“I can’t reach it even if I wanted to.” Miria giggled while looking around in awe. “This looks so magical. I knew that the ARKs were made mostly of metal but there’s just so much of it here. Our realm seems so bland in front of worlds like this.”

  Asterios smiled warmly and scratched behind her ears. “Your realm has some very beautiful and unique areas too. I don’t think many can boast a gigantic marble mountain with an active city carved right in its side, close to the top even.”

  “Plus, you certainly haven’t seen a lot of it yet,” Selene added with a sly grin. “Our little world can make you breathless from amazement too. Perhaps we could travel a little bit with Master whenever we get a moment.”

  “That’s an amazing idea!” Miria beamed at her and Asterios. “I think the landing zone of the meteor from the legends would serve as a great starting point! It’s definitely an interesting place to visit and it might even be helpful to Master somehow! It does seem to be linked with fire considering the properties of my blades.”

  “We will keep that in mind.” Asterios nodded at the happy panthergirl. “For now, let’s focus on not plunging into this boundless darkness.”

  Finally not having to squeeze themselves through small corridors, they moved forward while walking in pairs. There was enough space for three people to traverse the path side-by-side but no one wanted to tempt fate and bad luck. Moving along with a partner was entertaining enough.

  Just as Atra had warned them, many of the moving parts in the walls and the ceiling kept releasing some louder noises now and then, whenever the mechanisms switched, changed, jumped, or went through some other shifts in their functionality. One of the jets of steam shot right at Miria’s legs and she squealed in surprise, jumping into Ast’s arms, making him and the others chuckle. She giggled shyly, turning a little rosy as she looked up at his face with a sweet smile.

  Fortunately, no serious accidents occurred during their short journey through the long bridge. After something like fifteen minutes, they reached the other side and spotted an entrance to another narrow passage. Tina wondered if they hadn’t gotten too far from their objective but Atra assured her that everything was fine, reminding the Summoner girl that the ominous path they had taken curved slightly from time to time.

  “How far do we still have to travel through these extremely enclosed spaces?” Silvia asked as they were moving through one.

  “Hey, at least we aren’t knee-deep in shit in some smelly sewers.” Grea snickered.

  “Our destination isn’t that far. There will be a few more narrow tunnels but we will soon be moving through bigger corridors and chambers,” Atra answered from the front. “Trust me, I want nothing more than to get there already too. My wings are all bruised from continuously hitting and scratching them against literally everything.”

  “I’ll save my spells for that moment, then,” Bryn added. “We would get new bruises in a flash after I took care of the current ones. Hopefully, this is going to be worth it.”

  After a while of torturous squeezing and crouch-walking, they entered a pleasantly wide and quite long hallway with a high ceiling. The loud noise of running water filled their ears and they found multiple thick pipes poking out of the walls on both sides. They came out of the ceiling and continued down through the floor, with the protruding part passing through the room open and exposed to the onlookers. A clear liquid flowed down the huge metal tubes.

  “Ah shit. I took a wrong turn.” Atra clicked her tongue.

  “How bad is—”

  The metallic thud of something hitting the floor behind them interrupted Grea and they all turned around to see the entrance blocked by a slab of metal. The yellowish gems sporadically placed over the walls suddenly turned red and the sound of creaking mechanisms echoed through the spacious hallway.

  A bunch of holes showed up over the walls and the ceiling as concealed hatches opened inwards and quite unusual structures emerged from hiding. At first, their shape confused everyone greatly, but most of them quickly realized that they were now against what looked like automatic crossbows mounted on mechanical stands. All the weapons spun and turned, pointing straight at them.

  “Nevermind. That is bad.” Grea chuckled wryly.

  “Selene!” Asterios shouted and his vulpine mate hastily stepped forward.

  Right before the first projectiles were launched their way, she brought the number of her tails up to five and created a multi-layered barrier in front of them. The crossbows shot their bolts one after another, perfectly synchronized with each other. There was almost no break between their shots as they maintained a steady stream of sharp metal bolts.

  “Do you know a way to disable those? Or do we have to fight our way through?” Asterios asked, turning to their guide.

  “I’m afraid that I’m not certain about the former. I think the safest option will be to take those defenses down. It shouldn’t be that much of an issue for the ARK since no monsters, beasts, or other things make it in here. This automated system was certainly designed to stop those from polluting the water through these inspection shafts,” Atra replied with a shake of her head. “I’m sorry. We were supposed to go around this area. I confused the path.”

  “We all make mistakes. It’s alright.” Tina smiled at the distressed Valkyrie softly. “What do we do, Ast?”

  “Bryn, cover the pipes just in case. We don’t want some stray spell or whatever else to get into the water,” he answered, receiving a firm nod from their winged companion. “Other than that, we should minimize the damage as much as we can. Use only precise attacks to strike the turrets.”

  “I’ll use the bow if someone covers me, then,” Tina said, quickly taking position with Hydran in her hands.

  “Master, if you support me a little, I can deal with the bolts while freeing Selene. She can use her spiritual arts to shoot the turrets after that,” Miria suggested.

