Tunnels
9:15 p.m.
Vivian was walking down the streets of the Inquisitory Division Headquarters.
She wore her a White Cloak with its hood pulled up, a mask with a brown-colored sun symbol on the forehead, an Earring of Spirit on her right ear, and a gold necklace around her neck which was her Class Crystal. And underneath her cloak, she wore a black short-fitting long-sleeved backless turtleneck dress, a belt pouch, a pair of black leather gloves, and another pair of long-legged black leather boots that reached up to her thighs.
She didn't bother to carry any weapon as usual.
She finally arrived at her destination and it was the entrance of the tunnel for the Northwest Exit.
If Vivian were to be honest, she became a bit weary because of her meeting with Inquisitor Jail this afternoon.
However, in her head, aside from the fact that she wanted to level up her Physical Arts as quickly as possible and she also needed to make her blood revert to red, if she stopped exploring and there were no other accidents, it would clear most of the suspicions towards her. On the other hand, if she continued exploring and there were no other accidents, it would definitely clear all suspicions towards her.
I just need to be more careful…
She cast a spell.
[Greater Origin Transformation].
Blaaak.
Her eyes transformed into a pair of black-colored eyes with yellow irises as she entered the lightless tunnel.
***
A couple of minutes later.
Vivian walked in silence in a lightless tunnel and would occasionally glance at the map on her Identity Papers.
At the end of this tunnel, there should be 2 tunnels…
She continued walking until she arrived at the end of the tunnel.
Nice…
Just as the map said, there were two tunnels.
Now the next path is the tunnel on the right…
***
Another couple of minutes later.
Vivian found herself in a cavern. However, unlike the Inquisitory Division's headquarters and the abandoned base along the way of the East Exit, the cavern was too small.
Sniff.
Sniff.
This smell…
Something like rotten egg…
I remember smelling this type of smell near hot spring places…
Back in Vivian's world, during her childhood, teenage years and college years, she would visit hot springs with her family, friends and childhood friend-turned-girlfriend. And then during her adult working life, one time there was a company party where all employees were required to attend and it was held in a hot spring.
Although Vivian had a great physique -- tall, athletic and around 10% body fat -- she didn't enjoy the company party one bit because her workmates, including her boss were there, and she didn't hold a high position because she was only 24 years old.
All she could do was pretend to enjoy being there while kissing the ass of her boss and the other high-ranking employees and stare at the wrinkled, fat and out-of-shape bodies of her workmates. She, of course, had hot female co-workers as well. But given that her position wasn't high, she could only suffer from blue balls unless she wanted to get sued for sexual harassment and lose her job.
But what really got under her skin was the complete and utter hypocrisy of the potential sexual harassment charges. The men and women could comment and touch her body without her consent because she was quite fit. But once she does the same thing to her boss or female co-workers, it was a different story.
A small smile appeared on Vivian's face as she shook her head.
The beauty of being a man…
So much nostalgia…
Vivian continued walking through the small cavern.
Although she couldn't see it clearly because of her demonic eyes, the area was actually surrounded by smoke that came out from the walls and a few geysers.
A couple of steps later, she reached the end of the cavern or at least she thought it was -- she wasn't a cave explorer or anything and she had no interest in going to such places but in her original world because she was the type who liked to spend her time in a peaceful, beautiful and air-conditioned place with less or no people -- she found herself inside a larger cavern and was standing on a cliff. There was a man-made flight of stairs on the side that led downstairs where there were 4 tunnels and a large pool of boiling murky water oozing with steam.
There's got to be Fareels in that body of water…
According to the books she has read, Fareel was a fish-type monster that looked like an eel but had 4 limbs which allowed it to crawl on land and had long and sharp teeth. It loves hot water, it can see in the dark, its Physical Force can reach up to mithril-grade, it doesn't have any Magic Art but its body can generate body heat of up to mithril-grade, it wasn't aggressive unless provoked, and the male could grow up to 6ft long while the female can grow up to 10ft long.
