Chương 66: Victor Vason

Benedict gave them the directions to the Professor's lab. They left him behind in the control room and headed into the tunnel he'd described. Oliver was unhappy that they put so much trust in his words.

"His directions might lead us directly into a trap," he mumbled.

"Without directions, we'd wander these hallways for days and still end up in some kind of trap," Luca said.

"This place is a damn maze." Evan agreed with Luca's description. After they'd descended another set of stairs, they had entered a complex network of hallways and rooms. It was hard to tell what the rooms had been used for when the estate was still the residence of a powerful noble family, since most items had been removed by the guild members when they'd raided the place, but judging from the furniture they'd left behind, Evan guessed it was mostly storage rooms.

They found nothing of value, but some of the rooms had a significantly lower temperature than others, which made him think they were used to store perishable foodstuffs. Feeding a small army of servants and household guards probably required a lot of storage space. It made him wonder if there was a more direct way down, though. If this place was used for storage, it needed to be easily accessible.

Evan filed the thought away for later, just in case they had to flee the dungeons and the way they had come from was blocked. Thanks to Benedict's instructions, they navigated that level without much issue and reached another set of stairs a while later.

"That must be the stairs leading to the lab," Catriona said. Benedict had told them that the lowest level of the dungeon used to be the training area for the noble family. That level had been protected with powerful wards to keep stray magical attacks from disturbing the estate above, and that was why the Professor had chosen it for his experiments. They followed the stairs downward. They ended in a large, arched doorway, much larger than the doors they'd passed so far. Behind the doorway lay a massive open space.

Evan estimated it stretched out under the entire estate, garden included. The polished stone walls were at least 50 feet high. The far end of the hall was dominated by something that reminded him of a Roman colosseum. A round, multi-tiered arena. The upper tiers almost reached the ceiling, and he guessed it could seat several hundred people at the same time. The rest of the space was filled with smaller training areas.

Some of them were at ground level, fenced off with stone railings; others were embedded several feet into the ground. They came in all shapes and sizes. Some had nothing more to offer than a flat surface, while others had recreated complex environments with rocks, vegetation, and even water. Evan stood at the entrance and let his gaze wander, taking it all in.

"Wow, this looks… really professional," Luca said.

"Of course," Catriona said.

"The noble families need to have the best fighters if they want to stay in power, so it's only natural they'd put a lot of effort and money into their training facilities." Oliver only glanced at the training areas. His shoulders were tense, and his jaw muscles twitched.

"Yes, yes, very impressive, but where is the lab? I swear, if this weasel sent us in the wrong direction, I'm going to slice him open like a fish."

"I have a hunch." Evan nodded toward the imposing colosseum. The outer walls blocked most of the view inside, but something told him the Professor had set up camp there. The round layout made it the perfect place to watch multiple experiments at once. They started walking toward the colosseum, moving between the many fenced in training yards and pits. Their footsteps echoed in the large space.

There was some light coming from lamps on the walls, but it wasn't enough to fully light the hall, leaving many dimly lit corners and flickering shadows. There were no signs of enemies, neither monster nor human, but Evan had the uncomfortable feeling they were being watched. His heart rate sped up as they closed in on the colosseum, and he could feel the same nervousness radiating off his friends. No one spoke as they entered the structure. They walked through a narrow tunnel and emerged in the arena.

A round space with a stone-tiled floor. The stands rose around them at a steep angle, giving the space an oppressive atmosphere. A large metal table stood in the center of the arena. It clearly didn't belong here and had been added by the Professor. On that metal table lay something fleshy. It had roughly the size of a human, but nothing about this hunk of flesh looked remotely human. There were nubs, but no proper limbs and no head at all, only a single eye, opened wide, bulging, but unmoving.

Evan had to suppress a gag at the sight of that abomination. It was worse than any of the victims they'd buried in the backyard. Whatever the Professor was doing, it was getting more extreme. The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. A whispered, "Oh Celestials have mercy…" from Luca was the only thing they said to each other. That thing on the table was just too horrifying for words.

The glass chambers Benedict had described were installed on the lower ranks of the stands, easily accessible by a narrow staircase leading all the way up to the top rank. A complex network of gems and crystals was attached to the outside of the glass cylinders. It reminded Evan of the control room, so he assumed they were used to power and control the chambers. To his relief, they were all empty, although several of the glass walls were smeared with blood and other fluids that he couldn't quite place.

"This place is messed up," Oliver said. His voice sounded slightly shaky and his face had gone pale. Before Evan could answer, movement in the top ranks caught his attention and made him raise his sword. A figure appeared, clad in similar black robes to Benedict's. Evan instantly knew who it was. Victor Vason, survivor of the purge and current head of what little remained of the once noble Vason family. Victor walked down the stairs at a leisurely pace.

"So my useless cousin has told you where to find me?" Evan looked up at him, squaring his shoulders, doing his best not to look too scared, even though the human remains on the metal table alone were enough to make his throat tighten in fear.

