Hardcore Fantasy – Chapter 26: The land of the ancients [II]

With Xia leading the way, the group walked out of the hall, leaving the other elders behind, and entered deeper inside the temple-like building.

Walking among the seemingly endless pillars, gradually their sense of distance began to distort – Beatrix and Olivia started to feel uneasy.

<I-Is she really going to take us see the prisoners?>

Elizabeth didn't say anything but she was also getting a weird feeling from this place – they had been walking for 5 minutes but hadn't arrived yet. The building from the outside was big but it shouldn't be to this degree.

<She said she would.>

<Is that so…>

<Hey, is it only me who thinks this place weird?> – Olivia chimed in while her golden eyes examined each pillar they passed by.

<No, I think so too.> – Nyza agreed with her – her tentacles still slightly tense.

Elizabeth glanced at Xia and then at Akihiko.

<Aki, what do you think about this place?>

<Strange. We've been going down but didn't feel like it.>

At his words, the others snapped their heads in his direction.

<You mean we're actually descending?> – Olivia questioned with a stupefied tone.

<Hum. It's just a feeling, I might be wrong.>

<No, you're probably right, Aki. I don't think we would still be inside the building if this wasn't case.>

As they exchanged their guesses, Akihiko's head throbbed. 

Reining in his annoyance, he let the others continue the conversation and stood as a listener only.

"Tsk, tss, tskk, tsk, tsk." 

Hearing Xia's words, he stopped walking and the group did the same upon seeing his action.

<She says it's here. She's now going to take us down where the prisoners are, so we should avoid moving for now.>

The group tensed with those ominous words.

Olivia's fists clenched.

Nyza's tentacles tensed even more – ready to attack.

Beatrix steeled herself, and Elizabeth was one step away from hurling a spell at Xia.

Xia, either unaware of their reactions or just ignoring them, lightly moved her hand, as if swatting a fly.

The ground beneath them sunk a little in a square format before it started descending like an elevator.

The group was surprised as well as stunned by it but before they could process what happened, the floor stopped descending and one of the walls split open, forming a wide door.

"Tsk, tsss." – Xia clicked her tongue and walked out of the door.

<She said we can see for ourselves which of the prisoners are ones search for, and depending on what their crime was, she might let them go since we're "guests", apparently, guests important to them.>

Hearing this, the group was surprised once again – aside from some minor things, the earth dwellers have been way too receptive to them, to the point that the group was starting to find it suspicious.

When they stepped out of the elevator, the team came face with a wide space filled with cells in the walls.

A circular room with cells everywhere on the walls, going from the floor up to the ceiling. The dark surroundings gave the place an eerie atmosphere – most of the prisoners were shrouded by darkness, leaving only faint silhouettes for the group to see.

The stuffy air coupled with the scent of sweat, urine, excrement, and something rotten was unbearable, making Beatrix and Olivia gag – almost throwing up.

The weak wails of the prisoners weren't much by themselves but in this enclosed space below the surface and away from any human civilization, it gave people the creeps. Nyza found herself struggling to not start using her skill to prepare in case of emergency.

Elizabeth albeit surprised, remained calm – her eyes bearing an uncharacteristic glint of indifference.

Akihiko was the less affected as he knew worse.

Stopping in the middle of the circular room, Xia then turned around and stared at the group.

"HIIIK!"

"A-A-AAAAAAHHHH!"

When the prisoners' eyes landed on her figure, their reactions were extreme – they started to shriek and tried to get as far away from her as they could.

<T-This isn't a good sign…..>

"Tss, tssss, tsk, tskk." – Xia ignored the despairing voices coming from the prisoners and spoke to the group.

<She says that we can search among them.>

Olivia, Nyza, and Beatrix looked at each other – their internal thoughts the same.

Elizabeth nodded and walked away from the others, searching the bottommost cells.

"Tsk, tsk?" – Xia then addressed Akihiko.

"…"

"Tsk, tss. Tsk, tsk, tsk. Tss, tskk?" – She smiled gently.

<What did she say, Aki?>

<She asked me if I was in pain. Also, she said that there's no other earth dweller here, so we can talk freely, and don't need to keep using magic.>

Elizabeth's eyes turned icy cold and she stared at the great elder.

The others had their eyes almost bulging out of their socks.

Feeling the intense gaze on her, Xia tilted her head while facing Elizabeth's direction.

"Tsk?"

