Phantasia: The Princess Knight

Hearing Blake's explanation really sent a shiver down Alicia's spine. To think that demon spawn which could remain invisible were actually able to gather intel. "If that is the case we will need to come up with countermeasures as quickly as possible." Alicia had a few ideas running around in her head on how to deal with such a thing but she did not have the resources to test her theories.

They had soon reached the door to the second floor. Alicia tested the door and found that it was not locked. "This door is not locked." Alicia said as she pushed down on the handle. 

They walked through the door and Alicia only took two steps before stopping. "Do you hear that?"

"Hmm?" Blake stopped and stood in place quietly listening to his surroundings.

The sounds of shuffling could be heard off in the distance. Those sounds seemed to originate from another part of the floor. Alicia did not hesitate to turn around and close the door to the stairwell behind her. With a flick of her finger a small blue and white flame appeared hovering above her fingertip. This time she was not cutting through the door but sealing it!

"Alicia, why are you sealing the exit?" Blake asked. He was very confused as to why she was doing such a thing.

"Loeri and Starla are downstairs. The first floor is safe for them. But… As soon as we entered the second floor we heard shuffling sounds. This is a just in case measure. I do not want them being sneak attacked by something that came from the second floor." Alicia did not want Loeri or Starla to get hurt because of her negligence. "Plus with the two of us here I do not think we will have an issue. One of us is a freakishly strong little girl while the other is a god." Alicia said jokingly. 

Blake let out a laugh he had to admit what Alicia said was true. If they really did get attacked by something it was not like they could fend for themselves. But if Starla and Loeri who were busy investigating a room suddenly got attacked they might not be able to deal with the situation.

"Blake, look! Movement on the left side of the building!" Alicia said and quickly displayed a map of the second floor. On it, there were five heat sources that were moving around. 

"Let's go check it out but be careful. This is definitely not a demonic beast. Unless a few fell from the cave's ceiling and entered the building from the top floor. But such a drop would kill anything if they fell from that height." Blake and Alicia both drew their swords and started to walk down the hallway.

Step by step they made their way towards the shuffling sounds.  They stepped lightly in order to hide their presence. When they finally got down to the end of the hall leading to the hall that stretched across the whole left side of the building. Alicia stuck her head ever so slightly out past the edge of the wall to see what was causing the shuffling sound. But what she saw caused her eyes to go wide. She quickly pulled her head back and rubbed her eyes as she really thought she was seeing things. But when she stuck her head back out to take a look again she was now sure she was not seeing anything. 

"Blake, it seems that we might be in a bit of trouble." Alicia's heart was beating rapidly. Blake Looked at Alicia confused but seeing her face go pale. He pulled her close and then took a peek around the corner himself. When he saw what was down the hallway he quickly pulled his head back and now knew why Alicia went pale.

"To be honest I am not surprised to see undead here." Blake said in a low voice as he slowly pulled Alicia back to a room that was a little way down the hall and carefully opened it, entered the room, and then closed the door behind them. 

"Undead? But why are there so many of them? I could detect five heat sources." Alicia complained. That hall was filled with at least a hundred skeletons walking around!

"The heat sources are probably from the ones who have something on them that gathers heat. You see how they are all gathering in this one hallway?" Blake asked.

Alicia nodded her head and replied with a question of her own: "Yeah. Why is that?" 

"Undead well the skeletons, in this case, will always search out for a source of warmth. Their bones are always cold so it is not unusual to see them all gathered around a heat source. These skeletons are lower class undead. If this was Dead Lands these skeletons would be used for labor since they do not have any kind of intelligence." Blake answered.

"Wait. You mean there is a race of undead out there?" Alicia was surprised. This was her first time learning of the Undead race.

"Yeah, there are undead who have been around for tens of thousands of years. By slowly accumulating Magicules in their body they were able to finally gain a form of intelligence. The Dead Lands are to the far south near the Dragonic Volcano. It's past the Beasts Kingdom." Blake explained.  Alicia couldn't help but think of how much she had still yet to learn about this world. Her first few years here were nothing but training. But now that she was out in the real world she was seeing and hearing many new things about this world.

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