushed over its limits by the Nightmare! We need to restrain him without much force. I should be able to take care of the possession afterwards.”

“I can do that, but it will leave you without my protection for a moment, my Lord,” Selene informed him.

“I’ll handle him with Miria somehow. Do your thing,” he answered and immediately sidestepped to avoid a lunge from the boy which definitely didn’t want to let them chat casually in his presence.

Miria quickly met with Asterios while Selene backed off to a corner so she could have most of her sides covered as she was preparing the spell. The Nightmare kept jumping at Ast and trying to slice him with its sharp nails, landing on walls or ground on all fours. He felt like he was avoiding attacks from a wild beast instead of a fifteen years old boy. 

The enemy finally found a good angle and launched himself at Asterios from behind just to fly straight into Miria’s kick as she appeared by Ast’s back with a spin. He was sent flying and hit the opposite wall with a thud and groan.

“I said without much force, Miria. We have to save the boy, not kill him.”

“I’m sorry… I’m not used to holding back this much...” she apologized dejectedly.

He gave her a quick brush through her hair to cheer Miria up and they refocused their attention at the boy who had just risen to his feet. She passed her swords to Asterios so that she didn’t use them instinctively and ran towards her target. If she managed to keep pressuring the kid, he wouldn’t have a chance to attack her beloved master.

For around one minute, she kept throwing feints with her kicks and punches while blocking the path of the possessed teenager. Miria didn’t have too many issues with dodging the counterattacks, but he managed to graze her here and there due to her holding back a lot. The boy was looking worse and worse as the time passed and Ast told her mentally that the kid would die from overexertion if this kept up, but fortunately, Selene was ready.

“Step back!” she shouted and they noticed a flash of blue light coming from between her hands clasped together vertically.

Miria jumped away from the boy and that’s when Selene pulled her hands apart, creating some distance between them. All the fingers were connected with shining, thin, cyan pillars of spiritual energy and each palm had a small magical circle turning above it.

In the next moment after she completed the motion, the same circles appeared above and under the possessed human. Five pillars of light shot from the bottom one, reaching the top of the formation, and locked the kid inside a spiritual cage. He instantly jumped at it and grabbed the bars, trying to quickly free himself, but the only effect accompanying the struggle was a faint buzzing of the poles grasped by his fingers.

The Nightmare realized it was pointless and started swinging the boy’s arms in an attempt to keep them away, but Selene turned her palms in opposite directions and the spiritual bars in both her miniature cage and the manifested one twisted into an hourglass shape, restricting his movements almost completely.

“He doesn’t seem strong so I should be able to keep it for a while, my Lord.”

“Yeah, but he will kill himself if he keeps resisting. My turn now. Hold him down for just a moment.”

Asterios separated one of his pouches from his waist belt behind his back and crouched down to quickly rummage through it. He picked up a small vial with a crystal-clear liquid. It was Fairy Water. Similarly to the sand he used in the past, it came from ponds inhabited by them for many years. It should be able to break the possession of a Nightmare.

He returned Miria’s weapons to her, approached the wriggling boy, grabbed his chin and poured the contents inside his mouth. The kid instantly started screaming and after a moment, went completely limp, dropping his head and arms down, being held in place only by Selene’s cage. Asterios waited a few seconds to be sure and brought the boy’s face up to examine it.

“Good. It seems to have worked. We—”

Suddenly, Garry’s eyes and mouth shot open, wide to the brim, and a black mist flew out of them, crashing violently against Ast’s head.

“Master!”

“My Lord!”

Both girls shouted at the same time. Asterios took a trembling step backwards and moved one of his hands to cover his face. When Miria ran up to him, the weird smoke had already dispersed. She supported Ast from behind, letting him lean onto her while he looked slightly disoriented.

“Master! Are you okay?” she asked hurriedly with a worried tone.

Asterios raised his other hand signalling them to give him a moment. Miria’s anxiety decreased a little when she saw the response to her question. Ast took a deep breath and… strongly pushed her away.

“Eh?”

Miria stumbled over her own feet from the sudden surprise but managed to not fall down. She quickly looked at her master and noticed that his hair turned black, so he must have lost control over his energy. Additionally, his shoulders started shaking a little while he was slightly hunched and a hand still covered his face. Soon, both of the girls realized he was giggling, then chuckling and finally exploded into a laugh.

“Hahahahaha! Finally! It was so annoying to keep that act up. Took you long enough, idiots,” he said to them and moved his hands to his hips. Miria and Selene noticed a not-so-friendly smirk on Ast’s face.

“My Lord, what are—”

“My Lord? Master? Seriously? Who is this brat, some high-class noble? Certainly doesn’t look like it,” he interrupted Selene with an annoyed tone.

Both of the girls already had their suspicions but they were now fully confirmed. Selene dispelled the cage and grabbed one of the spiritual orbs while Miria lowered her stance.

Asterios reached behind his back, pulled out his dagger and pressed it against his own throat, using the other hand to wave his pointer finger at Miria.

