Nero hit another behemoth with the flat surface of his scythe and stunned his opponent. An elder succubus fell on the ground with a small thud in the blink of an eye, while yet another behemoth threw herself at the man, but ended up frozen in midair for her trouble. The young man continued walking in the darkness of the cavern he had been teleported in several days ago by Kagetsumugi.
He was still fustigating himself by the lack of precaution he had taken when fighting this unknown opponent. He had rushed in blindly when the small puppeteer was attacking Luddite Village, and ended up teleported away from the village and from Neris within a few minutes. At first, he thought he had been teleported in a pocket dimension, but he recognized the thick air of Hellgondo surrounding him. However, the cavern itself was unfamiliar. Even in the past, his teachers never showed him a place like that. Was it one of the area generated by the chaosization? Or did his teacher just didn't judge necessary to visit it? His first priority was to exit it and contact Neris to get the confirmation that she also made it out just fine.
Usually, he would teleport out of such a place, but any spell he cast was dampened by the walls, as if any dispersed magic ended up swallowed by the surroundings. He didn't fully feel confident in teleporting himself. Furthermore, that strange aura reduced the effectiveness of his magic sight, and blocked his telepathic link with Neris. Lastly, it forced him to rely on his conventional senses to orient himself. And it definitively wasn't his strongest point.
He could feel a change in the wind further forward, informing him that a new group of monsters was coming his way. Two vampires and a wyvern showed up. He carefully incapacitated them with time spells without killing them as he made his way toward what he hoped was an exit. This cavern was an overpopulated maze, and every monster that attacked him looked like they were possessed by a supernatural rage.
As if on cue, another wyvern jumped at him with her claws opened. She was once again met with the flat end of the adventurer's scythe, but was barely staggered. Before she could do anything, she found herself reduced to a statue, frozen in time for a moment. Nero pushed forward and eventually reached a larger room. It seemed this one had been carved out of the cavern, and its artificital nature was confirmed by the presence of carved crystals placed to illuminate the center of the room. Seven hexagonal slabs were present there, and Nero passed by them without giving them any further attention. Nero scanned the place and couldn't feel any trap or any secret passage: It was just a small sanctum with an undefined purpose used by local monsters. Nero left by the way he came from, as it was the only entrance leading to this place.
Another enraged behemoth threw herself at him. Like all the monsters before her, she ended up unconscious without being able to land a hit. The only thing she did was briefly distract Nero from his wanderings through those caves, and make him lose a little more his sense of direction. He realized he was actually going the way he originally came from when he fought the first behemoth yet again. The monster apparently hadn't learned her lesson and ended encased in ice for the trouble.
After what felt like another hour, he finally reached the entrance of the cavern. Once outside, the arid area confirmed him that he was indeed with Hellgondo. He sighed in relief as he finally was free from this place.
"Neris, do you hear me?"
"Nero? Oh finally, when I got up after being teleported on Ilias continent without you in sight, I thought you were dead!"
Nero raised an eyebrow. His sister sounded on the verge of panic. "Is everything alright?"
"No it's not! It's been three days since I last heard from you! I had the time to go through the whole continent on foot, cross the sea, and reach back Luddite village to see it had been razed to the ground! I couldn't keep track of Luka and Micaela once they left the ruins of this place! What happened to you?"
"I apologize, I got teleported into a strange cavern in Hellgondo. It was a maze and monsters present there were unusually aggressive. They repeatedly came back to attack me, I cannot fathom as to why."
"It's because it was the last place Alipheese and her Six Ancestors walked before sealing themselves away, so you were disturbing their hallowed ground you chuuni!"
Nero turned to see the White Rabbit sitting above the entrance of the cavern. She was slowly swaying her legs back and forth.
"Now, please do something stupid and attack me with aaaaall your might! I'm certain I will die this time!"
Nero carefully considered the situation. An excessive display of power would definitively attract the attentions of the residents of the castle, guaranteeing that those succubi would be on him in record time. He wasn't sure he could both handle them and the White Rabbit. In one move, he threw several seals around, delimiting an arena from which excess magic couldn't escape. Upon seeing this, the White Rabbit pouted.
"Wow, you actually saw it coming. I can't even get to use you to bait the Lilith Sisters…" She nonchalantly dodged a lightning fast charge. "Well, in that case, I have no reason to remain here. See ya!"
She disappeared in the ground, leaving a frustrated Nero alone. Right afterward, Neris's voice echoed in his head again.
"Bro, are you alright?"
"The usual suspect. I will regroup with you near our usual spot."
"Yeah, please hurry, you've been on vacation for long enough." She fell silent for a second before adding a few last words. "And be careful."
Nero focused and teleported away. All things considered, it could have been a worse day.
"GET BACK HERE!"
"Waaaaait!"
"Woopa dee doo pa da!"
Anyone currently crossing the road between San Ilia and Port Natalia could assist to a strange spectacle. A purple haired White Rabbit with a long coat and a top hat was strolling at a brisk pace, while being chased by a furious, slithering small purple and red lamia, while a pink slime and a small, silverish kitsune were distressingly trying to keep track with the strange duo.
