----Page 36----
Frost still lingered on the lower floors of the tower, but outside, beyond the massive gate of the unknown structure, the air felt heavy and distorted.
A new threat was approaching Arin and Rynveil.
°°°°
Arin felt it first.
The air shifted, pressure crawling along his skin as his elven senses flared instinctively.
"Oy… old man," Arin muttered, tightening his grip on his bow.
"Looks like we got company."
Rynveil snorted, his hands still pressed firmly against the ground as mana pulsed faintly around him.
"Hmph. I am glad you noticed it too, twig. Now do your job and quit standing around."
"Huh!? Are you mocking me again, old man?" Arin hissed back.
"I am doing my job. I am not just—"
A sudden rustle echoed from the fog ahead as a dark silhouette slowly formed.
The sound carried through the clearing.
Arin froze mid-sentence.
His fingers tightened around the bowstring.
"Hey, twig," Rynveil said quietly, his tone shifting.
"Be careful. I am sensing an aura far more dangerous than any mortal should possess."
"Huh?" Arin whispered.
"What do you mean by that?"
His bow was already drawn, the string stretched taut as he aimed into the fog. He barely breathed as he tracked the disturbance ahead.
Slowly, the silhouette began to take shape within the thick purple mist.
One step.
Then another.
A human form emerged once it crossed a certain distance.
A girl.
She wore a tattered blue hood pulled low over her face. Her clothes, which once clearly belonged to an adventurer, were soaked and stained dark with both dried and fresh blood.
Not a single drop belonged to her.
Arin's eyes narrowed as he studied every movement she made.
"I am having a bad feeling about this," he murmured.
Rynveil's expression hardened as his senses confirmed what his instincts screamed.
A dense, suffocating demonic aura clung to the girl like a second skin.
"She is not an ordinary lass, twig," Rynveil said grimly.
"She is far beyond what we should be dealing with."
"Huh," Arin muttered.
"That is new, coming from you, old man."
"I am stating facts," Rynveil snapped.
"Without the barrier I erected, any normal mortal would be dead in an instant just from inhaling this poisonous miasma."
His eyes never left the girl.
"But look at her."
The girl stopped walking.
She tilted her head slightly, as if she had heard them.
Arin's breath caught.
"She is completely unaffected."
A soft laugh drifted through the fog.
Light. Playful. Mischievous.
The girl lifted her head just enough for a faint smile to be visible beneath the hood.
Her voice floated toward them.
"I found her."
Arin's heart slammed against his ribs.
"Found who?" he demanded.
The hooded girl did not answer.
Instead—
Crrrk.
A sickening sound rang out as her arms twisted unnaturally beneath her sleeves. Fabric tore apart as her limbs elongated, bones cracking and reshaping into grotesque, clawed forms veined with black corruption.
Rynveil sucked in a sharp breath.
"Arin."
"Yeah," Arin muttered, lowering his stance.
"I see it."
The girl lunged.
Arin loosed his arrow instantly.
The shot struck her shoulder and bounced off with a metallic clang.
"Tch!"
She swung one monstrous arm downward. Arin barely rolled aside as the claw smashed into the stone, carving a deep trench where he had been standing.
"Do not let her reach me!"
Rynveil shouted.
"The barrier drops if I move!"
"Like hell I would let her!" Arin shot back.
The girl halted abruptly and glared at Arin.
"Wait."
Her brow furrowed.
"I already killed you."
Arin stiffened.
"What?"
She clicked her tongue.
"Tsch. So persistent. Humans really are annoying.. wait your a second your an elf.. Silly me!!"
Rynveil's voice dropped dangerously low.
"Twig, do not let your guard down."
The hood slipped back slightly.
Blonde, curly hair spilled free, matted with blood. Her face was young, far too young.
"She is human," Arin said quietly, his bow still aimed, but his fingers hesitating on the string.
Yet her smile did not belong to a human. It was far more terrifying than that of any demon.
"Oh," she said cheerfully.
"Too cowardly to kill a human child?"
She laughed softly.
"Well, you see, I have killed countless of these inferior creatures you call humans. I lost count long ago. But you know what, I prefer killing elves like you, more than humans.. they did break easily. But elves, screamed well."
She tapped her temple with one claw.
"Hard to keep track of how many I devoured."
Arin swallowed hard.
"You are a monster. Why bother possessing a human, of your that powerful?"
She laughed.
"Well good question, this human child was the vessel required to free me from my seal. She found me first, crying in a cave, begging for help."
Her eyes gleamed crimson.
"Such an easy vessel. But not perfect, I need an immortal vessel the one who doesn't rot easily, and luckily this tower tells me I finally found the one I've been looking for."
"Oy… old man," Arin muttered under his breath.
"Do you think we even have a shot at this one?"
Rynveil scoffed, though sweat beaded at his temple.
"Do not tell me you are scared, twig."
"Hah. Hell no," Arin snapped.
"Master trusted me to guard this barrier, and I am not letting her through."
"Then do your job," Rynveil said grimly.
"But be careful. Whatever is inside that girl is not just a demon."
The girl's grin widened.
"No," she purred.
"I am far worse."
The fog surged forward.
