Angel Monarch-Chapter 317: Europe Aflame (9)
The air felt scorching inside the tunnel. The surrounding walls still glowed red and orange from the drillbit's melting energy tendrils.
They fell through the super-heated air, fast, making breathing even harder. At some point, they entirely given up, and instead held their breaths until they reached their destination.
Through the walls of the tunnel, they saw room after room fly past them. Their falling speed gave them no time to thoroughly examine the rooms and hallways, only receiving glimpses of their interior.
Most of them were white, with different machines, devices, and other scientific equipment. They also went through quite a few warehouse like halls, and holding areas with gigantic cells.
They saw no living being anywhere, which concerned Sera a bit. They were truly in the dark now, with no idea what will happen next.
Hundreds of floors whipped past them as they fell at terminal velocity. James and Mary programmed the drill to stop at the last floor, since that was their destination.
Sera at the front, already saw the drill stop way below them, and so she began slowing herself by summoning her wings. While still moving quite fast, she took off the device off her back and began activating it.
This was another one of Mary's insane ideas, and James's even worse design. Its exterior presented a simple, smooth circular surface, centrally featuring a small interface, which controlled the device.
As Sera closed in on the drill, she activated the device and tossed it towards the molten ground. A barely perceivable energy barrier filled the tunnel.
This energy didn't stop Sera's fall, though. Upon touching it, a strange sensation took hold of her body. It slowed her fall speed, and in general made every movement harder. In just a few seconds, she fully stopped.
Sera moved to the edge of the energy with slow, difficult steps. The substance had a strange effect on bodies. With each step, tons of pressure pressed down on her body from every direction.
The energy or substance—Sera wasn't sure exactly—also had a weird stickiness to it, like a much too dense gel.
She climbed out of the tunnel and fell to the floor. With the sudden overwhelming pressure gone, she could barely move or stand.
It took her a moment to adjust. By the time she regained mobility, most of her friends were also on the ground nearby. Quite a few were still missing, but gradually everyone entered the strange substance.
Watching everyone plop into the gel, slowly falling towards the tunnel's side, was quite amusing. It was even funnier to hear everyone complain.
"Why the fuck did I need to fall through that... thing? I have wings! I can slow myself down!… Couldn't we create two drills for individuals with wings and those who enjoy swimming in goo?!"
Everyone laughed upon hearing Lucy's complain, but quite a few shared her point of view.
"Well, I can't fly, but that was a truly miserable way to enter? Couldn't you two make something less disgusting and suffocating?"
Will questioned James and Mary. Surprisingly, the goo hadn't affected either of them. The scientist pair exchanged a glance, then burst out laughing.
"Of course we could've! But it was quite fun to see you all struggle, and I think we need all the joy we can have before…"
He didn't need to finish the sentence. All the laughter and smiles ended as the reality of their situation finally settled on their shoulders.
A somber mood settled as everyone slowly emerged from the goo pit. While they continued to struggle to their feet, Sera led the vanguard to look around their point of entry.
James and Mary followed close behind, scanning for energy sources, waves, signals and everything else they could find.
The room the drill hit wasn't too big. The ceiling was only a few meters above, while the walls stretched about a dozen meters in every direction. Dust coated the largely vacant room, suggesting prolonged disuse.
The lights still tried to shine, but the drill must've cut through some wiring since it kept flickering off and on. The walls, ceiling, and floor were all white, obviously, like every other room in this accursed facility.
Other than a few miscellaneous furniture, like a bed and desk, nothing else remained. The eerie atmosphere pressed down on them just as much as the weird gel's suffocation.
Sera, Leslie, Astrid, Kim, and Adam all walked towards the only door inside the room. It was a heavy metal door with no hinges or a handle. It didn't even have a keyhole, which was quite strange.
The vanguard waited for James and Mary to scan the surroundings. They found nothing particular, only some strange readings on the door's other side.
The readings mostly displayed elevated fluid movement through pipes on the other side, and an above average energy signature. Nothing too special, but also a bit unusual. Intrigued, they discussed their options for a second, then proceeded to forcibly enter the door.
