"Wow, this place is huge and… Old…. Creepy…. And probably full of ghosts… Okay, Aoi, let's find another place!" Kana took one look at the tall, dark tower and decided against going in there. The tower was strange as it seemed more like a place where an evil wizard would reside or maybe even a demon lord. The dark, oddly shaped towered went from straight to crooked near the top before straightening out again. In front of the tower were many dead trees and a low lying fog that covered many stones that littered the surrounding yard. With the large metal gate towering at least a tens of meters taller than Kana, who only stood at one hundred and sixty two centimeters. It made her feel the whole place was very oppressive.
But even though she was scared as soon as she heard Aoi say: "Kana, I think we should go… I sense a strong power coming from within..." She knew she had to go in.
"Why here of all places...?" Kana cried. She really did not want to go in there, but she also did not want to give up checking out this strong power! Mainly because it could possibly be something that will allow her to cast cool spells! Kana was still very much obsessed with wanting to cast cool spells. With no other option, Kana gritted her teeth and walked up to the large gates, and pushed with all her might. "Huh? ..."
Kana looked at the gate, feeling very confused. "It won't budge..." She once again pushed on the gate with all her might, except this time she used both hands and… "What the hell is wrong with this gate!?"
As Kana was pondering on how to open the gate, Aoi floated over and grabbed the handle on the gate with her little hands pulled on it and opened the gate. She then floated inside, bringing the tiger monster with her. She even made sure to close the gate behind her as well. Kana, who watched all this from the side, face turned slightly red… "I knew that! I was just testing you!" Kana mumbled to herself. She felt very embarrassed since she had been pushing on the gate the entire time!
With red cheeks, Kana walked over and opened the gate properly this time and hurriedly caught up to Aoi. The atmosphere was just as oppressive and scary inside the gates as it was when she was outside. More so now because she was actually walking past what seemed to be graves.
"Aoi, there are no ghosts, right??" Kana asked as she hugged herself. She reacted to every little noise she heard.
"Ghost? I do not know, but there are a lot of dead people here..." Aoi said, pointing to the figures walking slowly towards them.
A few hundred figures' bodies shook awkwardly with each step. The large open wounds and bones poked through their grey skin. Flesh hung off the exposed bone. Some of those bits of flesh would fall off as they walked. Some had eyes, while others only had one or no eyes to be seen. The dark hollows of their eyes sockets as they looked at you felt as if they were peering deep into your soul. Kana felt a shiver run down her spine as she looked at these undead figures walking over to her. "Z-Z-Zombies!" Yes, just like in one of the novels she had read before, in front of her was the textbook description of a zombie.
"Zombie? Kana, what is a zombie?" Aoi asked. She was not at all perturbed by the grotesque figures walking toward them.
"Zombies are dead people who come back to life." Kana gave a quick answer as she drew her sword.
"Oh..."Aoi completely lost interest as she waved her hand, sending out a blade of water that sliced the heads off of the hundreds of zombies in an instant. "Let's go! Kana doesn't need to dirty her hands with such disgusting creatures."
Kana couldn't help but shake her head and smile as she walked on. Kana didn't even need to raise her hand to kill anything, Aoi actually did all the work for her. The best part was that even though it was Aoi who was doing all the killing, she still received half the experience per kill. As part of being Kana's summoned elemental, she was able to receive experience for any and all monsters Aoi killed. In a situation where she really did not wish to get near the enemy, Kana was very happy about this. Aoi easily dispatched any zombie that came towards them with a simple flick of her finger.
The distance between the gate and the black tower was a long one. It took them around thirty minutes to reach the front doorstep. From there, it seemed like the stairs themselves were a test in its own right as the only door to be seen was halfway up the tower. When Kana saw the large set of stairs that were waiting for her to climb them, she let out a sigh as she resigned herself to her incoming fate.
The set of stairs themselves were large in comparison to Kana. She had not realized how large the tower was until she actually stood in front of it. From a distance, the tower looked like any normal sized tower but now standing staring at the large steps that she had to climb not with just her feet but her hands as well as if she was climbing a mountain wall. With how big everything was, Kana could only think that maybe whoever owned this tower was a giant. Or someone with a strange sense of humor. "If I go inside and there is an elevator this entire time to get to the top, I will be very mad..." Kana mumbled as she backed up a little to give herself a running start. Planting her foot off the side of the first step, Kana launched herself upwards and grabbed the ledge in order to pull herself up.
Standing on that first step looking at the hundred or so more stairs to go, Kana let out a heavy deep sigh. One that showed just how annoyed by this situation she was.