Master of Myths

The eighth floor was very different from the last two for it looked much like the first five floors with buildings of intricate designs filling it, they were much more elegant than the ones at the fifth floor even but there were only a few and they were far apart from each other

"Sir, I've no knowledge of this place's exact structure but from the little info I recall the two craftsmen we are looking for seem to be the red stubby tower over there and that building stuck into the wall"

Pointing at two of the larger buildings Mustela then went into explaining about the two blacksmiths but YuJu cut him off rather quickly

"There is a relaxing smell in the air"

"Smell Sir?"

"Indeed, don't you think so?"

On cue Anput and Ellis node just as he informed them when making this plan, they didn't smell anything though, they didn't even understand what he was saying

"Umm, sorry Sir I cannot smell anything prominent other than the scent of blood wafting about"

"That is exactly what I'm referring to"

"...I see"

For a second he seemed to had forgotten the man before him was a vampire, what else could smell pleasant to him other than blood after all

"Let's check it out"

YuJu led the way without leaving any room for discussion, he didn't want to waste any time here lest someone spots them before they complete their preparation

Weaving through the empty space between the buildings he walked cautiously but without hinting to Mustela that he was being careful, instead, he appeared to be having a stroll rather than making sure not to bump into any of the fearsome mad lads around here, those guys bite before they ask anything after all, his bluffing attitude wouldn't work without a deterrence

"This is where it is coming from"

A white and small arced building was what they arrived at after YuJu 'tracked down the smell'

"It seems to be originating from here"

He said like he had no clue what this place was

"Hmm, I recall a description about something similar looking but I don't seem to recall it…"

While Mustela though on what it could have been the door to the building open and a snakelike vine came out to greet them, it's one big lovely eye squinting at them cheerily

"Greetings guests, please come inside"

It pointed at the door with its tail expecting al three to enter, as for the hastily running hunched back man? Well, it will catch it in a bit

"Mustela?"

"Sorry Sir, I don't want to be rung and then be used as a towel, I'll wait for you near the entrance"

The panicking voice drifted from further and further away until his last words were but a whisper

"Hmm, saves me the trouble of getting him to stay outside"

YuJu shrugged and turned to the snake, giving it a smirk, then went through the arched door with his two followers, the small vine snake hover didn't and closed the door instead, wherever she went he could guess easily

"Follow me"

A small snake with wings lead them from there into a circular room with many many doors, in the middle of this room was a snake coiled in a hot pool of bubbling blood, the black and red spotted snake opened one eye to look at them uncaringly

"And what brings you here little fellows?"

YuJu smiled wildly and only said one word: "Blood"

The snake shifted from its coiled position and opened its eyes wide to stare at his teeth, she then gave the other two a one over to ascertain her guess

"Excuse me for my rude manners, Sir, I hadn't known you would be visiting"

She shifted her behaviour rather quickly to her normal routine when interacting with the customers of this floor, at first she thought this was a lost nobody who split from one of the visiting groups of lower floors but now that she suspected him to be a vampire she out to be at her best behaviour, who knew whether or not this mad being would use her in his experiments, god knew how vile these nightwalkers were

"Fret not"

He eased the frightened snake and walked into the middle door without another word, as much as the snake wanted to say something she didn't get the courage after looking into the woman's swirling eyes, she merely let them do as they please and sent for a messenger to inform her lady

The middle door led the three through a long corridor and through two large double doors finally entering a big room with a bathtub, it continents? You guessed it, more blood

Taking a deep breath from the sweet smell of blood, one much sweeter than normal, he then took off all his clothes and stored them in his spatial storage

"Are we bathing in blood Master?"

"Why yes we are, but not now, first we need to sort out a something important"

Instead of going in the bath, he went toward the wall at the back of the room and put his hands one of of the tiles, interesting energy into the tile in a spiral motion

Creek~~

The wall suddenly opened up and revealed a misty passage ahead

"Stick close to me, and get rid of your clothes before you go into the mist"

He said before plunging into the pinkish mist

Ellis was puzzled as hell but followed him quickly, taking her clothes off on the way, Anput, on the other hand, wagged behind her happily without having to do anything

Ellis was merely two meters behind YuJu but could barely see his figure, everything was so blurry in here that it made her rather dizzy

'No, something is wrong'

She could feel it, really feel it, and it was a very hot feeling

"Master, what is this mist, its confusing my mind and body"

"That's because you're trying to block it with your aura, just let it sweep over you, only keep your mind clear and you should be good"

She didn't feel like letting the mist inside her but she followed his advice none the less and tried that

"Hnn"

A moan came out as soon as she did, her peaks getting hard very quickly and she felt tingles all over

"An aphrodisiac?"

