274 274: An artificial world [pt3]
Aurora waited for an answer to come to her queries but no one answered her from the other side. It was utterly silent which made Aurora worried about what was going on.
She felt as if someone was keeping an eye on her for no other reason but to observe her and that made Aurora nervous. This entity felt a lot closer to the abyss than to a normal human being.
And no one associated with the abyss was a decent human being. And yes, that also incused Aurora as well.
“Aurora, is everything alright? You seemed to be lost in your thoughts there.”
Rita called out as she noticed the zoned-out expression Aurora had on her face. That concern was appreciated but it did not help lessen the weird feeling Aurora was having in the middle of her stomach.
The part where that egg had been absorbed was throbbing ever so slightly and it made Aurora nervous.
She had not been aware of that foreign presence inside her body for some time now and this sudden resurgence of feelings made Aurora stop to categorize what she was feeling.
The curiosity she was feeling was not her own. The feelings inside her mind were being manipulated.
“Ur, hurry up and open the barrier. Black at attempts of magic being made on us right now.”
The urgency in Aurora’s voice caused Ur to whine but he followed her words and put up the barrier. The second it went up, Aurora breathed a sigh of relief. The foreign presence in her mind was receiving.
“So, now would you tell us what was wrong with you? You were behaving quite strangely and it was worrying me.”
Rita’s face was blank but her voice was heavy with concern. Aurora felt bad for having worried her but she could still not afford to let her guard down.
Because Aurora’s brain had been tried to be invaded, she suddenly had to consider the possibility that others in her team were not safe as well.
“It’s nothing. I thought like I felt surveillance aimed at us but maybe I was wrong. Still, it won’t be bad for us to be vigilant in this new place.”
Aurora cared a lot about her companions but even she had to admit that they were not the best magic users out there. Especially Rita was weak when it came to sensing magic.
“You felt someone connecting with your brain? It must be the administrator of this floor. I did remember reading about it before. This whole floor is under a single blanket and outside of the overlooker’s control. The authority belongs to the administrator for some reason.”
Now that Quince said this, Aurora also remembers hearing about it in her past life. But she had been too busy with her shit to pay attention.
And also, when they arrived on this floor, it had been under a unified government and not under an administrator last time.
‘Ah, there was that incident when the floor citizens ended up rebelling. The overlooker at that time had to step in. It was also the first time an overlooker was seen out in the open.’
Aurora had not been a part of that rebellion back then since she had been a few floors up. But the news of that incident had shaken up the tower’s political system.
Every influential party had rushed out to gain influence and many new forces had emerged.
But none had been as dominant as the tower which had helped stabilize the situation in here. Mei had been in charge of that subduction back then.
‘What will happen this time since Mei is dead? Would the rebellion fail? Or will a new power emerge as a result?’
The tower was no longer there to help stabilize the breakup of this floor. As such, there would be a huge power vacuum left behind once the waves of rebellion hit this floor.
And it would be converted into an illusionary floor that had multiple exits. It would become quite a breakthrough point for people.
Aurora had a lot to plan now but she did not have enough time. It was getting late and Aurora needed to meet the person who had managed to interfere with the flow of abyssal order before she tried looking around.
Luckily, Subaru came back really early with good news. Aurora could see the relief coloring his face and she grinned back at him.
“Master has agreed to meet you right now. But only one of you can follow after me to meet him.”
Subaru explained and it was not even a question at this point. They all knew the one to meet the teacher would be Aurora since she was the one who had suggested it in the first place.
“Alright, got it. I am ready to follow you.”
Aurora agreed easily enough. She did consider the possibility of this being a trap for her but it was a trivial worry.
She was sure that she would be able to get out in time if the situation got sticky for her.
“I was really surprised when Master agreed to meet with you. He is not someone who is easily swayed by material gains or even threats. You must be someone great.”
Subaru’s eyes held respect for Aurora. His scared attitude from earlier was gone, replaced by trust and curiosity. It made Aurora nervous.
At the same time, she was also vigilant against this ‘master’ he kept mentioning. It was clear that whatever had changed Subaru had to be connected to his ‘master’ and what he had told Subaru.
And if Subaru had been told something about Aurora that made him trust her, then his master also knew something about Aurora.
“Does your master know me? Why would he know what kind of person I am?”
Aurora tried to probe about the real identity of this ‘master’ she kept hearing about. The chances of him being someone Aurora knew was high.
But the weird part was, Aurora was sure that she did not know anyone this high up in the abyss.
“Don’t worry about it. Master is very intelligent and they can guess anyone’s identity easily enough. You should be honored that they vouched for you.”
Subaru sounded offended that Aurora had questioned his master. He seemed to hold his master in the highest esteem possible.
This much devotion was dangerous but Aurora was not someone who could say that. She was sure that Rita and the rest of her people had this much devotion to her as well.
“I am honored but I would still like to know who the person I am meeting is. I guess I am just nervous right now?”
Aurora spoke those words as she focused on opening the door in front of her. It required surprising amounts of concentration which made Aurora pant a little.
Opening this door should have been easy for her since she was a goddess of the abyss but it was so heavy that Aurora’s vision blurred as a result.
“Well, master did say that you were a cautious one and I should be aware of you getting suspicious but you seemed easier to deal with than I thought. Now, why don’t you enjoy your new home.”
The door cracked open all of a sudden and Aurora’s forceful push caused her to fall into the room.
The door closed behind her back and Aurora struck the door to force it to open. But it did not open up.
Instead, it forced Aurora into this dark and gloomy place.
“Great, now I am stuck here for the time being. What a fucking mess I ended up in. I knew something was wrong with this whole picture I was being presented with.”
Aurora was surprised that Subaru had made such a bold move all of a sudden. It seemed as if he did not care for his life and what happened to him.
Aurora tried to use the string of curses she had left on Subaru’s body to get him to open the door but she faced some interference in the process.
The same static that had been watching her before was back all of a sudden with a vengeance. It was making Aurora’s head hurt just to try and combat it.
‘I guess this will not work right now. Is there something else I can try to break out of here?’
Nothing came to Aurora’s mind so she had to give up. Fortunately, she had her team who would get her out soon.
Hopefully.
‘It’s up to them anyway.’
Aurora had not given up but she had backed down for now. It would not do good for Aurora to run out of energy.
“I hope they are alright. But knowing Rita, she would have made a mess by now. Quince, it is up to you to save this situation and get me out.”
God, it was reassuring to have Quince on her side right now and this was a sentence Aurora had never thought she would say again in this life.