Online In Another World

Chapter 327 Ominous Steps

The well-dressed, scarlet-haired spirit clasped his hands together for a moment as a swirl of light-purple energy gathered around him. It was the first time Emilio witnessed what the spirit soulbound to him was capable of, leaving him enamored in what he was doing.

"Come, Owls of The Twilight!" Gavill invoked.

All at once, the radiant energy, akin to mana but distinctly different, formed into physical constructions; there were six owls with black-and-scarlet feathers, all summoned and perched on Gavill's arms and shoulders.

"Woah, you can summon owls?" Emilio remarked in astonishment.

The spirit smiled, "These owls share my senses and possess unique traits of their own–though their proficiency in battle is not needed today," Gavill smiled before waving his arms, casting the owls into flight, "--Go, my twilight avians; find the path that leads out of this cave!"

Each of the mystical owls heeded the command from Gavill, choosing a tunnel for their own to fly down and investigate.

"Handy," Blimpo said with his hand to his chin.

Gavill smiled, "And now we wait. I will inform you once one of my twilight avians finds the proper path."

"Sure. Thanks," Emilio nodded with a smile of his own.

"No need to thank me, I am glad to be of service to you," Gavill responded.

Standing there, the red-haired spirit of proper manners kept his eyes closed as his senses linked with the owls.

While they waited around for the owls to scope out each and every tunnel, he watched as Blimpo circled around Gavill, who stood like a statue in his linked senses, looking the figure up-and-down as if trying to understand a mechanism.

"What're you doing?" Emilio asked with a raised eyebrow, leaning against one of the rocky walls.

Blimpo responded, "I've always wanted to see a Soulbound Spirit up close; it's quite rare, ya know? There's only been one inventor who's managed to make tools that utilize spiritual essence. I'd like to make that two inventors."

A gadget was pulled from one of the pouches Blimpo wore on his belt, retrieving what looked like a spyglass, made of redwood and emerald-engraved steel.

"What's that?" He asked.

It was something he'd noticed the elf use on occasion, though never thought to ask until he witnessed the inventor peering through it while it was aimed at the statuesque spirit.

Blimpo kept looking through it for a few moments more before answering, "It's an "Ethereal Lens"—well, a magnified version. It lets you see the flow of mana and spiritual essence."

"Really?"

"Yeah, try it out," Blimpo happily handed it over.

There was no doubt a contagious excitement that exuded from the eccentric tinkerer even in such dark places, prompting him to accept the offer as he brought the end of the special spyglass to his left eye.

"Hmm…Oh!"

As he peered through it, he aimed the other end at Blimpo, instead of seeing his physical appearance, he instead saw the inner circuits of mana in his body like veins; a steady, calm flow of dim-blue mana distributed itself through the elf's body.

"Neat, ain't it?" Blimpo chuckled.

Looking over at the scarlet-haired spirit, there was definitely a stronger visuality of energy, though it was a spiritual variant; it flowed more as a mist than a calm river like mana, taking a light-purple shade instead.

Woah, that's Gavill's spiritual essence then? He thought.

Bringing his eye away from the Ethereal Lens, he handed it back to the elf, "I can see how that comes in handy—especially for a tinkerer who handles different mana. What does my mana look like?"

The question brought an interesting reaction from Blimpo who held a nervous smile, pointing the lens at the young Dragonheart and looking through it.

"…I've checked a few times and it always makes me sweat. I used this on you when we first met when you weren't looking—that's part of why I was so confident I'm partnering with ya against War. I've never seen mana like yours," Blimpo explained.

What the elf saw on the other side of the special lens when looking at Emilio was a majestic pillar of azure mana that completely engulfed all that he could see, endlessly swirling, yet unheard. Heat waves contorted the sight of it, yet even as overwhelming as it was, there was no doubt it was sublime.

"Really?" He chuckled and bashfully rubbed his own head.

Blimpo condensed the spyglass before stuffing it back into his pouch, "You're lucky I'm not a mad scientist or I'd ask to dissect you."

"Don't push it."

"Okay, okay," Blimpo laughed.

It wasn't soon after the experience with the Ethereal Lens that Gavill's eyes opened once more as he approached his summoner, "My owls have completed their surveying."

"And?"

The scarlet-haired spirit nodded before turning to face the tunnels, pointing out the second one from the left, "You will find the way out of this cavern through that path…However, I must warn you of something."

"What is it?" He asked curiously.

"My owl happened upon something slumbering in the area leading to the exit," Gavill warned, "I must suggest you move with caution."

"Thanks–really, you helped a lot," he smiled, "You can go now."

Just like that, Gavill nodded and bowed his head before disappearing back into the Astral Realm, leaving the two with their pathway set.

"What do you think he found down there?" Blimpo asked.

"Dunno, but we're probably going to find out," he answered, leading the way.

All he could hope for was a change in scenery wherever the narrow tunnel led, growing tired of the scent of clammy stone and the musk of whatever creatures had passed through before.

It was a monotonous march down the path for an unknown, but gnawing amount of time before they arrived at an entrance to an ominous cavern. There was an unmistakable feeling of "something" lurking beyond; a close listen resulted in perhaps hearing breaths, though it could be tricks of the mind. Either way, the earlier warning from Gavill didn't fall on deaf ears as he stopped his elven companion from entering just yet,

"I'm going to create some backup for us," he quietly said.

"Gonna summon Soulbound again?" Blimpo asked in a whisper.

He shook his head, "Salamander. Undyne. Gnome. Sylph."

With those four, quietly spoken words, he conjured the four lesser elemental spirits, which brought an intrigued smile on the elf's lips.

"Gnome, Sylph, stay with him," he ordered.

The brown and the green spirit followed the command, floating over to the tinkerer who happily accepted the support.

"Let's try not to get 'explosive' right off the bat, alright? If we can avoid a fight, we should. Even if we need to sneak past whatever is in there," he whispered.

"Sure, I can be stealthy, too," Blimpo gave a thumbs-up.

Though he was hesitant to believe the eccentric elf could be anything but volatile, he had to accept his words before leading the way, staying crouched down as he quietly walked into the dark chamber awaiting ahead.

It took some control, but he managed to use a passive wind spell to cancel out the sound of his footsteps. Something like this was multiple times more difficult to apply to another person, but he did his best to maintain it with Blimpo's steps as well.

…I don't have endless mana or stamina; if I want to make it out of this realm in time, I can't take every fight, he thought.

He could vaguely see it on the other side of the vast, hollow cavern: a pathway leading upward that held faint light beyond it. However, there was quite a way to cross before reaching it, and it was a trail of complete darkness.

There was something truly chilling about it; quietly and slowly walking through the large, unlit cavern, knowing "something" occupied it, or perhaps not, but having no true way of knowing until something made itself clear through that total darkness.

All he could really see was the exit, but nothing around him; even glancing back at his companion who followed closely behind him, he could hardly see Blimpo through the veil of shadows.

"Hey, 'Milio…"

Blimpo's whisper aimed at him brought him to a stop, though he wanted to flick his companion for making any sort of noise amidst the ominous cavern.

He quietly responded, "What is it? We need to stay quiet and need to stay moving."

"Yeah, but, err…do ya hear that?" Blimpo asked.

It was only when he once more honed in on the silence around him did he hear it: faint, but heavy breaths that carried through the cavern like a dormant wind. There was no doubt that "something" was there; "something" foreboding, and "something" in which they had trespassed into its abode.

THUD. THUD. THUD.

–Footsteps heavy enough to make the ground he crouched on vibrate beneath his feet with a bone-chilling hum were heard. It was close–far too close for any sort of comfort or restraint now.