Chapter 31. Lab hunt begin

Chapter 31: 31. Lab hunt begin

The entrance to the dungeon was pitch black, a void staring back. It was messing with my depth perception. That made sense, since the entrance was located higher than ground level, roughly in the middle.

And we were supposed to navigate this?

"Hey, muffin, what’s your friend’s name? The one the beetle subject took?"

"His name is Wendel Ashby. I hope he’s alright. She hates humans, she won’t show him mercy."

Dr. Rhiannon, who was goofing around a second ago, was now concerned. She squeezed my shoulder.

"Don’t worry, muffin. We will save him eventually."

Dr. Rhiannon said, comforting me, moving closer to the entrance to inspect it, checking whether it was safe to jump in.

If we’re talking about Wendel, I have to say, we’re not that close. We’ve literally spent only a few hours together. And I should probably be focused on my lifespan rather than him. But he’s not on my blacklist, and he’s not someone evil. That’s reason enough for me to be involved.

Seraphine was also inspecting the entrance, but her instincts didn’t pick up on anything. And I was pretty much useless in this part.

"How deep is it?"

"That’s what he said. Heheh."

Dr. Rhiannon teased, right as Seraphine was getting comfortable, making her cringe hard. It was good humor from Dr. Rhiannon.

"It’s an active dungeon. There’s probably a barrier that lowers light levels and messes with the other senses too. That’s why it appears like a void."

Dr. Rhiannon explained, straightening her posture. Seraphine, as much as she hated it, listened.

"What should we do, then?"

"A potion that gives night vision would be nice."

Dr. Rhiannon said, turning toward me, tilting her head and crossing her arms behind her back. I should have guessed it, why didn’t I think of this?

My mouth opened, but amnesia kicked in and I forgot my words.

"As much as I want to see you make a potion, Maren said it’s a medium...."

"We are not using your precious powers on something so small, muffin. Don’t worry, I was just kidding."

Dr. Rhiannon pulled back. Maybe she had a solution. Thank God she did, that pause made my breath catch. Come to think of it, they can’t see the panel, so all they’d see is a potion bottle appearing out of thin air.

Dr. Rhiannon rotated her wrist, palm facing her, then smoke curled around her wrist and a ghostly old pocketbook appeared, constantly leaking ghostly fumes, blue glowing text in a language I didn’t understand.

"Souls unbound, lend your light — bless this flame, let it never fade. I shape thee: Everflame, burn." ℯℯ𝘭.

A few light sources, blue soul fires, emerged from the book, tearing a small section from the ghostly pages. The blue soul fires moved down into the dungeon entrance, lighting up the space.

I stepped forward and saw the entry point, less deep than the void had suggested. The entry point led to another corridor, rougher around the edges than upstairs. Decoration wasn’t a priority here, and neither was tidiness, there was enough dust and cobweb to give me asthma.

"What are we waiting for."

Seraphine jumped in, landing cleanly, catching herself on her feet with barely a sound. Then Dr. Rhiannon grabbed my waist from the side, tight, and jumped while holding me. Mid-jump she cast a spell to land smoothly, then released her hold.

"There you go."

I looked around and found that the dungeon’s barrier was really messing with my vision. Like I was seeing everything through a badly made lens.

We’d dropped into the middle of a corridor, and now there were two opposite directions we could go. The only question was where.

I stepped back, just maintaining a respectable distance from the two of them. Which I shouldn’t have. As soon as my foot touched the ground, a block of bricks the height of the corridor shot forward from the side, about to crush me. I was just one foot from a trap, and a second away from dying.

But Seraphine yanked me by my collar like a little kitten. The block of bricks slammed shut with a sound that sent a chill through me, closing the path behind us.

"Oo, I like this spooky dungeon. It’s so scary."

Dr. Rhiannon said, still goofing around. Seraphine dropped me on my feet.

"It’s a maze with a lot of traps, just like Maren said. Be careful, phunk."

"Thanks a bunch. I could have become a blood tortilla."

