VOXISTALE: Novel Edition

Chapter 103

It was dusty, and dirty, and . . . well, not that different from where they'd been staying. Very noticeably, it was freezing cold. Undyne found herself shivering as she wandered down the dark halls, feeling a sense of unease. Like she was being watched. How could Papyrus stand this place? How had he even found an exit? It was like a maze, with halls branching every which way, doorways leading into rooms that had more doors leading elsewhere, and no signs to indicate a direction.

She was about to start smashing down doors or something just to keep track of where she was. This was getting ridiculous. Every hall and every room were bare and empty, and the place felt like an ice box. Unlike humans, monsters couldn't just run around to warm up. Monsters had no blood to pump through their bodies, being purely magical entities.

Shivering slightly, Undyne rounded a corner before realizing she'd already been here before, a familiar crack in the ceiling stretching about to look like the number 'three'. With a groan, she turned around—and froze. Not in fear, but in surprise. There was somebody at the other end of the hall she'd just come from. Or . . . something? It appeared human, but its hair, skin, and clothing were all stark white. It appeared feminine, shorter than Undyne, with a frail yet curving body. The most noticeable thing, however, were its giant, purple eyes staring unblinkingly back.

"Uh . . ." Undyne wasn't sure what else to say. How the hell were you supposed to speak to whatever that was?

"Is she bothering you, Baena?"

This voice came from behind Undyne. Deep, masculine, but it sounded so . . . wrong. Slow, no inflection of emotion, just plain and bland, and . . . unsettling. Undyne turned, beginning to grow aware of what was happening. Blocking the other end of the hall was a much taller figure, a few inches under Undyne's height, with the same paper-white skin, hair, and clothing. He even had those same giant, violet eyes. Both were wearing just a plain button-up with jeans and tennis shoes—also stark white. "The fact she still breathes is, Amphis," the girl, Baena, replied to what Undyne could only assume was her brother. Or . . . perhaps her lover? As long as it wasn't both.

Undyne wasted no time in summoning her spear, baring her fangs. "I dare you to come on and do something about it, then," she spat at them, though she was grinning from ear to ear. Messiah goons, obviously. Maybe even new Lieutenants. They didn't look so tough.

Undyne felt pretty certain that she was appearing ready for battle, but these two just continued to stand and stare, so that left the fishwoman to make the first move, hurling a spear down toward Amphis—but he faded, his body evaporating before Undyne's eyes, the spear ripping through the air and piercing the far wall, where it disappeared.

Confused, she turned to face Baena, only to find Amphis had somehow moved directly behind her, his arm raised. A blast of brilliant violet light filled the hall, a pain besetting Undyne. She could feel her body scrape against the ground before she regained her bearings, slamming a spear into the ground to bring herself to a stop.

Her face was stinging with a lingering pain as she glared up to find Amphis was standing directly in front of her again, his arm raised—the disorientation passed more quickly this time as Undyne felt her back slam into the wall at the end of the hall, and her focusing gaze made clear that Amphis had moved directly in front of her again. She acted faster, this time, her fist slamming forward—and hitting nothing as he faded once again.

Undyne let out something similar to a grunt, but it sounded weird coming from her. She had no idea what was actually going on, but it was clear that these two had a concise and functional tactic for her, whereas she was at a loss for how to deal with them.

It was pissing her off.

Amphis had reappeared at the girl's side, both of them shoulder-to-shoulder, or at least their equivalent, as he stood over a foot taller than her. The tingling sensation was fading quickly now, so Undyne decided she needed a plan for how to deal with these weirdos. Clearly charging in blindly wasn't an effective strategy, these two were fast. So perhaps . . .