Chapter 264: A Talk of Water and Fire

I called off the clone that was extinguishing the fire as the wind nymph led me out of the inferno. After exiting the burning section of forest, we were hit with a sudden, cool breeze and greeted with the sight of a flowing brook that served as a natural border between ash and untouched wood.

“The water elders are just ahead,” the wind nymph said, guiding us across the brook and into a wide clearing. There, we saw houses made of flowing, shifting water, sunlight scattering across the eaves like a rainbow. Humanoid shapes passed over the ground, living as if there was not a single problem to be had. Some danced with younger nymphs, some sat in liquid chairs, and others still walked between the trees to pluck various fruits.

Diane and I were led to a particularly large building with steps leading up to it. I hesitantly put my foot on one of the steps, expecting my foot to pass through it. However, it somehow supported my weight without issue, so Diane and I ascended the stairs to enter the building, within which were two water nymphs waiting for us.

“You are the one that was extinguishing the flame field, I presume?” one asked in a voice as sweet as honey. “I do apologize, but we don’t know your name. We do, however, assume that you are among the ‘Players’ that we have heard tell of?”

“Not quite, but close enough,” I said with a faint chuckle. “I’m sorry, I hope that I didn’t cause any inconvenience by putting out the fire. I thought that it was an uncontrolled flame and wanted to save the area before it was fully destroyed.”

“Perfectly understandable,” the other spoke with a masculine voice that sent chills through my spine. “We assumed that you were not one to wantonly harm the fire dwellers when they said you called out a warning to them. However, it is hard for them to communicate within the fire, so they asked one of the wind-born to act as a messenger.”

After the nymph said that, he looked towards the wind nymph, who bowed politely in response. “It is the nature of the wind to reach all corners.”

Diane cleared her throat, taking a step forward. “Can you explain what happened? We thought that the enemies from the dungeon had escaped and set the forest alight, but it sounds more as if this was an arrangement made by none other than all of you?”

“Quite right,” the feminine water nymph chimed in with a smile. “Roughly two weeks ago, the fire-blessed from the strange structure began to show greater insight in their actions. Their disorderly scattered members organized into regular patrols, and they began actively hunting down any that they could find near their home.”

“As per our agreement with the Player that first passed through this region and spoke with us, we had been working with the flame dwellers to eliminate any that strayed too far from the gate. Our water could neutralize their flame attacks, and the flame dwellers could scorch their flesh. Our combination was quite effective in diminishing the threat, at least until this sudden shift in their attitudes.”

“They refined their flames to boil water, and practiced techniques to scatter flame. Soon, our kin began to fall in droves, and we had been pushed back to the brook. Any further, and the colony would be in danger.”

The male nymph took over with a grunt. “Us of the waves had become all but useless against them. The flame dwellers could still scorch their skin and steal their breath, but only if the flame was in great enough volume. Because of this, we reached a new arrangement amongst ourselves. The flame dwellers would consume the region surrounding their gates, and we would contain the flames.”

“I understand that, where you come from, trees may fall to ash under flame. The Player we met before explained as much. However, in this land, the wood pulses with the vitality of the world itself. To try and sever the life of even one tree would be akin to splitting a mountain in half.”

So they have mountains here, I thought to myself. “I see. So, the flame field isn’t a result of the dungeon, but your own machinations to contain it. My apologies, but could we have permission to enter the dungeon? We have come from far away after receiving word from the other Player you speak of to try and conquer this dungeon.”

“If you do so, will the dungeon go away?” the female nymph asked, a tinge of hope in her tone.

I paused, mulling over my answer. “Not inherently, no. However, I do possess the ability to destroy dungeons. If you let us into the dungeon, I can promise to destroy it when we come out. That way, you can allow the forest to return to its natural state.”

The two nymphs looked at one another, before the male figure looked at the wind nymph. “Send word to the flame dwellers. Since they are now the official guards of the dungeon, let their word be final.”

The wind nymph gave another bow before scattering into the breeze, the burnt leaves that had been its eyes flying out of the building. Afterwards, the two water nymphs turned to face us. “According to the flame dwellers, you displayed not only the ability to consume fire, but also conjure and command water?” the female nymph asked curiously.

I blinked in surprise, before nodding and conjuring a ball of water. “I have a variety of skills. This skill is known as Water King, and allows me to project my natural energy as water and shape it with great control. I can even bestow a small amount of awareness to what I project and let it act on its own.”

