-oOo-

-oOo-

Voomp.

Sylvia stepped through a portal, high heels clicking on the smoothed stone platform at Gate Point. Behind was the waygate she had erected. At its side was a podium on which stood a large realm crystal. This crystal was one of the items supplied by Lady Vallenfelt when Emily entered the Cloud Island Wilderness.

A realm crystal was an elemental source. It stored ether, no different than the jewel at the tip of Sylvia's staff. When initially opening a gate from Pyrinas, it was worthless. However, after the gate had been forged, a mage could draw ether through the gate to offset the mana cost of transporting goods or people.

Which was quite convenient.

Light flickered. The portal closed. Emily would open the path back in four hours.

Sylvia's pastel pink eyes found the island's lone occupant. "Any trouble while we were gone?"

The grotesque head of the gargoyle turned. Dark red eyes glared at her, glinting with endless malice.

Silence.

The head turned back.

"Yeah, that's pretty much what I expected," Sylvia said to herself.

With steady steps, the silver-haired witch crossed Gate Point, smooth stone transforming into rugged terrain. Then the land itself fell away. Sylvia walked across void, passing from shield island to shore by way of the plane's only natural harbor, Chaos Lagoon.

Petals danced beneath her feet. Stars shimmered far below.

The harbor stood empty.

Before heading off on their venture, Sylvia had cobbled together a crude dock. The Utrecht was now firmly moored beside the rock they called home.

Sylvia landed on the sandy shores. A stone path brought her to her house. A few trees were sprouting from the grass as the plane's logic tried to reassert itself and restore order. With nary a glance, the asteri flicked out a trio of spells dispersing their essence.

"Looks like everything is still in working order," Sylvia said to herself, slowly checking the base interior.

The resurrection pool showed no fault nor sign of damage. All the gargoyles were intact. The law based wards keeping the phantasms in check were working, as confirmed with a few pings of Track Threats. Satisfied, the witch headed for the storage room.

"■■■■."

A quick levitation wrapped a pair of crates. With the boxes hovering behind her, Sylvia headed back to Gate Point. Soon the supplies were settled on the smooth stone platform.

"Warding talismans, check. Totem, check. One thousand droms of stone, check," Sylvia said, verifying the contents.

The Black Silk Swamp did not lack trees, mud, or spiders. Stone, however, was in short supply. Having forged their way through the swamp, it was now time to set down the frame of a new base. A way station to hold their waygate.

This would be their foothold on Pyrinas so that even after death they could easily resume their journey.

"We're going to have to go back and forth several times," Sylvia grumbled. Neither witch was strong enough to do it in one go. "And I might have to harvest more stone while I'm here too."

Not today though. She'd discuss it with Emily when she got back.

Since everything was in order, Sylvia decided to kill time on the porch.

And what better way was there than to shitpost on the internet?

♦ Netherworld >> Cloud Island Wilderness >> General Chat

Topic: Can anyone guess the best use of spider silk?

CutestSilverBird (Original Poster)

Posted: 2 hours ago

Hello everyone. Your resident sword god is checking in from the depths of Hell. Today, I ran into a few spiders. Here, let me post a pic.

[Pic: Spider in a burning hellscape]

Now, don't get scared. These face eating beauties are pretty mild as demons go. They're also tasty. I know the ladies won't believe me, but remember, spiders are land crabs. Steam them up, crack open the legs and eat them with butter. Yum.

Just be careful around the poison glands.

The chitin also makes good armor. But what do you think I should do with all the spider silk?

(Showing page 1 of 2)

► Npc72 [Posted: 1 hour ago]

Holy fuck! Please tell me you photoshopped that image.

► SongGirl [Posted: 1 hour ago]

Oh my god, Cutie is so, so cute.

► CutestSilverBird [Posted: 1 hour ago]

Oh, the green-haired girl isn't me. She's a friend of mine. We're doing a quest together. Since she doesn't have a login, let's call her EmeraldElegance.

► Npc72 [Posted: 1 hour ago]

I thought you were joking when you said you were in Hell. But that looks an awful lot like Hell to me.

► CutestSilverBird [Posted: 1 hour ago]

I'm a very honest person. I've never told a lie in my life.

► SecretProtagonist [Posted: 47 minutes ago]

There's a lot of water on the ground, so why are the trees on fire?

► CutestSilverBird [Posted: 42 minutes ago]

First off, water on the ground doesn't mean water in the trees. Second, good catch. Those, SecretProtagonist, are what we call inferno trees. They're always burning. Come rain or snow. And yes, it snows in Hell. But instead of ice, it snows black flakes of crystallized acid. Kiddies, don't try to play in this snow or build a snowman. You'll regret it.

► DustyLibrarian [Posted: 24 minutes ago]

@CutestSilverBird, I'm confused as to how you harvest phantasmal creatures in the netherworld. According to the books I've read, a phantasm will dissolve into ether shortly after being killed. I know it has to be possible, because other books talk about using creature parts.

But how does it work? What's the mechanism?

