Chapter 339: Two Wrongs and No Right

It took a little bit of doing, but Mike was able to encourage the next ghoul they ran across to provide them with more information. He also made sure to keep this one alive in case there were any other questions he needed to ask while they were on the way to the ritual site. Strangely enough this seemed to bother the two following him more than simply killing the creature.

There was a brief moment where this caused him some consternation, but a deeper part of him quickly pushed aside his doubts and refocused him on the task at hand. He needed to locate the leadership of this particular ghoul cult and put an end to their machinations.

Sensing that his prisoner was starting to black out from blood loss again, Mike sent another burst of Life Magic into the creature, causing it to strain against the half dozen stone spears pinning it to the block of stone he was dragging.

"Please...let me die." The monster moaned in a pained whisper.

"Not yet. I may still have a few questions for you." He replied, annoyed that he had to waste concentration on processing the foolish creature's request.

"What more do you want to...know? I have...told you everything."

Mike glanced back at it, momentarily taking note of the pair of humans that had taken to following him at a cautious distance. They both winced as his gaze swept past them.

[Perhaps it's time to cut them loose…] He thought for a moment, before a voice from the depths of his mind reminded him that he didn't know what circumstances he was walking into, and it never hurt to have another couple pawns to put into play.

Turning his gaze back towards the ghoul, he explained coldly. "You may have told me where the ritual is being held, but you've not answered any of my other questions."

"I know nothing...of the vampire girl. While others of my...clan may have more information...I can assure you she is not...being kept here."

For a second, Mike found himself wondering why he was here, but the doubt quickly passed. Surely the words of a flesh eating monster were not to be taken seriously. Even if it was telling the truth, that could just mean that it was unaware of Selene's presence. Clearly, his best option was to go down and put a stop to the ritual.

[Shouldn't I hurry then? Why am I dragging this guy around?] An errant thought briefly occurred to him before his reason reasserted itself.

According to the information he'd already gathered, the ritual will be nearing completion in the next thirty minutes. If he waited until the very last moment, the ghouls will be too distracted by nearing completion of their desires to resist an attack. It would give him an ideal opportunity to swoop in and deal with the whole situation at once.

[Wait, does that make sense? They have to know I'm down here already. Would they really let their guard down at the last second?] He thought again, feet coming to a halt as the conundrum left him confused.

This hazy state lasted for a few seconds before a part of his mind noted that the ghoul was in the process of dying again, so he directed his attention over to his prisoner and invested enough mana to keep it alive for the foreseeable future.

[Now what was I thinking about? Ah, right. I have to get down to the ritual site and put an end to their efforts.]

With that thought in mind, he began moving once more. He was finally starting to make progress on his mission here. Now if he could only get that annoying hum to stop.

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"He's not even paying attention to us anymore. Now's our chance to escape." Julia whispered, unable to take her eyes off of the horrible torture device the terrifying mage had created out of thin air.

The suffering ghoul was pinned by nearly a dozen spears and left to slowly and repeatedly bleed to death before being healed again at the last second. It hadn't taken long for the poor creature to begin begging for death.

Watching him torture his latest victim had finally been enough for Dorn to recognize the folly of their current situation, and once he'd slowly drifted behind the mage and begun walking beside her, they were able to discuss possible solutions.

"We could do that, but I fear we would have trouble making our way back to the surface at this point." Dorn added quietly. "It seems I owe you an apology, my dear. I did not intend to get us trapped in the ruins with a madman."

"No, don't apologize. I could have tried harder to hold us back." She gave a sour chuckle. "Besides, with what's going on back on the surface, I doubt we would have lasted long anyway."

"Indeed. For better or worse, this man has served as our protector up to this moment. Even if he is unhinged in some manner, our only viable option at this point is to remain in his wake and hope that we somehow survive these events."

Julia grimaced. The idea of escaping while the mage was distracted still made sense to her. Honestly, she wanted nothing more than to run screaming from these ruins, but long years of working in the service industry had taught her that such an obvious display would only anger the man. Even slipping away quietly could potentially lead to him taking offense and tracking them down later.

"You have the right of it." She eventually whispered back. "I hope that following him doesn't end up being a mistake."

They fell silent after that, each locked in their own thoughts as they continued on after the mage in his slow and deliberate pace. After an unknowable amount of time, the seemingly never-ending passages opened up into a large room, signalling that they had finally reached their destination.

For a brief moment, Julia was under the impression that they had stepped back outside. There was a bright orange light shining down from above and bathing her surroundings in a warm, pleasant glow. It took her a few seconds to realize that the distant glow was originating from a massive crystal built into the ceiling, dozens of meters above them.

