126 Survival Horror - Part 3 (1/2)
”Overpowered?” Yunia asks Ted.
”A gaming term, meaning: a strategy, action, or object that's either the best choice in a disproportionate number of situations, which marginalizes other choices, and/or excessively hard to counter by the opponent compared to the effort required to use it,” she answers.
”A-nywa~y… I'm summoning a light elemental,” I say and start modifying the summon.
I make it look just like one of my small birds. It's surprisingly easy to copy things that I can summon.
”That's so cute,” Ciel says and stares at the little glowing bird on my palm. Her gaze may appear warm and loving, but I'm aware of her hidden desire to smother small things between her pillows. Ciel is a dangerous woman to small animals.
”Lure them away,” I order the elemental and let it fly out of the room.
Every husk's head immediately turns to it as it flies to the entrance and perches itself atop the door. Its brilliance is an order of magnitude higher than the glowing crystals of the room, making itself a much more delicious target. The husks uselessly flail about trying to grab the shining bird that stays just beyond their reach.
We wait for a few minutes until they all finish shambling towards the elemental and are crowded around it, then it flies to the next door down the corridor, and the room slowly vacates.
”Oh. My. God… Gods… Finally!” I exclaim and cast [Clean] all around us, purging the insufferable stench of rotten flesh.
We burst out of the room and close the doors to Engineering, but leave it ajar, then barricade them. If we fully closed them, we would be locked inside since they require a yellow keycard to open.
I breathe in the stale air and smell the rust, blood, and dust. It's bad, but still, it makes me smile that the worst is gone.
We start taking a look at the controls and let out a collective sigh when a female voice says, ”Access denied. Repeated attempts will trigger the alarm. Please use a yellow keycard for access, thank you for your understanding.”
”Well, there's nothing to do here,” Yunia says.
”Let's top off our mana, and then we'll go join the others,” I say, and they nod.
I pull down some comfy carpets for us to sit on, and we meditate. I put two of Yunia's points into [Redirect Mana] so that she can join us in meditating.
”You know, this mana doesn't feel disgusting like Necromancy did that one time,” I say as I pull the mana around us into myself.
”You… 'tasted' Necromancy before?” Yunia asks.
”We fought a husk manipulator once,” I answer.
”It almost feels like heresy to have husks heal from [Light Magic]. I've also never seen something like that before, so I don't fully believe these are true husks,” Ciel says.
”Some dungeons are truly mysterious, this one even more so,” Yunia says and nods like a sage.
”What an odd skill. It almost feels like [Spirit Magic], but it's much more… 'free,'” Yunia comments.
”'Free'?” I question and tilt my head just like Alissa.
Yunia's face twitches as she holds back a smile. ”[Spirit Magic] is all about turning the abstract and intangible parts of the soul into something usable and understandable. Your skill simply… 'moves' the soul without care for any of that. An odd but novel way of thinking.”
”I was inspired by the dwarven [Stonebody]. I heard that they use the ambient mana to passively increase their stats, so I tried to pull mana into myself,” I say.
”There are already skills for that: [Mana Recovery] and [Mana Absorption].”
”Oh yeah, what does [Mana Absorption] do?” I ask.
”It's a rare skill that lets you absorb excess mana and slightly reduce the power of any spells cast near you. It's almost useless since it requires too many points to be effective,” Yunia answers.
”Never heard of that one before,” Ciel says.
Yunia continues, ”I'm not surprised. Mages have been trying to directly manipulate their opponents' spells since the beginning of linear time, but it always goes back to the dangers of raw mana manipulation: either it's too weak for practical use, or it doesn't end well.”
”I know what that's like,” I say and smile wryly.
”Gih,” Gify agrees. It's surprising that she didn't pop out of existence while we fought the husks.
Gih.
Right, it wasn't even that much of a challenge for us.
We finish replenishing our mana, then I summon two small earth elementals. They merge with our barricade and fill the gaps with their bodies, ensuring that it blocks all light from escaping.