► CutestSilverBird [Posted: 19 minutes ago]

Long story short: Ki.

The easiest way is to stabilize the corpse with ki. Tricky part is you've got, maybe, a five-minute window before its gone. Hence, most demons prefer melee combat. Supposedly, you can also use magic, but as a swordsman, I naturally use ki.

One thing to note, unless you kill the enemy very clean and get to the corpse almost instantly, it's impossible to preserve the whole thing. So you have to choose which parts to sacrifice in order to sustain the others. Sometimes, you should sacrifice anyway to concentrate the essence. That's how you get rare drops.

► DustyLibrarian [Posted: 13 minutes ago]

But couldn't you just let the poison glands dissipate then?

Back, 1, 2, Next

(Showing page 2 of 2)

► CutestSilverBird [Posted: 7 minutes ago]

If you let the gland dissipate naturally, the essence will intermingle with the meat. Which is a no-no.

Back, 1, 2, Next

With a sly smile, Sylvia posted utter bullshit intermixed with useful truths. She had never eaten a spider. Obviously. Sylvia hadn't figured out how to cook yet, so how could she eat them?

But she was definitely eating spiders in her heart. On nom nom. Mmm. Land crabs. Better than stinky silk and stupid dresses.

Amused, the witch burned a quarter point of mana to refresh the screen.

► SecretProtagonist [Posted: 1 minute ago]

CutestSilverBird, we can see your reflection in the eyes of the spider.

Back, 1, 2, Next

…

…

Sylvia tapped the image then zoomed twice. The expanded picture revealed the dark visage of a twin tailed witch.

…

"Sugar plums."

The asteri quickly navigated to her gallery. The image collection came with the camera function she'd purchased. Was there an editing function on this damn thing? Sylvia scanned the icons, searching nervously.

Wait! Stupid. Forget about that garbage. The most important thing was to edit her post and remove the image before anyone else found out!

…

No. No. No. That wouldn't work either. Everyone would take that as proof the reflected girl was her. If Sylvia wanted to salvage the situation the best course was….

► CutestSilverBird [Posted: 0 minutes ago]

Oh, that's my other companion. No name for her because she's shy. She requested that I keep her out of the picture, so I hope nobody minds if I take the image down for a bit so I can edit her out.

And yes, though I try not to brag, I'm a harem protagonist. It comes with being a seven-foot-tall ode to masculinity.

Back, 1, 2, Next

Sylvia nodded. Problem solved. This was the true path of the troll. Lie. Misdirect. Deceive. Don't acknowledge the truth. Instead, gaslight her audience into believing her mistake never happened. With that post up, Sylvia lazily removed the image, taking her time to learn the System controls.

-oOo-

Two witches sped over flat land. Dust whipped around them, the shadow of their brooms cast upon the earth half-a-dozen meters below. The ground was baked and cracked. The air so dry it felt as though it were sucking the moisture from her membranes. The late morning sun hung in a clear blue sky, shedding furious rays and the promise of stifling, summertime heat.

Sylvia noticed none of it.

"■, ■, ■!"

Wind blades burst from her staff. The swords of air tore through a pair of ants, splitting chitin as though it were paper. The witch waggled to avoid a third, twin tails dancing behind her.

"I hate these things," Sylvia spat.

"Mmm," Emily hummed in agreement.

This small squad was one part of a horde. Two hundred hive ant scouts were in hot pursuit. The bulk was at their rear, flying at two thirds their speed. Two arms of ants extended to their left and right, tightening the noose.

"Up!" Sylvia shouted.

The witch jerked the handle of her broom. She rose even as she swerved. Globs of acid were flung from below. A line of hive ant warriors were at their fore, business ends pointed in their direction. The angry phantasms let loose a barrage.

But their aim was no match for the brooms' speed.

Whoosh. Whoosh.

In a flash, a pair of asteri passed overhead.

Hive ants were the most obnoxious phantasmal species Sylvia had run across in the Cloud Island Wilderness. Individually, they were weak, but the ants loved to form large throngs of hundreds if not thousands.

Which was far more monster than Sylvia had mana.

"They're corralling us," Emily noted, expression grim.

But numbers weren't what made them dangerous, it was their hive mind. The whole colony was a single, psychic collective. What one ant saw, they all saw. What one knew, they all knew. More terrifying, the colony was smart enough to deploy simple tactics.

"Corralling us out of their territory, I hope."

Another kilometer of flight and the two reached the limit of the ants' territory. Any joy at that discovery was dashed by the man-sized wasps patrolling the boundary. Six groups of eight. And that was just what Sylvia could see at a casual glance.

"Snickerdoodles," Sylvia cursed, coming to a sudden stop. "Steel needled wasps."

Emily's cheeks puffed in anger. "Annoying."

The silver-haired witch looked over her shoulder. The horde of scouts was closing, hammer to the wasps' anvil.

"So, what would you prefer?" Sylvia asked with a bitter grin. "Dissolved into a goo or stabbed to death by wasps?"

