"What happened?!" Elara asked aloud as she mobilized her mana at full speed. At that moment, a beam of white fire shot out from the staircase directly toward them, prompting Erik to issue an urgent command.
"Open the formations!"
With urgency, Ethan conjured a set of runes while Chen performed a hand sign, causing the invisible energy shields to reappear briefly before opening two gaps to allow the beam of white fire to pass through. Not long after, the fox landed on the platform. Though she appeared mostly in good condition, she bore several scratches across different parts of her body, leaking a strange golden blood that dissipated into the air as specks of light.
"Hiyori-sama! Are you okay?!" Zoe stepped forward and asked as the formations closed again. The fox spirit nodded and explained in a calm voice.
"I'm fine, these wounds are nothing. More importantly, the situation on the lower floor is strange. The moment I created the explosion, tentacles emerged from nowhere and attacked me at high speed. I barely escaped."
"Tentacles…?" Upon hearing Hiyori, Elara brought her hand to her chin and whispered in a thoughtful tone, just as Erik asked calmly.
"Did they appear exactly at the moment of the explosion, or was it before?"
Hearing Erik, Hiyori turned to look at him silently, which brought a worried expression to Zoe's face. But before the beautiful girl could say anything, the spirit responded in a calm and neutral tone.
"…Right at the moment the first spark of light emerged. Though I walked around the area and used a bit of mana to study the surroundings, nothing happened. It's likely they attack any source of light."
"I see. Thank you very much, Spirit Hiyori, this information is incredibly helpful." Erik said with a calm smile as he looked at the spirit, who simply nodded and walked toward Zoe while the wounds on her body vanished slowly.
"Well, now we know how to proceed. Cover any light source or reflective surface. Knights, switch to shields, and let's move in tight formation." Erik looked at the others and ordered in a serious tone. Everyone quickly nodded, then reached into their storage bags to pull out various items.
Many knights in shining metallic armor, like Zoe, took out a small black sphere, which they slammed against their armor and shields. These small spheres spread across the metallic surfaces, soon turning the shields and armor completely black, as if they absorbed all light.
At the same time, some mages swapped their staves for ones without crystals, while others used cloth or black spheres to change their color. Meanwhile, on armors with fabric or leather, runes glowed on their surfaces, soon turning them entirely black as well.
Once everything was ready, the group reorganized into two rings around Erik. The mages, dressed entirely in black, formed the inner ring, while the knights, holding fully darkened metallic tower shields, formed the outer ring. At that moment, Erik patted Kaiser's head beside him and whispered in a low voice.
"Climb onto my shoulder and don't use your lightning unless I tell you to."
The silver wolf let out a cheerful howl and jumped onto Erik's shoulder while shrinking in size. Upon landing, the wolf was the size of a puppy, just under 30 cm. At that moment, Erik placed his hand on Tiberius' head, who stood about the height of a normal wolf at about 90 cm, and spoke in a calm voice.
"We're advancing on the Myst platform. Refrain from casting barriers or anything that might produce light unless I order it."
"Understood!"
The group replied in unison, then downed their concealment potions in one gulp. Erik nodded with satisfaction, then drank his own potion and made the platform move toward the staircase quickly. Soon, the group began descending the stairs, leaving the golems behind, which caused everyone to grip their weapons and shields tightly with serious expressions. Even Erik's face showed signs of nervousness.
After all, he couldn't sense the Myst of the staircase, as if there were some kind of barrier blocking his senses. Though he had used the strange technique taught to him by the Myst to control it a few times, he still couldn't feel anything, as if beyond the stairs there was only emptiness. An incredibly strange sensation he had never experienced before.
Upon passing the last step, Erik tightened his grip on his machetes and made the platform advance. At that moment, he felt as if he were passing through some kind of invisible membrane, similar to what he felt every time he passed through security checks at the university's space elevator station. But upon crossing it, Erik felt a monumental change in the Myst around him.
As if he had stepped into another world, the Myst outside the 'membrane' became unreachable to him, while the Myst in the place felt incredibly strange. Somehow, the Myst felt heavy and somewhat "sticky," reminding him in some way of rotting food. Yet, despite the odd sensation, his control over it grew significantly, reaching about 70% of his normal state outside this strange 'geometric anthill' he was in.
Moreover, luckily, the Myst closest to him began moving erratically, expelling the 'sticky' Myst from its vicinity, leaving only the "warm" and familiar Myst he was accustomed to in direct contact with him. At that moment, Erik focused on his contract with Tiberius to use his eyes to see in the complete darkness surrounding him and examine the area.
Upon connecting with Tiberius, Erik 'looked' around, realizing he was in a place identical to the previous floors—a rectangular corridor, incredibly tall and wide. But curiously, the walls, which outside appeared perfectly smooth as if meticulously polished, here were uneven and somehow 'gnawed,' as if they had suffered some kind of erosion over who knows how long.
At the same time, Erik could see Scouting Spheres scattered all over the floor, so he made the Myst platform stop. While preparing to retreat at full speed if anything happened, Erik sent the most subtle and stealthy sound transmission he could to all his companions.
