After his huge finishing move, Kamil can’t even lift a finger, so Paul and Marcia have to pick him up and carry him like some wasted drunk. I’m pretty sure they've been in such a situation at least once before, judging from how swiftly they manage to scoop him up from the ground and how easy it seems for them to keep guiding him.

The main threat has been dealt with, but that doesn’t mean the siege is finished. There are still monsters all around the village’s palisade, even though their numbers are not that high. Paul informs the wardens present by the southern gate that we’ll take care of them soon so they can spread to all the other gates to keep an eye on them.

Literally dragging Kamil over the ground, we head to the main square in the village to check on Vanessa and the residents. From afar, it looks like everything is fine and she did follow Paul’s instructions as we can see a huge, flipped over bowl-like structure rising into the sky made out of mud.

She notices us coming and runs to meet us.

“How’s the gate? Are you guys okay? What happened to Kamil?”

The person in question chuckles wryly. It’s all he can do in his current state. “It’s all good… We’ve… dealt with most of the monsters… I’m just… a little drained… from going all out…”

Vanessa raises one of her brows. “Was that weird pillar of light perhaps your doing?”

“Yep! Our handsome hero wanted to make a good impression on our beautiful princess. Did his valiant effort capture your maiden heart?” Marcia teasingly butts in.

“Shut up! I was just following Paul’s plan! I didn’t do it to look good!” Kamil retorts.

“You sure?”

“Yes! I’m not that kind of person!”

I snort mentally. He is very much that kind of person, even if what he is saying is actually true in the current predicament. If it was any other girl in the past, he would not waste a chance to hit on her, but somehow, he acts completely different in front of Vanessa.

We hear a soft giggle and see the princess covering her mouth. “It truly looked to be a work of a Hero chosen by the Goddess. I would lie if I were to say that I am not amazed by the sheer power that divine light emanated.” 

She gives us a beautiful smile and I’m pretty sure Kamil blushes a little while averting his eyes. On the other hand… After our last talk by the fire… I’m beginning to think she’s intentionally playing along to tease him for some reason… And when I glance at her, she winks at me with a merry smile as if reading my thoughts.

Afterwards, she opens up the shelter and starts letting people out. The village chief approaches us and we report the situation to him. We leave Kamil in his hands and split into three teams to cover more ground faster.

Shino is the strongest of us when it comes to offence so she rushes towards the western gate by herself. Paul and Marcia head towards the eastern one and I’m left with Vanessa to check on the northern entry and its surroundings again. 

“Want a ride?” she asks after we take a few steps towards our destination.

“Hm?” 

Without elaborating, Vanessa starts her exotic dance using her staff and part of the ground emerges from under her feet, creating a flat, stone board. It’s the spell that allowed her to surf the earth back when we first met. She offers me a hand with a warm smile.

I take it and she gracefully pulls me in with a bit more strength than I expected and I land in her arms, leaning against her body. Our eyes meet for a brief moment and her smile grows wider. A second later, she thrusts her staff to the front.

“Onwards!”

And the earth under our feet starts gurgling, rising higher and higher until we begin moving forward at the height of an average person. The gentle breeze created by the speed of our movement makes our hair flutter. Honestly, to other people, I might be looking like a princess held by a valiant knight more than her right now. It’s a weird feeling.

We reach the gate and jump off the wave of mud. The wardens open it up for us and Vanessa’s previously created wall of earth is still present, blocking it properly. Before she takes it down, I gather my mana in preparation for launching a few elemental spells if there are any monsters on the other side.

“I’ll fight on the front, Natalie. Earth Magic has quite good defensive capabilities.” 

She winks at me and I watch as her whole skin gets covered with a thick layer of elastic mud, which looks harder than any mineral I’ve seen in this world so far. How does it bend around her joints without crumbling is a mystery, but it certainly gives the vibes of something hard to penetrate.

After she finishes gearing up, we nod at each other and the wall of mud slowly descends back into the ground. When it lowers itself to match our waists, a few shadowy, wolf-like Abyssals jump over it, aiming straight at Vanessa.

She braces herself for impact, preparing her staff, but it’s completely unnecessary. Before the monsters even reach the ground, I raise my hand into the sky and summon a dozen of Fire Lances. They impale all of the enemies in a blink after I bring my hand down, and they dissipate into dark smoke.

Vanessa whistles at me. “They told me you were strong but I didn’t think it was this much.”

