Zoltan Unredeemed

Chapter 8

"Military-grade revolver?"

I grinned at Cady when she saw me pull out my weapon from its case taken from me before we rode the car on our way here, "Outdated, but I heard it is still viable for self-defense, at the very least."

"And a palatinate-quality at that. Where did you get this?"

"A memento from my granduncle. It is his most prized possession, or so I am told," I replied as I put them on my leg holsters, "Where's your weapon, Cady?"

She smiled at me dangerously and showed her empty hand, "I have mine right here."

Oh, right.

Alcriman hand-to-hand combat style at its finest.

Viceroyals are known for their expertise with their hands. It is said that they can kill monsters in a hundred ways using their hands alone.

"So, they are all downstairs, right?"

She pointed at the open trapdoor at the center of the empty entrance hall with stairs leading further below.

"Well, nowhere to put catacombs but the underground, Cady," I answered simply as we began to walk towards it, "I wonder what is in store for us below?"

"I am sure they have a cache of captive monsters for students to practice on," Cady replied hopefully as we reached downstairs and found the corridors well lit by emergency lights, "Clouds of dust are still on the air, they haven't gotten far. Should we catch up with them?"

I quickly shook my head, "Let them be. With any luck, we wouldn't even have to fight at all as our esteemed would-be classmates already wiped them all out."

"You know, you can be rather cold sometimes, Arcelon..."

"Yeah? Well, this is me. I am not an elemental priest or something. Self-preservation is all that I am worried off."

Cady looked at me with a blank expression on her face, "And you are sticking to me because I am useful to you?"

"You don't have to word it that way," I deflected cautiously, "Let's just say that you are far more experienced than I can ever be and to spurn your companionship will be an idiotic move."

"So you are saying you are a coward?"

"If prioritizing one's survival above all else is cowardice, then yes, I am a coward."

She raised an eyebrow and steeled herself, "Well, I guess I can't expect you to have my back then."

Before I could reply, a giant fireball appeared right in front of us, and we barely dodged it by throwing ourselves out of its way.

I looked up, and to my horror, a giant flaming salamander the size of a car was blocking our way further inside.

"A Zymean salamander! One hit is enough for a second degree burn!" Cady warned as she slammed her hand on the ground, "Earth Element: Sand Rampart!"

A slab of gray beach sand erupted from the ground before us and blocked the incoming attack, quickly giving us time to gain footing.

"As much as I want to finish it at close range, the flames will surely burn off my hands and I can't risk that especially that from the looks of it, this is the first time you have ever seen a monster this close, much less fight one."

She then pointed at my trembling knees and hands before smiling kindly.

"I can now understand at least why you value your life above all else. You can barely, if ever, defend it on your own. How much more mine?"

She took a deep breath and slapped the rampart she summoned, "Earth Element: Rolling Barricade!"

It suddenly produced spikes and turned round before rushing towards the salamander that shrieked in surprise as it began to trample it flat before exploding in a blast of fire.

"Wow..."

"All in a day's work, huh?" my companion asked happily as she offered her hand, and I accepted it gratefully and let her help me stand up, "Are you all right?"

"Thanks to you."

"Your parents must have loved you so much if they didn't let you get near any monsters this long," she said quietly, and I could sense a hint of jealousy in her tone, "But Crysalia is such a dangerous place, it wouldn't hurt to know a bit of elemental manipulation just to be safe, right?"

I nodded and looked down at my still trembling hands, "Yes. But as you can see, I am overcome by intense fear the moment I saw that thing. It is my first time seeing a monster this close, they are trully terrible creatures."

"Indeed, they are. All the more reason to learn how to deal with them. But then again, that's why we are here, right? To study?"

"Right. But next time, I will have my hands at a ready with my revolvers. I can at least shoot from long range if I can keep a steady hand."

She gave me a thumbs-up, and we continued our walk further inside the catacombs, where only the sound of a soft howling wind and dripping water could be heard.

"So, your element is metal, right? Have you ever manipulated it, or as in never?"

I don't know if I should compromise myself answering her question, but she saved me earlier, not just from a monster but also from myself, so I guess it wouldn't hurt to let something slide a bit.

"I know the theory and movements to manipulate it. I just don't have the chance to do it outside of a controlled environment."

"Well, that's better than nothing because I might really need your help with this one," she said nonchalantly before pointing at several principalian lindworms, flying serpents in all but name hissing at us when we entered another empty room of the catacombs, "If you can distract them long enough for me to close in, that will be a huge help, Arcelon."

Chapter 5 -Free-

"I'm going in!" Cady screamed as she ran as fast as possible towards the charging lindworms hellbent on biting the heck out of her.

I quickly drew my guns and began firing in the monsters' general direction to get their attention, "Gun Art: Random Shooting!"

Though I was not hitting any one of them as expected, I still managed to divert their attacks towards my direction, giving my companion the opening she needed.

"Palm Art: Prancing Blows!"

Cady jumped as high as she could while trusting her palms in the air and hitting the monsters one by one, effectively reducing them to dust until no one was left in the swarm.

Silence befalls us once more as my companion cleaned her hands happily, "Now that's teamwork, Arcelon."

"I just made a fuss is all, Cady."

"Nope. You literally served them on a platter for me. These monsters' venoms are difficult to make an antidote of and rather painful as well. I am just happy I didn't have to deal with that nonsense."

I smiled a little at her as we continued our march onwards, the depths unknown of the catacombs, "Sounds like this is not your first dance with lindworms."

"They are endemic to the archduchy but that doesn't mean that no idiotic Alcriman cannot bring some to our country as demented pets and accidentally release them in the deserts."

"Well, that's one of the things that makes an Alcriman, Alcriman. A healthy dose of doing before thinking at its finest."

We both chuckled as we looked around the winding paths around us, each leading to seemingly endless darkness.

"I wonder what these catacombs are for?"

"Well, they are not called catacombs for nothing. An underground cemetery is my best guess, Arcelon."

I furrowed my brows and squinted my eyes to find any telltale signs of what she was talking about, and for better or worse, I didn't find any.

Yet.

"No bones, bodies, or crypts nor tombstones and coffins," I said matter of factly, "It's more of a labyrinth than catacombs if you ask me. Well, at least as far as I know, catacombs' layout will not be as confusing as this one to make a living person lose their way inside and join those who are supposedly resting here."

She suddenly looked pensive after hearing what I said as we made a random turn before stopping and kneeling abruptly as she put her right hand and tapped the soil, "Earth Element: Past Memoriam."

I was expecting something to happen, but after a few minutes of silence, Cady stood up and nodded her head at me, "You are right. This is not a catacomb."

"Wait, what's that enchantment that you just did?"

"A sensory one that will tell me if there are human remains above or below us. If there are, clouds of sand will rise and scatter to lead us to their locations. But as you saw, nothing happened. So your guess is right. A labyrinth it is."

"But for what?"