Celestina, Aria and Mo'er continued to travel towards Arache. Mo'er spent most of her time as a serpentine gauntlet and only ate fruits and nuts. Aria, instead, spent most of her time in meditation, divinity aura surrounding her like a shield. She was growing more and more proficient in using her divinty aura with practice and time making Celestina proud.
They finally reached the Imperial city of Arache after a week of journey.
" May I know the purpose of thy journey into the Imperial city, My lady? " " We are here to meet the Queen, I am Celestina Al Rudolph, an old friend of hers. Please let us know if she is free to meet us. " " Please wait in the Soldier's office, I will inform her majesty the Queen of thy arrival. " The soldier went to the royal palace and informed of their arrival.
" Hmph, that stupid friend of mine finally remembered me. Let her in with all due respects. Everyone, the court is adjourned for today. " " Long live the Queen!! " x????
" Arache von Mariana, my friend, how are you? " " Celestina Al Rudolph, long time no see. " Celestina and the queen embraced each other and exchanged pleasantries. " She is Aria, my little sister and disciple. " " Nice to meet you, Aria. " " I am honoured, your majesty. " Aria gave a perfect curtsy and spoke in a dignified manner to her teacher's friend.
" So, what is the reason for your sudden arrival? " " I want you to give the 'Trial of the Shadows' to her. I am confident that she can open it. " " Are you sure? not a single person could budge it in the least in the past hundred years. " " I am sure she can handle it. " " If you insist, follow me. "
Arache led Aria and Celestina into a shrine that had a metallic cube with mysterious runes inscribed on it. The moment Aria touched it, it gave off an iridescent glow and melted into Aria's right hand forming a small tattoo of a cube on the back of her right palm.
Titles: The Spirit under wraps, the sole heir to Celestina's household, The Leviathan rider, the owner of the *Trial of the Shadows*
Title bonuses: Charm [level 2], Protector of Nature [level 3], Dignity of a Duchess [level 2], Protection of the Adventurer's office [level 3], Guild master's blessing, Rider of the fearsome monster, The Challenger [level unknown] (Acquired due to possession of *Trial of the Shadows*)
" Do you feel anything? " " I feel I can challenge these trials, but not now. Only time can tell when that happens. " " See, I told you she can do it. It never reacted to anyone before. " " But alas, we can't witness what happens when someone accepts this trial though. " " Isn't it sad? "
Having finished the purpose, Celestina and Aria stayed for a day in the royal palace and accepted the hospitality of Arache before leaving for their country, the next day.
Coming back to the present,
Aria and the adventurer were moving at tremendous speeds as Mo'er was an ancient beast. They reached the site in about 10 minutes. The entire lush green grassland was now a scorched desert overrun with demonic beasts giving off a murky brown-black mist that corroded the landscape.
A huge tortoise like monster (in the center) was shooting green rays (beam) from its mouth that burned everything in its path like a laser. It resembled an alligator snapping turtle but had two horns on its forehead and a rocky exterior shell with protrusions reminiscent of stalagmites in a cave. Murky brown-black mist expelled from the monster created the beasts rampaging around.
The soldiers and adventurers were busy fighting the beasts leaving none to tackle the tortoise. The monster was capable of controlling the terrain as it made sharp rocky protusions that impaled the soldiers killing them. The very land they stood on would suddenly change into a quagmire, sinking them, and then suddenly harden, becoming their grave.
" That is the Di-tusk behemoth like monster I spoke of. Ordinary Di-tusks aren't that huge or powerful or control an army like that. " " Fine, I will put you down. Try to stay away from danger as much as possible. " Mo'er put the man down and flew higher than before. <
A huge, translucent dome made of light enclosed the entire battlefield. ~~Roar~~x??? Roars filled with agony and despair made the atmosphere tumultous as the monsters were heavily damaged by mere existence of the Domain of Salvation. It was a domain made of Divinity aura that acts as an extremely potent poison against demonic beings and as an elixir to humans.
The Di-tusk glared at the new existence that intruded its frenzy. All it could see was a huge serpent with two pairs of wings and an ant-like something on it. It compressed a large amount of magicia into its mouth and shot it. ~~Roar~~ The leviathan also shot a beam of water towards the Di-tusk. The beams cancelled each other in a shower of sparks.
Meanwhile, Aria descended into the battlefield and started to erase the beasts with purification. The Behemoth experienced excruciating pain everytime a beast was erased. ~~Roar~~ The leviathan continuously shot blades of water hurting the beast. The behemoth was in a state of turmoil. All of its attempts were ending in failure. The ants were annoying it big time.
The behemoth lowered its head and roared in a low hum. The entire earth trembled. " Stay away from the land or else you'll die. " Aria threw all the people she could reach into the sky for Mo'er to catch and flew into the sky herself. Flying spell was a standard for all dominion mages or above. Floating, she gasped at the behemoth's ability to modify the surroundings.
Spikes made of various kinds of stones rose from the ground like stalagmites, each several times longer than the tallest person, complete with sharp spikes that rose from them sideways. The entire landscape changed into a random mixture of quagmires and swamps.
The spikes killed almost all the soldiers and adventurers leaving only those who were saved by Mo'er. The Di-tusk started to direct the spikes towards Mo'er who used her enhanced dexterity to dodge them at hair's breadth. " Mo'er, this can't go on. Drop them all off in a safe space and return. We can't fight it while protecting them. " <
THE 'BIGGER THE TARGET, EASIER TO ATTACK' PRINCIPLE APPLIES TO ALL, WHICH IS A GOOD NEWS, BUT ALAS, IT APPLIES TO US AS WELL. MO'ER IS A VERY EASY TARGET FOR THE BEHEMOTH TO HIT IF NOT FOR HER SUPERIOR REFLEXES. WE NEED TO HURRY. THE LONGER IT IS ALIVE, THE HARDER IT GETS TO DEFEAT. Cold gave a warning to Sarcony who then started to concentrate.
Mo'er returned after a while. The two of them, individually or otherwise, couldn't make a decisive blow against the behemoth. Fortunately, the behemoth was in the same situation as well. The evasive manuever of Aria coupled with the extreme agility of Mo'er made them a good aggro collector but a weak attacker. It was a peculiar situation.
" Mo'er, we lack the strength to land a good blow. We can't exactly tire it down to death as well. Any ideas?! " <