  Asterios felt how eager she was to prove herself and nodded, preparing the technique that boosted his summon’s senses and reaction speed. He waited for Miria to finish drawing on her bloodline and pressed a palm against her lower back, now covered with smooth black fur. He completed the necessary sigil nevertheless and took his hand away, quite sure that he didn’t have to keep direct contact for the technique’s effects to be strong enough.

  Miria unsheathed her dual blades and stepped in front of everyone. Taking a deep breath, she lowered her stance and locked her gaze on the path ahead. She gave Selene and Asterios the signal, and the barrier disappeared as she felt her surroundings slow down. The previously barely noticeable projectiles flew at her at a walking speed now. She smiled to herself and took a swing.

  In everyone else’s eyes, Miria started sword dancing in the middle of the corridor with incredible speed. Bright sparks and distinct sounds of metal hitting metal echoed through the chamber as she parried every single bolt coming at them in the same, quick pattern. Their velocity and number didn’t faze the panthergirl in the slightest as she kept wildly swinging her shortswords and letting none of the fast projectiles pass.

  Tina wasted no time and shot her own spiraling arrow of pure water at the closest turret and nailed the structure right through, taking it out of the fight for good. As she prepared another shot, Selene sent a group of thin javelins hurtling forward, skewering the second mounted weapon with them. Asterios didn’t leave all the fun to them and activated his Spellslinger after slotting a new Runic Chip in it. An arc of lightning struck the third crossbow and damaged its mechanical parts, causing it to jam and cease to function.

  With half of the turrets gone, the pattern of the incoming bolts got slightly delayed and everyone could observe Miria’s refined movements much better as she didn’t have to react as fast as before. It still was an equally mesmerizing and awe-inspiring sight seeing her parry each projectile with incredible finesse, having quite some fun while at it too.

  In the meanwhile, Asterios moved with Umbra through the shadows and resurfaced on the other end of the hallway. With his artifact sword already in his hand, he filled it with his scorching hot energy and made short work of the furthest turret, slicing it into bits with ease.

  The last two weapons turned to aim at him but the girls didn’t even let them prepare to shoot at their beloved. Tina raised a wall of chaotic water in front of Asterios just in case while Miria and Selene lunged forward. The former latched onto the closest still functioning crossbow and stabbed her blades into the vulnerable holes and openings while the latter gathered some mana in the external circuits of her right arm and sent a ghastly apparition of a demonic hand to grab onto and squeeze the other one into a chunk of deformed metal.

  No more threats showed up after they had dealt with all the crossbows, even though the light crystals remained red. The two beastfolk ladies returned to everyone alongside Asterios. Miria had a wide, proud smile on her lips while Selene hid her small grin behind her slender hand.

  “Congratulations. That was amazing.” Silvia applauded them lightly and the others soon followed. “I decided not to intervene this time because my fire could have damaged or melted too much. My apologies for that.”

  “A good decision. No need to apologize. The situation was under control.” Asterios shook his head. “Everybody fine?”

  They all nodded and Atra chuckled quietly. “Now I see why you think this might be doable. You guys fight so well together. Your coordination is something else.”

  “Being able to communicate mentally and exchange thoughts in a flash does help a lot,” Selene commented with a gentle smirk.

  “In any way, do we remain locked in this facility or…?” Grea glanced around, checking the entrance and the exit.

  “Let me see if I can do anything about this,” their new scholar friend said and jogged to the end of the corridor.

  Just as promised, Atra found a hidden compartment with a lever resetting the chamber back to its dormant state. The damage had already been done to the offensive systems but the doors would still be able to lock themselves up the next time the trap was activated. Atra mentioned that this room had some other surprises installed so it wasn’t like they made the area completely defenseless.

  Afterward, she made sure to recall the blueprints correctly before every other exit and turn, leading them through the narrow and writhing passageways. They often passed by sticking-out pieces of machinery or crystals infused with various elements. The underbelly of an ARK was truly fascinating, especially for Grea and Asterios.

  About another half an hour later, Atra stopped in a slightly wider but still small space and turned to the metal wall on the side. “If my calculations are correct, we should be standing right before one of the vault’s chambers. Unfortunately, there isn’t any secret, hidden service entrance that would let us pass easily. We need to figure something out.”

  “Maybe Umbra can roam around and try to find a gap to flow inside?” Miria suggested. “Or just travel through his shadows?”

  ~I could try the former but I’m afraid that the latter seems to be disrupted. There’s some kind of a light aura that repels shadows and magical darkness,~ Umbra replied.

  “Most of our barriers and defensive spells rely on Light Magic so I’m not surprised about that,” Bryn commented.

  “Do we know what exactly is on the other side of this wall?” Silvia asked.

  “Well, not really. It can be shelves, cabinets, displays, but also nothing. Why?” Atra glanced at her curiously.

  “I thought about trying to melt it but I don’t want to risk destroying something important,” she replied.

  “Let me try, then. My sword should be precise enough to penetrate just the wall if I’m careful enough,” Asterios offered.

