Vampire's Slice Of Life Chapter 1209: Prison (3)

It was a sea of prisoners once again. But instead of fighting, they were all in deep meditation, seated in the flower field.

Lith’s eyes drooped and every step felt heavy.

Thankfully, he had a general idea of this layer by the previous man.

The exchange of information happened instantly when he finished the contract. Information flowed into his head and he had all the relevant things he needed.

The current layer was where one needed to meditate and transcend to the layer above to grab the key for the next layer and also a relic to neutralize the suppression this layer gave.

Without the key, he couldn’t go to the next layer. Without the relic, he couldn’t get out of his meditative state.

Lith did not fight the suppression and sat down, meditating to transcend.

Unlike the flower field, the new layer was dark and there was a faint flicker of light in one corner.

Getting closer to it, he could smell something burning.

Rhythmic drumming sound filled the air and Lith could feel the vibrations on his chest.

He saw a peculiar group of people dancing around a bonfire in an inhuman manner. Their bodies twisted weirdly as they took every step around the fire.

"Glory be upon the one forsaken!" They thumped their chest and sang.

Lith felt a thumping pressure on his chest too.

"Glory be upon the one fallen!" They dropped to the ground.

Lith fell down too in the same position.

"Glory be upon the one ascender!" They all jumped from their fallen state.

Lith jumped too. He felt like he was losing control over his body.

Lith tried to back away but felt something block him.

He couldn’t even go sideways. The only path left was forward.

As he got closer, he could hear cheerful and happy voices.

These did not come from the dancing people.

"Glory be upon the one devourer!" The people took out something from the bonfire and ate it.

Lith was somewhat away and the only action his body did was pulling something and acting like it was eating.

The happy noises intensified.

Again, they did not come from the dancers.

Another step forward and Lith could see where the sound came from.

It was the bonfire!

There were people burning within who were happy to get burnt to crisp!

"Glory to the one giver!" The dancers thrust their fists into their mouths and pulled something from their throats.

Lith could visibly see the bulging of their neck as their fist went downwards.

The dancers took it out and threw it in the fire.

The burning faces got happier with it.

Lith performed the similar action but being slightly away, the control effect wasn’t so high.

He was somewhat worried now. If he got too close, would he lose the entire control over himself?

The dancers began thumping their chests again.

Lith felt the powerful vibrations on his own chest. Though he realized he wasn’t doing the thumping actions like them.

He could feel he was in some control over himself.

Moving further close, the dancers spit on the fire and did a cartwheel around it.

Lith did not do the same and got further close.

"Glory be upon the one..."

"Glory be upon the one..."

The dancers kept singing and dancing, doing weird actions with each line.

Lith felt a variety of external emotions forced upon him as he moved past.

Just as he was about to leave, a cheerful voice said, "Where are you going?"

Lith stopped.

"Dance along. Dance along or you will fall into a trap."

Lith turned to the voice and saw it come from the bonfire. There was a man getting burnt but he was smiling and happily commenting.

"Dance. Dance. Dance. Don’t just stare. Dance. Dance. Dance."

Lith began dancing as the man asked without putting much thought behind his actions. If he felt the control slipping away from his body, he would stop doing it.

"Yes! Yes! Now tell me, do you want the key?" The man was speaking in a musical tone and not in casual words.

Lith did everything like the dancers nearby but skipped the extreme versions of fisting his own throat or biting a nail off his body.

"Yeah. I need the key." Lith felt his heart thump and his vision darken. He almost lost his consciousness and control over his body.

"No. No. No. Sing and dance. Sing and dance. Anything extra and you get lanced!" The voice explained.

Lith’s lips twitched but he sang, "Glory be upon the one giving me answers. Glory be upon the one oracle..."

He sang his answers while dancing and the voice cheered him on.

"Keep going! Keep going! Your voice is so much better than these corpses!"

Lith was amused by the strange situation.

He thought the ones dancing were alive but they were long dead. Meanwhile, the one being burnt in the fire and happily cheering were alive and in ecstasy.

"Bliss! Bliss! This is bliss. But bliss is not blissful!" The voice cheered.

Lith asked why such was the case to which the voice replied, "Don’t ask questions, boy. Do you want the key or not?"

Lith’s lips twitched again. Could this guy speak properly or could he not? What was he playing at?

Lith asked him for the key and dropped other questions.

"Key. Key. Which key is right? The deepest layer or the layer below, I wonder?" The jovial burning man questioned in his song.

Lith thought.

He couldn’t jump to the lowest floor directly because he had to find the swordsman’s sister. Who knows if she was right in the next layer?

Though, the soul contract was in his favor and he could choose to care less about her.

In the end, Lith’s main goal was to set the prisoners free by obtaining its key. This key could be in any layer, so going to the deepest area may not be the wisest choice.

"Glory be upon the one who wishes for both..." Lith answered, wondering whether he could get both. Odds were, he wouldn’t, but it never hurt to ask, did it?

"Ho. Ho. Ho." The burning man laughed. "You who know naught can’t be caught, eh? Playing foul can make one scowl, but this one! Ho. Ho. Ho."

Lith felt his ears bleed from the constant singing and cheery noises. It was getting harder to make out the meaning.

But roughly, this guy was stating how he felt impressed by Lith for not choosing one but asking for both.

"Very well. Very well. Ask and you shall get. But, get what I ask first!" The man laid out his terms while singing.

Lith asked what it was.

The man’s smile vanished. All Lith could see was his crisp, dark face and red eyes.

The man parted his burnt and cracked lips, saying, "Bring me someone conscious and you can have both."

Lith squinted his eyes while continuing to dance.

He did not agree or disagree for a minute.

The man felt something was off and asked in the usual cheery voice, "What up? What up? Why the face so not up?"

Lith answered in a song that there’s no way to bring someone conscious to him unless he went to the next layer.

The burning man laughed.

A few more people burning in the bonfire laughed.

It was as if Lith had made a great joke.

Lith wasn’t laughing but stared at the man.

Their laughter stopped after a while and the burning man said, "Open your eyes, look wide, take big strides. Among the flowers is one blossoming. Go go go!"

One of the dancers beside Lith twisted and curled himself into a ball, then somehow magically turned into the shape of a badge and appeared in Lith’s hand.

Lith descended from this layer and was back in the flower field.

He could now open his eyes and get out of the meditative state, easily being able to walk.

There was no threat in this place, at the very least.

He could easily move around and see who the prisoners were and what they were doing.

Walking in the flower field, Lith saw many different races. There were some who were half human and half monsters, some who were entirely different from humans, and some purely humans too.

There were also elves, vampires, demons, and dragons in the mix too.

The prison did not lack variety and that was for sure.

Moving around, Lith couldn’t find anyone conscious.

Was the burning man lying? Or perhaps it was Lith who couldn’t find the person properly?

Who could blame Lith for it though?

Finding a conscious person here was like finding a needle in a haystack. There were far too many people here to check!