The deeper they moved in the underground, the ground felt less stable and the walls looked destroyed. It was as if something as large as the ceiling was down here and ravaged through to make its own land. Even the faint smell that Michael found disgusting was becoming stronger. Ellis kept scanning around, trying to find any traces of where the scroll would have dropped.
Mana beasts were primal but they did have some sense of intelligence like Stefan mentioned. It was sort of possible that they could have swallowed the artifact but then spit it right back out since it was inedible. Michael wasn't sure if scrolls glowed in the dark like his sword but he thought it would help with the small light from the torch.
Are you finished yet, the voice said, you've been walking forever.
Michael abruptly turned around.
Mave looked at him like he was crazy.
"Kid?" Stefan turned. "What's wrong?"
Michael nervously laughed and tried to play it off. It's been a while since he had heard the voice in his head again. He wasn't complaining but he admitted that it scared him. If he wasn't more weird in the party then he was more now. The look on Mave face said something about Michael that would never change her perspective on him. As for the voice in his head, he didn't know how long they had been walking in this dark for. The idea of time was slowly withering away the longer they spent down here. Michael asked if they were at least close, trying to sound the least offensive to Ellis but he didn't know either.
They had never meant to venture down into the mana beast's nest. The artifact was already found in the underground archives before they were ambushed by another party and lost the scroll in the process. Michael wondered if Stefan's memory was correct, knowing he was a common drunk, and wanted someone else to verify for him. It wasn't like Michael was scared, it was more like some type of uncertainty that was growing inside him.
At least two parties were assigned this quest and they were both threatened to have their adventuring licenses revoked if they didn't return with the artifact. What was stopping the other party from ambushing them again, Michael asked himself, were they doing the hard part of the job just for someone else to reap the credit. It was like Stefan said earlier, nothing was fair in this world.
They're about to fail the quest, the voice said, and they thought the best option was to bring you?
Michael thought he could be a great addition to the party. They've been training him for weeks just for him to tag along and provide extra help. This was his time to prove that.
You can swing a sword, clean the dirt off their armor, fold their clothes, and wash the floors. How do they think you're prepared for any of this?
Michael knew he was prepared, right from the beginning when he stepped foot in Aldoria. He wasn't the same person before that wished for something greater than a slave. This was exactly what he was asking for, and he would do anything to receive this opportunity.
Ellis stopped them. He crept closer around a corner and peeked over. The ground was uneven, the walls and ceiling were nothing but jagged stone, and the source of the smell was more potent. He signaled back to the group in hand-signs that Michael didn't understand but Stefan and Mave looked tense as they readied their swords.
"Don't do anything stupid, kid," Stefan whispered. "Find the scroll, nothing else, you understand me?"
Michael tried to figure out what was going on. He watched Ellis string his arrows with small bottles and Mave slathering the same liquid on her sword.
"Mana beasts hate fire, it's their weakness." Ellis said quietly. "We're just going to introduce them to that element again, in the nicest way possible."
"Are we—"
"You got it," Stefan pulled a bottle from Michael's backpack. "Look for the scroll, no matter what you see, just look for the scroll."
Ellis spun around the corner and shot arrow after arrow into the dark. Michael heard the sounds of glass shattering, the sudden growl of something inhumane, and Mave dashing right into that darkness. Stefan tossed the torch into the unknown.
What came next would have blinded Michael if he stared too long. A flash of flames completely engulfed the room and lit the surroundings. It was bigger than he expected, more like a vast cavern that connected all of the trails. Flames grew like a wildfire and followed the spreading liquid as Ellis shot them across the place.
Mave dipped her longsword into the flame and wielded it about, fending off any mana beasts that were brave enough to cross the walls of fire.
Michael thought it was hard to see through the blurring waves of heat. It was definitely humid the more they walked deeper into the underground but this was more than that. He struggled to breathe as he walked among the party, moving deeper and warding away the incoming mana beasts.
He could hear shouts from Stefan and the grunts from Mave as he narrowly maneuvered through the crossfire. Ellis was in charge of keeping the flames alive, providing a shield in case they were swarmed.
It was Michael's sole job to find the supposed scroll that they believed was in this room. The more he looked around, the more sick he became. Through the smoke that was building through the air, there were other things to be concerned with. The amount of discarded bodies and stray bones were all around the floor. They were torn apart and had marks all around their body. This was the feeding grounds of the mana beasts which solved why the smell was so repulsive. But Michael didn't have time to process any of this. He had to find the scroll no matter what he saw, just like Stefan said.
Michael scattered around, just inching away from the roaring flames to find a scroll. He pictured the artifact in his mind and even tried to manifest it in front of him, that was how bad he wanted to see it.
A sharp scream came from the side as Michael watched a mana beast jump through the flames.
Stefan grabbed its head and slammed it into the ground, thrusting his azure sword through his neck and again.
Michael watched him fend off a few more, following the previous one. Stefan swung his weapon with purpose and precision, not wasting any movements in between his attacks. Michael would never guess this was the same person that would drown himself in cheap booze during the day.
"Find it, kid!" Stefan yelled as he thrusted his sword. "We'll hold them off, just keep looking!"
Michael frantically snapped out of his thoughts and kept looking. As he moved, Stefan and Mave flanked beside him. Ellis stood in their rear, providing ranged support while kindling the flames with his liquid.
They were all depending on him. Even if Michael wasn't providing any help in arms, they still needed him.
You're not going to find it there, the voice said, not next to the bodies.
Michael listened to the voice in his head.
If they were to spit out something inedible, the voice said, look where they would throw away the bones.
Michael turned around. These mana beasts were an intelligent species with its own ideology. They hunt at night, lure adventurers into their nest, and eat them to fulfill their packs. He ran away from the half-eaten bodies and looked for spots where they considered the trash-pool. From bones, chewed-up and discarded gear, or anything that didn't match to their carnivorous taste.
Mave shouted something he couldn't hear, suddenly following behind Michael.
He followed the trail of bones, desperately looking around for anything that resembled a scroll. Just moving through the heat was annoying enough but there wasn't any time to complain. Michael dug through piles of human remains, rotting armor, and piles next to the other.
"The flames are dying!" Ellis yelled. "We need to leave, now!"
"Not yet!" Stefan shouted back. "Michael, tell me you found something!"
Michael hated how their voices sounded behind him. Rushing him against death was already terrible enough but he kept digging through the piles of trash. He didn't care how grimy or dirty his hands were becoming. He didn't care if he was touching the excrement or the bile of these beasts. They had sections all throughout the cavern like some type of colony. Something like an unappetizing scroll would be around here.
He could hear his name being shouted over and over as the crackles of the flames quieted down. The flickering light started to dim and the sounds of the growling mana beasts became clearer. He didn't know how many were left but they were infiltrating in their nest. These mana beasts were more than eager to tear them apart.
Mave shoved a mana beast off of her and slashed another one that flanked. She was clearly moving slower than Stefan, considering that she had yet to recover from her injury. Ellis could only do so much other than shoot flammable arrows that only slowed the flooding mana beasts.
"There's no end to them!" Mave gritted. "We can't stay here any longer!"
Stefan slashed another mana beast. "Just keep holding!"
"Are you crazy?! There is no scroll—"
"I found it!" Michael held up a scroll covered in filth. "Tell me this is it!"