Chapter 264 - The Metal Laboratory.

"So, how did it feel John?" Serena asked with a smug look 

"..." 

"Hmmm...? Why so quiet? Don't tell me you're sad?" Serena asked as she continued to tease John 

"... We were going to have a fair fight." 

"And who's fight was it originally?" Serena asked 

"Alright, I get it, I had it coming." Said John as he let out a sigh 

"As long as you know." Serena added with a satisfied smile 

"We're here." Said Master Sylvia as the carriage came to a stop 

John looked through the front of the carriage to see why they had stopped, and when he did, he couldn't believe his eyes. 

Right in front of the carriage, there was something similar to a laboratory, in the middle of this monster infested forest. 

John had found it strange how they hadn't encountered any monsters after slaying the ogres, and how the wolves continued to follow them but kept their distance. Now he knew why. 

"This is where you wanted to take us?" John asked 

"Yeah, our last destination." Said Master Sylvia as she jumped off the carriage. 

Lydia who saw this as a sign to leave, hopped on the back of the carriage before picking up the kids. John cast levite on them to make them lighter, but he wasn't sure if it was needed. 

Lydia was unexpectedly strong, John had only recently started to realise. For example, she could easily lift up John with one hand. She was the one who had carried him back to the carriage, or so they told him. 

After everyone was ready, the group got off the carriage before meeting Master Sylvia at the entrance. 

Lydia carried the kids, John made sure to keep his guard up, Serena also kept her guard up as she also had a bad vibe and Ariel wondered why Master Sylvia had brought them to such a place. 

The Laboratory still seemed to be in top-notch condition from the outside, in fact, there were no scratches on the wall. It really did repel the monsters. 

"What is this?" Serena asked 

A building with walls which joined around it in a circle, and a dome as a roof. The shape was similar to that of a cylinder with a dome or hemisphere above it. 

John got the impression of a laboratory at first, but it wouldn't make sense to make the entire base out of metal. 

"It's probably freezing in there." Said John as Master Sylvia placed her hand on the door. 

A double metal reinforced large door at where the walls joined up, and that was the entrance which the group stood in front. 

"What makes you say that?" Serena asked 

"Metal is a good thermal conductor. We're surrounded by snow, so all the cold is building up inside." 

Everyone except for Master Sylvia seemed both surprised and confused by John's explanation. The only reason why Master Sylvia looked undisturbed was probably because she wasn't trying to understand. 

"What?" Ariel asked 

John looked over at Ariel and she looked away to avoid eye contact. Making it even more awkward between the two. 

"Uh... It's hard to explain..." John muttered 

"I-I see... You can just explain it after then..." 

"Yeah..." 

John felt like punching himself in the face. He didn't know how to act around her. They still hadn't sorted their problem out, he needed to find a way to sort things out. 

[Damn it... I'll sort things out today...] 

The door to the laboratory opened up and the group walked inside. 

As they entered, the inside lit up the entire room, the whole of the laboratory could be seen from where they stood. 

A large room which looked just like what one would expect after seeing it from the outside. It was spacious, the walls weren't that thick and the inside was shaped just like they were inside of a cylinder. 

John hadn't expected things to still be running, the lights seemed to be running perfectly and the room was unexpectedly clean. It didn't look like it had been used recently, but no spider webs could be found and there was little dust gathered. 

"Has anyone recently been here?" John asked 

[It's condition is too good.] 

"Hmm...? And things are in this condition?" Serena whispered to Ariel 

"Maybe there's some sort of spell cleaning spell active? It's warm in here after all..." Ariel whispered back 

[A spell huh... That explains it...] 

Another thing that had stood out for John was how warm the room was. It was snowing outside, yet once they entered, not an ounce of cold could be felt. 

John wasn't the only one who noticed, all of them had. 

Suddenly, the ground beneath them began to shake heavily. 

"What?" Serena asked 

"The ground!" Said Lydia as she pointed towards where Master Sylvia was standing. 

John quickly looked over at the ground beneath Master Sylvia and noticed that it had opened up leaving behind staircases which led downwards. 

He hadn't noticed it. John had cast deprehendre to get a feel of the inside of the Laboratory before he entered, but he hadn't sensed a room underground. 

This was strange because deprehendre, didn't just cover a distance above ground, but it could detect things underground too. The fact that John hadn't noticed only reinforced Ariel's assumption. 

[It's a spell. And a strong one at that.] John thought to himself as he formed a nervous smile 

Master Sylvia gave everyone a look before walking down the path. For a moment, everyone stared at each other, wondering if they should really go down that path. 

No one knew where Master Sylvia was taking them, and recently she had been acting strange, a lot stranger than normal.