"The plateau is no good then," the emeraldette sighed.

Emily slipped off her broom, standing on spectral flowers. Sylvia joined her, slipping the tool back into her soul. The silver-haired girl gazed out into the dust and azure, white sundress fluttering in the wind. The world tree lingered on the horizon, branches swallowing a quarter of the sky.

Foomph.

The delicate emeraldette burst into flame, body transforming into ash.

"Back to base then," Sylvia murmured. She chanted. "■■ ■■■."

Runes entered her heart. In an instant, the witch's mana was devoured.

Foomph.

Then she was gone.

…

A day later, Sylvia woke.

The silver-haired witch trudged out of the resurrection pool. The motion felt routine. Dull and defeated, she whispered a steady chant. Hundreds of runes were spun like thread and string. A tapestry that transformed into white cloth.

By the time Sylvia opened the door, she was wearing a white dress.

Creation magics summoned figments rather than phantasms. An existence drawn from ether, but lacking essence and therefore substance. In time, it would fade into nothing and Sylvia would have to cast her spell again.

As had become habit, Sylvia opened her status to view her progress.

Name Sylvia Swallows Class Common Witch Level 282+60 Exp 396 / 2830 HP 434 / 434 MP 1098 / 1098 Str 15 Mag 95 Vit 10 Spr 100 Agl 40 Wit 82

"One level and a thousand experience down the drain," Sylvia groaned. She flicked the window back out of view.

This wasn't Sylvia's third death. It was her sixth.

The System calendar marked the date as Sunday of the first week of Men-Ferrum. Sylvia had set foot on this plane well over five months ago. Emily had arrived two months after. Yet, it felt as though it might take another half year before they reached the world tree.

Pyrinas was fiercer than either of them had imagined.

Crossing the Black Silk Swamp had proven easy enough. The spiders that made the place home, black spinners as Sylvia had named them, were reasonably weak. More importantly, they were often encountered alone and rarely in groups of more than ten. The most dangerous creature in the area was actually the red eyed raven, but even those were harmless with the right preparation.

The territories after had proven significantly less friendly. Their first path had followed a river for thirty kilometers, the worst outcome being Emily's hilarious encounter with the emerald eating crocodiles. However, that route had been cut short when they ran into a Class V nether beast.

A giant rattle cobra, to be specific.

Undeterred, they had tried again, heading west right before the vale. The grassy plains had been pleasant enough, but the territory, it turned out, was impassable. The sky above was spotted by small and tiny islands that were part of the Three Sisters Archipelago. On them lived thousands of three sisters rocs.

Fighting the falcons on ground was easier than facing them in the air, but the birds saw too far and flew too fast. On flat land, with no cover, they had faced a constant barrage of attacks until, inevitably, they succumbed.

As for the hot and dusty plateau to the east?

Well, that turned out to be the home of multiple insect kingdoms. Oh, yeah. And fly a kilometer up and there were rocs there too.

Sylvia hated those damn falcons.

The silver-haired witch stepped outside.

Cool night greeted her. The smaller moon was to the south, blue glow half hidden by Starlight's spine. The other unleashed silver light from high above. Emily rested in her rocking chair, always first to awaken from death. A product of the witch's superior vitality.

Sylvia, admittedly, had been treating the attribute like a dump stat.

"How are things?" the silver-haired witch asked, taking her own wicker seat.

"Disappointing," Emily replied.

Sylvia's eyes turned up. "At least the night is beautiful."

"The moon and the stars are from Ayu," Emily explained. "When I was a little girl, I'd always look up at them wondering who I'd be. After I left for the tower, I'd gaze at them to remind myself the world was filled with marvels."

"Duo Paca Ayu?" Sylvia asked.

"Mmm," Emily sounded, nodding happily. Then she giggled. "I was really amazed when I heard that humans walked on the moon. Without magic!"

Sylvia laughed. "No technology on Ayu then?"

"They have trains and magi-tech," Emily answered. "Nothing like Earth. Before I was born, there had even been a revolution. The evil liberals tried to overthrow the wise and noble king and instill a madness called democracy."

"I'd like to hear more about it sometime," Sylvia said.

"I'll tell you," Emily said cheerfully. Then the emeraldette set her chin on her palm, looking so gentle and ladylike. "Ah, my adorable Sylvia is like an angel in the moonlight."

"More like a ghost," Sylvia scoffed.

The silver-haired witch already had a pale complexion. Combined with a white dress and glossy, light gray hair, she looked washed out.

Fashion. One of those things charm club pounded into her head. On rare occasions, she even appreciated it.

Emily wore an impish smile. "I'll be happy to make new clothes for you."

And obviously it'd all be pink. Sylvia just knew it.

"So, what do we do next?"

This was the lingering question. Since landing on Pyrinas, they'd never made it more than a hundred kilometers south. That wasn't even halfway to the tree. Worse, their way forward was blocked south, east, and west. To avoid these obstacles, they'd have to swing around the plains or plateau, but doing so would add fifty kilometers to their journey.