I shrug. “I don’t get many chances to use my offensive magic when we fight as a group. I’m a healer and a support in the first place, but I do have a knack for Elemental Magic. It would be stupid not to develop it.”

“I see. What is your main element then? Fire?”

“All of them.”

Vanessa’s mouth opens from shock. A monkey-looking Abyssal jumps at her after we walk through the gate, but she waves her staff without even glancing its way and a huge hand out of earth slams it into the ground, flattening the enemy. She keeps staring at me.

“You must be joking.”

I raise my hand in front of me and turn it palm up. One by one, pieces of many elements appear above my extended fingers: a tongue of fire, an orb of water, a ball of wind, a lump of earth and a crystal of ice. Well, the last one is a fusion of water and wind and not exactly part of the main elements, but it looks fancier with five instead of four.

“And you can control them to the same extent?”

I nod.

“Hahaha… Are you sure that guy is the Hero and not you? Elemental Magic, Healing Magic, Divine Songs with an incredibly wide plethora of buffs and debuffs through your Bard’s Class… No matter how I look at it, he seems kinda bland.”

“As someone wise once said, title maketh man not. Even though the context was completely different. We are who we are and we do what we can.”

Vanessa assumes a thinking expression as we walk along the outer walls of the palisade.

“That teacher of yours, right?”

I nod again.

“The more I hear about him the more interesting he seems to be. I wish I could have a chat with that person one day.”

I smile softly. “If you’ll still accompany us to Evalitia’s capital, you’ll meet him for sure. Just follow a certain black-haired girl. These two are like magnets for each other.”

“She can’t be more obvious.” Vanessa giggles quietly. “And I will. I decided to join your party and I already feel like it was a great decision, even though we’ve barely spent any time together. You guys are just… kind of different from other adventurers.”

“That’s obvious. We are not from this world.”

A pack of Abyssals interrupts our little chat and we glance at each other. With a smile, Vanessa lunges at the enemies while I create sharp wind blades in my palms. We focus on the battle completely and annihilate all leftover monsters we come across on our path towards the western gate.

We finish in around three hours and head back to the main square to meet with the others. Shino is already there, waiting by herself while meditating. No surprises here. With her speed, abilities and strength, she most likely flew through her opponents like a wind, without stopping even for a moment. She seems to be the one progressing the fastest out of all of us.

The others arrive soon after we do and we are invited for a post-assault meeting with the chief. He thanks us a lot for the help, but Shino finally manages to calm him down and we discuss the matter of the Abyssals appearance in the area. 

He informs us where the first ones were spotted and let us know the names of the hunters who reported the sightings so we can investigate it more by ourselves. They don’t have enough strong people to send into the forest to do so; it’s quite dangerous.

After the meeting, we are pretty much forced to attend a party held specifically for us, for obvious reasons. Kamil regains enough strength to be able to drag his body around by himself and enjoys the feast to the fullest, focusing more on the alcohol and ending up almost completely wasted.

As usual, Shino and I are the first to leave. Both of us prefer a bit less rowdy atmosphere. Our rooms are next to each other and we split by the door, heading to our respective resting places. I fill another page of my diary before going to sleep as usual.

In the morning, right after all the toiletries, I sit down by the desk in my room and summon my full status. Yesterday’s fights were quite fierce and we took down a lot of enemies, so it’s possible there are some changes. Our bodies should have assimilated all the experience and energy from the previous day overnight.

「Looks like my Elemental Magic gained a level. Same goes for the Hymn of the Royal Knights. I did not tier up, but that’s to be expected. The King said that the second Tier would come quickly due to all the experience we accumulated during our year of training, but after that, it might take long before we move further. Normal people take long years before managing to achieve Tier 3, not even mentioning the ones above. You have to be very talented, gifted or lucky to encounter beneficial opportunities. Even that high-ranked magician Cornelia is stuck at the third one since forever.」

I analyse my status carefully, looking for all the changes. Some more spells appeared in my Elemental Magic submenu, most likely thanks to my increasing mastery over different elements. I remember them mentioning that creativity with Mana Control allows magicians to pretty much discover new spells when they experiment, so this might be the case.

「Anyway, I should practice my music a bit before breakfast. We’ll be going after the source of Abyssals right after it.」

A smile forms on my lips when I recall how lively and fired up Shino was to complete this task. She does everything she can to finish it quickly and meet with Mr Carter, but I can’t help feeling like she’ll turn back into a bundle of blushing, shy insecurities immediately after finding herself in front of him.

