It was a little bit darker in the hall now. Which was weird considering that the slimes didn't block any magical torches anymore and thus it should actually be lighter. The further the two Grimoire Heart mages walked, the sooner one of them or maybe the both of them noticed that some of the torches were broken which explained the differences in light. Had Nasty been sober, she would be more prepared, right now she at least stopped giggling very loudly, to her it was still funny but at least her body seemed to react as old and sober. She was on edge, walking almost tiptoed again. Even though her all stars made no sound of clicking heels on the ground, it was still obvious that there was something. It was Odin whom warned her out loud.

The water that simply came out of ancient looking tubes with a small bit of water now changed. There was a manmade ditch next to them where the water now looked more like a canal, there was more but the stream went slower because of the bigger amount of water. The hall was still expanding and so was the ditch until it was two meters in width and the cobblestone path around 3 meters. She was surprised how big it could be down here, she couldn't even guess how high the ceiling above her was and when she was trying to calculate, the noise of wings came again. She stopped, again like a bunny, with huge eyes and a frozen body. Something indeed was coming and she wasn't sure what to do.

The torches about four meters in front of her only worked on the left side, however there was a hallway to the right. That's where the noise of the wings and the steps came from. That's where the bloadstream on the ground was going to. Even though Nasty couldn't see what was in there, she knew it was the lair of the Monster. A monster that had wings, that hissed but also seem to speak with human tongue, with soft but heavy footsteps.. If only she knew it was a manticore.

Bigger halls, broken torches and a massive ditch. If Odin had been more sober, or at least less drunk, he would have been fascinated by the sheer detail and knowledge that the catacombs seemed to have hidden within it. The ditch was not man made, and the water was flowing through old rusted pipes. As they reached what seemed like the end of their journey, a stream of water mixed with blood showed them the path: another hallway, one that looked to be the origin of both the noises and whatever had caused the blood to be in the catacombs. There was no other way to go, so Odin simply began to walk, the smell of filth coupled with the walk sobering him up slightly that he no longer needed help to walk. His vision was still not perfect, and he was still clumsy and stumbling occasionally, but he could walk perfectly well now, having regained his balance.

As the two Grimoire Heart mages continued down the hallway, they entered a large chamber, similar in size to the one which had belonged to the slime king, but size was the only thing that was similar. A round chamber, with torches placed evenly on four different places, almost as if the circular chamber had corners. In the centre of the chamber, Odin noticed two things. The first, he couldn't place what it was, or rather, what it had once been. The most disgusting part was, it looked as if it could've been a human, or the remains of one, but it was currently being ripped to shred by the other thing of interest in the chamber. Covered in blood and eating whatever it held in its claws, was a chimera of sorts, a hybrid of different creatures. The head and body of a lion, yet a massive lion it must've been, two great wings as if from a dragon; the large tail of a scorpion, with it's venomous point, and a body covered in spines. Odin had never seen such a creature, but he knew one being who no doubt would have. Changing back into the form of the demon, Lucifer raised an eyebrow at the creature before him, having not seen one for a few thousand years.

"Stay focussed Shadow, this is not a creature you want to face drunk. You drop your guard, you die."

One could think that the demon was exaggerating, but he most certainly was not. Manticores, for that was what it was, were crafty magical beings, having a poisonous tail from the scorpion, razor sharp claws and fangs from the lion, and spines which protruded from every part of its body except from it's underside. And that was ignoring the wings. To defeat a Manticore required two main things: a keen eye and, as much as Lucifer hated to admit it, a lot of luck.

It was more by force than by utter joy that she continued to walk because Nastasya's drunken body went on alert. She wasn't giggling anymore at this point, which at least proved that even though her brain was drunk, her body still knew how to handle things. They simply continued through the hallway till the point of the road to the right, with probably a liar. They could have continued walking but it was obvious that if they would do that, the creature would get them from behind.

Her eyes had to adjust to the change of light because most of the torches weren't working. Before she could scream out of her drunken fear, her body had reacted by putting her hands in front of her mouth and simply not scream at all. The smell in here was disgusting and there was a fair amount of blood. Her eyes rested on the pile of what supposed to be human before, she didn't even notice the creature that was close next to it.

It was the moment that Lucifer spoke that she focused her attention on him and the manticore. There went a shiver through her spine and she wondered for the first time why she and Odin thought that drinking and the catacombs were a good idea in general? Although the slimes weren't a problem, they hadn't been sure if slimes were the only things in the catacombs. She took a few steps backwards, hearing a loud crunchying sound for she stepped on some bones. Even though she was sure that the manticore had been well aware about them, it had still continued eating, however now it seemed to be rather angry to be disturbed and knew that a fight was necessary, her mind was too foggy for this but she tapped her toes twice on the ground to make the shadow from behind her walk away. She planned to use the same strategy as with the fight with Caius and Odin. She would try to hit the manticore from behind.. that sounded like the most logical thing to do and for the part of where she was going: stay as far away as she possibly could.

