Silence. It was very silent, with only residual whispery embers of former sound. Blurry. Her vision was so very…not necessarily blurry as much as…nonsensical; light was taken in by her perfectly functional eyes but went largely unprocessed by her occipital lobe. Of course, the presence of quite the light indicated that this…wherever she even was…was quite luminated. However, it did not take long at all before her visual processing readapted to this new environment, her vision steadily returning to confirm or correct the details her ears had already constructed.

  A very large and very spacious—volumetrically wide and tall—chamber unlike any other she had seen priorly within this sunny-cavern system; in fact, she did not even know whether she was even still within that sunny-cave, for she was clearly…much deeper underground.

  This chamber was as if the interior of a towering dome; the smooth ceiling and top extended quite high from even her already kind of high position relative to the ground level. It was almost…entirely composed of hard crystalline rock and stone of a strange pale and unsaturated bluish-like color, with pulsating ‘veins’ of distinct pinkish glimmer integrated within and extending all over and around. This crystalline material was reflective and highly luminescent, collectively creating an almost day-like brightness that stood in stark contrast to the abyss of darkness directly behind her; they seemed compositionally unrelated to the glow-spider’s crystalline growths.

  The extending walls of this dome-like chamber were awfully smooth, though she could…probably climb them; they had entry points and opening crevices similar to the one upon the edges of which she presently stood. Quite conspicuously, these entry points were located similarly to one other, forming a ring almost of entry points; equally conspicuously, the walls themselves seemed awfully smooth as if being both easy to slide down with…relative intactness yet also difficult to climb back up, although she figured she herself could…probably climb them.

  Regardless, everything about this dome chamber conveyed a sense of an intentional trap zone; it seemed designed and constructed, by no means a natural formation—an inference further emphasized by the strange formations, structure-like vagueities, and more especially obelisk-like pillars at the ground level composed of that same exotic crystalline material.

  And…speaking of that ground level… Indeed, what her ears were unable to make out, her eyes could certainly now see… This scene.

  Quite the engagement had happened here; the crystalline chamber had patterns of craters and distortions as if having been smacked with force; cracks and holes as well from crystalline spikes and pikes that had been lanced into them.

  Eight… No, ten… Discernable bodies, she counted. Their conditions varied but were all horrific in their own ways. Five bodies seemed to have been overwhelmed by a fury of…something that had to have been at least slightly explosive—or shattery, rather, considering the crystalline shards. Four bodies seemed to have been…impaled—three clean into a pillar or wall, and one just…from the ground…as if a spike had materialized from beneath and, well, went up. And, lastly, one body was thoroughly cauterized into something almost inhuman, armor and clothing having melted into their cooked skin.

  These ten bodies, however, were just what were most immediately obvious. Judging from the remaining bits and pieces—fragments of remains—, she estimated an additional…two, no four…causalities, bringing the total to fourteen; though, there could potentially be more.

  Directly to the left of her viewpoint, however, at some distance away and more at the center of this chamber, was…some kind of large…protective ‘bubble’. Radiant, being of this yellowish-white color; condensed and concentrated; flaky and wispy; fluffy yet hardened as if somehow both gaseous yet solid; smooth and soft yet firm and stiff; so clearly composed of essence and thus most likely a product of the arcane—a rather advanced product, indeed.

  It was only barely transparent, with just enough light escaping from this exotic bubble to make out…four vague and almost shadowy silhouettes within it, alive and animate…

  Survivors. Those were most certainly the survivors. That protective shield-bubble, then, had to be...the arcane product of one of the survivors…

  Although, hm… Quite oddly, there seemed to be these stringy ‘roots’ that were…stitched to that shield-bubble which connected from the outside, not emanating from within; while such essence ‘roots’ were exceedingly difficult if not impossible to notice ordinarily, her eyes in particular were exceptionally attuned to be able to make such out, at least to a certain degree and only sometimes. Nevertheless, this outside eminence of the bubble’s connecting roots potentially suggested that the source of this arcane bubble was…something that was beyond the bubble; beyond this chamber, even, considering how…