Sitting cross-legged on my bed, I bring forth my guitar and open up my notebook with all the music notes and stuff. I pull out the photo picturing me and Shino shoulder to shoulder I use as the bookmark and stare at it for a moment.

「I better start preparing to give her the final push or something.」I sigh softly.

Putting it away, I begin my practice, which isn’t just your usual musical exercises and playing the instrument. When it comes to my Class, pretty much everything connected to sound is magic. Or rather, it’s more like I passively imbue it with mana, changing the output completely. I still have to focus on it, of course.

It honestly feels a little bit like cheating, but Mr Carter said it’s still my own ability and I shouldn’t view it like that. After that, I started viewing it as a part of myself and reached a much higher understanding of this phenomenon than before. 

It doesn’t just make me a goddess of music, but using mana, I can enhance the sounds I produce, which in turn gain various magical effects in the forms of buffs and debuffs, and some other effects. I do have a higher affinity with all instruments, but even though I can just grab a new one and be able to play it, the actual quality will still be at a beginner’s level, at least for someone experienced with it.

Closing my eyes and focusing my mind on creating something new, I begin to weave my mana into the sounds produced by my guitar. I’ve already gained a skill this way once and I’m sure it will be possible to get more. In the end, the skills shown in the system are there to confirm that you are able to do the thing.

If I look at it from a different angle, anything you get proficient enough in by yourself should show up in your system as an acknowledgement of you mastering that thing to a level high enough allowing the action to be performed as a skill. And so it is with my melodies.

Unfortunately, it’s easier said than done. I do not manage to figure out a good enough match of mana and sounds to create a new magical effect before the time of breakfast comes. It’s alright. These things need time and patience and I have a lot of both.

We hold a short briefing while eating. But before that, I had to cast Detoxify and Revitalization on Kamil or we would have to drag an empty, hungover husk with us wherever we go. His Holy Magic doesn’t help with these things. The struggles of being the party’s healer.

Afterwards, one of the village girls leads us to the hunter’s quarters and we meet with the head of the group there. He brings the three men that encountered Abyssals first and they proceed to tell us all they know.

They came across a wolf-shaped one around two weeks ago, somewhere to the East. They killed it, thinking that it was a normal animal, but the body dispersed into dark smoke soon after.

Much later, they had a clash with a bigger group and barely escaped an ambush. It totally felt like it was prepared according to the routes they usually take around the forest, showing that there surely has to be some kind of intelligence behind these monsters.

We do know from the King that they have a hierarchy amongst their ranks, but we aren’t sure about all the other details. The usual grunts feel like they are just following their instincts to attack everything or perhaps some orders. We haven’t yet met with a truly smart Abyssal.

Anyway, after the ambush, the hunters started travelling in bigger groups and also picked a few from the fastest men amongst their ranks to function as general scouts, tasked with investigating their usual routes and the forest.

That’s when they noticed a huge swarm gathering up around five kilometres East of the village. The rest is obvious. They ran back, informed the chief, he sent requests for help and then we came, a few hours after the assault began.

Even though none of the hunters saw it, we concluded that the weird portal must be somewhere here. The suspicious, dark, spiralling surface we encountered in the mines. We did not confirm they came out of it, but we are almost sure that’s correct. And if we can find it in the forest, there will be no more doubts. 

Next will come finding a way to somehow track these Abyssal Gates from afar and closing them as quickly as possible. I’ll try to figure something out with my magical knowledge if we find it here. I did learn a little bit from Lady Cornelia. Though, it would be much better if she was the one examining it. Perhaps we should ask the King to let her join us for the next expedition.

With all the information we could get from the hunters, we make our preparations and head East. With Vanessa present, our usual formation was a little bit modified. Kamil and Shino still lead at the front and I take the middle with Paul, but Marcia has company in the back now, walking alongside the princess.

Paul tries to lead us through the hunter’s tracks and paths while we keep our eyes and senses primed for any Abyssal movement around. We walk for an hour, then for two, and three. We do encounter some aggressive animals and lesser monsters, but there’s no trace of our target.

Then finally, after almost four hours, a weird, distressing ripple travels through the air and I shudder when it passes through my body. Looking at others, they don't seem to notice, like it didn’t even occur. Only after glancing at Vanessa, I find that her expression turned sour.

