When the battle between Albella and the leader of the Sanc flowers ended only three individuals remained standing. Arum rushed to hold onto his master's injured body using some of the energy he had left to grow small stems to support her. While the multrow went to see if his partner had survived the blow of the leader of the sanc flowers.
“Young mistress, take this, I still have a recovery pill,” said Arum worriedly, offering her a white pill with a green runic inscription.
“Thank you,” Albella answered weakly taking the pill and swallowing it.
Her body began to heal at a visible rate thanks to the miraculous pill. Although it could be considered a slow recovery, since what would take months now would take weeks and not days, it was still better than natural recovery.
If not necessary, most would prefer not to take this kind of pill. Its miraculous effect could save a person during a crisis, but not everything was perfect with it. Because consuming a second pill with the essence of the first still in the body, would make regeneration in the body malfunction causing cancer cells to start proliferating so fast that the individual would die within two days. This side effect was incurable by magical or technological means due to the rapid growth of these harmful cells regardless of the individual's species.
Although studies indicated that the essence of these pills remained in the body for three months, the recommendation was not to take a second pill until a year after taking the first.
On the other side of the cavern, the glaucus multrow pulled his partner from the rubble of the wall. His friend's small exoskeleton was cracked; however, being a multrow with a mostly gelatinous body saved his life. His body had absorbed the blow without further damage to his internal organs.
If a multrow with an exoskeleton covering him as a near-perfect natural armor for the defense had taken the same blow, he would not have survived.
“Come on Gush wake up," said the multrow glaucus patting his partner gently after confirming his pulse.
“Cof!”
“Cof!”
Gush woke up with several dry sneezes.
“Did we escape?” He asked realizing that they had survived.
“No, the lepiota killed the leader. Only his ashes remain.” The other replied with a sigh of relief when he saw that his partner had survived.
“Unullk, now what will become of us?” Gush asked with a little fear in his voice.
Now that only two of them were alive, it was highly unlikely that they would get hold of the object they had come for. And although their temporary allies were also just two, they were both stronger than they were. Worse still, if by some miracle they beat Albella and Arum they would have to deal with the other three groups consisting of ten people each.
The problem did not end there. If they returned empty-handed, Baron Musset would send them to the salt guillotine.
Their only chance was to get the item before anyone else and take advantage of the death pact to get out alive. But this logic also had a flaw. The creatures within the cavern were not subject to this pact.
Unullk turned to see Albella and Arum. Given the circumstances, if they failed to obtain the item, Baron Helvella's daughter was the only person who could protect them from Baron Musset and guarantee their lives. On second thought, this was the best time to switch sides, as they had just fought together. If they did not use this opportunity in which the lepiota was without men at her disposal, perhaps she would not accept them in the future, where conditions were not as dangerous as here.
“Gush do you trust me?”
The nudibranch looking multrow didn't understand the question but didn't have to think long to find out what his answer was. From the moment he joined Enok's troops, Unullk was the only one who had helped him when he was having trouble; becoming his mentor and advisor.
" With my life, " Gush replied instantly.
“Can you stand up?”
Gush shook his head. He needed a little more time to regain his energy. Unullk sighed and offered him his shoulder.
“Lean on me and follow me. We have to act fast.”
Gush did what his partner asked him to do. Unullk carrying some of the weight of Gush began to walk to where Albella and Arum were.
" Kneel and say nothing until I'm done talking, " Unullk whispered as they were about to arrive.
Doing exactly what Unullk told him, Gush fell to his knees in front of the two plants.
“You have saved our lives. We swear by our ancestors to serve our lady,” Unullk proclaimed kneeling next to Gush.
The timing was perfect. Albella had not forgotten yet that her men had been killed by the Multrows and within her mind, she had already devised various ways of making the two survivors suffer. The Multrows' words caught her by surprise. And although she wanted to make them suffer, the situation demanded to accept them as her men.
" Very well, from now on I will use you as I deem appropriate, " replied Albella.
