131 Expectation or surprise ?

Marching forward, a little girl was not feeling heat or cold in the dark environment. The clothes fabricated by Master Agnil were custom made after all and were not just pretty. Couple with the natural, or should some say modified, resistance of her body, it was hardly possible for her to catch a cold. Counting in her head the distance from the entrance and where she was, she felt that it will be soon that she will reach where her skeletons were destroyed.

KROK

Raising her foot, she saw a piece of bones under it. A bit further, more were laying on the ground, the last remnant of the undead that died. Grabbing what should probably be a finger, she inspected it but found no problem. If that was the case, the white silhouette she saw only wanted the mana necessary for the summons to be able to move. But if that was the case, it still returned to the same question. "Why doesn't he go to that cave above filled with mana?"

As she descended, she could see the concentration of mana gems getting lower and lower. The most probable explication was the monster monopolizing the flow, disrupting the natural appearance of those crystals. Even where she stood, the surface of the walls was as barren as the ones where her shadows absorbed everything. But shortly after thinking this, she felt the thin mana around her concentrating in one location.

Seeing the appearance of a mana gem under her very eyes, she was not in a hurry to grab it. At this point, only one was like a drop in an ocean for her. She was far more interested to see who or what will try to take it first. Like that, she concealed herself nearby, patiently waiting for prey to come. After what she felt was an hour or so, something a bit too noisy arrived. Without even needing to see it, she could feel its presence, lurking on the ceiling of the tunnel.

From afar, it looked like a spider hanging downward. With its completely black body, it could fool even some races capable of seeing in the dark. For some reason, she felt that she had heard about this creature.

(Davion and Meridiana met it in the cave we used to create the tunnel linking our base to Archet. They said it was scared of them and had one massive eye in the middle of its body. But it only opened it after sensing light.)

The Viscount quickly brought the information she wanted. Now that it was close enough to be visible, it did seemed to be what the orodil and the succubus saw. Also, the moment he arrived so close to the mana gem that the blue light touched its body, an eye was slowly opening, barely visible. Soon, Leilade could appreciate the spectacle of the monster sucking dry the mana from the stone. When it had finished eating, the gem fell on the ground and break in many pieces.

Because of this, the eye of that creature fully opened itself, looking left and right. He turned in all directions, before stopping when he was looking where a little girl was hiding. She had barely concealed her presence, not even using a spell for that. But with her little body, the lack of light and the distance between the two, it was still hard to spot her. However, the monster seemed to have at least see something unusual.

Now silently planting its legs on the ceiling, the one-eyed monster closed its eye. Without that clue, its body was almost invisible as it was slowly approaching Leilade. When only 30 meters separated the two, a sound came from the left tunnel. It did not take long for the approaching predator to choose to flee, letting its prey for the moment. Whatever was coming was clearly a danger for it.

But when she saw what it was, it almost made her laugh. Even if it was extremely big, it was just a terrifying earthworm. Its skin was looking like metal, and even the sound produced between the ground and that was similar. But after thinking that, Leilade realized something else. The monster she just saw before the reports of the men from the Organization and finally this. Deformed monsters, but very close to commonly found animals.

(If a Hero had been killed her, and also a Dark God, it is possible that they were just normal insects in the first place. But, if they entered in contact with the blood of one of the two or even both, the result could be what we are seeing. Fascinating.)

Even if it was just a theory, it was not impossible. Even her own blood could provoke unforeseen consequences. Of course, since it will be immediately contaminated by the darkness inside her body, any living being in contact would die. But the blood of someone else, like the Akûl Ymir, would produce with almost certainty mutation to the one absorbing it. With that in mind, the monstrous earthworm became energy for Leilade. As for the spider, it had escaped her for the time being.

Creating some skeletons to scout every tunnel, the undead all ended up destroyed in a matter of minutes. It was not just one living being that was tainted by the power of whoever they sucked the blood, but a myriad of them. The entire underground maze was filled with annoying insects, reptiles and small mammals. All stranger than their original form. But then, two categories were quickly formed for Leilade. The dumbs and the cowards.

Half of the mutated monsters had sufficient strength and sturdiness that they could fight head on, and that's what they did. But opposing flesh and matter to the shadows without shape that were surrounding Leilade was just suicide. As for the more agile monsters, those that relied on their instincts to escape danger, the moment they noticed her was the moment they fled in panic. But even as she slaughtered more and more, she was having a hard time finding the two corpses.

SKLIK

Hearing a spider approaching with great speed, she turned her head. The creature on the ceiling made a complete stop when it finally noticed the very small human under it, and in its panic, almost hit a stalactite. But it quickly regained its spirit and escape in a nearby tunnel, dodging the threat from behind and from the front. Soon after, a pale mist appeared, spread inside the entire tunnel. "It was time."

