Published at 16th of February 2024 2:25 pm

Chapter 2.64 Near Disaster

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A powerful slap across the face ripped Nox from his slumber. It was Kris. She shook Nox violently before hitting him again.

“What in Yggdrasil’s name did you do?” She demanded. When Nox didn’t sit up straight away, the professor struck him a third time. “Get up! By Yggdrasil, Nox, you need to stop whatever Lillin is doing!”

A mess of different stimuli assaulted Nox’s senses. Unlike the spirit realm’s deep chill, uncomfortable humidity filled his lungs. A strange suction tugged at his hair and clothes, too. As Nox left the dreamscape behind and settled in the material plane, he realized Pudge’s apartment had drastically changed.

The wall dividing the bedroom and lounge had disappeared. A maelstrom of energy levitated in its place. At its heart was a glowing portal. It was the same sphere Lillin had conjured and shared with Bi Xi. The spirit fed the spell, pushing it from the dreamscape into the material realm.

Giant centipedes and ugly white worms attempted to break free of the three-foot-wide portal. Ernest hacked at them with a halberd while Joey pelted the beasts with frostfire, icicles, and lightning-draped, metallic copies of his spearhead. Since Nox had awakened, Kris assisted them. Her palms lit up with her magic’s signature orange-yellow glow. A charging wild-boar-sized beetle skidded to a halt, shook violently, screeching, and then flipped onto its back—the stink of boiling ichor filled Nox’s nostrils a moment later.

Things appeared just as chaotic outside. The windows had shattered. Powerful gales blew in through the openings, but then the wind’s direction reversed abruptly, sucking air out of the apartment with even greater force. The process repeated repeatedly, causing a twister of paper, food, and cloth. Screams and panicked shouts filled the pathways and streets outside the ground-floor apartment.

A tendril of black-purple energy connected Lillin to the portal. She wrestled with her magic as she set up. Nox sensed her trying to sever her connection to the spell, but he got the sense that she was no longer in control.

“I want to stop!” She exclaimed. “Your woman and Bi Xi won’t let me!”

Aria lay unconscious on the bed next to Nox. He shook her, but the noblewoman didn’t stir. Veins bulged on her forehead and temples. Meanwhile, her breathing had turned erratic, and her eyeballs moved rapidly under their lids. Nox wondered why Terrastalia refused to release the woman and kept her trapped in the dreamscape as he attempted to wake her. He used smelling salts and even held her nostrils closed but got no results.

“I need answers, Nox!” Kris yelled between repelling creatures spilling from the still-growing portal.

“Bi Xi is Terrastalia,” he answered, manifesting Ratra’s Bow. He fired an empowered arrow at the portal. It destroyed a giant centipede’s head and cut another into two before disappearing into the sphere. “He’s taken control of Lillin’s magic.”

“That explains what’s going on outside,” Alexander shouted. He stood behind Caitlin along with Michelle. The Woodson woman had encased herself in her elemental armor. Several giant maggots surrounded her. They spread the wood with rancid green slime. It had no effect on the wood but left the floor and walls bubbling and smoking.

Squirrels ran around the apartment. Unfortunately, they could do nothing besides slow the maggots. They lacked the power to damage the beetles or centipedes. It wasn’t just that they were too weak to deal with much besides regular dungeon and rift dwellers—which they were. The squirrels’ summoner was still a journeyman and nowhere near the rank of adept. Meanwhile, the dungeon on Terrastalia’s back was reportedly around the weaker end of high-expert—two whole stages above Alexander.

When the stream of giant critters paused for a moment, Nox peeked his head outside the window. A translucent mountain flickered less than a dozen miles outside the city’s limits. A giant head grew out of it, roaring soundlessly as it directly faced Ygg and all below her canopy. It appeared as if Terrastalia was stuck in an unstable teleportation spell. Nox guessed it was the titan phasing in and out of the material plain that caused the odd phenomena behind the strange wind pattern. He appeared far above the ground and dropped before flickering out of existence again. The process repeated, damaging the land under Terrastalia even though he never made landfall.

Stray beasts fell from Terrastalia’s back. Their density was at most a quarter as during his last appearance near the City of Ygg. He wondered whether their interaction with Bi Xi caused the appearance or it was inevitable, and they only caused the incident to occur sooner.

The city's defenses suffered no damage during the previous incident. However, they had more than a day to prepare. The Titan was much closer this time and hadn't yet touched down. The beasts would reach the walls much sooner this time. Worst of all, Nox failed to rip Aria from her slumber just as more monsters emerged from the portal.

“This is all my fault,” Nox murmured before turning to Lillin. Her clenched jaw and intense eyes betrayed the strain on her mind, body, and mana system. “Tell me how to stop this.”

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“We need to go inside and stop whatever is torturing him,” she answered. “Bi Xi won't let me release the spell until we're on the other side. I think.”

“That's what we'll do then.” Nox turned to the professor. “Can you hold—”

“I'm coming with you.” Kris cut him off mid-sentence. “The dungeon is almost too powerful for me. You won't stand a chance alone. It's also probably better if we guard the portal from the other side.”

