Demon Core Exorcist

5. Neon Crypts: Weapon Graveyard

Before long, the duo were already walking for about an hour. Jin had the recording stopped as this footage wasn't necessary. Nothing exciting was happening, and it was just a long walk. 

"This is so boring" 

Nathan whined as he dragged his legs walking beside Jin.

"Is this how all your videos go?" he asked

"Just be patient, something will happen", Jin answered with a chuckle. 

"Well, I hope so", Nathan said.

The area around them was dark, so dark that one wouldn't be able to see their own hands. But Jin's camera had a light on it, and Nathan didn't have to worry, because he could see in the dark. 

He looked into the distance and saw light, a few hundred meters away from them. The light was like a mixture of red, purple and blue, giving off a neon glow.

The light was far away from them, so Jin couldn't see it. Nathan decided to keep quiet and wait for Jin to notice it first because it would seem weird if he could suddenly see so far into the dark. 

Thankfully, he didn't need to wait for long, as a few minutes later, Jin noticed it.

"There's light in the distance", he said to Nathan. 

'Finally, ' Nathan thought, but he put up an excited front 

"Then what are we waiting for?" he said and was already jogging in the direction of the light.

The camera started rolling once again, and Jin went into his Qtuber persona and started talking into the camera, explaining how they got here, while allowing it to focus on the light.

A few minutes later, the duo were in front of the source of the light. What they saw surprised them. 

They saw what looked like a plaza; the ground gave way to metal slabs, and neon glyphs could be seen on the wall, giving the plaza the light that it needed. Neon glyphs on small stands and some benches. 

In the middle of the plaza was a statue, about three meters in height. It was made out of a weird kind of stone that gave off a weird red energy that deterred them; the sound of their footsteps reminded them that they were no longer stepping on ground. 

Nathan was looking at all of this in awe, while Jin was feeding the information to the camera. 

Before long, they started checking the buildings in the plaza, but they found nothing apart from normal household stuff that could cause collapse from a touch.

It seemed like this place was the dwelling place of people in the past; maybe they were hiding from someone, long enough to build some kind of civilisation in a mountain. 

While exploring, they saw some kind of pathway at the northern end of the plaza and went there.

Pipes and cables lined the walls, glowing in soft neon colours, red, green, and blue, flowing like streams of light. The air was warm and faintly buzzing, like the whole place was breathing.

Nathan walked behind Jin, whose camera was pointed at the path in front. Jin wasn't here to act crazy for views; his channel was more about exploring and recording strange places and ruins.

"Footage looks good," Jin said without looking back. "Not too bright, not too dark."

Nathan glanced at the flickering pipes. "Feels more like we shouldn't be here."

"That's part of the charm," Jin replied with a small smile. "But we're keeping it safe. Promise."

The metal walkway they were on stretched over a huge drop. Far below, faint lights floated in the darkness like slow-moving fireflies. Nathan kept his eyes forward, not wanting to think about how far down it was.

After a while, the walkway split in two. The left side had collapsed into twisted metal, so they took the right, which ended at a sealed archway. The door was thick, with strange runes carved into it.

As they got close, small lights on the door began turning on one by one, moving toward the centre.

"That's scanning us," Jin said quietly.

From the state of the plaza above, they knew that this place had been here for a long time, hundreds or maybe thousands of years. 

So it was surprising to see a mechanism that could still be working despite the long time.

Before Nathan could reply, the door unlocked with a hiss and opened just enough for them to squeeze inside.

The air changed instantly, warmer, heavier. The floor beneath them rumbled.

"Uh… do you feel that?" Nathan asked.

The walkway suddenly dropped.

They didn't even have time to shout. The floor vanished, and they fell. Lights and steel blurred past them. They hit the ground hard but survived.

When Nathan sat up, he froze.

They were in a huge underground chamber. It wasn't dark; faint lights from the walls lit everything evenly. All around them, arranged in perfect rows, were weapons.

Swords, rifles, axes, spears, hundreds of them. None of them was rusted or broken. They looked… asleep.

"This isn't junk," Jin said quietly.

"It's a graveyard," Nathan replied.

At the centre of the room was a raised platform with two stone pedestals. On one rested a pair of daggers, one dark and heavy, the other pale and sleek. On the other was a pair of metal gauntlets, jointed and strong.

A deep voice filled the air, vibrating through their chests. It was ancient and seemed to be speaking right into their heads.

"Two seekers have entered. One shall bear the blades. One shall bear the hands. Prove you are worthy."

They looked at each other. No words were needed.

Both of them were curious; it could be a trap, or something life-threatening, but that didn't stop them.

They stepped forward, Nathan toward the daggers, Jin toward the gauntlets.

As they did, the weapons around them began to shake. Blades quivered, barrels turned. The sound of metal filled the air.

Two openings appeared on the walls behind the two pedestals, the weapons on them disappearing. One was marked with a symbol of crossed blades, the other with a clenched fist.

"Looks like we don't get to choose," Jin said.

"Guess not," Nathan replied.

They paused at the entrances.

"No matter what's in there," Jin said, "we walk out together."

Nathan gave a quick nod. "Yeah."

They stepped into their paths, the metal wall plopped up, blocking their way back, and making them unable to see the graveyard fading behind them.

****

Nathan stepped into the corridor marked with the crossed blades.

The moment he crossed the threshold, the doorway behind him sealed shut with a metallic thud. The air here was cooler and carried the faint smell of stone dust. Pale light ran along grooves in the floor, forming lines that led deeper inside.

A voice spoke again, calm but heavy.

"Two paths, one choice. Strength. Agility. Balance both, or fail."

Nathan walked forward. The corridor split into two archways — one lined with carvings of warriors holding massive weapons, the other with figures leaping gracefully between obstacles. He hesitated a little, the words of the voice still in his mind. 

It said that he should balance the two. Does that mean that even if he chose one, he would still have to clear the other? He didn't have a choice from the beginning.

But there was nothing he could do; the path back was blocked, and he was the one who willingly chose to enter into these crypts.

He remembered the quest and quickly decided to check the progress.

[Active Quest

Title: Ruin Exploration

Objective:

- Explore Neon Crypts

Reward:

- +1 Purification Technique

Progress: 50.01/100]

Seeing this, a smile crept onto his face as he turned to look at the two pathways, his gaze lingering on the carving of the leaping warriors, as if thinking of something, 

In a few seconds, he made his decision and walked towards the...