I send an earth elemental down into the sand to explore. It eventually reaches a layer of sandstone, but its color is still exactly the same as the sand around us. It's just red everywhere.
There's nothing above us, nothing below us, nor anything of note in any other direction, only the red, sparkly sand. Since we have no clue where to go, and not even a breeze to follow, we decide to wait here while the Hollys explore.
The tents we have are too closed-off, so I shape an earth elemental into a framework covering the entire deck, then I use a nature elemental to cover it with leaves. Now that we have a nice canopy for us to hide from the sun, I add a wind elemental to create a gentle breeze that tickles our skin and gives us chills. Now that we aren't directly under the harsh sun anymore, we can stop pushing our [Breeze] enchantments to the max.
I set down two sofas facing each other in the middle of the tent for all of us, then Yunia and I fuse them to the deck so that they won't fall off if the ship needs to take evasive maneuvers.
I sit down and enter a trance as my hands just move on their own, drawing moans of pleasure from Alissa as they [Massage] her ears. I stare at the horizon as I work, observing where the light blue meets the vibrant red. The presence of only two colors makes for a rather beautiful view. It's in moments like these that I miss having a proper camera. [Instant Painting] just doesn't capture landscapes that well.
After a good half hour, Alissa's back suddenly arches, and she pushes my hands away, reaching the limit that her ears can take.
She suddenly sits up and plants her lips against mine. Her tongue invades my mouth and caresses my own, trying to return some of the pleasure I just gave her.
Her fingers run through my hair as she desperately tries to swallow me up, then our armors touch and clink, reminding us of the inconvenience that they pose.
Our kiss lasts for only a short while before she breaks it, then she immediately turns around and gives a deep kiss to the lonely dwarf staring at us.
Lina looks surprised at first, then rolls her eyes and returns the kiss when she realizes that I'm the one in control of Alissa.
While she enjoys the touch of my fox slut, Lina prefers my own manly tongue, so I stop teasing her and kiss her myself.
It pains us to not give in, but we hold ourselves back from stripping down and starting an orgy, though that doesn't mean that I can't have some fun.
I suddenly end our kiss and savor the last moment of it as Lina's little tongue begs for me to stay, but I break her heart and separate my lips from her.
I look her in the eye and smile warmly, knowing what she truly desires. I gently wrap my hands around her delicate neck, and she gives me a look filled with apprehension.
From my hands, I start spreading a thin film of black, veiny matter over her skin. It grows at an incredible rate, as if hundreds of tiny tentacles were spreading out and grabbing her skin. I'm sure it'd look like a sexy latex skinsuit if it weren't for her armor blocking our view of most of it.
In under a minute, most of her body is covered. My smile morphs into a sadistic grin as I grow a dick-shaped tentacle in front of her face, aiming right at her mouth, then the hundreds of little tentacles spread her pussy lips and tight asshole, causing her to shudder.
After a moment of hesitation to make sure that this is what she wants, I plunge the cock and the tentacles into all three of her holes and start pumping. She grabs my wrists and struggles to remain standing.
Alissa gets up and stretches, then she leans on the railing and sighs. "Not even the Colored Sands are as desolate as this place," she comments.
"Isn't this place like the Red Sands?" Hana questions as she happily observes Lina being toyed with.
"Have you been there before?"
"No, but I've heard a lot about it from the Faiumi."
Lina's Trivia: The people from the Faium Principality.
Roxanne clicks her tongue as she brushes Hana's hair, frustrated with the matting that's setting in again. We have to constantly use our most expensive elven products on her mane-like hair to keep it as fabulous as it deserves.
"I've only seen it from a distance once," Alissa says, then she sits down beside Roxanne and helps her out. "It's a rather poor land, and the loss of Hiyoku Hara has made them even poorer now that there's no reason for caravans to cross through it anymore. Of course, that's just exacerbated the problem they have with illegal slavers operating from there, so most werefoxes hate their people because of that activity since that's all they ever hear about from there.
"It's an unfair prejudice since it's not their fault that their land is so poor. They've just been neglected for being small and sparsely populated, but you can easily see the beauty of their land. Just take a look around." She motions to the sands all around us.
Indeed, if it weren't for the heat, I'd be completely in love with this place.
"Ohoh? A werefox speaking up for criminals?" Yunia questions her with a raised eyebrow.
"We kill weeds without hesitation, but we do not hate them," Alissa replies and shoots a subtle glare at Yunia, who sports a smug smile in response.
"But what does Arreira have in common with the Colored Sands?" I question before their banter derails the conversation any further.
Lina twitches, and I unblock her airways. "He has… nothing… in common…" She mutters, then I force her to deepthroat my fake cock again.
