NOVEL NEXT Sabbatical – Chapter 225: Changing of Times
As soon as Ryan had cleared the stairs, and the scenery of the next floor came into view, he froze. Jagged shards of black stone rose out of the ground, some reaching high enough to split the clouds that were somehow present inside the tower. Deeper into the dungeon, the stone towers formed entire mountain ranges that seemed to have had lavafalls. At least, Ryan assumed the orange he could see to be lava.
"That is certainly different," Jacob mumbled next to him as the man also looked over the landscape that stretched before them. "How does the System decide which floor should have what theme?"
"Probably by looking at what already exists," Ryan replied. "This is like, I dunno, a volcanic tundra, I guess?"
"More like wasteland," the other man said as he lowered himself and picked up some of the dirt that covered the otherwise black stone floor. "Feels almost like ash."
"Doesn't feel particularly hot here, though," Ryan mused as he looked around. "Maybe it was going for some post-apocalyptic vibes? A potential future version of Earth, maybe?"
Jacob stood back up and cleaned his hands on his pants. "I doubt it, but who knows what this is thinking. Or if it even thinks. I'm still convinced that there is a being behind it that does all of this."
Ryan could not help but raise a brow. "Who, though? God?"
"No idea," Jacob replied with a shrug.
Ryan did not really know Jacob, but the way he said that, he could not help but think that the other man was hiding something. He seemed to know something about this that Ryan himself did not. Something he intended to change. Maybe it's related to that woman?
The way she stuck in his mind was unnatural, and so was the feeling he got when he as much as thought about her. There was dread, but also reverence. A part of him demanded that he run as far as he could while another was adamant that he should fall to his knees and pray for salvation by her hand. Whatever she was, Human it was not. Nor an Elf, even if she tries to appear as one… Not that those even exist. Or, well, existed?
Even given the fact that they had all come here to battle monsters in the dungeon, some of the people he had seen had seemed a little more off than most. Of course, the large Elf and her other pointed-eared friend had stood out, but there were others that were weird too, just not as obvious.
Ryan shook his head. All those things did not matter for now. He had chosen to come here to gain strength, so that is what he would do. There were many floors waiting to grant him his wish to become powerful — to be someone — and he would take that chance.
The entirety of the second floor, it turned out, was a much easier endeavour to clear than the first. The bulk of the monsters they faced were made from the same black stone as the shards rising from the ground, and while they were fairly resistant to fire the same could not be said for Ryan's lightning. Who knew an [Obsidian Remnant] would be weak against electricity?
When they reached the boss, it was simply a larger version of the remnants that roamed freely all over the second floor. Even without the help of Wyllt, they managed to take it down just fine. Jacob, as it turned out, was really good at running while the monster was not — having reached level thirty-six probably helped with that — and it was a simple matter of kiting the [Obsidian Guardian] around and keeping it occupied between Ryan's lightning blasts.
While Ryan had a hard time telling the difference between each level he gained, he could not deny that he had gotten stronger. He no longer got tired from walking around all day, nor did the things they gathered from the monsters weigh them down all that much. Though, perhaps, that was because the bag one of the things dropped was enchanted to be able to carry more than one would think.
The next few floors were much the same, each focusing on enemies of a different elemental strength. Ryan and Jacob fell into what could only be described as a trance as they systematically cleared out the monsters they found, always making sure to advance to the next floor only when the opponents on the current floor no longer yielded an appreciable experience gain.
From time to time, they would find another group — or sometimes the rare lone wolf — but they all regarded one another with a certain measure of mistrust. They had even met the large Elven woman and her friend a few times. While she had never spoken herself, the two others in her party seemed nice enough, sharing a few bits and pieces about the powers they had. The teleportation of the muscular Elf was confirmed when she moved all of them straight to the boss of that floor. Then her friend — probably girlfriend, if Ryan was honest with himself — took down the monster with a total of ten well placed blades she had simply conjured out of thin air.
As impressive as that feat was, Ryan could not shake the feeling that she had held herself back. There was simply something off about how her powers seemed to work, not to mention how he felt standing next to her or the tall one. Both of them had what he could only describe as an 'eldritch' feel. The taller Elf especially. As good as her disguise might be, the world itself was apparently not quite willing to go along with whatever charade she wanted to play.
The feeling took a while to go away; even after they had finally taken the time to make camp and sleep for what might as well had been the first time in a week, the feeling of unease remained. Whatever presence surrounded that woman simply did not want to go away.
What finally took his mind off of it was their arrival on the tenth floor. There were no monsters to be seen; only a giant city. All the buildings were fashioned from a grey stone that shimmered in the light of a fake sun that hung high above.
Why would the System make an empty city? Was this an attempt to pit them against one another? Did the System catch on to this stupid trend? Ryan hoped that wasn't the case, but he could not claim that he had even the slightest idea of what the System thought. Or what it even was.
"Well, that's new," Jacob said as he stepped up next to Ryan. "I guess it's time for a change of pace?"
Ryan huffed, tightening the grip around the sword he had acquired from the last boss they fought. Lightning crackled along its blade, jumping to and from his hand whenever it got close. "I guess."
Aperio could not help but frown at the small ships that were continuously trying to approach the island she had made. It had been just a little over a week — she had made note to keep track of time, for once — but for a few days now none of them had gotten any closer. It wasn't for a lack of trying, either. She could understand their assumption that different modes of travel would yield different results, but there was a limit to that. After having gone through ships — both above and under water — planes, and even singular swimming mortals, she would have assumed they had gotten the message that they were not welcome.
