Upon leaving the fourth floor, I decided to crawl my way out in the ventilation shafts, I can already feel the presence of guards that was awaited from the next room, Not to arouse any suspicion, I made my way from the safest route, After a bit fo crawling, I stumbled a two-way ventilation system, leading both paths to different rooms,
While crawling through the right vents around the castle, a stone rang through my pockets, I answered it throughly
"Roxy, head right and you can make your way in the third floor of the castle" White said via communication stone
There I headed in the right direction, soon enough, I saw through a small peephole that tells that there are absolutely no guards in sight, no footsteps were arousing through the pathway,
"White, how did you know that?" I asked
"Earlier, I embedded light magic through your communication stone, I can feel all your senses clearly, If you entered the left side, numerous guards will be waiting at your doorstep, Consider this as a thank-you gift"
"Hey, why didn't you tell this earlier"
"I didn't want to spoil the suprise though"
White's mediocre punchlines would only break my focus, I needed to be quiet unless I didn't wanted to get spotted right away, knowing that her light magic tracked my locations anytime, leaving me helpful for White
I cut of the mesh wire dangling inside the vent, Below me stretched an room full of mossy cobblestone, this room is more different from the previous room, I leaped out of the ventilation room and I saw was horrific,
"What is it, Roxy?"
"That feeling… I'm scared"
I headed the room where I previously dropped off, it was a large hallway, or more of an expanded room, I headed north through the entrance of the second floor,
Little by little, a deep chill crept into my body, the air was cold, but more than that, I shivered at the claw marks carved into the white walls that I passed, and the multitude of bloodstains that accompanied them, The farther I went, the more butchery I stumbled across, The scars and the blood told stories of countless lives to these depths, I was afraid that teg people who have come here had been hunted down and killed in these very passageways
"Was that how they had died before their shredded corpses and fed it to these monsters?" I muttered
"Roxy, this guild is overran by criminals, you can already tell the disturbing things they have done, it is part of their lifestyle"
I explored the passageway as usual, there was not a single guard in trace, I can feel that there is not a single human in my presense, White also felt that something is not right, not a single guard on sight, it was eerily quiet
"White, why is there no guard in this floor?"
"Ah, the third floor has two sides, the research facility and the training facility, you are currently in the research facility, where there is absolutely no guards in sight, only researchers"
"Researchers!?"
I clasped my blood sword tight in hand and explored through the room, the guards were continued running through the passageway, going to the fourth floor of the castle hoping to capture the intruder, There, I found another plate and saw that there is no doorknob, I opened it without hesitation
Once through, I stepped into a stairway leading through the second floor, we stepped over the long passageway lined with transparent doors on either side, These allowed for a full view of rooms behind them, each of which are stone bricks and run through with the use of drainpipes, they didn't look like places where people could live
I checked each room filled with monsters, these are humanoid creatures that have large fangs and tounge that stretches at the floor, I was horrified from what I saw, not beasts, not monsters, but the deformed creatures that are once been humans, these humans had been transformed through horrific experimentation, just like the ones I seen in the pit earlier
As the creatures crept closer, a strange sensation crawled through me, unlike the eyes of an normal human, the eyes of these beasts were stained by the color of fresh blood, not the red from my eyes, but all the same, an uncomfortable pressure seethed from their crimson gazes,
"There's nobody there, no researchers"
"Dont give up yet, Check the door at the end of the corridor, it looks different"
The door looks opaque as it seems, I coudnt see the room behind it, as the other rooms were unoccupied, I can't tell that there are researchers inside in this room, a door handle was present, I opened it slowly
"Ah, intruder"
As my hypothesis were correct, there were multiple researchers inside of the room, there were three of them, wearing a lab coat similar to Maine, when they reached out of one of their swords, I kept the pace and killed one of them,
After I killed the remaining researchers, I saw that they were inexperienced at combat, not partially an adventurer at some point, there I swept an heavy attack at one of the researchers that tried to attack me, but all of them are failed, I sliced him in half,
"Please spare my life"
I killed at least two researchers carrying swords as self-defense, but only one remained, he was seen, hiding in the corner, clasping both arms in both of his ears, I can tell that he is scared at that point
"What goes on in this place, Answer me!" I said
"I can't, I can't say anything… I will be…"
The researcher didn't finish the sentence, but I knew how it ended, Anyone who revealed the Bronze Coin Guild would not be allowed to live, this research facility was a secret to the public, But I would make him talk, He was the source of information I had
I now know for certain that Castle Libra was raising monsters here, and I'd learned that these things feed on human flesh, But why?, What where those strange beasts?, I never seen and encountered one of them in my whole life, I read about books about beasts and monsters, but never in my live I would encounter on this piece of mess, as I raised my blood sword, the researcher talks
"Okay, okay…. I'll talk, I'll talk, I swear, Just please don't kill me"
"I will spare your life, in exchange for information,"
I dropped my blood sword and returned it through my palm, the researcher was trembling in fear, like his life flashed before his eyes, he talked to me everything,
"Lord Edrie Collon, I don't know more any of that, I swear, my job is researching an ancient virus, known as the plague, That's it"
"What do you know about the monsters down there?!"
"They were experiments led by Lord Edrie, these monsters were humans, but they were affected by the ancient virus, the plague"
"Tell me more about the virus, don't make me wait"
"The virus feeds out the human's negative emotions, resentment and trauma, The more it feeds, the stronger it gets, now these humans become mindless creatures that only knew violence"
Then, at the researcher's lab coat, he holds out a book that contains all the information from the ancient virus, he gave it to me, telling me that this holds all the virus, There, I spared his life
"Your free to go"
As I said that, I walked away at the researcher's position, I stuffed the book at one of my pockets, it was undoubtedly an important source of information, Just as I did, the room lend out a shrilling alarm that rang throughout the facility, the researcher that I interrogated earlier pressed the safety alarm,
"Oh, that dumb fuck, he pressed the safety alarm"
There, I raised my blood sword and sliced it's head in an instant, the researcher fell to the ground, with its head was left intact, I was enraged by the researcher's actions as it blew my cover
"You messed up Roxy, I told you to be careful!"
"What, don't act like you aren't a part of this"
"May I remind you that I was at the manor, Roxy"
"Always shrinking responsibility, You never change, do you?"
"I'm just joking, me and the guild we're heading towards the Castle, wait some time Roxy"
I turned the opaque door only to see it is shut down, the door handle was useless when I shaked it multiple times, it was no use
"Huh, the door not opening" I said to White
"The door was automatic, it was imbued in light magic, A intruder was left in a room, so it is security-lock engaged"
"If our cover is been blown, then I guess the time for sneaking around is over, am I right?"
"Don't be gullible, Roxy, you can't survive this hellhole"
With a crackling blood sword raised up high, I sliced through the automatic door that stood in my way