HDXD: Omni Harem System-Chapter 105: Season Finale IV

The air inside the deeper rings of the coliseum grew heavy, like stale breath locked in stone for centuries. Pillars taller than watchtowers rose around them, cracked and half-sunken into the layered ruins.

Shadows dripped across fractured mosaics, and the echo of water from some source still flowed off the walls when they dropped to th ground.

Adam looked on at the surroundings, from looks alone, he could tell that this was a place of war and battle for the ancient monsters who once dwelt in it.

"I take it this part of the coliseum was the... fun zone?"

Adam muttered, glancing over his shoulder, the vampires that were here, and frozen in time, seemed to be having fun, as he watched them in their stasis state.

Clara didn’t so much as glance their way.

Rather, she said.

"Reckless enfants if you ask me."

She said, brushing her fingers along the wall’s faded carvings.

"Well, vampires, from what I know, love battle, so it’s one of the few things they partake in in their free time."

Adam replied.

"You say that like they’re not, I mean, killing each other for fun, how is that even fun... sigh, I really have a lot to learn about monster culture, especially my own species."

Clara said back to Adam as she turned to him, her pale face soft in the torchlight of this ancient inner layer. Her voice was low and matter-of-fact.

"I could have understood training, but they acting more like kids... No wonder they are labeled as peasants."

Adam nodded slowly, feather boots crunching softly against the powdered stone.

But his attention went back to a prior topic as he asked

"By the way, are you still sensing well, you know?"

His gaze lifted to the broken murals lining the path.

Clara’s red eyes flared faintly.

"Oui, maître. It moves still... Although, from what I am sensing, it is still trying to stay out of reach. It stalks us like a curious cat... but there is no hunger...No No hate, but it still uneases me so."

"Hmmm... You think it’s another vampire with some kind of ability to be immune to time stop?"

She shook her head with uncertainty.

"Perhaps it is, but honestly, I don’t maître."

And the moment Adam heard these words, he ran a hand through his hair, sighing.

"Great. We’re the only ones not paused, which is good for our safety, but an extra is among us, and an invisible creeper giving us the side-eye at that."

"If that is the case, mon maître, we will just have to kill it the moment it shows itself."

Adam stretched his body as he moved along.

His danger sense was silent, but it always was, unless a threat was actively targeting him. He could waltz through a dragon’s lair, for example, and not feel a thing until the fireball was halfway out of its mouth.

Clara, on the other hand, was a walking radar.

Thanks to being a vampire, her senses were better than most Monster Kind.

She could easily feel another person’s hostility in a heartbeat, even if it came from a glance across a battlefield. Her instincts didn’t just smell blood...they sensed the intention behind it.

That made her cautious.

But also... eerily calm, as most vampires usually are when alone, but vampires were also overconfident in their abilities, making that a keen weakness to exploit.

"Well, we just wait till the bastard comes out."

"...Yes, or we could call them out and just deal with them right now, mon maître."

"And lose the element of surprise, hahah... nah as long as whatever is tailing us, doesn’t cause us problem, we shouldn’t cause problem, not until we rescue Nyla, but this place is big."

Retorted Adam, as Clara remained silent but nodded her head in silent agreement.

From there, they kept walking through the broken and old layer beneath the coliseum. The deeper layers spread like veins, revealing different rooms, like sacrificial altars, personal rooms, mine shafts, and even a small underground village, and massive obsidian statues half-buried in ash.

They were walking for at least twenty minutes in frozen time together.

Causing Adam to whistle low.

"This place is huge."

"Yeah... To think ancient monsters really built this place."

Clara replied, pausing beside a shattered archway. Her gaze swept the gloom, then landed back behind her, as she stopped and saw a figure quickly hide behind one of the fallen statues.

This was starting to get annoying, if Clara had to be honest.

As such, she called out to Adam, saying.

"Maître. May I offer a suggestion?"

He raised an eyebrow at Clara’s sudden statement, but nodded while replying.

"Sure, what do you want to say?"

"Let us part ways."

Adam blinked in surprise at these words as he said.

"...Excuse me?"

"We are still being followed, and it is getting annoying if I am being honest. If we split, maybe it targets one of us, and that is when we strike."

He frowned, glancing around at the dark corridors and half-buried temples that stretched in all directions like a stone forest.

"...This place is quite large, though, so there is enough room to move in if a fight breaks out, but are you sure?"

Clara tilted her head, her tone unfazed.

"100%, mon maître."

He sighed, but this was a good idea.

"Fine, then let’s split up.... But you ping me the second anything feels off, just make a large enough noise so I can rush to you."

"As you wish, maître."

With those words said, Adam and Clara parted without another word. Clara melted into shadow, her body thinning into mist before zipping through a narrow slit between broken pillars.

Adam rolled his shoulders, rubbed the back of his neck, and muttered to himself.

"This is how horror games usually start... shit always happen you split up, but we cover more ground like this at the same time."

He said as he headed toward the inner coliseum’s lower levels, following a cracked staircase spiraling downward. The walls became smoother the deeper he went, and less crumbled.

He passed many large statues, till one statue in particular garnered his much-needed interest.

The statue was that of a sexy, half-naked, monstrous-looking woman with a pair of wings. The woman had large breasts and several large stone tendrils behind her; whoever made this made sure they paid much attention to detail, as they carved out her tattoos.

Some places were crumbling with cracks, but overall, it looked well preserved.

Naturally, Adam ignored them, but he really liked this one for obvious reasons.

But ultimately walked past it.

As he entered a chamber at the bottom that looked like a sunken court, rectangular and wide, with rows of stone benches on either side. It reminded him of a Mayan ball court, except the hoops were gone and the walls were lined with cages.

Inside the cages were bones.

Some still had skin.

Which means they were monster corpses of some kind.

"What is this place?"

He muttered, walking slowly down the center of the court. The air here smelled old, as the scent of blood was still somewhat fresh.

"Ohhh... this seems fresh, that is good, that means this place, as of recent, had activity, I wonder if Nyla is in one of these cages?"

Adam said to himself, and personally speaking.

He felt no danger.

But he talked way too soon, that was for sure.

Because right after that was when he heard it.

Tap! Tap! Tap!

Footsteps were coming from the shadows.

Adam tensed.

His body stilled, and his eyes flicked in the direction of the sound as he prepared for battle.

Of course, the hairs on his neck rose.

But soon he saw what was following both him and Clara earlier.

From the far edge of the court, where the shadows clung thickest, something shifted.

Adam narrowed his eyes and took a slow step forward, one hand already reaching for the hilt of his blade, or rather a feathered sword he just made at this moment.

His other hand, fingers twitching, was ready to cast an offensive spell if needed.

But as he got closer, that was when he saw it.

Something massive stirred in the dark.

A sinuous ripple of scale and muscle slithered across the stone, coiling around a broken column like it owned the place.

And then it slithered further forward.

The torchlight caught on its form at last.

Adam’s lips parted in a quiet exhale as he said out loud in pure shock.

"The hell?!"

It was a serpent. Or at least something serpent-like. But unlike any serpent that should exist, this one was most definitely a monster of some sort.

It stretched a good thirteen meters long, thick as an anaconda but far more... imposing. Its scales shimmered with deep crimson and black patterns, like blood splashes, and the pattern wasn’t random either; there were swirling patterns mostly on its body.

The head emerged fully, cocked to the side like a curious dog, and revealed two spiraling horns curling back from its skull, thick and gnarled, resembling black colored yak horns. Its eyes were slitted, but not with malice. There was an unsettling intelligence behind those amber irises, and it was staring right at Adam with a curious and hopeful glare.

"And what the hell are you supposed to be?"