-- POV Freya --
I stood in front of that bright tree and as I heard the Lieutenants and Commanders in the distance join , I sat cross-legged. I needed ti, space and concentration as I was about to test my theory. Lynn and her tale had arrived at just the right ti and all I wanted to do was to begin by closing the mystery of this tree before discovering more.
[Concentrate, feel the mana and especially visualize it in its original form]
My eyes were closed, my heart was beating very slowly, and my breaths might seem shallow as I entered a special state. This was the first ti I tried to feel the mana coming from such a big magical thing and it was quite difficult because I had to separate it from the surrounding mana. The more I concentrated, the more the golden spots that represented the mana started to be invaded by other spots but of white color.
"Your Highness ?"
"Sshhhh."
I could hear Nella and Kurumi's voices, but although they were close, they seed so far away. Gradually, a perfect replica of the tree ford in my mind, wrapped in white mana very different from the one around us.
*I think this is it...I think I can make it*
At that mont, I focused all my mind into that tree while using my Detection and Control of mana skill as accurately as I could. I could feel my body being invaded by mana, making tremble in spite of myself because I had never had to do this before. Every bit of my being was shot through with a natural force from this powerful tree that clashed with my own mana.
"Empress !"
"DON'T MOVE !"
I felt like I was almost there and I didn't want to be disturbed by anyone. My body was in uncontrollable spasms but the hardest part was connecting to every particle of mana belonging to the tree. Thanks to my particularly high intelligence I was able to act as if I had several brains, but this task was far from easy.
To be honest, it was probably the hardest thing I had ever done since I had the skill. The mana I hadn't been able to feel during the day was swirling madly around and even those who couldn't see it could feel it. My hair was flying behind and a strong wind was forming around as the butterflies began to gather.
[ MP : 30 000 / 60 000 ]
*...*
[ MP : 28 000 / 60 000 ]
[Onee-san ! Your mana reserve is decreasing dramatically fast, this is not normal ! If you continue like this, you'll collapse before you've even made it, so please hurry !]
*Just... a little bit more... I'm... I'm almost there*
I could feel my body getting weaker by the second, but I couldn't stop now, not after everything I'd already done. My MP reserve was over 50,000 but I was no longer manipulating ambient mana but tree mana which explained the drop. I knew that mana in this world was just as important as air, and that if a being ran out of mana, he would simply end up dead.
[ MP : 24 000 / 60 000 ]
Just as Kira had told , I had to hurry because the more ti passed, the more I felt my mind going. My eyes were wide open and all around the tree was a veil of mana, golden to the naked eye and white to who could perceive its deeper nature. I paid no attention at all to the others who seed to be getting restless and continued to concentrate as I never had before.
[ MP : 20 000 / 60 000 ]
*...dress it...with a golden cloak uuurg*
[Onee-san !]
I rose to my feet and with one last effort covered the entire tree with golden mana like a thin veil woven by the sun itself. Its huge white structure was now the sa color as the gold, and as I released my hold on its mana, the beautiful symbols carved into it began to suck up the mana. I watched the scene as my body wavered and my legs shook.
-- PING --
[ The Detection and Control of mana skill has been raised to level 6 ]
*I...I did...*
[Y-Yes onee-san but...are...are you okay !?]
As I heard Kira's question, my legs could no longer support , my body having been almost completely drained of mana. I was still conscious, but my lower body was unresponsive, and as the tree's patterns sucked up the mana, I toppled backwards.
"Your Highness !"
I could hear the voices of the Commanders and Lieutenants who were quite a distance away and I could even hear them rushing towards despite the distance. Suddenly, as my eyes closed, my back t sothing warm that had co up behind to keep from falling. It was a peculiar sensation but at that mont I could only be grateful.
As I slowly opened my eyelids, my gaze t two sharp yellow eyes. The person who had caught was not a person, because at that very mont, the one supporting was Inferno, my faithful steed. His mane as black as my hair fluttered in the wind and as I smiled slightly, I could almost see him nodding.
[Onee-san...you did it. The process seems to take a few more minutes so...rest a little now.]
