Chapter 78 – Making Invisible Weapons

It took some time for the group to settle. Emil had to be properly introduced to Lurim and Nerima. Sarka handled all of it, continuing from where he had left off back when he was on Emil’s finger.

“Pleasure to finally meet you, Prince Volfarro!” Nerima said in an awkward, cordial voice that totally didn’t fit her. Lurim threw several signs and stared. “My brother says hello as well!”

Emil bowed, head bobbing in water as smoke from the heating potion twisted into the winds. “The pleasure is all mine! Prince Volfarro, at your service.”

“How splendidly courteous! Well done, Nerima, and Prince Volfarro!” Sarka said like a teacher observing class.

They’re being way too formal for my pirate crew. Maybe they’ll get along better when they get to know each other more.

“A mermaid and a little boy!” Emil said, looking at Darya with wide eyes. Somehow, this had shocked him even more than what he just did with the Shadows. “Did you recruit them? Where did you even find them?!”

“Long story, Emil,” Darya said. “Nerima was about to be sold in Galtea, and Lurim can talk with fish. They’re with us because they wanted to help me find you and Rossarie.”

Lurim let go of Darya and slid into the water. He swam close to Emil, looking at him curiously. Emil looked at the toddler awkwardly and greeted him again.

“He is curious because you look young, Prince Volfarro,” Nerima said, getting into the water herself.

“Oh, is that a compliment!” Emil asked, smiling at the boy.

“He thinks… you might be up to play with him.”

Darya scoffed, getting the sudden urge to throw a spanner at Emil. Perhaps it was some deeply ingrained instinct left over by Darya Altazark. “Nerima, tell Lurim the  prince is indeed a boy, and he is fully available to play!”

“What?!” Emil shouted. “Don’t tell him that! I’m seventeen, not seven!”’

“There’s no difference in your whining,” Darya muttered under her breath.

“What did you say—I heard that!”

Sarka spoke right then. “Princess, we may have a situation brewing. I feel the Dreagan’s mana signature moving. It seems to be lowering!”

“Is it coming to us?” Darya asked, looking over her shoulder. It was still a dot in the sky.

“Perhaps the island?”

Nerima looked up as well. “There’s a lot of Shadows flying around. Lurim said he saw some of them falling into the water. One came for me just a while ago!”

“Didn’t you stay underwater? I told you to be careful,” Darya said, looking at Nerima.

Nerima shrugged sheepishly. “I was just watching things moving, heh.”

“And?”

“One of them came for me. It had a bent wing! It was circling, throwing pointy mana rods at me. Anyways, I killed it just a while ago!” She said with a proud grin.

Sarka gasped. “You did what, Nerima?! That’s a Filvoran! How did you even—”

She was only too eager to explain it step by step. “See, I waited for it to come down and swoop the waves. Then I sang a song, and dragged it underwater. It drowned! Lurim heard my song and came for me. He told the whale I was with to whack the Shadow with its tail for a while. It's in pieces now.”

“She can perform the luring song?!” Emil exclaimed.

“Yes, Nerima is a Nere siren,” Sarka explained. “Though I do not commend this dangerous behavior! Nerima! What did master Lam tell you?!”

Nerima shrank a bit further into the waves, looking even more sheepish.

Darya stared at her, unable to decide the correct response. The girl had killed a Filvoran by herself. It had to be one that she damaged earlier. If she killed it, she had to have gotten the system notification.

Wait. I got one when I was near the Dreagan, didn’t I? Was that the one she killed?

Darya gestured for Nerima to come near and grabbed her thin shoulder. “You did great, but I don’t want to see you get skewered again. Remember what happened the last time!”

Nerima curled her mouth. “I know. It won’t happen again!”

“Sarka, you’ll stay with Nerima.”

“Demoted to child care duty yet again!” Sarka howled. “Princess, what if you need me up there? How will you keep track of Prince Volfarro?!”

“About that,” Darya paused. “Everyone!” She said aloud. Emil and Lurim were distracted with each other. They waded closer to the whale.

“What’s the plan?” Emil asked, taking a quick look at the sky.

“Before the plan, you should hear what I saw. There was something strange inside the Dreagan called an Archangel Seed. What it does is anyone’s guess.”

Emil clapped. “Oh right, I was about to ask what sort of spell did you use to cut a Dreagan that big?!”

“That is off topic. Sarka can tell you later,” Darya said dismissively.

“Princess, an Archangel Seed?” Nerima asked curiously. “That sounds like a more dangerous Shadow.”

“I think it’s an egg. It was ready to hatch.” Darya pointed at the sky. “ It must’ve done that already, because the Dreagan is already coming down, based on what Magus Sarka told us just now. It is switching strategies.”

“Wait, why do you sound unsure, Darya? Have you forgotten what an Archangel is?” Emil asked urgently.

“I forgot nearly everything before my resurrection. I think an Archangel is an angel that is hard to beat. That’s the summary, yes?”

“It’s not just hard to beat! They outrank those Filvorans ten times over. They have regenerative powers. Magus Sarka, why aren’t you telling her these things!” Emil sounded panicked.

