'Why are your eyes shining red just like Protector's?' Quylla asked Morok after noticing that Nalrond was the only one in need of guidance in the dark.
'Fire Vision, babe. It's one of the many perks of being an Awakened stud.' The Tyrant mindlessly replied.
He even showed her for a second his six eyes that allowed him to see in every direction at the same time.
'When did you Awaken and why didn't you tell me until now?' Quylla asked, looking at Morok with renewed suspicion.
'It happened right after your funeral.' The Tyrant cursed at his own stupidity and tried to come up with a believable excuse. 'To fix the wounds that Deirus inflicted to me, master Ajatar had to use Invigoration and it triggered my Awakening.'
'Oh, gods, I'm so sorry.' Quylla held him tight, bringing his head close to her chest and making his heart race like crazy. 'This is all my fault. If not for my mother's ploy, you wouldn't have Awakened and your father wouldn't have found you.
'I put you in this awful situation and you didn't tell me to not make me feel guilty about it. You're so sweet.' She was so moved by Morok's kindness that warm tears streaked down her cheeks.
On the one hand, the Tyrant was really happy that by filling the gaps on her own, Quylla had saved him the trouble to come up with a lie. On the other hand, her tears and him being too scared to tell her the embarrassing truth made Morok feel like the worst scum on Mogar.
'No, it's not your fault. I acted like a fool and paid the consequences.' He tried to downplay his actions, only to end up looking even more stoic and brave.
'Thanks.' She gave him a soft kiss that he didn't enjoy one bit.
The sweetness of her lips was poisoned by his own lies, guilt, and the terror of what would happen if Quylla discovered the truth.
'Gods, why are you so cruel? The one time I didn't even try to act cool I got everything I wanted but at a terrible price. What the heck did I do to deserve this?' He thought.
'Sorry to ruin the moment, but I can feel movements ahead.' Nalrond said while dragging everyone near a wall.
He used his abilities to soften it up for everyone so that the rock covered them until only their noses and eyes remained exposed.
Quylla had completely forgotten about the others and was grateful for the darkness shrouding her beet red face. Her heart pounded so hard that she was afraid that it would betray their presence.
Then, a figure stepped into the corridor and her blood froze.
The creature stood over 3 meters (10') tall, with a humanoid body covered in small blood-colored scales. A single red eye right in the middle of the forehead shone with an ominous light that moved around the corridor's walls as if it could pierce through them.
Three sets of short curved horns emerged from her head, cheekbones, and the sides of her chin. Her massive upper body was covered solely by a black scaled sash that protected and compressed her breasts, revealing the creature as a female.
The rest of her upper torso was completely exposed and seemed to be comprised of bulging muscles so big that each one of her arms was thicker than the legs of Protector's human form.
Her legs were reverse jointed like those of a cat, and were covered by a black armor that only left the talons extending out from her toes and heels exposed. Two flaming red membranous wings were folded around her neck, almost looking like a mantle.
'A Balor, and a female one at that!' The group thought in unison.
The creature walked at the head of a second column of goblins that carried another load of rocks. While the others had to shut down Fire Vision to not get discovered, Quylla could keep using goggles without the risk of being exposed.
Once the group of monsters came close to her, she noticed that not only the goblins, but also the Balor wore the collar that Morok had spotted earlier. She instinctively searched for all the signs of rebellion that the victims of slave items could manifest, just like she did back at the academy.
Yet she found none. Quite the contrary, the goblins didn't even look scared.
'This makes no sense. Down here they have no need to hide their emotions and even if their master ordered them to get along, the Balor should at least show hostility toward lesser beings.' She thought while sharing what she saw with the others via the mind link.
"Be quick and make sure to turn the rocks into a fine dust." The Balor spoke slowly to make sure that the goblins understood her words. "We can't afford to lose a single gram of metal nor to draw unwanted attention by leaving around piles of debris.
"I'll wait for you here. If anyone attacks you or if you simply notice something out of place, call me immediately."
The goblins spoke between them in a guttural language until the smartest of them translated the Balor's orders to the rest of the group. Then, the small creatures nodded to the Evil Eye and used their collective earth magic to open a temporary passage to the surface.
'What he actual fuck?' Nalrond said via the mind link. 'Even if those things around the monsters' necks were slave collars, the goblins that don't understand the words of their alleged master would be free to ignore the instructions of another slave and run away the moment they get out.'
'That's not even the strangest thing here.' Morok replied. 'Thanks to my eyes, I don't need Life Vision to follow the flow of the elements. I can tell you that those collars are channeling the surrounding world energy inside the monsters' bodies.'
'Do you have any idea what they do?' Protector asked.
'Dude, I'm not even a Forgemaster, let alone a fortune teller!'
While they waited for the goblins to return, Quylla noticed how the Balor kept nervously tapping her foot while looking at her massive limbs with disgust as if she had been cursed to inhabit her body instead of being born with it.
It took the small creatures a short while to return and when they did, the goblins seemed to be as eager to leave as the Balor. One of them handed to the one-eyed monster a small metal shard to examine.
The light of the Balor's red eye moved back and forth the fragment until it started to turn into a liquid.
'She's not just looking at it. The Balor is using her eye to determine the melting point of the metal.' Quylla said, making the others very happy for her presence since they would have never realized it on their own.
'Such fine control over the fire element is beyond even what Fire Vision can do. Use water fusion or she might pick up the heat signature of our exposed parts if the red light touches us.' Protector warned the others.
"Good work. Alert the excavation team that we found another Orichalcum vein." The Balor said with a huge grin.
