I've been down here for a while now. Dad and Mom had stopped by, and Dad told me how my growth has been and asked if I wanted to keep going. Once I learned that I was on track to become as strong as him, I decided to stay. Mom noticed my arm and was worried, but after I showed my magic and told them about synergists like Nagumo, they chose to believe I could get a new arm no problem. Thus, Beru and I kept descending into the dungeon. I think we've descended around 50-60 floors by now and have now arrived in front of something reminiscent of a temple. It had a large stone door with two stone guardians on each side.
We approach the door, and, curious, I begin observing it. I'm not like Hiyama; I'll take my time after discovering a trap instead of simply activating it. However, all that I could discover was that it required some kind of magic core in two slots and the third one for a master key that altogether deactivates the lock.
"Mistress, if the keys reveal themselves during the trap, why don't you let an angel activate it while you wait at a safe distance." I nod at his suggestion. It's a good idea. The legion will revive with magic power while I can wait and see what happens. I call out Alpha, yes, I went into greek with the new 15, and direct her to touch the door once I'm 50 feet away. Once this is done, a magic circle appears on the door, and the two guardians begin reviving. "Sigh~ It's a freaking game mechanic." Next, I summon out 15 more angels and direct 8 at each of the cyclopses.
They are quite good with on offense. Each team has two archers and two magic casters, so it balances. I haven't checked for healers as I'm not sure if they work on the shadow legion. After ten minutes of them hacking and slashing at the cyclopses, they defeat them and reveal that each cyclops had the core key, so I had two angels take it up to the door.
The keys poured magic into the door, emitting red light and two blue magic circles. They started twisting and then lined up on top of each other before disintegrating, opening the door. I direct 11 of my angels to return to my shadow, but I keep Beru and 5 others out. These are the elites within my legion, and Bear considers them my guard. "Mistress, please be cautious. We don't know what to expect yet."
"Understood, Beru. Don't worry, I'm ready for a fight, and I have you six out. I know whatever could show up, you would definitely defeat." He chitters at this and knowing him for as long as I have known him, I can tell he's thrilled at the compliment. We walk through the door and enter a large hall with what looks like a cube at the other end. Slowly walking through the hall, we arrive at the cube, and to say I was shocked is an understatement.
A cute blonde girl, clearly naked, was hanging out with her upper arms and collarbone exposed. The arms go back into the cube with the rest of her body. As I approach, she slowly opens her eyes and stares at me. Those crimson red eyes immediately enraptured me. I could see flickers of curiosity in those eyes, and I think once she noticed my current status, amusement.
A minute of silence and staring went by before she coughed, waking me from my stupor, causing me to blush heavily in embarrassment. I know one thing, if anybody ever said that eyes couldn't be more beautiful than anything else on a body, I might kill them for sinning. "H-Hello," I meekly say through my blush, much to Beru's amusement.
"Hello," the girl says in return. I was shocked at how raspy her voice was. It was like this was her first time speaking in centuries, which with this seal, it may be. "My name's Andrea. What's yours? And how long have you been here?" This question was kind of a double question. I'm not looking for some underaged kid when I'm about to become an adult.
This was the first person I was actually attracted to, even with all of the beauties that surrounded me since I was a child. I can blame my Mom for the most part. She was an incomparable beauty, making it difficult to find somebody attractive when your attractiveness standards are far too high. Luckily, one person could apparently meet those standards, and that would be this girl. Therefore, if she met that age requirement, you better believe that I'm going to try to woo her.
"I don't really remember my name, and I don't really know how long I've been here." My heart hurt for this girl. She was clearly sealed here and, while I did want her, I couldn't just unseal her. She could be a demon lord or something, for all I know. Not to mention, she did lie about her name, and before you get curious, yes, I can tell. Enhanced senses work wonders as a lie detector.
"All right, Ms. No name," I say while sitting down and staring up at her. "We'll skip over the name for now, so why don't you tell me what you are sealed here for. From what I can tell, this seal is ancient, and there's no way somebody could look as young as you yet be ancient." I could see panic flash when I called her out for the lie, but she calmed down when I showed curiosity in her story.
"Sorry, I don't really want that name. It's a sign of my past. In terms of my story, I'll tell you. I was a princess once but was betrayed and sealed here when the people became weary of my power and bloodline. I come from a country of vampires, and my bloodline was the closest to the progenitors in millennia. I was unaging, an immortal. Of course, I would step down from the throne when I found a suitable candidate. However, I wouldn't leave it to anybody unworthy. And so, my uncle led a rebellion and betrayed me. They couldn't seal me, so in a time of weakness, they sealed me and brought me here... cough cough... sorry, it's been a while since I spoke so much."
