Chapter 278 B4 Chapter 34 - Return To Shivenar

“Are you sure you want to stay down here?” Vivi asked under the sweat-inducing facets of Drean’s village. “I can’t promise that your home won’t be pillaged.”

“If our home were to be attacked,” Drean said, “that event would be the single most interesting occurrence in thousands of years.”

His tone was monotone, though his frosted eyes were sharper than usual, as if he actually thought being attacked would be a fun experience. That was better than the sullen gloom in a lot of other spirits’ eyes.

Reactions were still mixed in the village. Most of the spirits that had been awake when Vivi arrived were moving about—definitely not urgently, but completing tasks nonetheless—and out of the unconscious spirits, a good half had woken up. Two spirits were rebuilding one of the fallen huts by hand with the power of ether.

The most noise came from the distance with ethereal blades and spears clashing against each other alongside the thumps of arrows hitting wooden targets. A hunting group had ventured into the caverns to collect ether while Adalene’s troops were being kept out.

“Sannelia had many hobbies,” Drean said when he spotted Vivi eyeing the sparring grounds. “But at heart, she was a dungeon hunter, and that’s the trait most of us have inherited. Some of us received her accuracy with the bow, or her skills with the sword. The spear was her worst weapon, but she loved using it as well.”

On the sparring grounds, a spirit spun his ethereal spear with his hands. He threw it directly up and summoned another spear. He spun that as well, until the first spear fell, and he caught that while throwing the second into the air, juggling the spinning spears.

“What about Francesco?” Vivi asked. The Ancient King still hadn’t moved from his location. He continued rotting with flies eating him alive as ether repaired his body.

“Don’t concern yourself with him,” Drean said. “His Kingdom is gone, and the responsibilities he abandoned are irrelevant five thousand years later. Francesco is merely a spirit of Noxbryn now.”

And those are incredibly rare, Vivi thought. Historians and world leaders alike would have jumped on an opportunity to meet Francesco and learn about him. In the state he was in now, he wouldn’t be of much use in saving the world, but if someone cheered him up and freed him of curses, he would have probably helped defend cities.

It probably wouldn’t be worth the time right now to pull Francesco out of here. Vivi felt bad for leaving him and a lot of the spirits in such a depressive slump, but spending more time here would leave the surface open to being pillaged.

“I’ll tell Queen Adalene to treat you kindly,” Vivi said. “Her troops definitely intend to explore the caverns. They need to know you aren’t the enemies here. I wish all of you a happy recovery.”

Drean stood with his hands behind his back. “A happy recovery, huh? Yes, that sounds much nicer than a swift recovery. Thank you, Vivian. It was nice knowing you. You’re a fine human.”

“We’ll meet again,” Vivi said with a laugh. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

“If you’re here within the next hundred years, it’s hardly worth it to say goodbye.” His cheek lines rose a little, saying that. “Should I escort you out one more time?”

Vivi gladly accepted that, first fetching Aolinn and her father. This was Helegar’s first time visiting the dark caverns, and Vivi was afraid he’d cause trouble despite all the instructions she gave, essentially telling him to just be silent and follow. Most importantly, if monsters came, he was to stand still and not avoid panic.

Surprisingly, nothing catastrophic happened. Even Helegar had his moments where he didn’t fail at doing what was told. Aolinn handled the caverns just fine on the way up, giving her father a good example.

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“Are we sure heading up to the surface is our best option?” Lucius thought. “We could also have a head-start in clearing the way to the abyss.”

Well, I’m not surprised you want to head down, Vivi thought with a smile.

“It was a serious suggestion, Vivi,” Lucius said.

I’ve thought about it. It’s too big of a risk. We most likely can’t just push our way down to the gods. It’ll take time and teamwork with Adalene’s troops to construct more slingshot launchers. While we’re doing that, the surface is being destroyed and Ythar is being killed. The hunters will be helpless against a group of fifth elevation demons. If Shilman’s friends succeed, they’ll hear that the gods’ graveyard has been opened, and they’ll probably kill us. A lot of strong hunters might already be on their way here.

