Midas was able to hear the hull clanking and grinding of the sentry's parts as it loomed over his head, one of its four slender arms clawing the floor as it looked down onto the frozen youth right in front of it. The ice shard that was slotted on its flat head began to flicker more brightly as Midas tried to find a way to avoid being frozen to death, his eyes darting around the hall before sharply turning a corner, making the clay creature follow him as its slithering arms clawed onto the roof and stone pillars of the maze-like halls of the ancient crypt.
Hearing the shrill ring of something charging up right behind him, Midas instinctively dashed to the side - narrowly avoiding a bolt of ice as it crashed into the floor, leaving behind a jagged form of ice, sharp frozen spikes rising from the spot the shot landed on. Widening his eyes at it, the youth quickly realized if he were hit by something like that, it would most likely be over for him. Briefly turning around, Midas used his sun shard; three short pillars of stone shot from the wall, one of the golems' feet clung onto - the mass of stone warping around in hopes of limiting its movement.
The cool light that shone through the dark room had turned to the stones that locked its foot to its place before eventually turning back to the direction Midas fled as it quickly broke off the pillars once it began to crawl toward him. The sound of its ancient gears and joints moving hulls through the hallway as the youth pushed up one of the stone lids from the many coffins stored on his left and right, having no time to close it up, throwing the bandaged body out, and slipping into it, with both hands over his mouth as he did his best to suppress his breathing.
Midas had noticed the sudden shift in its attention when he used the sunshard; for just a moment it seemed like the golem was focused on the mana he used to alter the stone - most likely it was able to see it travel through the wall and floor before it burst through the space Midas focused on to alter the stone. Hearing the rattling of its clay parts come closer, the youth hoped it wouldn't be able to notice him if he used his mana to bend in the right moment.
Seeing the slim, scaled arm from over the edge of the coffin, he could feel his body completely freeze up, the bluish-white light illuminating the discarded body beside the coffin he hid in - if it was able to sense mana, wouldn't it also be able to see it through walls like Qannas? The longer Midas thought about it, the sooner he realized he entrapped himself by hiding. The light that shone right over the edge of the stone coffin became brighter as it slowly leaned down to inspect it.
Able to hear another shrill ringing sound through the clay body of the golem as it began to charge up, Midas swiftly rose up from the opened coffin - without thinking, he almost instinctively jumped onto the golem, clinging onto the back of its head, trying to use his sunshard to alter the clay since it technically was rock as well - but to no avail, as he couldn't seem to get a grasp on it. The clay creature janked its body around, moving every one of its joints frantically to get the boy off it. Clenching his teeth, Midas's grip on it loosened slightly as his other hand was still holding onto the torch.
Effectively having one hand again, the youth quickly realized he would need to hop off the creature if he wanted to still have a light source. Being yanked off, Midas curled in, groaning dimly as his back hit the stone pillar - the flame was more important to him than the condition of his body at the moment as he made sure it was still lit. Once looking at his surroundings, Midas quickly realized he was trapped in a dead end, as the only escape was quickly closed off by the approaching golem, who still had its charged-up ice bolt to shoot at him.
Midas bit his lower lip; he hated the fact that he got the idea of asking Gilt for help when he was cornered, his eyes scanning his surroundings for something to make use of, as he didn't want to owe Gilt anything anymore - especially after what had happened down here. Frowning, he looked right into the growing white light - the bolt of ice already blazing toward him. The youth rose behind a brief stone wall. The structure of stone was easily destroyed, fracturing as the ice shot right through it - a frozen spike nearly poking him as it hit the shelf behind him. The remaining wall was crushed by one of the golems' clawed feet as it loomed over him to charge up another shot.
Hidden under a crumbling piece of stone, Midas clenched his teeth, ducking as he scurried beneath the torso of the golem - charging the rusted blade of his sickle up with mana, he slashed one of the many scale-like parts that belonged to one of its four winding legs. Everything surrounding him suddenly slowed down for just a fraction of a moment as his widening eyes stared at the cracked clay pot - was this a sign of him becoming better with his null-ability?
"Hey, you...! Watch out...!"
The golem was nudged slightly to the side by its broken leg; however, its head slid around to look down at the youth, who had overheard it charging up. Rattled from his brief moment of success, Midas tightened his sickle again - not even looking at the person that called out to him as he charged up his wielding arm to throw his weapon. The sharp clink of metal resounded in the long hallway, dust and crumbling stone falling down from the roof as the bolt of ice was deflected by the arch of Midas's weapon.
