Somewhere else…
"Fireball!" A female mage shouted, firing off a massive ball of fire at a pack of High wolves and Hobgoblins. In an instant, the pack was obliterated in an instant, all the monsters cleared with one spell. Exhaling, the mage moved towards the where just the ashes remained, kneeling down to pick up what the pack had been guarding – a small blue gem. "Got it. This should be the last one."
The mage commented to herself before sliding it inside a small bag around her hip. The mage was dressed in a large, white coat – with a hood over her head. Through the top of the hood, a pair of wolf-like ears peaked, with the mage's hair being red, short, rather thick and messy.
Her overall stature and body build was rather scrawny, definitely not someone who'd be able to do much physical combat or actions. In her right hand, she held a thin staff that was taller than her. The staff was made mostly from a pale wood, with a few black iron bits – the top of it being shaped more like a 'hook', being made from what looked a bit like some sort of bone.
Exhaling, she looked at the sky through the trees above her.
"...Still rather early. I suppose I can explore a bit longer before heading back." She looked back down, moving forward a bit, before tapping her staff onto the ground twice, causing her entire body to lift upwards slightly, before she quickly flew through the forest.
Flying through, she kept her gaze on the road ahead – all the while activating a special 'detection' spell in a large radius around her, just to ensure that nothing could get the jump on her.
After a while of flying, she eventually reached a rather odd sight.
Quickly slowing down, she landed back down onto the ground, before moving out into a more open part of the forest — except, it wasn't a natural clearing. Instead, a whole part of the forest flattened, as if something massive… No, several massive things had rampaged through it.
Kneeling down, she touched the trampled ground and trees a bit, examining them before noticing faint traces of leftover magical energy — likely belonging to whatever had rushed through here. "...This is most definitely interesting…." She thought, narrowing her eyes before standing up and in an instant dashing down the trampled ground.
Following it, she grew more and more concerned.
The magical energy traces grew stronger and stronger, while the evidence of whatever having moved through here grew more noticeable. "What possibly could have done this much damage to the forest? Did a horde of Behemoths appear again?"
She theorised, before noticing what she guessed had been the cause for this sight in the distance. A massive wyvern, surrounded by several smaller ones – all adults. A wyvern pack.
All gathered at one point, most of them grounded.
"...Or an Alpha Wyvern." She exhaled, before flying up into the sky and soaring over towards the pack's gathering point. "It'd be a pain if this pack gets near Ordial or the parts of the forest where newbie adventurers train. Better eliminate them myself." She thought, before several blue magic circles formed around her. Then, without a single word from her, lightning bolts shot from the magic circles, rapidly raining down on the ground wyverns.
As soon as her magic hit the beasts, they reacted.
Their bodies took rather heavy damage, with the Alpha turning its attention away from whatever it was doing to glare at her, before narrowing its eyes and puffing out a bit of smoke.
The mage flew over and above the pack, stopping – her coat and other clothing gently swaying in the wind. Narrowing her eyes down at the Alpha Wyvern, she lifted her staff up into the air. Noticing the motion, the Alpha roared loudly – giving a command to the other wyverns. Despite the injuries from the earlier attack done to the grounded wyverns, they all took off to the skies and dashed towards the girl, roaring.
"Oh shut your mouths." She stated, before several more blue magic circles formed around her. Then, with one swing of her staff, more lightning bolts shot towards the wyverns.
The wyverns had already prepared to fire their flames at the mage, however several of them were intercepted and instantly incapacitated by the lightning bolts fired by the mage, falling out of the sky like crashing balloons.
Those wyverns that weren't intercepted by the mages attacks quickly fired off their flames at her, only for a shield around the girl to block the fire, with her scoffing lightly, before her expression turned slightly amused as she chuckled. "What? Did you flying reptiles actually expect your flames to do anything?" She asked, before swinging her staff to the side. "Pathetic."
In an instant, more lightning bolts were fired at the wyverns, instantly incapacitating most of them – the beasts falling out of the sky.
In very quick succession, the entire pack had basically been eliminated by the mage, with only around three more wyverns remaining alongside with the Alpha, which growled lightly, clearly enraged by the mage. Before anything else occurred, the Alpha Wyvern spread its wings, before taking to the skies, flying up behind the other wyverns.
Its size dwarfed the other wyverns, clearly showing off its status within the pack.
The mage snickered.
"So, the big guy joins as well?" She grasped her staff with her other hand as well, aiming it at the remaining members of the pack. "Try to entertain me, big guy." She stated, before several massive swords made of lightning formed around her, quickly spinning around her in a circular motion. The Alpha roared, ordering the last three wyverns to attack.
In quick succession, the last small fry of the pack dashed towards the girl, changing their 'strategy' from spitting flames, to trying to overwhelm her with physical attacks. However, just like the flames, their attacks were repelled by the shield around the girl, before she quickly struck them down with the swords she had made using magic.
