We walked through the tunnel, Goku's fire leading our way. So far the tunnel had just been a straight shot forwards.
"These tunnels..." Irene muttered. "I wonder what created them."
"I don't think Arachius are known for digging tunnels." Erica added. "Any idea what could have made these?"
"I would think a Scarworm, however these are too small. A Scarworm is larger than an Arachius, and these tunnels are the perfect size for the Arachius." Irene explained.
"Think it's coincidence?" I asked.
"Maybe.." Irene muttered. "It's possible that one just decided to camp here, but if there's one..."
"You think this is a nest, don't you?" Goku stated.
"Possibly. We haven't seen any other Arachius however, so I'm not sure." Irene replied.
"Hate...Arachius..." Bianca muttered.
I'm with you there. They aren't exactly that fun.
We walked through the tunnels, before we came across a fork in the road. The tunnel split left and right.
Since this isn't the same tunnel as the anime, I don't know which way to go. And even if it was, I still wouldn't know. I didn't memorize the exact route.
"I could look back in your memories." Loki stated. "But that wouldn't be helpful."
Appreciate the sentiment, but yeah. That's not going to help in this case.
"Let's split up." Goku decided.
"What? Have you never seen horror movies? That's the easiest way to die down here." I stated. "Especially since we have no contact, with no service in this world."
"We don't have the time." Goku replied, anxiously looking at the watch. "It's been an hour and a half, and it takes a whole hour to get back. That gives us about two hours and thirty minutes left to find Brandon and Emi."
I didn't like it, but Goku had a good point. We needed as much time as possible if we wanted to save Brandon.
Especially since we'll likely end up in a fight with the Alchemist. And if we're quick enough, maybe we can stop the Alchemist from stealing Brandon's powers.
"Fine." I sighed. "What are the groups?"
"Let's put you, Irene, Erica, and Bianca together." Goku stated. "And I'll go with Aoi."
"That's pretty skewed." Erica noted.
"Yes, but I'm an actual S Rank." Goku replied. "I have much more experience than all of you, so I can take the load of multiple people."
"I see." Irene nodded.
"Good." Goku stated. "Stay safe. If something too much comes up, then run away immediately. Hopefully it's just Arachius..."
"Alright." Bianca nodded. "Let's go." She nodded towards us.
We waved goodbye to Aoi and Goku while we went the other direction. Walking down the tunnel, we continued deeper into the tunnels.
And then we hit another fork in the road.
"We aren't splitting up again." I stated. "Let's just try one direction, and then the next."
We walked down the left passageway, continuing through the tunnels. Turning the corner, we were met with the face of an Arachius.
It attempted to spit acid at us, but before it even had the chance a sparking war hammer slammed into it's head, killing it instantly.
"Two." Irene said. "This is likely an Arachius nest."
Arachius were a monster that could be found in groups. When Arachius cross over into our world, most of the time there's more than one.
But if it's a nest, then there will be many. And there will also be the Arachius Queen. Unlike how Arachius are B Ranks, the Queen is a tougher A Rank.
A little tougher than the Megalodon. We should hopefully then be fine, because I know Goku could at least take it out.
We just need to not encounter a bunch of Arachius at one time. That would be incredibly dangerous.
We continued down the passageway, before reaching a dead end.
So we decided to backtrack and go back to where the fork was and take the other passageway. However, there was a problem.
"Uhhh...I don't think this wall was here before..." Erica commmented.
We stood in front of a wall. The only ways we're to the right and to the left. We went back the same way we came, so we should have just been able to go forwards.
This wasn't right.
"Something's wrong here." Irene stated, narrowing her eyes and voicing my thoughts.
"Okay, so we all agree that we went the same way we came from, right?" I asked the other three, receiving three nods in response.
"Then somehow, we have either been transported to somewhere else, or these tunnels are moving." I deduced.
"Which means that splitting up really was a bad choice..." Nervously stated Erica.
"There was no way for us to know. Now we just have to try to get out of here, alright?" I replied, trying to calm her down.
We took one of the paths, walking through the tunnel. Something strange was going on, and I didn't like either of my deductions.
Maybe Brandon and Emi were just lost in this maze. As much as I hoped for that, I knew that the Alchemist had definitely captured Brandon.
Which meant that Emi was likely still stuck in here. Or...dead.
But this made me wonder. Could this be a contraption by the Alchemist? Could he had somehow made a Labyrinth, like in Ancient Greece with the Minotaur?
We came up to another intersection, with three different paths to choose. Electing to go forwards, we walked through.
Before our exit was sealed as a door slammed behind us.
"Is everyone alright?" I asked, turning around, only to go pale. "Shit..."
Erica and I stood in the tunnel, but I couldn't see Irene or Bianca. Erica and I had gone too quickly, and the wall had perfectly fell to separate us four.
"Ken?" I heard a faint voice from the wall.
"Irene?!" I yelled through, pounding on the wall.