We lock our gazes and nod at each other, stopping. “There’s something weird,” she speaks up. Everyone turns around to look at her. “I felt a wave of ominous energy pass us from somewhere ahead.”

“Huh? I felt nothing,” Kamil says.

“Me neither,” Marcia comments.

“I don’t think I’ve sensed anything…” Shino also joins.

“I did.” After I support Vanessa’s claim, they look at me. “Just a moment ago.”

“Why only you two would feel something?” Kamil switches his confused gaze between us.

“They are both well-versed in magic. It could be something connected to it,” Paul voices out his thoughts as he rubs his chin.

“That’s possible. The energy wasn’t too strong, but—”

Chills again. Vanessa stops and glances at me and I stare at her. Others notice our behaviour.

“Was there another?” Paul asks.

We both nod and point towards the same direction simultaneously.

“Should we follow it? It could be the gate,” Shino suggests.

It’s our only clue after hours so we all agree with her and begin heading towards the point where the weird waves of energy originate. They pulsate almost at equal intervals, allowing us to have a fairly good grasp on the epicentre. Careful even more, we make our way there.

At one point, the pressure of the waves increases so much mine and Vanessa’s bodies almost tremble when hit with the weird pressure. It’s close to how standing in front of a powerful bass-boosted speaker feels but much more… sinister and uncomfortable. It’s surprising only the two of us are experiencing it.

Suddenly, with another wave, Shino jumps a little, disregarding my previous thought.

“I felt it too. Faintly, but I did,” she confirms it after we ask. 

Besides her, no one else from the rest managed to experience the waves up till now. It might have something to do with her Demonic Affinity perhaps. We do not know if Abyssals have any connection to it, but that’s our best guess for now.

We find a tall cliff on our way towards the source and decide to climb it since it feels like we are quite close. After half an hour, we reach the peak, way higher than the crowns of the trees in the forest. We instantly notice a clearing just further the way we were headed.

“It’s that weird surface again for sure,” Shino speaks up first.

To that, we can all agree. There’s no mistaking it, even if it’s a bit far for our eyes to see the details. But, there’s someone for whom distance is not a problem.

“And it’s that cursed gorilla again too,” Paul informs us after activating one of his abilities and squinting his eyes. “Are they supposed to be a sentry or something?”

“Anything else?” Vanessa asks while another wave passes through us.

“Oh. A small Abyssal just jumped out of that weird surface and took off somewhere further east.”

Shino, Vanessa and I look at each other. “That pretty much confirms it. It’s a portal of some sorts and these waves must come from it operating,” the princess concludes.

“What now then?” Kamil butts in.

We all direct our gazes at Paul, who keeps staring into the distance and scratching his chin.

“Honestly… it feels risky. If each wave was a visitor from wherever that thing leads, we could easily get surrounded if they are anywhere near. But we should try to close it too…”

“It will be fine! All of us are now Tier 2 and we know how that weird, smoking gorilla fights. We can end it fast and if the small ones keep jumping out one by one, we can easily deal with them,” Kamil exclaims confidently.

“What do you guys think?” Paul turns back to us.

“I know I’ve only just joined your party and shouldn’t get ahead of myself, but I want to at least try to close that portal. If it gets dangerous, I don’t mind escaping at the first sign of things going wrong. I’m willing to be the last one to run, covering your backs, if that’s what will be needed for you to agree,” Vanessa pretty much pleads to us with a determined face. She truly cares for common people.

“We came here to help, so we should try at least…” Shino agrees with her.

Paul looks at me and Marcia and we both agree to take part in this. After deciding, we hold a short briefing to discuss some strategies and head down the cliff. We did have Vanessa’s help going up, but it’s even easier moving down as she pretty much makes us ride a slide she carves in the stone with her magic as she travels as the first person.

Acting as sneaky as possible, we move closer to the spot with the gate and its guardian. It stopped summoning more Abyssals just a moment ago, which feels at least a bit fortunate. Through the trees at the border of the clearing, we find the gorilla-shaped Abyssal, sitting by the portal. There are also some grunts sprawled on the ground around it. It won’t be a one-versus-many like the last time.

We all nod at each other and begin the operation. I sit down and start focusing on one of my magical songs, readying myself to play it at the proper moment. Paul notches an arrow and aims it diagonally into the air. Motes of whitish energy gather around the tip as he stretches his bow more and more.

“Now!”

