Chapter 173: Cultist's Base

After a day has passed, the both of us bid farewell to Izgoy to go where Neco found those two artifacts. "Here." Neco handed me a blue stone. Its size were something like a pebble. I could see the air inside swirling around in this translucent case of stone... or maybe glass? I don't know.

"What's this?" I asked.

"It's a Marestone. It allows you to breathe and see underwater but it only lasts for thirty minutes."

"No." I handed him over the stone. "Keep it, I don't need that to breathe underwater."

"That so?" He was hesitant to take it but took it anyway. "It's your funeral. Let's go. Just follow me."

"Alright." We dived in the water but uh... I don't know how to swim. How do people do this again? I just waved my feet like I was walking on ground but I can't cover long distances with it.

Neco was hundreds of meters away from me. He came swimming at me, "Do you... not know how to swim?" He asked.

"No." I opened my mouth and flood of water came so no voice came out. I just drank it all. I'm not worried since it's just seawater. And even if it was poisoned, I can find a cure easily.

"I told you, just take the Marestone. We can communicate this way."

"Telepathy, Neco."

"Tsk... fine." He clicked the accept button and I can hear him on my side.

"Can you hear me now?" Even though I didn't open my mouth, I'm pretty sure telepathy will do the rest of the work.

"Yeah."

"Alright. Let's go."

"Let's go? You don't even know how to swim properly."

"Well..."

"Haaa..." He let out a giant exasperated sigh. "Then it can't be helped. Inventory." Neco opened his inventory and pulled out a long and tightly neat rope. "Put this on."

"What? Why are you putting a rope around me?"

"Well what do you want me to do? You don't know how to swim so this is the only way. I'll just pull you to there. I don't have time to teach you."

"Argh... fine."Iput on the rope around me and Neco tightened it. I was then carried along as Neco was pulling me threw the water.

We spent several minutes finding this place Neco was saying and we finally got there.

II'm pretty amazed that the castle itself looks amazing even though it's pretty much destroyed like hundreds of years ago. it was also submerged.... So maybe it's a little bit longer than that. I don't know. But that's why we're here. To learn all about that stuff.

"Here it is." Neco pointed at the trapdoor that was below the throne. It was a weird place to hide but genius hiding place nonetheless. No one would dare go near the king or queen's throne.

"I'll go in first." I was about to open the trapdoor but Neco stopped me.

"The water. It'll flood the entire basement below. We can't affor to let that happen. I've already let in a lot."

"I see. Then step back for a bit."

"Sure."

"Barrier!" I created a cubic barrier around me to contain the water inside. I made sure that the barrier is not in with the trapdoor since it'll be destroyed in what I'm about to do. Then I guess for the rest of this... Torched Body!" My body erupted in flames and began to counteract the water that was inside.

"Are you trying to evaporate it?"

"Yeah." I began to release even more hotter heat and just a few minutes after, the entire water inside the barrier disappeared. "Teleport!" I teleported outside of the barrier and next to Neco. I grabbed him by the shoulder, "Mass Teleport!" And after some time, we teleported inside of the barrier. I then opened up the barrier a bit enough so that we could grab and open the trapdoor. Good thing that no water has come in. "Dispel!" I took off my torched body.

"This is it." Neco opened the trapdoor and we jumped down below. There were traces of battle and rocks. It seems that the golems that he were talking about were true.

"This is a large room for a basement. Its size looks like the size of the castle we saw that was in crumble. This is increibly big."

"Look here. Here's the thing that I told you about."

"What... even is this." Five pillar and this star... this isn't a star... It's a freaking pentagram. Demonic cultists are here... What the hell? What happened to this place. I kneeled over and took a closer look at what they used to paint the pentagram and as I feared, it's blood. "This isn't any normal place... This is an altar. Or a ritual table."

"What does that mean?"

"Sacrifice. They sacrifice something in exchange for something. It's always been like that. And the star below here isn't just any normal star. It's a pentagram. In my world... Pentagrams are usually connected to the demons."

"So you're saying this is a cultist base? But who could still be using this stuff..."