"We were hoping to find the Professor here," Evan said, forcing his voice to remain calm and unimpressed by Victor's theatrics.

"The Professor is a very private person," Victor said, walking past the glass chambers, running one hand along the blood-splattered glass.

"He prefers to remain in the background." Evan looked up at the upper ranks, just in time to see a second man hobble away. He only caught a glimpse of him before he disappeared from view, and in the dim light he could barely see more than a silhouette, but he was pretty certain the man was severely hunchbacked, and by his awkward gait his legs might not be healthy either. In the back of his mind, Evan wondered if that was the reason for these experiments.

Had the Professor been ostracized or tormented for a physical disability and decided to pay it back by turning healthy humans into the most deformed, gruesome monster version of a human? The front of his mind was busy watching Victor descend the stairs with a confident smile on his lips. The brazen attitude the man displayed made anger rise inside Evan until he remembered Benedict's words. Victor was a coward. Deep down, he was a coward, and this dramatic entrance was just a way to distract from that.

If they wanted to catch him off guard, they needed to stay cool and calm. Show him that his little show had no effect on them. Evan straightened his back and returned the smile.

"We'll deal with the Professor later. First it's your turn." His team sprang into action behind him, taking their places in the formation they'd practiced.

"Victor Vason," Evan said, completely composed, "this is your last chance to surrender and turn yourself over to the Guardian Guild." Victor scoffed.

"Surrender? A Vason never surrenders."

"Your cousin surrendered," Oliver said, a mocking smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

"Benedict comes from a remote, meaningless branch of the family. He's not worthy to carry the family name. Never has been, never will be."

"Have it your way then, Victor. You'll now receive the punishment for your crimes," Evan said. Victor's lips twitched into an ugly smile.

"You? Punish me? I'll punish you for the audacity of entering my home uninvited." With these words, he lifted both hands. A dark smoke streamed out of his palms and condensed over his head. Shapes seemed to swirl and flutter around in it. At first, Evan couldn't make out what it was, until the first bat emerged. He nearly burst out laughing. It was the same type of bat monster they'd faced in the first hallway. Annoying, yes, but he and his team had dealt with them easily.

If this was the worst Victor could do, Evan felt pretty good about winning this fight. Oliver reacted the quickest. As soon as the gathering swarm of bats came flying at them, he activated his [Stone Skin] skill and put himself between the swarm and Evan. The bats attacked him all at once. Oliver swung his sword wildly, only landing the occasional hit, but his [Stone Skin] protected him from their bites and scratches, and his whirlwind of sword strikes irked them enough to distract them from the rest of the group.

It gave Evan the time to fire his [Comet Shot] into the swarm. The projectile itself took out some of the bats, and the sparks spraying out on impact increased the damage. Oliver did a pretty good job of keeping the bats away from Evan, and whenever one slipped through, Evan activated his [Starlight Shield] to fend it off. Catriona used [Thorn Volley Shot], shooting down several bats at once.

Thanks to their combined effort, they thinned out the swarm of bat monsters quickly and without breaking much of a sweat, allowing Luca to hang back and save his mana. Victor retreated up a few ranks, but unfortunately he didn't look fazed in the slightest by the decisive way Evan and his friends dealt with his bat monsters. As the last few bats fell to Catriona's arrows, Victor was already preparing his next attack.

This time he gestured toward certain spots on the ground and made a movement as if he were pulling weeds. Wherever he pointed, a fully grown Nightterror Hound emerged from the ground. Soon they were surrounded by a whole pack. The hounds ran in circles around them, like they were border collies trying to herd sheep. They never took their bright green glowing eyes off them, but waited for Victor's signal. When it came, they all lunged forward at once.

The hounds definitely were a bigger challenge than the little bats, but they'd beaten them before, and Evan felt confident they could do it again. Oliver and Evan engaged them right away while keeping an eye on Luca and Cat. Unfortunately, the hounds were not as easy to distract as the bats, and one in particular seemed to have it out for Luca. No matter how often Evan or Oliver stepped in the way, the Nightterror Hound went around them to go after Luca.

Catriona had moved to a position higher up, allowing her to keep a safe distance from the hounds below and giving her a better vantage point for her shots. It was she who finally slew the hound that was harassing Luca. She nailed a shot, sending an arrow straight into the monster's left eye. There were still plenty of Nightterror Hounds left to fight, but the loss of one of them seemed to anger Victor.

Evan caught a glimpse of his face and noticed the frown lines before he was forced to pivot and turn his back to Victor to fend off the snapping jaws of another monster hound. All in all, Evan felt they were doing quite well. The hounds were tough and could deal some real damage, but the way the fight was going, it was only a matter of time until they would kill them all.

He was readying a [Comet Shot] in his left palm, aiming for a hound climbing up the ranks to get to Catriona, when Victor escalated the situation with a skill Evan wasn't prepared for.