In the blink of a moment, Midas felt someone yank him back by his collar once he grasped his sickle again - thrown back a few steps from the golem, he almost instantly noticed who was down there with him as he saw an arc of water float above the scarf-wearing girl in front of him, the liquid forming around her like a shield to deflect the grasping claws of the golem, circulating around her at a speed that made it look like a cocoon.
"Finally something good happens in this hellhole."
Ivyda stood in front of him, grinning at him - her tone much shakier as she was visibly tired; the sound of her tone through the water mass made his throat tighten as the innocent adventurer she killed to give Gilt his gold was most likely a member of her party. His body felt limp as it was her, of all people, he had to encounter down there - watching her dash around the clay creature to find an opening in the crammed corridor with blank, wide eyes.
With an annoyed huff, she redirected the mass of water to wrap around the head of the golem, wildly turning its head once it stood right beneath its main body - forcing it to shoot as it picked up the mana that remained in the water at all angles. Walking towards Midas with a visibly shaky but smug grin, she squatted down to the youth as the golem shot his ice bolt - instantly disabled as his head was frozen by the impact of his own projectile.
"Too bad those ice shards that are implanted into them are too tiny to be used by gear, isn't it...?"
"Ivyda... why are you down here...?"
Looking at the frozen golem and then looking back at Ivyda, Midas was barely able to speak, guilt and confusion weighing heavy on him, cautiously turning his head as he looked out to his left and right - his torch disregarded but still lit on the floor. The candlelight that was bound by rope to Ivydas's hip clunked softly as she leaned towards him, laughing softly.
"You mean why I'm not with Qayid...? That guy is completely insane; I'm not going to risk my life for that guy and his twisted dream of crushing the Eau'Troi - I... I'm obviously not even strong enough to take care of my own guild."
Midas frowned at the implication of her muttered words, her grin visibly becoming weaker as she stared at the bricks that plastered the ground - her lowered eyes tired, the past few days seemingly just as tiring, if not even harder for her than they were for him.
"For how long have you been down here...?"
"I think for around two or three days...? I don't know, to be honest; we just push forward until we feel like sleeping and have a safe enough place to set up camp in. The Montcanal ruins are amazing, actually; new entrances get found every day... and the deepest floors swallow entire guilds for multiple days... but... you also pay a price for snooping around - especially when diving deeper."
"I paid my price, that's for sure... I'm the last person remaining..."
Midas stared at Ivyda with wide, blank eyes; her resolve visibly crumbling right in front of him - her arms hugging tighter around her shins as she bit her lower lip, her tired eyes glistening as she tried to stop herself from sobbing. Her arms eventually hugging herself as her fingers dug into her shoulders - burying her face beneath her silk scarf.
Hearing her quietly crying, the youth simply stayed slumped against the stone pillar; he had no idea what to do at the moment as the blurry pictures of the moment he struck down one of her members kept returning to him in his mind - stunning him as he looked at the shimmering eyes of Ivyda, her lips hidden under her scarf. Tightening his jaw, he grasped his sickle, tucking it under his belt - forcing himself onto his feet again as they were still stuck underground - the possibility of another golem waiting around the corner was too risky for him to ignore.
Making her Ivyda gasp in surprise, Midas grabbed her wrist, pulling her onto her legs - his head sharply turning away as she saw her wide, shimmering eyes. Groaning tiredly as he dragged her towards the rough direction of where the stairs were that would lead them up and out of the crypt again.
"We need to get back as soon as possible; another one of those golems and it is over for us too - it's just too risky."
Letting go of her wrist again, Midas didn't look back at her as he walked - he was the reason she was in this state, at least partially, so the last thing he could do was bring her back into relative safety. The underground lair wasn't much more secure than the dungeon, as it most likely was still crawling with knights - just the thought of one of his friends being caught and jailed gave him a headache.
"You're right... look at me sobbing - risking both of our lives over my feelings..."
"No need to be so harsh to yourself - you must've gone through a lot."
Frowning at what he told her, as if he were any better, Midas listened to her humming in agreement with a still strained tone. Ivyda took a long breath as if she were trying to clear her head, stepping to walk beside him as both of them looked up to the set of stairs, eventually showing the open, heavy stone doors. Hearing her awe at the bioluminescent lights that covered the cave's roof, he sighed dimly, the most dangerous part of the underground most likely behind them.
Seeing the broken-off arches of the pathway that led him into the cave above him, Midas leaped over one of the rivers - Ivyda replenished her water, kneeling down to it as water curled up from the stream to form an arching mass that hovered over her head. Pulling her close by her waist without thinking, Midas elevated them with a pillar of stone, eventually finding himself looking back at the many left-behind charcoal scribbles, able to recognize them as they led him into the rough direction he originally went through.
