L'Opéra De Géhenne VI

It freezes. It's so, so cold.

The two may feel the chill lightly.

Yet I sense the freezing humidity thrice as sharply as they do due to the codex.

My teeth tatter while my body hair stands straight.

Despite everything, I remain detached.

It's only feelings, feelings, which proactively deceive me. 

Mari clears her throat.

"In order to obtain the experience required for cultivation, you need cores. Monsters have cores, and The Abyss is abrim with them." Mari crosses her arms, watching the rough ceiling. "The outside is really risky. Again, if they detect you and your dungeon, they will send an army."

"As for the dungeon defense, while we're away, there's no point leaving monsters. They are of low rank, so they won't help stop most intruders. Rather than that, it's better to put them to use inside The Abyss," the grand strategist explains, circling her amber hair between her fingers.

"But you really don't have to worry," she assures, eyeing me. "As I've said, the chances that someone will appear in such a short duration is abysmally low."

I nod, raising a single finger to my lips in a gesture of silence.

Time to think.

It is pointless to remain inactive inside the dungeon, awaiting an onslaught from the outsiders. The best defense is attack.

As for going to the outside world, again, she seems to be right. If her narrative abides to the truth, then heading there equates to prescribing myself a death sentence.

I lean my head back, eyes closed, arms crossed, my straight hair brushing against my eyes.

They will attack…

Time… time is of the essence.

Speed is the crux of every enterprise.

Things need to be done quickly, fast.

No, I need to push myself beyond just the speed, beyond the limits.

I take a step inside the opened door, embracing the darkness fully.

"Follow me," I command. "We can discuss the rest there when the time is slowed."

I hear pairs of steps behind me.

Then I look back. We look back.

At the screeching door that closes.

Then darkness. Silence, complete and utter serenity.

The door vanishes.

Instead, a wall.

A wall made of flesh.

It throbs, it pulses, it wobbles.

It smells of rot and sulfur, of old blood and sour fluorine.

I can hear Mari churn and gag, about to spill over, acid creeping up her throat.

She clenches her jaw and sucks in desperate breaths, beating her fist against her ribs.

Clammy sweats form on my forehead and drip down my lips.

Then—

Light.

No, not just light.

Eyes, many.

They part open on the flesh walls, gushing blood, watching us intently.

Most are white, some are purple, and very few are blue in color.

They are the size of a bear's head, some even as big as a commute elevator.

Some the size of fists while others large enough to swallow a man whole in a single blink.

Suffice it to say, the space is large, enormous.

Shadows move when they shouldn't.

"Khehehehehe~" silent laughs enshroud the area. "Khehehehehe~"

The voices neither stop nor relent.

"Khehehehehehehehe~"

I turn my head around in an attempt to find the source.

They come from far away, down.

The only way.

"It most definitely was a terrible idea," Nan says nonchalantly. "At least it's hot."

It's hot. Too hot.

The soles of my feet wail in agony.

I look down at the ashen floor, embered veins writhing about.

"Princess, how do we determine time here?" I ask, turning and glancing at Mari.

She responds, her face covered in bluish white glints, "Your status. Try to think about it, and it should."

I do as she says.

Gehenna |Area #23301|

Time: 00:00:49

Area: ???

Fifty seconds, huh. Do I have to endure this for days to no end?

"It can't be…" Mari splatters to the floor, her knees hitting the ashes. "It can't…"

I begin to have a terrible premonition. If I am to trust my instincts, and I sure am—

We're fucked.

"Mari? Something wrong with you?" Nan asks, kneeling mildly and nudging her shoulder. "Hey? Are you okay?"

"We are in an undefined area…" she says after a long pause. "Which means… nobody has yet come out of it alive in history…"

That does sound terrible.

"Just what kind of luck…" she bickers, her eyes hazy, teary.

"Stand," I say, forcefully grabbing under her shoulder and pulling her up to her feet. "Don't fret. It won't help."

"But how could this… I thought all of Gehenna has been discovere—"

I slap her, the slap resounding.

Even the nearby eyes blink at that.

She tilts her head forward, staring at me emptily.

I slap her once more. Then again, repeatedly—

"Stop!" Nan shouts, grabbing my hand. "That's enough. You'll cause a concussion."

Oops. It seems I overdid it.

"I don't understand you, Princess. Why are you so afraid of such things after fighting me? This brings shame on my name," I tell her, clasping her face in my hands and pressing my forehead against hers. "So you better not chicken out now."

"But…" she whispers, tears falling. "But we have exactly zero chances of survival… This is the worst case scenario with close to zero probabili—"

I flick her head. "So? What's the point of lamenting? If we die, then that's that. That's as far as we got, simply that."

I turn and step forward, leaving the two behind.

"How disappointing," I say, lowering my eyes. "I had hope in you. I thought you amounted to something, yet nothing. All fuss and words, all bark, no bite."

"If you can't stand behind your words, your ideas and ideals, then they are but a speck of dust in the timeless history, forgotten and unbegotten." I walk while my feet shrill in anguish.

"Wait!" she shouts from behind.

I glimpse at her, turning my head, my body facing forward.

"We need to formulate a plan! We can't just barge in! After checking Nan's status and how your gifts work, we will know how to put up a fight!"

I smile, crying inside.

I don't have to walk all that back now, do I?

"Status? What's that?" Nan asks Mari from behind me.

I sigh, looking at the deepening tunnel, about to turn back.

Yet there is a flying, bloody eye glaring at me in close proximity.

It has no eyelashes but lips instead.

Instead of an iris, it has a mouth.

Its tongue sticks out, licking its lips and smiling maniacally with its whole body.

A fucking flying lip-eye?