I was certain now. This woman was dangerous and nowhere near as helpless as I had made her out to be. She knew exactly what she was doing.
I stared at her calm, mirror-like eyes with wariness.
She definitely realized or knew all along that she would be sacrificed. Her smirking and then throwing the whole group into chaos a second later with a deadpan expression, looking like a dead fish, was all I needed to know that.
I was trying to put everyone on edge just a little, but she went ahead and completely blew things out of proportion! My masterpiece looked nothing like some voodoo ritual!
I could more or less deduce that a Fleshseeker was something akin to a Skinwalker, which I had seen mentioned repeatedly online. She just claimed that one of them had infiltrated their group, starting a game of Mafia in this deathtrap, like the monsters in here trying to kill them weren't enough. Although Lumina herself somehow knew that there was no such thing.
I was lacking in info as usual, so there was no way I could've predicted this. She completely threw my original plans out the window, but I wasn't really mad. This might work even better.
If my plans would have planted paranoia and doubt into their heads, causing the group to potentially distrust one another eventually, then her quick-witted scheme immediately tore the group apart. I could work with this.
'Oh yeah, the monsters in here are apparently called Fracturebeasts... I'll keep that in mind.'
Also, strangely enough, in spite of trying to kill the woman, only Tessa seemed able to question her claims. Just who was she?
'The plot thickens.'
There were other bits of info I would've liked to digest, but things were progressing outside of my little scarlet hidey-hole.
Carl closed his eyes and took a deep breath before returning to his usual stoic expression.
"Nothing changes. We need to up our pace and get to the Core faster."
Vazor and Justin knitted their brows in confusion, while Tessa and Lumina nodded in agreement.
Seeing his teammates' confusion, Carl elaborated, "Regardless of the situation, the goal remains the same. We must reach the Core to escape. If there is a Fleshseeker in our group, we can't do anything about it. It can kill us easily, but hasn't done so yet. Whatever the reason, it gives us more time."
Carl paused before continuing, his expression relaxing a bit.
"If something else is currently stalking us, we also can't do anything about it. This is preferred, since it's most likely a weaker Mutant we might be able to handle should it attack."
"Yeah, do you get it now? We're in a bit of a hurry here to not meet an untimely demise, so can we get a move on?" Tessa snapped, glaring at Vazor and Justin.
Both nodded without saying a word. Time was of the essence.
"Lumina, you're walking next to me. If something sneaks up on us, I need time to cast my spells," Tessa urged. She probably wanted to use her as bait, since if anything did sneak up on them in this situation, she'd be dead.
Lumina silently nodded as she stood next to Tessa, probably already aware of this.
The anxious group regained some of its previous confidence and swiftly made its way to the nearby passage. Soon, the Mafia players had left behind my gruesome artwork, leaving me alone in the art hall.
'So, could use some more work, I guess,' I jokingly sighed to myself.
The group was jogging now, so I didn't waste my breath anymore and began chasing after them.
After that, their pace really picked up.
The party began to run into more Fracturebeasts. Yet unlike before, their battles were swift and unwasteful. Vazor's defence seemed unbreachable as Justin's and Lumina's figures danced around the unsettling foes, delivering one fresh wound after the other. Carl's bow was constantly taut, sending out fresh arrows, each one easily piercing deep into flesh. Rapid shots of weaker lightning stunned enemies, as Tessa's hands turned into a blur.
I was quite satisfied, however. While they were running from ghosts, I was feasting at every turn! Whenever the party ran ahead after a battle, I jumped out of hiding and gobbled up my meal.
Since they weren't wasting any time, I was getting a lot more blood, but there was a problem.
They were too efficient!
I barely managed to use [Blood Absorb] on some of the carcasses before I had to keep moving, so I wouldn't lose them. I didn't even have to use [Blood Dive] at times, since they killed the enemies so quickly and left the area. Let's not even mention my short stature preventing me from going full speed.
'I'm probably still faster than I used to be, though. Not that I was a bad runner.'
Despite its tiny stature, this was still the nimble body of a monster.
Still, in the end, I made a good haul in just a couple of hours.
[28.7L/100L of blood absorbed]
'That's a hell of a lot. 18.5 litres in just a couple of hours? Not bad.'
I'd just made more in this one trip than I had made with the rest combined.
After running around for the past few hours, the group finally stopped and caught its breath. Not because they wanted to, but because something stood in their way.
An ominous, sleek-metal door with a dark frame.
Everyone stared at the door in disbelief and annoyance, while I stared in confusion. Yet again, this did not seem the least bit ominous!
"Fuck, of course there's a Layer Guard!"
