After flying for about ten minutes Nevius landed inside a large fissure that had very tall walls.
Well it was less of flying and more of crash landing after riskily jumping and covering a very long distance. But no one would care about those small details apart from a very angry Velena who was busy hurling out her previous meal while trying to get rid of the dizziness assaulting her.
She retrieved a bottle full of green liquid which was shared by the group curing their busted eardrums but not forgeting to curse Nevius instead of thanking him
Nevius finally breathed out a sigh of relief albeit a very short one. This was so as it was promptly ruined by Salum who as a hunter judged that the two horrors would most definitely pursue them.
Further despairing Nevius, Monique whispered in a very low voice,"We are still not anymore safe than we were before."
They looked upwards taking notice of the three gigantic eagles covered in dark feathers circling above them.
Nevius had had enough at least for the early hours of the night as he took a small throwing knife from his boot, overflowed it with mana and scored a headshot on the biggest of the eagles.
It came crashing down but before colliding with the hard ground and making more noise than required, Asla caught it by the talons as it thrashed around before succumbing to the call of the underworld.
Velena finally recovered and said,"Luckily for us you hunted night dread eagle and secured us a source of food."
"And why is it lurking around while those horrors are lurking around." Nevius curiously asked
"I see you are a slow one, I mean they are called night dread eagles for a reason. But well the main reason is that there are no records of flying horrors so they made it a habit to hunt at night where they dominate the sky." She smugly replied
Nevius replied candidly,"Well thanks, at least I think so."
He moved closer to the dead bird and after touching its feathers he discovered a new source of income but sadly it wouldn't be easily attained and that is without considering if he could leave the damn desert alive.
He was crouching and decided to make small talk with Velena who was the richest source of information in the group.
"So you said you were a mage, but I have not met a human one so thoroughly informed."
"I am saying this for the second time and I repeat, I am a witch not a mage, don't compare me to a simple human that cannot even use mana decently. But I've got to ask, I've met mages before and they don't absorb atmospheric mana even as close to a tenth of how you do. And you even referred to mages as human so I will ask , are you not one?"
Nevius knew he'd messed up even if it was a tiny bit so with a straight calm, almost too calm face he replied," I don't know what you are talking about, am as human as you all maybe a bit too talented in utilizing mana but human nevertheless. But the question is why did you say you are not a simple human."
"That's because I am a proud Asuran witch." Velena replied with her chin facing the sky
Nevius could say that he'd done a good job in discarding the suspicion on him but he was drawing blanks when asurans were mentioned because from what he could see they were clearly humans. Or was it the red hair that made them asurans? Then what about Cecilia, was she an outcast as well.
He was brought back down to earth by Cecilia who said," Don't think too much about it. You wouldn't understand what you don't know."
Nevius was as proud as he was distrustful so he quipped back," I am very smart for your information so don't go looking down on me."
Framel joined the conversation as she asked him,"Then how many races are there in this world?"
"Simple, humans, elves, spirits, dread beasts and horrors." Nevius said quite unsure as the way the question was asked made him feel a bit overwhelmed.
The asurans all smiled at the same time creeping Nevius out as he shrank beneath their gazes.
Salum broke the warmly developing atmosphere," It's well and good that you guys are no longer tense but don't forget where we are at the moment and what is coming for us."
"True and the mana in the air is changing to demonic very quickly so I'll be out of the frey if my own mana runs out, isn't that right very much human boy?" Velena added
"Ummm, maybe." Nevius replied not entirely certain as his body was naturally filtering mana though very slowly but that was not something they needed to know.
"So that means we should prepare a stronghold that will be used to take care of business. And a very sturdy one at that. " Framel took command as she addressed everyone
"Nevius, I need you to construct a simple ice dome as thick and sturdy as your mana can accomplish which will further be reinforced by Cecilia."
Nevius nodded and imagined the strongest dome he could. This resulted in a soft cold glow in both his palms which he put on the ground and a solid ice structure emerged from the ground bringing a different level of freezing than it already was.
He was used to the cold, quite comfortable with it if anyone asked him, but that did not mean the asu...girls were. He would refer to them as girls not quite used to the new word asurans. But they looked alright so who was he to worry.
"Haah." Framel sighed as she looked at Nevius accusingly and asked."And how do you expect us to leave and even breathe normally if you don't leave any opening in the dome."
Nevius looked at her as though she had suddenly become retarted. They would breathe through mana and the structure itself was meant for protection so why would it need an opening? To let the horrors in? Impossible. He had spent over two thirds of his total mana to make it very secure and sturdy as she called it.
A tick mark appeared on Framel's forehead while Asla burst out laughing." You two are so cute," "Let me make a door for you to use so calm down."
She took her axe made a wide stance and brought it down on one side to cut it open. She had finished drawing an opening but was instead left flabbergasted. The feeling she recieved in her arms felt wrong, as if her actions had yielded no results and as expected it had not even made a dent on the wall when she looked at it.
It had clearly fulfilled its requirement in sturdiness but it gave her a challenge in trying to discover if it could not be cut or in her second attempt, smashed.
Nevius feeling the change in mana around her, rushed and poked a big hole where she had initially tried to attack and fulfilled her self imposed duty.
Sure it lessened his mana reserves, but it was better than Asla destroying the very thing that was meant to keep them safe.
She clicked but kept her axe away afterwards though she still looked disappointed.
Cecilia moved foward touched a part of the dome and after concentrating for some minutes, turned the entire ice structure into pure heavy metal.
She breathed heavily, almost collapsing after doing so and was held by Salum who laid her on a large piece of cloth which had seemingly appeared out of nowhere.
Framel finally said," Prepare the traps and be ready for a very very long night."
As the group were busy in preparation a bit far from them, two now three horrors were making some wrong turns and the occasional right turns as they searched for their prey that were playing hide and seek with them.