Large groups of goblins and kobolds rushed at us as we walked through the ninth floor of the dungeon. I could feel Ryuu and Lili preparing for battle, but they didn't move.
That was because I had asked them to focus on understanding what I was trying to teach them instead.
After running a couple of different formulas through my mind, a prodigious amount of water coalesced before my hand, which consequently shot into a large arc of pressured water.
Then, thanks to my second formula, the water froze into a sharp blade that cut the majority of the incoming group of monsters in half.
Using the resulting heat from producing the ice, I put some more will into my spell, and a small inferno burned the remaining monsters alive.
Ryuu and Lili relaxed at the sight, and while I retrieved the magic stones and poured them into Lili's backpack, they put on the thoughtful face they had carried for the last few hours.
In the end, it was Lili who broke the silence. "Lili doesn't get it.
Quantum states? Personal reality? Discontinuity of the physical world?
Does Lady Ryuu understand anything? Maybe Lili is just too dumb to understand." She was holding her head, which was slightly fuming.
I looked in hope at the elf, who sighed in resignation and replied. "It's not just you, little supporter. I don't understand it either."
I had to resist the urge to smash my face against the wall at their words.
It had been like this for the last few hours. I had tried explaining to them the physics and foundation in which magic worked. But nothing I said helped them understand it.
It didn't help that the education development of this world had been, pardon my French, fucked sideways by the gods.
At least, that was the conclusion I was reaching the longer I tried to teach them.
I really should have expected it when I first had to explain to them what the word 'science' meant and what the scientific method consisted of.
Which spoke volumes about the state of academia and sciences in the world.
On one hand, ninety-five percent of the populace knew how to write and read.
Which was excellent and really impressive; I didn't say it wasn't.
But on the other hand, those were the limits of education the gods imposed in this world. If anyone wanted to learn more in any field, then they had to figure it out on their own or enter into an apprenticeship under someone.
This world didn't have schools, much less universities. The closest thing they had was the school district, which for some reason, was a huge-ass floating ship that traveled around the world, and even in there, most of the things that were taught were trades and knowledge. They didn't teach you how to think or how to discover more knowledge by yourself.
Not to mention that being admitted as a regular citizen was as likely as winning the lottery.
In my opinion, the current situation was a tragedy, so much so that it made my blood boil.
It didn't surprise me that the dungeon had remained unconquered even after almost a millennia if the gods had shafted the development of humanity like this.
I shook my head and took a deep breath. In the end, this didn't matter right now.
I had to find a way to make them understand.
Classes I had stolen in my original world about sciences and other subjects flitted through my mind, and after a second thought, I decided to throw them away.
They weren't going to help me here.
Screw the science, this was a fantasy world. And as much as it pained me, I was going to have to explain it like it.
"Alright, forget everything I said until now." I was going to simplify it in words they could understand.
They perked up at my words, and I continued by conjuring a ball of fire between my hands.
"Alright, imagine for a moment that this orb of fire is your soul. The source of your existence." They nodded at my words.
"Now, each soul has a natural affinity, an origin, a single concept that they lean towards. But as a single soul, it can't do anything. You can't create memories, you can't experience anything, you can't grow." I shifted the color of the orb to signify that all souls were different.
"As proof of that, do either of you remember anything from before you were born?" They shook their heads.
"That's because for a soul to experience anything, it needs a personal reality. Think of a personal reality as everything you feel, everything you perceive, every memory you can recall, every thought you conceive. Basically, everything you are. And to create your personal reality, you need a body." 'At least, at first.' I added mentally.
The truth was that when you already had the foundations of a personal reality, a body wasn't strictly necessary. You could survive some time without it; I was the living proof of it. However, not having a body or anchor for your soul was agonizing and madness-inducing.
But they didn't need to know that.
To represent the personal reality, I encircled the orb of fire with a layer of ice.
"Now this personal reality is important because your soul is the source of your magical energy, and everything you do in life is influenced by your origin in some way. The same way you can see the light of the flame being filtered by the ice, this light is made manifest into the real world."
"Oh! Is the light the blue aura wrapped around my body?" Lili exclaimed in understanding.
I couldn't help but laugh in joy at the first eureka moment of the morning.
"Yes, that's right Lili. This blue aura is what I name the AIM field. Everyone possesses it to some degree even if they're not aware of it. If the light that goes through the ice is your AIM, then the layer of ice by which the light is filtered—that's your personal reality."
Ryuu neared her face to my construct and asked. "What does this have to do with anything?"
"You can take away a few things from this. To start with, a normal person's personal reality would be something like this." The ice around the flame turned opaque, and only a few strands of distorted light passed through.
"As you can see, their mana doesn't flow smoothly from their soul. That's the reason a regular person without rituals of some kind or the falna could never develop magic. What the falna does is this." The layer of ice turned transparent and the light from the flame became regular.
"So the falna allows you to access your own inner magic?" The elf asked aloud.
"Not really; it allows for the potential to develop your magic in a very rigid way. In the case of someone possessing a skill or magic, then the falna would change your personal reality to be something like this." I said as I modified the ice formula slightly and the ice started cracking into a different shape.
"I don't see much difference." The elf admitted, just to be interrupted by Lili. "Lady Ryuu, look at the wall!"
The elf's eyes widened as she saw that on the wall a picture of a flower was being projected.
"As you can see, the light that goes through your personal reality doesn't do much by itself, but if you manage to focus it in some way, then you can alter reality with it.
As this construct is doing right now, it would represent a Skill. An effect that is manifested under certain circumstances.
A magic spell would be something more like this."
The ice cracked again, and the light that was projecting the flowers slowly coalesced into a single point. Making the stone walls start to sizzle and melt due to the heat. Then I let the heat from the light slowly melt the ice.
"Since magic is usually more powerful, these are more taxing on your personal reality. Therefore, they would also tire your mind."
"Where am I going with this?" I verbalized the question Ryuu was about to ask, to which she nodded. "Well, your personal reality is usually a fairly solid thing that is slowly being developed." I showed that by adding some water around the ice. "The gods figured out how to shift it around through the falna, but they didn't help us to access it. Every time they update the falna depending on certain parameters, they melt the ice that is your personal reality and then freeze it in a slightly different configuration."
I followed suit with my construct and showed how melting the ice and then integrating the water I had added earlier into the whole. Consequently, I changed the form of the water and then froze it in different configurations so that it projected different images on the wall.
I turned to look at Ryuu's eyes to capture her attention and said. "As long as your personal reality is frozen. You'll never be able to discern between lies and truth."
She pursed her lips and asked. "Why? And how do I unfreeze it?"
"Because you need to figure out a way to sense with your magic the AIM fields of others. You can't develop such a technique if you just depend on the falna and don't develop yourself on your own. As for how to unfreeze your personal reality. Well, right now you can't, at least as you are now if you don't want to lose your strength for a couple of years." I replied instantly and continued before she started despairing. "What you can try to learn is what Lili here managed to do."
"What did she manage to do?" "What did Lili manage to do?" They both asked simultaneously.
I snickered a little as they looked at each other in surprise.
"It's better if I first show you the other extreme."
I melted the layer of ice into water, rapidly shifting it to different configurations and showing off a little light spectacle, and said.
"This is the state of the personal reality of a natural ability user like me. As you can see, it's really versatile, but it's also in a really volatile state. Contrary to adventurers with the falna, if I ever were to lose focus, this would happen." The smooth layer of water started shifting erratically, creating an erratic and unfocused array of colored light that didn't do anything.
