Chapter 67: An Even Deeper Trek Tower 1 Part 23

And with that, the group begins their search for the ID Card to get the door open. The cage is labeled "PTM-48." They walk towards the cage, but suddenly see it shaking and hear a loud bang.

"Oh là là! What a spirited Phantom," Rook comments.

"It's certainly strong. Look at the door. It nearly broke it down," Vil says.

"Even I could bust this cage open. Vil, Rook, let me take this one. Stand back!" Epel says.

All right, let's see what you've got," Vil says, and turns to the others, "Briar, you and the girls come with me."

"Okay," Briar says.

Sereia and Trinket nod their heads in reply.

"I'll intercept it," Rook says.

"Right, thanks!" Epel says, "Okay; here goes…" And casts his magic, "HRAH!"

With the cage's lock broken, and the cage open. Then the Phantom comes out. With that, Epel uses his magic to strike at the Phantom. Rook does the same. Vil and Briar also use their magic against the Phantom. Surprisingly, the Phantom seems to be more vigilant. Luckily, they're able to defeat the mansion and it melts into a puddle.

"The Phantom came rushing out and took a blast from me, then a follow-up from Vil while it was staggered…" Rook says. "And then Epel landed the finishing blow. Beauté! What a marvelous display of teamwork."

Yes, that was a solid fight. Fine work, Epel," Vil says.

Epel is surprised.

Vil notices it and asks, "What is it? Your jaw is hanging open. Did you use too much magic?"

"No! It's just, I'm used to compliments from Rook, but hearing one from you is a bit of a surprise…" Epel says.

"I give credit where it's due," Vil says, "You've grown so much in such a short time, I hardly recognize you.

"Yes, sir! I'll do my best!" Epel happily says.

Soon enough, the group decides to arrive at the next cage labeled, "PTM-29."

"Let's try this cage next," Rook says and casts his magic, "Hrah!"

And with that, Rook's magic hits the cage, however, the cage is proven to be tougher than they thought.

"Man... I'm always amazed at how you can hit the weakest spot with pinpoint accuracy," Epel says, amazed.

"I agree," Sereia says.

"Rook never fails to hit a target. His aim is perfect. That's not the issue…" Vil says.

"Yes, the cages have gotten more robust the further down we've gone. I fear my approach might take a while at this rate," Rook says.

"Then let's take a different tack. I have just the thing," Vil says.

"What do you mean?" Epel questions.

Just then, Vil walks over and brings out the bottle Rook has brought to him.

" Oh, hey... Isn't that the serum Rook brought?" Epel questions.

"It is. If I pour this on the edge of the cage…" Vil says, and begins to apply the serum on the cage.

And with that, the cage is beginning to dissolve.

Epel is surprised, "Whoa, it's dissolving."

"I'm afraid I only have enough left to weaken part of the outside, though," Vil says.

Then turns to Rook, "Would you do the honors of finishing the job?"

"Merci, Roi du Poison: I'll get that door open this time. Ready yourselves!" Rook says, and opens the door.

As soon as the cage opens, the Phantom begins to attack, but Briar and the others cast their magic multiple times at once. They continue attacking it until it dissolves into a puddle.

"That cage looked like such a big deal, I was hoping it'd be our winner...but nope, no such luck," Epel says, sounding disappointed.

After looking inside the cage, Rook walks out and says, "It's definitely empty. I checked every corner, but there was no key card anywhere."

"Which means that the ID Card is in the other cages," Briar says.

Vil sighs, "I expected the Phantoms to get tougher, but the cages are another story."

"Worry not. I'm sure as long as we work together, we'll get through this," Rook says.

"That's right!" Epel says.

"Yes. We'll find the card and we can get out of here," Sereia says.

The group continues their search. Suddenly, they hear a strange noise, almost like a door opening.

"Did you guys hear that? It sounded like a cage door opening," Epel asks.

"Yes. Perhaps a naughty little child is running away from home," Vil says.

"Judging from where the noise came from…" Rook says, searching around and soon finds the cage, "Aha, found it. It's that cage there."

The group arrives to see the cage "PTM-41."

"Your hearing is as sharp as ever, I see," Vil says.

"You honor me," Rook says. Then looks around, "Now, where has our Phantom scurried off to?"

The group looks ahead at the cage.

"I don't see it," Sereia says.

"Maybe the Phantom escapes and is hiding out somewhere," Briar suggests.

But Epel notices something behind the door, "There! Behind the open door! You think we'll hit the cage next to it if we try to attack?"

"It must be deliberately hiding somewhere hard to hit. It's baiting us to open the other cage," Rook says, "Unfortunately for it, I'm a hunter. I never miss my target…" and cast his magic, "Hnh!"

With one shot, Rook is able to strike at the Phantom with force. That causes it to weaken. Then Rook delivers the final blow, causing the Phantom to be defeated and melt into a puddle.