The duo watched the water ball with great interest, seemingly studying it. “I see. So, this is not natural water, but an alteration of your martial energy. That is quite different from how we handle things here.”

When I heard that, I couldn’t help but ask the question that had been bothering me since our arrival. “If I may ask, how are these buildings created? I have a construction skill myself, so I am quite interested. At the same time, I know that water is not exactly an ideal construction material.”

The duo looked at one another, and I could almost see a smile forming on their faces. “Perhaps not to you. However, we of the waves have natural control over water in the same way that you can control your energy. We shape it into the form we want, and then we bid it remain in that shape. Given enough force, the walls may be broken, but they will always flow back into their proper shape.”

After the female nymph said that, the male one let out a small grunt. “It is the same with the others. The flame dwellers urge their flames to spread, but give it strict instructions on how far it is allowed to go. They can shape their fire into solid form, or flow it through the ground like water.”

Listening to these words, I had the faint desire to create skills specializing in construction with water, fire, and darkness. I even knew how I could do it, by simply channeling one of my manipulation skills together with Walking Fortress. The only thing stopping me from doing so was the fact that I would need to cultivate the skill from the beginning. And while it certainly sounded like an interesting skill, it was not to the degree where I would spend so much time on leveling it up.

Still, my curiosity was sated, so I nodded my thanks. Moments later, the wind nymph returned, still carrying the scent of smoke. “The flame elders have agreed to allow the two inside, under the condition that they destroy the dungeon immediately upon their exit. Even now, the fire-blessed are working to develop new abilities to combat the flames around their gate.”

Diane and I looked at one another when we heard that. The situation here was vastly different from the lightning dungeon. There, we had encountered them doing martial training, but there was no true impetus to force them to truly develop their abilities. Here, it seemed as if the fire ninjas were actively developing new skills in order to combat the hostile surroundings outside their dungeon. Would that affect the skills that could drop as loot?

In addition, since the agreement required immediate destruction of the dungeon, that meant that we could only run it once. At most, we could give it a few extra runs of the boss if we stayed outside its room, but that would only give us some extra boss loot.

“Very well, it seems that the flame elders have spoken,” the female water nymph said. “Though the question remains, how shall the two of you reach the dungeon? It rests at the heart of the inferno, where the air is black with smoke. Your breath would rot in your lungs before you made it to the gate.”

Diane hesitated, looking over at me. “Think you can take care of that?” she asked hopefully. “Controlling oxygen isn’t exactly my forte.”

“If I create and maintain a water barrier as we fly through, we should have enough breathable air to make it to the dungeon,” I thought aloud. “Inside, the air should be fine for us to breathe, since the ninjas inside keep managing to survive long enough to come out. Once we’re done, I just need to create a similar barrier before leaving, and teleport us away after I destroy the dungeon.”

Of course, this water barrier wouldn’t exactly be easy to maintain, having been inside the flames once before. It was so hot in there that it would boil within seconds, and I would need to constantly maintain its temperature. The larger the surface area of the barrier, the more concentration it would take to maintain it.

 And, it wasn’t like I could grant this one awareness and tell it to maintain itself. After all, if I granted it awareness, it would run away the moment it felt itself being consumed by the fire. That would be… less than ideal for us, to say the least.

Diane let out a breath of relief at my idea. “We’ll go with that, then,” she said, before turning back towards the water nymphs and offering a polite bow. “Thank you for acting as an intermediary for us and explaining the situation. If you hadn’t gotten involved, we may have accidentally committed a grave sin and destroyed the homes of many innocent beings.”

After she said that, the two of us left, and I focused on creating a water barrier around myself and Diane. To allow the barrier to fully encapsulate us, I lifted the two of us onto a projected platform, with the barrier extending out two meters in every direction. “Do you think that this will be enough air for us to get there?” I asked her, not quite sure myself.

Diane pursed her lips behind her mask, measuring the barrier with her eyes. “If you fly fast, it might. Visibility is limited for me, but your True Sight should be able to find the dungeon without too much trouble. I’d say we have about twenty minutes of oxygen in here, as long as none of it leaks out or is burnt up when we’re traveling through the flames.”

I nodded my head at that, resolving myself to find the dungeon as quickly as possible. The last thing that I wanted to happen was for us to die in the midst of a raging inferno just because I got lost or something.