Vivian slowly climbed down the stairs.
Splash!
As soon as she got closer to the pool, a Fareel about 6ft tall jumped out and tried to bite her.
[Power Fist].
Ba--riiiip!
Thud.
Splash!
A chunk of the monster's upper body was shredded into pieces and the rest of its body fell on the floor before sliding down back into the large pool of murky hot water.
Vivian's lips slowly curled up into a smile.
Well, I guess I can do that...
After all, it would be annoying having to constantly stop and fight…
I just have to make sure that no one would return alive once they see me…
She took off her mask and pulled the hood of her cloak back.
[Greater Origin Enchant].
A dark-red lightning appeared on her hand.
[Halo].
As soon as the golden ring started to manifest on her back, the dark red lightning crawled from her hand to her back and was being absorbed by the ring until it became 4 times larger, making it look like there was a huge portal behind Vivian and it illuminated the lightless cavern.
[Greater Origin Transformation].
Blaaak!
Vivian's head transformed into her demonic squid-like head. It had 8 large black eyes with yellow irises and each eye could move individually. Her mouth was replaced with 8 long tentacles which she could also control individually and underneath it there was no chin, only was circular mouth with 4 layers of tiny teeth and a very long tongue.
Four spider-like arms also burst out from the side of her ribs without destroying her short black fitting long-sleeved backless turtleneck dress.
Thud.
Vivian jumped and landed on the edge of the pool of murky hot water.
Splash!
Splash!
Splash!
Splash!
Four Fareels ranging from 2 to 8 feet tall jumped out of the pool and attacked Vivian.
Whoo-riiip!
Splat!
Splat!
Two of the monsters were shredded into pieces with [Power Claw], while the other two were caught with Vivian's spider-like hands and were squeezed to death.
Splash!
Splash!
Splash!
Another three Fareels jumped out of the pool of murky hot water.
***
A couple of minutes later.
The pool of murky hot water turned into a pool of blood, guts, chunks and pieces of Fareels. There were so many dead that even the foul smell of rotten eggs in the cave was overwhelmed by the stench of the corpses.
But despite that, Vivian wasn't able to level up a single Physical Art.
The tentacles on Vivian's face curled menacingly.
I don't believe that these are the only Fareels or monsters here…!
There's got to me more…!
[Greater Origin Transformation].
Blaaak!
Vivian transformed back into her human form except for her eyes and quickly shed all of her clothes.
She took out a large black blanket from her belt pouch and wrapped all of her things with it before placing it on the side.
Vivian went back to the edge of the pool.
[Greater Origin Transformation].
BLAAAK!
Vivian's right arm transformed into a demonic spider-like arm that was enough for a 9-meter-tall being.
Splash!
She shoved her giant right arm into the pool of murky hot water that was covered with the blood, guts, chunks and pieces of Fareels and explored what was underneath it.
I can feel several passages…
But there's a few that's too deep…
[Greater Origin Transformation].
Blaaak!
Vivian's entire body transformed into a 5-meter-tall Demon.
Ooops…!
Just in case…!
One of her long spider-like arms reached out for the black blanket that kept all of her things and kept it safely on her palm.
[Greater Origin Enchant].
A dark red lightning appeared on her hand.
[Greater Origin Transformation].
BLAAAK!
Vivian's arm that was exploring the depths of the pool transformed into a larger arm that was enough for a 20-meter-tall being.
Fuck…!
Her giant arm got stuck.
Tch…!
If I forcefully move my arm, this whole cavern might collapse…
It was then an idea popped inside her head.
What if make a new waterway…?
However, she immediately dropped the idea.
Even if she was 5'4 or 40 meters tall, the arrow-type spells such as [Fire Arrow], [Wind Arrow] and etc. were still 15 inches long. So even if she amplifies them with [Greater Origin Enchant], that would only make them 60 inches. It wasn't like [Halo] where the spell appearance would match the owner's height.
