Chapter 33 – The Cave

The light from the entrance slowly faded away as darkness expanded in front of us. The ground is constantly moving downwards at an increasing slope. The stench of gasoline did not increase nor decrease, but only staid stagnant in the air. It felt as though it was seeping out from the walls. We slowly move forward at almost a crawls pace.

I noticed that the only time we stopped is when I talked and when Rou deactivated the trap near the entrance. This means we haven’t come across any more traps other than the first one, but we have also only traveled about one hundred and fifty feet so far. We also haven’t come across any guards. We need to stay vigilant.

So far we have not seen any one within this cave. The first time Alice and I visited the cave the people who chased after us were a lot closer to the entrance. They couldn’t have been more than fifty feet from the entrance. Have the Helix Executioners already moved on to a new cave? That can’t be right; otherwise they wouldn’t have left all the guards wondering around on the outside. Maybe those people were already on their way out when I showed up, or maybe they had just returned?

The ever expanding darkness did not impede us. Alice, Rou, and Litel all have a grasp on Sei abilities and can ‘see’ through the Dei. I am a creature of the night so my eyes are able to adjust to almost complete darkness.

When the cave begins to become even to dark for my eyes to see light a small green shimmer appears in the distance. This light causes Rou to pause for a moment. We all stay motionless and silent waiting for his command.

In a hushed tone quitter than before Rou explains his findings. “The light seems to be coming from a moon stone. These stone absorbs Dei and glows in the dark. I believe these stones used to litter the walls from the very beginning of the tunnel because there are indentations for where the stones would fit perfectly. Most likely this cave was built before the executioners found it, and they decided to claim it as their own. With their renovations the entrance became much darker and the trap was placed at the entrance.”

Litel nods once before stating her own assumptions. “The vines outside seem to be their naturally. This allows us to conclude that this cave was dug out dozens of years ago if not more. We didn’t start having problems with these people until just a few years ago. This means this cave was originally used for something else.”

Silence once again surrounds us before we continued our slow pace down the dark rocky corridor.

As we near the light more lights that are evenly distributed appear behind the original. Two black figures are leaning against the wall under the first light. The soft echo of their voices begins to bounce into our ears as we get within fifty feet of them.

A young woman’s voice is the first one to be heard. “I really hate guard duty in this spot.”

The second voice is a ragged middle aged man. “I know what you mean, the darkness really creeps me out. Why do they even put us here when no one can find the entrance any ways?”

“hehe I would have agreed with you up till a few days ago when some wolf and a woman beast tamer stumbled upon it. Luckily I don’t think they knew what it was.”

“Speaking of things someone might not understand; what one earth is all that black liquid?”

“Are you talking about the stuff in the wooden barrels?”

“hmm”

At this point the four of us have already gotten close enough to prepare to attack. Litel ushers me forward and points at me then the man who is closest to us.

“I have no idea. I have tried testing it out. It is slightly poisonous, but only to people and creatures who don’t have Dei methods. It also doesn’t mix with normal water, but otherwise I couldn’t find anything strange about it beside the smell and color. Honestly I think it is just a pointless material.”

Litel has her blade at her side prepared to strike the woman and silence her the instance I get to the man.

“Sigh. I wish we could find some use for it. There is just so much of that shit. In the very least could we move it form the cave so it stinks less?”

“Do you want to carry the several hundred giant barrels all the way out of the cave? Hell you would need to then carry each one about a day or two away from here so we don’t make our hide out stick out.”

“Ugh.”

“Yeah that’s what I thought!”

At this instance I have already creeped up close enough to the distracted man. Before he can respond to her statement I lung at him from behind and end his life. I have one of my claws cover his mouth while the other slices at his throat. My jaws clamp down at the back of his head. From the girls perspective it looks almost as if a giant white bear just hugged his head.

When the girl tries to shout for reinforcements nothing but blood escapes her mouth. Litel has already stabbed her katana through her neck piercing the throat and windpipe.

The only noise that is made is the thudding of the two bodies on the ground and the noise of me swallowing some blood.

Without making a noise or even motioning Rou and Litel are already back in formation and moving forward. Alice and I soon follow their lead.

The path from this point forward is well lit with greenish blue light. The moon stones are placed on each wall every ten feet. I didn’t notice tell now but the cave also expanded slightly from the entrance and is now supported by wooden frames. The frames are mostly rotten and some have already fallen apart. They look to be very old structures to keep the cave from collapsing. Because of the light and extra moving room our pace is able to increase slightly but we still stay on full alert.