And who was to say the other directions weren't worse?

Once upon a time, Sylvia had looked forward to the second consolidation. She'd envisioned the leap of power it would bring, fantasizing of running rampant on the plane harvesting experience right and left.

Now though…. Now, she'd realized it'd be a drop in the bucket, a marginal increase that would barely shift their circumstance.

Eighteen levels and fifty thousand experience points to go.

Every little bit helps.

"I think we should try the vale again," Emily decided.

"Did you forget the giant snake?" Sylvia reminded cynically. "Because I didn't forget the giant snake. Or how my wind scythe bounced off its scales. And I very definitely remember how he slurped me up five seconds into the fight."

To make sure Emily understood, Sylvia projected the bastard's stats onto a shared window.

Slyde – Rattle Cobra [C-V/High] Type Nether Beast Level 907 Hp/Mp 13,100 / 1,325 Atk/Def 2,400 / 230 Celerity 160% Abilities: Giant, Poison Manipulation, Wracking Rattle, Ki Control

Those stats didn't do Slyde justice. The most frightening thing about the beast wasn't his raw attributes. It was his ki. Nether beasts weren't like phantasms. They could learn. They could grow. They could develop an intellect that challenged the limits of an animal.

They also had souls.

Which meant nether beasts were immortal and could resurrect. With a life span measured in thousands of years, a nether beast had plenty of time to master a few arts.

Sylvia didn't know how long Slyde had been ruling that vale, but it was long enough the snake had become a manifestation realm expert. The beast was a martial artist complete with movement techniques, combat arts, and ki armor.

"Slyde?" Emily giggled. "You're so cute."

Sylvia's expression turned sour. Giving a boss a name wasn't cute. It was right and proper. That's why powerful monsters were sometimes called named creatures!

Emily should understand this. She was from Earth. Sylvia knew the emeraldette had played RPGs.

"That vale is seven kilometers across at its widest. Where we ran into Slyde, it was only two. There's no way we're slipping past that snake."

Was she bitter? Oh, yes, Sylvia was bitter. It had been a very bitter reality check to get swallowed without putting up a fight.

"That's why the vale is our best bet," Emily replied, all business. "Map please."

Sylvia projected a window. Using a delicate finger, the green-haired witch traced a circle along river and vale. The river ran beside the plateau's cliffs surrounded by forest. To the west the forest fell away, replaced by undulating hills then vast prairie.

The area Emily marked ran for nearly fifty-kilometers, ballooning as the plateau peeled back. The terrain at this point was inexact, drawn purely from the data collected by Sylvia's farsight augmented eyes.

"Every nether beast has its territory. Since little Slyde – "

"He's eighty meters long," Sylvia deadpanned.

The imp stuck out a tongue then continued, "Since Slyde's territory is pressed in on both sides it's probably very long."

"Even if we could get past the snake," which they most definitely could not, "That vale is teeming with phantasms. It's an easier journey than the plains or plateau, I'll grant, but it won't be easy."

Emily giggled. "Sylvia, Sylvia. You focus too much on primordial magic."

Sylvia frowned.

The girl's umbral eyes twinkled. "A history lesson then. What do you know about titans?"

Recently, Emily had taken on the role of Sylvia's teacher, encouraging the witch to study and think. On rare occasions, she'd even forced Sylvia to sit through full on lectures. It had been very strange to watch her friend educate her.

"The word titan was originally used to describe large beasts," Sylvia said studiously.

Large here meant truly huge. An ordinary rattle cobra wasn't a titan. Nor was a three sisters roc. Slyde, however, very much qualified for the title.

Though history books described titans far larger.

"That changed in the middle part of the Age of Myths," Sylvia continued. "At first, demons could only become titans by stealing the bodies of giant phantasms. But, by the end of the age, the gods had learned how to modify their own body to make it larger. However, titans didn't truly dominate warfare until the method to create husks was discovered during the Age of Blood."

Once a husk was grown, it was easily modified. Organs could be added and the body enlarged. Better yet, the husk's owner could choose whether to load their soul into this titan body or ride an ordinary one. With this, titans quickly became the netherworld equivalent to mecha.

And when driven by a god, a titan was unquestionably a super weapon.

"Then why did titans fall out of use?" Emily tested.

…

Sylvia nearly facepalmed. Ugh. She was an idiot.

"We're going to curse him to death."

Before the Age of Magic, spells were discovered rather than invented. Mages were, therefore, quite limited in their use. That changed when Marduk created the Great Codex. With better understanding of runes, magic underwent a Cambrian explosion. Spells and enchantments were invented by the thousand. Complicated magics and rituals were reduced to short chains.

Titans, before that time, were mostly bigger bodies. Physical force and ki based arts were king. The netherworld didn't follow the square-cube law, but size very definitely made a demon tougher and stronger.

The problem was this toughness only helped against physical magics. A hex or illusion cared little for a titan's size. Deadly spells and arts like hellfire would treat the body like tinder. Then there were the mages who could simply reach out and rip a soul straight from its phantasmal flesh.

