Genshin Isekai With Homies [Ao3 Crosspost]

Chapter 11: Part XXVII - Treasure Hunt I

Felix feels like they've trudged on and on the stairs for ages. He kicks his leg forward through the muggy road, soaking his socks deeper into the fleshy mud as he pushes and pulls a rickety cart. Sitting on it are a tied-up Xiao and a humming Klee in samachurl mask, who bumps up and down along with the ride in this snake-like track, higher and higher into the caverns. Felix desperately scribbles in his mind the various twists and turns, and left or right, or did they just went down?

He wheezes through his drenched hilichurlian mask at the pair of blue and white Abyss Mages leading them in this nowhere. They're totally at ease, squabbling away without really looking back at the disguised humans, so Felix has to turn down every of Gui's offer of popping them. Felix knows he's taking a gamble, but he has to know what the hilichurls are all up to.

Felix hears a low sigh. The first in this journey after Gui's entire silence.

"I'm sorry for putting us here," Felix musters out a whisper.

"I'm not mad," he says calmly, but a dark aura snarls about him. He's definitely mad! Felix cries inside, sweating all over. Thankfully, there's a mask hiding his pure anxiety right now.

"Halt," the cryo abyss mage screeches. "We're here."

They arrive at a quarter of another inconspicuous corridor, dimly lit with crackling torches. Felix lets out a puff of mist, in awe of how chilly around here is.

"You are so lucky to become part of our newest project! Kekeke," the hydro abyss mage pokes at Gui and screeches away as he responded with a tiny growl. The cryo one rubs its hands along the sandy wall and screeches without looking back,

"Anything you hear here, you did not. Anything you see here, you did not. Anything experienced... Well, did I make it clear?"

Felix nods quickly and the hydro abyss mage, leaning on the cart, rolls its eyes. It winks at Klee,

"Shh, just keep this a secret alright?"

Klee agreeably nods and they did a pinky promise.

Clack! The cryo abyss mage's hand hit an oddly-shaped pebble and the mage smiles. With a quick dance of its fingers, a passcode is entered, and the wall begins to rumble.

Felix musters all his strength to hide his glee and not run into the new suspicious area the door is revealing when a dampen horn echoes from above.

BOOM!

The floor and walls of the corridor shudder from the loud explosion as debris falls under the flickering torches. The white abyss mage slaps the door close while Felix squeezes his dusty eye open and hears huddling and bustling all around the passageway.

"You," the white abyss mage screeches through a fit of coughs, pointing at Felix then Gui, "watch him. And you," it looks at the sparkling Klee and clears its throat. "Watch them."

Klee nods and the abyss mages quickly lift their skirts and waddles away. Immediately, Felix stops waving and scrambles his inventory for a knife as Xiao stands up and breaks his rope in one pull.

"Let's get the door. Klee, guard."

"Yessir!" She pulls out her catalyst and marches along the corridor.

"You could have broken the chains all this time??" Felix asks.

Gui pauses from pressing the rock buttons to raise an eyebrow.

"It's not part of your plan?"

Now Felix is the one to furrow his eyebrows when a click sound rings from Gui's clicking and the door swings opens. Both travelers' eyes widen. The sight drains all words from Felix's mouth.