"That was amazing, Rook! You actually wove an attack spell through that narrow gap and hit it!" Epel says, impressed.

"I was wondering what would happen if he missed after all that talk… But I suppose I worried over nothing." Vil replies.

Rook chuckles and says, "Heh, it's good to know I haven't disappointed either of you. A shame that Phantom didn't have the key card we're after."

Honestly, where could the trickster who destroyed the security box be hiding? It's rather concerning. But we must return to hide and seek for now," Vil says.

"I suppose you're right. Let's try the next one," Briar says.

Epel then begins to approach another cage, PTM-93.

"Is this our next cage?" Epel asks.

"That's right," Vil says, "Epel, Briar, Sereia, Trinket, take another step back."

"Yes, sir," Epel says.

"Okay," Briar says.

Then turns to the girls, "Alright, let's step back."

Soon, the gang steps back.

"Here goes…" Vil says and casts his magic at the lock, "Hingh!"

And with that, the lock brakes, and the cage opens.

The Phantom comes out, and lets out a, "GYAAAH!"

Soon, Vil uses his magic to attack the Phantom as it opens the cage, and does it another time until it's defeated and turned into ink blot.

"I didn't expect you to bust out such a powerful spell just to open the cage!" Epel says.

"Well played. You destroyed the Phantom lurking in there as well," Rook says.

"Why waste time and magical energy firing off two spells when one will do the trick?" Vil responds.

"Sadly, I don't see what we're looking for here," Rook says.

Vil scoffs, "Hmph. I wish they'd stop making me waste my reserves."

Epel chuckles, "Heh heh…" with a smile.

"What is it, Monsieur Pommette? You have the most darling smile on your face," Rook asks.

"Sorry. I know we need to focus… But I was just thinking about how reassuring it is to be with you two," Epel says.

"You're only now realizing this? Hah; took you long enough," Vil replies.

Soon, the group resumes their search for the ID Card in one of the cages. As they search around, they come across the area that's full of strange clutter on the ground.

"There's rather a lot of clutter on the floor here," Rook says.

"What is it... Pieces of metal?" Epel questions.

"Seems so, and there's a lot of them," Briar says.

"Epel, Briar, Sereia, mind where you step," Vil says.

"Yes, sir," Epel says.

"Okay," Sereia says.

"We'll be careful," Briar says.

Soon, the group begins to carefully walk around the area of broken metal. Briar notices a part of a label that originally reads "PTM-98," but now simply has P. M. 8. full pieces on the ground.

"Could these be parts from a cage...?" Epel questions.

"Maybe, there's so many of them on the ground," Briar says.

Sereia grows uneasy, "Does that mean… There's a Phantom here?"

"You might be right. We'll need to be careful," Epel says.

He soon turns his head and lets out a yelp, "Ah! Sereia, Briar, watch out!"

Before the girls can react, Epel tackles both girls to the ground, to avoid an attack.

"Epel!" Rook and Vil cries out as they turn around.

Soon, they find Epel having Briar and Sereai on the ground as he begins to sit up.

"I won't be able to get a spell off in time! In that case…" Epel says in thought.

Epel then decides physically attack it, "URAAAGH!" and throw a few punches at the Phantom.

Once he has the Phantom pushed back, Epel brings out his magepen and fires his magic at the Phantom. Rook and Vil also take action and fight off the Phantom until it is defeated and turns into a puddle.

Epel turns to the girls, "Are you both okay?"

"We're okay," Sereia says.

"You saved us," Briar says.

Epel blushes a bit, "I guess I did."

Just then, Rook happily says, "Merveilleux! You tackled Briar and Sereia to protect them, then executed a perfect roundhouse kick to stun the phantom… Simply incredible."

He then asks, "But Epel, are you all right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, thanks to you guys stepping in and finishing it off," Epel says.

"Your quick thinking saved Briar and Sereia," Vil says. "It wasn't the most elegant maneuver, but it was an effective choice nonetheless. I feel I can trust you now to have my back. Keep up the good work."

Epel blushes and says, "...Yes, sir! You can count on me!"

Soon, the group resumes the search and reaches cage "PTM-60." They try to unlock and use magic, but it won't budge.

"This cage is locked up tight," Rook says.

"But we can't assume the Phantom in there is behaving itself," Vil says. "It could be lying low, waiting for the exact moment the cage opens."

"Agreed. Vil, Epel, Briar, Sereia, Trinket... Are you all ready?" Rook asks.

Epel and Vil say, "Yes, sir. / Ready."

Briar and Sereia say, "Of course/Okay."

"That's what I like to hear. All right, here goes….." Rook says and casts his magic, "Hnh!"

Rook uses his magic with full force to break the lock and the cage opens.

The Phantom inside lets out a screech, "GYAAAH!" and begins to attack.

Everyone dodges the attack and the boys fire their attacks at once. They manage to gain the upper hand and the Phantom is defeated.