  Oh, whatever. While she had much she could cogitate regarding that arcane shield-bubble, her immediate focuses and present priorities inhibited any further curiosity. All that mattered to her was that were survivors trapped down there, and…

  Indeed, to the right of her viewpoint, far and at a distance to the front of those four trapped soul’s view, was a…gargantuan and towering rectangular corridor, as if a crystalline frame for a gigantic door that lead into an abyss of darkness; none of the light bouncing all over this dome of a chamber entered through that towering way, it seemed.

  However, she did not need to see what was beyond nor even evaluate the impressions left behind on the floor…to know that whatever had done this was so clearly somewhere down that direction, quite the many…sounds having been echoing from that corridor. It was immediately obvious to her, likewise, that this whatever was also…equally gargantuan as that corridor and most certainly dangerous, even for the likes of her.

  Her immediate deduction was that…the survivor’s bubble had halted any further attack, and it decided to, for whatever reason, retreat for the time being. Regardless of the why, this was unlikely to last; it will eventually return, and therefore time was limited… She needed to figure out a way to extract the survivors and—

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  “Gods’ sacred toilet! There you are! You really need to… Need to… Gods, my lungs hurt!” So abruptly, a panting voice levied from behind with arriving steps, having finally caught up.

  The foreigner almost instantly flinched, nearly jerking, as she twisted herself around with quite the reactive glare, having…in a rare instance…been genuinely startled. So consumed she was by her fixated focus, she had not noticed the wagoneer’s encroaching arrival… Either this meant she was rusting or…her essence had simply become trusting of this wagoneer—enough to not immediately alarm her of his presence.

  “Do not…surprise me…in such a way.” the foreigner’s slightly elevate breaths bluntly stated; not even because she hated being startled, but rather her automatic defensive responses could potentially prove dangerous to him… Indeed, she nearly drew her pistol.

  “Heh… Now, I didn’t think you of all folks could be sneaked up on… You’re always so on edge and alert, you know…” yet the wagoneer somewhat humorously replied, perhaps trying to keep himself at ease, not knowing what to expect. He approached closer, leaning down next to the foreigner as he too peered at…the scene down below. “What in the Demon-King’s fiery decapitated throat-hole happened down there… Yikes…” Indeed, what an awful scene this was… “Now I’m wondering how I didn’t hear this shit… This couldn’t have been a quiet fight…”

  “Hm…” The foreigner merely mumbled, as if barely listening as her attention sharply returned to her prior focuses.

  Wagoneer’s eyes shifted, noticing the shield-bubble. “Hmm… That where the stragglers, then? That’s some kind of…holy barrier, I reckon…” he reckoned, still panting somewhat; “Lucky them, they had a priest or priestess on them… Trinitarian from the looks… Yeah, has to be; that’s their Heaven’s powers…”

  The foreigner sighed vaguely, turning to him; “Well, since you are here, I need you to stay here and watch with your gun. This place looks big but it is not truly that big, so this spot will give the good sight.” she thus stated; “But I am going down there to try to help.”

  “…” The wagoneer, however, stared at her in a certain blank fashion… “Lady, now I…get you’re a little menace, but… I have seen the type of…horror-things that can cause this type of carnage… Not even an Imperial or…even Company anti-monster regiment could get rid of them, it’s why they still exist these days at all!”

  Yet the foreigner’s glance shifted into more a partial glare, mask-obscured eyes indifferent and flat. ? Ergo? ? she muttered coldly. “The plan is not to fight, but rather to retrieve those…survivors before this…this whatever thing returns.”

