CHAPTER 102: CENTIPEDE ROOFS AND SLIME FETUSES

Finn finally squeezed out of the narrow tunnel—and froze.

Civilization.

Or at least, what used to be. The chamber ahead was small compared to the last one, but it had the unsettling look of a ghost town.

A pool of faintly glowing, sky-blue slime water sat in the center like some cursed wishing well. To the left, a raised platform overlooked the chamber. And scattered around were the remnants of buildings—still standing, but warped and crumbling, like they’d been forgotten for centuries.

The roofs looked like they were made from stretched centipede hide, and the walls were smooth clay, some still intact, others half-collapsed. Some houses looked like they could fall apart if you breathed too hard, others like they were frozen in time.

Seraphina stepped up beside him, her wide eyes darting around. "What is this place?"

"I don’t know," Finn muttered. "But if I had to guess, some absolute geniuses decided it’d be a great idea to live in this underground hellhole."

He shot her a glance. "You know anything about it?"

She shook her head. "No... I didn’t even know we were this deep. And I definitely didn’t know there were buildings down here."

Then she paused. "Wait—didn’t I just ask what this place was and you said ’I don’t know.’"

Finn put a finger on her lips, and she looked down at it with wide eyes. He shushed her like a librarian catching someone sneaking snacks in the quiet aisle. Now looking back at the buildings.

Finn hummed, staring up at the roofs. "Weird... but kinda cool."

"Okay... do you want to check them out?" she asked. Still thrown off by his earlier actions.

"Yeah. Maybe we’ll find something useful."

They headed left, climbing toward the raised area. Up close, the buildings were even stranger—round doorframes and windows, like perfect circles. Like the shape a girl’s mouth makes when she’s—well, yeah.

Inside, the air was... neutral. Not musty, not fresh, just weirdly absent of any smell. The floor was clay, the walls reinforced with streaks of slime gunk, probably to keep them from collapsing.

The layout was almost normal—kitchen, dining area, everything—but built from cave minerals and rock instead of wood. It was also clearly abandoned in a hurry: drawers left open, stone utensils scattered on the floor, a slime-covered chessboard frozen mid-game.

The ceiling made Finn’s skin crawl—segments of centipede-like plates, like they’d been ripped off some massive creature’s back.

"What the hell were these people thinking?" he muttered. "No sunlight, no crops... just raw nightmare fuel."

Seraphina wandered over to the kitchen counter. Her chest bounced for no reason as she leaned in, peering at a jar holding... something.

Finn stepped closer and immediately regretted it. It looked like a slime-encased fetus, part bird, part human.

Seraphina wrinkled her nose. "This place is creeping me out. This is worse than that one time Father Meln gave me a front row seat to his ’very special puppet show.’"

Finn froze. "...I don’t even know if I want to ask—"

"The puppets were fine," she interrupted. "But his pants were off for some reason."

"...What the hell. Okay, yeah, I can see why—"

"That didn’t freak me out," she said flatly. "It was the elephant dolls. They were attached to his... y’know. And they sprayed water out of their trunks."

Finn slapped his hand over her mouth. "Okay, I’ve heard enough. Let’s just keep exploring before you make this place any weirder."

***

As they kept exploring, completely forgetting about actually leaving, a creeping feeling settled in—not from the weird stuff inside, but from the fact that almost every building looked like it had been abandoned in a mad rush.

Except for one.

They stopped before a relatively normal-looking structure. It was smaller than the others, but somehow still more intact—less warped by time and decay.

As they stepped inside, the air hit them immediately—a strong, foul stench, like slime mixed with the rotting corpse of something long dead. It was the kind of smell that clawed at your throat and made your eyes water.

Finn and Seraphina both covered their noses.

"Oh, my." Finn coughed. "That smell is horrible!"

Seraphina stepped behind him, closing her eyes, and began to chant softly. "O Goddess of the Lands and Heavens, I bless thee with the sanctum of fresh air. Thou fill his lungs and let him breathe freely."

Finn’s eyes widened, unsure what to make of the sudden prayer. But when she finished, a strange warmth flowed through his body, pooling in his lungs like a soothing balm.

He dropped his hand, took a deep breath—and exhaled slowly. Then another.

The air felt cleaner, lighter, almost sweet compared to before. Breathing no longer felt like sucking swamp sludge.

He glanced back at Seraphina, impressed despite himself. "What was that?"

"I blessed you with holy lungs," she said with a small smile. "It’s temporary, but it helps you tolerate foul smells."

Finn raised an eyebrow. "That’s actually pretty useful. Did you cast it on yourself too?"

She shook her head, looking away.

He spun around, surprised. "Why not?"

Looking down, she muttered, "I didn’t think I’d need to go in with you... thought I’d just get in the way."

Finn stared at her like she’d lost her mind. "Absolutely not. I need you. I can’t go in there alone. Cast it on yourself, and come with me."

Seraphina blinked, caught off guard, but nodded and repeated the blessing on herself, her voice soft but determined.

"Wait... how are you able to cast that without your staff..?" Finn asked, furrowing his brow in genuine confusion.

"Oh, um." She glanced down at herself like she’d just realized about her staff missing. Then she looked back at Finn, cheeks coloring just a bit. "I never really needed to use it. I just mostly had it for aesthetics."

Finn just blinked at her. Not even sure how to respond to that.

"Whatever." Finn stepped aside, gesturing toward the building. "Ladies first."

He didn’t care about being polite—he was just terrified of what awaited inside.

As Seraphina stepped in, a scream tore through the air.

Finn jumped, heart pounding.

He looked inside—and his stomach instantly rebelled, sending him retching onto the ground.