He gives the signal and releases the projectile. It travels through the air with a very loud, wheezing noise, the same most fireworks create back on Earth. All the monsters follow it with their attention and it explodes above their heads, releasing ferocious, blindingly white light. It stays in the sky like a flare.

We didn’t know beforehand if Abyssals’ sight or other senses work the same way as ours, but from them cowering under the sudden assault of brightness proves that it does have some effect on them.

Vanessa was ready too and shoves her staff into the ground after finishing a dance. Four giant hands of stone coil around the gorilla-like creature, sealing it behind the hardened earth. The big guy is immobilized for now.

The moment Shino, Marcia and Kamil rush forward into the clearing, I begin playing Psalm of the Damned and a slow, gloomy melody travels through the air. This specific piece is supposed to make the target feel sluggish, drained of life and generally weakened. Hopefully, it works.

Shino manages to cut down a few of the Abyssals with her Moon-Slashing Arts as she dashes between them with an amazing speed while Marcia’s dance-like moves from her Tango with the Dead would captivate anyone if only we had an audience.

The monsters regain composure soon after and Kamil forces their attention onto himself by activating some kind of a taunting ability, following it with a Divine Body strengthening technique to boost his defences just a little. It proves fruitful and every Abyssal turns to him.

As the battle progresses, the three of us move into the clearing too, to avoid getting ambushed from the forest by possible reinforcements. Vanessa keeps her focus on the makeshift tomb while I switch into playing March of the Braves to boost my companions this time. Paul rains magical shots and arrows at the monsters whenever he can, observing the battlefield attentively.

Enemy’s numbers aren’t as great as the ones we’ve previously encountered and with our quite decent cooperation, we deal with the grunts without much struggle. Kamil gets a bit scratched here and there, but that’s natural with literally every monster in this glade rushing at him from every direction.

They finish the last one before Vanessa’s trap loses all of its durability. I’ve noticed it beginning to crack a little. Nevertheless, we all gather what should be a safe distance from it and prepare our attacks.

Shino lowers her stance by my side and grabs the hilt of her sheathed katana, readying a rush-type ability. Paul charges up a powerful, piercing shot while Marcia stands in front of him with her dual blades getting covered in more and more wind mana. Kamil also gathers energy in his sword, now glowing in golden light, and holds it above his head with both hands.

I glance at Vanessa on my other side and she nods. Before she releases her hold, I create a huge bubble of water above the stone cage, setting its viscosity to as dense as possible, aiming to capture the Abyssal with it to allow others, including Vanessa, to have an easier shot at it.

She begins untangling the four stone arms and I immediately slam the water down through the ceiling before the monster has a chance to jump outside. But… It turns out to be a mistake as a huge explosion occurs and an unbelievable amount of grey steam surges out of the unravelling cocoon of earth, quickly reducing our vision greatly and covering the whole glade.

A ferocious roar reverberates through the air after Paul, Marcia and Kamil send their attacks towards the pre-aimed spot anyway. Soon after, the earth trembles and I spot a big shadow flying at the three of us from the front. It reaches us before I can even react and the silhouette of the Abyssal gorilla shows up in front of my face.

I instantly realize what has happened back there. It looks completely different from before getting trapped. Its dark body is now covered with violet flames, most likely much stronger than your usual fire, and they must have reacted with my spell.

Before the monster slams into me, Vanessa jumps to the front and waves her staff horizontally, covering me, Shino and herself with a rough wall of earth in a desperate attempt to shield us. It, unfortunately, is not enough and the beast pierces through the obstacle and hits all three of us with its charge, seemingly not bothered with the reduced visibility.

I grunt heavily after being sent flying backwards and tumble on the hard ground a few times, hearing two thuds by my side, most likely made by the bodies of Shino and Vanessa. Another roar arrives and it’s obvious that we are still the targets.

Without thinking, I decide to roll to the side and something slams the ground in the place where I’ve just been previously. I barely avoided getting turned into paste. Before the next attack comes, I hear a shout and a lump of earth hits the monster, giving me enough time to stand up and find Shino and Vanessa near me. I can’t see the others. They might have trouble locating us in this grey mist too and attacking blindly could be dangerous.

“Hold it back! I’ll deal with this steam!” I shout to them and step back.

Shino rushes in instantly and Vanessa sends more earth javelins hurtling towards the gorilla. Meanwhile, I clasp my hands together and begin gathering mana between them. Slowly pulling them away more and more, increasing the gap, I fill it with the wind element, and a spinning orb of greenish winds forms there.