A vein pulsed on Justin's temple as he spoke. He grumbled a string of curses under his breath but didn't say anything else.
'Looks like a bigger fight. Something like a mini-boss, maybe.'
Carl didn't waste any time and formed a simple plan. They were in a rush after all.
"I'll use my Ability to kill it in one shot. Distract the Guard while I prepare."
"I've lost a fair bit of Essence with this little marathon of ours, so it'd be really nice if you guys could also not die while I prepare a little Spell," Tessa spoke, having regained some of her haughtiness.
Everybody nodded seriously and didn't question further. This was the first time I would get to see one of their abilities, and it seemed his Ability was quite strong.
After catching their breath for a couple more minutes, Lumina pushed open the giant metal door and stepped inside. The rest of the group followed after her, with Carl at the very back. With me at the very, very back, of course. I quietly used [Blood Dive] without being noticed.
Behind the door, the space opened up into a room half the size of a football stadium. The familiar crystals lining the walls had turned scarlet, illuminating the space in a red hue. Murky, crimson liquid bathed the whole ground, not leaving a single spot untouched.
In the middle of the long hall, a silent figure stood. It towered over the group in height by a meter, donning a sanguine heavy armour. On its back, the giant red handle of a great sword could be seen. Two bright, scarlet flames ignited in the slit of the helmet as the figure reached for the sword on its back.
The group brandished their weapons and took their stances. Carl drew his jet-black bow taut. After a moment, a heavy gust of wind burst from his body as sparks of emerald began coalescing on his string, and a focused expression appeared on his face.
Without hesitation, the knight in red burst forth, raising his great sword. Ignoring the others, the knight rushed at Lumina. It unleashed a horizontal slash, aiming straight for her neck. Lumina's basket-hilted sword deftly met the blow, but still she slid back a couple of meters.
The knight mindlessly dashed at her once again.
Vazor intercepted the knight with his shield and blocked the following blow while standing his ground. Justin appeared from behind the knight, piercing the slit in the back of its knee. The knight promptly spun around without flinching, its blade heading straight for the youth's neck. Justin smoothly evaded the strike with a backstep, landing a couple of meters away.
A moment later, Vazor rammed into the distracted knight with his shield, momentarily throwing the red figure off balance. The knight was momentarily immobilized, but it was enough. A barrage of lightning fell onto its head, courtesy of Tessa. Nobody approached as the knight was barraged with the golden light.
At the same time, beads of sweat dripped down Carl's neck as the emerald sparks had coalesced into a giant, ethereal arrow.
The barrage of gold had stopped, but the knight was still stuck in place. It looked up for a moment.
Carl's muscles strained to hold the arrow in place, and once he was at his limit, his entire body loosened.
Another strong gust of wind shot through the room as the arrow was unleashed. It covered the distance between Carl and the knight in under a second, leaving behind an emerald trail in its wake. A loud clang sounded in the room as Carl's arrow pierced the slit in the knight's helmet.
Everybody stood on guard, prepared for the worst.
The knight stood still for a moment, glaring straight at Carl.
It tried to raise its greatsword, but the knight's figure lost its shape before it could do anything. Its sanguine armour gracelessly clattered into the pool of crimson, making the two indistinguishable from one another.
Justin approached the armour and poked it with his jian.
"Yup, dead as can be," he said, his usual attitude slowly returning. It seemed a little setback couldn't keep him down for long.
'The fight was surprisingly short. I was honestly expecting them to struggle a bit. Just how strong are they?'
I was still quite clueless as to how to measure their strength, but they seemed a little stronger than that badass knight.
The frontline fighters turned to look at their supports, who had exerted themselves more than they had. Tessa had her hands on her hips as she tried to feign composure, while Carl had collapsed to his knees. It seemed his Ability completely drained him. It was a heavy-hitter, but it put him under a lot of strain.
Surprisingly, Lumina approached her first, with the rest following shortly behind.
"That was a Gifted Rank 2. Not bad, but we would've been fine without an Ability. How do you feel?"
Carl looked up at Lumina, who was reaching out her hand to him. Unnaturally, Carl was smiling.
"Good, very good in fact."
Everyone stared confusedly at their leader, who was drenched in crimson and sweat on the floor. He grabbed Lumina's hand and lifted himself up
"I think I just got a Remembrance."
'Oh, another new term! I'm getting smarter by the day,' I thought to myself as I observed the group. Strangely enough, everybody looked shocked, even Lumina. Something very special had just happened if she was shocked. She didn't even flinch at my masterpiece after all.
Silence filled the blood-soaked hall for a moment. It seemed as if Carl's words were still slowly reverberating around in their ears before they accepted reality.
Then all hell broke loose among the group.