After another ten minutes of snail like walking the slope evens out and flattens. About fifty feet in front of us a giant opening forms into a round room. From the room in front of us I can hear lots of movement and people talking. The strength of the putrid smell strengthens to an almost tangible amount. With the rise of the stench Rou Litel and Alice begin to finally notice it.

At this point Litel goes on ahead to scope out the room while we retreat a few dozen yards to prevent being detected. Once Litel comes back she gives us a report.

“There are over fifty people within that room. I found no exits going up but found several wells that are dried out. Hundreds of wooden almost rotted barrels are filled with black liquid. The liquid smells just like what wafted towards us when we neared the room.”

At this point I decide to interrupt her with a quite whimper. “errr(I think that liquid is highly flammable.”

Rou whispers what I said to Alice and everyone is silent for a moment.

Alice breaks the silence with a whisper. “Could we just Have Fenrir set the liquid off and kill them all that way?”

Rou nods his head. “I think that would work. If it really is flammable then it could improve his strength, but I have never heard of a liquid that can burn. From what I know all liquids put fire out.”

Litel asks me with curiosity. “How is it you know this liquid is flammable?”

“grrrr eerrrrr… roof ruff!(I am not certain but I know of a similar substance. If this has the same explosive power then we could easily kill them all… however we would all die as well. If there is as much as you say this entire cave could become an explosion. Not only would the flames kill us but the pressures caused by the change in heat and a loss of air. I don’t even think someone like me who is resistant to flames could survive.)”

Rou has a look of realization. “Does this mean you can’t use your flames at all down here?”

I simply nod my head in reply.

Every shows a grave expression. I don’t know how we could fight more than fifty of these people without my flames.

Alice, slightly confused due to not understanding me, asks “Why can’t Fenrir use his flames?”

“Remember the barrels I told you about? Well Fenrir says the liquid inside is highly flammable. It is so flammable that not even Fenrir could survive the flames.”

Rou shakes his head in worry. “Basically he can’t use any fire without setting them off. This means we won’t be able to defeat all of them without casualties on our own front.”

Alice pouts for a bit before making an O with her mouth. “What if we ignited them from outside the cave? Wouldn’t that take them all out?”

Rou shakes his head again “How could we…”

I cut him off at this point. “Grrrrr(If we can get ahold of one of the barrels we can spread the liquid on the floor all the way from here to the entrance.)”

Rou once again shakes his head. “There is no way they won’t notice us stealing one of those barrels. They are literally right next to them.”

“Ruff!(It doesn’t matter if they notice. Due to the slope they won’t be able to climb up very quickly with the liquid on the floor. All I need to do is get one of the barrels and puncture it with my teeth. Then I can just run up to the top with it pouring behind me.)”

The entire time I spoke Litel was translating in Alice’s ear.

“No! I won’t let you run off by yourself. If you do this you need to take me with you. I can help hold the barrel behind you so that you don’t slip on the stuff inside while you run to the top.”

She does have a good point. If I carried the barrel with anything other than my mouth I won’t be able to run fast enough, but if I carry it with my mouth my legs would get covered by the liquid causing me to slip and possibly fall.

I also understand her concern. She gets reincarnated when she dies so death isn’t as scary, however it still sucks. She doesn’t know or think I get reincarnated so she is more worried about my life then her own. I also can’t tell her right now because I don’t know or trust these people. This secret is fine to tell people when I know them and befriend them, but telling random strangers could be fatal in more ways than one, especially with my inexperienced with this world’s magic.

Not bothering talking since Alice doesn’t understand I simply nod my head. Wanting to show my appreciation, but also knowing that doggie smiles can look aggressive, I lick Alice’s face.

Litel informs us more specifically what the layout of the room looks like. She describes where the closest people are and also where the closest set of barrels is. We set up a game plan and a few back up strategies. Luckily during our little conversation no one inside the cave tries to leave or even looks down this hall. Litel and Rou head on out of the cave system first to make sure the path is still clear and because they would only get in the way.

Alice jumps on my back and prepares her sword. With a silent count of three we charge out of the moon stone lite hallway and into the soon to not be so metaphorical fires.

Neither of us makes any form of war cry but the rushing air around me and Alice announces our presence well enough. The dozen or so people closest to us turn our way in confusion. We get halfway to our first target before the people even begin to react properly. They scramble onto their feet and feel around for their weapons. Others simply jump up without a weapon and start screaming things out to gather the attention of other people. A few of the younger looking people who may be newer initiates run in the opposite direction of us.