“Fine. The rest of you—”

“I'll help, too,” Alexander added. His sister tried to stop him when he stepped forward, but the younger Woodson shrugged her hand off his shoulder. The summoner’s bond with the squirrels had made him much too nimble for her. “I know I'm not particularly strong, but you'll need someone to scout and look for traps. My muscle squirrels have enough strength to carry you out of dangerous situations, too.”

“I suppose that means I have to go.” Caitlin sighed. She appeared tired. Nox guessed she would’ve preferred staying home. However, there was no stopping Alexander when he made a serious declaration. Her duties to the possible druid heir meant she had no choice but to go along with the decision. “You'll need a vanguard.”

“And me,” Joey said. “For whatever else you need. I don't know what role I can fill, but I'm pretty powerful, too.”

“We're not coming,” Michelle said before her brother could volunteer. “I'm sorry, but we're done with delving. It's much too dangerous. You shouldn't be going either.”

“But—”

“NO!” Her shrill scream interrupted Ernest's protest. “You can't use two-thirds of your magic, and your body is mostly made of journeyman parts and barely any adept bits. Your phylactery might not survive. It would make a lot more sense to wait for the deans or other professors to arrive. We're too weak for this. You're just throwing your life away.”

"Terrastalia hasn't made groundfall yet and we don't know how long he'll remain in his current state," Kris said. "The longer we delay putting an end to whatever is going on, the worse it gets. You lot can get word to the administration and have them send backup. Probably better if the reconnaisance squad is small anyway."

"But—"

“It's alright,” Nox said, cutting Michelle's further protests short. “We need someone to cull whatever gets past us.” He glanced at Aria’s still slumbering form. “I don't think we should move her. Can the two of you protect Pudge and her, please?”

The life mage had stayed active during the brief respite. He moved between the critters in the apartment, casting silent spells. They multiplied in size, and their fur and hide thickened. Natural weapons gained durability and might, too. Nox knew he was researching increasing wool, milk, and meat yields. Turning ordinary animals into war beasts was a secondary pursuit. Pudge appeared to have made advances not yet disclosed to the group or university.

“I'll help in any way I can from here,” he told them. "I've already sent a messenger beast to the deans. Hopefully, it won't take them long to send reinforcements."

“Ernest will do the same,” Michelle stated. “And I'll heal whatever injuries they suffer. She almost appeared guilty as she spoke. “I promise to keep Aria safe, Nox, but I'm not letting my brother through the portal.”

“I didn't think you'd be this selfish in an emergency, Michelle,” Kris said.

“Thank you,” Nox told the Beauforts, ignoring his mentor.

Everybody took a few minutes to prepare, pausing to cull beasts whenever they broke free. The flow had slowed considerably.

Nox and Lillin topped up everyone's supply of brews and pills. After Terrastalia’s last appearance, the pair had kept the spatial storage well-stocked with everything one might need in a dungeon. Worried about facing myconids, he also gave everyone—including Ernest and Pudge—two flasks of the latest flame slime concoction.

Meanwhile, Alexander sent squirrels to his grandmother and other professors with messages regarding the incident. Pudge’s neighbors likely had already heard the commotion and alerted someone, but it didn't hurt to spread the word.

Aria's state concerned Nox the most. His carelessness had thrust her into a dangerous situation. She was neither a delver nor a war mage. “She must have undiscovered spirit sensitivity and communion talents,” Pudge told him. “I bet they, combined with her natural allure, attracted Terrastalia.”

“That doesn’t explain why Terrastalia trapped her in the dreamscape or won’t let her go,” Nox replied. “I must be missing something.”

While Caitlin finished empowering her elementals and Joey communed with Nar, Nox made as many essence glass arrows as possible. Live Spell Weaving and Finesse Shaping proved invaluable as he imprinted them with memorized spells. None of them knew what to expect on the other side beyond the beasts they had encountered thus far. Nox needed to prepare for every eventuality, and holding back would no longer be an option. Aria and his friends’ lives were at genuine risk. Thousands of innocent students and university staff were in danger, too. More were as weak as Aria than as powerful as the party.

“I regret not settling on a planet and cantrip already,” he told Kris as Lillin helped him strap in his Artisan’s Arm. “I'm sorry. Getting so focused on Bi Xi was a mistake.”

“No. This isn't all on you.” She already appeared in the midst of preparing her more powerful spells. Invisible tattoos glowed on the professor’s arms, and wisps slowly gathered behind her shoulders. “None of us made the connection. Contracting a tortoise presenting land or water spirit could've been amazing for you.” She sighed. “I'm sorry for my panic earlier. We'll solve this together. You did things wrong, and we might just end up doing something amazing for the world. I'm proud of you and the mage you've become, Sir Nox Ratra.”

“Thanks, Prof—Kris.”

Despite the dire situation, all his friends shot him warm, reassuring smiles—the Beauforts included. It wasn't his mistake they were fixing. The party was now on a quest to fix whatever was wrong with Terrastalia. The power behind his odd behavior—an individual, a nation, or a cult—was at fault. Nox and his friends would save the city and perhaps the continent by exterminating the blight. He hoped to free his new lover from Terrastalia’s grasp along the way, too.

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