Hijack

Immediately stepping into the corridor beyond the hidden door, Roko could see familiar tentacles that have taken over the entirely of the hallway. The air seemed to grow heavy and dry. Torches were lit along the sides of the corridor, giving enough light to continue downwards. After a tense walk down the hall, Roko and Lavinia began to hear the sounds of instruments and chatter not too farther down the hall. Taking caution to step quietly, the two advanced until the end of the corridor came into view and they could see a giant cavern that stretched above them like the maw of a giant creature. Like the hallway, the walls, floor and ceiling were overtaken by tentacles though this time, there was some sort of structure comprised of those tentacles sitting at the farthest edge of the room. One more elaborate than the pillar from the tomb. On the site were a few white tents with the symbol of the Red Wind marked on its canvases. A considerable amount of people that were moving around, shuffling papers and conversing loudly. There were a pair of stone coffins on both sides of the room that Roko and Lavinia hid behind as they moved forward.

Peeking over the top of the coffins, Roko noted the amount of researchers in comparison to the number of soldiers. While there were more of a handful of both, there were slightly more people holding weapons than there were people in white coats. And in a series of rattling cages were monsters of grotesque design trying to escape, snapping with indistinct maws at the air. From what he could see, Roko could not see Alec among the group.

"What do we do now?" Lavinia said quietly.

"We get some help." Roko replied.

"All I can do is use Gust." Lavinia held up the staff that Roko had given her.

"No, I mean from them." Roko looked over towards the caged abominations.

"Are you insane?!" Lavinia hissed, "They'll attack us as well!"

"If you have a better idea, I'd like to hear it."

"..."

"Stay back. I'll handle this."

Roko moved around his coffin, staying low and moving behind the tents, sneaking into the tent with all the caged specimens. From a glance, there were at least 10 of these monstrosities that they had managed to capture. These monsters were different from the ones that attacked Roko in the wildwoods. These seemed to be amorphous blobs of discolored flesh with sharp maws decorating it's body. Despite being almost like liquid, its maws were just too large to fit between the bars. The cage itself had no actual lock, only a metal bar to prevent it from opening. Dodging the monster's attempt to bite him, Roko sneaked up to the front of the cage and was about to open it when he hesitated. Letting them loose as they were, they monsters would undoubtedly kill some of the unprepared researchers. Roko stood up.

"Hey." Roko called out to one of the researchers, "Do you know where I can find Alec?"

"Who are you?!" The researcher cried, alerting the others around him.

"You might know him better as Comhlacht Gloine?"

"Intruder!" The researchers cried, alerting the soldiers, "We have an intruder here!"

With that, Roko quickly reached down and unlocked the cage. The eldritch monster crawled out of its prison and snapped at Roko. Roko kicked the creature across the tent, right into the middle of the group of researchers. Terrified cries rung out as the researchers began to run away. The soldiers stopped to engage the creature as Roko went and unlocked more of the cages.

"Dammit! Somebody stop that man!"

Roko whistled as he continued to free the variety of disgusting monsters. After setting enough of them free, the monsters stopped trying to attack Roko and began to join the melee between their own kin and the Red Wind soldiers. The soldiers in the meanwhile were struggling to defend against the snapping jaws all around them.

"Dammit! We need to get the researchers out of here!" One of the more decorated soldiers shouted, "Evacuate! We can just leave the monsters with the intruder!"

"Bye bye." Roko waved as he sat on top of one of the empty cages as the soldiers broke free from the army of monsters and began to retreat back up the stairs. The collection of monsters followed the soldiers, relentlessly pursuing them up the stairs until all the Red Wind soldiers and most of the monsters had left up the stairs.

"Still around?" Roko called.

"Yeah." Lavinia stood up from behind her coffin, "I'm shocked that worked."

"I'm shocked they didn't notice you."

"I made sure to stay out of their line of sight."

"You could have escaped with them."

"And leave you alone?"

"I didn't know you cared."

"You are offering me a new job." Lavinia shrugged, "And a pretty cushy job at that. Felt wrong to just abandon you here."

"I appreciate that."

"Whatever. So what do we do now?"

"I dunno." Roko replied, "We can just leave."

"Wait, seriously?"

"My job was to drive the Red Wind members out from under Cordis. Technically I have done that. But I suppose I should make sure none of them can return."

"What about the monsters?"

"What, do you know how to get rid of them?" Roko scoffed, "If you do, I'd love to hear it. Haven't been told that myself."

"Well, no I don't really know how to do that."

"Can't do anything about this then." Roko said, "Though it would have been really helpful if we could."

"That said." Lavinia frowned as she stepped carefully around one of the remaining monsters, "These things left more readily than I expected."