As Nastasya tried to back away and stepped on bone, Lucifer prepared for the inevitability that was the fight between the two Grimoire Heart mages and the Manticore they had found underneath the church in Oak Town. A loud crunch resounded all over the room, echoing everywhere and pissing off the monster before them, as it now knew the people here were not dead, and they did not intend to be food, even though that was probably an opinion shared by most who tried to fight the beast. All others had failed up until this point.

Nastasya let her shadow leave her body, a trick Lucifer recognised from their previous battle, and he knew what she was planning. Staying away from the fight, but using spells from her shadow's position, which was making its way around towards the back of the beast, no doubt planning on a surprise barrage, much like the one Lucifer had to receive during their fight. Deciding he had to get its attention before it caught on, the demon of fire placed his palm in front of him and sent out a fireball at its face, instantly angering it and making it focus all its attention on Lucifer. This was going to be fun.

"Sorry." she squeeled a little, in her whiny drunk state. Only because she had stepped on the bones. If she was sober, she would have simply shrugged it off but she was a bit afraid that because of her state of mind, she might end up as dessert. Not that she didn't trust Lucifer but if he already called for a good amount of luck.. why wouldn't she be the cherry on the pie.. Well maybe she wouldn't because she simply wouldn't accept the idea but that was more of a question if she hadn't been drunk.

However the fear in her body made her mind a little less clouded. She watched how Lucifer took the attention of the manticore and made sure that her shadow as on the right place when the manticore no longer looked at it to use her cannonball from behind to attack it again. This beast had took the three mages that went before them. She wanted to get out of this alive.

The beast was not enjoying the fact that the two mages were effectively playing with it, playing tennis with the creature's focus. First there was the shadow catching the attention, that was then drawn by Lucifer's Ember, which was then in turn recaptured by the shadow's cannonball, which collided with the back of the beast, really pissing it off. Quickly turning around, the Manticore realised that it couldn't physically damage the shadow, mostly because it was part of the wall, so it lunged for Lucifer, getting a powerful scratch with it's claws, with the demon's covering its body in fire to try and deal some damage back, but it wasn't close to the strength of the damage received.

With one attack having gone through, and to try and get the creature away, Lucifer decided to resort to his strongest spell. Sending a stream of fire straight at the monster, he was lucky to hit it directly on the face, which caused the Manticore to jump back, having sustained a fair amount of damage. Incinerate could be kept up if required, but how much of a beating could this creature actually take?

Used: Ignite, Incinerate

Nastasya was doing a little bit better. She was reasoning in her mind, trying to get back to focus. "Look ou.." she wasn't sure what she was trying to do, obviously Lucifer was far more reasonable to work with his brain than she and hers. So she shouldn't warn him, it was a shame though that the manticore was able to do something. The tennis option was a lot nicer.

She had to resist the urge to get into the walls and be away from the beast herself, which wouldn't be fair. When Lucifer had said that this beast could be defeated but that you needed a good amount of luck, she shouldn't just leave him alone. She could at least try to help a little bit more than just standing here. Before she could however decided in her cloudy mind what to do, she recognized Lucifer's fire spell.

Whens he was able to see the beast it started to coware a bit towards the back of the round room. It seemed to have taken a lot of damage and was doubting to fight the two mages again. Her Shadow returned to her and she wondered for some stupid seconds if it was really necessary to kill the beast. That's when her eyes looked at the pile of human meat and she was sure it was necessary to make it safe here. Maybe she and Black would need this route later and she didn't feel the need to fight a manticore again if it wasn't necessary.

Just to make sure that the damage given to the beast was enough she summoned her scythe and slashed at the beast to give the shadow beams a full blasting attack towards it. However she had made sure she stepped in front of Lucifer, so he wouldn't be hit by her spell.

The beast seemed to fight the dying but eventually there was no other option and for some reason she felt a bit sorry for the manticore. It didn't ask to be found by humans and it didn't ask to be killed by them either. She watched as the manticore sank through his knees and cowared more in the corner to die.

Lucifer's attack hit, dealing heavy damage at point blank rage and sending the Manticore cowering into the depths of the circular room, trying to avoid the two beings that had bested it and were about to end its life. A small whimper, barely audible but definite, escaped the lion head of the creature, as Nastasya sent her scythe directly at it, putting it on the brink of death. The creature only needed a slight bit of damage more before it was destroyed entirely, which was when Lucifer raised his hand, signalling for Nastasya to stop where she was and allow him to get closer to the creature, who both roared and hissed at the demon's approach.