Then I open a [Gate] to the place where we split up, and we start walking towards the mansion, which is where we'll meet up with the rest of the girls.
--
Hana and Roxanne continue exploring the creepy mansion. The silence is the worst part of the eerie atmosphere. Everything seems bleak, ”colorless”… ”dead.”
”Should we really be here?” Roxanne asks.
Hana stops and raises the visor of her sallet. ”Hm? Of course, they're coming here,” she says and frowns.
Roxanne tightly hugs her staff, and Hana continues walking forward, letting out a nervous laugh.
”Of course…” Hana repeats in a low tone.
They pass by a dozen rooms, all of which seem to have once belonged to someone. Too curious for their own good, they take a look inside each one and see fragments of someone's personal life. A husband, a maid, a butler, a guard, a son, a father, a mother, a cook, a guest, a mage, a warrior, a scholar. They all feel ”private,” as if we were prying into their secrets.
The rooms don't feel just like a place of rest, they feel like graves.
Hana enters a room, and Roxanne follows her in. Hana gets interested in the dressing table with a mirror. There's an open makeup container with a dusty brush beside it, and small plushie dolls cover the rest of its surface. Jewels and a cute dress decorate a small mannequin beside it, making the girls tense up for a second.
Hana walks to the mannequin and prods it with the bottom tip of her shield. After a few seconds without a reaction, she sighs and lets it go.
”Seems like the daughter's room,” She says as she looks around, then she walks over to the dressing table and touches the makeup brush. ”Looks similar to the one you have. Wanna try it?” She asks with a grin.
”Not now…” Roxanne says in a low tone.
Hana swallows heavily and nods. She starts fidgeting, clearly nervous, and takes a closer look at the bookshelf.
”Girly romance stories,” Hana says and snorts.
Roxanne sits on the bed, and a sinking feeling enters her heart.
The room is pretty, too pretty. It's a princess's room.
Hana opens the wardrobe and sees cute dress after cute dress.
”I'm hoping these aren't just mana solidifications, then maybe we could take some of them for Lina. It seems like they could fit her,” Hana says.
Roxanne looks out the door, and a sense of dread swells up inside of her. Across this corridor is the last unexplored room on this floor.
”We found the mayor's personal room, but not his wife's…” Roxanne mutters.
”Y-yeah… what's up with that? Maybe they were separated,” Hana says and pulls out a thin white dress. ”Damn, I really want to see Lina wearing this one, hah…”
Hana returns to the dressing table and picks up the brush again. ”M-maybe I should put on some makeup. Wolfy would like that, right?”
Roxanne gets up and slowly walks forward out of the room.
Hana grabs a small blonde doll and starts brushing its cheeks with some makeup. ”Maybe we s-should put it on Suzy, instead. She's a girl, too… also Ted. W-what would Ted be like if she had a humanoid body? A boyish girl with short brown h-hair, hm?”
Hana looks towards Roxanne and freezes. Her hand trembles, and the brush slips through her armored fingers.
Roxanne is standing in front of the door to the last room, staring blankly at the handle. The dread only increases as time passes, but she feels that if she turns back now, she'll regret it.
”Roxanne?” Hana asks and slowly walks out of the room, her legs shaking too much to walk properly. ”Please, don't do that,” she pleads, her voice barely a whisper.
”She's my mother, I must obey her,” Roxanne says and grabs the handle.
”Mom's mad, we have to let her rest in peace,” Hana pleads again.
”Family is the most important thing that we have.” She twists the handle and opens the door.
They both freeze in terror, their bodies become as heavy as stone, their blood as cold as ice, their minds as fractured as broken glass. The Lady looks away from her mirror and turns around to face them. Their hearts are squeezed by the all-consuming scorn of the miserable, abandoned being in front of them.
”No…” Roxanne mutters.
The Lady takes a step.
”Mom, please,” Hana pleads.
The Lady takes another step.
