The Villainess was Loved

Chapter Nineteen: Things That Go Bump In the Night.

Lady Arusei E. Alpensa

We were f*****g separated, and worse? I was with the creep from the gate. He actually remembered me?!

Did he not harass everyone female he crosses paths with? Had I read him wrong?

Am I the bad guy here, pigeonholing him?

Still, Kat, Alden and Ruben were in their own group while I was with Breca, who kept passing me paintings to stuff in the bag. Wreigner, who oddly enough kept sticking close to me and the creep from the gate.

We were basically divided into groups of four. Each party parted to ensure that none could deal with the final boss without the guild’s knowledge.

The tower was alive.

Or at least that is what it felt like to me as we ascended the crumbling steps to the roof, in a path illuminated only by the cracks on the walls that gave the moons, there were two moons, a chance to guide us.

Every board creaked, and every cavity magnified the whistle of the wind. Occasionally, a blaring laugh would echo the halls, but we were assured that the boss would be on the lower levels. So we…kept on?

“This is basically mindless travel,” I murmured as we ascended the steps.

“What is?” Wreigner asked.

Right, his proximity was such that he could hear my literal ovulation cycle.

“Can you give me some space?” I asked as I used my arm to widen the space between us, “Why are you so-,”

“Sorry, I uh..” he interrupted, then continued with his question, “Arusei, right?”

I stilled.

“Is that what you wish to confirm by pressing yourself to me?”

“No- no, I mean yes, but no.”

“You have said absolutely nothing,” I whispered back.

“Let me start again.” He cleared his throat, “I have-,”

He was yet to get engaged to Priscilla, but the engagement will be made after news of his older brother’s death spreads.

It will be in my best interest to avoid him. Lest I give the princess more ammunition to focus her abuses at me.

“I mean that we are going up while knowing that the beasts are on the base floors. That is what I meant when I said it feels, ‘mindless’.” I interrupted him in little louder than a whisper.

His face visibly drooped at the distance I drew between us.

Truthfully, it feels refreshing to read a lead’s expression as clearly as I could read his.

But as much as I believe that adorable, he comes entwined with Pricilla. If my past life taught me anything, the female and male leads’ fates are intertwined.

No matter how superior I felt to Regina, It only took Étienne one glance to forget himself. One glance and he fell hopelessly despite his ‘our marriage is part of a bigger picture’ diplomatic talks.

“Don’t say that s**t, babe.” The brackhill man interjected, reminding me of his presence.

I think his name was John? Jude? I am not sure, but it sounded forgettable.

We reached the base of the platform, which was barely there, meaning we had to dive from room to room in order to navigate the flooring.

One wrong move and one could easily, worst-case scenario, fall at most forty-eight floors down, well give or take, some holes were deeper while others led two to four floors below.

“Say what?” I asked as I flattened my back to the web and dust-filled walls.

Should I have ended my question with ‘babe’ as well?

Urg…gods, there better not be a spider.

“I bet you can’t even take a wraith.”

Where the hell did that come from?

What were we even talking about, hell did we need to talk at all?

I turned to face John or...Josh but he was at the dark section of the path, meaning all I could see was the glow of his neon painting.

Wraiths are angry ghosts, well, that’s putting it mildly. Wraiths are malice incarnates. At least, that is quite often the definition found on top of bestiaries. They are driven by an overwhelming desire to exterminate. Their mere existence in a forest leaves that area blackened, dry and deserted. When one dies with too much negative energy, they literally implode in themselves, leaving a soulless mass of themselves behind. If that’s bad enough, they keep their skills. So out there in this large game world, there is a swordmaster wraith or a wizard wraith.

This is where the absurdity of his comment lie, wraiths are powerful, yet his taunt implied he thought them weak.

“You will save me from a monster attack, won't you?” I sweetened my voice.

“Course!” he gave me a near toothless grin.

Urg...

A bright light glow appeared before me, and I stilled.

Will-o-wisps are light-based creatures that feed on negative energy.

They generally have no attack or defence power, not that physical attacks work on them. However, they have a tendency to lead the ignorant or oblivious to danger so that they can feed on the energy of their misery.

I took a deep breath then sealed my eyes into focus.

There has to be something that will clue me in on the happenings of the other side.

Mushrooms…mould…moss..anything.

I tried to channel my mana in little bits through the wall until finally, it latched on to mildew.

The scent of blood attacked my nostrils into bitter repugnance.