She couldn't trust them, but she could put them to work to accomplish her goals.
After this, the group of four rested for a good time. Albella asked Arum about the best action to take. Going back and ask for reinforcements risking that some other group would take the item, or continue in the state they were in.
The two began to measure the pros and cons of both actions. And taking into account that the sanc flowers they found would not attack them due to the absence of their leader, they finally decided to continue. The risk of the powerful item falling into the hands of enemies was too great.
“We’ve had enough rest. It's time to continue,” said Albella getting up and turning on the light of her helmet that fortunately still worked.
Arum and the two multrows got up quickly and followed her.
Passing through the traces of the battle they left the cavern. Walking through the tunnel they reached the place where their companions had fallen facing each other. They could see the marks from the combat, but there were no bodies in sight.
Arriving at the area where the tunnel through which they had arrived branched into three, Albella chose a new path and soon they reached a cavern full of vegetation with a large lake of acid in its center.
Unullk and Gush were alarmed when they recognized the acid from the lake. <This cave must have been the sanc flower den.> they both reached the same conclusion.
“Don’t worry. If any of the fuckers survived, they would not attack us without their leader,” said Arum walking in the rear of the group.
Albella was in the middle and the two multrows walked in front. Although it would have been better to advance in the reverse order, Albella was not going to turn her back on two guys who had tried to kill her hours before.
The group soon found a new tunnel that had a fairly steep incline and as they descended they soon noticed that the flora was beginning to disappear. Coming out of the tunnel they reached a huge and wide cavern where the cold permeated their bodies.
This new cave was full of lakes with crystal clear water of different sizes. There was no sign of flora or fauna.
Walking through the cavern they soon made a terrifying find. The shattered bodies of eight lepiots were scattered around the place.
" The group of Darthañan and Frigglene, " said Albella, recognizing the remains.
“Was it them?” asked Arum clutching his sword. He hadn't sheathed it since the battle with the sanc flowers.
“No,” answered Albella bending down and observing the scene.
“Vampire attacks are subtle and elegant. This was done with brute force.”
The two multrows gulped when they heard Albella's words. Just by observing they could see that the eight had died in the same attack, and due to the position of their remains, none could even react.
" Young mistress, " said Arum calling Albella.
He had found evidence of Darthañan and Frigglene.
“From what I see they left here walking. Are you sure it wasn't them?” Arum asked examining the traces they had left.
“Do not question my words,” replied Albella annoyed.
“Rather than speculating, let's hurry, the sooner we meet them, the faster we will know what happened.”
The fact that Darthañan belonged to the guardian families was a good guarantee that the human would not betray them. But only Albella knew about this. Although in the meeting with her father they had suggested the possibility of some member of the guardian families betraying them. For now, this was just a guess.
The group continued their journey leaving the cave with freshwater lakes, passing through a tunnel that led them to a cavern much larger than the ones they had seen before. The temperature was much lower here, the crystal pillars were a different color than the crystals they had seen so far, and there was no trace of flora or fauna, just like the last cave.
Arriving at the ruins of the huge tower in the center of the cavern, they found Darthañan and Frigglene emerging from it.
“Albella!”
Frigglene being the person with the best vision at the site was the first to identify the group of newcomers.
The emotional reunion soon turned into the narration of the things that both groups had gone through. However, the most shocking news was given by Darthañan.
“The signal that brought us here was not from an object. The being that attacked us is on at least the first level of the third magnitude. From what we were able to investigate in there,” said Darthañan pointing to the tower.
“It is a crystal demon that was sealed before the cataclysm.”
The faces of Albella, Arum, Unullk, and Gush turned pale upon hearing that. They were trapped underground with a powerful being. No, they were not trapped. It was only a matter of time for the crystal demon to get outside and destroy everything on the surface.
Seeing that her husband did not continue speaking, Frigglene decided to speak. She explained how they had gotten rid of the demon for the moment and how they planned to confront him with what they had learned inside when he dared to appear again.
