No Longer Feeling Vol.1 [The Bellken Escapades]

A Weirdo

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The crackling sounds from the torch was uncomfortable so I stuck behind this group. "Astoria, can you come closer, the torch isn't gonna kill you." Alcor comments. "Not happening."

I ended the conversation quickly, I did not want to talk about this. "Suit yourself I guess," He says, giving a firmer grasp on his large axe. Looking around, the old man wasn't lying about this necromancer being a parasitic bastard since he has taken over a good chunk of the catacombs.

No longer were the walls surrounded by stone walls, overgrowing moss and vines but instead, enormous amounts of bones replaced the stone wall. I have been told that these are not from dead bodies but instead made of magic, never heard of such magic but I have no information to dispute it so I believed it for now.

Question is, why are they serving as walls? It would be better for them to come alive and attack in this cramp path. "Perhaps, there is another reason..." I hear weird noises.

Looking closer, I could feel a skull stuck to the wall slowly gain its signature eye. A pure blue color, but before it could fully connect, I smashed the skull to bits with a punch. The sound was enough to alert this group. "The necromancer is using these skulls to spy on us."

Alcor clicked his tongue, realizing that we have probably already been seen. "So that's the thing I've been feeling." Cynthia comments. "You know?" I ask. "No, it was just a feeling so I didn't know." She adds.

"Either way, keep smashing every skull you see." The old man, holding the torch said. "I'll alert you if I feel it again." Cynthia asserts.

We continue to walk along the path mentioned by the old man, strangely there are no monsters around. I hear another weird noise and a small but distinct sound of bones falling. I turn my eyes to the side, trying to look behind me without turning my head.

"There." Cynthia points at a skull above to the left of Kin and he stabs the skull with his spear, destroying it. Looking at his hand, I see it tensing. Cynthia looks at me, specifically at my eyes. The twitching of my ears already told her everything so I approached the group.

"So how long are we gonna ignore that thing behind us?" I ask. Walking at a natural pace, the old man stayed silent while we discussed in a hush tone.

Alcor responds, "Until it gets close enough to our attack range." Kin silently agrees with him. "But it is helping us. I've been feeling small chunks of mana appearing then disappearing just as quickly." Cynthia defends the one following us and I was keen to agree. "I've been hearing bones falling a while ago so it's at least covering our back from that necromancer.

"If it wanted to help, then it should have joined us a while ago, but he's not even stepping into the light of our torch." Alcor refuted. Whatever is following us stays in a distance far enough for us not to see it but close enough for it to use our light as its own.

We stayed silent for a while. I could still hear weird noises behind us but I could also hear a sound similar to footsteps. "If you're trying to be hidden, you're not doing a very good job." I comment.

In a slanted tunnel, the old man states that we were almost there. Looking slightly up, I could see the end of this slanted tunnel but before we could, Alcor almost trips. Before we could even get a laugh in, we heard rumbling from above.

First it was just bone rattling and then there was a large pause. I draw an arrow laced with flammable oil at its tip and use the torch to light it on fire. Shooting it forward with my bow, I could see a large opening above at the end of the tunnel.