Before any one even reached us with any type of attack I run by the first barrel. Alice attempts to stab at the target but fails by slicing the side of it open instead. Black sludge erupts from the gaping hole spraying behind me and onto several people who are beginning to chase us. The same black liquid oozes on the ground making a medium sized puddle that continues to grow from the large barrel. I am actually impressed she managed to hit anything her first try with me running as fast as I am. I don’t know why but we never once practiced fighting in this kind of situation, we always separated from one another and fought like that.

The next barrel is so close to the first Alice doesn’t have time to try to stab at it.

Before we have time to turn and dart toward the third barrel on our agenda the people closest to us begin to attack. I do my best to dodge and weave around them while Alice tries to block any thing that comes to close to us. With me running around from barrel to barrel like a chicken with his head cut off and Alice striking them all like crazy the room quickly begins to fill with gasoline.

The oil on the ground makes everything slippery and the people around us begin to slip and fall. People attempting to block me are easily avoided or even forcefully rammed out of the way. I even begin to slide as if on a skating rink any time I try to turn.

The size of these barrels is only slightly larger than what a fifty five gallon drum would be, however the amount of liquid that spurts out of each barrel is far more than what should be physically containable within the size of these barrels. It is as if the barrels have a larger inside then they do outside. Hundreds of gallons of liquid pour out of each and every barrel, and if it was not for the slow but constant draining of the oil back into the wells that are drilled out around the room, the oil would have begun pooling up.

My fur looks as though it is dyed black with a glossy fluid. I fear for Alice when we leave the area. I will need to make sure she is as far away from the fire as possible.

After almost a minute of deadly slip and slide Alice successfully stabs a barrel through and pulls it into the air. She dangles the barrel behind me while shouting for me to retreat. The hole she made only allows a small amount of oil to flow out and will hopefully flow out until we get to the top.

I immediately retreat from whence I came as Alice controls the amount of liquid gushing out from the barrel attached to her great sword.

I wasn’t thinking straight when we set this plan up, but now that I know these things are somehow overly filled we may actually have a chance to bring it to the top. The distance we need to travel could never be covered with only fifty or sixty gallons of gasoline, but the amount that resides in these barrels far exceeds common sense. For some reason they’re not even very heavy, and could almost be compared to an empty wooden barrel.

As I charge up the cave I hear angry yells and surprised yips echoing from behind. The oil seems to be making them slip, or at the very least it is slowing them down. With my speed we have nothing to worry about as long as Litel and Rou keep their end clear of enemies.

As the moon stones disappear and a fall into darkness the small light form the entrance shines through. I slow down a bit with the quiet and far away yell from behind keeping me alert. When I burst out of the entrance Alice drops the barrel and let it roll back into the cave and down the slope. Oil is still generously gushing out of it.

Rou and Litel notice our arrival. As already planned Rou grabs Alice and they all run off into the distance, in the opposite direction of the hole. They would be several dozen meters away from the hole far above where it descends into the earth. They moved behind the entrance because I told them the fire could blow out from the hole for hundreds of feet. I am not sure how accurate this information is but I have fragments of memory of seeing something like this.

When I feel comfortable with the distance that my allies have run away to I pour out a pillar of flames from my mouth into the mouth of the cave. Before I have time to react my entire body becomes an inferno as my fur become ablaze from the burning oil. Without even waiting a moment the fire begins to work on its own and rushes down into the earth. A large boom and a small shake in the earth is set off when the flames reach the barrel tumbling downwards. The quickly changing temperature make the cave whistle with an ear piercing screech.

The screeching noise doesn’t stop or slow down as the flames around my body begin to subside. When the flames on my body fade away I rush over to join Alice and company. With my newly clean fur I grind my side up against allice to clean her off. She understands my intentions and rubs her arms and legs against my back and side. Before I have time to fully clean Alice off something unusual starts.

A rumbling sound begins to surround us. The screeching from the cave continues strongly. A low crackling sound from deep within the earth echoes out in every direction. The very earth around us begins to crack and crumble. We try to run further away from the area but more chaos develops around us.

A giant pillar of fire shoots out from the cave sending the rock pile around it flying in every direction. Several of the rocks fly in the direction of our group cutting our retreat from the area off. We are forced to concentrate on blocking and dodging the rocks while simultaneously watching the ground so we don’t trip over the uneven ground.

The ground is caving in in several places while other spots have the earth jutting out at extreme speeds. Trees in the vicinity fall in every direction. I have trouble keeping track of everything but I force myself to concentrate on what’s important. I keep as close to Alice as I can as the waves of earth spread out faster than we can run.

In only a few short moments after the unpredicted destruction occurs I feel the earth falling out from under my feat. I have nothing to grab onto except for Alice. I wrap myself around her and convert my entire Dei into Hei to protect my body as I fall into an abyss.