We quickly descended, using a light produced by Sniffles to guide the way in the dark.

At the end of the tunnel was a surprising sight.

It led to a massive room that by no means pales in comparison to the throne room I was in before.

The entire room is devoid of furniture.

With the light provided by Sniffles, we could just about make out the huge statues of several human figures adorning every wall.
Are these statues dedicated to deities of some sort?

We kept hurrying down the large room, searching for an exit, when I suddenly began to feel a strange force drawing me to the middle of the room.

I wandered over to the edge of something in the middle of the room.

There's a circular funnel shape here with a hole in the middle large enough to fit even the biggest demons I've met in this world.

It looks like some sort of bathtub drain for giants I guess?

(I should jump in...)

*BARK! BARK*

Sniffles his sudden barking woke me from the odd trance I was in.

"What the..." (Scarecrow)

I looked at Sniffles who was far away from the hole, seemingly unable to approach it.

For some reason... just now...

It felt like this hole was meant for me...

(...I should go.)

I felt some movement on the shoulder I was carrying Julia on, prompting me to look to the side, where I was met with a skeleton looking straight at me.

"WAH!" (Scarecrow)

I let go of the wood wrapping around Julia, dropping her to the floor.

She hurriedly got up and ran away.

...

Still somewhat distracted by the hole, I forgot to call out to her.
Before I had time to gather my throughs, she disappeared into the darkness.

*Crash!*
A distant noise could be heard, after which a light began to illuminate the inside of the room.
Julia seems to have blasted an opening in one of the walls of the room we're in somehow.

How is she still that strong without her arms? I'm pretty sure she's supposed to be a spear user?

I could just about make out her silhouette briefly contemplating jumping through the opening she created before disappearing inside.

"Ah! Wait!" (Scarecrow)
Despite the funnel in the middle of the room continuing to draw me in, I managed to pull my attention away and gave chase to Julia.

*Whine* (Doctor Sniffles)
Sniffles quickly caught up to me and looked at me with a tilted head of concern for some reason.

Is he worried about Julia or is he giving me that look because I looked like I was about to jump down that funnel?

I could suddenly hear some strange slimy noises quickly approaching from the direction that we came from.

Come to think of it... didn't that crazy prisoner shout something at me about a hole I was supposed to jump into?

...

Ugh, I'd rather not think about it. I don't want an edgy title like "harbinger of the end" attached to my status...
Plus, it sounds like some of those abominations have caught wind of our escape, so it's time to bounce.

We reached the opening that Julia made. Which apparently leads straight into some sort of well-lit corridor.

At one of the ends of the corridor was a spiral staircase leading up, assuming Julia went that way, we gave chase.

The staircase seemed never-ending, but eventually, we reached the top which led to one of the many watchtowers surrounding the castle I was taken into earlier.

Julia was nowhere to be seen up here though.

I was contemplating going back down when I suddenly spotted a skeleton with no arms running towards the exit of the city below.

Looks like she jumped out of the watchtower and immediately began to b-line it for the exit!

"Doctor Sniffles hold on to me!" (Scarecrow)

Sniffles clumsily jumped on my back, throwing his paws over my shoulders.

I used wood magic to secure him on my back like I did with Julia before and casually jumped out of the tower.

And using my afterburner ability I took flight in the cavern!

This feeling of freedom never gets old...

I noticed a dozen abominations wriggling around below me, seemingly trying to attack me.

None of them appear to be attacking Julia, so for better or worse, it seems like their attention is focused on me for some reason.

I began to fly higher up, continuing to follow Julia from above with Sniffles on my back.

*Pant, pant, pant* (Doctor Sniffles)
Sniffles doesn't seem to be bothered by a fear of heights at least.

Julia swiftly approached the gates leading to the outside of the city.
There are some abominations guarding it, so I'm not sure how she plans to get past them.

Should I help her out?

Julia's body began to glow just as I was thinking that. She suddenly disappeared and reappeared well outside of the gate.

Oh! Seems like I was worried about nothing?

I better keep up or I might actually lose her at this rate!

"Get ready!" (Scarecrow)
I warned Sniffles before revving up.

◇◆◇

 

I've been chasing Julia for a good while now... I can't tell whether she's running with a direction in mind or just mindlessly fleeing in whatever direction seems appropriate.

She seems to have noticed our silhouette flying up above at some point and began to desperately manoeuvre to shake us off.

I effortlessly kept up with my afterburner ability though.
(Hue hue hue... not this time Julia. You've eluded me for long enough!)

There are some weird characters I met before way up ahead of Julia though that I'm a bit worried about...

It's the group of blank status skeleton architects that faced off against the abominations a while ago.

She's heading straight for them and they seem to have noticed her just now...