"Keep going." I barely heard her say. "We'll find a way to you."
"...Alright." I reluctantly replied.
"...be safe." I barely heard Bianca through the wall.
"You too!" I replied, before letting out a sigh.
There was nothing else we could do. Staying here would be our death with our time constraints. We have to keep going.
"I don't like this..." Erica muttered, wrapping her arms around my shoulder.
My heart started to beat quicker as she leaned upon me. Usually I'd think she was up to one of her antics, but she genuinely seemed worried.
"It's fine." I reassured her. "We'll make it out."
"Alright..." Erica slowly nodded.
We started to walk through the tunnel. Erica was clutched on to my arm, while my other held Loki. With only two of us, I had to be careful in case we encountered another Arachius.
Honestly, if this is a nest it's surprising that there have only been two so far. That means the rest of them are somewhere else.
I couldn't help but be conscious of Erica, with her hanging on my arm and her medium-sized chest pushing up against my arm.
It was times at these that I really remembered that she wasn't just my best friend, but also a girl.
Recently, my heart has been beating quicker as I'm next to the others, not just including Irene. I didn't exactly like the insinuations.
"Just accept it already you dimwit." Loki groaned.
Ignoring Loki, now's not the time. I shook myself out of my thoughts. Right now, I had to focus on making sure we were alright.
The tunnels split, one heading towards the right and the other heading forwards. But my ears caught on the sound of something moving ahead of us.
Something not human.
"Come on." I whispered to Erica, pulling her to the right. If we can, let's avoid meeting any Arachius while it's just us two.
We continued to walk through the tunnel, but something caught my eye. At the end of the tunnel, it looked like it had collapsed, a pile of rubble in the way.
What caused this tunnel to collapse? Could something be behind?
"Can you do something about that?" I asked Erica, gesturing to the rubble.
"Yeah." Erica nodded.
I backed up as she summoned Excalibur once more, it glowing white as she readied a Holy Strike. She swung her sword, the strike blowing up the rubble.
It caused a loud crashing sound, and I knew that something would be coming after us. Let's just hope it was our fellow comrades, and not the monsters.
We stepped past the few remaining rubble, entering a small, circular room. It was empty, except for the one person laying on the ground.
Wait, a person laying on the ground?
I rushed over, pushing them over so I could see their face. They weren't in good shape, not at all. One arm was missing, though no blood leaked out.
One of the eyes had been clawed, and multiple bloody scratch marks littered their body. Their eyes were closed. Their hair was dirty and bloody, and their face covered with red.
I pressed my hand against their neck, checking their pulse. It beated, however faintly.
This must be Emi. At least she's not dead.
"Erica, can you use Avalon's healing properties on other people?" I asked.
"I should be able to." Erica nodded. She quickly crouched down, summoning the golden sheathe in her hands.
She placed the sheathe down onto the girl, so that it rested onto her chest. Immediately the effects started to be seen as they started to glow a light white and the smaller cuts started to disappear.
As her complexion got better and the injuries started to heal, I noticed that Avalon had even started to heal her gone arm.
How OP...
To be able to heal lost limbs as well. Unlike the cuts and the eye though, this one is taking longer. It'll probably be at least an hour, and we don't have that long.
The girl suddenly gasped, her eyes opening wide as she jolted upwards. She frantically looked around, before her eyes set on us.
"Who are you?!" She exclaimed, backing up.
"Calm down." I stated. "I'm Ken Kage, and this is Erica Arthurson. We're here to help."
She narrowed her eyes at us. "Really? How do I know you're not with him? Wouldn't they have sent an S Rank?"
"They did. We came with a group, but we got separated. They sent our group to find out what happened to you and Brandon, which includes Goku Taiyou, Bianca, Aoi, and-" I explained.
"Did you say Bianca? Bianca Tsuki?" She asked.
"Yeah." I nodded.
She closed her eyes in thought before sighing. "Fine. I'll trust you...for now. What are you guys even doing down here?"
"Bianca's worried about her brother." I stated.
She lightly smiled. "That girl doesn't show it, but she does love her brother." Her face then became angry. "But that bastard, taking Brandon!"
"What happened?" I asked.
"We were exploring the tunnels, taking out multiple Arachius when we were ambushed by him. We would have been able to take him out if he hadn't somehow been able to control the Arachius as well..." She explained.
Controlling monsters? That's definitely at least a Lupercio minion, if not the Alchemist.
She glanced down. "What's this? Why am I holding it?" She analyzed herself. "No way...it's healing me? Even my arm..?
"Yeah, it's one of Erica's tiers." I replied, leaving out the fact that it was the famous Avalon.
"...If you were an enemy, you wouldn't have helped me like this." She stated. "It's nice to meet you. My name is Emi Yamamoto."
I thought so.
"Thanks for the healing." Emi nodded at Erica as she held the
"Let's go find your teammates." She stated. "And then, let's get my man back."