บท 420: Wrong research
"What?" Hera gasped, unsure of what she had just heard.
"Oh, you are one of those who enjoy hearing me beg? Fine, either kill me or let me go. Please. I can't take this anymore," the voice replied in the same pained tone as before.
"No, wait. Where are you?" Hera started to look over the cages, trying to find whatever was talking to her.
"I'm… Here," the voice stopped midway to let out another groan. Something one would hear when a wounded person tried to shift their position.
Daskka flew around trying to help Hera to find whatever was talking. She noticed a shape inside a cage on the left corner of the room. Hera walked over and saw what was talking to her. It looked like an iguana, but its limbs were longer and its body rounder. Its face was also less reptile-like and seemed to lean to the human side. In a way, it was like she was staring at a cartoon version of an iguana that could talk. Complete with the green skin and the spikes on its back.
"Hello?" Hera called when she finally saw the creature.
"You are a new one. Hi. Please let me go," the creature asked.
"Do you promise not to attack me?" Hera felt terrible for whatever this was, but at the same time, she was still inside a test, and her [Observe] didn't seem to be working on the iguana. If the other tests were a base for her interactions inside here, there was a high chance the creature would attack her.
"As long as you set me free. I promise I won't hurt you. I just don't want to be tortured anymore."
"OK then," Hera reached out to the cage, trying to figure out how to open it. However, the second her hands touched it, a large current of electricity coursed through her body, and she felt her mana being burned away. It wasn't like what happened when Ogryn used the mana burn spell, but it was still enough to interrupt any attempt to use magic to fight back against the defenses.
"You are not from here, are you?" the lizard asked.
"Not really. Do you know how I can open the cage?"
"Look on the other side of the room. There is a crystal thing that lets you control this. At least, that's where they mess with when they need to do something with me."
Hera walked towards the other side of the room and found the only crystal structure in the area. The second she touched it, a notification appeared in front of her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Crystal Controls
You can force the guide to answer a question by activating this device. Any question.
Alternatively, you may release the guide.
You only have one chance to make this choice.
WARNING: By releasing the guide, you will be giving up your current role test, and the way to the test grounds will be blocked. You will have to find a different way to return to your private room.
[Ask a question] [Release the guide]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Oh… any question? Could I ask you where is a legacy, what happens after death, or what are the next lottery numbers?" Hera turned to the guide in the cage, who let out a long sigh.
"Not the last one. I can't see the future."
Hera pressed a button, and the cage lifted from its position and floated to the middle of the central table. The guide inside it was ready to have the answer forced out of its body yet again, but to its surprise, the cage disappeared instead.
The lizard turned to Hera, "What did you do?"
"I let you go."
"But… you asked about the question."
"Yeah. I was just curious if this worked. I'm not going to leave you here," Hera walked to the central table, "I'm Hera, by the way. Are you OK?"
"Nice to meet you, Hera. I'm Fitzgerald, but you can call me Fitz. And I'm not doing that well. Everything hurts, and I still can't use mana."
Hera looked at the staircase from where she came from, but now that entrance was just a rock wall. Nodding, she turned back to Fitz and started humming as she cast the Luminous Light Litany to help the guide recover. They spent a couple of minutes there, and while Hera sang, she managed to take a better look at the guide.
Fitz was a weird lizard that seemed to walk more in its front legs than its back. In a way, he resembled a monkey. But what caught Hera's attention was something entirely different. Their body was covered in scars, gashes that seemed to be made by weapons, and pieces of flesh were missing, almost like if someone intentionally cut a part of their body. However, the most egregious evidence of abuse was the hundreds of electricity burn marks all over the green skin of the guide. If their skin weren't a very vibrant color, she wouldn't even be able to tell that it was supposed to be green and think that Fitz had charcoal black skin instead.
"What happened here?" Hera asked.
"An explorer called me, but instead of asking the questions. He and some others prepared a trap. That cage was constantly buzzing with electricity, and I couldn't use any magic when inside it. Somehow they made an interference field strong enough to stop me. Then it was just a matter of time for them to figure out ways to force me to answer questions. I honestly don't know how they did it, but somehow, when they used those crystals and increased the voltage of the cage, I had to answer. It was somehow like when someone calls us, and we are under the effects of the skill, but instead of being forced to answer because of the system, it was because of the pain," Fitz explained as he looked at the soles of his feet. They were completely charred, and that's when Hera realized that even the bottom of the cage was constantly electrified. Fitz must have been in endless pain, feeling their mana being burned.
Hera bit her tongue inside her mouth, trying not to show the horror she was feeling. Fitz already went through enough, and they didn't have to get even more worried because of her. She spent about half of her mana while using the litany, but there was barely any difference in the guide even with that.
"Thank you. I think I can get out oh here now," Fitz slowly started to walk towards a door that Hera didn't notice before.
"You can't just go back to your home?"
"No. The people who locked me here created a barrier against any kind of teleportation. I need to leave these grounds to be able to leave, and even then. I'm not sure if I can make a portal without using mana."