I quickly shake my head, tears in my eyes at her backstory. "It's fine, I know you didn't lie during it, and now I know why you didn't want your old name. I'm sorry for what you've been through; I promise I'll get you out. And when I do, would you like to join me? I can even give you a new name?" Her eyes light up, but what caught my eye is that it wasn't when I said I'd release her. She was only slightly excitable when I said that. No, when I requested her to join me, she had lit up far more at the idea of me giving her a name. I couldn't help but chuckle, causing her to blush at her emotions being noticed. I chuckle even more before I start getting to work.
The cube was weird, to say the least. They made the seal so that she wouldn't ever really be able to escape, as it was completely solid, as if it was forged around her. Finally, I noticed what I was looking for. Every seal will always be just that, a seal. Where there is a lock, there will also always be a key, and hers was simply out of reach.
"Mistress," Beru says as he observes the lock, "it appears to be a blood mechanism, likely tied to her family. If we use a portion of her blood, it should allow the seal to release." I nod and agree, but I couldn't hide my worry. She hasn't eaten or drunk anything in a very long time, and even if she was a vampire, I don't know what kind of effect that would have. We're just going to have to hope their egos didn't like draining pain, so they made it a small amount.
Walking back around, I tell Yue what the lock is. "Take my blood. You are right. We don't like to drain ourselves too much, so it should only be a few drops." I nod and do as she says, while Beru quickly heals her back up once I'm done. I then walk around and pour the blood from my hand into the small container. The seal rumbles before cracks start to form, and the cube breaks apart. I grab her before she could fall completely and hold her in my arms, bridal style.
"Alright, Yue. How about we leave this place?" Man, the Chinese come up with far better names. I mean, her eyes remind me of a blood moon, and she's already a vampire, so, excluding the blood part, we get Moon. Then, using Chinese's superior names, we get Yue.
She nods, a blush forming once again. As we're going, another rumbling begins, and a giant scorpion creature comes falling from the ceiling. Yue looks worried, while I am just shocked at how many things are guarding this abandoned seal. Beru quickly travels up, fighting it, easily beating it, before we start hearing what I can only identify as gunshots. This confuses me quite a bit as this world didn't even bother making gunpowder, let alone guns.
Looking towards the sound, I see a man that (continues to describe Hajime. Not going to type that out. Way too much when a google search is more than enough.) He continues to shoot, but all of his shots do nothing to the creature. I sigh at its uselessness and return my focus to Beru, who was easily winning against the creature.
Finally, Beru tears off one of its tails and stabs it in the eye. This drew the man's attention as he looked shocked seeing Beru. A look of recognition on his face before it disappears behind another mask of nothingness. "Good job Beru, come back." My saying this drew the man's attention to me and then to Yue in my arms. I look down and realize Yue is still naked, so I quickly hide her behind a wall of angels and start weaving shadow clothing for her. This was something I figured out after Beru told me how my Dad could do it. She now had an outfit that, in my opinion, suited her perfectly.
(A/N: This is literally her outfit but a black coat instead of white)
Returning the angels, I focus on the man who started approaching us somewhat wearily. "Andrea, is that you?"
---Narrator POV---
"Andrea, is that you?" Hajime asks, clearly on guard against Andrea and Yue.
Andrea returns a look of scrutiny before realization dawns on her. 'If my looks could change, why couldn't his. We both fell down and, excluding the Hero complex, he is quite smart. He probably found some way to eat the monsters and heal at the same time.'
"I suppose that's you, Nagumo?" Yue shows some surprise at us knowing each other but continues to hide behind Andrea's back, already having trust issues due to her family.
"Yeah, it's me. I'm surprised we both survived. I guess you did the same as me and found a way to eat the monsters down here?" He asks, now looking calmer at finding his powerful and somewhat dependable classmate.
"Yeah, Beru and I experimented and found a way to eat them. For me, I had to dilute it, but I could eat it without it tearing apart my body completely. That, however, was with my body, so how did you do it?" Andrea asks, curiosity glowing in her orbs as they stare the man down, not accepting 'not telling' as an answer.
Before Hajime could answer, however, he was attracted instead to the little blonde girl standing behind his classmate. Noticing his gaze, Andrea pulled Yue behind her more, but instead of defensive, for her, it looked far more possessive, surprising both Hajime and Yue, not really Beru, as her father did the same once he realized his feelings for her mother.