Creating a light, she saw it disappear soon after. Apparently, the thing in front of her did not even let off the mana of that spell. But it was enough to see something special on the nearly transparent ghost. A porcupine head, with more than three arms at least. Even now, the monster had not attacked her, proving that she was right all along. She wrote in the air a symbol, filled to the brink with mana. But unlike previously, the roaming soul did not make a move to absorb it.

(So, it really is an Akûl.)

"Indeed. Who are you?" Her question was left without an answer, as the soul wasn't moving anymore. It seemed to have been stunned by the appearance of the symbol in front of it. "The Empress of the Underworld, Leilade Octavius, order you to identify yourself!" Even after nearly shouting, the ghost was not even reacting. Left with no choice, she spread the darkness all around it, covering the tunnel with nothingness, like a black hole swallowing everything.

Only at that moment did the soul shook his head and looked at her like he was shocked. Immediately bowing, she awaited his words. Words that did not come. Slightly perplexed, she tried to establish communication between her and the ghostly Akûl. "HO'E! HO'E! E'PRESS! HO'E! DE'ON! HO'E!" The whirlpool of thoughts she expected was reduced to three words, repeated in a loop. Whether it was its memories or its instincts, but he had at least recognized her.

(It had been one thousand years. If it was you, how your soul would become?)

"Probably half of what it is. And that's only me. For a demon like him to be able to at least form words is a miracle. Even if it seems he has lost the letter m in the process." Even if a soul had a constant supply of mana, only the strongest will could afford to suffer too much time all alone. But that was clearly not the case for the Akûl. Using her mana once more, she carefully searched its memories, to see where its body was.

The extremely empty space only contained a very imprecise plan of the underground, with many parts confusing. If she searched more intensively, she knew the soul would disappear. Not wanting to kill it unless it was necessary, she began to walk toward the deepest part of the maze, followed by the white mist. On her way, she could see the terrifying states that the monsters were in when they spotted the soul floating behind her.

The moment she reached her destination, she was slightly in awe by the spectacle. A gigantic cave, filled with countless crystals everywhere. They were, however, only normal, as that was the first thing she checked. But, their varieties and their huge numbers were extremely impressive. But, after examining the bottom of those mineral formations, she noticed a lot of rusted weapons and broken armors. Like that, she ended up in front of the massive pillar in the middle of the cave. Inside it, two tall skeletons could be seen.

The tallest that had four arms was still gripping the neck of the other with one hand, while the three other limbs were severed right at the elbow. On the ground, dozens of swords, spears, and axes could be seen near its bony feet. From what she could see, both the Hero and the demon died in a short interval. Most likely, the Akûl decided to take at least his enemy with him in his death, strangling the troll with his last breath.

As for the crystals surrounding them, they were formed from the corpses of all the creatures that had died in the battle. She had no idea about why, but seeing the massive pillar that was formed around the two main protagonists of that battle, it was most likely true. Turning around to look at the ghost, she saw it getting closer and closer to its former body. "'E! 'E! 'E"

Without talking, its thoughts were all turned toward itself. She had already gained a lot from this little trip, but she was a bit reluctant at letting the ghost stay that way. "Akûl, do you know your name?" She tried one last time, but what she heard was not encouraging. "'E! AKUL! AKUL! AKUL! 'E! HO'E! AKUL!" Extending her hand toward the white mist, a large tentacle appeared and began to swallow it all.

However, the broken soul had no reaction to the loss of itself, still repeating the words he heard from Leilade. Even when it was on the brink of collapsing on itself, it still was not able to gain a true consciousness. Sighing at the blue dot that was even smaller than sand, she absorbed its entire memory. As she expected, there was nothing new in it. A third of it was filled with the image of Leilade and the symbol she drew. But right as she was losing hope, she saw a flash of green. It was all blurry, but it looked really small. However, it was still clearer than a lot of things.

"What small green thing could be so important that he remembered it more than the faces of his own companions?" The rest was a mass without shape or form. Sometimes, she could see a human without a face, or other demons and monsters. But, she couldn't tell with certitude if it was on this planet that he gained that memory or not.

(There is nothing left. Whatever that green thing is, I can assure you that it is on this planet. In the last decades, there had been no report of something of importance similar in the Demonic Empire.)

Nodding her head, she looked at the beautifully colored cavern one last time. "There is still one last thing I need to do." Lifting her hand, she inscribed on the pillar near her the symbol of the Demonic Empire. That hardly made a difference in her vast reserve of mana, so little that even the Viscount did not complain. "Now, let us see how much those humans stole from them."