"All of these tell their own story. Sometimes I wish I would live during this time - able to see all kinds of depictions and events as I'm strolling through the endless hallways of the underground..."
"Really...? If I were presented with this kind of choice, the fact that the overworld was nearly unlivable would make me at least hesitate... plus, the disease and lack of food made life down here hard."
"You know...?"
Freezing almost at her impressed tone, Midas didn't elaborate, as it was Gilt, which had seen these halls during that time, that told him about their history, or at least a fraction of it. Reluctantly looking back at Ivydas's face, he could still see her eyes shimmer - maybe it was just her remaining tears, but her fascination for the old world seemed to have helped her momentarily forget about the death of her party members.
The ascent of the main tunnel was slow; sometimes one of them slipped as the dim stream of water in combination with the slight slope made it hard for their soaked shoes to find a good footing on the grimy floor beneath the water. Picking out one of the arches that fed the tinier tunnels into the large one, based roughly on the number of entrances to its left and right, Midas found himself staring at a rugged brick wall - a shudder running down his back as he remembered Raqisa, still holding onto her torch.
"There are people over that wall..."
"They found Qayid's spot; I wouldn't be surprised if those are people from the knighthood - some of them probably have water shards on them as well..."
Whispering back at her, he could see her eyes widening under the glow of the torch - staring at the wall as Midas focused on the distant murmurs and the clinking of chainmail that hulled through the unused waterway - the youth eventually knelt down, feeling his mana running low as he rose up another stone pillar. Having dropped the torch before ascending, he used the darkness that encircled the hideout to his advantage - hiding behind a brick pillar that sat between the surrounding arches.
"Four of them... my, this place is a mess."
"Well, they flooded the place with water so they could bend - even though they seem like they lost some of their men as well."
The crates and the big central wood table were drenched - most of the papers that originally lay on it were smudged or reduced to an unrecoverable pulp, similar to the papers he had used to dry off the walls and floor of his dorm room. The remaining knights tried their best to look through any of the remaining crates that weren't smashed during the process of the fight - one of them inspecting the tiny, destructed altar Inaya used to pray in front of.
"Let's sneak out."
Midas whispered, ignoring the stare Ivyda gave him as he inched closer, picking the arch that was the closest to the wooden stairs that led to the opened hatch. His head peeked from the darkness, looking back at Ivyda. He slowly sneaked to the side of the table, keeping his crouched position as they passed the knight that inspected the altar, too occupied to write his report to notice them.
Freezing, Midas watched with piercing eyes as one of the knights passed right beside them as he walked towards the wooden stairs from the other side of the table - the both of them most likely having been seen if he looked to his right in that exact moment. Sticking right to his heel, the two of them climbed the stair - Midas dragged Ivyda behind a box as the knight turned to close the hatch, keeping her beside him as he turned his head to look at the knight wander away through the hall of the basement.
"That was our only spot..."
"We can worry about that later; let's get out of here."
Midas's eyes were sharp but tired; they would most likely need Ivyda later on, so getting her off campus had the highest priority. The two of them were scanning the empty halls of the building, as it was already dark outside - a feeling of time easily lost when venturing underground. Passing the blue hue of lanterns that lit up the walkways of the campus, they eventually stood outside of the gate as the youth transported them over with a last stone pillar.
"I got a room inside the guild building nearby... why don't you come with me...? They have a bath there too."
"Tomorrow maybe... I need to find out where the others are."
Midas stayed beside Ivyda as they walked down the street - neither the rain nor the mud that was flung from the plastered street by the wooden wheels of a passing carriage seemed to be noticed by them as they forced themselves to keep walking. Lights of shops and restaurants illuminated the streets as they shone through the large display windows that riddled the houses, which were aligned on the shopping street. The two of them eventually came to a stop at the same building where Midas originally met the pirates.
"Okay then... be careful, please."
"Yeah... Good night."
Midas felt Ivyda briefly grasp the edge of his uniform's blazer - the fabric soaked and thoroughly stained from what it lived through. The fleeting touch was broken as Midas continued to walk, giving her a brief wave with his hand. His hands stuck deep into his pants pockets as he wandered towards the pharmacy. Inaya and Haya found a stake - the chance of Qayid and the others being there was high due to Haya's association with the group.
Stopping out of sheer curiosity at how normal northerners live - or maybe the fact he felt too tired to talk to Qayid right away - Midas stopped at one of the lit-up restaurants, his drenched hair falling over his forehead as he stared inside through the glass pane - his blank eyes finding themselves staring right at light pink strands of hair, as none other than Skye stood beside a large, sleek, painted white instrument on the other side of the establishment, dressed in a white dress, seemingly all by herself this time.