By the time the Golden Age dawned, traditional titans had all but vanished. Those that remained were smaller and far more sophisticated. Resistance to magic was weighed against enhanced physical ability. Complex traits had to be interleaved to ensure a titan couldn't be slain through a trivial trick.

"I don't want to kill him. I want to control him," Emily corrected. The green-haired witch let out a sigh of lament. "My apprentice's head is full of battle magic even after I spent a whole year teaching her how to be charming."

That's because her manly soul was more suitable for combat than charisma, Sylvia thought disdainfully.

She was wise enough, though, not to say that out loud lest Emily set her mind on 'fixing' her.

"I can't say I know many psychic spells," Sylvia commented.

In fact, her Networked Grimoire only had a dozen spells in that category. Sylvia knew because she'd just checked.

Emily smiled.

…

"Let me guess, I'm going to be the bait."

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

"He he," the emeraldette giggled. "It's the job of a knight to protect her princess."

"Oh good, I'm officially not a princess then," Sylvia said.

"Eh? No," Emily corrected quickly. "Sylvia's definitely a cute and adorable princess."

"Well then," Sylvia lamented. "I suppose I'm too dainty and fragile to be the bait."

Emily's cheeks puffed. "You're a princess knight! A knight and a princess!"

-oOo-

Sylvia made her way through the vale. Green vegetation crowded around, the stems and brush teasing her bare legs. A river wound through these woods, passing between hills and tumbling over rock. A rush and a roar followed by clear, placid waters.

The air was comfortably cool.

Temperature was more a concept than a quantity in the netherworld. It was a notion pressed upon the inhabitants by the plane's world logic. The jungles of Starlight had an oppressive, muggy heat. The Black Silk Swamp was clammy, damp, and rotten. Here, in the vale, the atmosphere was crisp and refreshing. But if Sylvia were to fly two-to-three hundred meters up and land on the dusty plateau, she'd suddenly experience a scorching, dry heat.

None of this was threatening. It was merely an experience. That was, unless the world logic insisted the weather was threatening.

In which case she'd have to conform or resist.

The forest broke, revealing the river's bank. A grassy meadow lay ahead. In the water shimmered blue jewels, the gems nestled against the rocks.

"Look, Emily, there are sapphires at the bottom of the river," Sylvia said, tone flat.

The emeraldette's cheeks puffed.

Sylvia's lips quirked. She couldn't quite keep the amusement from her voice as she continued. "Why don't you dive in and see if you can grab a few?"

Emily shook a little fist. "I'll beat you up."

The silver-haired girl snickered. "What, you don't want to meet your good friend, the emerald eating crocodile?"

The jewels in the water weren't jewels at all. They were the cores of a phantasmal beast. When they first entered the vale, Emily had been enticed by the pretty stones. With their essence hidden beneath the river's flowing ether, the witch had failed to realize the truth until….

Chomp. Chomp.

So was named the emerald eating crocodile.

"They're water crocs," Emily retorted in a huff, before repeating it slowly to make the name clearer. "Wa~ter crocs."

Sylvia forced her expression still.

"All crocodiles are water crocodiles," she said plainly.

"They're literally made of water!" The witch managed to keep her affronted screech from rising too loud.

Yes. Yes they were. This phantasmal beast was best described as an elemental creature. Rather than a body of flesh, it had one constructed from a primordial force. An asteri's starlight eyes were good, but they weren't able to pick out water from water.

This was why Emily had fallen for the crocodiles' trick.

Sylvia raised her staff. "■■■■ ■■."

A wind scythe flew from the tip. The magical buzzsaw tore through a group of wet feather dodos a score of meters ahead. The confused creatures squawked, flapping their wings as they ran around in dumb search of the aggressor.

Two seconds later, the last of them was silenced.

"All living creatures are mostly water by mass," Sylvia commented as though nothing had happened.

The silver-haired witch continued her trek. Emily followed, cheeks puffed from Sylvia's relentless teasing.

"Slyde is going to gobble you up!"

Sylvia's expression turned sour. She suspected Emily was right. In fact, it was rather likely that the gobbling would happen more than once.

"I'll check for the snake again when we're another kilometer upriver."

The girls continued through the vale. The next few minutes proved quiet, the only trouble being a group of annoying insects. Traversing a wilderness on foot was slow, tiring, and dangerous. But it was a lot less dangerous than flying above the canopy. At least here the lines of sight were limited. In the sky, they'd attract every phantasm within ten kilometers.

And the Cloud Island Wilderness had a lot of flying phantasms.

Sylvia stopped. She triggered a System feature. Track Target: Slyde.

Magic was catalyzed by the runes engraved on her bones. A pulse of causality spread through the wilderness, two-thirds of the cost paid by the elemental source hanging from the cord wrapped around Sylvia's waist.