"Well they did preform experiments on them right?" Roko said as he stabbed one of them with his dagger, "Maybe they hold grudges?"

"That'd be really dangerous if they did." Lavinia grimaced, "But I guess we should be thankful more of them aren't appearing."

"These don't seem to be as numerous as the ones I saw before." Roko noted, "But they do seem more dangerous."

"You've come across creatures like this before?"

"They had more tentacles but yeah." Roko sighed, "They were nested in a small tomb as well. Think stuff like this is a habitat for them?"

"This is the first time I've worked with these things so I wouldn't know." Lavinia answered, "But if you went through this before, it makes sense how you're not shocked by all this."

"Can't say I'm fully used to these yet." Roko pulled his dagger out of the strange creature's melting corpse. "My first experience with them was really harrowing. Took quite a bit of effort of escape with everyone intact."

"When you say everyone..."

The pair of intruders looked up as someone came walking down the stairs.

"You don't mean Corissa as well do you?" Alec said as he strode into the room in a carefree manner.

"There you are." Roko said as he stood up, "Comhlacht Gloine."

"That's me." Alec smiled, "Though I did say you can call me Alec right? Most people call me that and I'm used to it."

"Is that what you tell the Red Winds?"

"The Red Winds are mostly a business partner. One that I have developed a careful relationship with."

"And your demon partner?"

"Same here." Alder sneered as he appeared from behind Alec, "All a very cozy relationship of convince."

"And what is it that you're trying to achieve?"

"Well, I figured you knew." Alec said, "There isn't much point in hiding it. We're trying to tame these strange monsters."

"I knew that, but for what?" Roko frowned, "What are you trying to do this for?"

"Well the Red Winds are looking for more troops. And the Demon King would be very interested in learning how to control these strange creatures as well."

"Demon King?" Roko frowned, "What's that?"

"You don't know what the Demon King is?" Alder raised an eyebrow, "What rock have you been living under?"

"It's called Memoria Auspice." Roko replied, "What's more, I still haven't heard what your stake is on this, Comhlacht."

"Well maybe I will tell you if you beat me." Alec smiled.

"What if I just ask your demon?" Roko turned to Alder.

"Well you see-"

"Hey!" Alec forced the demon into a headlock, "Don't go disobeying me like that!"

"Well maybe if it wasn't so embarrassing."

"It's not embarrassing you stupid demon." Alec said as he forced the demon up and kicked him forward, "Now go fight them already."

"You're still making me do your work for you?" Alder scowled as he rubbed his neck.

"That was the contract we signed."

"Yeah yeah. Freaking slave driver."

The demon spread its wings as it glared down at Roko and Lavinia.

"Was this what you were waiting for?" Lavinia asked.

"Gotta make sure they don't reestablish in here again." Roko said as he removed his backpack.

"So just seal off the site."

"They have a demon."

"You take your job way too seriously." Lavinia took a few steps back, "Don't expect me to help."

"Wouldn't dream of it."

"Hm." Alec watched curiously as Lavinia ran off, "You seem more confident than I expected. Do you have some sort of plan?"

"I wouldn't call it a plan." Roko replied. "Just a bit of strategy."

"Man, you have a strategy?" Alder smirked, "If only we had something like that."

"Not like you'd use it even if I came up with anything." Alec scoffed.

"Fair enough." Alder laughed as he charged at Roko.

Roko pulled out the shield he had stolen and slid it onto his arm. Alder swung his claws at Roko who blocked it with the shield.

"Whoa." Roko growled as he was pushed down by the demon's sheer strength, "I can...barely stop your attack."

"You're no knight for sure." Alder sneered, "Frankly I'm impressed you can even hold out against me."

Roko reached into his backpack again and drew the sword he had also stolen. He made a swipe at Alder's body, dislodging the demon from him but his attack showed no damage against his hardened skin.

"Heh." Alder seemed to relax once he saw Roko's attempt at an attack, "If you've got something up your sleeve you better bring it out now."

"Well I would like to try a little more than that." Roko sighed as he stabbed the sword into the ground, "But if you're giving me the chance, I would feel bad about holding back."

Roko stepped back and grabbed his backpack again. Rummaging around the inside, he pulled out a torch handle from inside it.

"A torch?" Alec frowned as Roko used the lantern by his hip to light it, "What are you up to?"

"I guess you don't know yourself then." Roko said as he held up the torch and pressed it against Alder's body.

Alder shrieked in pain, recoiling wildly against the flames.

"I managed to scan you before you escaped." Roko smiled as the demon stumbled backwards, "You have no idea how happy I am to finally meet an opponent whose weakness I can actually abuse."