Beneath the ground

Dungeons were usually a fun place to explore for Asato. They were a place where he felt the closest to his powers, it being a part of the abyss. And he was not the only one feeling free here.

Ten had relaxed so much as soon as he had adjusted to the aura inside the place, the frown and worry on his face melting away to give way to wonder and nostalgia. Asato could understand where the other was coming from.

The only one who looked uncomfortable was Erin and the cave more than anything. The light was cold to the senses and it probed at their mind looking for something.

For Asato it almost was a comfort but he knew why the others could feel uncomfortable. After all, this was something which broke their equilibrium and made them drowsy.

The frog had hopped all over the place till now, it’s slippery body a constant mass of hops which made no noise in the overall scene.

“Hey, are we even on the right track?” now that the air was much less tense, Erin had inverted back to his talkative sense. His words whined as he took the lead.

“Yes, we’re on the right track here. Be thankful that we have not been attacked yet and watch where you are walking” Erin almost slipped in a hole on the ground as he walked backwards. There was a shamed flush on his face which made Ten giggle.

Asato just felt amused at the older person’s antics, they were endearing in a foolish way.

Erin’s eyes narrowed in irritation at the laugh before they softened.

“Yeah, laugh at the fallen. Let me see how you do when you fall down a hole too” Erin grumbled but did nothing to actually stop the amused pair.

The atmosphere was actually lighter now when compared to before, the awkwardness a thing of the past.

Then the world shook as the three people fought hard to not lose their balance. The walls were fragile and fell in many places creating new holes in the place while shadows passed through the new holes.

The three held their breath as the large shadows passed without paying them any attention, the tension now back in the air.

“W-what is that?” Ten asked, his meekness back in his voice. His body was not shaking and yet it felt terrified beyond belief.

“More guardians. We should avoid them if we can” Asato did not want unnecessary problems if they could be avoided. To go against these creatures with limited mobility would be a big problem for their team.

“Right, Ten is useless here and so am I for the most part. Let’s go around this place and follow the fro-” Erin’s words were cut off as the frog jumped in the direction of the hole.

Three eyes filled with horror as the slimy creature jumped through the newly created hole and disappeared beyond the dusty screen. For a few seconds no one moved, silence taking over the moment inside the space.

“Looks like we don’t have a choice anymore” Asato made his way carefully through the hole, his body hiding behind the rocky part of the wall as his head moved to take a look beyond the hole.

The place inside was glowing, hard crystals preluding form the wall and floor all over the place. It was brighter than any other place they had walked away from.

And then there was a small yellow glow all between the crystals which gave off a soft light in comparison to the crystals. Blades of grass gave off light in a veiny pattern, the yellow tipping off into a golden gue at the tips.

The place was filled with luminous grass to the brim.

Right adjacent to it, an ordinary looking plant with red berries grew, it’s fruit in full bloom. Liaka berry was here too. Asato had almost forgotten about their objective for coming here at all. They were here for the berries, not the grass.

It was just, the grass had been the key component of so many conversations for the past few days that it felt more prominent on the urgency scale. Lucky for Asato, he had enough provisions to take away samples from both plants and those crystals if he could.

“Wow, it’s beautiful out there” Erin commented from behind Asato, and he could understand the awe he felt. The scenario really looked to be beautiful.

Ten also had an awed look on his face, an unconscious step bringing him closer to the pair.

“Wait, we need to be careful. The crystals are no mere formations but a part of those earlier mutated guardians. We need to not wake them up. You stay here while I collect the necessary parts” with an agreement and a little grumbine from Erin, there was an agreement.

Asato carefully made his way past the goal, his full concentration on not waking up the guardians.

Slowly, he reached the area containing the grass closest to him. It looked forged, as if someone had already cleared a good chunk of it before. The traces were recent too, a day or two old. One of the scouting teams from before must have entered inside here for the grass then.

Taking a prepared bottle from inside his bag, Asato carefully opened its lid. Then, taking another liquid form another bottle, he filled the earlier container half way.

There were steps one needed to follow to preserve the medical properties of magical plants and to keep them fresh. For most ingredients, as soon as they broke off from their source, the potential of them losing their properties increased exponentially.

Hence, every ingredient needed to be treated carefully before you could store it. This was a tedious but profitable profession Asato could not see himself pursuing full time though. But he would still prefer to get his own ingredients than to trust morons.

Last time he did, the delivery was a week late with really bad quality.

Asato allowed the liquid to settle inside the container, the paper slipped inside turning a bright red in the liquid. Only then did he carefully extract the liaka bush, the smallest one intact along with its roots and shift it inside the container.

The process was followed a few more times with healthy plants till he felt that he had enough number of plants for the time being.

Illuminating grass was the easier part. It required virtually no preparation at all and the container was filled up in no time.

Once that was done, Asato gave the area a glance over. The place really held on sign of any intervention, the glow as pure as it could get.

Carefully making his way toward the nearest glowing crystal to him, Asato observed it. These parts were dead parts on those creatures, like nails on human hands and feet. When done carefully, it would alert the creatures if he took a few samples.

But he had to be careful for just like human nails, it had parts which connected to live skin. If those were touched then these creatures would cause a lot of problems.

With a small knife which he held in his bag, Asato made his way as carefully as he could toward the nearest crystal. Most likely he would need to run when he was done.

Before he actually began, he glanced toward the hole where Erin aan Ten stood, one nervous and other vigilant. Asato gave them a nod of assurance as he carefully extracted the part of the crystal.

The liquid he used to preserve this species was gelatinous and slimy and even from this far away he could see Erin make a gagging motion at the texture it held. Erin’s experience with this liquid had not been pleasant before since it burned if it got on your skin.

But as soon as the crystal landed in the slime, it sank toward the bottom as a small sizzling sound was produced. The slime was purifying the crystal from its impurities.

Asato let out a sight at even more work that was being created right in front of his eyes. The crystal would need to be treated again before it could be used.

Once everything was packed fully, he carefully tried to make his way back toward the hole he had entered from. Erina and Ten stood in the distance, their silhouette a contrast to the plain walls of their surroundings.

“We’re done,” Asato said, as low as he could afford to while still being audible. There was an audible sigh of relief form the two in front of him, their bodies sagging.

Asato saw the messenger frog jump around their feet, obviously a little put off by the atmosphere of this place. But it startled Ten enough for him to screech, loudly.

And suddenly the crystals lost their shine dissenting the place in darkness. Asato almost let out a curse at that.

They had been so close.

“Erin, take Ten and reach the exit. Follow the frog, it would lead you. I’ll meet you outside too” Asato cried out as his vision was obstructed by the mass of earth erupting right in front of his eyes.

Sound exploded all around him as various crystaling parts uprooted themselves from the ground, huge masses of rocks and crystals forming huge bodies which shook their bodies to get the dirt off them.

If Erin said anything, Asato was not able to hear it at all. But the very fact that there was no one at the hole when he twisted away to look there while dodging the still disoriented creatures all around him meant that the other had heard his warning.

Now the only thing left for Asato was to get out himself which looked to be very difficult in such a situation. With a prayer to his master, he concentrated as he ran through the rocky bodies.