Chapter 100: Ch138. Black Nest - 2 (Door)
Kurt was surprised when he nodded positively, silently allowing his relative to eat.
Groth gently rubbed his head against Kurt’s leg, and advanced without any ceremony against the corpse of the great serpent.
The sounds of flesh being ripped from bone, blood dripping, and skin being torn made Kurt feel slightly nauseous, but he held on.
The simple fact of having his familiar close to him again, moving and acting normally, was enough to make Kurt happy.
After a few minutes, Groth seemed satisfied, and Kurt completely dumbfounded.
There was no sign that the huge snake had ever existed there.
If it hadn’t been for the bones, it might well have seemed that this was an area of swampy, forest-like Nest completely untouched and unexplored.
Kurt stroked behind his familiar’s ears.
"Good boy." Kurt complimented. "How are you feeling?"
’I’m still feeling a bit weak, but I’ll be able to regain my strength as I eat more.’ Groth sat on his hind legs, his canine form growing little by little. ’Why has the master been gone so long?’
Kurt explained to Groth the reasons for his prolonged absence, and the things that happened during that time, as the two of them went deeper and deeper into the forest.
As they walked, dodging vines and jumping over those lakes of black, dead water, they faced more and more Beasts.
Beasts that, strangely enough, seemed to form a complete and vast ecosystem in that Nest.
There were reptile-type Beasts, such as snakes, lizards and crocodiles, as well as insect-type Beasts, and even some Beasts that vaguely resembled mammals and birds.
The more Kurt fought, the more he got used to the presence of his familiar nearby, and the more he felt comfortable using his new abilities.
And more Groth fed and grew.
’Our little lupine friend will soon reach breaking point.’ Arias said, in Kurt’s mind.
’Breaking point?’
Kurt frowned, unfamiliar with the term, as well as anything so far related to familiars.
’When a familiar feeds and fights enough, it grows.’ Arias said. ’But not just physically. Their strength and powers increase, and they may even be able to awaken or evolve their innate attribute.’
’So familiars have attributes too?’
’It’s not like we’re items or anything, but we have our own powers and personal characteristics. Our innate attributes are part of that.’
’So you have an innate attribute too?’
’Yes.’ Groth answered instead of Arias. ’But his attribute isn’t complete yet, just like mine. This one only has size.’ He laughed.
Kurt gasped at the small exchange of what seemed to be insults between his friends, and almost interfered, when suddenly, Arias launched in.
’It’s good to see you again, even if in a smaller and different form, King of the Direwolves.’
’I say the same, hatchling.’
Kurt laughed at the exchange of affectionate insults, but something there made him feel uncomfortable.
’You... You know each other. I can already tell by your exchange of compliments. But... If Arias didn’t come from a Nest, and the Direwolf Plain is a Nest that used to be inside the academy, how do you know about each other?’
Both Arias and Groth seemed to laugh at each other.
’Pardon me, master.’ Groth said, bowing his head. ’I forget that you’re still inexperienced as to what the Nests really are.’
Kurt’s eyes narrowed.
’And what are the Nests, really?’
But Groth couldn’t complete his thought or answer his master’s question.
For they had reached the edge of the swampy forest.
And at its edge, there was what looked like the entrance to a cave, dark, damp, cold, and emanating a terrifying energy.
[YOU ARE APPROACHING THE RESTING PLACE OF THE QUEEN OF THE FOREST]
"Resting place of the forest queen, huh..."
’We need to get inside, master.’ Groth announced. ’Vena may not have much time.’
Kurt thought about asking how Groth seemed to know so much there, but he would have answers anyway, and he would have time to talk it all over with his relative.
So he took the first step towards the cave entrance.
Silence emanated from the stone edge, seeming to contaminate all the surroundings.
And when Kurt crossed the stone threshold, he seemed to be immersed in a completely different and new world.
His [NIGHT VISION] ability allowed him to discern every detail of the cave entrance, and it took his breath away.
The rock formations inside were dark and shiny, like crystals of various colors.
