Enemies

“The dragon…” Hiiro’s body shakes as it remembers the image of the serpentine dragon.

“...” Manako is in a similar state, retreating a few steps down the pathway.

“So… Do we still continue up?”

“No… That’s certain death!”

Hiiro’s curiosity rises, wishing to see this monstrous dragon up close. But his rationale says otherwise, agreeing with Manako.

“Okay… Let's go down.” Hiiro agrees, following Manako. “We could always find another way up! Like stairs or an elevator!”

“Ela-va-tor?”

The two continue downwards, passing by the door that leads to the cells. After a few moments of walking, another door, or rather a strung tarp, appears.

The two cautiously approach the doorway. Hiiro silently pushes aside the tarp and looks in.

A makeshift study reveals itself, empty of any residents.

“Let's look in here,” Hiiro recommends, thinking that a secret staircase would be found in a place like this.

“Sure…”

The two enter the room, various books and trinkets line the makeshift desk and shelves.

“That’s…” Manako mumbles, noticing what appears to be a coving sitting the the corner opposite the desk.

“A coffin? Why?” Hiiro questions as he looks to the desk, lying there is a book, its cover blank.

Hiiro picks up the book and flips through it. Clean handwriting is scribbled on every page.

“?” Hiiro, despite his month-long stay in this world, had yet to learn to read.

“...” Hiiro decided to place the notebook into his pocket. This could be evidence!

After looking around, the two didn’t find any secret stairway or map and so decided to continue downward.

The two didn't walk very far as they reached a large cavern. The walls outlined in unfamiliar architecture. The previous style had reminded Hiiro of the Egyptian pyramids, yet he didn’t recognize this style. It’s like a cross between Medieval and Greek, but made of metal!

The cavern is shaped like a circle, in its center a large pit that seemingly goes on forever. The walls are lined with steel pillars, sharp edges and simple designs make the most of the pillars. These pillars continue upwards a few hundred meters. On the seeling is a hole, the same size as the pit.

“What is this place? He said the Uniphon ruins…” Hiiro pondered.

“I don’t know… I’ve never heard of them…”

“That would make sense.” A third voice cut in.

Looking back the way they came, two figures revealed themselves. One was a stern-looking man with a pair of ornamental glasses. The other was a woman dressed completely in black.

“It's you!”

“Yes… Regardless, this ruin is one that has been hidden for a millennium.” Absalon explained as he entered the cavern.

“Now, please return to your cell.”

♕♛♕♛♕♛♕

Neia had entered the small passage, though ‘small was in comparison to the larger one; the passageway was still quite large. What made something so circular? It’s nearly perfectly round.

These thoughts continued as they tried to ignore the scurrying behind them.

Continuing forward, the passage remained the same. Unlike the previous passages, this one is made completely of soil, like a natural cave.

Their thoughts wandered until a change in the passage.

On the left wall was a small indent.

They quickly investigate, finding a makeshift cell.

Inside, the familiar caramel skin, studious glasses, and dark blue uniform appear.

“It’s you?!” Helia says, shocked.

“Yeah…” Neia places their hand on the bars, which subsequently turn into mud.

“They said you had…”

“My death was… Exaggerated.”

“Oh yeah?” Helia looked suspiciously at Neia as they broke the handcuffs restraining her wrists.

“Thank you.”

“No problem, now we need to get going.” Neia motioned as they moved toward the direction they were heading.

“Hm? Why that way? Isn’t the exit the way you came?”

“Yeah, but… There's a horde of massive ants… we won't be able to make it through.” It seems like the hunter has been distracted, letting the ants come after us…

“Ants?” Helia looked down the passage, a faint scuttling could be heard. “O-okay, I agree.”

“Then let's go.”

The two continued down the passage that should be called a cave.

After running for a dozen minutes, the two finally came across a change. The passageway opened into a large cavern. The cavern seems to have been carved out roughly, as the walls are made of jagged stone rather than the smooth stone of the passage. At the center of the cabin was a hole, roughly the same circumference of the passage way.

Above that hole, a large crystal floats, and various colors shine from the nearly opaque crystal.

In front of the hole stands a large man, wearing silver armour and a sword at his side. The man's familiar face turns to look at the two of them.

“Well, well, well! I think I’ve met you before!”

“Shi-”

“Nalls”

The two immediately turn, attempting to escape. However, their vision is filled with scuttling bugs.

“Now, now! Where are you two going?!”

The silver spear charged towards them.

♕♛♕♛♕♛♕

“What should we do? With Mr. Locke left behind, we can't face a boss on our own!” Eris says as the two run down the large passage.

“There is not a perfect solution…” Nerissa replies.

The two continued to run down the passageway. Luckily, the ants seemed to avoid Nerissa, most likely because the controller behind the scenes didn't want to lose Nerissa’s blood. Or whatever they want from her!

Eris follows closely behind her, blasting the ants that get close with stone ammunition.

This continues smoothly until loud stomps are heard from in front of them.

Large legs appear from around the bend, revealing a large ant the size of a large building. This queen ant instantly spots Nerissa, controlling its ants to grab its prey.

With the queen's eye on her, the ants no longer worried about messing up, instantly moving to attack Nerissa.

“Nalls!” Spouting out that curse, Nerissa grips her pendant, making the two water spirits appear.

“Damn!” Eris quickly fires stones towards the queen, who instructs several ants, that are larger than the abundant ones, to block, resulting in grievous wounds.

The queen remains unharmed as it controls the ants to hunt the two girls.

“We can’t hold out with this many!” Eris screams as she fires stone arrows towards the closest ants.

“You are correct! I have a plan!”

Eris turned suspiciously towards Nerissa, only to find her palm spread towards her.

“Wha?”

“Hold my hand! We need to overwhelm them!”

“?!” Eris hesitated, a blush spreading on her face. After a moment, she agreed.

“Oh spirits, combine and flood forth-”

The two spirits that had appeared fly towards one another, after meeting in an embrace, their forms mix, forming a large humanoid. This figure rises as it opens its “mouth”. A soft song seeps into the passage.

““Poseidon!””

The two girls, grasping each other's hands, combined their abilities. The spirit instantly turned into a gushing wave, continuously flooding downward.

At first, the ants seemed to consume the water as it disappeared; however, mere seconds later, these ants seemed to freeze before being dragged away by the waves.

The queen, seeing this, quickly moved onto the side wall, climbing onto the ceiling.

“We did-” Eris started to say, yet froze. This was not because of the queen dodging, but because of what she saw when she looked towards Nerissa.

Nerissa looked back.

“What is the problem?”

“Um… What the hell are those!?”

From Nerissa’s head, two feline ears sprouted. Raven fur surrounded fluffy white fuzz on the interior.

“This… Forget what you’ve seen, commoner, or else I’ll have you hanged!”

“Huh!?!”

The two seemed to fall into the same old routine; however, they were quickly interrupted.

The two had stopped holding hands.

“Gah?!?”
“CRA-”

The spell did not stop, but exploded, sending a large wave of water flooding towards the two girls.

The two were dragged downwards along with the ants.

The queen watched quietly, seemingly flabbergasted.