Chapter 89 - Putty Floors

“We’ve been walking forever…is there even an end to this place?”

“I agree with the busty human! This walking around is pointless, we should be hunting down those bastards who’re after Alice!”

Zephier and Arga hung back at the tail of the group. Neither Akai nor Edward gave in to their childish complaints and after a while, they sort of drowned out.

Arga stared at the glowing runes littered across the wall beside her and thought of her missing party member—her friend.

“I hope he’s okay…”

“He’s fine.” Edward retorted.

“Huh, oh you heard that huh?” Her face quickly brightened up again with a grin. “My bad, I forgot that we’re all bunched up in this place.” She chuckled.

“It’s okay to worry about him, I’m worried too. Veldor and Alice are with him, all we can do is help find them.”

She took his words to heart and settled with a slightly peaceful smile. Although she could only see his backside, she felt comforted by the sincerity in his tone.

Zephier however…

“If I ever find those bastards…”

Before he could finish his thought, a sudden shift in the wall beside them captured the party’s attention.

One of the exits that led out of that room was sealed away and vanished from reality. Their eyes all focused on that one point and were still trying to figure it all out when the exit behind them closed too.

Just like that, they were trapped. Arga flinched as the door filled into the wall and rushed to make sure that it wasn’t really gone.

She slammed the curved end of her fist against the wall and banged on it a few times over but it didn’t budge. The entrance that they had passed through seconds prior disappeared and left them with a wall identical to the others in that room.

“N-no way! This can’t be closed up now, we just walked through here?!”

She cut her losses with the missing door and scanned the rest of the room. She frantically ran her eyes around the room for something to explain it but nothing stood out.

“Arga, get behind me, we might need to fight soon. Don’t drop your guards!” Edward commanded as he raised his shield into a defensive position.

Akai and Zephier fell into attack positions as well and spread their stances to prep for the worst. None of them had any idea where it would come from or how many, but they all knew something was on its way.

The ground beneath them turned to liquid, just as it did before. Everyone was on high alert but no matter where their heads turned, there was no one to lock onto. The room was still blocked off and nobody had entered.

Arga’s reaction changed as she observed the walls around them start to move. Her worried expression caught Edwards.

“What is it?”

“W-were the walls supposed to be moving away from us?” She asked worriedly.

Just as she said, the walls had moved further and further away from them all. By the time the floor stopped moving and flowing under their feet subsided, the room had already grown over seven times its original size.

Not only that but the ceiling was barely in view, it had stretched so far up that they could never dream of touching it.

Arga’s face resembled that of a child, gazing out at the wonders of the solar system for the first time. Her head leaned so far back trying to follow the growing ceiling that she nearly fell over.

Edward caught her before she could fall and supported her backside with his palm. “Stay alert, we’re not alone.”

“This is the same thing that happened before when that demon Ilinore used that glowing rock thingy. If it’s happening now then shouldn’t she be…”

Clack Clack Clack

Her ghostly stare shifted over her shoulder at the figure that emerged from the wall. A large hole, the size of a door suddenly opened and created a walkway for the elegant figure that radiated pink which strutted out.

Dazzling eyes that glistened a pink aura far more beautiful than any diamond or ore, she looked like a goddess, not a demon. Something Arga hated to think as she saw her but did, nonetheless.

“…she's back already,” Arga muttered.

Arga was pulled through the air by Akai and her feet left the ground slightly. A spike of brown dirt stretched out from the ground where she stood and tore a small piece of her clothes as she passed.

A flash of pink from the device in Ilinore’s hand went off and another spike followed immediately after. Akai pulled her away once more and then again and again. He darted and dashed around the room like a trained warrior.

The spikes didn’t seem to stop so someone had to put an end to it. Zephier suddenly shot through the air and sprung off the ground like an untamed beast.

His fingernails had fashioned into claws at command, the flesh around those nails was covered in dark blue scales just as his dragon form had. He slashed through the air with powerful swings but Ilinore was quicker, she pulled back without as much as a nick.

Zephier pounced once more through the air but she stepped away, with the massive gap between them and Zephier still in the air, they both realised what would follow next.

His expression went grim as the device in her hand lit up and the ground under him burst up and into his belly.

Zephier was forced into the air by a swift strike to the gut as a pillar elongated from the ground. After a brief pause, he fell back to the floor and the chunk of stretched-out ground returned to its flat state on the floor.

She held out the device in front of her and pointed it down to him where he lay. It was a round metal contraption with a glowing gem at its centre. The very same gem that lit up with bright pink colour every time the ground moved to her whim. It was smooth and well-built, clearly made by delicate fingers.

“You dragons are probably the worst of all the beasts in this Tower. So much potential but not any brains to back it up. I’ll be sure to eradicate you all first.”

The stone lit up and the floor beneath him shifted like water. His body fell through the liquid putty under him and was swallowed whole.

Akai’s eyes went wide as his brother disappeared from his sight and was swallowed by the Tower. A burning hot aura escaped his body and his hands curled into fists.

“You killed my brother you demon! I…I’ll…I’ll kill you.”