Getting close enough that he could touch the beast, Lucifer raised his hands to the Manticore, showing that he meant no harm this time. Bowing his head in majesty to the creature, Lucifer sighed, before his voice echoed around the entire room.

"You truly are a wonderful creature, capable of so much. This is not where you belong, taking scraps of the men that end up down here." He turned to Nastasya before continuing, "Honestly, I don't care what your opinion on this is. We are not killing this creature. Open that hatch and I'll carry it out. We are leaving it in the Oak forests and letting it choose its own path. If you have a problem with that, you're more than welcome to try and stop me."

The time for games was over right now, and Lucifer was fed up of the drunk people around him. If Nastasya didn't do as he asked, she would feel his wrath come down upon her until she complied. This was not a time to play with the demon, part of Lucifer hoped she'd understand that. The other part of him? It always looked for blood.

Nastasya was simply standing still. Her eyes didn't get of the beast but again she still felt sorry for it. It didn't belong here, that was clear. She looked up in surprise when Lucifer walked to the manticore. Her mouth would have fallen open if she was still drunk, but the fight had made her brain quite clear now. She would probably still stumble and all but the fear had made her normal again to put it frank.

She wanted to say something when Lucifer said that he didn't care about her opinion and that they were not killing the creature but he didn't let her speak. "I have more problems with you not even letting me agree with you." she mumbled loud enough for him to hear her, exacty her point. She turned around and didn't know which hatch he meant in the first place but she found it soon enough. She climbed the ladder with ease and tried to open the door by pushing the wheel. Which seemed to be easier than the last time she tried, which made her almost fall off the ladder because she didn't expect it. However soon enough it was open and she opened the door, they were in the middle of the forest.

She wondered how the demon would climb up the ladder with the manticore and thus looked for another way. "I think that if we continue a bit, it might end up in a door without a ladder." she yelled, said, back into the hatchdoor and looked down to see if she could see Lucifer. It was difficult with the lighting.

Ignoring Nastasya's complaints about his words and opinions, Lucifer watched as his partner climbed up the ladders and opened the hatch door, just as she had the last time they had been there. She shouted down to the demon, noting that he probably couldn't make it up the ladder with the Manticore on his back. Lucifer himself had no doubts that his strength would make it up to the surface without an issue, but on inspection, it seemed like the ladder was too old to carry such a heavy load to the top, and could snap at any moment, so he had to concede defeat this time. Looking up at Nastasya, the demon raised a hand as she peered into the darkness, letting her know roughly where he was, before he spoke, his voice echoing throughout the room once more.

"You stay up there, I'll travel further on this way. If you manage to see another entrance shout down it, chances are the echo will reach me and I'll be able to locate you"

It turned out this wasn't really necessary, as Lucifer had only needed to walk for around ten minutes before the path in the catacombs began to incline upwards. After conquering the ramp, a difficult task with a large creature on his back, Lucifer pushed open a double door into the forests of Oak town once more, the door clearly being an entrance way for the dead to be transported, either in or out. Deciding it would be futile to try and find his way back to the same place above ground, the demon just decided to rest for a short while, as he waited for Nastasya to reach him, knowing she probably would in the end.

Nastasya had trouble looking down in the dark. If only the torches had worked. She had not suspected Odin or Lucifer to care about anything else but themselves and now look at that. Saving a manticore that had killed people before them. She couldn't help but smile and finally noticed some movement in the dark that made her believe Lucifer was there. His voice came soon after that instructing her to find another exit.

She nodded only at first but wondered if he could see that. Everywhere was dark. "Yes captain." She said and closed the hatch soon after that. It was quite an idea to walk in a forest in the dark and she managed to not stumble upon roots, branches even though her mind was still not sober enough, she came quite far. However something caught her attention, it was white in the complete darkness. Too curious for her own good she managed to walk to the white cloud with only stumbling once. To her surprise it was a creature but it was wounded and knocked out. Deciding to do the same as Lucifer, she carried the little cloud of fluff, which wasn't that heavy, especially not compared to a manticore.

This was also the reason that she was late back at the place where Lucifer was. "I found this.. fox. I think I'm going to bring it to the vet tomorrow morning." she muttered.

Spoiler:

After a few minutes, Nastasya joined the demon, cradling her own strange creature, one she had no doubt found in the forest, hurt and unconscious. She had decided to do the same as Lucifer: take the wounded creature with her and try and nurse it back to health, as she stated her plans to bring it to the vet in Oak town the next morning to try and bring it back to its full strength. Lucifer, on the other hand, had no such plans to do that with the Manticore, as he turned to look at his partner, the creature draped over his back like a new hunter's kill.