"I might be able to do something about that. Maybe I can call another guide and have him take you away," Hera thought that the strikes wouldn't count if she were just making two guides meet. Also, she never considered using her guide skill inside her private room. Was there a guide just for that, or was Peaches the one responsible for answering the questions?
"You already did enough. And I know not all humans are this cruel," Fitz looked at their hands, "But I can't bring myself to trust one of you at the moment."
"I understand that, but do you honestly think you can run away from here alone? I mean, you barely took ten steps, and what is your plan to deal with the doors?" Hera gestured to the door, focusing her eyes on the round doorknob. It would be one thing to open that with magic, another for a lizard to climb all the way there and open it.
"I… will figure something out."
"Daskka, can you make them float? Like you do with your mist snake form?" Hera asked her pet, receiving a nod as a reward.
Daskka quickly floated down and between Fitz's legs, leaving a large mist cloud under them. Following that, the mist became denser and started lifting the lizard from the ground.
"You can doubt me all you want. I'm getting you out of here, OK? Daskka, you are their bodyguard. Don't let anything happen to them, and if you need more mana, just let me know." Daskka nodded and created a pair of black sunglasses and a purple suit and tie before floating behind Fitz, "Please don't waste mana for jokes… OK, fine, if it won't waste any more mana now that you made them, you don't have to take it off. And yes, you look adorable, but we don't know what is going to try to stop us here. We need to save our mana in places where there might be danger."
Daskka rolled her eyes, and Hera did the same in response, "I know that we can't die in the test, but I still want to complete it. It will make us stronger, you know!"
"Are you… mentally unstable?" Fitz asked.
"No, I can understand her. It's a weird combo of skills, and we don't have time for me to get into it. Just know that she can tell me anything at any time. If you need to talk to me quietly, whisper to her and I'll know."
"I'll keep it in mind. And thank you for helping me," Fitz smiled at Hera, but they flinched due to the injuries in the corner of their mouth.
Hera smiled back, trying to comfort the guide. When she turned around, her face changed. She understood that this is why the system changed how the guide skill worked. People were stupid and heartless enough to torture someone like that to their benefit. She couldn't believe that someone would be so cruel. Her emotions bled to Daskka, and the purple mist started to turn red again, but this time the snake kept its size.
"Try not to make any noise," Hera whispered to the two behind her as she opened the door.
They were now in a stone corridor with several glyphs around the walls. Hera used her pulse to see if she could identify anything, and every sigil felt similar. Oddly enough, when her mana touched the spell circle in the wall, Hera understood that this was an alarm. If anyone touched the spell, the person who created it would be aware that someone passed through here.
"Don't touch the walls or the ground," Hera whispered before activating her glide boots. She had no idea if that would be considered touching or not, but at the moment, it was the best idea she had.
Moving quickly through the corridor, they started to pass by other hallways, but all of them seemed empty, and the twisting corridors would often end up in dead ends or just circle back to themselves. In a way, this place was like a labyrinth. Considering that the people involved in this were hiding the existence of a guide, it was likely that this was intentional. Not wanting to be caught by them, Hera was constantly using her pulse. In a place with so many magical effects, even if someone noticed her magic, there was a chance that they would think it was just one of the spells or experiments in the area.
After about 10 minutes of running around and trying to find a way to get out of whatever was this place, they reached a staircase going up. Following that path, they found a door leading to what seemed to be a prison. Carefully, the three walked by, glancing at the cells but finding nothing but dust, until they reached a large set of double doors adorned with hawks and other birds of prey. This felt like the exit of this place. After all, no one would care about presentation unless it was something that a lot of people would see.
Hera pressed her ear against the door, trying to hear what was going on on the other side, but everything seemed to be quiet, "C'mon. I'm going to push this open just enough so we can pass. There might be some noise, but it's the best plan I got. I have a spell that can stop sounds, but I can only cast it in places I can see. Without opening it, I can't put it on the other side of the door."
"I wish I could be more helpful, but I was unconscious when I arrived here. I know not what is waiting for us on the other side of that door," Fitz sighed.
"Don't worry. Whatever happens, I'm taking you out of here."
Hera pushed the door open, and a loud sound of heavy wood being dragged through the ground followed the movement. She cursed under her breath and stepped forward, already activating her stone elemental armor. Glancing around, she was just in a large barracks, but the room was completely empty. Several tables and beds were spread around the floor, but there wasn't a single window. The only other exit was another double door on the other side of the room.
"C'mon. The coast is clear," Hera gestured for Daskka and Fitz to cross the door. She didn't close the door since it wouldn't matter and started to move to the other side of the large rectangular room when Daskka said something.
"Fuck me. Never say that…." Hera gasped, still trying to keep her voice down. They were just a quarter of the way to the other side, "Because if you say things like 'this is easier than expected,' you are asking for things to go wrong."
Just as she finished speaking, the second set of double doors on the side of the room swung open, and about three dozen people wearing heavy armor or mage robes were on the other side with angry expressions and ready to fight.
"This is your fault," Hera told Daskka as they dove to the side, trying to hide from the incoming barrage of spells behind one of the beds.
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