"...You gotta be kidding me, damn this liberator…" Once the light faded Ivan and his group found themselves in another jungle.
It looked practically identical to the one before, then again seeing more jungle trees did not necessarily mean it was the same place. Even though the dome ceiling shape was the same.
The only problem he had here was he didn't have a clue where to go next. Neither did the others as they each took turns pitching ideas.
"What if we blow up the wall of vines that lock us in here!" Felis came up with a suggestion Ivan immediately put off.
"We already tried that in the former jungle, it was too thick and too fast to regenerate to make any real damage. And that plan would be pointless if this place is actually underground…"
"How about we just burn the jungle down again? Then the exit would have no choice but to appear before us~" Tio pitched in with a somewhat reasonable yet scary idea.
"As much as I'd love to speed through this trial I'd rather save the scorched earth approach until we know what we're up against." Ivan didn't want to risk pissing off whatever the liberator had in store for them.
"Mm… Does teleportation still not work?" Yue chimed in.
"Well… it might work if I try hard enough but at best we'll just return outside the dungeon. At that point, it won't be just a guess to say that we failed the trial…"
As useless as the suggestion was at the moment it was good to know in case the group faced a situation they couldn't handle.
":...." The group stood still, idea after idea was shut down relentlessly. In the end, they couldn't find any other option than to walk around and hope something pops up.
"We're good on food and beverages anyways. Remember folks, if you need anything go ahead and ask me! It only takes a few seconds to make the fridge reappear~"
Ivan took the role of walking sustenance as he bragged about the dozens of well-stored foods and drinks he kept stashed within his storage ring.
"A compass doesn't work here either…" Not exactly a surprise to Ivan, in fact, making a compass was difficult on its own in this world. As the natural magnetic fields of Tortus were different when compared to Earth.
"I wonder if I could make a magic compass…" Ivan muttered to himself some pointless things to pass the time. Wading around in a forest without direction proved to be boring at times.
"Like Captain Jack Sparrow's compass~!" His words caused several eyes to turn to him, as they stared at him with questioning gazes.
Ivan only smiled before telling the story of the great Captain Jack, in the end, Felis mused about the idea of going on an adventure together with her family out into the open sea.
He couldn't help but take another look at the scene around them, even after an hour of wandering the group never ran across a single creature.
No bugs, animals, insects, amphibians, reptiles, no fish either. At least from the numerous ponds and rivers they walked by, the whole area was uninhabited.
In fact, the group had followed the river in hopes of finding a critter who might just be visiting down for a drink. Unfortunately, they never ran across such a being.
"Compared to the last jungle this is just far too artificial…" Tio spoke with a poised look, her eyes darting and her nose pointed into the air.
"Even this smell… The trees have yet to permeate the air with their scent." Felis and Canis affirmed her words testifying with their heightened sense of smell.
"Then I suppose that means this space was just created…? Perhaps it was triggered by our teleportation into this jungle… but if that's the case then the maintenance of this labyrinth must be high…"
While it was only an assumption Ivan was amused with the idea, if possible he wanted to research how exactly the liberator was able to forge an environment without being present.
At least that's if she's truly dead as the legend says, sure she was in his dream but it also seemed like an automatic message for whoever passes the dream trial.
Ivan was capable of making small environments, as he did with multiple of the training rooms and even Felis' savannah-like bedroom. The only problem he had was getting inhabitants for it, which resembled the space they were in right now.
"Hmm? This area seems a bit odd…" During the hike, they made it to a peculiar place in the jungle.
The group readied for an attack as they stepped into the open clearing devoid of any trees or boulders.
Sunlight shot down onto the area like a spotlight, if Ivan knew anything about scenes like these then he'd assume they were about to walk into a boss fight.
They shuffled slowly into the ring, finally making it to the center after several minutes of silence. Ivan and his group stood back to back, allowing no space in between them.
"Felis… Canis… you guys sense anything yet?" Ivan asked the two in the group with the best sense of smell, hearing, and eyesight.
"...no, I don't sense anything at all, Father…" Felis spoke in an uncharacteristically somber voice, the hair on her body standing up as her tail stood high in the air.
Despite not sensing anything, her instincts were yelling at her that she was in danger. She contemplated asking the others to run away with her to somewhere safer before holding her tongue.
She decided to put all her faith into her comrades, believing they'd protect her and stand against the enemy that seemed to have already surrounded them.
"... Me either, Father…" Canis shared the same sentiments, only she spoke a little as if she was growling. In truth she was gritting her teeth, tapping her right foot impatiently.