Arin raised his bow once more, planting himself firmly as he aimed at the monster before him.
"Do you really think your pathetic toy can pierce me?"
"Well," Arin replied confidently,
"we will see when my arrow plunges straight into your head."
"Ohh," she chuckled.
"So you do not care even if the human child I am possessing dies."
"Like hell I care."
"Tsch. Very well then. I shall kill you next, right after those adventurers I slaughtered earlier. I want to know how your scream sounds."
"What did you say?" Arin asked.
°°°°
Earlier....
Inside the walled city of Delmar, four adventurers received a direct summon from the guild leader.
Witnesses had reported the sudden appearance of a strange and ominous tower in the eastern clearing outside the city.
It was posted as an urgent quest.
However, no adventurers were available at the time to accept the investigation.
Unfortunately, no party was willing to take on such a dangerous task.
Luck struck at the perfect moment.
A catastrophe-level party arrived at the guild just in time.
It was Dravion's party, one of the strongest high-tier adventuring groups in Veleria, known as Night Edge.
Dravion, a half-dragon humanoid known as a Draghorn, was their leader. After hearing the urgency of the quest, he accepted it out of curiosity, having just returned from hunting an Ember Dragon.
The guild master insisted it was too dangerous to send only one party.
He urged Dravion to accept a second party.
Dravion refused.
"Do as you see fit," he said.
"Just make sure no one gets in our way."
°°°°
After Night Edge departed, Guild Master Margus summoned another party.
They consisted of four members.
An elven wizard. A high troll vanguard. A beastfolk assassin. And a human bladesman.
They were known as Silver Glaive.
Their leader was a man named Grantz, a skilled one-handed swordsman.
They were not famous, but every quest they took was completed smoothly and efficiently.
Grantz was a humble man. He sought neither praise nor rank. He became an adventurer to protect the weak and save lives.
He accepted the summon immediately.
However, a week earlier, he had rescued a girl from a burning village.
Her name was Illuna.
Blonde, curly hair. Thin. Bruised.
Before becoming an adventurer, Grantz lived a simple life as a craftsman. He had a wife and a child.
Both were taken from him in a terrible incident.
Returning home after selling wares in a nearby village, he heard soldiers marching and villagers whispering that monsters had attacked his home.
Fear consumed him as he ran.
When he arrived, the sight shattered him completely.
His house was burned to ash.
The lifeless bodies of his wife and son lay torn apart.
That memory haunted him endlessly.
A year later, he became an adventurer.
He laid low for nearly a decade, only recently returning after two years away.
°°°°
Later, he stumbled upon another burning village.
Illuna was the only survivor.
He brought her back to Delmar.
After a week, the girl gradually opened up and told him her name.
Grantz promised to find her a safe home, knowing his life was filled with danger.
Illuna burst into tears.
She begged to stay.
Then came the summon.
Illuna insisted on coming, and her fear of being alone outweighed Grantz's resolve.
°°°°
As they departed Delmar, the tower was already visible from afar.
Ozun, the high troll, laughed.
"Maybe that tower is a dungeon. Who knows what kind of riches are hiding inside."
The elven wizard replied, "And what would you do with those riches?"
"What else? Lots of booze. Enough to drown myself in," Ozun laughed.
"I thought so. You really are a savage drunkard," Elgar replied.
The party laughed as they continued.
Illuna slowly warmed up to them.
Elgar showed her simple magic to spark her curiosity.
Ozun carried her on his back when she grew tired.
Berun, the beastfolk assassin, silently protected her from the shadows.
As they drew closer to the tower, the monsters grew stronger.
Then it appeared.
A humanoid monster covered in countless moving eyes.
The battle was brutal.
Despite magic and steel, the creature regenerated endlessly.
Then Illuna spoke.
"Homonculus."
The monster reacted.
The fight spiraled into chaos.
Illuna screamed.
Black veins crawled up her arms.
Her eyes turned crimson.
The homunculus knelt.
Granz felt dread pierce his heart.
"Illuna," he whispered.
She smiled.
A voice not her own answered.
"So many of you."
She revealed herself.
"My name is Veyta. One of the Monarchs of the Abyss."
Then, darkness surged.
°°°°
And as Veyta's words faded, the horrific vision she had recounted, the story of Illuna, and the adventurers she had toyed with earlier, as it all dissolved into the cold mist around them.
Now, Arin's senses snapped back to the present. He steadied his aim as the girl before him flexed her monstrous arms.
"Oy… old man," he muttered.
"We need to do something about this monster."
Rynveil tightened the barrier.
"I know, but this will be a tough one."
He said quietly.
"Are you sure you can handle it alone?."
"We won't know unless we try." Arin, responded with confidence.
The girl smiled sweetly.
"So," she asked,
"Are you going to scream like the others?"
Arin exhaled slowly, his eyes narrowing.
"No. Because you're the one whose going down, not me."
He drew another arrow, mana gathering along its shaft.
"I am going to stop you."
The fog thickened.
"Then, try your best your best shot kid."
Veyta said confidently, as her arms wide open inviting Arin to shoot her with her arrow.
The tower loomed behind them.
And somewhere deep within its frozen halls, fate shifted once more.