“Uh, uh, uh. Drop your weapons this instant or this pretty neck gets one more hole to inhale air.”

Miria was furious at the monster for using her master’s body, but she suddenly received a mental message from Selene.

~Buy me time. Just a little.~

She withdrew her blades back, acting like she was following its demands.

“Who are you and what have you done to Master?”

He chuckled. “Weapons, my dear. Questions later.”

Content with having the attention on her, Miria dropped her swords and even kicked them away.

“Good. Smart girl.” Ast showed a satisfied grin. “Me? I’m just a ghost of the past. A dead man. You won’t recognize my name so there’s no point in telling you. All you need to know is—”

His head suddenly turned towards Selene and he furrowed his brows at her.

“Stop it. Disarming me is pointless,” he said casually. “Do you really think I need this dagger? I brought it out only to make a point. I can kill him at any moment without any external help.”

And just to prove that, he threw the dagger away and spread his arms. A moment later, his right eye started getting increasingly bloodshot and a tiny stream of blood leaked out of the eyesocket, travelling down Ast’s cheek.

Selene clicked her tongue and cancelled the technique. She sighed heavily. Neither she nor Miria had any other ideas. Asterios laughed again.

“Good. It’s better this way. Now then, it’s not like I owe you guys an explanation, but I’m in a quite good mood after taking over this dude. You see, I was slightly afraid when I saw you pursue me while in the body of that little shit. I planned to use him as my hostage after hearing that you came for him, but, thank gods, this idiot actually was knowledgeable about monsters and mistakenly identified me as a Nightmare.”

Asterios let out a sinister giggle.

“I mean, I can’t blame him, the difference is marginal and I’m actually impressed he was able to narrow it down this much from just a glance at the kid’s body, but unfortunately for you, he missed the mark just a little. I’m a Phantasmal Horror. More intelligence, ability to speak, stronger, etc. So, when I realized what he was going to try, I just acted like a Nightmare would, with all that jumping and animalistic attacks. Just to clear things up, you didn’t catch me, I let you catch me. The rest you know. I just jumped wagons. And why am I wasting my time telling you all of this? Because you can’t do shit to me. Anything you do will hurt him. If he dies, I’ll be a little hurt, but not gone, hahahaha.” After another round of laughing, Asterios made a serious face. “Anyway. Who are you to this guy? And don’t even try lying to me.”

After a short moment of silence, Miria opened her mouth. “We are his s—”

~Don’t reveal everything. We don’t know if he can control only Master’s body or his abilities too,~ Selene’s voice rang in her head.

“—ervants. Combat slaves,” Miria quickly finished her sentence, seemingly without even breaking the word as the two conversed mentally. She pointed at her collar.

“Hmmm… Never seen your race around… Eh, not like it matters.”

“Since you can switch bodies, if you release our Master and go back to the boy, we swear to not do anything against you and leave instantly. We won’t tell anyone about this either,” Miria tried negotiating with the Horror.

He chuckled again and shook his head. “I’m really tempted to listen to such a beautiful girlie, but unfortunately, I need this body to leave this damned place, so I will be borrowing your master for a little bit. That kid is too weak. This guy although is pretty much perfect.” He glanced down at his hands and smiled to himself. “If you don’t get in my way and follow my orders, he might have a chance to live.” He slowly approached Miria with a wide grin and cupped her cheeks up. “What do you say, pretty?”

Even if it was Ast’s body, Miria clearly felt repulsed by the aura he was emanating and hastily stepped away with a displeased face.

“Don’t you dare touch me. I belong only to Master.”

“Oh? Quite the loyal slave we are. Am I not your master now?”

“You may have his body, but not his soul and heart,” Miria retorted. 

Suddenly, an idea popped up in her mind. She returned close to him and grabbed Ast’s throat with her furry hand. He raised an eyebrow at her action.

“Try anything funny with me and I’ll kill Master and then myself. It’s not an empty threat.” She squeezed her fingers harder. “The two of us are much stronger than him. You need him alive, don’t you?” She glared Asterios straight into the eyes, leaking some of her killing intent she was able to direct at the Horror.

Ast’s eyes widened a little before they returned to normal. It was long enough for Miria to notice the change. He then showed an evil grin again, but she knew it was just a facade.

“Feisty. I like those. But, it’s as you said. I’d rather get out of this abandoned shithole than taste a random woman once, not even in my own body. And I bet he’s done you plenty already with how crazy you are after him. Used goods are not really my thing.” He shrugged and she let him go.

Selene finally joined Miria by her side. “Let’s go then. You better instantly leave my Lord’s body the moment we step outside.”

He chuckled. “Oh, not so fast. If it was this simple, I would have used that kid over there. I need a strong body for a reason, don’t you think? If you help me nicely along the way, I may try my best to keep him alive after I’m done, huhuhuhu.

Asterios let out a sinister chuckle as he passed between the two girls, tapping them both on their shoulders. Miria and Selene exchanged a worried and frustrated gaze. Following the Horror was their only option for now.