Chapter 99: The Power Source

Chapter 99: Chapter 99: The Power Source

It is believed the corridors are all connected.

The beast makes regular rounds guarding them.

The beast can sense fear.

"If the beast’s room is on the left, we should go right, right?" Melli asked in her bubbly voice.

"Yeah, but if it makes rounds it doesn’t matter which way we go. We just need to outrun it whenever we run into it," Xavier answered. "Still, we have to decide left or right."

"Hold on." Elena leaned closer to the map, tracing her finger along the branching pathways and then across the blank sections. "If every corridor loops into the others, this looks a lot like a runic arrangement."

"Does that mean...?" Xavier asked.

"Yes. This is the mechanism that keeps the Moonlit Hallways functioning." She pointed to the marked resting place of the beast. "If my guess is right, that area acts as the power source for the entire arrangement."

"Then we should head there first and confirm the theory," Xavier said.

"Yes—but not right now." Elena pointed up at the ceiling. Xavier and Melli followed her gaze and saw intricate patterns carved into the stone.

"Last time we were here and the beast was chasing us, I noticed something. The ceiling glowed, but only when the beast was nearby."

"So, we can use the ceiling to track its location while it makes rounds?" Melli asked.

"Exactly. We wait until it passes us and goes away, then go behind it to the power source."

Xavier liked the plan. It was something solid to work with. They all agreed.

They turned left, slipped into the nearest abandoned classroom, and left the door open. Standing in the doorway, they watched the ceiling and waited for it to glow.

"It’s here," Elena whispered the moment a faint gleam appeared overhead. They stepped fully inside, shut the door, and waited for the beast to pass.

First came the low growl, then the heavy footsteps on marble.

Grrrrhhh... rrrraaagh...

The sounds grew closer and closer until they stopped right outside the closed door. The air itself seemed to thicken as the beast began growling directly at the wood.

GRRRRAAAARGH... HSSSKREE...

"It knows we’re in here," Melli whispered, voice trembling. She clutched Xavier’s arm tightly.

"Xavier, do something. The beast can sense fear. If Melli keeps getting this scared it’ll try to break the door down and we’ll be stuck here all night," Elena said.

Last time they had hidden in a classroom they had trusted the doors to hold and believed the beast would eventually get bored and move on. Now that they knew it could sense fear, a helpless dread had settled in Melli that she couldn’t shake.

Xavier tilted her chin up. "Forget about the beast. Focus on this." He sealed her lips in a deep kiss, hands sliding around her back to squeeze her plump, gelatinous ass. The soft flesh yielded under his fingers. Melli’s mind went blank. She focused only on the taste of his tongue, the warmth of his hands pressing into her, and the solid heat of his muscular body wrapped around hers.

Mmmph... nnnh... schlurp...

Through his heightened senses Xavier felt the presence behind the door move on, but he didn’t stop kissing her. He refused to take any chances of it returning. He kept his mouth locked on her slimy lips until he was certain the beast had moved far beyond his range.

Mmm... ahh... mwah...

"Is it gone?" Melli asked when she finally pulled back.

"It’s been gone for a while. Do you know how long you two were kissing?" Elena said. She had simply stood and watched, feeling a trickle of wetness slide between her own legs. They had limited time, yet she still hadn’t wanted to interrupt—because she would never want anyone interrupting her while she was kissing Xavier.

"I’m sorry," Melli said, guilt flickering across her face.

"It’s not your fault," Elena answered. "It’s the fault this man." She grabbed Xavier by the collar, rose onto her tiptoes, and claimed his mouth in a hard, smooching kiss.

Mwahhh...!

"We don’t have time for this right now. Let’s go," she said, breaking away, she felt a little left out so she kissed Xavier just once, that was enough for now.

They opened the door and stepped into the corridor, checking both directions. The beast was nowhere in sight. Following the map, they made their way toward its resting place, moving through the dimly lit hallway. Moonlight spilled through the windows; their footsteps echoed through the vast empty space.

They reached a room with a massive entrance—giant double doors that opened inward.

Inside, the chamber was vast and empty. A huge circular pattern covered the floor beneath their feet. Xavier held the map out and saw that the pathways drawn on it matched a portion of the floor design.

Elena studied the intricate circular rune for a long time, examining every line. Xavier grew anxious. They had already spent too long in the room, and even with Melli joining the discussion he had no idea how long the beast needed to complete a full circuit. His instincts told him it would not be much longer before it returned.

"Are you sure there’s something here? If this is just the rune that keeps the mechanism running, the treasure might be hidden somewhere else," he said.

Elena raised one finger to silence him.

"At first, I thought this was only the rune that powers the Moonlit Hallways. But looking at the complete pattern, I realized something. There are multiple runes layered into this single arrangement. This is the work of an extremely advanced expert." She continued, "This rune doesn’t just keep the hallways functioning—it also acts as a catalyst for a magical-beast binding contract, and as a bridge between that contract and the beast itself."

"In simple words," Melli added, "the beast is a magical creature bound to these forbidden hallways, but it’s also contracted to something else. That something is being used as the power source to keep the ruins alive—and the power source is right here."

"And if we remove the power source, the magical beast should cease to exist. That would also open the Moonlit Hallways permanently," Elena finished.

"How do we reach the power source?" Xavier asked.

"We simply need to feed the rune mana in a counter-current. That will reverse the circuit and reveal what’s powering it," Elena said.