"Y-yes...I...thank you my friend"
As I thanked my stallion, I then let myself slide to the ground, Inferno following and lying down on the soft grass as well. My eyes slowly closed and as I entered a ditative state, the Commanders were already there. My breathing was shallow but I was controlling it on purpose to relax my whole body and recover faster but it seed to worry the 10 people around .
"Empress ! Caipy what's going on ?"
"I...it seems that her highness has lost a large amount of her mana. Handling such a large amount of it shouldn't be possible I..."
"Do sothing then ! My god what are we going to tell the Queen ?"
I was just resting quietly and yet everyone seed to be reacting as if sothing bad had happened. Slowly opening one eye, I could hear the Commanders begin to panic, not knowing what to do. As Ralph approached , I finally raised my voice.
"Oi ! Don't bury yet ! I'm just resting so go inspect the tree instead and let know if you find anything without forgetting to bring the Lieutenants and that Lynn here. It seems we can't wait for daylight before we begin our exploration."
As I spoke, the ten won gasped and smiled slightly in relief. Sohow, their smiling faces under the full moon soothed as they parted to perform.
[You also scared onee-san...]
*Sorry, I must admit that I underestimated the amount of mana I had to manipulate but I finally managed to do it !*
[Mmh...but you should be more careful. I promised Gaya and Shiro that I would take care of you as best I could despite my condition so don't make break that promise Freya].
As I was about to answer, the tree suddenly stopped glowing, or rather, all the light was now concentrated at the bottom of the trunk forming a door. Leaning on Inferno's back, I stood up to take a closer look at what had just appeared. Ralph, Luna, Thorunn, Ynir and Persea were already in front of the trunk, and the others were gathering everyone together.
"Your Highness, a door shape has been drawn on the trunk of the tree but nothing else to report."
Ynir was flapping her wings rapidly to let know what was going on. As I reached the height of the huge tree, a golden veil had indeed ford but I couldn't tell what was behind it. Before I tried anything, I turned around to face everyone since everyone was now in front of .
"That strange door that appeared only seems to be able to open at night. I won't be able to do what I did once again for a while so we'll abandon the camp we made and venture into that tree imdiately."
I had planned that we would rest tonight before doing anything but the conditions had decided otherwise. I could only hope that we would have the opportunity to stop for a bit in the place we were about to go. The Commanders and Lieutenants nodded as I turned this ti to Lynn, almost hidden behind Nixia.
"I'm sorry to break this to you but you'll have to co with us. We don't have ti to send you back to the Empire and I can't let you go alone. You were lucky not to be attacked because you were following us and our group was fending off the wild beasts, but alone and at night you have no chance. We don't know what we will find and discover where we are going but I expect you to follow orders so you don't die."
"Y-Yes your Highness...."
At my last word I could see the young succubus turn pale and start to shake again. She probably hadn't thought about what her past actions would entail and I hadn't anticipated her presence either. Lynn was not yet an experienced warrior and even though she had chosen the army section, she could beco a problem depending on the situation.
[Honestly I hope she doesn't slow us down because no matter how you look at it, Lynn is not a warrior.]
*Sigh...mmh I'll have to think about protecting her if this goes bad*
[Nixia can do it, you know, Onee-san. After all, she's one of her soldiers, so it's only natural].
*That's true, but I'm the most powerful of the group and Nixia needs to be able to focus on her. If a complicated fight cos up, she may not be able to protect Lynn at the sa ti, so it's up to . Am I not the Empress ?*
Turning this ti to the beautiful lamia, I sumd up everything I had talked about with Kira a few seconds ago.
"Nixia, I am entrusting you to watch over her but if a dangerous fight should break out I want you to focus on winning and the enemy. If such a situation should ever arise, then I will personally take charge of watching over her while assisting you. Understood ?"
"Yes your Highness, I am fully aware that her presence was not planned and I will make sure that it does not penalize us. Thank you for your concern !"
Nodding, I turned my eyes to the camp just set up on the other side of the shore to take stock of the situation. All the warriors were standing in front of , the fire had been put out, the food collected, the ice furniture disappeared with a snap of my fingers and we were ready to leave.