After I fully extend my whole arms to the sides, I slam the orb with all my might between my hands, doing a mighty clap. A powerful wave of air pressure surges from it in a spherical shape, instantly pushing all the smoke away and even hitting the trees in the distance.

“On top of the portal!” I hear Paul shout and realize that the three of us are in fact fighting on this weird, swirling, starry surface.

“Watch out!” Marcia screams and I notice something moving towards me with the corner of my eye.

The monster somehow made it past Vanessa and lunged at me, most likely because of my recent stunt. I quickly begin covering my body with a layer of stone in case I fail to dodge, but something suddenly flutters in my shadow and Shino jumps out of it already in a full swing of her Crescent Cleave technique, which slices the Abyssal from bottom to the top perfectly.

Dark purple blood splatters on us and the ground as it’s sent flying backwards. And then, something weird happens. I get all wobbly like jelly and my vision begins shifting too. I instantly feel like throwing up and do exactly that the moment it stabilizes, after falling onto all fours. What a horrendous experience… Is their blood poison?

“What the hell…” Vanessa’s shocked voice reaches my ears and I glance to my side.

She is wiping her mouth, definitely after releasing the contents of her stomach too, but she is already rising to her knees and looking around. And then, I notice it. We are no longer in the glade. There are no trees around. Actually, there’s literally nothing around.

I stand up and can’t believe it. As far as my eyes can reach, there’s just a dark grey wasteland. The sky is the same and even the clouds are of a darker shade of grey too. Besides the stone-like terrain of various shapes and sizes, completely devastated and devoid of life, there’s no sign of anything else. Besides the spiralling, starry surface under our feet.

“Did we… somehow teleport to the other side?” Shino asks nervously.

~Who are you?~

A deep, cold, bone-chilling voice reverberates in my head, making me shiver from its sinister vibe. Judging by how Shino and Vanessa flinched too, I’m not the only one hearing it. We all look around, ready to defend ourselves at any moment.

~Mortal beings? Here? How did you step through the Rift?~

It continues asking questions and making us subconsciously tremble with each sentence. I notice some movement to my right and immediately look there. My eyes widen at the sight and the others soon glance where I do too, having the same reaction.

From behind a raised piece of grey terrain… something… steps out. It’s somewhere between three and four meters tall at a first glance and it has a mostly humanoid shape. Its body is truly weird, partially consisting of very dark tissue at some sections of its arms, legs and torso, and partially filled with moving, obsidian smoke, mostly around joints. As for its arms, it has six of them, and they look beastly. To make it even more horror-like, its head has no distinct face but just a demonic, scary shape.

“What in the name of the Goddess is that…” Vanessa mutters quietly.

~Do NOT mention the Treacherous One inside this domain!~

We shudder and grab our heads from the sheer animosity the voice conveys this time, seemingly furious at her remark. The towering horror slowly approaches us.

~It doesn’t matter who you are and how you avoided the anti-life barrier. I can’t let you return after stepping into this realm, for the sake of the Great Lady’s revenge. Your existence is a danger to her plans.~

“Ngh!”

I suddenly feel a spike of pain as if someone or something is trying to drill into my mind, and it’s clear Vanessa and Shino are experiencing it too. It’s definitely this horror’s doing. It aims to immobilize us while it slowly approaches.

“We have to run!” Vanessa shouts while visibly strained.

“But where?! There could be—nghhh… more of them around!” I ask, trying to fight against the invasive sensation.

“The portal!” she screams back.

“But we don’t know how it works!” Shino chimes in, also in pain, but seemingly doing a little better than the two of us.

The tall monster reaches our position while we still struggle with its mental attack. It draws back its arm and aims to hit Vanessa. As it travels through the air gaining speed, its clawed hand changes into a sharp, sword-like edge. Before it slices through her, Shino lunges in front of Vanessa and manages to parry the powerful hit with her katana. The force sends her back into Vanessa with a grunt.

~Cease your struggling. You are too weak to resist. Accept your fate, Naharrenians.~

I gather enough focus to create a Flame Javelin and hurl it towards the monster’s leg but it doesn’t penetrate its tissue and explodes on impact. Its faceless head turns to me.

~Magic of such level cannot harm me, Human woman. I do commend your mental fortitude thoug—~

The horror suddenly takes its nonexistent gaze off me and I follow it. My eyes widen from surprise again. Shino is getting up from the ground and kneeling on one knee, supporting herself with her sword. 

