"Tring… tring," Axel parried an attack from two self-moving, ghost-possessed swords with his own blade.
"Ugh… this is annoying," Axel grumbled to himself.
While jumping and dodging the attacks, Axel opened his palm again, and a magic circle appeared in front of it.
"Blood bind,"
"Syuuut," a blood-light whip, looking like a snake, shot out and immediately caught the two flying swords. Then, "sriiing," he instantly slashed the gem on the swords, which was the source of the flying blades' souls. "Klang," both swords fell to the ground. Axel breathed a sigh of relief as the two swords crumbled into light dust, flew upward, and vanished. He opened his status.
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Name : Axelirius Von Aldrich (Axel).
Age : 15.
Race : Half vampire / Dhampir.
Level : 250 level up to 320 / 9999 (1000 / 160,500).
Health : 5,200 / 5,200 up to 6,600.
Spirit : 2,000 / 2,600 up to 3,300.
STR : 5,000 up to 6,400. (moon relic set + 1000)
AGI : 5,000 up to 6.400. (moon relic set + 1000)
STA : 5,000 up to 6,400. (moon relic set + 1000)
LUC : 5,000 > 6,400 (Lucky pendant + 200).
********************************************
"Huf… floor 2 finally done," Axel thought to himself, sighing.
Axel started walking again while checking his status, then closed it and looked forward again.
"No more enemies, right?" Sharon asked.
"None. It should be clear now. Let's head to the next floor," Axel suggested.
"Okay," Sharon replied.
They walked towards the sound of an open door that could be heard in the distance. After circling around, trying to find the way, they finally reached an open gate with stairs leading down. Axel immediately descended the staircase into the lower corridor. The atmosphere became more chilling as a purple fog greeted him and the torches fixed to the walls had green flames.
"A terrifying atmosphere… but I like it," Axel muttered, smiling.
Axel glanced back while descending the stairs and saw the five wraiths behind him clinging to each other in fear.
"Hey… you guys are ghosts. Why are you scared?" Axel asked, confused.
"N-no, who's scared," Sharon replied.
"We're… cold," Valerie added.
"Yeah, exactly. It's better to stick close," Bella added.
"You should look forward instead, or you'll fall," Hailey added.
Avery didn't say anything but nodded, seemingly agreeing with Hailey. But then she disappeared into Axel's pistol, and the others followed, instantly retreating into the relics Axel was wearing. Seeing that, Axel turned to look forward, continued walking down, and shook his head.
"Now that I think about it… Sharon is afraid of things like ghosts and all that. Same with Valerie and Bella; they always changed the subject if I brought up anything creepy and never wanted to watch horror movies. As for Hailey, I know she always forces herself. And Avery always avoids it… who's the weird one here, anyway? I'm just being myself around them," Axel muttered in his heart.
As he went down, the bone-chilling cold immediately hit Axel's body, making him shiver slightly, though not enough to make him truly cold. Axel kept walking down the corridor, but his mind wandered, remembering his past with the five wraiths now accompanying him.
Eventually, all the memories came back, but this time, he felt no emotion, like watching a movie clip in his head without any feeling. He immediately realized that he was no longer angry with them, but he also felt indifferent and didn't care about them.
A sense of relief immediately settled in his heart, even amidst the horrific atmosphere of the crypt. He put his hand on his chest, and for the first time, he smiled faintly.
"This is the first time I've felt this way. Before, I was like someone running away by working nonstop in the office… trying to suppress everything by shifting all my feelings and thoughts to my job. Now, I feel free… it's true that I don't want to be close to them anymore, but I don't hate them either. We'll just see where life goes, I can't really do anything since I'm stuck with them," Axel muttered in his head.
Axel finally reached a three-way intersection, but as he stepped forward, suddenly "klek," the floor beneath him opened up. "Whuaaaaaah," Axel fell into a very deep, dark hole below. He looked down,
"Ah… that's right… Desmond got caught in a trap… is this hole the trap? I don't know because in the game it was only a background image and the explanation was just word 'trap' in text… ugh… I should have been careful… at least I could have climbed down without falling like this," Axel thought to himself, his heart pounding.
Suddenly, the five wraiths emerged and bound Axel's body with blood tendrils that shot out from their palms. They floated, slowing Axel's descent as they continued going down.
"Are you okay, Axel?" Avery asked.
"I'm fine, thank you," Axel replied.
"Huff… next time, please be careful," Hailey added.
"Seriously, luckily we could help. What if we couldn't?" Bella added.
"Relax, this time I'll always be with you, and I'll always help you. I think the others feel the same way," Valerie said.
"Yeah, that's right, so you don't have to worry. I… no… the five of us are always with you," Sharon added.
"Okay, thanks," Axel replied. "Okay, I retract my statement. I did feel free, but after they confirmed that they are really stuck with me… my feelings are getting mixed up again… uugh," Axel muttered in his head.
Axel kept falling and falling into the hole, whose bottom was still not visible. After falling for nearly 30 minutes, a blue light finally appeared from the darkness and got closer and closer. Axel landed perfectly, and the wraiths floated back behind him. Axel dusted off his clothes then looked forward, his eyes widening as he saw a massive, terrifying black castle far in the distance.
"Huh… what is this? This was absolutely not in the game… I didn't know there was a castle underground like this," Axel mumbled.
"Oh really?" Avery asked.
"Yeah, this wasn't in the game… could Desmond have fallen here too?" Axel asked, observing the eerie castle far in front of him.
"Um… I've never played the game," Sharon replied.
"Well, of course you haven't, you died before this game was made… but I shouldn't say that, should I," Axel muttered in his head.
Axel looked down. He was standing on the edge of a chasm, and the castle was on the opposite side. A long suspension bridge was the only way to reach the castle. Axel took a long, deep breath and let it out. He then walked toward the chasm, passing several torches with blue flames that lit up the entire cave, and stepped onto the rickety suspension bridge.
"Krek," he heard the sound of the ropes straining and the planks creaking under his weight. Axel looked down and gripped the rope—the chasm below led straight down to lava, which was a vast distance away but clearly visible. Then he looked at the swaying suspension bridge in front of him.
"Hope this bridge doesn't break halfway across," he muttered to himself, preparing himself mentally to cross.