Aether blinked, his gaze landing on a dry fountain in the middle of the room. Below it sat a headless statue, a lab coat draped across its shoulders and pooling on the ground around the base.
"A bigger change than expected." Aether muttered, moving closer. "But why a headless statue..."
"Don't think too much about it, Chief." Mila nudged the lab coat with her boot. A few brittle buttons skittered away across the concrete, the sound unnaturally loud in the stillness.
Before Aether could respond, the area around them began to tremble.
The tremor started as a low vibration in the floor, then grew into a violent shaking. The six octagonal pools from the previous chamber rose from the ground, defying gravity as they floated into mid-air along the corridor.
Their whispering water swept through the area.
"Okay, that's new..." Mila said as she quickly began to focus.
From the floating pools, the Noct-Eels emerged.
They poured outward in a silvery-black torrent. Their countless pale teal eyes ignited simultaneously as they locked onto the trio. The air itself seemed to solidify with their collective static hiss, a sound that made thoughts difficult to hold and balance uncertain.
"Move!" Lyria's command cut through the disorienting noise.
They ran forward as the swarm descended.
The first wave of eels dove through the air like missiles. Lyria's sword came up, magic flowing over the blade in a concentrated coating that shone brilliant blue in the dim corridor.
She swept it in a wide arc and cut through three eels, their forms bursting into black mist. But for everyone she cut, two more flickered into existence beside them.
One eel phased through the wall to Aether's left, its form becoming translucent as it used Echo-Drift.
It emerged directly beside him with its tendrils reaching for his neck but his head tilted two inches to the right.
The misty tendril passed through empty air where Aether's throat had been. His body shifted smoothly, positioning himself just outside the eel's effective range.
His eyes flashed ocean blue as Kinetic Diffusion activated preemptively. A second tendril lashed out, catching his shoulder. Instead of slicing through flesh, the force diffused across his entire upper body. The impact pushed him slightly off-balance, but he adjusted his stance with a micro-shift.
His Etheric Firearm came up in one smooth motion and he fired three rapid shots. The first bolt missed as the eel flickered, leaving an afterimage. While the second shot anticipated the flicker, catching it mid-phase and disrupting its Echo-Drift.
And finally the third blasted through its head before it could recover.
The creature dissolved with a shriek.
"Chief, on your right!" Mila's warning came just as another eel wrapped around Aether's ankle.
Static Latch activated immediately.
The world tilted sideways in Aether's perception.
Distances stretched and compressed at random while up became sideways for him and the corridor seemed to fold in on itself.
He didn't fight the disorientation but instead stood still and glanced at Mila who already hurled one of her short swords at him. Mila's sword rushed through the air, piercing the eel coiled around Aether's leg.
The creature's form vibrated violently before bursting apart.
The disorientation faded, and Aether's perception snapped back to normal.
"Thanks!" He grabbed the sword before throwing it back to Mila who caught it.
They pushed forward through the swarm but the floating pools chased after them. More eels poured out with each passing second, their numbers seemingly endless.
Lyria took the lead, her blade a constant blur of blue light. Each strike was swift, as she intercepted the eel's trajectory rather than chase it through the air. She positioned herself where they would be, not where they were.
Five eels fell in rapid succession, their afterimages creating a confusing tangle of flickering shapes that dissolved into nothing.
But the pools weren't content with just sending eels.
Huge tentacles burst from the black water above them. These were bigger than before, thick and dripping with what looked like solid darkness.
One smashed down at Mila but Aether spotted where it would hit. He grabbed her arm and yanked her forward just in time. The tentacle hit the floor where she'd been standing a split second later.
And he fired a bolt that burst the tentacle as the floor cracked, sending pieces flying everywhere.
"Watch out!" Lyria yelled.
A wave of black water shot from one of the pools like water from a hose. Lyria's eyes grew wide as she sensed what was in it.
"Stay away from that stuff!"
Aether jumped right without thinking with Mila following and Lyria rolled forward.
The black water hit the floor between them. The concrete sizzled and bubbled as smoke rose up and the tough floor melted away.
"It's like acid," Aether said as he stood up smoothly. "More or less."
"So another thing to avoid." Mila said lightly.
"Let's keep going." Lyria said as they dashed forward just as more tentacles struck out at them.
Aether watched how they moved, finding safe paths between them. He flowed through the attacks like a stream around rocks, stepping exactly where the tentacles wouldn't reach.
