During the silence that followed Daneel"s statement, the King of Lanthanor conjured a globe of light, allowing them to see the place that they had holed themselves in.
Before he got to any more of the details except that it was completely empty, though, a loud sound interrupted him.
THUMP! THUMP! THUMP THUMP!
As one, all three of them turned in the direction where it was coming from, and of course, there stood the door that they had just come through.
3 seconds. That was all it had taken for the d.a.m.n monsters to get here, and as the sovereigns calculated the increase in strength that would be necessary for them to cover such a large distance in such a short while, cold sweat sprung up on their backs as they realized that they would have been caught in a fraction of that time if their King hadn"t figured out a solution.
Remember what had happened, though, Elanev exclaimed angrily, "Do you always have to put things off until the last moment?! It"s getting tiring, you know! Please tell me that it wasn"t for dramatic effect!"
Daneel couldn"t help but stare innocently at his elder brother as he heard this.
Now that he thought about it, he saw that the man was right: recently, almost all of their situations had turned out in this way- that he would find a solution in the last second, resulting in those with him in those situations going through a lot of emotional turmoil due to the fact that that might be it for them.
Yet, even when this thought came to Daneel, he could only shrug and say, "Sometimes, I put off things for dramatic effect, but all the times it happened recently was not me scratching that itch! But, fine, I guess I could give you updates…I had gotten the idea to use an explosion to forcibly break the anti-teleportation barrier. I first tried to teleport us out of here, but the one preventing teleportation to the outside was much stronger- I found out that I could only affect the one stopping teleportation inside the city. After that, I had to spend time to tune the exact strength of the blasts needed, as it wasn"t an option to just spend all the Ker Gems we have. After all, we would have to replenish ourselves later, if there was going to be a fight. I was busy with that, and it ended up happening in that way…I"ll make sure I give you two a heads up from next time.
"Or…let"s try to not have a "next time". For how long will these doors hold?"
Faxul spoke up to say this, and from his face, it was clear that he was annoyed that the King and his elder brother were having this relatively irrelevant conversation in such a terse moment.
"No idea…technically, they should hold for forever. But if our dear friend who is so interested in our bodies manages to take back control…they"ll open right away. Oh, speak of the Devil. He started his counterattack."
Seeing the vexation that suddenly came on Daneel"s face, Elanev and Faxul tensed up after turning in the direction of the door where the "thumps" felt as if they had gotten louder, but they relaxed a bit when nothing else changed.
However, when they turned back, they saw their King almost collapsed on the ground, with his face covered in sweat.
With worry, they ran forward and helped him back to his feet as he began to speak.
"d.a.m.n b.a.s.t.a.r.d is skilled! I don"t know how long I can retain control…it"s taking all of my mental faculty, and then some to hold him off. Start thinking quickly. The goal is simple: we need to find a way to get to the object in which his consciousness is, so that we can attack him there. He will be vulnerable in that form. Think!"
With firm nods, Elanev and Faxul began to ignore the banging on the door, and as they started to turn over all the possibilities in their minds, the bone chose this moment to speak up.
"That Path…"
The person within seemed to have lost his bearings after seeing Daneel, and he hadn"t offered anything constructive all this while.
Seeing him speak now, Daneel replied with a slightly annoyed expression on his face, as he could feel the system using all of his Mageroot to hold off the consciousness that seemed to somehow hold considerable power.
"That"s irrelevant! I don"t know for how long I can hold them off…and the moment a hundred Heroes burst through those doors, we"re done!"
Daneel expected the one in the bone to laugh madly, but the reply came in a surprisingly sane tone.
"You"re right, there are bigger things to deal with. But you haven"t been a.n.a.lyzing the situation properly. Let me tell you some things that I"ve noticed, which might help you reach a solution. I"m afraid I can do nothing else: I have no authority to control anything else in this part of Elysium, so I can only be a silent spectator."
The old researcher attracted the attention of the other two, too, and together, they stared at the shoulder bone that was gleaming despite the years of dust that it was supposed to have been submerged in.
"First, the monsters will only capture you. I had a suspicion before regarding what the intruder must be doing with all those who went inside, but after hearing him, it has been confirmed. You see…us Spirits crave to inhabit a body and feel what it means to LIVE again. We shed our bodies to turn into consciousnesses so that we could exist for a long, long time…but this sacrifice is grating on one"s psyche. In particular, the aspect of having to exist without having hands to stretch, legs to run with and a…well, that part doesn"t need to be mentioned- but not having all these things, especially for so long is difficult, to say the least. Hence, it"s obvious that he has been using the bodies of those who enter as "meatsuits" to experience until they perish. He must have some method to forcibly take over, and even though this is supposed to be very, very difficult, I wouldn"t put it past someone who did the impossible by coming in here."
Daneel and the rest frowned as they heard this.
Indeed, they had understood this, too, but they hadn"t known that it meant this much to Spirits. Of course, they had been calling them so after deriving the name from Empire Spirits, but because the same had not been communicated by any of those beings which had also existed for so long, Daneel hadn"t thought about it.