It would be nothing to get shocked about if not for the fact that her skin is now so dark it’s just a few shades away from black. Her whites turned dark grey and her irises glow in the same, deep, purplish hue as during her last Demonification. There are also horns sprouting from her head, but this time from its sides, and they rise straight up with a truly sinister shape. It feels completely different from the last time she activated her ability.

Black energy surges out of her back and quickly forms draconic looking wings as she stands up. Shino wipes her mouth from a trickle of blood and then her posture blurs. She vanishes from the spot with a loud thump, breaking the sound barrier. She appears in front of the monster with her blade prepared for a diagonal swing and it cleaves through one of its knees with a loud, ominous hum. Only now I notice the sword's nefarious, black colour.

The monster falls onto the wounded knee, somehow not split into two, and quickly covers its torso with all six arms. We are fortunate it either doesn’t feel pain or decided not to scream into our heads. The invasive drilling I experience also subsides and allows me to think more clearly.

Shino’s katana slashes the horror’s forearms faster than my eyes can follow, splattering its dark purplish blood everywhere. The image of the gorilla rushing at me flashes before my eyes and a thought pops up in my mind. Glancing at Vanessa, I notice she somehow has a bit of purplish substance on her skin too, just like me and Shino.

“Blood!” 

I shout as loud as I can and Shino glances back at me just for a fraction of a second but it’s enough for me to understand she got it too. I instantly run towards Vanessa and drag her towards the fighting girl.

“What are you—”

She doesn’t finish her sentence, most likely realizing it too. Without her resisting, we reach Shino in a moment and she quickly makes a wide, horizontal swipe, purposefully splashing the horror’s blood on the three of us and wraps her arms around me and Vanessa.

I pray in my mind for the rift to activate and it fortunately does as I begin experiencing the same, uncomfortable sensation I’ve gone through when we got here. This time though, I’m too tense to feel like throwing up.

My vision stabilizes and we find ourselves in the clearing again, almost blinded by the difference in brightness.

“They are back!” Marcia’s voice reaches my ears.

“Shino!” 

I scream the moment I regain my composure after the transfer and throw a hastily gathered ball of pressurized wind behind the three of us. Shino vanishes before it hits the ground and sends me and Vanessa flying past the edge of the spiralling surface. We fall onto our backs and hastily raise ourselves on the elbows to look behind.

Everyone is gazing into the sky and we follow suit. Shino is hovering way above our heads, most likely thanks to her demonic wings, and seems to be focusing her mana. Black strands of energy seep into her blade and she makes a tiny, meticulous cut with its tip.

A moment later, a huge, ominous tear rips the sky. We can literally gaze into the starry void through the sinister-looking gap. Meanwhile, Shino slowly slides her katana into the small hole she cut in front of her and an enormous version of the black blade slides out of the giant fissure.

After around one-fourth of it emerges from the void, she thrusts the rest into the gap with a mighty strike and the giant katana surges down towards the Abyssal gate, piercing it and the ground behind it like butter, evoking a small earthquake from the impact. The weird surface begins cracking and breaks into thousands of tiny particles like the previous one we destroyed in the mines. 

I exhale heavily at the same time as Vanessa. We glance at each other and chuckle wryly. We should be safe now.

“Catch her!”

Paul’s shout makes us look up again and we see Shino, now without her wings, falling limply from the sky. The giant sword and tear are gone too. I instantly jump to my legs and create a strong updraft under her position, focusing my all on slowing down her descent. Fortunately, I succeed and Marcia swoops her from the air close to the ground.

I run towards them and kneel by Shino’s side. She shows a strained smile.

“I’m… fine… just… tired…” She makes a deep sigh. “This version… is much more… exhausting…”

“Shush. Just rest. We’ll take care of the aftereffects. You saved our ass again.”

She nods and closes her eyes. I leave her in Marcia’s care and return to check on Vanessa.

“You good?”

“Yeah, thanks.” She grabs my hand and stands up. “I now know why it’s Heroes and not a Hero.”

I smile softly. “She’s in a league of her own.”

We stare at each other for a short while and chuckle together.

“Come on. We’ve got some crucial information we should share with your friends.” She wraps her arm around my shoulder. “We might have almost died back there, but it certainly was a beneficial accident.”

Considering what we’ve learned, even if it’s all cryptic and weird, it truly was. This might be the first breakthrough in the case of Abyssals. We now have even more reason to quickly return.