Ivan ignored the two believing they'd attune themself to the situation with time. Right now wasn't the time to coddle them.
He activated all of his detection skills 'Sense Presence, Detect Magic, Sense Heat' His eyes glowed brightly.
And then, it happened—
"From above!" Ivan yelled out to the rest of the group as he formed a barrier of protective rock over them like an umbrella, his feet glowing after slapping them against the ground.
The moment those words left his mouth orange goo dripped from the ceiling and onto the stone umbrella.
PSSSSS!
All that followed was a loud hiss, or it was more accurate to say that the sound was a sizzle. In less than three seconds the goo had melted through the rock and landed on the position where Yue had formerly stood.
The group wasn't even allowed a second to process the situation as the same sound happened again, this time so loud the sound neatly stunned them.
They dove out from the cover of the umbrella seconds before it completely evaporated. Cold sweat ran down Ivan's cheek as he stared up at the monster(s) that had nearly melted them.
Orange slimes hung from the ceiling, their appearance akin to that of blobs of gelatin. Thankfully they were faceless as slimes usually were. Ivan couldn't imagine how terrifying they would be otherwise.
"70…? No, there's far more than that… maybe in the hundreds…" Ivan attempted to count each one before they formed together to form a giant slime.
Tio aimed one of her arms in the air, intending to turn the creature to ash.
"Wait! If you do that, the residue will rain on us like acid!" Ivan held down her arm before explaining his fears. She nodded strongly and turned to Yue.
"Mm… Roger…" She understood the look in Tio's eyes before holding both of her hands up. "Hallowed Ground…"
A translucent barrier formed above the group in an attempt to counter the incoming slime. Only contrary to everyone's expectations it melted straight through.
"....." Yue stared in shock, failing to respond right before the slime hit her. A shadow appeared in front of her, taking the attack in her place.
"Ivan!" She yelled out desperately as the slime hit him square on the back, she grabbed him by the shoulders before standing on her toes to meet his eyes.
Meeting her worried eyes, Ivan only smiled wryly. At least that was before confusement marred his face as the burning sensation he expected never came.
"Hm?" He looked over his shoulder to see the part of his body that was hit. As he expected his armor had been melted through cleanly. However, it was the affected section of skin that subverted his expectations.
There was no hole through his body, no sizzling on his skin, hell the only thing that happened was that now a mess of slime stuck to his back. He scooped a bit off easily, it didn't even seem to resist as he pulled it off.
"That's odd…" Ivan was a little letdown, his heroic moment had been shut down as the slime seemed to be only effective against anything other than flesh and skin.
But then, he felt a change in his body—
"I-It's hot…" He groaned loudly before holding his hands over his heart. It was beating at an irregularly fast pace.
"Ivan!" Yue looked at Ivan in worry before she dragged him by one arm to somewhere far away from danger. The rest of the group held back the slime monster to buy time for her to help him.
However, before long those weird effects receded, almost as if they never happened. Ivan stared at his body before coming to a conclusion.
"Despite how fine I look, Yue do not allow the slime to hit you… It affects the mind, for a second it felt as though my body was on fire. It burned with a strong lust… If not for my many resistances I feared the worst may have happened…"
Yue's eyes glowed with understanding as she sent an affirmative nod, she held the mask in her hand and transmitted her message to the others who were busy fighting the slime.
"Alright… I sent the message. Don't worry and rest, they'll be fine…" Yue stayed by Ivan's side, afraid that he'd be snuck up on if she turned her back to him.
Ivan on the other hand got up from his position sitting with his back against a tree.
"No, I'm fine. I imagine this trial exists to see if a group could keep their bonds together even after attacking each other in lust… Seriously, this liberator's an asshole!"
Ivan rubbed Yue's hand assuredly before removing it from his wrist. "We have to get to the others, the quicker we overcome this trial the least we need to worry about it. We'll resort to Tio's fire magic and your ice magic, if we can encapsulate it and get rid of it instantly that would be ideal. I'll even use my ice transmutation to build a seal around it."
"Yes!" Yue spoke with enthusiasm, following Ivan back to the scene of the battle with confident strides. She promised herself she wouldn't be so weak as to have him take a hit for her again.
'This time— I'll protect you!'
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Hey hey, thanks for reading! I actually managed to finish writing early today. So I might do some work later to procure funds for Anime Expo! The ticket was quite expensive, not to mention I need money to actually buy the stuff I would want over there. But for now allow me to focus on finding something to eat--- I'm starving!
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