The four arrived on the next floor, appearing in a small town of sorts. Similar to floor eleven, only the fact that it was far more modern, maybe closer to a suburban town that existed in one of the cities that Kurai or Matsumi would be much more familiar with.
Kurai looked around quietly, before looking at Eraba, Kibō and Matsumi
"Perhaps a battle..or some kind of puzzle…I'm not sure. Looks like a simple town to me."
Kurai took a lollipop out of her pockets and unwrapped the candy, placing it in her mouth.
"We should look around."
"Hellooo! Where are you challenge?!"
Matsumi cupped his hands around his mouth as he yelled, walking closer to the center of the small town as he did.
The town was rather quiet. The average person rode past on a small bicycle, and maybe another walked past with a dog. They walked it normally. Everything was rather boring and average. Eraba approached Matsumi scratching the back of her head.
"I have a feeling this is probably the work of a puzzle of some sort. If it was a battle wouldn't someone come out immediately?"
Eraba didn't know much about the tower in actuality due to her existing only on the moon of their family for quite some time. She sighed and looked around in the opposite directions of him in order to cover ground he probably didn't see.
"This town sucks! Why does it have to be a puzzle?"
He lowered his arms and kicked the ground a little in discontent.
"It is possible that it is a battle. It looks like we're going to have to enter some of the houses to see what exactly is going on."
"I guess we're just gonna have to knock on every house one by one until something happens."
"Alright. Well follow behind you. Go ahead."
He trotted over to the porch of one of the houses, knocking two times, three, then four.
"Heyy! Someone in there?"
There was a slight movement behind the door. Matsumi could clearly feel something. Maybe it was Mana. Maybe it was his hearing, and it was an actual person, or perhaps not.
Regardless he knew and could tell. The others could too. Kurai stood beside him, ready for him to open the door.
Matsumi tried the handle, an invasion of privacy sure but Matsumi didn't see it that way.
"I can hear you! We're coming in!"
He just saw it as a way to meet the person quicker, doing them a favor in a way.
The door opened to the house. Only that, Matsumi was met with something completely out of the ordinary.
Its huge eyes simply looked down on Matsumi, its small but sharp hands were on the door.
It was probably the same size as him.
A humanoid bug looked down on him and the group silently, not uttering another word or sound.
Matsumi stared at it for a few seconds in shock before quickly blurting out.
"It's a bug! A giant bug!"
No second thought in his assessment. He jumped back from it, around 4 feet.
"What the heck?!"
"Looks like the Bītorujūsu. Another monster that used to roam the lands. A form of Chimera that was powerful back then. Whats interesting is that they never really move by themselves…Which means-"
Eraba's eyes panned slowly to the left. Another Bītorujūsu was standing not too far from them, only staring.
"Which means we've got company.."
"I read about these. Whats more is that these aren't the only threat. Now I sense another potential enemy close by….These might not even be the actual trigger to getting to floor thirteen. There might be a bigger threat in the area."
"Okay, that's cool and all, but why does it have a house?! Why isn't any of the other people in the town freaked out?!"
Matsumi glanced over to the second one.
"And now there's more?! Whatever, we just have to squash these guys right?!"
"Four human beings…What is it that you want with us?….Do you live on this floor?"
The Original Bītorujūsu surprisingly spoke, looking at the group.
"….We are infecting the tower for our Queen. Fifteen years ago she was reborn…Rejoice!"
The other Bītorujūsu followed suit, clicking and making disgusting noises that only a bug could make, buzzing.
"If you do not reside here stay out of our business..and we will stay out of yours. Go somewhere else. We are not finished killing all the humans here."
"The queen…reborn…?"
Kibō looked on in worry at the Bītorujūsu's claim. That was probably one of the worst case scenarios she could have heard about the real world in her absence.
She had known about Tairiku and its prime far before Ashi Zenin's generation had ever ventured there. Chimera ran a large percentage of the island and there were a few times where War had almost happened between the creatures of the forbidden land and the witches.
However, the most powerful witches would likely crush them at that time. However, she also knew she had been in Heldor's tower for a near century.
Perhaps two. It was possible that with the Rebirth of their species they had grown in strength, something that had naturally happened for chimera and was apart of their biological clock.
"Huh? You seriously think we're just gonna let you go on by? You're a bug dude, and you are kind of in our way."
The information provided by the Bītorojūsu didn't ring any bells for Matsumi.
"Is this Queen of yours in here somewhere? We might need to beat her up too."
The Bītorujūsu looked on in anger as soon as it heard Matsumi's remark, before it let out a laugh, nearly human in its replication of response to humor.
"My brothers….It seems we have ourselves a meal here…"
More and more Bītorujūsu surrounded the four…From four, to eight, to ten, to twelve, to twenty-four. The numbers continued to double and triple seamlessly.
"FEAST! EAT THEM ALIVE NOW!"
"You have a lot of friends, huh? They can play with us too!"
Matsumi got into a battle stance, not a good one really. He just imitated what he say Kurai do before, but very poorly. Matsumi wouldn't know a good stance if it hit him in the face, but that was alright for now.
"I've been thinking about this Matsumi..but since I can sync so well with you. I figure it's time to try some Trio attacks with Eraba. I've never tried to sync with two people before..but I figure it's possible with my Tokubetsu. So what do you say we get this party started?"
"With Eraba? Sure! It's always more fun with more people!"