[There are low chances this place could be haunted.] Kal remarked.
Kilian leaned over to peek further into the darkness. And there was more darkness. Just a void of black.
"So ghosts exist? Well, that"s the least of my worries." Kilian muttered.
[Indeed, but it"s quite easy to dispell those pesky creatures. The weaker ones will disperse at the touch of sunlight, while the stronger ones require manfueled magics or tools!]
"I"ll take note of that."
Kilian didn"t enter the room, rather, he raised his hand in the same pointing manner as before and charged up Ice Bolt.
Cold energy moved around his fingers, weakly illuminating the enterance and revealing a few meters into the room. The rest seemed dim, hut Kilian could see with a bit of difficulties. The room seemed entirely empty except there was an altar towards the corner. It was the same altar as the one in the room upstairs, but this one had a shattered crystal that was laying behind the altar.
Kilian a.s.sumed it fell off, perhaps it was depleted.
His thoughts returned to the crystal upstairs which was pretty much alive. Kilian had a little feeling that the crystal"s energy didn"t just dissipate naturally.
The man walked into the room. The moment his bare feet stepped on the smooth stone within the room, he instantly felt a bit of a familiar sensation on his feet.
Mana.
He was confused because he thought he had gotten past this annoying feeling but he continued walking in. With every step closer to the altar he took, the more uncomfortable he became.
Kilian didn"t stop until he was only a meter away from the altar.
[There is mana within this room...rather to say, within the walls. It seems as if the mana is enclosed within the walls.]
Kal spoke up with a hint of interest.
"Did the walls suck the crystal dry then?"
Kilian raised a hand to his waist.
[More likely so.]
Kilian"s eyes traced the dimly lit walls with wonder. He walked up to a wall and suddenly struck it, causing a web of cracks to spread from his hand. Oh! That"s a bit more damage than I expected!
"Seems to be normal."
He felt a tingling feeling on his fist and pulled back. A bit of mana began pouring into the room but his body quickly absorbed it.
[This should mean...]
"...That the mana is going somewhere within this castle....but where exactly?"
THUD!
CRACK!
His train of thought was quickly interrupted. Alert, Kilian turned back to the door and kneeled by the doorway. The noise of something shattering spooked him.
THUD!
Again, that noise of something falling. Kilian stopped charging his Ice Bolt and sat in complete darkness. He steadied his breathing and merged with the shadows.
THUD!
CRACK!
He peeked his head out of the doorway and was greeted with a mess. Chunks of the previously dusty pillars had fallen. Kilian scanned the room, stairs, and halls quickly before finally spotting the tail of a swift shadow make it"s way up the hall he previously went to.
Kilian didn"t immediately leave. Rather, he waited a few seconds, which turned into minutes.
"Is it looking for the orb I took?" Kilian whispered.
[It most likely is.]
He tore his eyes from the corridor and focused on the entrance he just came from. There wasn"t any sign of a clumsy entry. He stood quite a bit away from the door yet he could see it just fine. It must be because of his G.o.d Fiber body. Convenient!
He couldn"t make a judgement on whether it came from the outside, but he looked around the area where the stone pillars once stood. The doors remained the same, except for one. The door with the viper symbol. Kilian"s mind began tinkering, but not for very long.
"Something was there."
[Not anymore.]
"Right. You said you detected lifeforms when we entered, but you also claimed they were no different from corpses, if my memory isn"t failing me."
[Indeed. Though I stopped sensing those lifeforms the moment after you took the orb from the corridor.]
"Why didn"t you tell me?"
[I was interested in seeing the outcome and what you"ll do. I can"t always tell you everything, can"t I?]
Kilian remained quiet. Kal"s tone held this dense neutrality yet he somehow detected sarcasm within it. He had a point. He can"t rely on Kal to keep watch for him constantly, even though he only used him because more eyes equals a wider range of surveillance. "Thank you for the heads-up, Kal."
[But of course. Now, that thing.]
"Yep, yep." Kilian stood up. He prepared to evacuate the building entirely but heard the footsteps once again. They were heavy and they were getting close. The hid himself away behind the ruins of a pillar to get a better look at the creature. And oh boy...
A lion came into view. No, this was no ordinary lion. It was bigger, larger, much more ferocious looking. Kilian instinctively held his breath as it stood at the top of the stairway and stared down at the rubble, as if it was glaring down at the fearsome pride it commanded. Luckily, it was alone.
The lion"s fur was dark crimson, yet its mane was a pristine white, seemingly glittering in the soft multicolored light that came from the stained gla.s.s window.
He radiated a mighty aura, one distinct to an king leagues ahead of other kingdoms around him. Kilian had always thought lions were no more than overly glorified big cats, he for one found more interest in a jaguar... but this one animal took his breath away.
Yet his hunter"s instincts told him that this creature was dangerous.
[You can win against this.]
"Unlikely."
[You haven"t even seen its abilities or what it could do. You"re not just frightened by its aura?]
"Affirmative. Still unlikely. I get no gains from fighting this except for some wounds, so I should probably leave." Kilian glanced towards the exit. He could get somewhere far if he waits for that beast to turn away. But... his hands were shaking, and so were his legs.
Fear? No. Excitement.
His G.o.d Fiber body, his magic, everything about this world. He wanted to try it all out. His a.s.sa.s.sin mind told him this would be a pointless fight, but he didn"t care. A piece of him welcomed the bloodbath and the animosity. He wanted to fight that! But he couldn"t, rationality said he may only hinder himself if he blindly jumped at it.
[You"re not a very good liar, Kilian.]
"I know."
A somewhat familiar sense of numbness was set upon him. It was the same feeling when Kal bestowed upon him Ice Bolt. A new skill?
[Correct, a new skill. With this you should be a bit more confident in coming out fine.]
[The skill is called Hailstorm.]