Chapter 377 - Sayu
They were heading to the basement when the castle kept on shaking. It was like there was a tenacious earthquake kept on coming in to stop them.
Apart from the constant shaking, the chilling sensation coming from the basement was beyond terrifying. It wasn't terrifying because it was powerful, not at all. In fact, none of them knows why they were scared, but the more floors they travel down, the colder it gets.
"We're almost there," Sayu said. "Now, we only need to go to the basement and then attack him."
"What if he shoots the poison cloud again?" Florencia asked. "We need to be very careful."
"I control this castle," Sayu said. "If he tries that trick again, I will isolate him inside the basement."
What the woman said made everyone look at each other. She just said that she controls the castle. It may be the reason why even though she's a woman, she had a high rank in their hierarchy.
Sayu walked to a dark hallway with the torch device in her hand. She was leading them while lighting up the way with her device. She was afraid that if Connor would use his flames, Viper would just send poison fog and set everything on fire.
After the wooden hallway, they reached a stone cave-like path. Sayu told them that they were now on the second floor of the castle, and further along the way was the first floor where the basement was.
"Look here," Sayu went to the side and showed them a torch device similar to what she was holding. The only difference was the torch on the wall was bigger, and it was missing the white gem that makes it light up.
"He stole the gem?" Elliot asked.
"I think so," Sayu replied. "He wanted everything to be dark and make Connor use his flames. This ghost has been living a very long time– longer than any of you. From all the time he spent inside this castle, he has learned a lot of tricks."
"But we can defeat him, right?" Christina couldn't help but ask.
"Defeating the ghost is easy," Sayu said. "But making him assume a physical form is hard. He has devoted all his powers into being spectre. I'm not even sure how we will do anything apart from the ritual."
Silence followed them after Sayu's words, and she understand them. They were left with no other choice but to kill their friend in order to defeat the ghost. It wasn't an easy decision.
A few minutes later, Sayu twisted the gem from her device that made the light from it dim. She slolwy leaned her body forward and assume a crouching position.
"We're almost there," Sayu whispered, placing her finger on her lips to signal the others to keep silent. "The door is slightly ajar, meaning he is inside."
At the end of the dark stone path was a large wooden door that filled the size of the hallway. Just like Sayu said, it was slightly opened to the side, making them assume that Viper was inside.
"Inside that basement are food and supplies," Sayu whispered. "There are several guards inside, but I assume the ghost had already defeated them."
Gesturing her hand to follow her, Sayu led the way inside the door of the basement. Inside was a large hall filled with wooden crates stacked on top of each other. Unlike the hallway that lead here, the basement was bright. All the torches were still lit up, but they were high up the ground making them think that Viper didn't get rid of them because he couldn't reach them.
"Let's split up into three groups," Sayu ordered. "Elliot, Lance, go with me. The others, you divide yourselves."
"Let's go," Elliot agreed and went with Sayu, while Lance was trialing behind them.
Connor, Hope, and Florencia teamed up while Ed and Christina paired. There was an imbalance in the number of members, so they decided to not wander around too far from each other.
"We'll take this side," Connor said while pointing to the weapons section.
"I guess we'll go here then," Ed said and headed to the supplies section. He was wondering why they would simply label it as "supplies" when everything in this basement were supplies. Whatever it refers to might be supplies for the castle's rooms and toiletries.
"Do you think Viper will be alright?" Christina asked Ed.
The man looked at her for the first time since Viper escaped and was surprised by how scared she was. Her body was lightly shaking, and her eyes were wide. She looked like she was lost that Ed couldn't help but place his hand on her shoulder.
"Look, kid, don't worry about your friend," Ed said. "I'm sure he's alright. Viper is a tough nut, you know that."
"Yeah," Christina chuckled. "I guess he is. There was a time when we were training, I accidentally flushed him with a strong jet of water. He was thrown to a rock and almost spat blood but he still stood and fought back. We were only practicing and I hit him first, but he suppressed himself."
"Wow," Ed breathed out. "If that was me, I would've beaten you to a pulp. Do you know how painful it is to hit yourself on a rock?"
"I know," Christina smirked. "That was why ever since then, I've been admiring him."
Ed gasped, "Do you even know what you're saying, young lady?"
"I know," she shook her head. "He has his eyes on Flo, everyone knows that. Well apart from Flo, that is."
"And you still like him?" Ed quirked his brow up. "That's just stupid."
"Love makes us do crazy things– oh, my God," Christina covered her mouth with her hands in shock.
Ed looked ahead and immediately raised his arms to push Christina behind him. He covered himself as they watched rats feast on bodies of four people.
"These must be the guards Sayu was referring to," Ed said. "Stay here."
He brandished his sword and walked closer to the rotting corpses. The stench was awful, making him almost puke but he held it in. "These are men, and they wore the armor of the guards like the ones outside the gate."
"You mean, they're killed by Viper?" Christina gasped.
"Elliot! Lance! Sayu! Everyone else!" Ed yelled without answering her question. "I've got bad news for you!"
Footsteps sounded from the entire basement and not long after, the others arrived at the scene. Each and every one of them grimaced after seeing the dead corpses.
"Those are the guards," Sayu confirmed. "The ghost had killed them."
"Viper did this?" Florencia asked out loud. "I know he couldn't do such a thing. This is beyond awful!"
"Can't you see?" Sayu said with a loud voice, seemingly flaring with anger. "That boy has become a murderer because of the ghost."
"But how come?" Elliot muttered. "Those men looked dead for days. We've only been here for three. That's impossible."
Sayu was taken aback by Elliot's words. She looked at the bodies with gritted teeth. She lowered her head and chuckled.
They all watched Sayu walk to the side and slowly levitate. "Oh, you're so smart, huh?"
Sayu raised her head that revealed her red eyes and her purple face. She looked like a monster with her scaled face with long lizard-like tongue.
"You fell right exactly into my trap!"