Page 2708

~~((Halloween Special - Page 4 of 30))~~
The heat in here was intense, and the musty stench was almost entirely foreign to Parson's nose.

Almost.

A memory scratched at the back of his mind. Something faint, yet still somehow horrid. A half-remembered nightmare. His whole body prickled with abrupt discomfort, and breathing became slightly more difficult.

His mind remained calm, but his body was reacting. In a familiar way, no less.

He'd smelled this only a handful of times before, in the presence of particularly nasty greatworms.

All worms in the Undercrust had an innate ability to strike terror in their victims, but it didn't work on sufficiently experienced warriors--with rare exceptions. Some could secrete an ooze that released panic-inducing fumes. Passive soul defense usually offered fair protection against it, which told him that these fumes must have once belonged to a truly monstrous creature.

Had Morgunov gone hunting for greatworms in recent years? That wouldn't be so surprising, Parson supposed.

The machine carrying Asad slapped him down onto a large table in the middle of the room, and Morgunov circled around him.

"Alrighty, let's try this the easy way first, shall we?" said Morgunov. "Where are the Quta Jaf'lah?"

The what?

Rather unsurprisingly, Asad made no response. He just lay there, on his back and blindfolded. To his credit, he wasn't showing much fear at all, but if these fumes were able to affect Parson even a little, then they must have been horrifically effective on a servant as young as Asad.

"Tsk, tsk, c'mon. You don't actually think the silent treatment will work, do you? Eheh. If so, then let me just dispel you of that notion right now. It will not."

Asad was squirming now, jaw clenched.

"The Shards of the Dry God? How about that? Ring any bells? Papa Morgunov knows that you know where they are. And Papa Morgunov doesn't like it when children are stingy with him. Or when they lie."