Track Target was a straight upgrade to Track Threats. It expanded upon the prior feature's functions, increasing range and specificity. The original function marked all threats within a half kilometer radius. Track Target let her augment the range to twice that by pumping more mana.

And she could increase this range further by narrowing the breadth. If Sylvia stuck to a species, the reach would be doubled again. If she reduced the scope to a single individual, Track Threats could sweep five kilometers.

That was one hundred times the area of her initial function.

Which was very useful when hunting a snake.

Especially when Sylvia wanted to find Slyde before he found her.

"Got him. He's four kilometers south, near the cliffs."

With their target in sight, the two picked up the pace.

Slyde was draped over orange rock like a great, green banner. The high sun pounded down on his scaly body, a wonderful warmth against the crisp air of the vale. For a second, Sylvia thought the rattle cobra was enjoying a good nap.

Then, one hundred and fifty meters above, a patrol of steel needle wasps crossed over a crack. The twenty-meter wide crevice stretched from vale to plateau. Lingering within was Slyde's tail.

The serpent lifted his rattle. Slyde gave it one good shake. The air pulsed, a shock wave of sound and psychic. An ordinary rattle cobra's sickening rattle was a circular emission. It only covered an area around the snake. This beast, however, had learned to use ki to focus his art.

The blast flew up the crevice as though it were a bullet. A squad of wasps shuddered. Then they fell, right down Slyde's gullet.

Sylvia gulped.

Did she mention that nether beasts were smart?

Nether beasts were smart.

"You just have to keep him busy for a minute," Emily whispered.

The two of them were hidden a good five hundred meters away. The forest was quiet. Slyde had been part of the Cloud Island Wilderness long enough that the plane had incorporated him into its logic. The surrounding phantasms had fled the moment they spotted the vale's apex predator.

At least, Sylvia hoped they'd fled. If a flight of cloud island eagles was hiding in those cliffs, their plan would turn ugly fast.

"I know," Sylvia said, expression tight.

Pride and hubris aside, humans were animals first and rational-thinking beings second. Fear eclipsed logic. Sylvia knew she was immortal, even if she died, she'd be back. A lifetime of video games had prepared her for this.

But instinct was a powerful thing and no instinct was stronger than the fear of death.

Also, getting eaten hurt. A lot. Less than it should, but it still freaking hurt.

Sylvia closed her eyes. She drew a deep breath. She was tough. No matter what happened, Sylvia could deal with it. Yes, there was a small risk that her soul would get stuck in Slyde's stomach, but if that happened, Emily would be there to help shake her out.

Thinking it through logically helped. A little.

"I'm ready."

Emily's dark emerald eyes were serious. "Be careful, Sylvia."

Sylvia let out a grim chuckle. "I'm pretty sure this is the opposite of careful."

The witch gave herself five more seconds to settle her nerves. Then she started to chant.

"■■■■■, ■■■■■, ■■■■■."

The first triplet was a metamagic known as barrier frame. This was a relatively cheap space/void spell that served as a foundation on which to hang defensive magics. The frames formed a nested series of spheres around Sylvia's body, bending elastically where she touched ground.

"■■■. ■■■■ ■■■■■ ■■■■."

Next, Sylvia added silent boundary and crystalline heart. The first was mounted to the inner frame. The second settled inside her mind. Crystalline heart was a complex buff consisting of five interwoven runic threads. Its function was to guard against psychic attacks.

Sylvia's hoped this layered pair would render her immune to Slyde's wracking rattle. Because if they didn't, she'd die in the first few seconds of the fight.

Emily offered Sylvia her staff. The haft of wood and metal was cold, like the elemental energies stored in the pale blue sapphire at the tip. The silver-haired witch drew frigid ether, consuming it instead of the energy within her water palace.

"■■ ■■, ■■ ■■, ■■ ■■."

Three casts of glacial scale, and the staff was empty. Sylvia handed the weapon back. Emily took it, already guiding the environmental energies to restore the source.

The silver-haired witch mounted her broom. Sylvia floated, rising above the forest canopy. While she did, the witch drank deep from her water palace, putting in place her final and shortest lived defensive spell.

"■■ ■■■■ ■."

A bubble of water shrouded the asteri, dulling the world with its faint hue.

Sylvia nudged her broom forward. She could feel the inertial mass of her aqua shell. To a lesser extent, the three frosty tower shields – looking like the scales of a dragon, also helped mute her acceleration. Layered defenses often came with a hard choice. Mobility versus sheer tankiness.

"Okay, you big snake, come and get me," Sylvia muttered to herself. Lightning ether crackled in the quartz of her white wood staff. "■■■ ■ ■■■."

B-!

Thunder roared only to be cut short, snuffed when it crossed the boundary of her barrier. In deathly silence, a finger of brilliant blue stretched across azure sky. Lightning tore through scale and flesh.

Slyde twisted, body pivoting in an instant. Giant, yellow eyes glared in her direction.

The quiet made the scene surreal.

The nether beast moved.

