Chapter 191 - Tentacles...
Hao Xuan stood in front of the forcefields blocking the entry to the two hallways, deep in thought.
"Do that one again," he ordered Ensis who was standing behind him with his sword out.
Ensis followed his order and attacked again, but like the last thirty times, the result was the same.
There were no panels to unlock the forcefields nor any other ways to stop them. They had tried everything, using every type of energy to attack, but it wasn't effective.
"Goddamnit, What the hell am I supposed to do now? I thought one of these was the way out!" he yelled and kicked the forcefield once again. It was like hitting a wall made of water and he was just pushed back.
Ensis stood beside Hao Xuan silently, contemplating ways to bypass or destroy the forcefields when he had an epiphany.
"Master, how about you try to capture the creature that's inside the glass tank? It might have something to do with this and might be able to help," he suggested.
Hao Xuan looked at him as if he had heard the most ridiculous thing in the world. He looked at Ensis right in the eyes and spoke each word seriously.
"I would rather scoop out my own eyeballs with a rusted spoon and then eat them, than jump in that f*king tank. We don't even know what's in there, and I hate large bodies of water," he got goosebumps just thinking about it, "I always feel like there's something in there. And in this case, I know for damn sure there is."
"....yes..." Ensis replied lightly, somewhat disappointed by his master's cowardice.
"Ahh, whatever. I'm gonna go to sleep and think about this tomorrow," Hao Xuan shrugged and threw out the portable camp right in front of the forcefields before entering it.
Ensis stared speechlessly at his masters back and then stood guard, keeping an eye on the surroundings.
Time passed slowly and Hao Xuan woke up several hours later. He cleaned himself up and changed into new clothes since the last ones were bloodied when Ensis cut off his arm. He fried some eggs and toasted a few pieces of bread before slowly eating them in front of the campfire.
Since he only had his right hand now, the whole process took three times as long. Finally finishing up he stepped out and recalled the camp.
"Phew, it feels good to be on a full stomach," he sighed while rubbing his belly.
"Do you want to eat something? Actually, do gods even eat? Or poop? How does that work?" he asked with a raised eyebrow. But there was no response. He turned around and there was nobody there.
"Oi! Where are you? It's not funny, man, come out!" he shouted, but there was only silence.
"..."
Hao Xuan looked around but found no signs of a struggle. He looked around the room and even went back into the rightmost hallway, hoping that Ensis had gone to check out the glass tank, but there was nobody there.
"Damnit, what the f*ck is this now," he muttered under his breath in frustration.
Closing his eyes Hao Xuan tried to find him through their connection, but the more he tried, the more confused he got. He could feel that Ensis was alive, but couldn't tell WHERE he was. Only that he was very close.
"Wait, the creature! Did it eat him whole?!" he shouted and ran back to the laboratory and took another look at the tank. There was nothing moving inside it nor were there any signs of anything coming out.
"Surely he wouldn't just jump into it himself right?" Hao Xuan murmured to himself in disbelief.
"I guess it's possible if he was trying to prove there wasn't anything dangerous in there.."
He jumped and landed on the edge of the tank. Looking down, all he could see was the bubbling glowing liquid. Nothing else was visible.
*Gulp*
He waved his hand and took out the Glaive, "Ready or not motherf*cker, here I come!" he shouted inwardly and took a leap, aiming for the middle of the tank with the blade pointed down.
"MASTER!" Ensis's worried yell came from the doorway just as Hao Xuan had left the edge of the tank. He looked up and saw Ensis standing there, perfectly fine.
"Where were yo-"
*SPLASH*
The liquid splashed everywhere as Hao Xuan fell straight into the tank.
Ensis took out his sword and jumped up on the tank's edge, trying to find any sign of Hao Xuan. Thankfully, he didn't have to wait long before a hand reached out. Ensis grabbed it and pulled, dragging Hao Xuan out in one fell swoop.
*Cough*Cough*
Hao Xuan was down on his knees, throwing up the breakfast he had just eaten along with the white murky liquid.
"Did you see what it was?" Ensis asked curiously.
Hao Xuan shook his head, "No, but I...'felt' it. So...many...tentacles..."
*Blergh*
He vomited again. After a few minutes, he calmed down and looked up at Ensis angrily.
"And you! Where the hell were you!?"
Ensis quickly bowed, "I was in the other hallway master, you were asleep so I didn't want to disturb you. I found the way in!"
Hao Xuan's anger subsided as the desire to loot overtook him completely.
"Show me!" he said and quickly walked out of the tank room.
Ensis showed him how to enter. All he had to do was slowly, extremely slowly, walk into the forcefields. Ensis had figured this out by accident when he was resting on one of them and passed right through after a minute or so.
Apparently, the forcefields were made to absorb any forceful impacts and not actually restrict entry. They had been attacking them from the get-go so obviously there was no way to know this.
They entered the leftmost hallway this time. After walking for a couple of minutes it opened into a large hall.
There were hundreds upon hundreds of massive shelves with small glass balls on them. There was a swirling white light in each of them, making them look like snow globes. On the other side of the room was a single glass desk with what seemed like a chair in front of it.
Only the chair was made with a single metal bar bent into an 'S' shape. It looked extremely uncomfortable and upon closer inspection, there were small needles all over it.. Each of them was about three cm long.