“Hm,” Lucius said. “Maybe it could be beneficial if Ythar doesn’t die.”

You believe Ythar will be helpful, then? Vivi thought. Even if the hunters think we’re heretics?

His presence in her core was thoughtful, until he said, “If he dies, I’d need to waste time watching you learn how to speak. I can feel translation magic fading the more time we spend away.”

That’s the most impactful loss to you?

“Permanently losing his encyclopedia would be problematic as well. Maybe you’re right. We need to bring Ythar closer to the abyss to still stay connected to him while we clear our way down.”

Vivi slowly shook her head, amused by her spirit. When the mess above has calmed down, we’ll bring allies from Shivenar here. Patryn and Freyven must be inventing more powerful weapons right now. Clearing the dungeon will be much easier with their help.

The remaining walk up to Norfolm passed as slowly as always, progress being difficult to track with everything so monotone, until out of nowhere, the orange glow of lava peeked in from a hole in the wall.

Helegar and Aolinn followed Vivi, and the two were faced with the vast landscape of the abyss city and the camp that surrounded the entrance to the gauntlet. Both of them observed silently while staying close to Vivi. A quick tour through the city, maybe to taste foods with Aolinn, could have been interesting, but for now, Vivi prepared to head straight to the Queen’s palace.

That was until she spotted two humans under one of the larger tents, facing Queen Adalene directly on a dinner table, along with Lortel.

Cael and Alda were both drinking tea close to the entrance. Cael spotted her first and waved. Surprised, Vivi walked over, Aolinn and Helegar closely behind.

“It turns out that the Queen is actually quite generous,” Cael said in Fimian as he took a sip. Adalene sat across from him, also drinking tea.

Vivi just smiled. Then she turned to Adalene and asked, “Are the teleporters ready? We’re ready to depart when you’re ready.”

“Yes,” Adalene said. “The ring is ready to operate after final preparations. Meet me in the palace in an hour.” She stood and announced to every guard and servant standby, “Vivian Runeblessed and her allies are to be kept safe! The teleportation ring is to depart to Shivenar in one hour!”

The Queen and the majority of the guardsmen headed to the palace.

***

An hour later, everyone was led to the Palace’s teleportation ring. This one was vastly different from Ythar’s rings on the surface. In a way, it was much more primitive. Adalene’s ring was more like a large surgeway with no floor separating hot ether from Vivi’s boots. The demons’ rings weren’t interconnected with a god’s magic, but were instead operated by a skill wisp. The goal of the ring was just to connect everything inside it to the skill used.

The operator stood outside the ring. He was a short man with a cracked horn, wearing an oversized robe, but with sharp eyes that indicated he hopefully knew what he was doing. “One stop route, final destination, fifth level,” he said. “Now teleporting to Charvelth of the seventh level.”

He wrote to some sort of wooden board, then closed his eyes and pushed ether into the surgeway. Ether rose into the air and invaded Vivi’s core. She allowed it in. She grew dizzy as more and more foreign ether wrapped around her core, until her vision went black.

She flashed awake on a very similar teleportation ring, but clearly in a different room, the walls a bright marble. She squinted from their reflections.

“Vivian Runeblessed?” a priestly man asked. “To Shivenar?”

That seemed to be the operator of this teleportation ring. “Yes,” Vivi said. Around her, everyone else had been teleported successfully along with the canteens of water Vivi had asked to bring.

He nodded. “Shivenar lacks a ring. You will be sent freely to the desert. Be prepared to fight. Ready?”

“Ready,” Vivi said.

One last teleportation flickered Vivi’s vision black for a second, until she woke up to sand particles hitting her face. The light of the facets above was blocked by a sandstorm.

She confirmed everyone was nearby, and that no strong ethereal presences of monsters were about to kill everyone. She sensed a few idle auras, but nothing Cael or Alda couldn’t deal with.

Has our access to Paradise returned? she asked.

Lucius was grinning. “Yes! I am connected to Ythar once again.”

Immediately, Vivi sent a signal to Essi.