"Unfortunately, there won't be a vet in town that can help heal this creature. Instead, they'll want to study it and kill it. No, I must let it go free into the forests here."

From his current place, Lucifer knew that no one came out this way, this deep into the forests, simply because it would be too dangerous for anyone. It was a good place, and so the demon simply placed the Manticore on the grass, making sure it was peaceful and comfortable before standing back up again.

"Right then, what now?"

Nastasya wasn't really waiting for Lucifer his opinion for the fox that she was carrying. Same was going for him and her with the manticore right. She sat herself next on the ground and stared at the manticore. "Good point. Is it maybe smart to come back tomorrow and see how it goes?" It was just an offer, she wasn't so sure what to do with the manticore. It was obviously hurt by their attacks but it also seemed to notice that they or mostly Lucifer saved it.

She stood up not much later after Lucifer carrying the little Vulpix with her. "Back to the bar? It was a request of some sorts.. or that's what I remember vaguely." It was but a suggestion, with her idea that Yumi wanted her to do something to the church it was for her own sake as well as the request that they were checking the catacombs.

Lucifer wasn't really sure how best to deal with the Manticore situation that the two Grimoire Heart mages were currently in, so he decided that the best course of action would simply be to leave it alone in the forests, and let it regain its strength in its own time, instead of waiting around with it. Manticores were hunters and fearsome creatures, it wouldn't do well for two mages to check on it and make sure it was well for a few days. So Odin, having now reverted back into his normal form, moved onto the much more important matter of the mysterious man in the Swineherd, the one who had given them the task of clearing out the catacombs. Having now fought, walked and stood in the night air of the forests, Odin was once more completely sober, and didn't really feel the need to drink more. He was content getting to the pub, getting some kind of reward from the mysterious man, and heading to his room at the nearby inn to sleep.

"There was the man that wanted us to enter the catacombs in the first place, who should reward us, if he's still even there." Beginning the journey back to the pub, and to the town of Oak too, Odin couldn't help but allow one thought to enter his mind. All this, because Nastasya couldn't keep her mouth shut. What a fucking experience this has been.

Still caring the white fox, Nastasya simply headed to the road. She wasn't that happy about the manticore, still okay with the way Lucifer handled it and all and still thinking it was sad if they would have left it down in the catacombs but this was beyond her. She had no idea what the demon thought and didn't feel like waiting. Sure Odin would catch up with her soon enough, and so he did.

She looked at him sceptic, she hadn't taken the request. That was him, so he more or less owed her in that case. She wasn't that strict on money, her drunken self had thought it was fun and they were still alive. She simply shrugged. "We could always ask your friend the bartender." Wasn't he the one that had given the idea of the request. Nice guy, sending drunken mages out to a place where already others were killed. Yeah such a friendly one.

She simply continued walking to the bar, since the light was up in the west, she thought that maybe she could head to the vet after this and just wait there on bang on the door. If she left the fox, she could head to her hotel and sleep. Which felt like a great releave.

After a few minutes of walking in relative silence, the two Grimoire Heart mages returned to the Swineherd, the pub they had left mere hours ago, despite it feeling like days, to enter the catacombs, a place hidden below Oak town that Odin felt like he'd had enough of for one life. Nastasya still clutched the fox she had found in the forests, and was adamant that it was going to the vets, an idea that Odin agreed would be best for the animal. But, as they arrived in the pub, something seemed off. Everything was normal, in relative terms: the thugs were drunk, and Mac was serving people who had definitely had more than enough, in the hopes of swiping some extra cash from their easily manipulated brains. A truly despicable man, one of the reasons Odin valued him so much.

There was, however, one person missing from the pub, as Odin scanned the room to make sure he hadn't simply missed him, but he wasn't there, or she, as the face of the humanoid had been hidden, and voices could be mimicked and faked. Whoever had asked the two to enter the catacombs, with payment assured, had disappeared. Turning to Nastasya, the young dark mage spoke, in a voiced mixed with annoyance and mild amusement.

"Well, it seems like our client has left the area. No point searching, he could be in the next town by now. Might as well just get some shut eye, then you can get that fox to the vets in the morning. After another crazy experience, see you later."

With that all said, Odin headed to his room, convinced Nastasya was either capable of buying a room at the Swineherd, or making it back to her own accommodation in Oak back at the Grimoire Heart base inn.

-Exit-

Nastasya simply stood there and only arched her eyebrow when Odin reacted so calmly, in the end she shrugged, muttered an: "Fine." and followed not much later to go outside too. Instead of following Odin, she simply said goodbye and walked to her own hotel, it would be too early to go to the vet, but she wasn't sure what to do. In the end she made a turn and headed to the the vet anyway to slam on the door until someone finally helped her.