Stalactites seemed ready to fall on them at any moment, and stalagmites hindered the crossing process a little.
But little by little, Kurt and Groth entered that new and unknown realm.
It was as if they had set foot in a completely different, new and unknown type of Nest.
’A cave-like Nest...’ Kurt thought, as he saw little bat-like beasts flying around.
’Don’t worry, you won’t have to fight them.’ The voice said in Kurt’s mind.
Bewilderment overtook Kurt as his footsteps led him deeper and deeper into the cave.
The air was stale and stagnant, but it seemed to be rich in breathable oxygen, so Kurt had no trouble breathing there.
But the more he observed his surroundings, the more he understood how little human society knew about the Nests.
The Nests that the wielders had studied so far had nothing like the varied ecosystem of that one.
It was more like small stretches of a field, where Beasts accumulated and bred, with the aim of overpopulating the place and exploding out into the world.
But that place, that swampy forest, and that cave into which Kurt was delving, that was something completely new.
And if that wasn’t a Nest...
Then Kurt had no idea where he was putting his feet.
A gigantic door that seemed to be locked by a series of intricate locking mechanisms revealed itself before him, after what seemed like hundreds of meters of a slightly steep descent.
’Help me, shadow child, King’s Tamer...’ The voice pleaded in Kurt’s mind.
"Help, huh..." Kurt frowned slightly.
The door that loomed before him was full of intricate arabesques, with designs that didn’t seem to have been made by any human hand.
The figures there seemed to tell stories of creatures and conflicts.
Groth approached and sniffed.
’Ew... There’s still the smell of them...’
"Whose?" Kurt asked. "The Ishir? They’re the ones who locked this... Queen of the Forest in there?"
Groth shook his head.
’I don’t think that’s something I can tell you. At least not now. But no... It wasn’t them... The Ishir are something much more recent, in the history of events.’
Groth’s words sent a sudden shiver down Kurt’s spine.
Whatever had locked whatever was trapped behind that huge door...
Kurt didn’t know if he would be able to cope with it, given that he was barely coping with the threat of the Ishir in his world.
’Let’s go in, master. Vena seems to be losing her strength very quickly.
And as if to emphasize and agree with Groth’s words, the system beeped in Kurt’s mind.
[VENA’S LIFE FORCE IS RUNNING OUT]
[HURRY, BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE]
Kurt’s eyebrows arched.
He took a deep breath, snapped his fingers, and approached the door.
"Come on, then."
The first part of the mechanism that locked that door seemed to be a simple keyhole, so Kurt thought for a few seconds, and took out his [HIDDEN INVENTORY] weapon, [MOON SHADOW].
"Let’s see if I can make you something more than a weapon..."
Kurt activated one of the blades, ready to position it inside the lock, when, upon inspecting the structure a little more carefully, he was taken aback by what looked like a cavity into which eight pieces were to be fitted.
"Tricky key, isn’t it?"
Suddenly, however, Kurt’s mind lit up like a dark room after a light bulb has been switched on.
He separated the two circles that made up the [MOON SHADOW], he analyzed the four blades of each one, very carefully, and by sharpening his senses as much as possible at that moment, his vision sharpened to the limit.
Revealing that each of the four blades of the two pieces of his weapon had intricate serrations.
And that those serrations were too complex to simply be tools to damage your enemies.
Quite the opposite.
They looked more like teeth on a key.
"You have got to be kidding..."
Kurt closed the blades, brought the two metal circles together, and prepared to slide them into the keyhole.
And when he turned the piece inside, to his surprise, he heard a sequence of clicks, indicating that the first sequence of locks had been released.
"Holy shit..."
Kurt couldn’t believe what he was just hearing.
Could it be that his weapon was actually a key for that door?
But he couldn’t enjoy the sweet shock of realization for long, as the system blared in his head with a louder beep.
[THE NEXT LOCK REQUIRES A BLOOD SACRIFICE]
Kurt senses Arias’ tension, and he watched as Groth growled, threatening.