"There's no mention of the Colored Sands in all of elven history, so I find it hard to believe that this is a recreation of that place," Yunia says.
"This is supposedly 'Ozymandias,' but even in Chimeric history, the name isn't that significant," Roxanne adds, then she looks at Lina, asking her for confirmation, and receives a short nod as an answer.
I hum in thought and say, "Hm… remember how the roads in the Looping Winds Station had English names? Ozymandias is the name of a famous and ancient ruler on Earth, and it's also the name of a poem, which I think seems awfully fitting for this situation. There are way too many similarities with Earth for this to just be a coincidence."
"Oh? Earthling poetry? I want to hear this," Yunia asks, sounding amused.
I smile wryly and answer, "I don't remember the words precisely, only the image that they evoked, so I'll just describe what I remember."
"That's good enough," Yunia responds with a shrug.
I clear my throat and gather my thoughts. "In the middle of a vast desert, a traveler finds a pair of colossal stone feet and a shattered head with a cold and commanding expression. On the pedestal was written: 'My name is Ozymandias, king of kings! Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!' But nothing besides that wreck remains. There's only desert for as far as the eye can see."
"How depressing," Yunia says and chuckles softly.
I smile bitterly and add, "There are no Humanoid Gods on Earth, no magic, no way to increase your lifespan, no way to control the elements with your mind. We're all born 'equal,' and even our heroes aren't really as heroic as the stories we tell claim them to be. It's a depressing world."
"Oh? Changing your tune? I remember you being quite enamored with Earth when I first met you," Roxanne comments teasingly. I'm not sure if she's copying Yunia's demeanor, or if it's the inverse, or even if they're just amplifying each other.
I take one hand off Lina's throat and awkwardly scratch my head. "My quiet little corner of the world was my piece of paradise. It's hard to not miss the simpler times, not that I'd ever actually go back if given the chance… anyway, we're getting sidetracked." I shake my head and grab Lina's neck again.
"Well, I agree that the poem is rather fitting, but how would Arreira know anything about Earth?" Alissa questions.
"Perhaps Wolfy isn't the first to come from there," Yunia suggests, and her words send a chill down my spine.
"I've never heard of a realm traveler before, though I wasn't a high-ranking priest, so I don't know if the temple is keeping any secrets about them," Ciel responds.
"Isn't the existence of Gifts kind of hushed by the temple? They're probably hiding even bigger secrets," Alissa suggests.
Ciel frowns and replies, "Well, there's quite a lot written about heroes throughout history. The temple just wants to protect them from being used by the nobility or other interested parties, so they keep it 'secret.'"
"Still, it's possible that one of them was someone like Wolfy," Yunia insists.
Ciel shrugs. "I guess…"
Lina orgasms, and I let her relax, then I take my fake cock out of her mouth, and she says, "Arreira manipulates memories… so what if he could see Wolfy's?"
Lina sits on my lap, and we go silent as we think about it.
Alissa recovers first and says, "That's quite possible. The names that you said sound like they're English could've been just from Maplethorne, but 'Ozymandias' also being related to Earth really is too much of a coincidence."
"The memories of the Chimeras are even manipulated in real-time. The moment a 'forbidden topic' is mentioned, it's deleted," I say, and we all frown.
"So, are our memories being manipulated, too?" Ciel questions.
Yunia shakes her head and calmly states, "Very unlikely. To use [Alteration Magic] on a living person's brain requires the victim to be in a deep sleep, otherwise, it causes a conflict with the physical body, quickly causing death."
"But if he has something like [Sense Soul], then he can 'see' someone's memories, just like I do," I reply.
As if the dungeon was waiting for us to realize that, a Holly spots something that's not red sand. Its orders are to inspect anything it finds, so it starts flying in the direction of the three dots it spotted, still too far away to identify them properly.
We all swallow heavily and observe the Holly's approach with bated breath.
We identify the dots as gray pillars, and we realize that they're broken pieces of something. Two of them are on top of a gray pedestal, while the third is beside it, half sunken in the sand.
We gradually identify more of their details, but it takes a while until our brains truly begin to process what we're seeing.
At the pedestal, there are two broken stone feet, and beside them, there's a cracked and half-sunken head of a stern-looking statue. This scene is just like how I imagined the poem.
After the shock wears off, Ciel tells Yunia what we're seeing, and she frowns. "I must say, Arreira is rather 'obvious' with his references," she comments.
"It doesn't feel much like a puzzle or a challenge anymore," Lina adds.
"It's almost like Wolfy and his 'memes,'" Alissa adds with a wry smile.
"I feel rather uncomfortable knowing that someone is reading our memories," I say and hug my lap-loli tighter.
"Is it because they've seen all the sex we have?" Alissa asks, and I answer with a nod.
