Chapter 168: Source

Chapter 168: Source Unlike the rest of the facility, there was to light to show what laid at the end of the path which the stairs led to.

"Strange."

The moment the opening closed behind him with a click, he became engulfed with darkness. One that didn’t just take away the light around it, the darkness as something unique to it, a devouring nature.

One that wanted more from him.

It felt like he was in a thick swamp, with a weak tug on him from all directions, one too weak to have any adverse effects, yet still there nonetheless

Kieraj couldn’t even see his own hands despite raising it right in front of him, yet visibility wasn’t much of a problem for Kieran the moment his ability came into play, his eyes shining like the golden embers of a stalking predator from within the concealed darkness.

His eyes which were capable of seeing more than what was presented plainly in front if it, cut through the darkness, restoring the path for him.

"At least this is the a problem."

He muttered, relived that the darkness wasn’t like thr illusion, something he coukdnt see through.

’What if this is also....’

"No!"

He shook his head and the thoughts he had almost completed.

Thinking continously about it and falling into the jaws of doubt was like going down a rabbit hole he could never return from. All was lost when one started to doubt themselves.

The words of his instructor rang in his mind, setting his troubled mind to rest.

It was normal to face setbacks and moments like this where even his ability would supposedly fail him, but he could feel that this wasn’t on his ability.

He was an SS ranked after all, the first known of its kind.

The gap in skill and possibly power between him and whatever set up the illusion was just that huge.

’Aren’t I walking to my death then?’

Kieran closed his eyes, feeling the continuous pull of the darkness around him. A little more and he could feel it again, something he couldn’t get a read on, a blank and empty spot in space.

A void that appeared whenever his senses ran over it.

A small smile appeared on his face and he took the stairs leading downwards, his last option and lead in uncovering what they had trapped themselves in.

The path downwards was quiet and long, the only thing accompanying him being the sounds of his footsteps on the stairs which happed to be made of the same material as the block outside.

In fact, he had discovered that everything around him, the stairs and the walls were all of the same material.

Something he found quite baffling considering how precious he thought the material to be and how deep underground the stairs had led him.

’Hmm?’

Kieran came to a stop after reaching the landing of the steps revealing an empty space in front of him with several openings spread around, leading in different directions.

Taking a step forward, he felt the tog of the darkness withdraw behind him and a detail he had missed finally caught his attention.

There were tourches on the walls of the room, each burning with a bright blue flame which illuminated the space well enough.

Those strangely colored flames seemed to have some other effect asides lighting up the space as the darkness that engulfed the space and path he had threaded remained still, there at the entrance of the steps, looking like a dark barrier which absorbed whatever light that hit its surface.

’What is this place?’

Kieran walked around slowly, inspecting the room.

The lamps burning on the walls were clear signs of something outside their human technology. He had also seen a colored flame once, a green one from the mysterious creature they had ran into in the swamps.

The flames wasn’t anything he recognized, yet the room itself didn’t look like it was formed naturally, looking just like the exterior above ground — carved and perfect.

Kieran was trying to warp his head around what kind of equipment that could carve out a space in this material perfectly.

He still remembered his fight against those blue orcs who weilded weapons of a sinilar or probably the same material.

He couldn’t do any damage to it in the least. He even had Jake try his luck on the crude weapons and the result were the same. Not a single dent or crack.

If he had known about the spacial storages, he would’ve brought some of them back, but they had to leave them there to keep their pace.

"Hmm, there’s nothing to see here!"

Kieran muttered, after spending a couple of minutes in the place trying too see if he could find some hidden space or entrance in the walls like he did to enter here, but there was none to be found.

"Leaves me with this now."

Kieran muttered looking at the six openings spread around the room, each an opening to different paths.

’I’ll just take any one then.’

Kieran quickly decided, choosing to follow a random path, but that plan was quickly thwarted with the sound of shuffling feet.

"Hmm!"

His eyes narrowed, shoot in the direction of the sound.

Taking a few steps backwards, Kieran leaned his torso getting into a stance as he prepared to engage in a fight with whatever was heading towards him from the opening.

"A soldier?!"

Kieran muttered, suppressing the shock in his mind.

A soldier or not, be couldn’t lose his guard so quick, especially since he wasn’t sure if anything he saw in here anymore.

’Monster aura?’

Kieran noticed something odd about the soldier the moment he stepped into the room.

The soldiers he had seen when they snuck into the outpost were all ordinary, not giving the vibe of an awakened, but now he sensed monster aura from the one in front of him.

"...."

The soldier came to a pause in front of him, before lunging forward, his blackened eyes and sharp claws, a clear enough indication of his intentions.

For a short moment, Kieran’s eyes looked downwards and his hand reached for the spatial pouch tied at this waist, before pausing in hesitation.

’Not yet!’

He closed his eyes, and his fingers sharpened into claws and he took a wide sipe at the soldier, tearing across his flesh.

Kieran looked at his bloodied hand and glanced at the soldier who didn’t look like was ever gonna get up again.

’What was that for?’

He thought. The soldier didn’t look like he had any sanity in him,....

’If there is a monster behind all of this, then...’

Kieran’s head turned to the entrance where the soldiers had shown up from. Turns out he didn’t have to pick an exactly random path.

’I’ll just take this’

He gave the body one last glance. The dark veins and signs of mutation had started to fade, and the soldiers body was slowly turning to dust.

’That’s odd.’

He went back, storing a handful of the dust before proceeding down the path.

.....

"Odd!"

Kieran muttered after a while.

He had been walking down the same straight path for while now and he couldn’t even see the entrance behind him again, yet he hadn’t encountered any solider like earlier.

He was starting to consider the possibility that he had fallen into another illusion, he had no way to know even of he did.

His thoughts were broken by the sounds of shuffling feet. A sound that he was no stranger to accompanied with the now familiar monster aura he had felt on the soldier from before.

Something like that soldier was approaching him, and they were far more than one.

His eyes flashed, his claws sharpened and he tilted his torso forward, preparing to run through the approaching creatures in one go.

The one he had encountered earlier was pretty weak, and he had observed no hint of sanity in the soldier before he died.

It was no use trying to keep it or them alive.

BANG!

The air in the small space exploded as Kieran shot forward, the approaching creatures appearing in his view a moment after.

’10 of them.’

He counted, and his golden eyes shone even further and his body flashed, tearing through the creatures in an instant.

’I’m getting closer to something’

Kieran narrowed his eyes, his senses which had been constantly sweeping over his surroundings at regular intervals finally locking onto something up ahead.

With a clear destination in mind, Kieran broke into a full sprint towards the end of the path.

Coming to a stop, he felt something similar to the darkness on the stairs and the color in his eyes flared violently, peering through the darkness.

The space was wider than the first he came across. What caught his eye though was what covered the walls — a mass of pulsing flesh which spread all over like the roots of a tree.

Following it with his eyes, he saw several soldiers, just like the ones he had killed on his way there, standing at the center of the room, with one of those flesh-like roots connected to them.

’This is where it starts.’

He frowned, feeling the thick monster aura that flowed in the room.

GROWL!!

The sudden growl caught his attention and he looked to the side to see something he hadn’t anticipated.

"Jake?!"