-- POV Freya --
We had been falling for several minutes and as I let gravity do its work I kept my focus. The vertical tunnel was dark but I could easily see inside and watched everything in the hope of discovering something.
[I hope we're not gone for months ! You still need to contact Gaya and Shiro to let them know we're okay, not to mention Zal who might be arriving sooner than expected !]
*I know, Kira !...excuse me...*
Everything she had said I knew better than anyone else and not knowing how long it had been since we had come down was driving me almost crazy. I absolutely had to contact Gaya because I couldn't help but worry and as I was thinking, an idea suddenly came to mind.
*If I can't talk to them now, I can at least check their status*
[Why don't you contact them directly instead ?]
*Because I want to make sure we're safe first. What if we were suddenly attacked ? If Shiro and Gaya heard that, they wouldn't sleep*
[Mmh you're right it's better to wait but not too long...]
As I nodded silently I opened my Empire menu to access Gaya's profile where a lot of information about her was gathered. What interested me was the "Physical and mental state" option, so with a deep breath I selected it in my mind.
-- PING --
[ Individual : Gaya (wife)
Mental state: Average (Concerned)
Physical state: Average (exhausted)
Particularity(ies) : Pregnant for 1/4 month ]
___
As I scanned the information about my wife, I couldn't help but keep my eyes fixed on her mental and physical states. I never thought I would read that Gaya was so worried that she was exhausted knowing she was pregnant. How long had we been gone ? Even I had lost track of time and hours because of all these events and reading all this did not make me feel better.
[Onee-san don't worry, Gaya is just exhausted and worried which is totally logical right now. Before you worry, please look at my little niece's condition.]
*Y-Yes...*
For a moment I had been shocked by the news but I knew that worrying was useless and my little sister was right. Unfortunately, my heart didn't seem to hear my mind and was still acting up, causing me to be very worried. As I tried to calm myself down, as Kira had suggested, this time it was Shiro's profile that flashed before my eyes.
___
[Individual : Shiro (daughter)
Mental state: Good (worried and sad)
Physical state: Excellent
Particularity(ies) : ??? ]
___
My little moon was mentally healthy and reading the words "worried" and "sad" gave me absolutely no pleasure but at least she was okay. As I reached the Particularity that caught my attention with those question marks, my concentration was interrupted by my little sister's screams.
[My little Shiro is worried and sad ! I take back everything I said, you're totally wrong, contact them right away and too bad if something unexpected happens ! Hurry up, we have a little princess in distress and down !]
The worst part about it was that Kira was totally serious with what she was saying. As she interacted with people other than me, her shy personality disappeared. When I had imagined her learning to be a person in her own right, I had imagined her to be rather quiet, shy, and serious, but she was the complete opposite. Today I couldn't help but imagine a young delinquent with a big heart.
Kira, although she could be serious and very intelligent when she needed to be, was rather a loudmouth who always said what she thought without thinking, making her sometimes adorable but also funny and scathing. It was very easy for me to imagine what my days would be like when she was free. I could already see my little sister eating or sleeping all day long and teaching Shiro lots of bad tricks while spoiling her like crazy. That moment of absence I had had had filled my heart with sweetness and as I was finally about to answer, Kira stopped me.
[Onee-san ? Don't tell me you fainted again when you heard the news ! Seriously, I'm not kidding you have to...]
*Pfffhaha~ thanks, little sister*
[Eh ?]
Shiro was right, Kira was a real clown and at that moment my mind that was clouded with worry became lighter and calmer. I didn't know if I was funny but she was and as we fell it wasn't my little moon that she had made laugh but me.
[So you'll contact them ?]
*Well, it looks like I don't have time to do it right now but soon if all goes well..*
[Why ?]
*We've arrived...*
I could smell different scents entering my nostrils as the walls beneath my paws seemed to move in different directions. Below, I could see the Commander rise up after reaching solid ground and look up to see a huge wolf charging at them. As they threw themselves out of the place I was charging at high speed, I braced myself for the impact.