"We just have to kill the person who's behind all this," Hana casually says with a shrug.
"Dungeon Master, if you're listening, we're not serious about that!" Ciel exclaims, then glares at Hana.
Yunia chuckles like a lady and says, "It's likely that the Dungeon Master is bound to the core, otherwise, they wouldn't have survived for this long without a whole family maintaining the dungeon for generations, so we have to destroy the core, anyway."
"Still, they could be a prideful being, so we need to be careful," Ciel insists.
"What if it's also a spirit bound to the core by [Trap Soul]?" I question.
"One of Arreira's close servants. Someone noble that we shouldn't offend," Ciel continues and purses her lips.
Hana raises her hands in defeat and says, "Alright, alright. Sorry, sorry."
"Anyway, it seems like we have our destination?" Yunia questions and looks at me.
"None of the other Hollys have found anything, so I think that's a 'yes,'" I respond with a shrug.
--
We start flying towards the ruins, and we let the golems pilot since there's nothing that could threaten us here.
I notice that the ship is actually releasing more mana than there is in the air. This means that if our ship runs out, it might be a bit complicated to refill it with just [Redirect Mana]. We'll need to bring in more from the outside or use our own.
"Lina, can the gem of the Gull still hold mana?" I ask her.
She turns around and looks at me with her gloomy eyes. "It can, but I don't recommend activating it. The crack is right at a converter, so it'll leak mana like a [Torrent]."
"I only plan to use it as a portable mana storage to refill our ship."
She opens her eyes wide and blinks. "Oh, that's a good idea. The gem can hold a lot of mana, so it can also be used to refill our ship."
I pat her head, and she turns to face forward again.
--
It doesn't take us long to fly to the ruins because the Hollys didn't actually scout that far away.
We reach the pedestal and stop in front of it. The statue's feet are rather delicate and feminine for a human, and the half-sunk head looks decidedly elven, but we can't confirm that completely since its ears have broken off.
We dig out both the pedestal and the head, then inspect every inch of them, but we don't find anything strange. The stone is also completely smooth, making it feel nice to rub our hands on it, especially the angry bald head.
I re-summon the scout Hollys and send them out again. This time, it takes them only a short while to find another ruin: a broken Greek column.
Then we start to find a trail of these ruins. A Japanese torii; a Gothic arch; a Mosque cupola; a chunk of the Sistine Chapel's ceiling, which I'm sure isn't Chimeric; the tip of the Eiffel Tower; the torch of the Statue of Liberty.
Then the entire Roman Colosseum, half-sunken in the sand.
"Arreira is quite dramatic, isn't he?" Yunia asks rhetorically after I tell them about the Roman Empire.
"Isn't he taunting us?" Alissa questions.
"How so?" I ask.
"He's showing us the symbols of Earth's history all ruined and broken. It's just like his own history: these symbols are all that remains."
I frown and disagree. "But these buildings are still standing on Earth; they've been preserved due to their significance. They represent how far Earth's history has progressed, so they have nothing in common with the forgotten legacy of a nihilistic king."
She tilts her head cutely and asks, "'Nihilistic'?"
"Erm…"
Before I can gather my thoughts to explain, Ted floats down to the deck and answers, "Master Wolf is referring to the belief that life is without objective meaning, purpose, or intrinsic value. That's 'nihilism.'"
"But life does have an objective purpose," Ciel says with pursed lips.
I smile bitterly and reply, "Not on Earth, it doesn't. But I wasn't implying that when I said 'nihilistic.'" -I turn to the know-it-all and smile smugly- "Do you know what I was implying?"
Ted stays quiet for a few seconds, then she answers, "I understand you're implying something more nuanced than my definition, but I can't explain what it is."
I exhale loudly and say, "Well, at least you know your limits… Anyway, I'm implying that Arreira has become disheartened from his own life and is trying to fill us with existential nihilism. He's saying that it's quite likely that we'll never be able to accomplish enough to be remembered forever. That we'll just become broken symbols of faded glory."
"Or he's just taunting us by showing that he's seen your memories," Alissa responds, her eyebrows knit in skepticism.
Ted returns to the bridge silently.
"I'm with Alissa, you may be overthinking this," Ciel says.
"Arreira is a… weird elf. I think he's being pretentious," Lina says.
"I think that him being 'nihilistic' fits with what we've seen so far," Yunia says.
"The Chimeras are hopeful and happy even after we told them that their entire nation is gone. That's the opposite of this 'nihilism,'" Ciel points out.
"On the contrary. Even after everything was gone, the Chimeras wanted to rebuild their nation, not create something new, like the Sky Lands," Yunia replies.
I groan and facepalm. "Too much speculation, not enough evidence," I say.