<She asked what is the problem.>

Elizabeth narrowed her eyes – contemplating if she should ask.

<…Nothing. >

In the end, she decided to let it at that and not push her luck. They needed to first find their targets, getting an answer to this question wouldn't help much at the moment.

Cutting off the connection, she glanced at Xia once more before going back to searching.

"Olivia, Nyza, Beatrix, help me search." 

"O-Oh, okay."

"Sorry, I was distracted."

"We're searching for a nun and a paladin, right?" 

When their voices echoed across the room, the previously quiet and afraid prisoners shot up from their positions and ran to the bars of their cells.

"O-OOOOHHHH!!!! PEOPLE!!! WOMEN!!!"

"WOMEN!"

"PLEASE HELP ME!"

"PLEASE GET ME OUT OF HERE!"

"LET ME OUT! LET ME OUT! LET ME OUT! LET ME OUT! LET ME OUT! LET ME OUT! LET ME OUT!"

"PLEASE, I HAVE A DAUGHTER!"

They banged their fists and heads against the bars, shouting and begging with dead fish eyes – blood flowing from whichever part of their bodies they used to bang the bars with, producing a rather macabre scene.

"Hieek!" – Beatrix squeaked, startled by such abrupt change in the mood.

"This is terrible…" – Nyza commented while looking at the prisoners – not sorry for them in particular.

"…" – Olivia didn't comment anything and went to search for their targets.

"TSK!" 

The shouting and yelling died down as quickly as it started.

Xia clicked her tongue once again and the ones inside the cells shivered in fear – some even scurrying away further into their cells.

Akihiko ignored all of this and sharpened his senses.

*Badump*

His feline ears twitched under his helmet – the prisoners' heartbeat reaching his ears. His nose sniffed the different scents coming from the room.

*Badump*

Searching among them, he tried to pinpoint the ones with a familiar scent or that were isolated.

The former had few, narrowing his list of targets. The second had a bit more than the latter but not by much – the cells contained several prisoners each.

"I found them!" – Olivia shouted.

Akihiko stopped concentrating and turned his head to where the shot came from – the direction was the same where he could feel two of the isolated presences.

The group went toward Olivia and the latter stepped aside, letting them see the inside of the cell.

Inside, there were two unconscious people – both donned in fancy but now-dirty outfits.

A woman with long blonde hair wearing a nun-like black dress with some small parts of armor on it, and a blonde-haired man donning silver armor.

"They fit the description I have of nuns and paladins." – Olivia commented nonchalantly.

"Aki."

"Tsk, tssk, tskkk, tsk?"

Hearing his words, Xia turned her head in their direction but said nothing for a moment, making the group tense.

"Tsk, tsk." – However, she smiled at them and the bar on the cell was swallowed by the ground, vanishing from view.

"Tss, tsk." 

Seeing that there was no problem, Nyza and Beatrix cautiously walked inside the cell and dragged the two unconscious people out.

Beatrix struggled a little to carry the paladin but Nyza offered some of her tentacles as help and they finished it quickly.

Putting both of them side by side, Elizabeth used her magic to check if there were any injuries but there were none.

"Beatrix, can you cleanse them?"

"Y-Yes? Oh, yes, I can."

Letting Beatrix cleanse them, Elizabeth peeked at Xia but saw the latter patiently waiting for them to finish.

Seeing that they weren't pressed on time, her crimson eyes glowed brighter as she used one of her original magics.

As two screens appeared before her eyes, Elizabeth pursed her lips.

'Seriously? What are the odds?' – Her eyebrows twitched.

[Name: Leila

Age: 32

Gender: Female

Titles: Transmigrator / Twin Transmigrated / Bookworm / Nun from the Cathedral

Talent(s): -

Rank: ⭐⭐⭐

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Skills

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Close Quarters Combat

Cooking

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Sacred skills

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Heal

Purify

Barrier

Embrace

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Side notes

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Malice: 35%

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Mood

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Sleeping] 

-

[Name: David

Age: 32

Gender: Male

Titles: Transmigrator / Twin Transmigrated / Maidenless / Paladin from the Cathedral

Talent(s): Linguistic

Rank: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

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Skills

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High Resistance

High Vitality

Lesser Regeneration

Sword Mastery 

Shield Mastery

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Sacred skills

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Divine enchantment 

Boost

Shapeless weapon

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Side notes

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Malice: 30%

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Mood

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Sleeping] 

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