Folding my paws slightly to land, I took the opportunity to test something I had never done before. The ground was only a few feet away when suddenly, between my fur on my back, appeared my ice wings. Unfortunately, they were far too small to support my body but still managed to slow me down before I hit the ground with all my weight.
With a thud that shook the earth, I landed, creating a huge hole at the point of impact. As I looked up, I could hear Lynn's scream and the others coming in at a high speed before a bed of plants took them in. Everyone was there and we had finally reached the end of the long black hole. As I looked around like the others, Kira questioned me.
[Hmm, what was that ? The ambient mana is even lower here, not to mention your gigantic wolf size. You weren't thinking of flying, were you ?]
*Ahem...well, it was a test, but now I can actually give up the idea of manipulating mana here. How is it possible that there's almost no mana ?*
The place we were in was dark and cavernous but there were no pillars in sight, no creatures or traps. The room was very large as well but what was different from other times was that there was water everywhere as if we had just landed in an underground lake. Several large stone platforms resembling islands were scattered about and ours seemed to be one of the largest.
The air was damp, almost heavy, and the more I looked at the water the stranger it seemed. It was dark, like everything else here, but a strange odor wafted from it like a mixture of sulfur and alcohol, assaulting my nostrils. As I thought, Nixia's voice bounced off the walls in an incredibly loud echo, startling her.
"No one touch that liquid, it's a powerful acid ! My species is very familiar with this kind of dangerous environment...it looks like a swamp...of stone."
At her words, everyone instinctively moved away from the edge of our stone platform with a worried look on their faces. Ralph, who had almost dipped a finger in, quickly withdrew it before standing up and looking around to see if anyone had seen her.
[Pfff~ I probably would have done the same thing...]
As I imagined Ralph and Kira becoming best friends, the hairs on my back began to tingle. Shaking my head to get the thought out of my mind, I spoke up. All seemed quiet for the moment, and there was no sign of a dangerous presence or a complex room hiding a deadly mechanism.
"You all stay here and rest, I'm going to go and have a look around ! Be careful and always stay together !"
"But your Highness we..."
"You've done a great job so far, it's time to take a breather."
Without saying another word, I stared into Ynir's grey eyes intently and as she bowed I could see her trembling slightly. She was exhausted as were all the others and the most important thing right now was their health. We were once again at the back of the room so the only way I could go was straight ahead.
*I'll make a return trip and then contact Gaya right after*
[Good idea !]
Taking one last look at my soldiers who were now all sitting on the ground in relief, I walked towards the bottom of the cave. The only way to get through was to jump from platform to platform and every time my paws touched the stone, it cracked dangerously.
[Onee-san, if you continue like this you will destroy them completely when you return.]
*I know, but I'm not going to take my humanoid form now, I wanted to wait until I reached the wall. It's really inconvenient to have to do it away from the others...*
I couldn't use the ambient mana to create some kind of armor, nor could I create walls without using my MP. So the best solution was to get away from the group and since I was going to explore the place quickly it was perfect. As I jumped over the last few islands, the back of the room finally appeared and in front of me stood two huge doors.
The closer I got, the more I perceived traces of mana in the air and swirling around these two structures. More than doors, they were two large openings with carved edges, carved into the rock. When I looked inside, despite my eyes I could see nothing and the darkness that remained seemed eternal, hypnotic and dangerous.
[Don't tell me... to continue we have to choose one of them ?]
*It seems. On the other hand, there is magic involved because something is preventing me from seeing what is beyond, as if to keep me in the dark. The analysis doesn't reveal anything either...*
[But then, how do you know ?]
*I don't know yet but we have time to think about it this time*
For the moment there was no imminent danger, no threat around and my ears were not picking up any suspicious sounds. As I changed back to my humanoid form while bringing out completely black clothing from my chaos storage space. So I was wearing pants, a black shirt, my katana which was also stored there, gloves and black boots.
I wore neither cloak nor crown as in a place like this it was not appropriate and as I made some movements with my body to stretch it, I sat down in front of those two doors. It was time to contact my wife before joining the others and check on my status, which must have changed a bit by now.