"It attacked right when we opened the door. It was definitely watching us from the inside," Vil says.

"Indeed," Rook says, "We've encountered other Phantoms that were ready to burst out of their cages… Phantom could be readying to strike even as we But that one showed a clear intent to catch us off guard."

"I guess that means Vil was right. That thing wanted to take us down," Epel says.

Then angrily says, "Well, I'm not gonna lose to any yellow-bellied monster hiding in a cage!"

"Easy Epel, no need to get upset," Briar says.

Then Vil says, "Lower your Voice, Epel. Do you want to advertise where we are to every Phantom here?"

Epel realizes his mistake and sheepishly says, "Erk… Sorry, sir."

"A Phantom could be readying to strike even as we speak. We must make haste and get out of here," Rook says.

The gang then moves on to the next cage, "PTM-31."

"If some Phantoms are capable of mimicking human speech… It stands to reason that they could also communicate with each other," Vil says.

"Well, sure... But what's your point?" Eepl asks.

"It occurred to me that the Phantoms here might team up and rush us all at once," Vil says.

Suddenly, they hear loud noises, starting everyone in the room.

"All the Phantoms are acting up!" Rook says.

"And they don't look very happy," Sereia says, worried.

Epel points out, "Look, over there! A Phantom's crawling out of one of the cages!"

The group looks to see the Phantom crawling out.

Vil then says, "Ready yourselves; boys! We'll take them down one at a time!"

The boys then fight off the Phantoms and soon able to turn them into ink

Epel notices, "Hey... Everything went quiet as soon as we beat that Phantom."

"It appears that when this Phantom started lashing out, the vibrations rattled the neighboring cages," Rook says.

"Talk about confusing... I was scared witless for a minute there," Epel says.

"Yes. It was scary," Sereia says.

"It really came out of nowhere," Briar says.

Epel then turns to Vil, "Vil, please don't jinx us like that again…"

"I assure you, it scared me just as much. suppose this is no time for careless remarks," Vil says. "And here I was broken out in a cold sweat for nothing."

"It's not necessarily a bad thing to always assume the worst. We got through unscathed because of it, didn't we?" Rook says, "Now, let's refocus and try another cage."

The group continues on until they reach the next cage "PTM-71."

Suddenly, Vil stops and gestures to everyone to halt.

Epel yelps, "Whoa! Why'd you stop, Vil?'

Vil shushes Epel, "Shh. I hear someone talking."

Everyone remains quiet to hear anything around.

Suddenly, they hear a voice, "WhAt A PretTy dREsS... GivE it tO mE…"

That startles everyone in the room.

"Sounds like a woman," Rook says and begins to search around, "Where is it coming from?"

He suddenly notices something and cries out, "Briar, watch out!"

Rook then grabs Briar around his arms and pushes her out of the way.

But the Phantom scratches Rook, "Rgh!"

Soon, they're both on the ground.

"Rook!" Sereia cries out.

"Rook! Your arm!" Epel panics.

"It's just a scratch. Look around us!" Rook says.

Soon, everyone hears cackling and slurping sounds. Soon, the gang find themselves surrounded by multiple Phantoms.

"So many small Phantoms…" Vil says, shocked, "Where did they come from?!

"We're surrounded!" Epel panics.

Suddenly, one Phantom says, "WhaT cUtE eYes... wHat loVely LiPs…"

Then another says, "WHat A SpArKlinG crOwN. WHat A SpArKlinG crOWN... I wanT iT, I wAnt IT, ¡ WAnT illT!"

"What?!" Sereia panics.

"Uh Vil, I think they ended up being interested in you," Briar panics.

"Oh know they don't!" Epel angrily says, and fires his magic at them.

Briar and Sereai soon do the same. Vil and Rook also attack the Phantoms. The group continues to fight against the Phantoms with their magic. They continue to attack until they're able to defeat the Phantoms. They all let out screeching sounds and they begin to melt. Suddenly, they hear something drop to the ground. They soon see the ID Card on the ground.

"At least we managed to beat them…" Took says, and feels pain on his arm, "Urgh."

"Rook," Briar says, worried. "Are you okay?"

Sereia looks at the injury, "We need to get you patched up!"

But Rook reassures, "Don't worry, it's only a light graze. I'm feeling a bit ill though. That might be the blot exposure."

Suddenly, they hear a loud bang at the door.

"Something's pounding on the entrance door!" Epel panics.

"There's always something... What now?!" Vil questions, annoyed.

Suddenly they hear a familiar voice, "JUPITER... DESTROY.. JUPITEEER!"

Briar is shocked, "Oh no… that voice!"

"It's the Titan!" Vil says.

"Let's get out of here and lock up behind us. We must buy ourselves some time to ready for an attack. Every second helps!" Rook says.

"Let's move!" Vil says.

Briar then rushes to grab the ID Card, and quickly follows the others to their way of escape.