"What you could try to do and what Lili managed to do yesterday is this." In the water I started freezing little pieces of ice that floated within the water and slotted and unslotted themselves to create different configurations and effects.
"As I told you, the falna is managing your power for you in some way. You need to find out how it is doing it and then figure out how to hijack it. Then use the pieces of the puzzle from the falna to create a sensing technique on your own."
"Oh! Lili understands where Master Regis is coming from." Lili exclaimed in understanding.
"-?!"
The incredulous and surprised face of the elf as she looked at the tiny girl was a little funny.
But I wasn't really surprised. Of course she would understand; she had managed to do just that the day before. "I know it sounds really complicated, but the puzzle that the falna will give you is one that you'll know the answer instinctively once you have all the pieces."
While the elf was gazing intensely at the light coming from my construct and Lili, she said. "I think I understand more or less as well. Where do I start?"
I smiled at her eagerness and said. "You start by sensing your AIM field and sifting through your mind to find the code that your falna is making you run. What I want you to do is hold the necklace I made for you and focus your magic on it as you would with a staff. Then simply meditate and observe."
She nodded and grasped the diapason-shaped crystal and closed her eyes.
While she was trying that, I became aware of my little apprentice, who was sporting sparkling new clothes and equipment, staring at me with a deadpan face.
Tilting my head a little, I asked. "Is there something the matter, Lili?"
"It's nothing." She replied, looking away and lying to my face.
"No, no, it's literally not nothing. You know I can literally tell when someone is lying to me, right? It's the reason she's following me around." I said while planting myself in front of her face just to be hit by a pouting face.
"What's wrong, Lili?"
"It's stupid." She replied while looking away from me again.
Gently putting my hands on her cheeks to make her face me properly, I said. "Come on, it isn't nothing. If it was, you wouldn't be like this. You know, you can tell me anything."
With my hands making her face me, she blushed slightly and murmured something unintelligible, looking away from my face.
So, I started pinching her cheeks.
"Waah, stop it, master! I'll tell you, just staph it!"
She slapped my hands away and gently cupped her red cheeks with her hands.
"It's stupid. Yesterday, you said that Lili was special. That only Lili could be like you, and that was why you wanted to teach Lili magic. But then—"she looked at the focused elf.
My eyes widened in realization when she continued. "Then, Master Regis turns the next day with someone known for being one of the most talented adventurers in the world! Don't misunderstand Lili; Lili is truly grateful that Master Regis is teaching her. And she's also grateful to Lady Ryuu for saving her this morning.
But… Lili can't help but be slightly disappointed."
I couldn't help but laugh awkwardly at her reply; in a way, she was right.
From her perspective, it doesn't make me look good. Except you know, it's only from her perspective; it wasn't like I lied to her yesterday.
"You're right, this does not paint me in a very good light, does it?" I said while rubbing the back of my head. "But, you know Lili? I didn't lie to you. It was thanks to you that I was able to create an item to give her a chance to learn."
"Eh?" She replied incredulously. "But Lili didn't do anything?"
"Yes, you did. I mean, you gave me that NDA." And I wasn't even kidding. The only reason I managed to engineer the magic items to give Ryuu a chance to connect with her personal reality was due to the runes that were in the contract that Lili gave me yesterday.
It was a contract that didn't force her to do anything. Those runes, the only thing they did was notify me if she ever broke it.
But that was precisely what captured my attention.
Because the only way I could think of for those runes to do that was to somehow connect to her AIM.
Studying those runes in detail, I was able to begin figuring out what they were, and to my horrifying surprise, I found out that they were divine runes.
After I got over my knee-jerk reaction to incinerate the contract on the spot because those runes, as far as I knew, were crazy dangerous, I realized that the runes in the contract were vastly more detailed and refined than the ones I knew.
Which in itself was interesting if a bit understandable. I remembered reading in Lanova that the divine runes were discovered by divining the stable regions of the chaos sea and transcribing the runes through trial and error according to the results of the scrying spells.
The fact that the gods expertise in these runes was more advanced than my own was exhilarating and terrifying in equal measure as well. It also spoke volumes and was an interesting data point about the nature of the gods.
Anyway, it was thanks to studying these runes and with my previous knowledge of runecraft that I was able to make Ryuu's jewelry.
That was why. "I didn't lie to you, Lili; it's thanks to you that I was able to help her. Thank you." I said to her with a grateful smile. "Besides, you're my first disciple. That makes you special in my eyes."
She made a complicated expression before finally smiling and said. "Lili understands."
"Great! Now that you're alright. Let's get you to try to use your magic for sensing."
She was about to answer, but the cries of different monsters interrupted her. "Oh well, we should probably deal with that and get out of here as well. Let's go to the misty floors; there you'll probably have an easier time."
///////////////////////////
Ryuu Lion POV.
Misty fields full of fake plants and trees made of rocks greeted us as we ascended the stairs to the twelfth floor of the dungeon.
Mister Regis led the way, icy spikes materializing sporadically around him before hurtling into the dense mist ahead.
Even I, with my Level 4 vision and senses, couldn't easily perceive the monsters he was killing with my senses.
I only knew that he was killing them due to the cries they let out when they were hit and because my adventurer instinct warned me that there were monsters in those directions.
Behind him, the cloaked figure of his disciple walked with a relaxed demeanor. She had been muttering and chanting to herself from time to time for a while, trying different things with her magic.
I still hadn't made up my mind about the little pallum.
When I rescued her this morning, I didn't think much about her. Just another Level 1 pallum supporter who was lucky to catch Mr. Regis's eye, I thought.
But these past few hours had changed my perception of her.
"Master Regis, could it be that you wanted us to train our sensing in the dungeon because of the weight the dungeon would help us learn to sense more easily?" The supporter asked.
"Oh, not bad, Lili. You're right. On the surface, there are a lot of other people with their own personal realities and AIM who would muddle your efforts in trying to figure it out. Being in the dungeon means having relatively stable outside conditions, and it also helps to put some strain on your personal reality by trying to learn under pressure. You adventurers are basically hardwired to require this pressure to grow." The mage praised the pallum while patting her head.
Which she soaked like a sponge by leaning into his hand and letting out an embarrassed little laugh.
I might have been immensely stronger than the little pallum as an adventurer, but I had to recognize that for someone younger than me, she was more insightful when it related to Mister Regis's teachings.
Not to mention that considering the questions she had been asking, she probably was far ahead of me in developing the sensing ability needed to discern lies.
As I followed them from behind, bringing up the rear, I found my fists clenched. It also didn't help my mood that the closeness these two displayed left me feeling cold.
Memories of my familia crept in—laughter, shared victories, even the sad moments, and their absence now cutting like a blade. My chest tightened, rage smoldering under the weight of loss. I shook my head sharply, forcing the emotions away.
My negative emotions weren't these two's fault.
I didn't have the time for distractions either, and it wasn't like I hadn't advanced at all.
Gently holding within my hand the smooth necklace Mr. Regis had made for me the day before, I took a deep breath and relaxed, letting go of as many emotions as possible while trying to simply be.
A few breaths later, I started 'seeing' as waves of light started emanating from myself, the little supporter, and Mr. Regis.
This was the result of the last few hours of training.
The experience was similar to what I had felt the day before when I bonded with the jewelry through my blood.
The only difference was that I could also feel waves of light coming through the walls and floor of the dungeon trying to press and weaken the waves that were emanating from our bodies.
Was this what the pallum was referring to when she mentioned the weight of the dungeon?
