Free Web NovelChapter 25: The Unsealed Monster
August narrowed his eyes, and he told the maid to lead them to the study. The maid nodded, and she began walking into the mansion. August turned and quickly selected five guards that would come with him while the others would search the rest of the mansion. Viva was surprised when August called on her to follow him as well, but she kept her emotions in check, and she followed behind the maid as they headed for the study.
Once they reached the room, August told the maid to step aside, and he placed his hand on the door and released a blast of magic!
BOOM!
The door was blown off its hinges, and the guards all rushed into the room! But they were surprised when they didn’t see Jacques there! Instead, they saw an open door on one side of the room with a staircase that led down into the darkness.
"Where does this lead?"
August turned to the maid as he asked this, and the maid spoke up quickly.
"It’s a basement door, sir. This mansion is part of a series of underground tunnels that refugees used to escape during the demihuman war. I think the master went into the tunnels."
August narrowed his eyes, and he called the guards to enter the tunnel with him.
"Defensive mages move forward first. Offensive mages, create fireballs to light the way."
The mages did as they were told, and Viva put her hand up and created a flame on her palm that lit the way ahead. The guards all walked down the stairway, and Viva could feel her heart beating faster the deeper they went. Being down here reminded her of when Percival had taken her into the library basement, but Viva was a lot calmer now compared to back then. The guards got to the bottom of the stairs, and they entered a large tunnel that led down into the distance.
The walls were made from stone, and there was a light shining in the distance and casting a small shadow in the tunnel. Everyone immediately thought that the shadow had to belong to Jacques!
August raised his hand and released a blast of magic that travelled down the tunnel. The magic was meant to search for any form of booby trap or hidden mechanism in the walls, and since there was no reaction, it seemed like there were no traps. August gestured for them to move forward, and the group began to walk.
As they went further down the tunnel, Viva started to get a bad feeling. It was something that she couldn’t fully explain at first, but it felt like she had been in a situation like this before. The air became murky and thick, like Viva was breathing through jelly, and as she walked, Viva’s heart began to beat even faster. It took a few moments for Viva to fully understand what was happening to her, but once she did, her eyes widened in shock.
’I’ve felt this before! This is what I felt when I went to Tartarus! I feel like I’m walking through raw mana!’
The last time Viva felt like this was when she went into the demon castle basement to see the [Seal of Eternity]! There was a malicious aura in the air, and Viva realized that whatever was at the end of this hallway was deadlier than any of them could imagine.
"I miss you so much, honey."
A voice echoed from the other end of the hall before Viva could say anything about what she was feeling, and August sped up as he recognized Jacques’ voice! The group moved towards the light at the end of the tunnel, and they arrived at a wide open space that was connected to two other tunnels on the opposite wall. But in the middle of the space, Jacques was on his knees with a look of anguish on his face, and in front of him was a small statue that looked like a rough carving of a human body! The statue had many black runes all around it, and there was an aura of power flowing from it that showed it was an artefact! Beside the statue was a translucent figure of a smiling woman! The woman looked like a ghost with an aura of white light around her body, and one of the guards spoke up in shock!
"That’s Jacques’ dead wife!"
The guard took a step back at seeing a ghost, and his loud voice immediately made Jacques turn towards them! August stepped forward quickly while forming a magic circle on his palm!
"Jacques! You’re under arrest. I need you to come with us for questioning."
"NO!"
Jacques immediately grabbed the statue and jumped back while holding it to his chest, and the translucent image of the woman vanished! Jacques had been down here for three days now without eating or drinking, so his body looked very malnourished, but there was a madness in his eyes that showed he wouldn’t be giving up without a fight!
"I won’t let you take her from me! I’ll never let you take her from me!"
Jacques was cradling the statue like it was his actual wife, and Viva realized that Jacques had been using the statue to call on that ghost all this time! Was that what the statue was meant for!? Was it some sort of gateway to the underworld?
Sizzle~!
The sound of skin burning suddenly echoed through the tunnel, and Jacques screamed as the statue began to grow hot in his hand! Jacques threw the statue away in pain, and the statue crashed to the ground!
DOON! fɾēewebnσveℓ.com
A tremor suddenly echoed through the tunnels as the statue vibrated! A crack travelled across the surface of the statue, and a bright light glowed from inside the statue as another massive tremor echoed through the tunnel!
DOON!
This time, Viva took a step back and spoke up.
"I think we need to get out of here."
There was an aura of dread spreading out from the statue, and all the guards began moving back slowly as another crack travelled across the statue’s surface!
DOON!
This time, the tremor caused rocks to fall from the ceiling like rain, and once the ground started vibrating, Viva quickly shouted for everyone to get out of there! But it was already too late! One final crack tore across the statue, and in the next moment, the cave blew up in a massive explosion of mana!
KA-BOOOM!
Everyone was thrown back by the sudden explosion, and Viva gasped in pain as she crashed against a wall behind her! The mana in the air began to build until it was nearly crushing everyone with its power, and Viva put a hand to her throat and gasped for air as she began to crawl away from the intense power! Rocks and dust fell from the ceiling of the cave and crushed anyone unlucky enough to be under it, and when Viva looked through the dust in the cave, she saw a figure slowly rising from the ground like a demon from hell!
"HAHAHAHA! FINALLY! AFTER TEN LONG YEARS, I’M FREE! WHERE ARE THE HUMANS!? BRING ME THOSE DIRTY STINKING CREATURES SO I CAN KILL THEM!"
A loud voice echoed through the cave as the figure looked around in excitement! The dust cleared up slightly, and Viva finally got a good look at what was standing there! It was a dragon-human hybrid that had the upper body of a human but the arms and legs of a dragon, filled with black scales that seemed to swallow any light that shone on it! The figure was slightly hunched, and it had long talons on its hands and feet that dug into the ground! When the demihuman smiled, it revealed large dragon teeth that looked sharp enough to tear through metal, and on its head were two long horns that curved backwards!
’We’re going to die.’