  Everyone gave him some more space to work with and he brought out his artifact blade. They watched as it heated up until almost its entire surface was glowing crimson, with mischievous tongues of dark red fire licking the air past the sharp edge. He stepped closer to the metal wall and began slowly and cautiously sliding the tip into it.

  Bit by bit, it sank deeper, causing the edges of the created hole to melt and drip down to the floor. After a few long seconds, Ast’s grip jerked and he hastily pulled his hands back, sure that he had pushed through the thick obstruction. Finding the perfect depth to avoid damaging anything on the other side, he unhurriedly traced an arch big enough for them to comfortably walk through after it was finished.

  It took him a moment to melt through that much metal but nothing interrupted his focus in the end and the forcefully created entrance was completed. Selene assisted him with her energy and pulled the cut archway into their chamber, revealing a shining, golden room on the other side. Thankfully, it looked like they had breached the archives somewhere in the middle of an empty corridor, avoiding destroying or damaging any important items and structures.

  “Ladies first.” Asterios smiled at Atra and they carefully walked through the hole.

  Chapter 24

  In Pursuit of Knowledge

  “So, do we need to be super sneaky in here?” Miria asked after they all entered the golden corridor.

  “A good question,” Selene grunted softly while setting the cut-out arch back in its place to cover the gaping hole in the wall.

  “No one besides the members of the Council is allowed in this place so I wouldn’t worry too much about that since they should currently be busy arguing with each other,” Atra replied while looking around. “There are cases where someone else receives the permission but I don’t remember any special admissions in the recent weeks if not months.”

  “No guards or patrols?” Silvia raised a brow at her.

  The scholarly Valkyrie shook her head. “The Council is too skeptical and cautious. The only guards stand in front of the entrance. They want to believe that no one would try to break in, and to be honest, they aren’t that wrong. No one would really dare, nor would they know how.”

  “An exception proves the rule.” Grea smirked and the girls chuckled softly.

  “What about more traps or safety mechanisms?” Tina asked.

  “That I can’t guarantee,” Atra answered. “Most if not all of those have been created and set up by the precursors. I know a thing or two about the defense systems inside the empty segments or maintenance areas in the ARKs but there isn’t that much about the core archives in the records. At the very least, I know my way around them, more or less, from my previous trips here. Nothing was activated during any of them. I don’t think this entire place can distinguish between a guest and an invader or else we would have been targeted the moment we set foot in here.”

  “Well, we just need to stay on guard and make sure not to make too much noise to avoid alerting the actual guards,” Asterios said. “What are we going to be looking for exactly?”

  “We will need to visit a few sections since the records are somewhat categorized. I know personally that the sector focusing on architecture has plans of at least a few first floors of the Descending Spire. I never got a chance to dig that much deeper. There should be some documents on its defense systems for sure. That might be of help to you during your exploration,” she replied, stroking her chin.

  “Do you know anything about Tyr’s Aegis?” Bryn stepped closer to them.

  “Ah. Right. You need something regarding that.” Atra tapped herself on the side of her forehead. “This will definitely be tougher than looking for information on the Descending Spire in general. We should check the section talking about spiritual reactors and similar constructs. Unless you want to check out the stories and legends. Those are plenty.”

  “If we have time left, we should check those too.” Selene placed a reassuring hand on Bryn’s shoulder. “All tales hide some truth between the lines as their origins are often linked to the factual events.”

  “Let’s get moving instead of wasting it in the middle of a corridor, then,” Asterios suggested. “Where to first?”

  “Follow me. But, give me a moment. I need to find my bearings in this maze. I’ve been here a few times but all the hallways look exactly the same. I’m not exactly sure where we have ended up after our unconventional entrance.” Atra nodded at them and they started walking slowly.

  Just in case, Asterios began marking the path the same way he always did inside a dungeon. Miria was reminded of their early adventures and showed a warm, reminiscing smile. Moving closer to Asterios, she leaned into his side and let him caress her ears, purring lovingly under his delicate rubs.

  As Atra had said, all the corridors were literally in one and only style. Additionally, the gold metal dominated any other colors and shades so much that it felt like they were walking through a gigantic piece of gold with tunnels carved inside the block. The geometrical patterns repeated regularly, giving off eerie vibes, and causing the hallways to seem longer than they actually were.

  After they stumbled on the first room on their path, Atra easily figured out where they were and hastily traced the correct route in her mind. But, just in case, Bryn pointed at an actual map of the level hanging on the wall just next to the doorway leading into the chamber. They put it against Atra’s memory and headed out towards the architecture wing.

  Everyone agreed to start there in case their visit was forcefully cut short by some unexpected development. If they failed to find anything convincing on Tyr’s Aegis, they would most likely lose the support of Tyr’s Council, but that wasn’t exactly the end of the world yet. On the other hand, getting interrupted before learning anything useful about the Spire and its structure could prove to be much more dangerous to their plans. Additional help in the form of an army sounded great, but they weren’t completely helpless without it.

  Therefore, they jogged to their first point of interest and entered a spacious hall filled with golden cabinets reaching the very ceiling. The plaque next to the archway confirmed that it was the section with information on architecture in general. They glanced around the neatly organized chamber with hundreds of metal drawers.