Anyway, if I wasn't mistaken, then these auras were what Regis called AIM fields.
It was a strange sensation seeing them.
Not only because I wasn't truly seeing them with my eyes. But it was as if a filter had been removed from my senses.
But my gut was also telling me that this filter wasn't completely off, that there was still more that I should be able to sense, but I had spent the last hour trying to figure out how to do it without success.
"Are you alright over there, Miss Ryuu?" I heard Mr. Regis asking me as I let go of the pendant.
"Yes. I think I managed to sense at least part of our AIM fields, but my instincts are telling me that there should be more that I should be able to sense. But I still haven't figured out how to unlock the rest of my senses." I answered with a nod.
"Really!? The fact that you can sense anything at all is excellent progress!" He said with a smile, which soon turned to a thoughtful frown.
"But you think there's more you should be able to sense? That's… strange. As far as I know, while you can certainly improve your senses with practice. When you first unlock them, everything should come all at once. At least that's how it was for me and Lili. What could it be…? He stopped answering and put a hand on his chin to think.
While he was thinking, I used this chance to take in our surroundings.
The usual mist characteristic of this floor flowed around us and caressed the fields of fake grass of the dungeon.
Seeing that we stopped, Lili had sat cross-legged on a rock with her eyes shut. Her head periodically tilted cutely from one side to the other while perking up from time to time to what I can only assume were minor breakthroughs in her training.
The little frost spirit was curiously orbiting around her whenever he wasn't poking or exploring the fields.
I worried that Mr. Regis, being so absorbed in his thinking, would have left us open to attack.
But it seemed that my worries were for naught, as Mr. Regis, even while thinking about my problem, was still creating spikes of ice that would launch themselves in different directions when a monster approached.
Although…
Was the generation of the icy constructs slowing down slightly? Now that I was paying close attention, I could feel the monsters getting a little closer before they were killed by the projectiles.
Returning my attention to the mage, I examined closely his face and saw what should have been obvious from the beginning.
The bags under his eyes were more pronounced than they were this morning when he woke up, and his eyes were slightly more red.
Maybe it was due to the mist, but his face was pale too.
This morning, he had given me the spiel of him being able to use magic constantly. And despite the absurdity of the statement, I believed him after his explanations.
But the fact was that because of me he barely slept last night. Not to mention that even if he had the magical stamina... Physically he was still a normal teenager.
And we just spent the last few hours diving through the dungeon while we left all the fighting to him…
Not only that, yesterday he also went to the dungeon… And the day before that he snapped against those members of Evilus after I assaulted him…
Before I knew it, my feet moved on their own. I slipped off my left glove, the cool dungeon air brushing my fingers, and pressed my hand gently against his forehead.
"Wah?" Just as I made contact enough to feel his temperature, he jumped backwards with a startled expression on his face.
Weird... I thought he could sense basically everything around him considering he was still killing the monsters.
"Ah, I'm sorry for startling you. It's just you look a little pale. Are you alright?" I asked. His forehead was fairly hot, maybe not enough for a fever, but he wasn't that far off. If he continued pushing himself, he might actually develop one.
"I'm a little tired. But I've adjusted my magic to be as efficient as possible. So you don't have to worry; I'm still going to be good for a good while." He replied with a somewhat weary but still confident smile.
"I see." I replied, but it still didn't sit well with me to see him in this state.
Not to mention, what did he mean that he was going to be good for a while? Does that mean that he will feel ill later or that he will simply be tired? Did he forget that he promised helping me with my investigation tonight?
I shook my head, and with a sigh, I said. "Do you want me to heal you? I have a spell that should help you recover some stamina."
Usually I wouldn't volunteer my magic like this, but I felt a little guilty keeping this hidden when using my healing spell once or twice wouldn't be that much of a burden.
"Wait, you have a healing spell?! Yes, please show me!" He said excitedly, his expression lighting up in childlike curiosity and wonder that surprised me.
'Cute' My brain unhelpfully remarked and urged me to try to make him make that face more. But I was going to ignore that since it really wasn't the time. But well, if he was that happy with me simply showing him my spell, I wasn't going to complain.
As I was going to start my chant, he interrupted me in a hurry. "Ah! Wait for a moment, please."
What was he…?
I was going to ask what was the matter when his aura suddenly spiked to that of a Level 3, and where before simple ice spikes manifested from time to time around him, now the mist rapidly coalesced into highly decorated ice spears with an edge so sharp that it sent chills down my spine.
Moments later, eight spears shot towards the walls of the room, breaking them with a deafening cacophony of cracks.
"Great! Now that the walls are broken, I just need to block the entries of the room…"
Oh, he's breaking the room so that monsters don't spawn in for a while.
No! Wait! I was going to heal him to help him recover some stamina! What was this idiot doing casting even grander magic and exhausting himself even more!
As if to piss me off even more, his aura spiked once more, and as the mist visibly flowed unnaturally towards the entrances of the room, the breeze that had moved and transported the mists through the floors stopped as the dungeon mists visibly cleared up. In its place, the temperature of the room went down noticeably.
Turning my head towards the entrances of the rooms, I found them blocked by a giant block of ice.
"Perfect! Sorry for the wait. Now, I can focus entirely on your magic."
"You, you…." I could feel the urge to verbally rip into him, my hands clawing the air as I barely managed to stop myself from shaking him around for being an idiot.
But whatever I was going to say died at my lips as I saw his eyes just one step away from sparkling in curiosity and enthusiasm, and my annoyance turned into exasperation.
I felt as if all my worrying and guilt for him had been for nothing. But at the same time, considering all the trouble I caused him, I'll let this one go.
So with a soft sigh, I raised my hand in his direction and started to chant.
"The song of a now distant forest.
The nostalgic song of life.
Please bring the mercy of healing to those that seek you.
Noah Heal."
An intricate green magic circle materialized in front of my hand as I chanted, pointing in Mr. Regis's direction. His body glowed faintly, indicating that my spell was working.
While the chant was fairly short, Noah Heal was a spell that took time to truly do its work. So with some curiosity and while still focused on the spell, I touched my pendant and opened myself to my newfound senses.
As a new perspective of the world opened up to me, the first thing that took my attention was the waves of light? AIM? I was going to refer to AIM since they weren't really light. Anyway, I saw as the waves that emanated from my body strengthened significantly and reached Mr. Regis's while their rhythm shifted to accommodate his AIM.
Sharpening my focus as much as I could without losing control of the spell, I observed that Mr. Regis AIM wasn't being strengthened by my spell, it wasn't becoming more powerful or anything like that, if anything, it was as if our AIM resonated with one another and his simply beat more assertively than before.
It was mesmerizing to watch how our lights chaotically flowed around one in harmony.
Eventually, the feedback from the spell told me that keeping the spell going was just going to give diminishing returns and thus be a waste of mental energy, so I finished my casting, letting the magic circle gently dissipate in the air.
Letting go of the pendant and with it my new senses, I found myself face to face with a blushing Regis; his face was frozen into a blend of disbelief and awe while a single tear ran down his cheek.
"Mr. Regis, are you alright?" I called out to him, a little worried that my spell might have had an unintended secondary effect. But it seemed that my voice was able to snap him out of it as he flinched slightly before snapping his gaze back into reality.
"Ah… yes, haha, yes. I am... fine." He replied with a bittersweet and melancholic expression.
"Are you sure?"
What could he possibly have sensed in my spell that had left him in this state!?
"Yes." He replied with conviction and a bit of edge. The spirit that had been orbiting around us floated next to him and landed on his shoulder, and his expression mellowed a little.
