[Sorry, there was a mistake some chapters back, Maru the guardian is not an Orc, he is an Ogre]
Silva sat on the throne watching the group of a hundred cloaked men walk through the labyrinth. He observed them closely.
They had many powerful members that handled the labyrinth monsters, taking little time to take them out easily until they reached the sixth floor. As soon as they got there, Silva initiated the plan.
“Selax, lead your arachnids to the sixth floor. I want you to start by causing disarray in their force.
Ensure that you take enough so they can’t fight. Also, you’ll be there, but not to engage, just to use your powerful aura to cause them fear.
I want them to scatter in all directions. That way, we can start the real hunt, one by one,” Silva said.
Selax bowed her head and teleported from the hall, and so the game began.
________ _________
The cloaked men walked through the sixth floor unhindered, like a powerful wave wiping out everything in their path.
But suddenly, the man at the front raised his hand, signaling them to stop. He tried to peer farther into the darkness.
And as he did, the darkness stared back. Several glowing red eyes, too numerous to count, appeared.
They started hearing the crackling of hard endoskeleton legs on the rocky floors heading their way. It sounded like an army in heavy boots.
Finally, the spiders, half the size of humans, appeared, with some far bigger than that as well.
Their number was in the hundreds, about two hundred of them, all there, ready to tear this group of a hundred limb from limb.
To top it off, Selax, who was at the back, decided to release her aura for a bit. It was like a mad wave that washed over the cloaked people.
It poured fear directly into their souls, weakening their resolve to fight the arachnids. They all turned tail and started running while the arachnids gave chase.
Only five could stand, and they yelled at the others to maintain formation, but the others were too far gone in fear to listen.
These five who stood were the leaders of the group, but it was still evident they were scared as their bodies kept trembling.
But since they didn’t run, Selax ordered them to be brought in, all five of them. The arachnids swarmed them, and even though the men fought as if their lives depended on it, they were outnumbered ten to one. There was no winning.
The five were all dragged into the darkness, while the remaining arachnids gave chase to those who had fled earlier.
“The master knew this would disrupt them. Just putting fear in their hearts has thrown their entire formation into shambles,” Selax said, looking at the men getting dragged away.
“I have a feeling the Master will give them to Lily for questioning,” Silva said. The thought of Lily torturing the men gave Selax chills.
_______ ________
Selax appeared in the hall again, with all five men behind her. They had been tied up with spider webs, so thick and tight they had trouble breathing.
Silva looked at them and tried to sense the unique energy he had felt from the first cloaked man, but none of the five here were the right person.
‘So he didn’t come? He must have sent these ones here,’ Silva thought.
He got up from the throne and walked over to the five of them.
“I’ll try my best to save you from the pain that will come if you refuse, so I’ll ask this once: tell me the details of your plan and all about your organization,” Silva said.
He told Selax to remove the webs covering their mouths. She did as instructed.
But as soon as she did, they all started chanting something at the same time. Selax quickly covered their mouths again.
“What were they saying?” Silva asked.
“I don’t know, but as soon as they started chanting, their mana began gathering at their core. It’s probably a self-destruct spell of some sort,” Selax explained.
“So I take it they don’t want to tell us anything, then,” Silva said, frowning at them.
“It’s your fault for what’s about to happen. Don’t blame me; blame yourselves,” Silva said and then looked at Lily.
“I want to see your torture abilities that everyone here is afraid of. We have to get the truth out of them, even if it means breaking their spirits and souls,” Silva said.
Lily nodded, grabbing two of the men while Silva took the other three.
“Watch over the remaining people who scattered, Elsa. When I come back, we can continue having fun with them,” Silva said and headed out of the hall following Lily.
“Do you think the master will be able to stomach what he’ll see during Lily’s torture session?” Jade came close to Elsa and asked.
“Don’t worry. Father has the mental fortitude of the first dark dragon. He won’t be fazed by this,” Elsa said, assuring them.
She still had her doubts in mind because Lily had a level of brutality that no one else could reach.
Silva and Lily walked through the hallway as she led him to her torture chamber.
“Master Silva, I have something to tell you,” Lily said.
“Yeah? What is it?” Silva asked.
“Well, my fairy power is called foresight, the ability to predict the future. Because of my mana, I can see futures up to tens of years ahead.
The issue with my ability is that the farther into the future I look, the more parallels are born,” she said.
“Parallels? What are those?” he asked.
“Nothing is ever definite in the future. Parallels are other paths that can be taken. There are an infinite number of parallels, and the farther you look into the future, the more parallels are born,” she said, she glanced at Silva before she continued, it seemed there was something she was leading to with this discussion.