-- PING --
[ Contacting Gaya telepathically ]
[ YES/NO ]
___
[Why don't you contact Shiro too ?]
*Because I don't know what time it is outside, if it's dark I wouldn't want to scare her by suddenly waking her up because you're screaming her name in her mind kufufu~*
As I mentally answered yes, I could feel that very special connection in my mind again. It was still a very special feeling, with the same two golden threads connecting Kira and I to my wife. After a few seconds, I felt that the communication had been well established as I took a deep breath. I didn't know why but I was stressing about hearing Gaya's voice and felt like a young girl ready to be scolded.
"M-My love ?"
"AAAAAAAH !!! HOLY SHIT I ALMOST HIT A TREE...FREYA ??!!!"
At that moment, it was not a soft, worried voice that answered me but a breathless, surprised and slightly angry one. My wife was not expecting to hear me and even seemed to have a near heart attack from the surprise.
[Mmmh indeed I see what you mean...even Gaya is traumatized]
"FREYA, KIRA IS THAT YOU ?"
"Yes ! I'm sorry we couldn't..."
"Oh my god thank you thank you ! I was so worried I couldn't sleep, you said you would contact me the night you left and yet neither Shiro nor I heard from you so I...I didn't know what to do I was lost. At the time I wasn't too worried but hearing nothing from you all day today too ended up driving me crazy, I was so worried, I cried, I tried everything to relax but nothing did I was terrified and even though I knew you were still alive I couldn't help but want to join you badly !"
My wife was talking at an amazing speed without pausing and rarely taking a breath. My mind was flooded with her words and I could only listen to what she was saying with an embarrassed smile that only my family had ever seen on my face. I had missed her voice and as my heart filled with an indescribable warmth, several things suddenly struck me. I had been so happy to hear my wife's voice that I almost didn't listen, but now everything she had said was coming back to my brain.
"Wait...you said a night and a day ? And then you mentioned a tree ? Why would you take a tree ?"
The sentence she had uttered at the end of her long monologue was spinning in my mind and at that moment I was afraid to find out what she had to say to me. Join me ? She wasn't speaking literally, was she ? My questions were followed by a long silence before finally Gaya's voice echoed in my mind.
"I...well...when you contacted me I had just left Elysium on my way to Syn Forest..."
____
FULL STATUS
Name : Freya
Age : 0 years old / Mentally : 25 years old
Sex : Female
Course : Ice Demon Wolf of chaos - Adult
Race : Imperial Demon
Titles : Blessed by Titania, Goddess of endless Chaos and eternal frozen Hell.
Dragon tamer
Ruthless slayer
Empress of the three colors
Level : 40/70
Exp needed for next level: 0 / 41 000
HP : 150 000 / 150 000 MP : 75 000 / 75 000
Strength : 510
Defense : 510
Agility : 516
Endurance: 513
Speed : 512
Intelligence: 510
Charisma: 500 (imperial she-wolf)
Attribute points to allocate : 300
Married to : Gaya
Daughter : Shiro
Empire (menu)
Subordinates: 1239
Humans killed: 153
Souls: 2/3
Elements: Ice / Chaos
Skills (all):
Attack - Demon Claws (Lvl 5)
- Bite of hell (Lvl 6)
- Infernal ice spikes (Lvl 6)
- Fighting techniques (Lvl max)
- Mastery of the katana (lvl max)
- Demonic Empress aura (lvl 6)
Defense - Ice demon wall (Lvl 6)
- Demonic Cloak (lvl 5)
Pain Resistance (lvl 5)
Attack/Defense - Domain of the Ice Empress "frozen wrath" (lvl 2) - (under condition)
Others - Humanoid form
- Ice creation (Lvl 6)
- Storage of chaos (Lvl 4)
- Devouring Chaos (Lvl 5)
- Analysis
- Second soul (Lvl max) - unique
- Telepathy
Detection and control of mana (lvl 6)
Master of souls (lvl 1)
Passives - Commander (lvl max)
- Natural Aura of the Ice Empress ]
-- POV Freya --
We had been falling for several minutes and as I let gravity do its work I kept my focus. The vertical tunnel was dark but I could easily see inside and watched everything in the hope of discovering something.
