Chapter 143: Containment

The pale white fog became thicker as Nero descended, reducing the visibility to only a few metres ahead. As if that was not enough, the effective radius of Aether Pulse was also reduced drastically, making it so that he needed to use the card every few steps.

Considering their previous experience, it was odd that they faced no curses yet, but that could also be an effect of the fog. Despite its seeming harmlessness, it was by far the most dangerous thing here.

By the time they reached the third level, they faced no challenge, but instead of feeling relieved, Nero only felt more concerned. There were a few things causing such concern.

Visibility was obviously a big part of it, but another was that there were no more stairs heading downward after the third level. Yet when he was taking the test to gain access for the lower levels, he was certain he recalled mention of a fourth level. Lastly, it was because he felt no cursed energy at all.

One would think that the lack of cursed energy would mean they were safer, but Nero didn't think so. In his mind, that only meant that they were completely incapable of sensing the danger, not that there wasn't any.

"The door's broken," Harold's voice came muffled through the fog. Did the fog also reduce sound? That would explain the deafening silence on this floor. Even an empty room had some sound, of the air if nothing else. Yet here, in the basement, it was as if sound did not exist at all. Unless, of course, they were the ones to make it.

The group moved towards him and were alarmed to find that, indeed, the door was broken. It was shattered into pieces that still lay on the ground after all this time. That was another reason to be concerned, because so far they could not even scratch the building.

Nero strongly suspected that the only reason he had been able to break the reception desk was because the curse had weakened its internal structure over the course of many years.

But much more ominous than even the door was the cracked floor of the room beyond. The floor had caved in at certain parts, while in other areas it remained level. Yet the wide, dark cracks that seemed to split the ground spread everywhere, like a spiderweb.

Nero bent down and touched the dust that covered the ground, trying to determine if this break was recent or old. The way it had settled made Nero feel like it had been like this for a while, but whether that was a few months over countless years could not be ascertained. The earthquake that uncovered the city could have been responsible for this, or it could have easily predated it.

"Someone's using aether up ahead," Remi suddenly whispered. "No, wait. It's not one person. There are many people up ahead!"

Nero immediately stood up and looked ahead, but the fog was too heavy to see anything far. What he did see, however, was that there were no footprints in the heavy dust that hugged the floor.

"It might not be people," Nero said. "Stay cautious and don't take any rash actions."

He stepped forward, his team following him closely. No one noticed that the way Nero held his spear, pointed forward, allowed the rear end of the spear to come close to Wendy.

"Emergency situation detected. Research subjects need to be contained. Research assistant, you have been directed to aid in the containment of research subjects. Follow."

The thing turned around and began to walk into the fog. Everyone looked at each other, as if unsure they should follow, but Nero did not hesitate. He wasn't sure what he had gotten into, but he didn't want to risk losing sight of the thing in the fog. The rest followed without lowering their guard.

The cracks in the floor continued throughout the corridor, and in some places even extended to the walls, revealing darkness hidden between them.

"We're getting close to the rest of them," Remi whispered once more, her voice barely audible at this point. "There's something very strange about the others. I don't think this is a good idea."

That was the most the frightened girl had spoken so far, and the fact that she was finally voicing her fears did not mean Nero dismissed her thoughts. In fact, her stellar performance so far meant that Nero took her words very seriously.

Yet before he could decide any other course of action, they arrived at a large opening, a result of the floor and walls having collapsed completely, going down a level.

Nero's eyes flashed. He knew there was a fourth level. But before he could relish in discovering the hidden floor, he caught sight of the 'others' Remi was referring to.

Dozens of humans, frail, starved and skinny to the bone, walked around the floor like zombies. There were chains attached to their legs, though the chains weren't attached to anything. They had likely broken off when the floor collapsed.

Similarly, there were endless tubes attached to their bodies, but they too had been ripped free from whatever they were attacked to.

It was an eerie sight. They humans were so skinny they might as well have been just skin and bones. In fact, they very well just might be just that, with aether sustaining them instead of organs, for each of them radiated auras of thick aether.

Before the creature leading them could speak, or any of them could decide how to accurately react to such a horrific sight, one of the humans suddenly turned to look their way. It sniffed the air, as if it caught a whiff of something new. Then it bared its fangs, revealing impossibly sharp teeth.

"Contain research subjects before they display their corruption mutations," the creature loudly announced.

Its voice attracted the attention of the rest of the bony humans, and like a pack of hungry dogs, they launched themselves towards them.

But their frail exterior was misleading to their actual abilities. Nero barely had time to point his spear in the right direction before the first of the test subjects was on him.