053. Face To Face

Davorko walked so quickly that Bayu only managed to catch a glimpse of the trailing end of his copper mesh robe before he turned at the end of the corridor. Without wasting time to think, the middle-aged man immediately followed. His vision had started to blur along with the burning sensation intensifying in his chest. Poisoned, contaminated, or whatever it was, Bayu realized that time was not on his side.
The end of the corridor entered by Davorko turned out to be an empty room with one copper wall displaying neatly arranged spears. From bottom to top, the evolution of these spears was visible, from a primitive long staff with a sharp stone tied at the end to a spear resembling the one the gatekeeper had. Bayu only glanced at the display for a moment before re-entering the long corridor with numerous doors on both sides.
Losing track of Davorko, Bayu fell silent for a moment while trying to estimate which door the creature had opened. There were no silos or pipes along the wall. Bayu's highly exposed position demanded a quick decision. The largest door, adorned with numerous ornaments, caught the man's attention. He concluded that whatever lay behind it must be important. Its location at the end of the corridor and its distinct appearance compared to the other doors indicated that.
Bayu wanted to enter stealthily. However, after figuring out how the doors in that place worked, he knew he couldn't enter without attracting the attention of whatever was behind the door. Although a small part of him hoped the room would be as empty as the previous ones, Bayu no longer cared about stealth tactics at that moment.
"Fuck it!" he muttered while pressing the thick metal plate that ran across the center of the massive door.
As he suspected, the sound of grating and hissing accompanied the lifting of the thick copper door, as thick as a rhino's thigh. Contrary to his hopes, the room was not empty. In front of Bayu, there was a small path with dozens of fully armored living metal skeletons neatly lined up on both sides, their heads turning toward the door.
Upon observing, Bayu found out that some of those skeletal figures had pale, dead human-like faces. And based on their body differences, he knew that those with corpse-like faces were females. Nevertheless, the man didn't care about the interesting discovery.
Across the room, directly from where Bayu stood, a skull figure armored like Davorko and another figure wearing a hooded robe like Bogdan stood on either side of a frightening throne. The skull figure with armor and a crown sat there. Just like all the skulls on the left and right, the gaze of these three figures was also directed at him.
What raised Bayu's eyebrows, however, were the four naked human figures kneeling before the throne. Three men and one long-haired blonde woman with Slavic features turned their bodies to look in his direction. The stiffness of their posture led Bayu to conclude that all four were Bogdan's perfected patients.
"*Savargha*," Bayu greeted casually as he stepped forward. "I can't speak in the ancient Russian language. But I can speak in the Eldest Tongue and modern Russian, the language used by what you call surface-dwellers nowadays."
"No human can survive in Vorshkony territory," spoke the armored skull beside the throne. The ornamentation on the armor and the voice confirmed that it was Davorko. He spoke in modern Russian, though with a dialect that made Bayu have to listen carefully to understand. "Who are you?"
"You're saying the same thing as the gatekeeper," Bayu commented as he continued walking until he stood right in front of the throne. "He attacked me. So, I had to defend myself."
"You slayed him?" Davorko asked in surprise.
"As I said, I defended myself, Commander Davorko."
The skeleton's form appeared to tense upon realizing that the figure before him knew his name and status. However, the commander did not want Bayu, an uninvited guest, to feel too smug about having that information. He nodded to the left and right of the man, and two warriors stepped forward toward Bayu.
"Ah! You want to see how I fight, it seems. Very well!"
Bayu's hands immediately gripped the dagger using a technique known as the icepick grip. It was commonly used to enhance stabbing power and maneuverability. Bayu's elbows bent with his legs spread as wide as his shoulders and his knees bent. His sharp gaze focused on the floor, surrendering all attention to his fighting instincts. Bayu was ready to face attacks from any direction.
The skeletal warrior on the right was the first to launch an attack. Bayu didn't have much time to enjoy the limitations of his opponent's slow movements due to the thick armor. He slashed the large cable on the creature's neck with the dagger in his left hand. Then, his rotating body delivered a stronger slash at the same spot with the dagger in his right hand.
The cable on the creature's neck severed, spewing lubricant-like fluid in all directions. While the first warrior staggered, Bayu had already cut the cable on the neck of the second warrior. The man stood calmly gallant as both of his opponents collapsed with a loud clatter onto the metal floor. However, beneath the facade, he was truly tormented by the sensation of burning in his lungs. His breath felt stifled and hot. The man had reached the limit of his physical abilities.
"It seems I'm getting old," Bayu muttered, chuckling to himself.
"You're poisoned," spoke the skeleton figure with a shimmering hood covering part of its skull. "Why risk your life to come to our territory?"
"To show that the civilization on the surface does not stand without guardianship."
The skeleton figure seated on the throne laughed, the laughter growing louder before abruptly stopping.
"Even my feeble daughter has defeated dozens of surface-dwellers!" The figure spoke with a contemptuous tone. "Your presence shall not instill fear in any vorshk!"
"I am just one of many humans assigned to face threats from creatures even bigger and stronger than you," Bayu replied casually. "Even now, some of my comrades are gathering on the surface. One word from me, and they will wreak havoc in your territory. For your information, we have slain ten of your kind. And as we speak, your daughter is being hunted down!"
Bayu's words silenced all the figures around him.
"What I see, hear, and say is connected to all the guardians of civilization on the surface of the Earth," Bayu continued. "I am the thin line separating salvation and destruction for you. Now answer my question, what is your purpose in attacking civilization on the surface?"
Bogdan seemed to bow and whisper to the figure on the throne. A moment later, the crowned skull figure stood. His movements showed his majesty as a king.
"We have existed long before you were born. The land you tread above is the land we built until it was worthy to be inhabited," he explained as he walked slowly around the throne.
"For too long we were forced to live underground before finally finding a way to return to the surface. Do you know the longing we felt to see the blue sky again and feel the warmth of the sun that had once felt like a knife's edge?"
"How could you live here? And how could you possess such advanced technology without interacting with the outside world?"
"There's no point in explaining to a dying human," the king retorted. "What's certain is that your civilization stands upon the realm of Vorshkony! We will reclaim it even if we have to annihilate all mankind!"