Since there was no manual way to open the door, and James couldn't access the electric opening mechanism, Sera turned towards Astrid and nodded once.
The giantess of a woman stepped forward, her body growing even larger, while her golden armor stretched, covering her increased size. In a few large bounds, she stood before the metal door, and while leaning back, she unleashed a devastating punch.
The metallic door didn't just bend under the singular concentrated blow. It made a miserable sound as both all four sides bent inward and eventually broke away.
Like a projectile, door fragments shot inside the room, crashing into furniture, lab equipment, and some glass structure by the sound. The breaking noises inside continued to a good ten seconds before the silence returned.
Astrid stood before the broken door, staring down at her clenched fists with embarrassment and shock. She didn't mean to bring down the door so violently, but she also expected it to be much sturdier.
When she looked back to say sorry, her eyes met Sera's, and she sensed something move behind her. A loud shriek shook everyone to their core, and before Astrid could've reacted, something took hold of her body.
Upon glancing down, she saw a thick, dark tentacle wrap itself around her torso. She prepared to summon her spear, but in the next moment she was already flying through the door, and towards some terrifying creature's maw.
In just a blink, she transitioned from facing the others, to staring down at some Horror, while it held her above its wide maw.
Astrid's strong body trembled before the sight. The Horror had hundred's of enormous eyes staring in every direction. Its circular maw had thousands of razor-sharp teeth in rows going down into its throat, ready to devour everything.
From its enormous body, long tentacle arms flailed around, grabbing every object within the room. An abundance of water covered the floor, and it kept increasing around the monster.
To the side, Astrid spotted the remains of a gigantic aquarium, probably where the creature resided, before she sent a metal door crashing through its wall.
The speed with which the Horror created water was truly terrifying. Within seconds, it grew at least a meter in height. Despite partial drainage through the open door, the water's rapid growth in volume proved insurmountable.
Its color was also different from normal water. It held a deep blueness, similar to the Horror's dark blue skin.
Still a bit stunned, Astrid observed everything about the beast while she continued to summon her spear. She saw as the tentacle slowly brought her closer to the maw.
She tried wriggling free, but the tentacle's muscles held her with ease.
Astrid briefly closed her eyes just as her spear materialized. She then took a deep breath, and with her mind calm, she used all her transformed strength to plunge the spear into the tentacle.
The skin was harder than she thought. Even so, the power in her blow pierced it with ease. The spear didn't stop at the skin, though. It went straight through the tentacle, exiting below in a shower of bright blue blood.
The Horror shrieked in pain. Astrid lost the grip of her spear and held her head in pain. The sound gave her a mind splitting headache, and she couldn't focus on anything around her.
She felt herself falling through the air for a brief second before she eventually landed on something hard and sharp. At first she thought the monster tossed her to the side, but upon opening her eyes, she realized the mistake she took.
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The tentacle was holding her right above the creature's mouth. Why would the monster toss away a good meal when it could simply release her from its grip?
When the pain subsided, Astrid managed to open her eyes and look around. She didn't like her new surroundings in the slightest.
She was a few meters inside the creature's wide maw, with large teeth covering the walls of its mouth. Astrid tried to move, but a sharp pain assaulted her hip and right shoulder.
She took one glance at herself and saw teeth piercing her armor through and through. Their ends poked out of her body, covered in her own blood.
In that moment, all her training seemed to vanish, and pure panic set in. She desperately tried pulling away from the teeth, but then noticed a strange yellow liquid rise from the creature's throat.
It reached her within seconds. The yellow liquid was dense, sticky, and suffocating, similar to resin. Gradually, it covered her whole body, making every movement extremely difficult, essentially trapping her.
The yellow liquid filled the monster's mouth. It lifted her off the teeth, which Astrid should've been happy about, but instead she felt terrified, since she knew exactly what would happen next.
She closed her eyes in fear as the gulping sound echoed through the liquid, and a large force pulled her down into the creature's throat…
