Chapter 31: Face Of The Robed Figure
Far deeper within the mountain, Regaleon pursued the robed figure, or female, through twisted tunnels drenched in crimson darkness.
Though the robed female might be physically weak, she was surprisingly fast as she sprinted ahead of Regaleon with her dark robes fluttering wildly behind her.
Regaleon’s golden eyes was narrowed beneath his helmet as he kept his gaze on her figure.
His Halberd gleamed sharply in the darkness while his Armour radiated a faint golden light as he ran through tunnels that seem to twist endlessly.
Some of the tunnels led downward while others went upward. Occasionally, Regaleon glimpsed shapes embedded within the tunnel walls as he zipped past.
They looked like human figures; motionless and half-absorbed into the walls.
The more he saw, the more his expression darkened.
Just what was this place?
He had thought the cavern was the only breeding nest, but now, it turns out that the nest might be the whole mountain itself...
Suddenly, the female ran into another cavern... And stopped.
Regaleon stopped just a few meters away from her and for the first time, he could properly see her outline beneath the robe.
She had a small frame and slender shoulders; she was human... Or a humanoid.
The circular chamber was silent save for the distant dripping of some crimson liquid from the ceiling...
Both of them observed the other silently for a few moments. Like two predators silently measuring one another.
Regaleon’s grip tightened on his Halberd before he finally spoke.
"Who are you...?"
His metallic voice echoed across the chamber walls before slowly fading into silence...
The robed female did not answer as she remained perfectly still. Not even the fabric that concealed her moved.
Regaleon narrowed his brows. Then he took two measured steps forward...
Clink! Clink!!
The sound of metal boots striking against stone reverberated sharply in the cavern...
"I asked a question. Who are you?"
Still, silence was his response as the female merely stared at him from beneath her hood...
Regaleon’s patience slowly thinned but still, he remained cautious. He would be an idiot if he couldn’t notice the odd behavior of the robed female...
Back at the Scaled cavern, he had nearly killed her with a single swipe of his Halberd. Yet suddenly, here she was, standing before him boldly.
Either she was ignorant of the threat he posed towards her life... Or something else was giving her an odd confidence...
Finally, the robed female spoke.
"Vharess na’thul kaerys vael."
The words flowed strangely from her mouth in a sharp, ancient and completely foreign dialect.
Regaleon frowned immediately. He did not understand a single word she spoke as her language sounded nothing like the common tongue of Valoria.
Instead, it carried an unnatural cadence that made the air itself feel heavier...
Regaleon exhaled slowly.
She did not speak the common tongue. This exploded, and confirmed, a lot of things...
He was about to say something when the robed female suddenly spoke again. This time, it was with a broken common speech.
"You... humans..." She started.
Her voice sounded strained, as though every word scraped painfully against her throat before escaping her mouth.
"...do not know... what... you have done."
Regaleon’s brows furrowed deeper.
Humans?
The way she emphasized that word was... Strange. As though she was not merely talking about the eight of them alone.
It was as if she believed that there were more humans in the Nether Lands.
The Forgotten Knight stared at her carefully. For the first time, uncertainty flickered through his mind as he processed her words.
Were there truly more humans in the Nether Lands?
Besides that, the way she emphasized it also indicate that she might not be a human...
Does that imply that she is a Sauryean or something like that?
Regaleon was silent for a few seconds before speaking once more.
"That still doesn’t answer my question."
The tip of his Halberd lowered slightly toward her as he asked again.
"Who are you?"
There was a deafening silence for a few moments. Then, the robed female raised her head sharply this time before speaking another sentence in that strange language...
"Thar’vak ner Vel’kross."
Regaleon was initially confused.
Didn’t she just speak in the common tongue?
But later, he understood what she did immediately... Because the moment those words left her mouth, the chamber exploded with a wave of shrieks.
SHRIIIK!!!
Regaleon’s head snapped upward instantly. He had been too focused on the female that he failed to keep an eye on the surroundings...
Well as it turns out, that was a terrifying oversight on his part.
Up above, in the ceiling, movement filled it as dozens of grotesque figures began unfolding themselves from the upper darkness of the chamber...
Regaleon’s expression darkened.
These creatures resembled the low-level Wights they had fought initially; only that this things were twisted further into something even more horrifying.
They looked like grotesque fusions between men and bats...
Their bodies were unnaturally thin and elongated with gray-black skin stretched tightly across protruding bones...
Their arms connected directly to massive leathery wings that unfolded around their skeletal frames like burial clothes...
Their figures ended in hooked claws capable of tearing flesh apart effortlessly...
Their faces were the worst; half of it was human while the other half was beast, with sunken flesh and split jaws.
Rows of needle-like teeth protruded outward from twitching mouth while crimson eyes gleamed hungrily from the darkness...
More than fifty of them hung upside-down from the ceiling like a colony of demons nesting within hell itself.
