Chapter 261: Some Bloody Respite

Chapter 261: Some Bloody Respite

The shrinking ball of rot shook once. Then twice, then thrice, and finally, it imploded, collapsing on itself. The shrunken rot consumed its remaining matter in the blink of an eye, leaving behind only a small puff of carbon powder.

One down! Sofia was overjoyed. She smiled at Pareth who had landed below her.

Then she ran out of mana and fell like a bag of sand. Right. Forgot about that.

She expected to hit the ground, which wouldnt hurt her that much anymore, what was a ten meters fall to someone of her level? But Pareth was ready to catch her. In one smooth motion, he helped her land softly on her two feet.

Thanks a lot, she thought, turning her head back to look into Pareths flaming eyes of holy light.

Im sure you must be smiling too.

Sofia was on the bridge walkway leading to the eastern part of the temple. Her rats had confirmed one thing: all areas they could access were parasite free. But they had found a few other things, which she needed to check out by herself. These included two inaccessible rooms in the eastern building where she was heading, and one in the western one.

Once she cleared all the side pyramids, only the main building of the temple would be left. It was by far the largest chunk of the place, and by the look of it, it was currently completely sealed. She had found out that even the vents were fully blocked and locked with strange non-magical protection that she couldnt quite grasp. Her understanding of it was that there had probably been some kind of emergency lockdown, though it failed to save the elves. They must have locked themselves with a parasite of Ormoncleth already in their midst, just like the Zangdar citizens had been locked away in the Margin with Phageids.This chapter was first shared on the Ñøv€lß1n platform.

At least now I can walk outside safely.

If I forget about the whale.

Sofia hadn't caught sight of the whale again after the first time, but the thought of possibly needing to face-off against it still haunted her. Hopefully it wouldnt have to come to that.

Making her way to the building, Sofia really questioned what could have possibly compelled the elves to design such a weird temple. She didnt need any knowledge in architecture to understand that these flimsy thin walkways connecting actual pyramids with no additional support of any kind anywhere was a terrible idea. The missing southern building only reinforced that sentiment.

The eastern building was eerily similar to the northern one, same layout, same empty rooms everywhere. Some were labeled this time: elven inscriptions written over the doors, names such as Dry Storage or Secondary Infirmary. All desperately empty.

The Oracle did say the temple was only running for three days before the attack. Then Sun sent a rescue crew and never heard back from them. I wish they had given me a number of elves to find. How many people in the initial and rescue crews? Ten? Twenty? A hundred?

Sofia followed a group of skeleton rats to the first closed and barricaded room. It was in a far corner of the lowest floor. This time her scouting method was to send a rat inside by way of graveyard skeletons. Looks like its safe.

Oh shit.

This one isnt going to work for the book.

There was a single elf on the floor, back against the corner of the room. She had visibly decided to go on her own terms, she had probably used magic. There was nothing left of her skull except for a large and dried black bloodstain on the walls.

To have the resolve to choose to go like this She must have been more than terrified.

Its a few thousand years late but I apologize in the name of the Deep, may you find peace in the afterlife.

I never even believed in an afterlife other than as an undead, but who knows.

Lifetime : 16 527s/16 543s

And these definitely are some interesting stats Too bad stamina is useless to skeletons. I suppose she must have a lot of Speed, Strength, or Agility, and thats how it ends up like this. Exactly the same case as the vampires, they have a lot of useless stamina but theyre really fast.

Speaking of which, I should check up on the one who got splashed by the Deep blood. It cleaned itself, but who knows what the thing could have done to him.

The Vampire skeleton in question was currently guarding one of the stair access to this floor, like the other three were doing along with a bunch of rats. Just because they hadnt found more parasites didnt mean Sofia had stopped being careful in her movements. Since the skeletons still had almost three hours of lifespan, she would use them until the last second.

Checking on it, the Vampire still looked like nothing was going on with it. Ill have to go back and collect some samples of the liquid. Can wait though, stuff doesnt really decompose here for some reason. Anyway, western side is next, then.

The one closed room in the western pyramid turned out to be blocked by design this time. It was a storage room for food, containing a dozen crates of dried fish, fruits and nuts.

Woah. No way. This food is older than the system. How crazy is that?!

Can I eat it? Sofia grabbed a wrinkled dried apra out of its shiny paper wrapping.

Its all bone dry, but they still look good as new beyond that. All individually packed and all. Im just not too sure its safe to consume that.

Hmm. Actually. What if it isnt? My body literally doesnt even need food anymore, and I could probably survive most poisons in existence just with the combined regenerative power from the blessed constructs and [Radiance].

I still wont tempt it now but

Sofia took half of the crates. Ill leave some for whoever Sun sends here after Im done.

Done with her pilfering, she realized she was still holding the dried apra in her hand. Its wrinkly browned skin that looked like a dirty brain wasnt exactly the most appetizing, but Sofia hadnt eaten anything in a week, and she was awfully curious.

Just one bite cant hurt.

Its so sweet!

And so dryyyyy

Where did I store this damn water stone?!

Here it is Good UH?

Oh. Right. Doesnt work in the void without air. Yeah. No water in the air to channel into the stone if theres no air, duh.

Fuck, my throat is so dry It hurts.

Sofia eyed her status screen.

[Summon Blood]...