Now, just the Alpha remained.
The hulking beast slowly swayed its wings, glowing eyes glaring at the mage, who had a small smirk across her face as she stared back at the Alpha. Then, the Alpha roared again, with several red magic circles forming around it.
Shortly afterwards, gigantic beams of flames shot from the circles towards the mage. Narrowing her gaze a bit, the mage shot up into the sky, evading the incoming attack, before sending the magic blades around her down at the Alpha. The beast reacted quickly, flying out of the way, dodging the first attack of the swords, before forming a brief shield around itself with its wings as the blades turned and shot up towards it.
The swords bounced off of the Alpha's body, with the beast looking at the mage with a bloodlusted gaze, before charging up lightning in its throat and firing it off as a massive lightning bolt.
The mage waited for the attack to get close, before seemingly allowing it to 'connect' with her and 'hit' her, creating a massive black cloud. The Alpha flew in place for a bit, waiting to see whether its attack had taken out the mage, observing the black cloud carefully. "That's an adorable attack."
The mage stated from even higher above the Alpha.
The beast quickly looked at the girl, its eyes slightly widening as an enormous formation of clouds began to form above the mage, spinning down to meet the tip of her staff, lightning crackling through the clouds. "Want to see my version?" She asked, grinning widely, while her eyes shone brightly.
Afterwards, within a few moments, the clouds had covered most of the sky around the two, before the mage grabbed her staff with her hand as well. "By the power of the heavens and above, I call upon the mighty Wirdall, cast down your wrath upon this foolish beast that thinks itself mighty," The lightning crackling through the clouds intensified. Realising the danger, the Alpha attempted to escape, flying higher before turning around and trying to fly away.
However, the realisation had come far, far too late.
Closing her eyes, the girl took in a light breath, before exhaling. "Wrath of the Skies."
After finishing the spell, several gigantic lightning bolts quickly fired off towards the Alpha, reaching it in nearly an instant, before quickly shocking it, stopping it in its tracks. The Alpha flicked its head back, howling in deep, deep pain. After a bit, the lightning completely annihilated any and all life within the Alpha, causing the beast's lifeless corpse to go limp, before flying straight down, crashing into the forest below – causing a light earthquake as it crashed down, additionally kicking up a dust storm.
After the spell was done, the clouds quickly cleared, with the sky returning to what it had been previously. The mage exhaled, lowering her staff and letting go of it with her left hand. "Well, that was a bit disappointing in the end… It couldn't even survive a simple spell like that."
She sighed.
Then, right as she was about to fly away, leaving the dead pack of wyverns to be eaten by whatever may be lurking within the forest, something suddenly caught her attention. A strange magical energy presence on the ground, where the Alpha had its attention focused on before she struck.
"I don't recognise this energy…. What could it be…?" She thought, before quickly casting another defensive spell over her and then flying down towards the point where the mysterious energy was located at.
Landing down, she looked around.
It looked rather normal — with the exception of what looked like a… Snake? Laying on the ground. The mage gripped her staff a bit more tightly. The mysterious energy she was feeling was coming from the 'snake' on the ground in front of her.
It was better to be careful.
Slowly approaching it, she carefully examined it. Rather long, large for a 'snake', dark scales, strange patterns all over its body… It was unusual, that was for sure.
Carefully, she extended her arm towards the snake, to poke it.
However, as soon as she got too close, a sudden shadow shot up in front of her – almost cutting off her hand. Leaping back, the mage quickly gripped her staff with both her hands, preparing for a fight. The shadow that had almost cut her hand off remained there for a bit, before sinking back into the ground or rather, into the 'shadows' on the ground.
"...Was that some sort of self defence mechanism? I don't sense any malice from the thing…" She wondered, before standing up straight and carefully approaching the snake again.
This time, she made sure to not get too close – keeping some distance between her and the snake, while managing to get a good look at it. Circling the strange creature, she examined it from every side she could, before returning to her initial position. "...Maybe I should simply kill it to be safe." She thought, raising her staff, a red magic circle forming above the snake. "One flamepillar should be enough…" She thought, narrowing her eyes, about to cast the spell.
Danger to the Vessel detected.
A sudden voice echoed all around her. Then, in an instant something attacked her from the shadows, pushing her away from the snake, while shattering the magic circle above it. The mage quickly regained her composure, before taking a battle stance and looking at what had attacked her.
In front of her stood something… unexplainable.
A shadowy figure that had a strange aura around it. It was covered in immense magical energy – with it also giving off energy similar to spiritual beings. Casting an analysis spell, she eyed the creature carefully. However — nothing. There was absolutely zero information on what this thing was.
"Tch… Fine. I'll just fight it without knowing anything."
She thought, spinning her staff. However, before she got to do anything, the shadowy figure closed the distance between them in an instant, forcing her to leap into the air, before retaliating with several spells at once — a fireball, a wind blade, a lightning bolt and a water shot.
