70 The End

"Where are we?"

Kasdeya had gotten slightly frustrated with just constantly walking down these many corridors, which all seemed to look the same, so decided to learn some information from someone who clearly resided here.

"Where?"

But this endeavour proved difficult.

"Yes, 'where'. As in, what is this place?"

"...interesting?"

"No, I wasn't asking for your opinion on the environment, I want to know our geographical location."

Laurence fell silent, placing a hand on her chin while she gave the countenance of someone deep in thought.

"Director's place!"

Laurence seemed exceptionally proud of this answer, though whether she was proud of the fact that she didn't stutter or the content of the response, was unclear.

"This is a wasted effort… Ok then, an easy question, where's the exit?"

There was something about Laurence that made communication easy, possibly the aura of an airhead that she was giving off?

Laurence, once again, fell into thought, Kasdeya hoped that it was due to her figuring out what words to use and not that she didn't remember where the exit was.

"Way is... here."

Kasdeya turned, her eyes wide at the fact that this encounter might yet prove to be useful, until she realised that Laurence was pointing back the way they had come.

While walking, Kasdeya started cycling her mana, drawing the gaze of Laurence who watched in innocent curiosity, as she started to attempt to draw a rune while walking. Unfortunately, the result was a very long line of light hovering in the air which dissipated quickly.

"Hmm, so the rune won't follow me. Unfortunate. I wonder if there is a way to move the formation in the air?"

Kasdeya stopped walking, prompting Laurence to likewise cease movement, and drew a fire rune in the air. This time though, she kept channeling mana into it to prevent it from vanishing as the completed rune started to burn with the excess power.

"Actually… forget about making it follow me, can I have a rune constructed without generating its effect?"

This was a sudden thought that instantly drew her entire focus, but it would require her to remain still and experiment for a long period of time and, despite how sociable Laurence was, she had to keep in mind that this was an unknown stronghold full of potentially hostile individuals.

After continuing to walk for a length of time and completely avoiding contact with the few individuals they had come across, Kasdeya felt like she was starting to master the art of communication; don't. They had already gone past the pathway which would've taken them back to the balcony overlooking the demons, so Kasdeya was solely depending on Laurence's questionable reliability to lead them forward, something she quickly came to regret.

Laurence stared at her curiously as Kasdeya remained rooted at the end of the hallway. Opening up in front of her was a large room which seemed to be some central area that branched off to all other rooms, and also apparently led to the exit, which would've been exactly what she wanted. HOWEVER, due to its glorious position as the foundation that all other rooms were built around, it was a place of peak traffic. There were so many people walking through this hall that if bumping into each other was accompanied by a sound effect they'd all be deaf!

"... why can't secret societies have better traffic control, there are so many humans in there… What would happen if I killed one on accident!"

"Attacked." Laurence answered in a simple tone, replying to her question despite it being rhetorical.

"There isn't another exit, is there?" Kasdeya sounded hopeful, but she herself held little hope, after all, she knew how these things went down in stories. The protagonist would be forced to overcome a herculean task, like a dragon or something, conquer their greatest fears and grow as an individual while making the world a better place, but at no point would there be an easier method to achieve the same result. Seeming how her current difficulty was even greater than overcoming a dragon, she held no false delusions.

"Another exit… No!"

"I knew it…"

Reaching into her bag, she shuffled through its contents hoping for a solution. Unfortunately the few implements she had, including the broken golem core, the swords, a few engraved bones and the crystal altilium, were of little use here.

"Well, I guess this is it then, the end of the glorious tale of Kasdeya Votumea."

Kasdeya slid down the wall, melancholic of the short life she has lived thus far, while Laurence just stared at her, visibly confused.

"To think, after overcoming all manners of monstrosities and monsters, outwitting a demon Lord and then crawling my way out of what I assume to be the very pits of hell, that it would end so soon after, beaten by a crowd of weak, pathetic, easily killable… Wait a minute… That's it!"

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The aid sprinted down the hallways, the Director somewhere behind him.

After arriving at the room that the monkey lord was meant to be escorted to, and finding no trace of them, he had instantly assumed the worst. Now he was sprinting down the passageways that they would've had to traverse to arrive at the chosen destination with the hope of finding a clue as to what happened. What made it even more worrying and frustrating was that Laurence, the individual who would have had the easiest time tracking down the hazard, was nowhere to be found, so the aid was stuck trying his damndest to locate this threat since he had no confidence in the personel here living long enough to report back.

He couldn't even begin to imagine the horror he was bound to come across, discarded bodies, torn walls, utter destruction.

The aid stopped, beholding the scene before him. The guards he had assigned were unconscious and lying on the floor, bar one who was nowhere to be seen. The only indication of their fate being grooves in the wall which looked suspiciously like teeth marks.

"Dear god, what manner of monster walks among us?"

The aid continued to hurry down the corridors.