"I'm going to collect some Scouting Spheres. Be ready to retreat if anything happens."
"Understood."
Tomás soon sent a sound transmission on behalf of everyone else. Erik nodded to himself, and after a deep breath, he took control of the "sticky" Myst and sent an incredibly subtle amount of mana through the "warm" Myst surrounding him, forcing the mixture to solidify. Once he created a hand of Myst, Erik waited a few seconds to see if anything would happen. Seeing nothing, he sent the hand to pick up one of the spheres on the ground.
Not wanting to come into direct contact with that strange Myst, Erik made the invisible hand toss the sphere to him, which he caught using a hand of Myst created solely from the "warm" Myst surrounding him. Quickly, Erik brought the sphere to Tiberius' eyes, through which he examined it, noticing a small hole running through its center from side to side.
Further inside, Erik could see the mana crystal within the sphere was also destroyed, allowing him to understand what had happened. Though very subtle, the runes on the Scouting Sphere were glowing, so most likely, the moment it entered this place, it was immediately attacked by the 'dark tentacles' Hiyori mentioned, destroying them so quickly they couldn't send information back to the control center.
Soon, Erik shared a brief summary of his findings with the direct disciples and Chen, while storing the destroyed Scouting Sphere in his storage bag and making the Myst platform move forward. Though the platform initially moved slowly, as they distanced themselves from the staircase, Erik gained confidence and began to accelerate little by little while using Tiberius' eyes to search for any trace of those tentacles.
But no matter how much he looked, he found not the slightest hint, to the point that, if it weren't for the destroyed Scouting Spheres, he would have doubted Hiyori's words. His Mystic Awareness detected nothing, nor did he through the Myst. Though cautious with the strange Myst and not extending his ethereal projection, he still used Tiberius' eyes to examine every detail of the place but found nothing.
In an almost torturous silence, the group advanced through the corridors at an increasingly faster pace, which only served to heighten everyone's tension and nervousness. Finally, far in the distance, Erik could see a flicker of light. Surprised, Erik used both his own eyes and Tiberius' to confirm what he was seeing, at which point a nearly imperceptible whisper from Tomás sounded in his ear.
"Erik, do you see the light?"
"Yes, I see it. Confirm with the knights, and I'll check with the mages." Erik quickly sent a sound transmission, then asked Elara, who in turn consulted with the mages.
Soon, Erik received the final response: everyone saw the light. With seriousness, he gripped his machetes and informed all his companions with a subtle sound transmission.
"Prepare for battle. We're heading toward the light."
At the same time, Erik made the Myst platform accelerate, and soon the group got close enough to see what the light was, which left them somewhat surprised. In the middle of the enormous corridor stood what seemed to be the frame of a door leading to a small room where an ancient-looking lantern could be seen, its flame on the verge of going out.
Thanks to the dim light, the group could see what appeared to be a control console made of the same strange rock as the walls. Meanwhile, just above the lantern, there was what looked like an enormous crystal sphere in which a large number of runes from the Zazen Discipline could be seen 'floating'—a sight that made Erik's eyes widen in surprise.
(A giant golem core?!)
"Erik, could that be the control center…?"
At the same time, Elara's stunned voice echoed in Erik's ear, seemingly sharing the same thoughts as him. Erik sent a sound transmission to Elara, his gaze fixed on the massive crystalline sphere, while his mind raced with countless thoughts.
"It's highly likely…"
"Erik, do you think that's what the hunters were after…?" Tomás sent a sound transmission while also looking at the core, which caused Erik's eyes to light up with realization.
(It makes sense that it would be this… In this entire damned place, we haven't found anything that could catch their interest… But if it's this, why didn't they take it sooner and waited until now? Clearly, they knew this place before and understood its rules very well… Could it be they hadn't found it, or did something change for this place to reveal itself?
(It's hard to say, we don't have a hint, much less a clue… Besides, the 'exit' is still a bit far, so anything we do now is a risk, and a significant one. If we go in, we might alert whatever is lurking in this place or trigger some defense system, which could end up costing us the chance to get out…
(But at the same time, the value of that thing is monumental. It not only gives us the ability to control the Golems, but it could also hold clues about the golden chains and even about the strange island and how such different plants could grow in the same place. If humanity could decipher that technology, its importance would even surpass that of artificial warp highways. It would literally create an unprecedented era of prosperity for the entire galaxy!
(Though now that I think about it, in that stone cabin, there were a large number of jade slips full of information… That's also incredibly valuable, so much so that it's truly worth risking our lives to obtain it… The rewards for doing so are too tempting. The merit and renown it would bring to my masters would be monumental, and it would grant them infinite wealth… It would truly be the best way to give them 'thanks' for everything they've done for me… Literaly a ticket to repay my almost infinite debt of gratitude to them.
(Besides, my instincts are also screaming at me about how important this is, especially that strange lantern. For some reason, all the Myst in contact with its light is normal, without that strange "sticky" feeling, so it must be very special too. Not to mention there's no trace of tentacles attacking it despite the light, so it's very likely that thing is crucial to avoiding dangers in this strange place…)
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