[I hope we're not gone for months ! You still need to contact Gaya and Shiro to let them know we're okay, not to mention Zal who might be arriving sooner than expected !]
*I know, Kira !...excuse me...*
Everything she had said I knew better than anyone else and not knowing how long it had been since we had come down was driving me almost crazy. I absolutely had to contact Gaya because I couldn't help but worry and as I was thinking, an idea suddenly came to mind.
*If I can't talk to them now, I can at least check their status*
[Why don't you contact them directly instead ?]
*Because I want to make sure we're safe first. What if we were suddenly attacked ? If Shiro and Gaya heard that, they wouldn't sleep*
[Mmh you're right it's better to wait but not too long...]
As I nodded silently I opened my Empire menu to access Gaya's profile where a lot of information about her was gathered. What interested me was the "Physical and mental state" option, so with a deep breath I selected it in my mind.
-- PING --
[ Individual : Gaya (wife)
Mental state: Average (Concerned)
Physical state: Average (exhausted)
Particularity(ies) : Pregnant for 1/4 month ]
___
As I scanned the information about my wife, I couldn't help but keep my eyes fixed on her mental and physical states. I never thought I would read that Gaya was so worried that she was exhausted knowing she was pregnant. How long had we been gone ? Even I had lost track of time and hours because of all these events and reading all this did not make me feel better.
[Onee-san don't worry, Gaya is just exhausted and worried which is totally logical right now. Before you worry, please look at my little niece's condition.]
*Y-Yes...*
For a moment I had been shocked by the news but I knew that worrying was useless and my little sister was right. Unfortunately, my heart didn't seem to hear my mind and was still acting up, causing me to be very worried. As I tried to calm myself down, as Kira had suggested, this time it was Shiro's profile that flashed before my eyes.
___
[Individual : Shiro (daughter)
Mental state: Good (worried and sad)
Physical state: Excellent
Particularity(ies) : ??? ]
___
My little moon was mentally healthy and reading the words "worried" and "sad" gave me absolutely no pleasure but at least she was okay. As I reached the Particularity that caught my attention with those question marks, my concentration was interrupted by my little sister's screams.
[My little Shiro is worried and sad ! I take back everything I said, you're totally wrong, contact them right away and too bad if something unexpected happens ! Hurry up, we have a little princess in distress and down !]
The worst part about it was that Kira was totally serious with what she was saying. As she interacted with people other than me, her shy personality disappeared. When I had imagined her learning to be a person in her own right, I had imagined her to be rather quiet, shy, and serious, but she was the complete opposite. Today I couldn't help but imagine a young delinquent with a big heart.
Kira, although she could be serious and very intelligent when she needed to be, was rather a loudmouth who always said what she thought without thinking, making her sometimes adorable but also funny and scathing. It was very easy for me to imagine what my days would be like when she was free. I could already see my little sister eating or sleeping all day long and teaching Shiro lots of bad tricks while spoiling her like crazy. That moment of absence I had had had filled my heart with sweetness and as I was finally about to answer, Kira stopped me.
[Onee-san ? Don't tell me you fainted again when you heard the news ! Seriously, I'm not kidding you have to...]
*Pfffhaha~ thanks, little sister*
[Eh ?]
Shiro was right, Kira was a real clown and at that moment my mind that was clouded with worry became lighter and calmer. I didn't know if I was funny but she was and as we fell it wasn't my little moon that she had made laugh but me.
[So you'll contact them ?]
*Well, it looks like I don't have time to do it right now but soon if all goes well..*
[Why ?]
*We've arrived...*
I could smell different scents entering my nostrils as the walls beneath my paws seemed to move in different directions. Below, I could see the Commander rise up after reaching solid ground and look up to see a huge wolf charging at them. As they threw themselves out of the place I was charging at high speed, I braced myself for the impact.