As if having seen the connection they had made, the old researcher continued to say:
"It is the same with Empire Spirits, too, and that is why they crave for hosts who fulfill the conditions placed by the Emperor so that they can create a bond with them. Anyway, getting back to the topic at hand: you three will not be killed, but you will definitely be knocked out, and probably damaged quite a lot if you choose to resist. I just wanted you to keep this in mind while you planned. Oh, and there is one other thing: isn"t it strange how those monsters are all chasing you, almost as if…they"re being controlled?"
Daneel"s eyes instantly widened as he heard this.
Right! How had he not thought about that?!
In his defense, he had been running for his life, but now that it had been pointed out to him, he realized that it presented more of a problem than all the rest, combined.
Even if the monsters had survived…how the f*ck had they all been controlled to chase them, instead of starting to kill each other? That would be much more plausible behavior for those beings which had lost their minds, but instead, they had not been tempted to do so!
After asking the system, Daneel confirmed it: this kind of a feat, of controlling a hundred Heroes, was unprecedented.
Right as he got the thought, the one in the bone spoke the same thing, too.
"If anything, it tells me that this guy is much more dangerous than I imagined. I felt that it was important to note. Carry on. I shall help you in this attempt, too, even though nothing comes to mind at the moment. Maybe, after he"s done with you, he"ll inhabit my bones, too! Wouldn"t that be funny? HAHAHA!"
Seeing the lunacy return for the third time, Elanev and Faxul turned away with frustrated expressions on their faces, but the King…continued to stare at the bone that was in his hands.
For a few seconds after that, he was silent.
As Elanev and Faxul continued to storm their minds, they were suddenly interrupted by a confident voice that they knew, and which they realized that they had missed quite a lot.
"I"ve gotten it, boys. Listen up…"
…
BANG!
With a sound akin to a dam that had burst due to the G.o.dly power of the water that it couldn"t hold for even a second more, the Hero level monstrosities flooded into the empty vault that had been wiped clear a long, long time ago.
"ERRRGGHH! WORGH!"
With angry roars that kept emanating from the vocal cords that kept being torn, and then regenerated to fuel the incessant screaming of these once-glorious Heroes, the monsters looked around and instantly zeroes in on the three who were at one corner of the room.
In an instant they were upon them, banging on the Hero-level protective barriers that had been erected as what was obviously a final attempt.
At the same time, many attacking formations also sprung to life around these barriers, but they only had laughable effects on these Heroes who were practically invincible in this form, even if they were placed back in the Empire.
c.h.i.n.k! c.h.i.n.k! c.h.i.n.k!
One by one, the barriers broke, and on the other side, hopelessness already seemed to have engulfed the three who had made that daring escape before.
Savage gaiety emerging in their eyes, the monsters started punching harder, until all of the barriers were gone.
After that, they looked as if they were poised to leave nothing but the faintest of blood smears of the three puny humans who had dared to intrude on their Kingdom, but suddenly.
The first blows started to fall, and although the three put up a valiant effort, they were defeated in barely a second.
Their defenses were ripped apart easily. The Fighter among the group even had his arm torn off, and a Mage who had turned into a Black Raven had his wings ripped off and then chewed to nothing.
As for the one who had been commanding them before, he managed to retain a n.o.ble image for a while, but when his power that was at the Peak of the Champion level failed, the first blow that got through his dizzying attack, itself, managed to strike him unconscious.
At this point, though, time suddenly seemed to freeze.
The monsters immediately stopped what they were doing, and a second later…the sound of footsteps was heard in the vault.
A ghostly figure walked through the large doors. It was vaguely human in shape, but the rest of the details were obscured due to the billowing fog it seemed to be made of.
Low laughter began to echo in the vault as it took its time to savor the moment, and it seemed as if there was no reason for it not to do so. All three of its opponents were on the floor, bleeding and unmoving, on the cusp of death from all the blows that had rained down on them from their opponents whom they would not have been able to beat even if they had come one by one.
After reaching the spot right in the center of the three bodies, the figure seemed to take in a ghostly breath to exult at the sight.
It was at that moment that it happened. A bone that had been harmlessly lying on the ground suddenly shot up, and identifying it for what it was, the figure lazily moved to slap it aside.
It knew that it was the bone of the person it had killed long ago, and although it was slightly curious regarding what it was doing here, it had detected the explosive formation that was engraved on it and had found out that it must be one last attack of these three whose bodies it would put to great use.
However…the moment the fog that it was made up of touched that s.h.i.+ning bone, a ghastly scream replaced that low laughter.
At the same time, within the bone, Daneel received a message.
[Contact made. Deactivating modules used to control bodies of host and the individuals known as "Faxul" and "Elanev" until now. Initiating attack with combined strength of four consciousnesses. Expected chance of suddenly overwhelming enemy: 88%]