[Greater Origin Transformation].
Blaaak!
Vivian transformed back into her human form except for her eyes and she also deactivated [Halo].
She went over to a puddle of hot murky water and washed her right arm.
Hmm…
Note to self: Next time I do that, I should use one of my extra arms, not my main arms…
So that I won't have to worry about washing my main arm once I return back to human form…
Once she was done, she went over to the black blanket that kept her things and unwrapped it.
She took out some wipes from her belt pouch and wiped her right arm before wearing back all of her clothes.
Time to continue heading out…
Hopefully, I'll have more luck there…
Vivian was about to continue walking but suddenly stopped.
She scratched her head.
How do I get rid of this evidence…?
Although she wasn't able to level up any of her Physical Arts, what used to be a pool of murky hot water turned into a pool of blood, guts, chunks and pieces of Fareels. There were so many dead that even the foul smell of rotten eggs in the cave was overwhelmed by it.
Should I eat it…?
She suddenly felt sick to her stomach and wanted to vomit.
In her head, although eats living beings, that doesn't mean she would eat just about anything. The smell of the pool alone was enough to turn her stomach.
Well…
Even if someone sees me entering the Northwest tunnels...
I can just --…
An idea popped inside her head.
Vivian removed all of her clothes once again and transformed into a 5-meter-tall demon.
***
A couple of minutes later.
Pat.
Pat.
Pat.
Vivian patted the ground. But it wasn't soil she was patting.
With her Strength which was more than 200 points, digging the stone surface of the cavern was nothing.
After digging a hole that was 5ft deep, she scooped most of the guts, chunks and pieces of Fareels from the pool as much as she could, squeezed them into a ball with her giant hands, shredded them into pieces with Physical Arts, and sprinkled them on the hole before covering the hole with rocks along with the other rocks that she ground into dust.
[Greater Origin Transformation].
Blaaak!
Vivian turned into a human, including her eyes.
[Halo].
A golden ring appeared behind her, illuminating the area and allowing her to see in the lightless cavern.
She walked towards the pool.
Yeah…
This was a stupid idea…
Halfway through the process, she realized that what she was doing was stupid but still continued nonetheless.
The pool is still red…
And there's still small pieces of Fareel meat floating on the surface…
Sniff.
Sniff.
Well...
At least the smell lessened…
[Greater Origin Transformation].
Blaaak.
Her eyes transformed into demonic eyes and then deactivated [Halo] before searching for her clothes.
***
Vivian reached the final tunnel on her way to the exit which led out a of cave and was singing under her breath that only she could hear.
"So we found this hotel…~~
It was a place I knew well…~~
We made magic that night…~~
Oh, he did everything right…~~"
She didn't encounter any monsters along the way but was still excited nonetheless because this would be her first time reaching the surface since she got to the Inquisitory Division's headquarters.
"He brought the woman out of me…~~
So many times, easily…~~
And in the mornin' when he woke…~~
All I left him was a note…~~"
Vivian couldn't hold it any longer. She raised her arms on her chest, balled her fists and closed her eyes, and sang her heart out like she was a rock ballad singer from the 80s back in her original world.
"I told him I am the flower, you are the seed…~~!
We walked in the garden, we planted a tree…~~!
Don't try to find me, please don't you dare…~~!
Just live in my memory, you'll always be there…~~!"
She spread out her arms dramatically.
"All I wanna do is make love to you~~!
One night of love was all we knew~~!
All wanna do is make love to you~~!
I've got lovin' arms to hold on to~~!"
An unfamiliar male voice suddenly interrupted her.
"Who's there?!"
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Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
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Please note that the chapters posted there are only drafts. So when those said Chapter Drafts will be published here, there will be some edits. They also involve a few secret outline notes/details that I won't publish here because they contain spoilers or dispel some of the mysteries. And at the moment, Chapter Drafts 268-272 are posted there.
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