Seeing all of these, Regaleon finally figured where the female got her strange confidence from...
Then, the robed figure spoke again... And instantly, the creatures shriek once more before descending.
BOOM!
Regaleon moved immediately as his Halberd swept outward in a brilliant silver arc.
SHING!
The first creature diving toward him split apart instantly and unlike the Scaled or the monstrosities, this one exploded into black smoke...
His Soul Essences pulsed as they absorbed a red wisp of energy from the Winged Wight.
Regaleon was not given a moment of respite as the others continued rushing toward him from different directions.
They were too many and in just a few minutes, the chamber transformed into a storm of claws, wings, and shrieking madness...
One creature lunged at his neck...
CLANG!
It’s claws scraped against the Armour, sending sparks flying everywhere.
Another swooped low toward his legs...
Regaleon pivoted sharply before driving his knee upward into it’s skull...
CRACK!
Bone shattered instantly. And yet, the creatures did not stop...
They moved with terrifying speed because unlike the Scaled Wights, these Winged ones relied upon overwhelming mobility and aerial maneuverability...
They darted through the air like nightmarish mosquitoes given forms...
Regaleon’s Halberd flashed repeatedly as silver arcs tore through the chamber one after another...
One creature lost it’s wings...
Another was split apart from shoulder to waist...
A third exploded into smoke after taking the blade directly through it’s chest...
Yet while fighting, Regaleon noticed movement from the robed female...
She was actually retreating!
His eyes sharpened as he realized that she intended to escape.
Suddenly, his Soul Essences pulsed as runes ignited across their surfaces. He activated "Silver Sheen" and "Conqueror’s Momentum."
BOOM!
He surged forward like a cannonball as killing intent exploded outward in waves from his body.
That creatures that attempted to block him were shredded apart instantly before they could shriek...
One strike; three bodies fell...
Another sweep; wings and limbs scattered across the chamber...
Regaleon no longer fought defensively as he surged toward the figure like a storm given form...
The female happened to glance backward at that moment and saw ten Winged Wights fall within moments...
For the first time, fear entered her posture as she saw that Regaleon was gaining on her rapidly...
More creatures shrieked and descended toward him, but Regaleon ignored them entirely as he locked onto the fleeing robed female.
Finally, she managed to reach the far side of the chamber and then... A hidden doorway within the wall began opening.
Seeing this, Regaleon lunged...
His gauntleted hand shot outward... And caught the edge of her robe.
RIP!!!
The hood tore away... And time seem to freeze for a moment.
Golden hair spilled downward like flowing fire beneath the crimson crystal light around the chamber.
The gold was not ordinary; it was fiery, bright and burning. Almost luminous.
The female turned around in shock...
And Regaleon almost gasped as he finally beheld her face.
It was young, beautiful... And strangely wild.
Her eyes blazed with fiery orange. Like molten embers within the darkness...
Two small horns curved slightly from her forehead, protruding through her golden hair.
These were not like beast horns; insstead, they were small and elegant...
The female’s expression twisted instantly into fury.
"Sha’vel draeger vi astrath!"
The words exploded from her mouth viciously.
Regaleon could not understand the language, but he understood the hatred behind it perfectly.
Then... The doorway slammed shut.
BOOOM!
Stone crashed together before Regaleon could follow... And the Knight halted abruptly.
There was silence, which was broken only by the distant shrieks of the Winged Wights.
Regaleon stared at the sealed wall in a daze as his mind churned violently.
The horns, golden hair, fiery orange-red eyes, and the foreign language; those were evidence that something else exists within the Nether Lands.
Something that was not Wight...
Something that was not human either...
Perhaps, something that was... Sauryean?
SHRIIIK!
The remaining Winged Wights attacked again, snapping him out of his thoughts.
Regaleon turned sharply just as two of them crashed toward him simultaneously.
His Halberd spun and silver light exploded outward. Both creatures split apart midair before smoke drifted upward...
Then, the chamber descended fully into slaughter as the creatures attacked relentlessly from every directions.
Their shrieks overlapped endless until the chamber sounded like a nest of starving devils...
Regaleon activated his Runes as he fought faster, sharper, and more precisely.
One creature lunged low and.. It lost it’s head before dissolving into smoke.
Another descended from above and... Got impaled through the chest.
Three attacked together, Regaleon carved his Halberd sideways and the creatures were obliterated.
The fight intensified as the creatures shrieked frantically now. They were already reducing in numbers.
From more than fifty...
They became thirty.
Then twenty....
Then fifteen...
Then ten...
By now, black blood covered the chamber entirely as pieces of wings and flesh littered the floor.
Finally, the surviving creatures hesitated. Regaleon turned toward them and raised his gleaming Halberd toward them coldly...
Seeing this, the creatures fled. Like a pack of stray dogs from a lion.
They retreated upward into the darkness of the cavern ceiling before vanishing into narrow crevices.
And just like that, silence descended again...