"Ah! Right, thanks to your spell, I figured out why you can't unlock your sense fully. It was kind of obvious in hindsight."
"What was it?" I asked, accepting and taking note that he changed the subject.
To which he pointed his earlobes with his fingers. "How could you possibly be sensing everything you could when you're deliberately deafening yourself to it?"
Unconsciously imitating him and putting my hands on my ears, a smooth and solid texture slid through my fingers.
Wait, the earrings!
Of course, he told me yesterday that the earrings would help me not hear the voices!
I was about to deactivate them when the pallum's voice rang out triumphantly.
"I think I figured it out!"
"Really? Well, give it a try." Mr. Regis replied once more with an excited glint in his eye.
With a nod, the pallum closed her eyes, and a couple of seconds later she cried out.
"Gah! Too much!" Then her face blanched. "Oh no! Master Regis, I think we're surrounded."
Which is, of course, when the block of ice that had sealed the entrance to path to the eleventh floor shattered in an explosive inferno of fire.
The block of ice I had clogged the entrance of the room, exploded into large fragments, and a cloud of dust and dirt went up, barring our vision from what had destroyed the block of ice.
Not that it did much for the rest of my senses as I shifted them from the fine and close detail-oriented sensing needed to discern the subtleties in AIM fields to the general mode I usually used to scan my surroundings.
A second later, the numbers came back, and an image formed in my mind. I usually would have cursed aloud and groaned out loud at what I was seeing.
At least, that was what would have happened if I still wasn't in a state of disbelief.
The cause of my internal turmoil was certainly not due to the party of one level 1, two level 2s, and a level 3 with an annoyingly familiar aura reminiscent of the sun.
No, while an annoyance, the members from the Apollo familia couldn't provoke such strong reactions inside me.
What I was still processing was the 'healing' spell Miss Ryuu had hit me with a few moments before.
I mean, who the hell would have expected to experience the equivalent of a world-class idol serenading your biggest accomplishments and failures while telling you that it was just the beginning, that there was still a lot to live for, and that I just had to stand up and not give up.
When I thought about healing, I thought about medicine or rest… Not a frigging soul-shaking song specifically made to cheer you up!
Despite the imminent conflict, I couldn't get the experience out of my head.
To tell the truth, a third of me was awed at the beauty of her ability, the second third was astonished at the mechanisms the music used to 'heal' me, and the last third felt a little violated that my past, which was supposed to be private, was exploited as a component in a spell even if it was to heal me.
I took a deep breath and shelved the data from Miss Ryuu's spell into my tome. As much as I wanted to interrogate Ryuu and ask her to use her spell again, it really wasn't the time.
For the twentieth time in the last few days, I cursed the Apollo familia.
Anyways, after expanding my sensing formulas to get a more complete picture of the situation, I decided on a course of action.
Materializing a crystalline-looking sword with faint currents of wind surrounding it, I turned to look at my companions.
"Frey, stay with Lili and cover her back." The orb hiding behind me perked up at my words and quickly zipped to hide in Lili's nape behind her head.
"Kya! Cold! Frey, you jerk! Be gentler." Lili whined before looking at me. "Master Regis, you're aware of…" She trailed off as she realized that I was looking at the other entrance of the room that was still sealed by ice. "Right, silly question."
I turned to her and put a hand on her head. "Great job sensing them, Lili." I said under my breath, giving her a smile. "Say, if I were to make really dense mist, would it disturb your technique?"
"Hehe," She let out a little embarrassed giggle while leaning into my hand before replying. "I don't think so. I think it will help instead, Master Regis."
My smile widened at the clue about how her sensing technique worked. Now, for the last piece of the puzzle to see if my plan would work.
"What about you, Miss Ryuu? Could you fight in a chaotic battlefield with really heavy mist?" I asked the elf whose hand was resting on her wooden sword and had positioned between the approaching adventurers and us.
"As long as our enemies attack us in melee, I think I can manage." She replied seriously under her breath as the silhouettes of the adventurers made themselves visible. "But why would we need the mist? If they were to be a problem, I believe I could deal with these adventurers myself."
A wry smile appeared on my face as I was about to tell her that these adventurers weren't really the problem, but before I could reply, the captain of the Apollo Familia and his companions appeared from the cloud of debris.
"Who dares to block the path of the Apollo familia!" The arrogant voice said, coming from the level 3 adventurer.
"Captain, we don't know if whoever blocked the path blocked us on purpose… We could have taken another path…" The twitchy blue-haired girl said while looking like she would rather be anywhere else.
"Nonsense! My instincts are telling me that our objectives are around here, Cassandra. I'm tired of you questioning me. I'm your captain! Respect my decisions!" He replied, glaring at her in warning, and it seemed like he was about to verbally tear into her when she didn't meet his eyes, but was interrupted by the redheaded level two who interposed herself between them.
"That's enough, Hyakinthos. Cassandra is just having an ominous feeling. And we know that her hunches are usually right. So get off your level-up power trip and follow her advice or do whatever you want and piss off!"
"Power trip?! Daphne, you…!" Hyakinthos shouted scandalized while grinding his teeth in rage.
For a moment it seemed like they would start to fight between them as the bluenette tried to pull the adventurer named Daphne away from the angered captain, but unfortunately, the Level 1 pallum made eye contact with me, his eyes shining in recognition, and exclaimed. "Captain Hyakinthos! Look! It's him!" Which knocked the level 3 out of his rage and whipped his head in my direction.
"Ha! See! I was right! This should teach you to not doubt me again." He said with a victorious smirk.
"Now, you miscreant might have escaped the newbies from my familia, but you stand no chance against me. So don't bother even resisting and come with us. My Lord demands it!" He said with a scowl while approaching us, his sword hissing as it left the sheath.
"Stop there! What business do you have with my companion?" Ryuu said, as she interposed herself between the captain and me.
He stopped for a moment, his eyes squinting and widening in recognition at the elf. "Gale? What are you doing with him? Are you going to meddle in the business of the Apollo familia?"
"He is helping me with something. What does the Apollo familia want with him?" She said, her voice clear and firm.
"My lord Apollo generously invited him to become a member of our familia, and that mannerless ruffian repaid such an honor by attacking us." The amount of distaste that came out with that sentence was quite impressive.
At her looking at me in askance, I simply replied, "I refused the offer."
"Which was incredibly rude. How dare you." I rolled my eyes at the idiot interrupting me.
"Their creepy god ignored my refusal and asked his familia to 'escort' me to their manor." I continued saying, air-quoting heavily with my voice. "I, of course, objected to that. So I threw down a smoke bomb and ran away."
"That smoke bomb made my lord have a fit of coughs. Which, as far as I'm concerned, is enough to sentence you to the sword! You're lucky my lord is interested in you. So come with me, and don't make this more difficult than it needs to be!" He yelled at me while trying to set me on fire with his eyes.
Sighing, I started walking forward towards him, Lili following closely behind. "Mr. Regis!?" I heard Miss Ryuu say in disbelief, but she quickly recomposed herself and added. "You don't have to go with them. It's obvious that they're in the wrong. I can assure you that as long as I'm with you, you won't be in any danger."
I rested my hand on her shoulder as I walked by and said wryly under my breath so only she could hear, "Don't worry, I'm certainly putting you between the danger and us."
"Wha—.".
I ignored her sounds of incomprehension and turned towards the captain of the Apollo familia and company that were looking at us warily.