They had not.
Currently, the second biggest of the flotillas present was preparing what the All-Mother assumed to be weapons of some kind. She did not know exactly what they would do, but it was easy enough to figure out that they were some kind of explosive device; likely self-propelled. That, too, would not work. They would be teleported to the other side of the island, just like the boats. Unless they can detonate them prematurely. If they could, they would figure out that the barrier was quite resilient. It should be capable of withstanding the explosion she herself had caused to blow up Vigil's temple on the moon, and she doubted they would have something of that power at the ready. Or would use it while they were close.
Like many things, close was a relative term as the various ships were all leagues away from the island and each other, but an explosion on that scale would still reach them. And if it doesn't, the waves would… And then I would. Aperio would tolerate quite a few things, but an attack of that scale would have to be punished. Even if that would only draw more attention to herself.
"What are they trying to accomplish?" Caethya asked as she leaned herself against Aperio. "I can't see that much, but most of makes little sense. They just do the same thing over and over."
"They appear to be preparing for an attack," the All-Mother replied, wrapping a wing around her love and showing her a bit of what she saw. "If it is anything big, I will sink their ships in response."
"Could I do that?" the Demigoddess asked and looked up at Aperio, a smile gracing her face. "You don't want more attention, and I would like to test myself a little. I doubt that they could hurt me, especially with you around."
Aperio hesitated for a moment before she matched her love's gaze and gave a shallow nod. She would let Caethya handle the situation if it came to it, but she would make sure that nothing would be able to injure her love.
"Please be careful," Aperio said.
Caethya ran her hand over the All-Mother's back, and as the wing that held her squeezed her a little more tightly, she leaned into it, letting it carry most of her weight. "I will be, but I know you will make sure no harm comes my way." She gave a small giggle before she pushed herself up and placed a small kiss on Aperio's cheek. "I do like that side of yours. But once I become strong enough, you should rely on me for more things once in a while. You might have made all of this, but you don’t need to carry that burden by yourself."
"Uh, is it important what you are talking about?" Eleanor asked. "Should I leave you two alone for a bit, or…?"
"We were merely talking about how to handle your peoples’ poor attempts at diplomacy," Aperio replied, gesturing in the direction of one of the gathered fleets with her free wing. "Caethya asked if she could take care of them if they do something idiotic like attacking this island."
"So people don't think you can do more than they already know?"
"That and I want to test my powers," her love replied after shifting a little under the wing to see the mortal mage. "It's been a while since I last let loose and a lot has changed since then."
Eleanor hesitated for a moment, her eyes flicking between Aperio and Caethya. "Are you sure this is a good place for that? No matter how much weaker you are than Aperio, I am pretty sure what you can throw at them is still on the level of a nuke."
"Maybe." Caethya offered a small shrug, the motion limited as she was still brushing her hand over Aperio's back. "Can't say I have seen that, though, so I cannot actually know how it would compare."
"Can you level a city with a single attack?"
The Demigoddess hesitated for a moment, looking at her free hand and then at the All-Mother. "Pretty sure I can."
"And on what scale does Aperio operate?"
"Existence."
"Ah, yes. Sure." The mortal mage threw up her arms. "Makes perfect sense."
"You were here when I made this island and everything on it in but a moment," Aperio said, tilting her head ever-so-slightly. "Is the scale of my power truly that hard to grasp for mortals?"
"Yes. No. Maybe?" Elanor pulled the brim of her oversized hat down a little. "The idea that anyone can just” —she waved her hands around, letting her hat spring back— “mess with reality like that does not want to register in my brain. It just refuses to accept it."
"They'll get it one day," Caethya said, leaning her head against Aperio's arm.
"But that day is apparently not today," Aperio huffed in annoyance. "It would seem that they think attacking this island is a good idea after all."
The missiles arcing across the sky had a certain beauty to them, but the All-Mother was most assuredly not in the mood to enjoy such a spectacle a the moment. A thought brought their group to the top of the tower; the Dragon she had made not reacting to their arrival.
"You may deliver our retaliation if they ignore my warning," the All-Mother said, squinting at the fleet that had launched the attack.
"Warning?" Eleanor asked as she frantically looked around. "Am I safe here?"
"Their attack will do nothing to the barrier that surrounds this island," Aperio replied. "After their weapons fail, I will give them all a warning and, should they ignore it, Caethya will take care of them."
The Demigoddess wrapped her arms around Aperio, giving her a quick squeeze before she untangled herself from the All-Mother's wings and stretched her arms over her head. A small barrier flickered to life around her love, one only Aperio herself would be able to see as she had simply tugged at the threads of reality to have them ignore any change she did not permit. Whatever they threw at Caethya would do precious little.
Just as she had thought, the attack did not do much. All the mortals accomplished was to light up the sky a little as their weapons simply clashed with the barrier she had made. It was a visual feat that could have been accomplished with far nicer means.
A thought delivered her words to every sailor on the ships, even on those that were not from the fleet that had attacked. Her words were simple, but accompanied with a glimpse at her true nature; a look beyond the mortal realm. All she told them was that any further aggression would be met in kind. Those who wished to leave only needed to ask and they would be brought back home.
It would always be their own actions that would determine their fate.