"More like poison, but it isn't harmful, more like something that would make you high"

His voice sounded much crispier than before, was it the mists effect on him or her being more attracted to it she didn't know

This suffering didn't last much longer than thirty seconds before they came out into a weird cave, as for what it held Ellis couldn't care less, she was just happy it didn't have any of that horrible poison, any longer and she might have done some terrible things

"Oh~? Speak of the devil and he shall appear"

A honeyed female voice came from above promoting Ellis to stop taking deep breaths and look up, mesmerised by what she came to see

There on a pedestal lay a snake of a woman, a whitetail for legs, and the upper body of a human if she had ever seen one

No clothes hid the crazy figure of this half woman, her fair skin was a sight to see, only if it wasn't out shadowed by her darling of a face, red lips and blue eyes made a mismatch of colors but somehow looked fitting for that sweet little thing

Even with her human body taking the limelight her scales still shined, quit brightly at that, what with the pink glow that glistened all over one couldn't take their eyes off them unless it was to look back at her face once again

"You came a bit too quick for someone who lost his way, you must have known your way instead"

There it was, that mesmerising voice one again putting her to a deeper trance

'Focus!'

The heavy thought squeezed her soul for a moment before her skill, aura, and self-control went into action and dispelled the charmed state

Done clearing both his follower's minds, Anput's being the easier one, he turned his eyes back to the beautiful woman and gave her a proud smirk

"I've come to eek something you own, Belinda"

"Hehe, what an intriguing man you are, you speak as though you know me"

"I do, quite well at that, it's just that you, like many others, have forgotten me"

"...Hmm, interesting, very interesting"

The half woman slithered up from her pedestal and had mist congeal in front of her forming a waterfall of blood taking her down to the three

"And what have you come seeking, oh forgotten fellow?"

"One of your most prized position, a part of it at least"

"Haha, I see"

Her bell-like laughter, at this close a distance almost made Ellis fall back into trance, if not for her skill which was making her eyes look more and more hateful she would have totally fallen for this lovely woman

"So, is it my body that you seek"

She swayed enticingly but he shook his head

"Then what could it be, I'm not that good with puzzles you see"

"One of your projects, the most dangerous one"

"Hmm, clueless as ever I remain, you need to get very detailed"

Rather than explaining more he used his storage in front of her and took out a gem, on easily recognisable as a burial gem

"This is what il offer in exchange for the service, at least until I find a suitable item as the payment, then il collect this back"

"Ho~ Your indeed full of surprises, but what could I offer for this great item of yours, it is after all, very hard to come by"

"Part of that pet you got locked up in the red stone room"

"...."

The snake went into silence for the first time since their meeting, was she debating her offer? Or shocked? Perhaps she was even a little afraid that her scary project was known by an outsider shed never heard of, or perhaps as he said, forgotten

"Say, what do you need that heinous blob for"

She asked rather than giving an outright answer

"For my servant here, you see I'm doing a bit of experimenting myself, one that I don't want to hold off for too long"

"Hmm, perhaps, but first…"

She slithered closer, wrapping her body around him, the tip of her tail also wrapped around 'him'

"Why not have a, deeper, talk with me, I am sure whatever experiment you have can wait at least that long"

She persuaded, moving her tip up, then down, slowly

He moved his hand up toward her waist, going past that to her bounty of a chest, but past that as well and past her entirely, laying it on top of Ellis's head instead

Blood-red light flickered in between his fingers, a sight familiar only to Anput who howled seeing it, only she was excited though since Ellis was stagnant, and the woman shivered, she was so nervous the tip of her tail squeezed a little too tightly for 'his' comfort

When the light intertwined to form chains that sank into Ellis's body in the glimpse of an eye, this made the redhead tighten up a bit as the new feeling settled in before relaxing and adjusting to it rather quickly

After this show of power, he looked into the woman's fidgety eyes and asked her

"Do we have a deal?"