"Before agreeing to anything, I must ask you something." I said, doing a cursory look at the whole group and latching onto their AIM with my senses, before making eye contact with their leader.
My eye twitched a little at the weird sense of depth the two girls carried compared to boys, but I saved it for later.
"We don't have to answer any—" "Does the Apollo familia have any dealings with Evilus?"
The outraged look on his face at my question was enough of an answer, but Cassandra hastily interjected before Hyakinthos could do anything and yelled. "No, we don't!"
With her answer ringing true to my senses and the faces of disgust of the rest allaying any other suspicions I could have had, I said. "In that case, prepare to fight at our side or get out of here."
Before they could reply, the block of ice that blocked the other entrance of the enormous room exploded into ice particles, and with an earthshaking roar, a horde of minotaurs alongside a larger silhouette twice their height, bringing up their rear, charged at us.
Despite being warned beforehand by our senses, Lili and I were the slowest to react to the immediate threat. In my case, it was due to the few variables left that I needed to account for before I decided on the battle plan and Lili because she was waiting for my directions.
The first to react was, oddly enough, the pallum from the Apollo familia, who, an instant before the block of ice exploded, visibly shuddered and started running away towards the entrance of the room they came from.
Daphne got between the horde and Cassandra while Hyakinthos, to his credit, put himself between both of his companions and the rest of us. His eyes widened as he scanned the situation for a split second before barking. "Daphne, take Cassandra and secure the exit of the room now!" The girls, despite their previous confrontational attitude, showed their extensive experience as adventurers and obeyed without hesitation.
I might not like the pompous ass, but I couldn't help but praise his quick strategy decision-making before the unexpected. What I couldn't praise was the calculating gleam his eyes took as they darted between the horde, Miss Ryuu, and my magical-looking sword.
Miss Ryuu hesitated for one moment as her head whipped between us and the horde of minotaurs before her eyes landed on me as I mouthed 'Go' while trying to radiate confidence with my posture. I wasn't sure I succeeded, but she must have understood enough. Because, one moment she was there, the next, she was already darting between the monsters, whacking them to death with her sword-shaped stick.
Then, what I feared would happen happened. The moment Miss Ryuu left, Hyakinthos leaped towards me, his sword lashing out towards my head.
Thanks to having expected it, I managed to parry with my crystalline sword, his sword shaving a small amount from the edge of mine.
A small gust of wind exploded from my sword at the impact, forcing him to backtrack a few steps. A scowl on his face as he squinted at my sword and at his in puzzlement.
His confusion was understandable, because while he didn't hit me with his full strength, his slash should have completely shattered a normal magic sword. I knew from the stories back at Drait that while magically powerful, they were known to be incredibly fragile.
I took advantage of the few moments in which he reevaluated the situation to say. "Lili, leave your backpack and hide. I'll need your help later." I didn't take my eyes away from my opponent, but I felt her running towards the walls near the entrance of the room.
"Are you sure about this? Those minotaurs were brought here by Evilus to target the Gale. She might confuse you for being an accomplice if you continue to attack me." I said, hoping to dissuade him from continuing to fight me.
His expression darkened, and he said, "I only need to knock you out before that happens."
His next attack came twice as fast as the previous one. A vertical textbook slash was performed with expertise befitting a Level 3 and captain of a familia.
I still was able to read it and moved my sword to interpose it in his path.
Another clank rang out before he was blown away again as my sword was heavily chipped by his strike, crystal particles being blown with the gust of wind at him.
"How!?" He raged at me in incomprehension. "You are not an adventurer. It shouldn't matter that you have a magic sword; I should have knocked the sword out of your hands with that strike."
"Maybe you're just weaker than you thought? Or maybe your god's blessing is defective?" I couldn't help but taunt back. Not that he was wrong; if I merely used my physical strength, that attack would have easily blown me away. But the sword was made with my magic, so using telekinesis to keep the sword in place at the moment of impact wasn't that much of a burden.
He growled in anger, his body shivering in outrage at my insult, and dashed forward, lashing out with a combination of light but fast attacks. His sword slowly chipped away at mine with every impact strike, dispersing crystal fragments in the air that consequently unleashed weak gusts of wind after each strike.
I simply defended; he was still far faster than me, even with the gusts of wind forcing him a step back after each attack, but as the defender, as long as I conceded ground, I had to move far less than him.
Besides, it suited me just fine to stall for now.
Hyakinthos, probably because of the incomprehensible situation that was an unblessed combatant holding him off, concentrated even more on trying to break my sword. To the point that, combined with my taunting, he didn't notice as the mist around us started thickening unnaturally in a cocoon around us.
A cocoon that allowed him to clearly see me but not anything on the outside. A cocoon made of mist that dampened the sound coming from the outside.
Finally, after blocking another powerful vertical slash, a critical fracture ran down my sword. From the gleam in his eyes and the eagerness I could read on his AIM. I could tell that he saw the opening for what it wasn't.
So, when he recuperated his balance from the gust of wind that my sword generated. He leaped at me sword first with a thrust aimed at my thigh, and I decided that I had lured him far enough.
So, I Frost Fainted away. Leaving a statue made of ice along with my almost broken sword behind while simultaneously letting go of my mist manipulation/generation formulas.
The result was that the mist came rushing in at the same time as I dashed away, and the captain of the Apollo familia found himself covered in the crystalline dust of my shattered sword with a cover of ice freezing him in place. A second later, when his eyes adjusted themselves to the increased mist, he found himself in the middle of a party of minotaurs who, with my cocoon of mist out of the way, could now perceive him.
I couldn't keep the glee out of my smile at seeing the moment in which his eyes widened in panic as he comprehended that I had lured him into a trap. But as befitting of the strength of a level 3 adventurer, with a burst of strength, he broke the ice covering him and tried to run away.
Emphasis on tried. As not three steps away from where he skewered my icy construct, he found himself having to dodge an attack from a minotaur that had kept up with his speed. He still dispatched the minotaur three seconds flat with an elegant feint and a stab, but by then he found himself having to dodge another minotaur.
It was only after he killed his fifth minotaur that he noticed that every time he tried to sprint away from the battle zone, he found himself slowed down to a level of speed that the minotaurs could easily keep up with.
The reason for that was my Quantum Edge. A Chaos Arcana.
In Lanova, this arcana summoned seven armaments of different elements that inflicted different ailments and dealt damage. With my current level of mastery over my ability, the arcana was beyond me, but summoning a single wind-aspected sword and programming its material to increase air friction to slow someone down when exposed to a certain speed was well within my capabilities.
The problem was getting the crystal-like material of my sword to stick to him, but I solved that by statically charging my sword. It wasn't much, but combined with the gust of wind that came out after every impact, it was enough to cover him with the material.
Hopefully, this little fight would teach him to stop being such a nuisance.
But even as I had that thought, I already knew that it was wishful thinking. That's why, if he was going to become a nuisance anyway, I was going to try to use him any way I could.
Having lured him deep within the battlefield full of minotaurs, I stood up from my hiding spot within the fake tall grass of the floor and set off to disrupt the assassination attempt that was going after the elf, who I could feel might be having way too much fun.
Those maneuvers she was performing were unreal, I tell you.
/////////////////
Ryuu POV.
The pallum's warning at having achieved to learn how to sense with her magic, the Apollo Familia appearance, and the fact that they tried to kidnap Mr. Regis before. Mr. Regis's subtle preparations for the oncoming conflict, which from the various cues seemed much bigger than the adventurer from the Apollo Familia could bring to bear.