"I don't think he's taunting us. It feels like he's playing with us, just to see how we react," Roxanne adds.
I stop for a moment, then I chuckle when I realize that she might be right. "Giving us small pieces of information, just so that he can keep us going round and round with our assumptions."
"Exactly. Just giving us new information, but never a concrete answer," she adds with a smug smile.
The other girls don't accept that conclusion and argue a bit more, but it doesn't go anywhere, so we end up dropping it for now.
--
We fly over the Colosseum and discover that there's a large hole right in the center, wide enough to fit our ship with room to spare.
We approach it, and I send two Hollys down into it. The tunnel is made of the same red sand as everything else, and it's angled at about 45º downwards. It seems like the perfect angle to slide down while riding on a board, but then I see something that makes me pause. The sand is also on the ceiling. It's not sandstone or anything like that, there's loose sand stuck on the ceiling, somehow.
I guess we should be careful to not update these chunks.
We land beside the hole and wait for the Hollys to scout the tunnel. It's time to prepare our lunch, so we have something to do while we wait.
"Can we… not prepare lunch? I'd like to go back to Goloria and eat something over there," Yunia suggests, a bit anxious. It was very unlikely that she'd so easily adapt to this way of life after only knowing a life of privilege.
"Uh… sure. I can send you back so that you can tell them what you want for lunch," I reply with a nod.
"Thank you…" Yunia whispers, trying to hide her awkwardness.
"Before we plunge into that hole, can we take a break?" Roxanne asks, and the girls agree.
I hold my chin in thought and agree, "That might be a good idea. I'd like to meet Yunia's brothers before we get involved with something that forces us to stay inside the dungeon again."
Yunia seems pleased with my suggestion, and crosses through [Gate] with a subtle smile on her luscious lips.
--
The tunnel in the center of the Colosseum leads deep into the earth, far beneath the sandstone layer, yet the ceiling doesn't change from its gravity-defying sand.
After a good while going down, the Hollys find a faint light shining far ahead. It slowly pulses and changes color, from white to a washed-out yellow, then to a deep blue, and back to white again.
They reach the end of the tunnel, which opens up into a wide room with gray, smooth stone peeking out from behind the gravity-defying red sand that covers almost every surface. There's over a hundred meters of nothing but stone and sand in front of them. The room ends in a huge double door of the same smooth gray stone, and it seems to be at least three times as tall and wide as our ship. Stray small [Spirit Light]s float about, providing the fluctuating source of light. They move aimlessly around the room, slowly looping throughout it in a sort of melancholic dance.
Creepy.
Without a way to proceed forward, the Hollys simply land in the center of the room and wait.
We haven't met a single monster so far, nor even a taste of any flavor of mana besides the environment. It seems like things around here are safe enough that we might be allowed a small breather.
--
I teleport everyone to our mansion in Goloria, then I pull out the golems. We left the ship in the dungeon with only two elementals and a Holly, while another Holly observes the double doors. I don't think any of them will actually be attacked, so I'm fairly comfortable with this setup.
Yunia had the servants prepare an elven banquet for us, but she also asked for a whole smoked leg of a Giant Boar for Aoi, so nobody has anything to complain about.
Since it all tastes so good, we end up overeating, so we take a whole hour after lunch to wait for our stomachs to settle, and that gives enough time for Yunia's brothers to get ready for us. Apparently, they were out in the wild hunting for monsters this morning, so they needed some time to rest and clean up before we meet.
We cross through an [Eternal Gate] and exit into a grassland atop a hill. Almost fully surrounding us is a beautiful and ornate two-story tree-mansion. Down the hill, we can see a small elven town with many colorful farms spread around it, and beyond the few rings of farms, there's only green grassland for as far as the eye can see.
I try to triangulate our position using Klein's and Osaria's summons as a reference, and I think we're somewhere near the east coast of Glorampina.
We turn around towards the mansion itself and see two young blonde boys staring at us. They're standing with their backs perfectly straight, their chests puffed out proudly, and their hands behind their backs. They're wearing tight-fitting silver shirts and pants with sandals, and I can tell that they're slightly more muscular than the average elf.
-
Soul Info
[Name: Arturus Este; Level: 28; Race: Golden Elf]
[HP: 100; MP: 200; Magic Power: 90]
[Strength: 12; Endurance: 14]
-
Soul Info
[Name: Antares Este; Level: 28; Race: Golden Elf]
[HP: 100; MP: 300; Magic Power: 160]
[Strength: 12; Endurance: 12]
-
Their stats have grown a little since the first time I saw them, but their "Strength" is only one point lower than mine… Fucking hell, I guess I just really wasn't born to be ripped, then…
--
--
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