The spells kicked up a dust storm covering the thing, hiding what had happened to it, however once it cleared, the mage shed a slight sweat. The thing was unfazed by the spells thrown at it just now. Not a scratch on it.
"Spell resistance? Magic maybe? No… This is different. It may have some sort of elemental resistance…" The mage brainstormed for a moment, before the figure suddenly appeared in her face, quickly grabbing her and throwing her away. The mage caught herself – stopping her momentum, before quickly spinning her staff and firing off another flurry of spells at the figure, before dashing to the side, circling the thing.
"Well, I got my entertaining battle I suppose…."
Elsewhere….
Unknown location.
I opened my eyes a bit. All around me was darkness — again. It seemed that I had somehow found my way back inside… whatever this place was. "My head… It feels like it'll split open any moment now…" I thought, grabbing it. Then, a sharp pain in my chest hit, forcing my entire body to hunch in on itself. I groaned in pain.
Then, an announcement rung out in my head
[ WARNING ]
Corruption has reached a critical level.
In order to protect the Vessel, a system reboot is in progress.
[ WARNING ]
"System… reboot? What the hell does that mean…?" I thought, before coughing. One thing that I understood was the 'corruption' part. It had happened to me before, in that A-Rank dungeon. The exact same thing…. 'Corruption' had reached a high level due to my 'connection' to the Abyss, more than likely because of my vow with Arabor.
"Great… I told Avy and Odale I'd be fine, meanwhile I'm stuck as basically a motionless corpse…" I sighed before looking around the darkness that surrounded me. One thing that was different about this time compared to the previous one, is that unlike last time, it seemed that my consciousness had been transported to a different place.
I mean, I don't remember entering a place like this last time this happened…
Where even… is this place?
Is it the same place as my nightmares? Is it that place with the strange red blackhole thing? What is this place?
I groaned heavily as another sharp pain struck me in the chest and then head. "Whatever this place is, it seems like the pain I have to endure because of this corruption is still real…" I commented, before coughing again. Then, I heard something ignite below me. Looking down, my eyes widened. A massive sea of… black flames raged on below me. A familiar sight — I had seen this before…
When I evolved after 'defeating' the Southern Beast...
"But… Why am I back here?" I wondered quietly.
Despite the sharp pain basically echoing through my entire body, I managed to push myself towards the sea of flames below me, floating towards them. If I recall correctly, last time the black flames didn't even feel hot, despite their appearance. Last time, they engulfed my entire body before I woke up.
Maybe…
I could replicate that result again? Perhaps the flames would also help relieve this sharp pain coursing through my entire body.
Reaching the flames, I extended my arm towards them – trying to ignore the sharp pain in my body. My entire body was shaking violently. I could barely even reach the flames, with just the tip of my fingers grazing the flames.
[ Notice ]
A path to accelerating the System Reboot detected.
Initiating the path…
[ Notice ]
"What—?"
Before I got to question that announcement that had rung in my head, the black flames shot up – quickly surrounding my body. They spun around me for a bit, before quickly entering my body, causing an even sharper pain to course through my entire body. At least this time, it didn't feel like I was being burnt to a crisp from the inside…
The flames gathered inside my body for a bit, until all of them were absorbed into it. The pain pulsated in my body for a bit longer, before a strong 'cold' sensation ran through my body. Then, another announcement rang out.
[ Notice ]
System Reboot successful.
Corruption levels are temporarily stable once more.
The Vessel may return to the physical plane.
[ Notice ]
"I don't… understand a thing about this…." I thought, before my consciousness faded in nearly an instant.
Outside.
The mage breathed heavily, exhausted and slightly beaten up while the shadowy figure she was facing didn't show even the slightest sign of exhaustion or damage. Gritting her teeth, the mage formed a slightly transparent, green blade on the tip of her staff, before spinning it and swinging it up, firing off a wind blade at the figure, only for it to brush it off like nothing.
Then, the figure stepped towards the mage, about to finish her — before suddenly.
Reboot successful.
The Vessel is no longer under danger.
The figure froze as that strange voice spoke around them both again. Then, the figure stepped back a bit, before suddenly vanishing into thin air – leaving not a single trace of it even existing behind. The mage breathed heavily, raising an eyebrow before exhaling and falling to her knees. "What in the name of the dragons was that…?"
She wondered, before looking over to where the snake had been earlier. Her eyes widened slightly — instead of the snake… There now laid a man, unconscious. "...Age must be catching up with me, because I am starting to lose my mind…." She thought, before standing up and carefully walking over to the man. Carefully, she lifted her staff up and nudged the man.
Unlike before, when she tried to touch the 'snake', nothing happened. No reaction, no sudden attack.
The mage narrowed her eyes, slightly confused.
"...I might have stumbled upon something very… very interesting."