Despite being the most experienced adventurer in the room, I felt like I was the one who was catching up with events that were happening as revelations and questions flitted through my mind.
Where did the obviously magic sword Mr. Regis was holding come from? Was it made with his magic? Why did he need it? His iron sand magic was already a nightmare to deal with... and it seemed far more versatile than a sword...
Why was he taunting the captain of the Apollo Familia?
Why was he walking towards them? I got the impression he didn't want to fight them...
What did he mean when he said that he was putting me before him and the danger? He literally put himself between me and the Level 3 adventurer!
Why was he asking if the Apollo Familia was part of Evilus?
As far as I knew, while they possessed a fairly aggressive stance when it came to demanding war games with other familias, we never suspected them of supporting the terrorist familia.
Wait, could it be?!
Then, when I was about to voice out my thoughts and ask what was going on while subtly glancing sideways at the other entrance of the room. The block of ice impeding the other entrance was blown up, and a horde of minotaurs came out of the resulting cloud of ice, dust, and mist.
'A monster party!' was what I first thought was happening. But when an irregular minotaur twice as big, wearing a tamer's collar, became visible at the other side of the horde, any confusion I could have had was banished and replaced with crystal-clear clarity as my heart started burning up in hatred at the realization.
This was a plot from Evilus, and their objective had to be me.
As for how they could have predicted I would be here... The brown-haired pallum hiding behind Mr. Regis's back entered my vision.
Oh, I see... Well, that was another line of investigation I would have to follow on later.
I wondered if this was why Mr. Regis let those adventurers go this morning...
Barely containing the urge to charge ahead and eradicate this horde to go deeper into the dungeon to search for that bastard of Jura, I was reminded by the cold, smooth sensation on my chest of my pendant that I wasn't alone and couldn't exactly run off.
Turning to face Mr. Regis, I was faced with bright green eyes that seemed to light up in the mist brimming with confidence, and I felt a pang of pain in my heart.
His figure held the oh-so-familiar fake but somehow comforting faith that everything would be alright alongside the gleam in his eyes that screamed 'I have a plan!' to the skies before everything started being blown up, giving me vertiginous déjà vu.
Alise... Lyra...
The roars coming from the minotaurs snapped me out of my grief-fueled illusion.
It really wasn't the time, goddammit, Ryuu. Get your head in the game.
Assessing the situation as the high-class adventurer I was barely took half a fraction of a second. And I realized what I had to do, as much as I wanted to stay with Mr. Regis to shield him from the Apollo Familia. I needed to deal with the minotaurs and stop Jura before he unleashed another monstrosity.
Besides, if whatever plan Regis had in mind with that sword was in any way remotely similar to any of Lyra's patented plans, I wanted to get out of the blast radius as soon as possible.
I wasn't looking forward to being blown up by copious amounts of explosives.
Again.
So, with a slightly heavier heart and one last look at my companions to reassure myself. I turned towards the horde of monsters.
As I closed in on the horde and got a clearer picture of the situation, a simple thought came to mind.
There were way too many minotaurs.
Even two monster parties together wouldn't spawn so many monsters. Was their plan to exhaust me and then ambush me when I finished them all? Because even with as many minotaurs as there were before me, I was a Level 4 magic swordswoman. One highly skilled in concurrent casting and with access to large-scale magic.
A horde of Level 2 creatures like this wouldn't be enough to defeat me.
I was aware that they knew it too. I was too high-profile for my general abilities to remain a secret.
By the time I jumped onto the leading minotaur's shoulder, cutting its head off, I still hadn't managed to figure out what Evilus was thinking.
Someone who orchestrated the death of my familia wouldn't stop at just this. I could feel it in my gut.
Not letting myself slow down, I jumped from the first minotaur to the next before it disintegrated into ashes. Slashing the next minotaur head, I started zigzagging from minotaur shoulder to minotaur shoulder without losing speed.
My adventurer instinct and experience allowed me to maneuver through the exceedingly crowded battlefield, jumping from monster to monster while maintaining a solid footing and avoiding any attacks from the low-level monsters.
The minotaurs couldn't react to my speed, and it was thanks to this same speed and my Aero Mana skill, which strengthened my attack power the faster I went, that allowed me to kill them with a single slash.
Once the twelfth monster fell to my sword, a wave of heavy mist overcame me from behind.
The abrupt change in the mist blocked my sight for a moment and almost made me fumble the next landing. Thankfully, the minotaurs were even more blinded than me, so I managed to stick the landing while thrusting my sword out at the minotaur's right eye.
The minotaur fell down to the floor with me on it. And I suddenly found myself surrounded by minotaurs two times my size, and I had lost my momentum.
Instants later, when the monster puffed away and my feet touched the floor, the mist around me broke away to be replaced by four minotaurs attacking me from four different directions.
They still couldn't lay a hand on me, as I activated my Mind Load skill and felt my mind starting to drain to increase my physical capabilities.
I ducked under their punches and weaved their grappling attempts while slashing their kneecaps, making them fall to their knees. Four quick stabs at their chest, where the magic stone resided, later. They disintegrated, leaving clouds of ash behind.
In the few seconds this encounter lasted, the mists dispersed a little, and my eyes adjusted slightly, allowing me to see a few feet around me due to the monsters puffing away.
Three more minotaurs charged at me as I turned to delve deeper into the horde. With the few feet of space afforded to me, I was able to gather some momentum necessary for my Aero Mana skill. They fell even faster than the last group as I dashed and slashed around them as I passed by.
I was stronger, tougher, and reacted far faster than what the Level 2 monsters could ever hope, but I still found myself anchored to the ground due to the poor visibility.
I couldn't risk taking to the skies without knowing where to jump.
Was this mist part of Evilus's plan?
As I chopped another minotaur in half, I came to the realization that it wasn't. I remembered that Mr. Regis had asked me if I could fight in a dense mist.
So, the mist was probably necessary for his plan and probably an unforeseen and disadvantageous variable for Evilus.
But even if this mist was a hindrance for them, it also impeded my perception of the situation.
While I could survive and eventually defeat this horde like this, I knew that there was going to be a trap somewhere, and I didn't know if I was going to be able to see it coming if I continued like this.
Lyra's arms were flying around as her chest was skewered by bone lances... Kaguya's head rolling to the ground as she cut a leg from that bone monstrosity... Alise burning herself alive as she overcharged her magic for a last chance to pry open that thing's armor...
No, I couldn't allow it to happen again. I had to find out what they planned before it was too late.
I would have to risk using that.
So, as the next minotaur launched a punch from behind, I allowed my body to fall under it while sheathing my sword to my belt and rolled backwards between its legs. When my feet found purchase on the ground, I found myself facing its back. So, I jumped and lashed with my fist.
The minotaur's spine cracked under my fist, and the minotaur started falling limply in front of me. Before he finished falling to the ground, I landed softly next to his thick ankles and grabbed them tightly.
With my Mind Load ability working at full capacity, I heaved it up and started spinning as fast as I could. The minotaur took on a blue magical sheen as it accelerated due to my Aero Mana and started to cut and blow the rest of the minotaurs that were charging at me away.
Thirteen revolutions and three seconds later, the minotaur suddenly puffed away. The accumulated damage was too much for the monster.
But it had served its purpose of granting me some space. The monsters that weren't cut and killed instantly were blown away and knocked the rest in the vicinity like a domino.
Of course, more were climbing and charging at me through their brethren, but it was enough.
I took a deep breath, took my necklace into my hands, and closed my eyes. After the second breath, the world lighted up.