I covered my eyes, my face sweating. Seraphine stared at me like she didn’t understand something but didn’t bother to ask. Oh yeah, this world doesn’t have tortillas. Another loss.

"Rhiannon, map out the dungeon’s layout if you can."

"I can sure try."

Dr. Rhiannon rested her back against the wall, closing her eyes and crossing her arms. Portraying the image of someone in a lazy sleep, her lips moved.

"Spirit of the silent hall, keeper of every door — lend me your watch while I sleep. I shape thee: Steward’s Eye, see."

A half magic circle appeared around her chest with soul-blue spikes. Then light sources came together to form a three-dimensional layout of the dungeon. Rooms glowed brighter than the routes, to differentiate them. A yellow ball marked us. There were other markings I wasn’t aware of.

I’m terribly disappointed in human evolution, my world was boring as hell. They need to learn something from this world’s humans, who already have 3D holograms.

"This is the biggest dungeon I have ever seen. I was only able to map out about half of it. The rest is out of my range."

The half magic circle faded away, leaving Dr. Rhiannon exhausted, her voice straining.

"This is manageable. We have the entire maze and a good amount of rooms."

Seraphine knelt down to take a better look at the layout, and I did the same. We were at the top, and there were two stages mapped out.

Turns out, there were several other entry points, marked as white dots. The one we found wasn’t the only one; we would’ve gotten lost, and possibly ended up outside, if we didn’t have Dr. Rhiannon.

Although Sister Maren still tops everything with her eyes.

"We can avoid most of the traps in the maze, I’ve marked them as green. From there I think we should move to the data hub."

Dr. Rhiannon pointed at a big rectangular room marked with a red dot, located at the corner of the second stage, near the end of the maze.

"There I can get a pretty good look at what this research facility, disguised as a dungeon, is hiding."

"One of our main priorities is the kid. If we find the beetle bitch, we finish her off first. Got it?"

Seraphine stood up, her polearm hitting the floor with a thud.

"Sorry to interrupt, but what will I be doing?"

I asked, and they both looked at me like I’d asked something strange.

"Engage in battle, muffin. With Seraphine. I know a few spells, but I’m not a fighting type. Can’t you tell?"

Dr. Rhiannon answered, and yes, her spells and rank hinted at it, but my mind was badly fogged up. With a dozen hours of lifespan left, a plan to extend it that might fail, and the tension of saving myself, I couldn’t think straight.

"Don’t worry, kiddo, I can take her down easily if we manage to lure her into an open space. You just provide me with healing potions when I need them."

Seraphine laughed, her fighting spirit burning in the cold dungeon. I scratched my head, of course I’m the healer.

"So I’m working as bait and healer, got it."

It made sense, but I was hoping I could do more.

"Don’t feel scared, muffin. She would definitely come running after a sweet young boy like you. I have to say, if it were a male beetle, I would have volunteered myself."

Dr. Rhiannon cupped her cheeks, teasing. Seraphine cringed almost instantly, the joke landing right on top of her fighting spirit. And yes, if it were a male beetle, Dr. Rhiannon would just have to say "sit," and the fight would be over.

I was going to say that out loud, just light flirting, but I didn’t want Seraphine to lose her temper.

"Enough chit-chat. Let’s keep moving."

Seraphine, being Seraphine, was already moving without looking back, expecting us to follow, which we would.

We proceeded through the dungeon’s maze, avoiding traps. It was covered in several magical barriers that were trying their best to split the three of us apart by sabotage the structure itself. But since we had the layout, we didn’t fall for it.

We had no problems at all, except for the part where the corridor shrank and we had to crawl on our limbs.

All I have to say is, I support women, we should walk behind them. I was once again hip-notized by the two heart-shaped asses.

One in a bodysuit, the other in thigh-highs and a mini dress, swaying left to right in rhythmic motion.

Was the artist who made the heart shape thinking about asses all along? Anyway, in this ice-cold dungeon, there was no cold for me.

I’m beyond saving.