When one got close, he just shifted his shoulders slightly to let it miss by inches. Before pulling the trigger and bolts rushing out to destroy the tentacles. Meanwhile, Lyria sliced through two tentacles and they vanished before they hit the ground.
But three more replaced them, and beyond those, a wall appendages formed. Aether and others realized the pools were creating a barrier. They saw dozens of tentacles wove together, blocking the corridor ahead like a living gate. They swayed and twisted, each one seeking to grab, crush, or deflect.
All while the eels continued their assault from above and through the walls.
"Mila, cover me!" Lyria shouted.
Mila's humming shifted as she began singing. The disorienting static from the eels lessened immediately, creating a bubble of clarity around the group.
Three eels dove toward Lyria's exposed back, trying to exploit her focus shift. Aether's gun tracked the first before firing a shot and it burst into pieces. His body turned around smoothly and eliminated the second with another clean bolt.
The third eel flickered, using Echo-Drift to phase through his line of fire.
But Aether didn't chase the phantom with his eyes. Instead, he felt the air shift where reality warped. He aimed his weapon slightly up and left, ready for where the eel would be, not where it was.
The eel popped back into view right in his sights and then Aether fired. Blue bolt rushed out, smashing into the eel and turning it to sparks.
Meanwhile, Lyria charged ahead and her blade hacked so fast it looked like a streak of light. With one sweep, she cut through five tentacles. Then she slashed diagonally, taking out eight more and without stopping, she spun and cut upward, slicing three that had tried to grab her from behind.
Each time her blade touched the monsters, blue light burned them away before they could heal.
She hacked, chopped, slashed, and cut her way through the wall of tentacles. The barrier began to fall apart under her relentless assault. Each severed piece dissolved, but Lyria was faster than the pools could regenerate.
She created an opening, a gap in the barrier wide enough for them to pass through.
"Let's go!" Lyria shouted.
Aether and Mila ran through the opening.
A tentacle lashed out at Aether from the side. Without missing a beat, his upper body leaned back just enough for the tentacle passed inches from his chest.
His Etheric Firearm came up as he ran, barrel flaring blue and then bolts of light rushed out. It pierced through multiple tentacles that fell down to the ground before breaking down.
Lyria followed, her blade still moving to prevent the tentacles from closing back in. An eel phased through the wall beside Aether.
He saw it coming by how it pushed the air. Instead of jumping away, he leaned forward, let the hit strike him in the back and push him forward.
Kinetic Diffusion.
The eel's strike spread across his back, shoving him ahead faster. The eel screamed as Lyria's sword cut down from above, slicing it in half. The pools shook, and the whispers changed.
They got louder and quicker, turning into screams and roars. Many voices talked at once, each trying to be heard, pushing words into their minds. These voices offered power but also threatened to drown Aether, Lyria, and Mila.
Aether tripped as pain filled his head while strange memories tried to replace his real ones. He almost dropped his Etheric Firearm as he couldn't walk straight. Next to him, Lyria clenched her teeth, also struggling to move right.
Then Mila hummed louder.
Her humming fought back against the mind attack. The pain in Aether's head eased, allowing him to hold his gun firmly again and his steps became steady once more.
Lyria's posture straightened.
Mila's face was slightly pale but she didn't stop. She kept humming, kept suppressing the damage to all three of their minds while pushing forward.
And soon they finally rushed past the final pool. But the pools launched final attempts as some of their tentacles rushed out past the eels that dove and flickered and tried to latch on.
Aether's eyes tracked the incoming wave and knew too many to dodge individually. He quickly raised his gun before he kept on firing, bolts rushing out and blasting the tentacles into mist.
One after another burst into mist.
Lyria's eyes shined before Stillness Aura rushed out and slowed them down. The tentacles and eels moved through syrup, their speed bleeding away.
Seeing this, Aether turned around and continued rushing away with the others. Soon they reached the concrete corridor before then the phenomena behind them froze before beginning to break down.
The area behind returned to normal pools on the ground.
Aether sighed as he turned his head back to the hallway, and at the end he saw a door marked Level 1.
Observation Ring.
Mila's humming faded as she swayed slightly, and Aether steadied her with a hand on her shoulder. Mila beamed at him while he chuckled and gently rubbed her head to her delight.
Lyria placed her sword back with a sigh and said. "Do you need more time to recover Mila?"
"No, I'm fine. We still need to reach Rhianna." Mila said as she clenched her fist after stepping back from Aether.
"Chief?"
"Let's go." Aether grinned, leading Lyria to nod.
And then the three of them headed towards the door.