Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

Chapter 303

"Chloe wait, don't do this. If you sneak in like this, they will surely be mad" the girl with the blonde hair said.

"Alice I know. But I cannot just wait for my friends to disappear one after the other. I have made up my mind, you two can decide whether to follow me or stay behind".

After saying whatever she wanted she walked towards the interior of the room where a wide tunnel covered in a translucent barrier led towards the deeper part of the facility. Chloe brought the badge which even she did not know was the token to pass through the barriers and observed it.

Carved on the badge, there was a cross and a beautiful staff depicting purity and holiness. The moment the barrier came in contact with the token, it fluctuated with many ripples surfacing on it and after a moment, like a thin cloth, the barrier spread apart.

Chloe immediately stepped in but when she turned around, she saw the other two girls also tag along with her. It seemed that they too were anxious about all of this and hence made their choice.

The moment all of them disappeared inside the tunnel, Simon, Lucine and Denzel who were watching the scene from the sidelines, felt a jolt and opened their eyes wide only to realise that the room that they were currently in, although looked the exact same as the one they had seen in the [Historia], its current appearance was dingy with destruction and an unknown putrid smell drifting everywhere.

The three of them hurriedly pinched their nose and watched their surroundings in solemnity. Everything had been eroded by the expanse of time so there was no evidence or anything to be found.

However, the foreboding and eerie sensation that they were feeling in their hearts only multiplied. While only a couple of hours had passed, they had seen months and days of life of these little children.

"Let's go" Simon said walking towards the tunnel that the three girls had taken.

Previously inside the [Historia], they couldn't pass through the place because of the barrier engulfing the room. However, now that it was gone and they have returned back to the current timeline, there was no such restrictions barring them from entering inside.

On the contrary, Simon felt like the trial was telling them to proceed forward and witness the rest of the story. Lucine complied without a word, while Denzel looking a little hesitant, he knew he had to finish the trial and stepped forward.

The moment they stepped inside the tunnel, the same feeling as before where a white light covered their vision and they soon found their bodies in an ethereal state. In front of them, a little distance away were the three girls who had successfully managed to sneak in deep towards the facility.

Perhaps because it hadn't been long after the white suit men entered the tunnel, they could hear multiple footsteps echo out from the depths. The three girls followed their footsteps while Simon and the other silently walked behind them.

After an hour of walking and crisscrossing turns, they finally reached a wide area with numerous pillars holding the place from collapsing. At the end of the area was a five-meter big double doors carved with the same sign as the one in the badge.

When the white suit men came near, the door automatically opened, allowing them and the three boys behind them in. Seeing them disappearing inside, Chloe followed by the two other girls, sneakily trailed in.

This was the place they called home after being taken in by the good Mister; however, even they did not know what was deep inside the cavern. Matter of factly, none of the children did. They were always told by these people wearing white suits, not to step away from their room and those who disobey, would be punished by having to sleep hungry at night.

They had once tried to ask Glenn what was deeper inside the cavern, the answer they got was bland and not out of their expectation. Beyond the door, was a well-lit room with many equipments, peculiar machineries and big capsules that seemed to contain something within it.

Although Chloe and the girls couldn't see what the things inside the capsules were, they could hear the bubbling and gurgling of water from inside. The three girls hid themselves behind one such capsule and eyed the two white suit men taking the boys into a different section of the room.

"What are those things? Are we going to receive treatment here?" Bell who was silently following the two men in front, asked after observing the room.

One of the guy whose name was Miles, dully answered "You don't have to mind what those things are. You all will be taken to a different room where there are multiple people waiting to treat you. Although the process might be a little painful, you must hang on if you want to get better".

He walked up to the plain metal door in front and inserted his badge into the slot. Immediately, with the sounds of some gears turning, the metal door slid open.

"Come on, let's go in" Miles beckoned and slightly pushed the three children in. following which, the doors shut closed as if already programmed like that.

The moment they disappeared, Chloe and the others came out of their hiding place and inspected the room in curiosity. They had clearly heard Bell asking what this place was but rather than giving a reply, those people directly changed the subject.

"Aren't those things…?" Simon narrowed his eyes when his gaze landed on those capsules. They who were following the three girls, entered the room at the same time as them.

Lucine silently closed her eyes but did not comment further; whereas, Denzel was a little agitated when he realised what those things inside the capsule was.

It was at this moment, when the three girls were observing the place trying to figure out what these equipments were used for, another door leading to a different section of the facility, opened once again and a group of three people wearing the same old hazmat suit from head to toe, came out.

"See I told you we were late, those three new children have already been taken to the transplantation chamber. We could suffer some serious consequences in the next inspection if we don't hurry up before the operation start"..

"Don't worry I don't hear any screams yet which could only mean that it hasn't started yet. Did you already forget the beast heart assigned by Cardinal Royce for this lot of children"

"You don't mean? I see, you are right, if the operation to transplant the heart of the level 590 Dark Abyss Tiger had already started we would have already heard them wailing and screaming".

"Haha, you are right. We did have a lot of trouble getting a successful assimilation with the previous batch of children as well. The Dark Abyss Tiger and the Infernal Scaled Python have a too strong of a life force".

These men came near one of the capsules and inserted crystals the size of a thumb and of varying shapes and colours into the slots of a nearby mechanism. Following which the murky water-like substance in the capsule cleared up to reveal a person; No, it would be right to say a being.

Yes, the being in the capsule was half-human and half-beast. It had the upper body of a human and the lower half of a goat. The goat part of the being was covered in a thick black fur and thorns grew out of its hands and shoulders, giving it a menacing appearance.

Although the appearance of the being would give anyone a scare, from its size it could be easily recognisable that it was a child. The moment it appeared, the three girls who were spying on their conversation from behind a mechanism not far away, took shocked gasps of breath.

It was not only them but even Simon, Lucine and Denzel had a shocked look in their eyes. That was because the being or rather the child inside the capsule, was one of the children they had seen in that room who was taken away by these people more than a month ago.

"Glenn..mmph" Chloe who was too shocked by the appearance of one of her friend appearing in this unseemingly condition was about to shriek out and hurriedly tried to suppress it by pressing her hands on her mouth.

"Hmm? Did you hear that? I heard a girl's voice just now" one of the white suit men said.

"What nonsense are you spouting? There is a barrier separating their room and this facility. Without the entry pass, they cannot come in here. Besides these stupid children are naive enough to think that they are being treated here and if they don't behave, they won't get any food.. hahaha"

"You are right, it might be me hearing things… haha"

"You two don't get distracted from our objective. This specimen here by far showed the highest rate of assimilation with the level 650 Three-Tail Demonic Faun. If he fully assimilates with it, we will have our 8th success in dozens of years."

The three men fell silent, they knew how important having a success was for their facility and for their life.

"Let's go, today's test subject is a little special in that even cardinal Royce has its eyes on him. If we can successfully create two hybrids, we can easily cover for decades of our failure and please his eminence at the same time".

While casually chatting, the three of them opened the sliding metal doors and disappeared into the same passage where Bell and the others were led into.