”I don't want this…” Roxanne moans.
Her heels clack against the floor.
”I'm sorry,” Hana apologizes.
With each step, they feel something stabbing their hearts.
”Leave me alone…” Roxanne begs.
”This is too much…” Hana mumbles.
The Lady stops, then she turns her eyes to Roxanne.
”NOO~…!” Roxanne yells, then shrieks and runs away in a mad dash.
The Lady turns to Hana.
”I won't accept this…!” Hana gains some confidence and slowly draws her sword.
The Lady takes a step.
Hana's sword arm goes limp, and she falls to her knees.
”Mother, please, I can't…”
The Lady reaches both hands towards Hana's throat.
”I'm sorry…” Hana mutters, then she glows and disappears.
--
”HANA!” I yell and hug her. She doesn't react, slumped on her knees, completely catatonic.
Ciel casts [Heal], [Refresh], and [Purify Body] on the hysterical Roxanne while Yunia chants [Spirit Touch]. Ciel's spells don't accomplish anything, but Yunia's spell helps Roxanne calm down.
I cast [Spirit Touch] and grab Hana's heart. Somehow, I can feel that it's ”in pieces.” Holding it ”together” seems to help it heal.
”What the fuck…” I mutter. Tears run freely down my cheeks as their terror and pain still seep through our [Bind].
I pull Hana towards Roxanne so that the three of us can sit down and continue hugging while [Spirit Touch] does its work. I take off my gloves and our helmets so that we can touch our heads together and get some skinship going.
Aoi doubles back and runs towards us at full speed, reaching us after only a minute, while Alissa and Lina take a few more. Alissa crouches behind me and runs her fingers through my hair, easing my pain.
Ciel's [Holy Spirit] was left behind after their summoning, so she dismisses it and creates a new one. Its cute little feet crawl all over our bodies, imparting a small dose of happiness.
Roxanne relaxes and finally releases her staff from her death grip. Hana recovers from her stunned state and starts crying.
”That was so mean…” Hana moans and sniffles.
”What was it?” I ask, gently.
”That… monster… used the image of my Mom. It made her say horrible things about me, Dad, and my siblings.”
”That was just… evil,” Roxanne mutters.
”That sounds like an even stronger version of a Weeper,” Ciel says.
”I couldn't understand what you girls were seeing. It seems like it attacked your senses on a deeper level than what [Bind] can show me,” I say.
Roxanne rubs her head against mine, making her floppy and squishy horns tickle me. I turn my head to the side and kiss her forehead. Hana notices what we're doing and rubs her head on me, too, so I also give her a kiss.
”Neither the Holly nor the Shad saw anything,” I continue.
”And my [Holy Spirit] couldn't do anything,” Ciel says with a sigh.
”I don't think that we can fight that one,” Alissa says.
”It seems like every monster around here is invincible or impractical to kill,” Lina says.
”That's what 'survival horror' is all about,” I say.
”Video games?” Alissa asks.
I nod, and Ted answers, ”Survival horror is a sub-genre of video games that focuses on the survival of the character as the game tries to frighten players with either horror graphics or scary ambiance. The player is made to feel less in control than in typical video games through limited ammunition, health, speed, and vision, or through various obstructions of the player's interaction with the game mechanics.”
”Sounds similar to what we're facing,” Yunia says.
”I can barely understand what he's talking about,” Aoi says, almost proudly.
I smile wryly and extend a tail-hand to pat her head.
”At least we didn't piss ourselves,” Hana says in a low tone and snorts depressingly.
I pat her head, then give her a painful tug on her ear.
”Ahn…” She softly moans sensually.
”Don't look down on yourself, okay? These monsters aren't the kind that fights fair, if we can even call those horrible abilities a 'fight,'” I say.
She grunts and looks away, then her lips curl into a small pout.
I build up my resolve and breathe in, then I look at the other girls and say, ”Alright… we need a plan to deal with that thing.”
”Do we have to go there?” Yunia asks.