"Good ! I know you haven't rested but on a trip, many unexpected things can happen. We may not always have ti to rest, eat or even sleep, so be strong. Now that we have a way to discover the secret of this tree and the answers that Goddess Titania has pointed out to , we will finally enter. Are you all ready ?"
"Yes your Highness ! We are ready and honored to accompany you on this adventure !"
As all the soldiers bowed respectfully, I turned around with a small smile on my face, making my fangs glow in the moonlight. The golden veil forming the door was still there and it was almost without hesitation that I began to move my hand forward to touch it.
[Be careful though...]
While I expected to touch sothing solid, my hand passed through it as if it were an illusion. The mana although in this visible situation, had no solid form which explained this phenonon and despite this knowledge, I was surprised. Approaching a little closer, I decided this ti to plunge my face into it to discover what was behind.
[Wow !]
Behind this layer of mana, there was a huge spiral staircase made of stone that went deep into the bowels of the earth. It was cracked, places were missing and the steps were easily several ters long and wide. The atmosphere was cold, eerie, and there were a few noises coming from the bottom which from where I was standing was impossible to see, giving the impression of being in front of the entrance to a crypt. Poking my head out, I could see my soldiers waiting for to speak with a serious look on their faces.
"There are stairs. We're going to go down them and find out what's hidden there. Let's go !"
"Hai !"
I was the first to enter, followed by Inferno, my Commanders, Lynn and then the Lieutenants who were discovering this imnse hidden structure one by one. The feeling of entering a danger zone made shiver and as everyone entered, the door disappeared behind us, locking us in. There was no way out except to go straight ahead and follow this staircase that seed to descend into the abyss of the world.
"From now on we're going in blind. Be alert and especially ready to react at a second's notice ! We will discover what is hidden deep down and return to the Empire without having lost any of us !"
"Yes !"
In spite of the darkness that surrounded us we could still see thanks to so stones on the wall emitting a faint light. The great steps stretched out before us as if inviting us to move forward to engulf us in the depths of what seed to to be a crypt.
*Yosh !*
So began our descent into an unknown place, unsure of what we would find and when we would see daylight again. Like an infernal march leading us straight into Hell, our footsteps echoed down the cold stone stairs as our group moved further and further away from the outside world.
____
FULL STATUS
Na : Freya
Age : 0 years old / ntally : 25 years old
Sex : Female
Course : Ice Demon Wolf of chaos - Adult
Race : Imperial Demon
Titles : Blessed by Titania, Goddess of endless Chaos and eternal frozen Hell.
Dragon tar
Ruthless slayer
Level : 36/70
Exp needed for next level: 16 600 / 37 000
HP : 120 000 / 120 000 MP : 20 000 / 60 000
Strength: 500
Defense : 500
Agility : 506
Endurance: 503
Speed : 502
Intelligence: 500
Charisma: 500 (imperial she-wolf)
Attribute points to allocate : 0
Married to : Gaya
Daughter : Shiro
Empire (nu)
Subordinates: 1239
Humans killed: 153
Souls: 2/3
Elents: Ice / Chaos
Skills (all):
Attack - Demon Claws (Lvl 5)
- Bite of hell (Lvl 6)
- Infernal ice spikes (Lvl 6)
- Fighting techniques (Lvl max)
- Mastery of the katana (lvl max)
- Demonic Empress aura (lvl 5)
Defense - Ice demon wall (Lvl 6)
- Demonic Cloak (lvl 5)
Pain Resistance (lvl 4)
Attack/Defense - Domain of the Ice Empress "frozen wrath" (lvl 2) - (under condition)
Others - Humanoid form
- Ice creation (Lvl 6)
- Storage of chaos (Lvl 4)
- Devouring Chaos (Lvl 5)
- Analysis
- Second soul (Lvl max) - unique
- Telepathy
Detection and control of mana (lvl 6)
Master of souls (lvl 1)
Passives - Commander (lvl max)
- Natural Aura of the Ice Empress ]
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