I could sense nothing beyond where he led us, not grass, leaves, spores…the only thing there was…cold and blood…so much blood…and….

I bit my lip as I tried to analyse further the contents of the halls when a sharp pain pierced my lungs.

I coughed heavily at the painful interruption then gasped for air I did not realize I needed.

“Hey! What the hell?” Breca yelled, “You okay.”

“Hmm?” I questioned when my body calmed down, “Oh..uh.”

I felt warm liquid drip painlessly from my nose.

I ran my finger, squashing the drip on its trail, then gazed at my hand.

The unmistakable smell of iron gave away the liquid’s contents.

Blood.

But we have bigger issues now.

Whatever it was that was beyond the walls sensed me.

We were in a literal line, planted to the wall. If I halted, the other two following me would have to stop. So being the first on the queue with Wreigner behind me and Breca in the back, I halted.

“Wreigner, tell Breca, we shouldn’t proceed,” I whispered.

“What? Why?”

“Just do it.”

Wreigner looked unconvinced; however, he did not fight my words.

“Are you coming or not?” the man before us asked.

“Oh no…just a little…just a little height nervousness,” I lied.

“I told you I’d protect you-,” the man before us leapt to the other side, to where the stone held the walls more stably. “See, nothing to worr-“

My stomach dropped in one fell swoop as a large silver gleaming hand wrapped itself around the man’s flimsy neck. The hand squeezed past the pops and cracks of his spine to his finely and minute network of the man’s blood vessels, such that he had utterly no final words as pressurised blood rushed through his facial orifices.

“Ah….fuck.” I cursed, then turned to Wreigner. “Go back! Go back!”

“I can't! Most of the floors crumbled at our climb!”

“ah…” I nearly cried at his words. However, that would change nothing.

The only way was forward.

Fuck!

*

*

*

Sir Ruben Blane

‘Separated from my own master, how ridiculous.’ Ruben thought as he admired some of the ceramic pots gleaming in the room.

Still, as a knight, this was the kind of life he adored. If only he could get over worrying about young lord Hyle’s safety.

“This room smells…off,” Alden said as soon as they entered what would be referred to as the dining room in every house structure, only the furniture was dead if not old, clung tightly to thick and dusty webs that hinted past the existence of spiders.

“What's off?”

“There is hardly any magic here. I mean, there is but its…dark.”

“Dark as in,” Ruben asked.

He was a knight, not a wizard. They should not stone him for his ignorance.

“I don’t know how to explain it, but….” Alden stilled, then clicked his tongue. “The tower is feeding itself…it is as though, its spawning and or summoning creatures that match its energy so that…it can keep feeding? Uh…that’s not it… there is something I am missing.”

“You are a genius, kid.” the man with pink neon on his face said.

He mentioned earlier that his name was Spunk. Spunk had a long blade of grass between his lips; however, no grass grew in the vicinity.

In fact, hardly anything did.

“Guys, look at this!” Kat yelped at the sight of a will-o-wisp.

She leapt forward for it, but it flew above her just as she was about to grab it. Again the trend repeated. When it flew above her, she would leap to it, only for it to scoot low, until finally, the green-yellow ball of light flew out of the dining area.

“KAT!” Alden yelled, then called out a spell that would keep her bound in the vicinity by forming a wall of water on the door.

Kat was…a cat. She gets attracted to all things shiny and abhors water.

He knew that yet still, he had let her grow fascinated by the wisp.

“f**k!” Ruben cursed as he rushed to grab her, but just like the wall of water, he was too late.

She had already lept to the absurdly dark corridor.

 “f**k! Ruben, let’s go.” Alden said as he swiftly called back his mana.

However, Spunk threw a chair to the wall in the midst of the tension, stilling them in their rescue attempt.

“What the hell.” Both boys turned to the neon painted man.

“You don’t follow a wisp. How irresponsible are you?”

“We are not following the wisp. We are following our friend!”

“Your friend is as good as dead! You follow me, my orders.”

Alden readied his staff as he turned to face Spunk fully as an opponent.

“How do you intend to stop us?” Ruben questioned.

However, rather than prepare for a fight, he laughed.

“Children are so ridiculous. But I suppose, dying by the hands of a creature, and dying by my hands…there really is no difference, is there?” Spunk’s smile grew hideously, sending chills down both their spines.

“I see.” Alden replied calmly, “The guild works for the house.”

“See, I told you, you are a genius.”