It was centered over a raised platform in the middle of the vast chamber upon which rested a slab of pure, white marble. Four obelisks made of a similar material stood on each corner of the square platform, making an invisible but very perceptible barrier between the slab and the rest of the room.

Looking around, she initially thought that the floor and walls were dirty, since it seemed like dark lines of grime covered every available surface. However, after a few seconds of careful observation, she realized that they were actually incredibly complex symbols carved into the very stone of the room. Her mind boggled at just how much time and effort must have gone into making this chamber.

While Julia was still trying to comprehend what she was seeing, the golden-eyed man suddenly stopped and dropped the ghoul in his makeshift torture litter, causing him to groan in fresh agony.

"This is where the ritual is supposed to take place, right?" He demanded coldly while surveying the room.

"...Yes…"

"Then where is everyone? Why is this chamber deserted?"

The ghoul hesitated, clearly uncertain about how to respond. Finally, he whispered weakly, "I don't know…"

The man frowned down at the creature for a few seconds before nodding. "Very well, then you are no longer of any use to me."

Before Julia had even finished registering his words, several more spears of stone lanced up from the stone slab, impaling the ghoul in a violent and lethal manner. Without a second glance, he calmly proceeded towards the center of the room, stopping just outside of the area enclosed in the four obelisks.

After exchanging a confused glance, Dorn and Julia followed after him, making sure to step around the bloody remains of the ghoul and leave a fair amount of distance between themselves and the killer.

"There is a barrier here...a powerful one." The man muttered to himself, apparently forgetting that he was not the only one in the room. "It's...fluctuating? But what...no, there is a connection. I just need to follow it..."

"How are you holding up, my dear?" Dorn whispered, distracting Julia.

"We are trapped in the deepest chamber of a ghoul infested, ruined city along with an emotionally unstable mage who probably has the power to level this place and everyone in it should he feel so inclined. How do you think I'm holding up?" She replied sardonically.

His face twisted at that. "I am sorry, for what it is worth."

She sighed and offered him a strained smile. "Like I said before, don't apologize. I am here because of my own choices, and nothing else."

An answering smile appeared on his face, equally strained. However, any feeling of camaraderie was quickly interrupted when the golden-eyed man suddenly turned and faced them.

"Alright, I've figured it out."

"Ah...yes? What is happening?" Dorn asked hesitantly.

"The ritual to break this barrier is taking place somewhere else, apparently. As far as I can tell this," he gestured towards the stone slab surrounded by monoliths, "is only the focal point of the sealing magic. The actual control node for the channeled mana is several floors above us."

"I see...I take it that means we must resume our explorations."

The man blinked, and then suddenly laughed. "Hahahaha, no, no we've gotten to where we need to be. Stopping this ritual is easy from here. We just need to break the barrier before they finish."

Silence fell for a few seconds while they digested this latest revelation. Finally, Julia mustered up the courage to ask. "Um, wouldn't that be exactly what the ghouls want?"

"You'd think so, wouldn't you?" The man replied, a slightly manic glint entering his expression, "However, this barrier is a lot more complex than I've been giving it credit for. It is designed to both seal and weaken its prisoner, keeping whoever or whatever is trapped here from escaping easily. You see, it should be incredibly difficult to completely imprison a being of god-like power with this sort of barrier. Quite frankly, it's far too weak to accomplish that kind of thing."

Julia glanced around the room again, trying to imagine how something this complicated, not to mention produced by the magically advanced High Elves, could possibly be considered weak.

"However, the people that made this chamber were quite clever." He continued jovially. "They managed to tie components of the barrier to pieces of the trapped being's soul, ensuring that any damage sustained by the seal would have a correspondingly devastating effect on the being's power and essence. That is why the ghouls are going through the trouble of using this convoluted ritual to free their god."

"Um…" Julia tried to speak, but found it hard to come up with the right words.

"Essentially, my dear, he's saying that simply breaking out of this trap would not be difficult for the trapped being, but doing so would cause him or her irreparable damage. Thus, it is allowing its imprisonment voluntarily, likely biding its time until something changes." Dorn offered.

"I get that, but I am curious as to why your plan is to simply break the thing out. It's supposed to be some kind of god, right? Wouldn't it still be pretty dangerous, even if it was weakened? Wouldn't it make more sense to go deal with the ghouls directly and prevent it from escaping in the first place?"

"No that's…" The man started before trailing off, a confused look on his face. "That would…"

He shook his head as if to clear his thoughts. "No time for that. The ritual is reaching its conclusion, so we need to stop it soon if we want to bring this to an end."

Satisfied, he turned back to the table and began to concentrate, obviously beginning whatever internal preparations he needed to break the barrier. While he was doing so, Julia found herself wondering who he was trying to fool.

[If time was such a factor, then why did we take so long to get here?]