Folding my paws slightly to land, I took the opportunity to test something I had never done before. The ground was only a few feet away when suddenly, between my fur on my back, appeared my ice wings. Unfortunately, they were far too small to support my body but still managed to slow me down before I hit the ground with all my weight.
With a thud that shook the earth, I landed, creating a huge hole at the point of impact. As I looked up, I could hear Lynn's scream and the others coming in at a high speed before a bed of plants took them in. Everyone was there and we had finally reached the end of the long black hole. As I looked around like the others, Kira questioned me.
[Hmm, what was that ? The ambient mana is even lower here, not to mention your gigantic wolf size. You weren't thinking of flying, were you ?]
*Ahem...well, it was a test, but now I can actually give up the idea of manipulating mana here. How is it possible that there's almost no mana ?*
The place we were in was dark and cavernous but there were no pillars in sight, no creatures or traps. The room was very large as well but what was different from other times was that there was water everywhere as if we had just landed in an underground lake. Several large stone platforms resembling islands were scattered about and ours seemed to be one of the largest.
The air was damp, almost heavy, and the more I looked at the water the stranger it seemed. It was dark, like everything else here, but a strange odor wafted from it like a mixture of sulfur and alcohol, assaulting my nostrils. As I thought, Nixia's voice bounced off the walls in an incredibly loud echo, startling her.
"No one touch that liquid, it's a powerful acid ! My species is very familiar with this kind of dangerous environment...it looks like a swamp...of stone."
At her words, everyone instinctively moved away from the edge of our stone platform with a worried look on their faces. Ralph, who had almost dipped a finger in, quickly withdrew it before standing up and looking around to see if anyone had seen her.
[Pfff~ I probably would have done the same thing...]
As I imagined Ralph and Kira becoming best friends, the hairs on my back began to tingle. Shaking my head to get the thought out of my mind, I spoke up. All seemed quiet for the moment, and there was no sign of a dangerous presence or a complex room hiding a deadly mechanism.
"You all stay here and rest, I'm going to go and have a look around ! Be careful and always stay together !"
"But your Highness we..."
"You've done a great job so far, it's time to take a breather."
Without saying another word, I stared into Ynir's grey eyes intently and as she bowed I could see her trembling slightly. She was exhausted as were all the others and the most important thing right now was their health. We were once again at the back of the room so the only way I could go was straight ahead.
*I'll make a return trip and then contact Gaya right after*
[Good idea !]
Taking one last look at my soldiers who were now all sitting on the ground in relief, I walked towards the bottom of the cave. The only way to get through was to jump from platform to platform and every time my paws touched the stone, it cracked dangerously.
[Onee-san, if you continue like this you will destroy them completely when you return.]
*I know, but I'm not going to take my humanoid form now, I wanted to wait until I reached the wall. It's really inconvenient to have to do it away from the others...*
I couldn't use the ambient mana to create some kind of armor, nor could I create walls without using my MP. So the best solution was to get away from the group and since I was going to explore the place quickly it was perfect. As I jumped over the last few islands, the back of the room finally appeared and in front of me stood two huge doors.
The closer I got, the more I perceived traces of mana in the air and swirling around these two structures. More than doors, they were two large openings with carved edges, carved into the rock. When I looked inside, despite my eyes I could see nothing and the darkness that remained seemed eternal, hypnotic and dangerous.
[Don't tell me... to continue we have to choose one of them ?]
*It seems. On the other hand, there is magic involved because something is preventing me from seeing what is beyond, as if to keep me in the dark. The analysis doesn't reveal anything either...*
[But then, how do you know ?]
*I don't know yet but we have time to think about it this time*
For the moment there was no imminent danger, no threat around and my ears were not picking up any suspicious sounds. As I changed back to my humanoid form while bringing out completely black clothing from my chaos storage space. So I was wearing pants, a black shirt, my katana which was also stored there, gloves and black boots.
I wore neither cloak nor crown as in a place like this it was not appropriate and as I made some movements with my body to stretch it, I sat down in front of those two doors. It was time to contact my wife before joining the others and check on my status, which must have changed a bit by now.