"I don't know. I don't even know what to think right now."

"Then... should we go back right now?"

"Yeah... I think we should. We don't know anything about this place. But I'll investigate it when we have time. This isn't top priority right now. I'll tell this to Herold too. Let's just go." As soon as we were about to step out of the circle of the altar, the blood on the ground lit up and emitted a bright red light. The fires on the pillar ran out and the whole room was turned pitch black. "Wisp, come out!" I called out my pet. Even though Wisp only heals people, it still emits a bright green light. So it'll act as our light source.

But then, a scorpion like tail came out of nowhere and killed my wisp. A system popped up in front of me telling me how long it'll return. But who was that? Is that a giant scorpion?

"Who. Dares. To. Come. Here?" Their voice was deep, intimidating and overall terrifying. A growl followed and water dripping down on the solid ground. Every step they took, I could hear its thumping feet hit the ground. "Answer. Me. Or. I'll. Give. You. A. Chance. To. Leave." Shockwaves of air was felt throughout the entire room. Was it their power that managed to push us back without even getting near us? Or is it the pressure that monster is emitting? Either way one thing came to my mind.

DANGER.

I felt like we need to flee. It already showed two of their powers. Wind and Poison according to the scorpion tail that we just saw earlier. "Flesh Eater Ring, Release! Fire Enchant!" Blood splurted out and I immediately reformed it, "Blood Weapon, Dagger!" I then threw the dagger at the enemy.

A millisecond of spark was created so I saw a glimpse of their face. I couldn't believe it.

"Impressive. To. Think. That. A. Weapon. That. Was. Just. Created. Right. Now. Has. The. Ability. To. Wound. Me. Even. Though. It. Was. Shallow. It. Is. Still. An. Impressive. Feat. Nonetheless."

Their face... It was the face of a lion. I can understand if it was an animal. But tell me, where the hell did that scorpion tail come from!?

"Why. Are. You. Not. Speaking? Tell. Me. On. Why. You. Are. Here. I. Will. Let. You. Go. If. You. Wandered. In. Here. By. Mistake. I. Don't. Want. Needless. Fights."

We didn't know what to say. So we just stood there back to back waiting for that monster to appear.

"You. Will. Not. Answer? Is. It. Due. To. Fear? Or. Are. You. Simply. Foolish? Gehenna's... Flicker." Suddenly, the five pillars lit up illuminating the whole room again. "Now. Are. You. Willing. To. Talk?"

"It's... a manticore." That's why... he has a lion's head.

With the face and body of a lion. Known to kill as soon as it pounces on anything. With its sharp claws, wood, stones or iron are simply twigs. Its body is attached by black and red wings which flickers with fire engraved on it. As he laid it bare for us to see, countless markings and engravings were seen, pulsing small red lights. Its tail that's poisonous no... Even more poisonous than a basilisk is from a scorpion. Known to kill a man within seconds. This legendary creature, I didn't know that I'd find this kind of creature here. But what makes me curious as to why this manticore doesn't have a human face.

"You. Know. Of. My. Species?" It asked.

"Yeah... You're a manticore right? Why don't you have a human face?"

"So. You. Know. That. Much. I'll. Give. You. An. Answer. It's. Because. I've. Been. In. This. Form. For. Too. Long. My. Face. Has. Evolved. And. Nurtured. Within. This. Lion's. Body. I. Am. Not. Human. Anymore. But. It. Doesn't. Matter. Tell. Me. Why. Are. You. Here."

"We're here just to check the place out. Neco here found this artifact dungeon and we explored it."

"Then. You. Know. There. Is. Nothing. More. To. See. Here. Then. Le-" The manticore's eyes widened. "WHERE. IS. IT? WHERE. IS THE BOOK OF RES-"

A dagger then came flying towards the manticore which interrupted him.

"Tsk..." It was Neco. "Let's kill it. It seems to be enraged by something."

"Y- yeah." I didn't expect him to take such a rash decision considering what he learned few months ago.

"DAMN. IT!!! WHERE. IS. IT!? WHERE'S. THE BOOK!!!"