Chapter 271 - Broken Wings
*Stab*
Hao Xuan's glaive pierced the wall on the side of the unknown structure, shaking loose some dust and rocks from it.
"How much further?" he asked Baracus internally.
Since Baracus was tapped into his nervous system he didn't HAVE to speak out loud to talk to him, it's just that it felt more natural that way. Likewise, Baracus could send the visual and auditory information directly to Hao Xuan's ears.
Hao Xuan simply had to think of the words and Baracus would know.
"Calculating the distance traveled so far, the echo of the rocks that just fell and the curvature of the wall, it shouldn't be more than 17-18 meters to the floor."
"Mhm."
Hao Xuan continued down using the glaive and a shortsword as support, trying to make as little noise as possible. In about 3 more minutes he reached the ground.
It was a flat surface with seemingly made out of a single uncut piece of some type of rock. His vision was severely limited here and he could only see up to 3 meters in front of him. With a wave of his hand, Black and White appeared on his shoulders.
He nodded at White who proceeded to spit out a ball of concentrated black flame before swallowing it. He bit down on Hao Xuan's ear lobe.
Hao Xuan blinked once and his pupils turned vertical like White's as the new energy circulated within his body.
The darkness subsided quite a bit and his vision got much much better. Now he could see normally for about 40 meters, but then a curtain of pitch-black darkness blocked his view once again.
Hao Xuan frowned upon seeing that.
The last time White had used his power, Hao Xuan was able to see in the dark as he would during the day. But now even though his line of sight expanded by a lot, the darkness was still there in the distance.
'That....isn't normal...' Hao Xuan thought.
The curtain of darkness seemed like it was alive and was trying to diligently push back against White's power, trying to come closer to Hao Xuan.
Just looking at it gave him goosebumps. A cold shiver went down his spine at the thought of coming into contact with it.
Black's body stood up straight like a cobra and his muscles tensed as he looked in the same direction as Hao Xuan.
Hao Xuan leaned in towards him and whispered.
"Do...you feel that?"
Still maintaining direct eye contact with the layers of darkness, Black moved his head up and down once. His immature voice ringing in Hao Xuan's mind.
"Something.....there..."
Hao Xuan's grip tightened around the glaive instinctively as he pointed the tip in that direction. He lifted his feet that seemed to have become heavier than a block of steel and moved forward, carefully.
The surroundings were completely empty. Other than the smoke and rubble there was nothing else near them.
'Wait, the smoke!'
Hao Xuan looked around but couldn't find the source of the smoke. Nothing was on fire or burning. Hell, there was nothing TO burn around him. The smoke seemed to be coming out of thin air and billowing upwards.
*Crumble*
A loose rock fell from above, falling a few meters away from Hao Xuan and catching his attention. Startled, he turned to see where the noise had come from when he heard a deep hiss from his shoulder.
*Hiss~*
It wasn't very loud but to Hao Xuan, it felt like it shook his very soul. He snapped his head to the side and looked at Black.
Black was still staring at the original direction in front of him but his body was twice the original size now. His maw looked much more like his original appearance, with 4 rows of hooked teeth protruding outward.
Every scale on his body seemed to be breathing, taking in the spiritual energy from the surroundings, readying to attack at a moment's notice.
"What happened?!" Hao Xuan mumbled out loud by accident. He had never seen Black react like this before.
But Black did not respond and continued shooting daggers in that specific direction. His maw opened and closed, revealing his razor-sharp fangs threateningly at the darkness.
Hao Xuan followed his line of sight but could see nothing there.
*Gulp*
He looked up and around him, even if he wanted to return right now it wouldn't be very easy.
"Ah, f*ck it," he mumbled under his breath and abruptly broke into a full-on sprint with the glaive stretched outward.
Just after a few steps, a vague figure came into his line of sight along the wall on the other side. Hao Xuan pointed the glaive towards its head getting ready to attack when he saw it.
"What the f*ck..."
It was a statue. The figure belonged to a stone statue about 3 meters tall.
It was of a human female with a blindfold over its eyes. It had two pairs of wings on its back that looked they were cut in half, a short dagger in its right hand while the left hand was clawed like an animal's.
The right hand that held the dagger was pointing it forward.
Hao Xuan let out a breath of relief and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.
"Haha, it's just a stupid statue, see? Nothing to worry about," he patted Black's head.
Confusion was apparent in Black's eyes as he looked the statue up and down. He couldn't understand what he was seeing.
"For god sakes, I almost peed myself..." Hao Xuan jokingly mumbled to himself.
Thank god no one was around to see him right now otherwise he would have to leave this place out of pure embarrassment.
"Let's go," he said to Black and moved to the right. Now that he could see the other wall it was easy to get a sense of direction in this dark place. He stuck to the wall and kept moving silently.
Every few meters there would be another statue.
They all looked similar. All of them were of blindfolded females with broken wings and a clawed left hand. The right hand though held different things. Some had swords, some had hammers and maces, some even had human skulls and hearts.
It was quite eerie, to say the least.
Black still didn't let his guard down and stared at each and even statue threateningly.
30 more minutes of walking and the structure came to an end. In front of him were 9 paths leading further in.
They all looked identical and had nothing beside them other than the two statues.
"Hmm...which one....