Slyde's acceleration was like an explosion. The eighty meter snake slithered from his perch with shocking speed. It took two mere seconds for Slyde to vanish into the forest beneath. Trees bent and shuddered, the foremost sign of the beast's motion.

Sylvia accelerated. In aerial combat, stillness was death. But she dared not fly too far. Instead, she directed her broom in a large circle, lightning ether filling her staff to the brim.

Slyde coiled beneath her.

"■■■ ■ ■■■!"

Lightning flashed.

The bolt smashed into Slyde's scales. Hardened ki flexed, a veil of life like a second layer of armor. Magic scattered. Instead of tearing through the serpent's defense, the lightning lance cascaded over viridian scales leaving them blackened.

The angry snake shook its tail in her direction.

B-dong.

A shock wave hit her shell. Water rippled. The sound held such force it echoed through her silent boundary. Sylvia shuddered. It felt as though she'd been struck upside the head.

The daze lasted for a fraction of a second.

At that moment, Slyde struck.

A pillar of green erupted from the forest below. Sylvia veered, using the waltz of flowers to create a sudden drag to her right. The serpent's long coils swept past. The nether beast's jaw snapped shut beside her.

Sylvia pushed her broom to its limit. Wind ether roared through wood, releasing a jet from the bristles behind. Pulling her body tight, the witch kept low, skimming a few dozen meters above the forest canopy.

Eyes on me. Eyes on me.

Sylvia got her wish. The angry beast flared its hood. Slyde's forked tongue licked the air.

Then the serpent spat twice.

Putrid green bullets flew from the snake's mouth, their trajectories following homing curves. The asteri gripped air with her waltz a second time. She slowed a touch, completing a sharp turn. A blob of poison whizzed over her head.

The second burst in the air beside her.

A cloud of deadly mist spread through the sky, covering an area twenty meters wide. Sylvia plowed through. She could feel the rot spreading through her aqua shell, tiny insects devouring ether. Then she burst back out, minor damage done.

Slyde used the cover to expert effect.

Sylvia saw the dark maw with a quarter a second to spare. Two long fangs, like a pair of spears, protruded from the nether beast's mouth. In eerie silence, the jaw snapped shut.

Ice shattered. The fangs pierced through frozen scales, fragmenting their form and magic. The sphere of water beneath warped, liquid jetting out the sides. For a moment, Sylvia feared her aqua shell would fail entirely.

Then the fangs slowed, water clinging to their body like stretched plastic wrap.

"■■!"

Sylvia's retort was instant. Lightning flashed, a simple bolt crashed into the back of the snake's throat.

The nether beast flinched.

Furious, Slyde twisted his head. Sylvia was thrown from its maw. The asteri rolled through the air before righting herself with a wave of petals. Her broom kicked beneath her, pushed to its limit by Sylvia's wind ether.

A shadow whipped through the sky.

B-dong!

Slyde's tail hammered down, shrouded by a steely aura. Sylvia evaded by an inch. Her shell was broader. Water turned into splatter. The snake's rattle crashed into the ground, sounding out so heavy that Sylvia could feel the reverberations through her bones.

There was one glacial scale left.

Nerves on edge, Sylvia picked up speed. The witch circled the massive snake, spell forming on her lips. "■■ ■■ – "

Slyde spat. A cloud of poison formed right in front of her. This time, there was no shell to protect her.

Sizzling, putrid green droplets melted through her conjured dress. White cloth unraveled, figment evaporating into mist. Soft, pale skin was next, flesh boiling. Layers peeled away, turning pink as blood flowed out from underneath.

" – ■■ ■!"

Shaking from the pain, Sylvia spat the last syllables of her spell. Water ether drained from her elemental palace. A new aqua shell spiraled out, pushing aside the poison as it expanded. The witch swayed, dizzy from the agony. Her broom sputtered, rotted and pitted by Slyde's attack. Her vision was speckled with white haze.

After a moment, she found the snake.

Sylvia grit her teeth, clamping the broom's haft with ruined fingers. The good news? Slyde wasn't readying another attack. The bad news? That was because the giant snake was gazing down at the forest, clearly looking for something.

Or someone.

Sugar plums.

Sylvia adjusted her flight. She lifted her staff, arm trembling. Her right eye was a blur, half melted by the acid. "■■■ ■ ■■■."

A jagged beam split the clear blue sky. Sylvia's lightning lance struck Slyde straight on the skull. Magic punched through unfocused ki, searing scales before tearing out a hunk of meat and flesh.

The nether beast's gaze snapped back to her.

Then his whole body burst. It was like watching a spring unravel. Coil upon coil stretched out. A wave of petals exploded from Sylvia's body, bringing her to a dead stop. At first, it looked like the serpent's aim had been thrown off.

Then Slyde jinked, coils curving in midair to correct his target.

Well, it'd been worth a shot.

The giant rattle cobra swallowed her whole. Barrier and witch were sucked down Slyde's gullet. Sylvia could feel her aqua shell melting. Water magic was resistant to poison, but poison was a much broader concept in the netherworld than on Earth.