Sarka talked rather calmly. “The princess is awakened, Prince Volfarro. I don’t think this Archangel is an exceptional threat she cannot handle.”

“But—”

“Even if I can’t handle it, I still have to handle it,” Darya said with a smile. “I think there is something different about this one.”

“The fact that it is being born out of an egg inside a Dreagan?” Emil asked.

“…sure,” Darya went with that. She had no way to explain to them what the beta tag was. “…which is why I brought you back down.”

Darya dug in her bag and pulled out several mana globes. “You’ll stay with Nerima and Lurim while you recover your mana.”

“Wait! You’re going back alone?!” Emil asked. “I’m not useless!”

“I’m not calling you useless, Emil!” Darya gestured at Nerima and Lurim. “Nobody here is useless. They’re here because they’re useful.”

“This is a bad idea, Princess! At least take me!” Sarka insisted.

“You should assist either Nerima or Emil,” Darya said. “In Emil’s case, you should do the opposite of what you did with me. Keep him out of range of things I might do. Is this understood?”

“Very well, Princess.”

“What things?!” Emil asked.

Darya turned to him. “If you want to help, fly low and draw the Shadows down. Leave the rest to me.”

“I can only last five minutes against a horde like that.”

“Change tactics. Which is where this comes in,” Darya said, unhooking three sticks from her waist. She handed them one each.

“A stick?” Emil asked, staring at it. “Is this a broom handle?”

“Lurim first," Darya said, gesturing at him to come near. The boy swam close and slid up the whale. He seemed excited to hold his very important stick.

[Vainfall: Edit Collider Wireframe]

Darya made him hold the stick horizontally above his head. Next, she stretched several vertices around to make a shield with the stick as the handle. The square single-edge shape was way too dangerous. She smoothed out the edges with more vertices and made the whole thing somewhat child-safe.

She wasn’t really good at 3D modeling back in her VRMMO days, but she had dealt with enough collider issues to know how it worked. This was more like playing with clay than modeling anything. She was just rearranging existing vertices.

The circular shield she intended to make turned out to be more like a screwed-up pizza. She pulled the outer ring downwards, trying to make it more like an umbrella.

Lurim looked at her, all confused, and did some signs when she was finished.

“Lurim wants to know what this is, Princess!” Nerima said.

Darya grabbed the invisible shield and tossed it in the water. It bent the water surface around the curved shape. Without the blue preview, it looked as if the horizontal wooden handle was hovering mid-air with a force field around it.

“Whoa!” Nerima looked confused herself.

“Stick hovering magic?” Emil asked. He was beyond confused.

Lurim leapt into the water and struggled with the invisible shape as he grabbed the handle. He figured it out himself within seconds. He was laughing maniacally, watching the water bend around the invisible shape as he rotated in place.

“That is an excellent choice for Lurim, Princess!” Sarka laughed.

“What in the world is happening?!” Emil asked, getting soaked by splashes Lurim was making.

“Next, Nerima!” Darya gestured at her to come closer.

“Wh-what is that princess? Is this why you wanted me to hold a stick earlier?!”

“It’s exactly as it looks. I can make invisible shapes around the stick. Let me think, what should I give you?”

“A sword, please!” Nerima suggested, stars in her eyes.

“Absolutely not!” Sarka exploded.

“Yes, an invisible sword is too dangerous. Yours will be a shield like Lurim’s. No weapons.”

“Aw…” Nerima sighed disappointedly.

[Vainfall: Edit Collider Wireframe]

Darya made it slightly bigger. Enough to cover Nerima’s torso. It was more of an elliptical shape.

“Always hold this over your head when you surface. Tell your brother to do the same.”

Nerima nodded eagerly. Despite not getting what she wished for, she carried her shield like a surfboard and slid it across the water surface to check its shape. Seeing his sister with a bigger one, Lurim immediately came around to mess with it.

“Emil!” Darya snapped her fingers.

He waded close with his stick, looking confused beyond words.

Emil needed weapons-grade colliders, but Darya couldn’t move freely in the water to do what was needed. She couldn’t dash with Wind Step and create a disastrously large weapon for him either.

Darya got into the water for this one. “Nerima, come help me for a bit.”

Nerima left her big shield, which Lurim had somehow taken for an invisible boat.

[Vainfall: Edit Collider Wireframe]

“This is not a spell, is it?” Emil asked curiously. “I don’t see any mana.”

“Arcane magics, Prince Volfarro! Fascinating to me as well. Never in my life did I think objects could be manipulated this way!”

Emil offered the stick. “What the hell even happened with that resurrection stone?! Darya, the Goliante council’s going to seal you in a box if they ever find out, you know that, right?”

Darya smiled. “Better keep your mouth shut, then!”

She pointed at his gauntlet instead. “Let’s start with that one. You didn’t like it very much. Let’s change the shape. What did you say your lost weapons looked like?”

“One thing hasn’t changed,” Emil said, extending his gauntlet arm. “You are insane. In fact, it’s gotten worse.”