Underground Dungeon

Moving away from Elliott's mission for a bit, in a different part of the world, an evil storm was brewing. 

In a place called The Devil's Crypt, twelve demonic, childlike individuals were seated around a large circular table. 

If one were to peer a bit closer in, they'd see that these twelve children were in fact, The Twelve Generals Of Hell. Veils covered their almost innocent-looking faces. 

"So, have we decided?" One of the generals said. 

""Agree, agree~"" The twin generals sang their reply. 

The first general looked around the room for the others' reactions. No one seemed to refuse.

"Then, in that case, we'll set the plan in motion. We must not allow the anomaly known as Dignitas Qwerdan to thwart His Majesty's plan."

"Ah, but we also mustn't forget the other anomaly." Another general spoke up. "Although he isn't as big of a threat to His Majesty as that one, my power tells me he will be in the future."

"Agreed. We'll contact our informants inside the Academy and take advantage of the First exam, when the cadets are spread out."

The Author's Log, albeit able to predict the future events of the story, could not see everything. The most obscure and hidden places in the world were more than enough to steer clear of its gaze. 

***

The way back to the Domasos residence was fairly quiet. Elliott assumed this was thanks to his most recent stunt. 

In just under seven minutes, he had reached the manor. Swiftly evading the guards' lookout once again, he entered the home undetected. 

"You've got a list of the possible locations, right, Navigator?" Elliott whispered to his earpiece. 

"Yeah. Do your best to make it to each possible location without getting caught. And ideally, quietly."

The nearest possible Spiritshot chamber was on the same floor as Elliott was, but was on the other side of the building. 

The villa itself was rather dull. One would expect the home of a well-known villain to be a bit more… lavish. 

The walls were barely even decorated, with the only notable feature of them being that they were painted red. The only lighting available were these dimly lit torches, making it seem like Elliott was inside a castle.

Even the floors were boring. There was simply a grayish carpet that extended everywhere, making his feet feel like it was walking on some sort of hard mattress.

And to top it all off, there wasn't a single painting hung up. The only thing that even closely resembled a show of wealth was the elegant square table neatly placed at the end of the hallway. 

"Ah, wait. Square table?"

"Yeah, I think that's it." Andrea confirmed. "Check under the carpet, not the table. It's way too obvious for it to be there, and must be a trap."

"Fair enough." 

Andrea's dossier on Pablo held vital information on his habits and behaviors. For one, he was never the deceptive type, despite being cunning. That may have sounded contradictory, but that was just how Pablo was. 

A hint of wariness mixed in with ingenuity was the trademark for the head of the famous Domasos family. 

Tipping the table over, Elliott pulled apart the carpet underneath it to find a small receiver. 

"That looks like it takes in the switch's signal. Try pressing the button."

Doing as she said, Elliott slowly pressed the button. Not even a moment later, he heard something clicking in the walls. 

But instead of the walls peeling apart and revealing the entrance to a secret doorway, Elliott felt something else entirely. 

Alas, both Andrea and him were too late to notice the signs. The floor beneath him opened up, and Elliott was sent falling below.

***

"Deadeye? Deadeye, come in."

Elliott groaned. "I'm… good. My behind is killing me, though."

"Be thankful you got out of that with only a sprained back. If I hadn't activated my skill, you would've been dead by now."

Not bothering to respond due to the painful sensation on his back, Elliott stayed still for a few minutes, waiting for his natural regeneration to kick in and the pain to disappear. 

After a few minutes, Andrea spoke up again. "Well, good news. The hole you were dropped in was actually the correct one."

Elliott felt a sense of pride overtake him, but it wasn't nearly as big as his possibly broken back aching. 

"What's the bad news?"

"The bad news is long gone. The way you dropped down wasn't the correct path, and was added by Pablo as a countermeasure to anyone who was able to steal the switch from him."

Andrea continued. "There was in fact, another way down. Had you moved to the side and waited ten more seconds, a transportation device would've kicked in, turning the drop into an elevator ride."

"Remind me why you didn't notify me about that again…?"

"I told you, the location of Spiritshot is constantly changing. If the system notices that Pablo has moved it, it reacts accordingly and activates the device. There simply wouldn't have been any way to know if it was there or not."