  The wagoneer, however, remained thoroughly unamused and unconvinced. “Yeah, alrightly, but then how? Let’s say you roll down there and manage to get fetch them… How are you going to get them out?” He gestured his arm strikingly. “Just look at this place, it’s clearly a death-trap… Once you fall down into there, there’s no climbing out—the only way out is through that giant door, and you don’t need to tell me what’s down that way…”

  “It may appear to you to be unclimbable, but it is not the fully smooth. There are the…gripping cracks and… Whatever, the words are pointless. I can climb it.” The foreigner remained staunchly firm, her mind practically entrenched.

  “Oh, yeah, I’ve got no doubt you can probably climb back up, but…” His arm and eyes pointed in the direction of that barrier… “Those folks down there? I doubt it. They would’ve already climbed back up here if they were able to, but they can’t; they’re still stuck down there.” He was so very blunt indeed. “Let’s face it,” he sighed, “They’re as a good as dead, and they know it. Adventurers know what they’ve signed themselves to, and they got too cocky. So, I say, we get out of here before that monstrosity comes back and fries us for dinner…”

  “You…are telling to me…to leave them…behind?” The foreigner said this in quite the peculiar way.

  “Yeah… I don’t like doing this either, but… I can’t even count how many are dead down there—we won’t be any help, just more dead to add to the pile…” the wagoneer thus said, and by no means easily; “All I’m saying is, we’re witnesses, and if none of us make it out, nobody’ll be able to tell what happened here… What we gotta do is get out of here and tell your Guild what we’ve just seen—let them send someone who can actually deal with this…”

  “Hehm.” The foreigner practically scoffed, tsking. “Fine. Then that is your job. Leave and tell, but do not ask me to leave these…persons behind to die. I will find some way. And do not presume that there is the logic to fear; maybe they can climb, but are too paralyzed within their barrier from the fear… I have seen this more of the times than you could possibly begin to understand.” Her voice was hollow and flat yet…there was something within the coldness… “Now, if that is all that you must say, then be quiet and let me do my job. If you are without the interest to help, then leave and be this ‘messenger’. But I am going down there.” Indeed, she was rather standoffish… Yet her mask-obscured eyes then drifted slightly down, her breaths…reflective; ? …et ?i jo pería, dunc ita’st; na servi?iad erit. ?

  If she died, then so be it.

  The wagoneer remained silent… He had never seen the foreigner, who tended to be overall friendly when not focused on her immediate quests, be so…this—so staunchly adamant and even belligerent. She was completely serious, and there were no words he could implore to convince her otherwise; she was simply not having it.

  “Fine, fine…” He sighed with more of a groaning ugh… “Little menace, you’re the one who dragged me here—I’ve got no clue where in the Demon-King’s bloated asshole I am, so… I can’t leave without you; I’ll just end up spider food.” He gripped the long-rifle in his hand… “I’ll stay up here and…do my best to be your highwatch.” He thus, ultimately, begrudgingly accepted. “We’re in this together, I guess…”

  “Huh?” The foreigner tilted her head just a little, perhaps…actually surprised by this sudden turn about. “Oh… Uhm… Well, I give the thanks, then…” Her demeanor shifted, no longer bitterly standoffish; “If…that whatever thing…does come, all that I need you to do is—”

  “Yeah, yeah, little menace…” the wagoneer interrupted, taking his position. “I was a sharper in the greatest fighting army these lands had ever seen… I know exactly what you need me to do.” he stated; “Now, get down there already! Don’t waste time; we don’t got much.”

  The foreigner nodded and approached the edge that so separated darkened rock from crystalline glimmer. “One more,” she began to say, glancing at him… “You…did speak correctly. Thus, if it seems that things become…bad, leave us and retreat. One has to survive.” Without any further remarks, she finally hopped.

  Her boots skidded against the smooth crystalline rock as her figure slid down, tiny bits and pieces breaking off from the force of her heel. Reaching the ground largely unscathed though…a little bruised and achy, she brushed herself off before promptly unholsteing her revolving pistol. Without delay, she made her way straight to that shield-bubble or so-called ‘holy barrier’, swiftly.