Free Web NovelChapter 37: A Gift for You
Tap. Tap. Tap.
The sound of Camilla and Malakai’s footsteps echoed softly as they made their way through the damp, winding tunnels of the underground caves.
"Yuck. Gods, this place is so gross," Camilla said, frowning and stepping lightly to avoid walking into any water puddles. "Malakai, do you sense any monsters around here?"
"No, nothing. It’s quite empty," he replied.
"Ugh, all I need is one hundred more cores to absorb and I can enter the ascension trial," Camilla muttered, annoyed.
"Well, we still have to wait until Yuki reaches the threshold before we can start the trial," Malakai reminded her.
"Yeah, you’re right. We will just hunt in the meantime," Camilla said with a sigh. "...You know what? Let’s just focus on getting him up to a higher count of absorbed essence cores first."
The two continued moving through the cave tunnels, with Camilla carefully avoiding every source of water she could see.
Eventually, their journey led them into a massive crystal cavern. The space was vast and open, its floors and walls blanketed in glowing gemstones of all different sizes and vibrant colors.
Embedded directly into one of the stone walls was a large crystal statue that looked exactly like the fossil of a multi-legged creature.
"Wow, look at that," Camilla said, completely mesmerized by its shimmering scales. "It’s beautiful."
"Camilla, stay away from that thing," Malakai warned instantly.
"Why? Is it dangerous?"
"I don’t know... I’m not getting any essence signatures from it, but it might be an inactive golem," he explained. "So be careful. Touching it might reactivate it."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever," she mocked playfully. "It’s just a fossil. And even if it were a golem, it couldn’t kill me, so relax."
Click.
Malakai stared at her. "...What was that?"
"I just told you not to touch it, Princess, and you went and did it anyway," he sighed.
"Relax, it’s only—"
Crack!
"What was that?!" Camilla asked, instantly taken aback by the sudden sharp noise.
She turned and walked closer to the statue, curiously poking it with her tail. Poke... poke, poke.
Just as she reached out to poke the fossilized shell one more time, the entire stone wall collapsed. The creature was very much alive, and it was absolutely pissed that its slumber had been disturbed.
"Eeeee?!!? What the fuck?! What the fuck is that?!" Camilla screamed, instantly sprinting backward and leaping straight into Malakai’s arms.
The giant creature turned its massive, multi-segmented body, staring Camilla dead in the face and giving her a terrifyingly clear view. It was a Crystal Cave Centipede—a beautiful, heavily armored, and deeply disturbing monster.
Malakai let out a soft sigh. "Camilla, y—"
"Mal! Mal! I beg you, kill it! Go kill it for me, please!" Camilla cried out in sheer panic.
"...Why? You’re the one who woke it up, and I did warn you about it," he reasoned smoothly.
"I know, but it’s a centipede! I... I’m not going anywhere near that thing!"
"It’s not even moving yet, Princess, so you can relax," he murmured reassuringly, gently grabbing her hand and rubbing it to calm her down.
Creak... crumble... creak.
From an adjacent chamber within the cavern, a second Crystal Centipede poked its massive head out.
"There’s another one?! Whyyy?! Why can’t I sense them?!" Camilla yelled, completely losing her mind.
"Hm. It must have something to do with these crystals," Malakai mused calmly, placing a thoughtful hand on his chin. "They look remarkably similar to life stones."
Camilla snapped her head up to look at him in utter panic. "I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! Please, just kill them!"
"You are more than capable of taking them out by yourself, my lady," Malakai teased. "Just one good hit and they would pop open and die."
"Pop open?! No, no, no, oh gods no! That’s so gross!" Camilla squealed, scrambling to hide behind his back and tightly wrapping her arms around his waist. "If you kill them, I’ll give you a reward!"
"A reward? What kind of reward?" Malakai chuckled softly. He turned around in her grip, using one hand to pull her body flush against his, completely unbothered by the fact that there were now seven giant crystal centipedes crawling into the cavern.
"Kill them! Kill them right now and I will give you ten minutes of uninterrupted tail touching! No hitting, no scratching—just ten minutes! Deal?!"
"Ten entire minutes, just for some lowly critters?" Malakai purred, his voice dropping to a low, amused tone. "My, my, what an unfair trade."
"Mal, please!" Camilla begged, her body trembling uncontrollably as the monsters edged closer. "They’re getting nearer!"
"Alright, I will. Don’t cry," Malakai chuckled softly, gently wiping the tears from her face. His usual teasing demeanor faded, replaced by a soft, caring voice. "Go wait outside the cavern and surround yourself with your crimson shield. I’ll deal with them."
The moment Camilla was safely outside the cave entrance, Malakai turned back to face the nesting centipedes.
"Oh my, there are even more of you," he murmured, completely unphased. "Looks like we stumbled upon a whole nest."
Completely ignoring the snapping mandibles, Malakai casually walked over to the cave wall to inspect the glowing minerals. "They aren’t life stones, but they are quite dense and pretty. I wonder if Yuki could make some jewelry out of them."
He turned back around, a sharp glint in his eye. "Well, that can wait. It’s time to deal with you fellas."
Raising his hands with a single, elegant wave, a torrent of pure shadows surged outward. The darkness consumed all seven centipedes in an instant, wrapping tightly around their armored carapaces and slowly crushing them into a bloody pulp.
With the threat neutralized, Malakai walked through the carnage to extract the essence cores from the Rank 1 variants. It was an easy task, as his shadows had left virtually nothing for his physical blades to cut through.
Stepping through the newly opened breach where the centipedes had emerged, Malakai quickly discovered why his senses had been blocked. The edge of the hidden chamber dropped off entirely, opening up into a massive, breathtaking underground ruin.
The ancient city below was a marvel of architecture, meticulously carved out of black stone and slate blocks. The streets were paved with living stone, and the walls of the surrounding houses were crafted from polished black marble. In the distance, eight towering spires pierced the gloom, each with a massive life stone floating silently at its peak.
Huh. So that’s why I couldn’t sense the centipedes, Malakai thought.
Ring!
The moment he shifted slightly to the left, his instincts flared violently. Now that he was past the obstruction, he could sense almost everything in the main sector of the underground metropolis. The scale of it was staggering—there were thousands of wandering knights, sentinels, and paladins down there.
The city was so perfectly preserved it looked as though it had never been abandoned, meaning its ancient blocking array was still fully operational. He let out a soft chuckle, Malakai took a step back from the ledge. The moment he crossed the threshold, the entire city and its monstrous inhabitants vanished from his senses instantly.
Well, it seems this is the exact border of the array, he noted mentally. That’s good to know. This place will be a great spot to train and get stronger.
He turned back toward the cavern floor. Oh right, the corpses.
With a flick of his wrist, his shadows reshaped into a large blanket, scooping up the mangled remains of the centipedes and discarding them deep into the shadows so Camilla wouldn’t panic.
A blissful smile crossed his face as he looked at the empty cave. "...Then again, I don’t actually mind her running to me for comfort when she’s scared," he murmured to himself.
"Mal? Are you done?" Camilla’s small, hesitant voice called out from the tunnel, snapping him right back to reality.