"...and what about the fact that there were no traps on the first floor?"

Andrea giggled. "Hey, I never said I included the traps not on the floor plan."

In other words, Pablo had gone to extreme lengths to make sure no one would be able to reach Spiritshot; he even excluded the traps from the original floor plan. 

"So what, he just remembers everything?"

Once Elliott was fully recovered, he continued on his way. 

The difference between the villa on top and the underground portion of the residence was like night and day. 

If the house had little to no decorations put up, the underground had an almost excessive amount of expensive things hung up on the walls. 

Even the floors were covered with gemstones. Andrea herself estimated that a single one of these would be enough to fund the club's activities for more than a year. 

She even urged Elliott to nab a few for himself and the club, which he did. 

The corridor itself was quite linear. There weren't any twists and turns that forced Elliott to discern the correct direction, or question whether he had chosen the right one. 

It was simply one, long, direct hallway that boasted of Pablo's and the Domasos' wealth. 

"Just my luck. Looks like I ain't getting through this without fighting."

A couple of minutes into the trek, Elliott had spotted some carvings in the walls. He first thought of them as just weird decoratiaons, but was forced to think otherwise when they started pushing themselves outward. 

And that was when Elliott silently cursed at his luck. In front of him stood two behemoths of technology. 

Their shape wasn't all that hard to describe; they were basically enlarged tortoises that stood on their hind legs. The machines' arms were bulky and felt like they would pack a punch. 

That wasn't all. Their bodies were covered in a shiny gold, reflecting the corridor's light into the cowboy's eyes. 

Despite having no semblance of life in them, Elliott could feel how they closely resembled real life tortoises. They were slow, yes, but that was a price to pay to lug around their weight.

"Got any more tricks up your sleeve, Navigator? I'm not sure if my bullets will be able to penetrate their shells."

"Give me a moment, I need to analyze them. For now, try to get around them. Describe to me their structure as best you can, and I'll try to compare them to any similar machines."

"It shall be done, m'lady."

Drawing his revolver, Elliott unloaded six quick shots on the behemoths. It wasn't meant to damage, but rather to enrage them. 

And it worked. At first, they were simply standing there menacingly, but now their attention was on the cowboy entirely. 

Due to the rather narrow width of the corridor (at least when compared to the behemoths), the machines could not move much. At most they could afford to do was swing at him.

Elliott had the advantage in speed in this battle. Thanks to his reflexes, he was able to slide under one of the behemoths, narrowly dodging its fist as it swung down. 

Now that he was behind the machines, Elliott could see clearly their framework. 

"Alright. Ready, Navigator? Listen closely. The back of the machine is open, meaning only the front is protected. Next, whoa–"

"Deadeye, are you okay?"

"Yeah, just had to dodge that last swing. Anyway, I'll continue. While we're still on the "open-back" subject, I'd like to add that the joints are all each supported by some sort of circular ball."

Andrea nodded. "That must be how they're able to move those arms easily. Okay, I've got a few ideas, but I need you to give me more details."

"Roger. Give me a minute, I'm getting surrounded."

Just before one of the behemoths' arms had made contact with Elliott, he rolled sideways. At the same time, he threw out a smoke grenade, which exploded into a foggy mist. 

"They can't see me now. Okay, this is the last one I think is worthy of your attention. The balls on the joints are turning red. It seems to be getting hotter the more they swing."

"If that's true… then it can only be that type of automaton. Okay, Deadeye, in the next few moments, the machines should stop swinging and bring up their arms tp defend. When that moment strikes, you need to fire at the balls."

"I've got this, leave it to me."

Now that Elliott knew the secret to defeating the behemoths, he focused entirely on the battle. 

The machines were still swinging, but they would stop soon, if he was to go by what Andrea said. 

"There!"

Her prediction was right this time. Just a few seconds later, the behemoths' attacks suddenly started slowing down. And a few more after that, they started entirely. With the last of their energy, they raised their hands and covered their bodies. 

Elliott took advantage of this and raised his speed. In an instant, he was behind the behemoths, their backs wide open and unprotected.

"Good night, buddies." As he said this, Elliott fired off six well placed shots from each of his revolvers, shattering the balls. 

The moment they broke, the behemoths began malfunctioning, until they fell to the ground and shut off.