With the man incapacitated and tied up for good asure, the party was finally able to investigate the bathroom. Due to dusa's trait, her physical endurance and her martial arts, she was the perfect vanguard, especially in this occasion when she would finally be able to remove her blindfold.
"If you see my trait is active don't co in even if I call for help. Okay?"
"Uh-huh." Nika took so distance and took cover behind one of the many doors.
A couple seconds after dusa entered the spacious and luxurious bathroom a crimson light flashed for an instant then beca a constant light that reflected on the pristine mirror in front of the wash basin.
dusa looked around searching for clues trying to endure the foul stench that ca from the rotting corpse lying on the ground, but other than the writing on the wall in Uriel's handwriting Nika discovered, there wasn't much else to see.
The bathroom hadn't been cleaned in a long while but the only source of filth was the corpse which bathed the floor in disgusting bodily fluids and worms alike. Every second dusa stood inside was torture for her enhanced senses, but even then she hesitated for a few more seconds before finally mustering the courage to look at the mirror.
There she saw a monster. Not a cryptid, but herself. She saw her beautiful and delicate facial features, her smooth heavenly rank skin, her full lips. Almost any woman would have killed to be as beautiful as she was, but her glimring eyes countered all the possible beauty in the world and it could be said they weren't even human.
As if that wasn't all, the light that ca from them was cold and rciless, quite the opposite of dusa's true character. She looked like the unbeatable enemy in a bard's tale or the villainess on an epic tale and dusa couldn't hold the tears welling up in her eyes anymore.
With foggy eyes, she barely noticed sothing moving on the corner of the mirror, though probably even if she had laid her eyes directly on it she would have failed to notice it. More than actually perceiving it with her eyes, it was the feeling of having seen sothing, though she couldn't say what.
"So?" Nika asked once dusa stepped outside with her blindfold on.
"So what?" dusa tilted her head.
"What did you see?"
"Oh, uh... nothing," dusa wouldn't speak about her self image issues even under torture as she didn't want to trouble her friends with sothing she knew they would just deny. "it's just an ordinary mirror."
"Luna, Bella, it's your turn now." Nika commanded.
"? Why ?" Bella asked, afraid that she could bump into a cursed artifact too powerful to handle. Of all those present, she was the only one who knew how dangerous said items could be. It could be argued that Uriel was the exception as he was in possession of the book of the dead, but in his current state he didn't even rember its existence.
"Luna is a dic and she should be able to get so information from the corpse, but sending her alone could potentially be dangerous. If anything happens, just call for help and I'll be there."
"Then why didn't you send her with... oh!" The realization that the only reason why dusa went alone was because her trait was also dangerous to her allies.
Due to her wind barrier, Bella was chosen to be the first one to step inside and Luna followed closely behind. The forr kept her eyes closed and held her breath to avoid inhaling the putrid sll of the corpse, while the latter kept her eyes peeled and her senses sharp.
The sll of rotten flesh was botherso to Luna, but that was just because contrary to so of her kin she wasn't accustod to eating spoiled at. To a werewolf, spoiled at was as much as an acquired taste as ostriches to humans, so found it disgusting while others thought of it as a delicacy.
The taste didn't matter to Luna, though, what mattered was the symphony of aromas that told her more information that she could manage in her current form.
"Make space." Luna said as she undressed.
"What are you doing?" Bella stuttered taken aback by the tiny huntress strange behavior but her answer ca in the form of a hulking beast of silvery fur and soul piercing eyes that sent her into a panic.
Luna ignored her companion's shrieks and limited herself to sniff the body. Instead of sharing her her findings, though, she remained silent as she didn't trust Bella enough to let her hear her werewolfish voice.
It wasn't that she didn't want to scare her or that she kept it as so sort of secret, it was pure shyness and self awareness due to the deep gurgling sounds that ca from her beast like throat.
"She died of natural causes." Luna said, but only after returning back to her human form. Contrary to her expectations, Bella's face remained as shocked as it was the minute before when she transford. After pondering for a brief mont, the only explanation to Bella's shock was that she was impressed by her revelation.
"I can tell from her sll that she was a regular human and there's also a lingering sll of soap on her feet, adding that to the skull fracture to the back of her head the cause of death is more than obvious. She slipped in the shower."
"They're huge." Bella said without taking her eyes out from the bountiful treasure that was Luna's chest. Bella wasn't by any ans flat, but that was the day she learned the aning of envy. Luna seed completely unfazed by Bella's remark, though inwardly she was ecstatic as being envied by soone as beautiful as Bella could only be taken as a complint.
Once she finished putting on her clothes, Luna took a second to gauge her appearance in the mirror, not expecting the sight of a creature more disgusting than anything she had ever seen in her life.
Even soone like Luna who would limit herself to objectively describe cryptids counting the number of apendages and the form of their fangs couldn't find the words to describe it and she couldn't keep herself from gagging.
"Are you sick or sothing?" Bella asked in a whisper to which Luna replied with a shout.
"Don't look at the mirror!" Luna kept her eyes on the indescribable creature the entire ti, trying to muster the courage to even find its eyes, but the thing in front of her caused caused an impression so strong her body reacted by instinct. She wanted to puke, everything in her body begged to throw up everything she had ever eaten and then so more.
Just the sight of the creature was so disgusting she swore to herself she would never eat again even if it ant dying of starvation.
"Is the mirror cursed?" Bella asked, not knowing where to place her eyes.
"No, it's definitely a cryptid." Luna replied in her monotone that hid the inner turmoil she was experiencing. Being so accustod to managing her emotions and to control her body to avoid shapeshifting made Luna capable of enduring the gag reflex and keep her body in check.
"What's it's ability?" Bella started channeling her flux energy to kill the cryptid, but Luna stopped her when she noticed the cryptid reacted to her energy and focused its attention on Bella.
"It's not an ability, it's just ugly. It doesn't have eyes... I think, but it reacted to your flux. I can't rule out the possibility that it can also hear us, so stay quiet and listen," Despite every cell within her body begging Luna to take her eyes from the unsightly creature, Luna didn't so much as blink her eyes.
"Judging by what happened with dusa and by the effects caused on both Uriel and the man who asked for help, I think it's safe to assu you'll forget about the creature as soon as you stop looking at it."
"What should I do, then?"
"Whatever you do, don't look behind you." Luna spoke somberly.
Being told not to do sothing only made it more enticing for anyone, but even more if what they asked not to do was to look behind.
"No, please don't tell it's behind ." Bella cried, unaware of the foul limb that only resembled a tentacle due to its flexibility nearing the back of her head. Then, a spike or rather, sothing sharp that resembled one, aligned itself with the huntress and took impulse.
Luna saw it moving slowly, she saw the thing taking impulse and she also saw it opening like a disgusting flower made of everything uncanny and gross revealing an even sharper needle that would obviously pierce the back of the huntress head.
Luna saw everything and yet she did nothing to stop it.
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