Where before I could barely see more than a couple of meters due to the mist. Now I could feel different waves of light pulsing from the floor and monsters around me. Just in time, as I felt one of the pulsing lights jump at me from behind.
I unsheathed my sword and thrust it behind me, feeling the familiar resistance of minotaur flesh on my sword before it penetrated something harder. The light pulsed one final time and disappeared alongside the resistance of his flesh on my sword.
I opened my eyes and saw as the senses coming from my magic overlap with my vision and allowed myself a small smile as I reassessed the positions of the enemies. With an accurate mental map of the immediate battlefield, I took to the air and started executing the same tactic as before, slashing each minotaur from its shoulder before jumping at the next.
My newly found ability to perceive my surroundings helped me accelerate and kill the monsters faster. But I quickly realized that this level of sensing wouldn't be enough to discern the plot. I could feel all the enemies around me, but I needed more. Since at a certain distance, the colorless lights started mixing together and muddling my search for the enemy adventurers.
With a snarl, I realized that there was no other choice but to release the muting magic of the earrings Mr. Regis gave me.
There was a chance that I would lose myself and die. But... Mr. Regis's blood slipped through his lips as a minotaur stabbed him from behind its horn.
I wouldn't allow anyone else to die. I just couldn't.
So, as I leaped through the air from one minotaur to the next, I focused on my earrings, and a lever appeared in my mind. Without a moment of hesitation, I yanked it to the other side.
The world unfolded itself.
The black and white world that my senses provided me was suddenly filled with color, and a cacophony of different music rang loudly in my head.
The desperate rage and fear-inducing percussion of the minotaurs charging at me from the horde. Their brown auras flared up identically from one another in an attempt to drown everything else. A darker aura and sinister melody as powerful, if not more so, than the entire horde shadowed the charging minotaurs as if looking to consume them alive from the rear.
A combination of different muted melodies chaotically intertwined with one another came from my back, which, with but a glance, I could conclude came from whatever conflict Mr. Regis was having with the Apollo familia.
Finally, a grief-filled melody made up of the winds asserted itself a second later as I slashed the next minotaur head.
For a moment while I jumped from the dying monster to another, I looked around puzzled at where this melody was coming from...
Oh... that... that tune was mine, wasn't it? I could feel the resemblance with what Mr. Regis had embarrassed me with that morning.
Over the following few minutes of battle, I let my instinct take over and simply listened.
It had been a few years since I became an adventurer, and I had been called a lot of things. Idiot elf, fairy, brutish elf, naive elf, stubborn elf, Gale. But despite some unflattering names, almost everyone who saw me fight agreed that the way I moved while fighting was beautiful, enchanting, like I was dancing. As if I was following an unheard rhythm.
This rhythm usually led me to favorable placement to attack and counter. When I was asked how I did it, I answered that I didn't know, that I was simply following my instincts.
But as I weaved between minotaurs, effortlessly slashing and leaping from enemy to enemy at the rhythm playing in my head. I could only conclude the following.
I have always fought taking advantage of this sensing ability. I just couldn't consciously hear it before.
But now, I focused on myself; I heard the melody of the minotaurs and my own melody. I played them in my mind and decided on how I wanted to end it.
A specific line from the falna written on my back started to burn.
Musical notes filled a musical sheet in my mind alongside runes and letters of power that I could barely follow. But there was one thing I knew for sure: if I followed it and played it to the end, I was going to win.
The horde would be defeated.
Everyone would be safe.
The melody echoing around my body sharpened, rang louder, and synchronized with the melody of minotaurs.
Then it overwhelmed it completely.
The next slash of my sword killed three minotaurs instead of one, as I lined my jump according to the music.
The following killed two more, while it crippled three on the way who were consequently killed by the charging minotaurs that stomped them to death in their haste.
I didn't think. I simply jumped, twirled, spun, weaved, and slashed with my sword as the rhythm of my magic indicated.
In this mist-filled battlefield, I ended the lives of the monsters in front of me with grace and efficiency that I couldn't possibly have rivaled before, even in perfect conditions.
Before I knew it, my mouth started moving, and the song of my magic rang in perfect coordination with my melody.
"In the sky of a now-distant forest.
Infinite stars scattered in the endless night sky."
I stepped on a minotaur's fist that had tried to swat me from the air,
"Respond to my foolish voice,
Give me now divine protection of starfire."
I leaped from the fist and cut its head off while spinning. Before it disintegrated, I picked the severed head and threw it horn-first at another minotaur charging at me.
"Give the mercy of light to the one that abandoned you.""
The horns of the severed head penetrated through the eyes and the brain of the monster while I kicked its headless body.
"Come, wandering wind,
the wandering traveler."
The kick let me fly through a trajectory where my blade filled with cutting winds killed a row of five minotaurs.
"Cross the sky and run through the wilderness,
run faster than anything else."
I landed, running and weaving a headbutt and punch from a minotaur. I grabbed the punching hand with my own and swung myself upwards to take to the air and avoid the other minotaur's horn.
"Imbue the light of stardust and destroy the enemy."
High in the air, just as the melody in my head reached the climax, I shouted.
"Luminous Wind."
Orbs of swirling lethal winds and stardust formed on my back like wings when suddenly a sharp whistle interrupted my grand finale, breaking my concentration and making everything go quiet as my sensing technique was disrupted.
My eyes, which had been unfocused, lost in my music as I had been, sharpened and widened at the point of an invisible projectile, a void that was now visible through the mist, a foot away from my face.
Ah, invisible arrows... So, that was their plan...
In the end, I lost myself. I became so preoccupied with killing the monsters quickly so that my vision where Mr. Regis died didn't happen that I forgot to look for the enemy adventurers...
So, this was the end.
I tried to shift my head sideways anyway, even knowing that I wouldn't be fast enough. Just to find that even if I avoided the first, there was a second arrow coming from a different angle.
Alice, Kaguya, Lyra, Lady Astraea, and everyone.
I'm sorry.
A tiny icicle and a tiny crossbow bolt suddenly came from different directions and knocked the invisible arrows-shaped projectiles away.
Oh, so that was why he wanted more mist...
My eyes widened in disbelief as everything came together, and my musical field roared back in vengeance, telling me what I needed to do to finish the horde.
When I reached the highest point of my jump, I unleashed my orbs of lethal wind and stardust strategically upon the horde, reserving half for the irregular monster who, irregular or not, became mincemeat in front of my magic.
Landing a second later, I saw the mist starting to disperse due to my spell.
Quickly scanning my surroundings in search of my companions and any possible enemies, I sighed in relief as a white cloaked figure appeared with three mangled corpses being dragged behind him by dark, sparking tendrils that came from within his cloak.
"Hey Miss Ryuu, you alright?" Came the familiar but tired voice of Mr. Regis.
I was about to answer with an affirmative answer, but my response got caught in my throat as the realization that I had been nearly killed hit me like a punch from the Goliath.
I nearly died, without having managed to avenge or save anyone...
I nearly made Alise's and the rest's sacrifice worthless...
All because I let my fear and rage cloud my judgment...
Tears threatened to spill from my lacrimals, but I forcefully kept them in. It wasn't the time to grieve, much less cry.
"Ryuu, please, call me Ryuu. And yes, I'm uninjured, thanks to you. Are you alright?" I managed to say.
He just saved my life.
Trying to keep with formalities at this point seemed absurd to me.
"Ah, alright then, Ryuu, you can call me Regis. Never liked formalities in the first place. And yes, I'm fine. Just a little tired." He said, a little surprised, but smiled warmly at me nonetheless.
