Abyssal Basement (before battle)

This staircase descended for much longer than we had anticipated. We couldn't even guess how far we were from the bottom.

Is there even an end to these stairs...?

I wonder if this depth was really that necessary? The servants must've had quite the hard time putting these stairs together.

If they operate under the identical mechanisms as our corridor, then there is a chance that they may not have been installed by hand.

…….

There is a dark look on Sinclair's face.

... This is a grim reminder of our experience back in the basement of his mansion.

This is... exactly what the basement at my home felt like.

<Sinclair, what happened back then... it still haunts you, doesn't it?>

Can't say that I've completely moved on from it...

But... I'm moving forward, little... by little.

<... Yeah. I can clearly see that.>

... That's good. Sometimes, I'm not sure if I'm just imagining that I'm getting better.

<…….>

A sudden yet familiar sensation tickles my head.

It is soon followed by a noise just as familiar.

The unpleasant sound of something approaching, dragging itself across the floor...

No... crawling...

Something's crawling this way... It can't be an Abnormality, can it? At a place like this?

<No, this is... it's gotta be...>

…!

The Peccatula.

However, this place does not appear to be the Lobotomy Corp. branch, nor does it appear to be connected to one as Sinclair's mansion was.

Correct. The L Corp. branch in T Corp. is a fair distance away from this manor.

Causeless effects. I fail to see why this is happening.

As always, even in seemingly inexplicable circumstances such as this, laws of causality remain constant. There is always a cause to an effect.

... Understood.

Well...

I guess we'll find out what that 'cause' is at the end of this stairwell.