"When I get you, I'm going to beat the crap out of you, then you will tell me why you turned me into this, then I'll transform you into mittens and into a carpet, and then I'll suck dry your whole family over your dead body!" She groaned while still running at her target. Her voice softened a lot when she realized she was losing ground as it became a desperate plea. "At least please tell me why did you seal me!"
The White Rabbit still continued forward, in a strange dance that was a mix of running and jumping, ignoring the threats and the questions the miniaturized Alice kept throwing around. The lamia was having difficulty keeping the pace her target was having, as exhaustion was slowly seeping in.
Alice and her "New Heavenly Knights" were travelling in the small abandoned village of Rubiana when they encountered the fickle monster. The small lamia initially intended to go to Sabasa, but ended up making a mistake while orienting herself and ended along the coast. Tired, the group made a break in the first place that looked civilized, and was surprised to see it had been empty for a long time. For a moment, Alice had been afraid that she would have to sleep on an empty stomach, but the kitsune had found edible scorpions that made for their meal. After a cold night around a campfire, the lamia found herself awakened in the early hours of the morning by a familiar singsong. Whe she looked around, she found that damnable White Rabbit washing herself in a small stream near the village. She had tried making her way to the monster silently, but the moment the White Rabbit detected her presence, she realized she had been screaming like an enraged berserk. Not before long, the group found itself involved in a weird chase.
Eventually, the white monster jumped into a tree that got surrounded by the three out of breath monsters.
"Finally… Surrender… You are surrounded…"
Any dramatic effect the small Monster Lord intended to have was ruthlessly torn apart by her panting and her need to gasp for air after every word.
"Tee hee, you think you got me, but the truth is, I'm already in Grand Noah! Toodles!"
The White Rabbit jumped toward Alice, but disappeared mid air, leaving an angry, frustrated Alice in the middle of nowhere.
The two other small monsters made their way to their leader. Alice crossed her arms and looked at her followers imperiously.
"We must follow her to Grand Noah. To that end, we must go to Port Marle and get a boat to this region. It is our new mission."
"Bwaaah! I'm hungry, I'm tired, and Port Marle is a day away! Can we get to take a break to Port Natalia first?"
As if to confirm her partner's point, kitsune collapsed on the ground. Alice inhaled as she prepared an answer, but was interrupted by her rumbling stomach. She eventually relented.
"Fine. We can take a break at Port Natalia. Meals are on me."
Kagetsumugi and Black Alice were once again drinking tea in the Puppeteer Tower. The place had been decorated to give a festive ambiance, with teddy bears disposed around and thick, purple curtains deployed. The result could best be described as a childish nightmare. Both monsters were happily smiling and exchanging platitudes. However, the ambiance between the two participants was so tense and heavy that any passerby would end up suffocating dead. Even the other powerful monsters usually wandering in the tower were actively avoiding the place, lest they be smitten to ashes by one of the two creatures sitting around the table.
Black Alice started talking with her usual cheery expression. "I must say, I am quite disappointed in you, Kagetsumugi. You attempted to start your own little party early to get your own little fun in your own little corner. I sincerely hoped that you had the self discipline to not act so rashly." She had spoken in her usual singsong voice.
The puppeteer put down her own cup on the table. She prepared herself for a verbal joust as if her life was hanging on it, which was likely the case if what she had seen from Black Alice was any indication.
"I truly apologize your majesty, but I thought myself that you started the party without telling me when you brought one of my doll to play in the middle of the sea."
"Really?" Black Alice leaned over the table, her uncanny cheerful expression unchanged. "Are you accusing me of stealing one of your creation? Of acting like a lowly thief?"
Remaining just as cheerful, Kagetsumugi rested her head on both of her hands before answering. "Nothing like that. I simply think that you wanted to see the result of my work by yourself while having fun, and might have forgotten the doll there in the heat of the moment."
The Monster Lord remained silent for a minute, still leaning across the table. Eventually, she sat back. "Mmmh. You're right. Maybe I got carried a bit. And I apologize for taking your toys, but you should lock your room better!"
There was a triple magic lock you pseudo goddess.
"Besides, only one doll ended up damaged from my playtime. You almost broke two in your little fun. Don't that make us even?"
Kagetsumugi refrained from making any comment on how the dolls were her in the first place. She decided to let Black Alice have this one, as it was the best way to be sure she could be able to continue her work unimpeded, if at all. After all, she couldn't hone her craft if she was dead.
"Indeed. Then shall we just enjoy ourselves? We will have plenty of occasion to restart our party in a more fitting way."
Both monsters were back at drinking tea in the following minute.
Right at the corner of the room, someone had managed to assist at the scene unimpeded. An amazonian looking monster with a monkey like tail had listened to the whole exchange between both monsters.
"Dang, that ain't right…"
She twirled a heavy looking, long staff around, lost in thought. When she was brought back, she was told there was going to be a big party and a lot of adventures to have where she could wreck stuff. But now, those two had slaughtered a village of weak humans just for fun, and they were talking about it like that it was nothing. This was not what she came for! Where was the challenge, the thrill in slaughtering the weak? She was here to rumble!
She started making her way out of the tower when strange monster whose upper body was that of a nude woman and whose lower half was made of large, thick white worms intercepted her.
"Sun Wukong."
"Izanami."
"Aren't you supposed to rally the Demon Cow Queen to our cause?"
"Yeah, I was just about to go get her."