It didn't surprise me; we elves were known for keeping our distance with all other races. An elf asking to drop formalities with one another, not to mention with someone from another species, was an honor and a sign of trust.
"How did you do it?" I asked, replaying the events in my mind. Remembering that he asked me about fighting in the heavy mist before the fight even began. "And where is the Apollo Familia?" A quick look showed that they weren't around.
"I sensed the horde and these adventurers before they broke in. But they registered weird to my electromagnet—I mean, to my magical sight. So I assumed that they were using some kind of magical stealth."
Remembering that he could sense through the elements, I concluded. "So, you used the mist to level the playing field. If we couldn't see them because of their stealth, then they wouldn't be able to see us because of the mist."
"Exactly, as for the Apollo familia, the last I sensed them. When their captain managed to reunite with them after I lost him in the mist, they were doing a fighting retreat with the minotaurs that got past you." He said with an impish smile, his tired eyes regaining some spark.
As cute as that face made him, I didn't want to know, so I didn't ask.
"Are they Evilus?" I asked, referring to the adventurers behind him.
Then, his face showed disgust as he continued. "No. I don't think they're Evilus." A small piece of metal jumped from the bodies to his hand. "See?"
A familiar emblem was carved in the metal badges. "Sekhmet familia." I said recognizing the infamous criminal familia of assassins.
"Yeah, and they were using this." He said, referring to something in his left hand. But I didn't see anything at first. It was only when I squinted and focused my vision that I saw the subtlest of something even existing floating a foot over his hand.
"The invisible arrows?" He nodded at me and said. "Yeah, they are normal arrows, but they're wrapped by some kind of fabric. See." A tendril of iron sand spawned over the arrow and delicately peeled something from it, revealing the arrow beneath.
"An invisibility cloak!" I said surprised; they were incredibly rare and valuable, and no one knew who made them. But, from time to time, they appeared in specialized magical shops.
Which kind of insane person would ruin such a life-saving artifact just to... Right, a criminal familia full of crazy adventurers.
"But was that really it? A horde of minotaurs and camouflaged assassins with invisible arrows. Was that truly their entire plot?" I asked pensively and a little offended. Because I knew that if I was alone and wasn't compromised by external factors, I would have survived.
Perhaps not unscratched, but certainly alive.
"I don't think so; I think they were only a diversion." He said, snapping me out of my mood, before shouting. "Did you manage to collect them all, Lili?"
The pallum appeared from within a nearby patch of the tall grass, carrying a small bag. "I think so, Master Regis." She said.
Regis closed his eyes for a second and then nodded to himself and said. "Yes, you did. Good job, Lili." He said while patting her head. "Also, that was a great shot; I barely had to correct the course of your arrow."
"Hehe, thank you very much. It was only thanks to your mist and teachings, Master Regis."
Remembering that the second invisible arrow was knocked out of course by a crossbow bolt. I realized that the tiny pallum, no, Lili, was the one who did it.
"Lili, thank you for saving me." I said, bowing as much as my elven upbringing allowed me to in gratitude.
"Ah, no. It was only thanks to Master Regis, who told me when and where to shoot." She said totally flabbergasted. As if the situation in front of her was something that couldn't possibly be happening.
I felt a little offended; we elves might be distant, arrogant, racist, and total ungrateful idiots from time to time. But we were also noble and knew when to express gratitude when it was due.
Then, I remembered the reasons I left Ryumilua forest in the first place... Well, alright, most of us knew when to express gratitude. Most of the time.
Anyways, "What did you mean when you said that all this was just a diversion?" I asked.
"Ah, well, look at this." Regis said while showing me the interior of the bag Lili brought with her.
Chills crawled down my spine as the interior revealed dozens of broken bombs. "They were going to bomb the entire room once I finished with the horde. If the explosion and cave-in of the dungeon didn't kill me, then the dungeon's retaliation would for sure do the deed." I said in horrified disbelief.
"Yeah, I noticed the huge concentrations of fire mana right away. So when I asked Lili..." he said, while patting her head, and she interjected with an uncomfortable smile. "Lili knows how to use and break bombs."
"She said that, so I asked her to collect them while I dealt with the adventurers. There are a few other corpses out there hidden in the grass that I had knocked out. But unfortunately, the minotaurs killed them while they were down." He said with a somber expression.
"I see. Did anyone survive?" I asked, looking for any other leads. If this assassination attempt was only carried out by the Sekhmet familia then I couldn't be sure that it was Evilus behind the attack.
"I didn't sense anyone else; everyone who entered this room from the other one died. Then again, my range isn't that large if I don't completely focus on it. And I was pretty busy paying attention to the Apollo Familia."
Isn't that large? He was busy?
He says that even when he figured out enough to discern their multilayered assassination ploy and simultaneously created a counterplan on the fly while dealing with a Level 3 adventurer of considerable skill...
I could feel my left eye twitch at how ridiculous he was.
"There was someone else." Lili said, surprising me and Regis.
"Really, who and where?" I asked, suddenly alert of my surroundings.
"It was a cat person. And he barely entered the other room before leaving and going deeper into the dungeon." I was on her the next instant. "Tell me more. Where is he now? Do you know anything else?"
"Ah no, I'm sorry, Lady Ryuu. From that far away, I could only tell that he was a cat person. I lost him when he left the misty floors and entered the middle floors," she said a little flustered while half hiding behind Regis. "Although he had a few monsters from the deeper floors at his side, I think that he might be tamer."
Jura! It had to be him. Tamers were incredibly rare outside of the Ganesha Familia. And someone had to have put together the minotaur horde.
She said middle floors, didn't she? This was my chance; with my speed, I could get there fast, and with my new sensing ability...
I took a look at my companions, and while tired and a little ruffled, I assessed that they would be able to get out of the dungeon safely.
Speed was going to be necessary to catch up with Jura, and while Regis was a great mage, he wouldn't be able to keep up. And even less with Lili and her porter bag.
"I'm going after him. Thank you for everything, Regis. Lili. I'll see you both later." I said a little remorsefully.
"What?! Ryuu, wait!" "Lady Ryuu?!"
I felt sorry leaving them like this, but I couldn't let this chance escape, and time was of essence.
But not five steps away from where I was, I heard. "Ryuu! Watch out!" Followed by a thunderclap.
Suddenly, Regis was beside me; lighting sparkled everywhere, and faster than I could react, a huge projectile passed by my face, cutting some hair and embedding itself on the wall on the other side of the room with an earthshaking boom.
What... just happened? Was that a spear?
Regis fell to the ground with a grunt, his body steaming; electrical arcs jumped from his body to the ground, and he smelled slightly burned. I only knew that he was still conscious because he was keeping himself upright and vigilant with an arm pressing against the ground.
The other had been carved open, and a lot of blood was beginning to stain the ground.
"Master Regis!" Lili shrieked in worry and ran to the mage on the ground while I interposed myself between him and the position the projectile had come from.
But I was faced with nothing.
There just wasn't anyone there.
Scanning the room, my senses were telling me that we were alone in the room. Focusing my senses with the pendant, the world lit up again, but I reached the same answer.
We were alone. There wasn't anyone else.
But what happened wasn't an illusion. There was still a bloodied spear on the wall of the dungeon.
"Hah hah hah, Lili, did you sense anyone apart from us in the room?" Said Regis, his voice rough and extremely tired.
"No, Master." The pallum said.
"I see, that's terrifying. I didn't sense anyone else either."