Chapter 29: [Dark Tunnel]
The titan was walking down the main street, its slow pace made up for by the giant leaps it took at every step.
Chaos and destruction reigned through the city, fires breaking out everywhere as people ran around, heading for the nearest gate.
The worst part was the storm, which made everything harder to do; Walking, running, or just seeing.
People felt Mori's titan coming, the ground shook at every step it took, but they all seemed surprised when it came close.
Mori was looking down at them, in thought.
They looked like ants, or rats.
They ran around, screaming and crying. Some even dared to ask, "Why is this happening?"
The corpses he had raised using hexes were walking through the streets, attacking any human they could see. The majority of them held Jeff back as best as they could.
They wouldn't win, but in this case, winning didn't matter much, just buying time did.
The wind was visible, pushing the rain so strongly that the droplets stung as they hit the skin.
Aura eventually recognized where they were, as they soon reached the fountain.
"Knock it down," said Mori.
Rubble flew out, the titan kicking it with all its strength.
"That's just not necessary," said Lilae's voice.
She was flying next to the titan's shoulder, slightly struggling because of the weather.
"What are you doing here? If you did anything-"
"Their bodies are safe, but since it's come to this you should come with me," said Lilae.
Mori looked at Aura, who simply shrugged with both her shoulders and eyebrows.
Mori jumped from the titan's shoulder, holding onto Lilae's leg to stop his descent, prompting her to shriek as she started swaying, going down to the street level.
They swayed all the way down, until Mori finally touched the ground, letting go of Lilae. Aura had jumped down, gracefully reaching the ground without much struggle.
"Go," he said toward the titan.
It started slowly walking away, making a deep sound with its voice. It didn't resemble any words, but since it started smashing anything on its way, it was most likely a devious attempt at a laugh.
Lilae also let herself fall to the ground, quickly looking around to find her way.
The number of people running around had reduced, as most went for the gates and they were currently fairly close to the center.
All it took was half a dozen people to walk toward Mori for people to turn around, avoiding that street.
Corpses quickly decorated the pavement, repeatedly pierced by the chains that were let loose.
"Careful not to kill demons," said Lilae.
Mori slapped Lilae's face with one of the chains, a clear line cut through her cheek, bleeding.
She quickly touched it, surprised, but ignored it.
"This way," she said, her voice lower.
They entered the back alleys again; the visibility improved as there was barely any wind reaching them.
They ran past corpses of demonfolks, making Mori's blood boil.
"Here," finally said Lilae.
There was a trapdoor leading to a basement under a building that had no outstanding features.
It simply looked like any other down this alleyway, Mori never would've paid attention to it.
Following Lilae's lead, they went down. It was slightly hard to see, but for them not much of a problem.
The room at the bottom of the stairs had light, as torches decorated the walls of the square room.
It was empty, with some boxes and bags lying around.
The sound of the storm was only a whistle through a door, they were all soaking wet but none of them seemed to care about it.
Aura stayed close to Mori as they waited, looking at Lilae strolling around the room.
She then did something Mori totally expected, while Aura was extremely surprised.
Lilae pulled on a torch, moving a portion of a wall behind another, revealing a secret path lit up by more torches.
It was the most obvious mechanism, especially with a torch, yet it left Aura speechless as she held onto his shoulder.
"You see this?!" she whispered in his ear.
"Yeah."
"That's it?! This is incredible."
Mori sighed. "Sure is."
He followed Lilae's lead, going through the passage. As he went past the hidden door, he could hear a clinking sound, most likely a timer as it was slow and constant, almost resembling seconds.
A few meters into the tunnel, the door closed behind them. Mori felt Aura's surprise as she was still holding onto his shoulder.
It was damp and humid, and they didn't help as a trail of water preceded them.
The walls were narrow and the ground uneven, it also didn't look like it had been there for a while. The 'carving' looked fresh, time clearly hadn't made a dent in it yet.
"How long have you guys been here?" asked Mori.
"A few months," responded Lilae.
They eventually emerged into another square room, this one was quite large and well-furnished.
In the middle of it was a large rectangular table with multiple chairs around it. They all had a different shape or form, but ultimately none of them were impressive.
Nothing in the room was, truly. It was almost built out of rubble, thought Mori.
"You can sit wherever you want," said Lilae.
Mori looked at the table and took the only chair at the end of the table, which looked bigger than the others.
"Oh, uh, not-"
"Why are we here?" asked Mori.
"Asmodael is on his way. You two should meet," said Lilae.
"Why?" asked Mori.
"You both want the same thing..."
"No, we don't. He wants to save demonfolks, whereas I want to kill humans. You'd think both those things mean the same thing, but they don't."
Something I've learned playing the game. Thanks, Mom.
Aura sat in the chair closest to Mori's while studying the room.
"What's this place?" asked Aura.
"Our temporary headquarters. Everyone is out, however, helping however they can through the chaos," said Lilae.
"That's right."
The voice came from the tunnel. Mori recognized it instantly.
The man finally emerged from it, taking his hood off.
"So you're one of them, Xannos," said Mori.