10: The Blood Mystery

"Fucker!" Defolta shook her injured hand in pain while her frustration at the impasse of the situation that they were in grew, "Welp, so much for acting cool."

-5 HP.

"I guess punching your problems off is not an option here, then." Nekowa crossed her arms while she contemplated on what to do next, "In addition, casting spells is out of the question since your Mana still has not recovered yet from the Witch's Mind spell."

"True." Defolta shrugged in discomfort and wrapped a cloth bandage on her right hand that she tore from the bedcover nearby, "I hate to admit, but I'm not exactly a Sherlock Holmes type of guy around here. Shit is rather tempting to just leave and call it a day since I already did kill the main baddie."

"Considering how the first thought that came into your head was to throw some hands against a bookshelf, it's not surprising." Nekowa chuckled briefly before her expression turned grave once more, "But in all seriousness, despite the rather gruesome departure of our resident villainous Witch, we can't just give up and abandon the people who she kidnapped. Their families in the village must be looking for them."

"Yeah, you got that right." Defolta sighed and turned her eyes yet again to the journal. Her mind recalled on a certain entry, involving some kind of additional measure that Matilda installed so as not to repeat the incident of other people discovering her filthy experiments.

"To serve as my lesson in being discovered by my sisterly brethren, I installed an additional safety measure that only I personally have access to, a silver lining from a breakthrough of one of my various experiments. As a result, no one had ever discovered my dealings behind the shadows for the past few years during my run from the Empire."

"The Magic of Blood, Hemomancy."

"A Breakthrough, silver lining."

At that very moment, a light bulb shed a light on Matilda's head and her expression instantly perked up, much to Nekowa's interest.

"Hold on, I'll be right back." Defolta quickly left the tent, earning a confused look from the cat. A few minutes later, the Magical Girl came back, this time sporting an item that welcomed Nekowa with an expression of disgust.

"Is that a severed arm!!!???" Nekowa almost threw up from the bloody sight.

"Duh, captain obvious, and it's from our dear dead Witch too." Defolta said all too brightly.

"And why on earth do you need something like that?!! Did Matilda's spell cause you brain damage!!??" Nekowa stared the object in horror, "Eww, don't wave that thing off casually!!!"

"Hahaha, relax, kitty cat. Consider it a revenge for blatantly calling me dumb." Defolta laughed out loud at the pouting cat's expense, "As to answer your question, well, let's see first if my deduction is correct. If not, then you can mock me however you want."

With another hand in hand, Defolta approached the button under the desk and used Matilda's bloody hand to press it. Expectations arising, a frown flashed on the Magical Girl's face when the bookshelf never reacted.

"Hmm, let's try a different angle." Refusing to give up just yet, Defolta unsheathed her dagger and made a small cut on the hand's ring finger, pouring out drops of blood directly to the switch.

"What in heaven's name are you trying to-"

Before Nekowa was even able to finish her statement, she heard the sound of slight shaking coming from her left. Shifting her head in the said direction, she witnessed the bookshelf now opening, splitting to two as it revealed a trapdoor on the floor.

"It worked, it actually fucking work!!!!" Defolta screamed with unadulterated glee and eyed Nekowa with an arrogant smirk of her own, "Heh, sometimes, even my genius scares me. Perhaps I really am a Sherlock Holmes type of gal."

"H-how!?" Nekowa was stunned by the absurdity behind Defolta's idea.

"The Magic of Blood." Defolta explained, "Considering how Matilda has been experimenting for years, there's bound to be some development to achieve in her diabolic research of hers. One entry mentioned how she managed a breakthrough and used it as an additional safety measure that only she personally has access to. I deduced that it must somehow involve Hemomancy and the clue was probably the word 'personally'. Thus, her blood or body of sort was likely the key in opening her secret lab with the sole purpose of allowing her and only her alone to enter without fear of intruders discovering her nefarious experiments."

"That… definitely was a huge stretch of circumstances that coincide with this predicament of ours. We were lucky too that her blood worked even when she is dead." Nekowa said, earning a nod from the Magical Girl, "But enough about that, we got some prisoners who need saving!!"

Without a moment to waste, the pair proceeded to the trapdoor. As Defolta was about to open it, a feeling of dread instantly engulfed her as the hand that held the door trembled with abnormal fear.

"Defolta, what's wrong? What's with the frightened look on your face?" Nekowa eyed the Magical Girl with concern.

"I… I don't know." Defolta was like having second thoughts about opening the trapdoor, "It's as if my own body is rejecting and screaming to not open this door."

While her thoughts were loss in strange anxiety, a System Notification appeared and displayed a "BEWARE" sign followed by the unnerving message:

"You are about to enter a Dungeon. The Dungeons of this world can be summarized in one word: Unforgiving. They are riddled with twisted and unimaginable horrors that are hidden and locked away from the open world. Primal fear shall no doubt consume both body and mind, and thus, one should prepare themselves or lest they suffer the most horrifying end. As such, a High Mind is mandatory and will test every fiber of one's sanity until they are at their breaking point. With that said, are you prepared for the horrors ahead and resolved to enter this Dungeon?"