-- PING --
[ Contacting Gaya telepathically ]
[ YES/NO ]
___
[Why don't you contact Shiro too ?]
*Because I don't know what time it is outside, if it's dark I wouldn't want to scare her by suddenly waking her up because you're screaming her name in her mind kufufu~*
As I mentally answered yes, I could feel that very special connection in my mind again. It was still a very special feeling, with the same two golden threads connecting Kira and I to my wife. After a few seconds, I felt that the communication had been well established as I took a deep breath. I didn't know why but I was stressing about hearing Gaya's voice and felt like a young girl ready to be scolded.
"M-My love ?"
"AAAAAAAH !!! HOLY SHIT I ALMOST HIT A TREE...FREYA ??!!!"
At that moment, it was not a soft, worried voice that answered me but a breathless, surprised and slightly angry one. My wife was not expecting to hear me and even seemed to have a near heart attack from the surprise.
[Mmmh indeed I see what you mean...even Gaya is traumatized]
"FREYA, KIRA IS THAT YOU ?"
"Yes ! I'm sorry we couldn't..."
"Oh my god thank you thank you ! I was so worried I couldn't sleep, you said you would contact me the night you left and yet neither Shiro nor I heard from you so I...I didn't know what to do I was lost. At the time I wasn't too worried but hearing nothing from you all day today too ended up driving me crazy, I was so worried, I cried, I tried everything to relax but nothing did I was terrified and even though I knew you were still alive I couldn't help but want to join you badly !"
My wife was talking at an amazing speed without pausing and rarely taking a breath. My mind was flooded with her words and I could only listen to what she was saying with an embarrassed smile that only my family had ever seen on my face. I had missed her voice and as my heart filled with an indescribable warmth, several things suddenly struck me. I had been so happy to hear my wife's voice that I almost didn't listen, but now everything she had said was coming back to my brain.
"Wait...you said a night and a day ? And then you mentioned a tree ? Why would you take a tree ?"
The sentence she had uttered at the end of her long monologue was spinning in my mind and at that moment I was afraid to find out what she had to say to me. Join me ? She wasn't speaking literally, was she ? My questions were followed by a long silence before finally Gaya's voice echoed in my mind.
"I...well...when you contacted me I had just left Elysium on my way to Syn Forest..."
____
FULL STATUS
Name : Freya
Age : 0 years old / Mentally : 25 years old
Sex : Female
Course : Ice Demon Wolf of chaos - Adult
Race : Imperial Demon
Titles : Blessed by Titania, Goddess of endless Chaos and eternal frozen Hell.
Dragon tamer
Ruthless slayer
Empress of the three colors
Level : 40/70
Exp needed for next level: 0 / 41 000
HP : 150 000 / 150 000 MP : 75 000 / 75 000
Strength : 510
Defense : 510
Agility : 516
Endurance: 513
Speed : 512
Intelligence: 510
Charisma: 500 (imperial she-wolf)
Attribute points to allocate : 300
Married to : Gaya
Daughter : Shiro
Empire (menu)
Subordinates: 1239
Humans killed: 153
Souls: 2/3
Elements: Ice / Chaos
Skills (all):
Attack - Demon Claws (Lvl 5)
- Bite of hell (Lvl 6)
- Infernal ice spikes (Lvl 6)
- Fighting techniques (Lvl max)
- Mastery of the katana (lvl max)
- Demonic Empress aura (lvl 6)
Defense - Ice demon wall (Lvl 6)
- Demonic Cloak (lvl 5)
Pain Resistance (lvl 5)
Attack/Defense - Domain of the Ice Empress "frozen wrath" (lvl 2) - (under condition)
Others - Humanoid form
- Ice creation (Lvl 6)
- Storage of chaos (Lvl 4)
- Devouring Chaos (Lvl 5)
- Analysis
- Second soul (Lvl max) - unique
- Telepathy
Detection and control of mana (lvl 6)
Master of souls (lvl 1)
Passives - Commander (lvl max)
- Natural Aura of the Ice Empress ]