Having accepted it was over, Sylvia started a chant. "■■ ■ –"

Only to have the world suddenly reverse.

Dazed and shaken, the witch fumbled her spell. Sylvia rolled in Slyde's throat, bouncing between walls of water. Then she was propelled out at a rush. Darkness was replaced by light. The asteri flew through blue sky only to smash into fragile branches before crashing onto soft earth.

Her ravaged barrier unraveled.

Sylvia blinked. A giant snake gazed back at her, forked tongue tasting the air. Crisp scales were a uniform blur to her bleary eyes.

"Sylvia!"

Emily's cute voice drew Sylvia from her stupor.

"Hey, Emily," she groaned. "You should've seen the other – "

An object tumbling in her mouth choked off Sylvia's lame attempt at a joke. Bewildered, she fiddled the hard, flattened ring with her tongue. First, there was confusion. Then, there was realization. Finally, there was glee.

The witch spat. A small metal band landed in her open hand.

The silver-haired girl quivered. A pained, wheezing laugh escaped her lips. Sylvia stumbled to her feet, holding her prize over her head as though it were a trophy.

"Freedooom!!!"

Emily looked in horror at the naked, blood covered woman standing in front of her.

"Ah! Sylvia. Hurry. Hurry and sit down," she said worriedly. "I know a few healing spells. I can make it hurt less if you stop moving."

Oh. That did sound good.

Wobbling slightly, Sylvia nodded. Dizzily, she looked to her right then her left, before spotting a downed tree. Her butt hit the bark with a heavy thump. She gazed up at the azure sky, taking in all its beauty. On the south horizon was the world's tree's summit. Above were the dark silhouettes of the Three Sisters Archipelago.

Cool magic brushed over her face, easing the pain. Blood essence wasn't so easily recovered as the body's crust, but all things in good time.

"Today," Sylvia murmured, "is fucking beautiful."

Emily's healing magic stopped, her eyes narrowing.

"Sylvia, if you cuss again that's going right back on."

-oOo-

Grimoire:

Barrier Frame

Runes: 64/51

Mana: 30 space, 20 void / 50 realm; 33%

Duration: 15 minutes

A spatial frame on which to hang spells. The barrier frame is the most common structure in all advanced defensive magics. Typically, this frame has a spherical shape, however that form can be altered by the caster at will. Multiple frames can be layered on top of each other, but each frame has a 'thickness' of ten centimeters.

In addition to helping shape and position defensive magic, this frame serves additional functions. First, the void element characteristic attunes the frame to the caster's mana. As such, any spell the mage casts will pass through any defenses attached to the frame. Inversely, defensive spells will become resistant to void bypass techniques.

Finally, the frame acts as a stabilizing anchor. Most spells when attached to the frame will see a 50% increase in duration. Spells specifically designed with the barrier frame in mind may see larger benefits. This extended duration, however, cannot outlast the frame itself.

There is an alternative variation of barrier frame that directly uses the realm element. Beyond the reduced rune count, its only advantages are a 4 cm thickness and reduced inertial mass.

Aqua Shell

Runes: 93

Mana: 100 to 600; 25%

Hit Points: 550 to 2300

Defense: 0

Duration: 60 seconds

An advanced defensive magic with a character similar to water shield. However, unlike water shield, aqua shell completely covers the user. An unfortunate side effect of this magic is that the aqua shell will also catch the caster's magics. Thus, it is recommended that aqua shell always be set atop a barrier frame.

In fact, when used with barrier frame the duration of aqua shell triples.

Like most defensive spells, aqua shell carries its own weight. However, the levitation is quite weak. At a walking pace the mass is unnoticeable, but during quick movements the caster will experience significant inertial mass. This defect can become crippling if multiple shells are stacked in layers.

Aqua shell automatically concentrates its energy to prevent penetration. This makes it difficult to pierce a shell with a single attack. Additionally, the spell allows partial recycling of its depleted energy should a shell be cast atop an existing shell.

As a pure water magic, aqua shell takes double damage from fire based attacks. However, it will also absorb twice as much from flame magics before breaking.

Crystalline Heart

Runes: 142

Mana: 30 psychic; 50%

Buff: 250% integrity and 30% resistance to psychic

Max Buff: +1000% integrity

Duration: 15 minutes

A support magic used to protect the mind against psychic attacks. Crystalline heart erodes the impact of nearly all psychic magics, reducing both effect and duration. Additionally, it boosts the soul's own resistance to foreign intrusion. This can be undesirable as the spell will undermine any psychic buffs whose duration overlaps crystalline heart.

The rune chain for the spell was specifically designed to endure spiritual anti-bodies, granting the spell a very reasonable duration of fifteen minutes. However, this relies on the compatibility of the mage's own mana. If psychic ether is used, the duration is cut to ten minutes. When placed on others, the duration falls to five minutes.

Casting crystalline heart multiple times will not improve the effect or duration. In fact, overlapping casts will reduce the magic's duration and effectiveness.

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