Leveling up the World (Chapter 780) (Patreon)

VORTEX MINION

Species: AETHER WASP

Class: MAGIC

Health: 67%

Traits:

- BODY 0

- MIND 40

- REACTION 20

- PERCEPTION 40

- MAGIC 60

Skills:

- ATTACK

- SPELLCRAFT

- FLIGHT (Species Unique)

- WING SHIELD (Species Unique)

- AETHER STING (Species Unique)

Weakness: STING

“Sixty magic?” Dallion asked as his swarm of instances did their best to keep away from both creatures and chainlings.

“It’s just for show,” Adzorg replied, not too concerned. “They’re slow, so it doesn’t matter much.”

“So, you’ve seen them before?”

“Let’s focus on getting through them, dear boy. There’ll be lots of time to discuss things once the rough part is over.”

The mage had a point. The opening between vortexes was enormous, but even so, it was quickly closing. Threads weaved themselves round the edges, filling them up like a tailor would stitch up a hole.

Taking a deep breath, Dallion led the group, threading the needle through the enemy creatures. The beings were almost without exception focused on each other. The chainlings—identified as voidlings for some reason—attacked as one might expect, tentacles and projectiles emerging non-stop from their shapeshifting void surface. The wasps, on the other hand, were a lot more passive and organized. Keeping in clusters and protecting each other with their massive wings, like a Roman turtle formation, they would only dart at a target when surrounded, covering it from all sides then stinging it mercilessly.

Dallion winced. Fighting any of those was going to be unpleasant. Back on Earth, it was said that pulling out the sting of a wasp would lead to its death. Even if true, there was no guarantee that would have an effect here, regardless of what the rectangles claimed.

“Di, cast some ice blocks,” he ordered. “Unprotected ice blocks.”

The fury nodded, doing as requested. Large chunks of ice formed behind her. Like pieces of sugar, the pieces of natural magic attracted several of the aether wasps, ignoring the group in the process.

Interesting strategy, the armadil shield said. Not bad at all.

A massive chainling, forty feet tall, suddenly flew in the direction of Dallion. Less than a hundred feet away, it was suddenly swarmed by wasps that were waiting for such an opportunity. Within seconds, the vortex minions covered the invader completely, their aether wings keeping it from the rest of the vortex realm.

Dallion swallowed. If he wasn’t careful, the same could happen to him. Green markers appeared, showing the path for him to safely make it through. It felt like flying through an ever-shifting tunnel. On a few occasions, a wasp or two even showed interest in the group, but were quickly dissuaded from further action by a quick zap from Adzorg.

“Don’t kill any until we make it all the way through,” he said.

“Aren’t we already?” Diroh asked.

“This is the boundary between vortexes,” Dallion explained. “Intrusive elements from both are pushed in here to suffocate and slowly be absorbed by the barriers.”

“Picturesque description.” Adzorg smiled. “Crude and incomplete, but picturesque.”

Old man, just shut up, Dallion thought.

Halfway in through the tunnel between realms, a cluster of threads shot up in an attempt to fill the void. The attempt was unsuccessful, causing the threads to rip and vanish in the process, but it was an indication of what was to follow.

“Speed up!” Dallion said.

“We can’t rush these things,” the mage argued. “Any faster and we’ll attract more attention than the voidlings.”

“Better than getting stuck in between.”

Another cluster emerged from the side. This one managed to make it all the way through, creating a thin strand of aether between both sides of the opening. To no surprise, the green markers depicting danger grew larger. Soon, instead of tunnels, there were only bubbles of safeness available.

Not waiting for his companions, Dallion waves the aura sword, boosting their perception and reflexes along with his own. That done, he added a slight speed boost.

“I’ll create a path, you—”

“I’ll create a path,” Diroh interrupted. “I’m a fury, remember?”

Dallion turned towards Adzorg.

“She has you there. Even with all your magic, you’re no match. Besides, we can see your markers, so she should be fine.”

Dallion didn’t like the idea one bit. Even if Diroh was a fury, she was too inexperienced when it came to this. It was doubtful her sister had taught her much, and despite the enthusiasm she had shown when fighting Dallion back in Nerosal, there was no way she’d handle a vortex minion, let alone a chainling.

“Constantly combat split,” he said, flying to the side so she could pass.

“Leave it to me.” The fury winked as she passed by, taking the lead.

Her combat splitting was laughably weak, even comparing it to Dallion when he first learned how to do it. Diroh struggled to maintain a full second with three instances. One was close to Dallion at all times, while the remaining two sped forward, taking various approaches.

That aside, the fury was going things rather well. Speeding from safe area to safe area, she made a point to avoid anything along her way, while simultaneously using a few air currents to drag Adzorg and Dallion behind. On the few occasions that an aether wasp would show interest, the fury would create a chunk of ice, leaving it as bait. In most of the cases, that worked without issue. In the few that didn’t, the old mage would cast a quick zap spell to confuse the creature, resulting in it being stiched by a chainling’s tendril.

And yet, despite all the distance the group had passed, in regards to the vortex realms, it was as if they were lordly moving. It was as if they remained stuck in the space between realms, barely inching forward. Rather, it felt that the space they were in was stretched for them, just as the mages made their rooms larger at the Academy.

Threads kept on shooting from the side of the opening, filling in more and more space like columns in a tunnel. Twice Dallion had to interfere, using force splitting to save Diroh from a sticky situation.

“We’re almost there, dear girl,” Adzorg said. Dallion could see that he was lying. “Just a few more minutes.”

Minutes? Dallion thought. They’d be lucky if they managed to survive even one. Diroh probably felt the same way, for she increased her speed even more. In the real world, this would have allowed her to appear as if she had vanished from a room. Here, not so much.

“Cast another jungle,” Dallion extended his magic threads through the aura sword.

“That’ll only attract attention. Then we’ll have the real issue to deal with.”

The way he said that sent chills down Dallion’s spine.

“What’s the “real issue?” he asked.

The glance that he received from the mage screamed, “don’t ask or you’ll jinx it.” And unfortunately, he did.

In the distance, within the changing reality of the inner vortex, a massive chainling descended from the sky. It wasn’t nearly as large as the colossus Dallion had fought, but rather impressive nonetheless. Instead of arms, dozens of tentacles emerged from the sides of its torso, constantly shooting out and skewering multiple wasps at a time. The vortex minions attempted to counter this by clustering together, but the tentacle tips just shattered through their shield of wings, then burst in all directions forming the spikes of a morning star.

Crap, Dallion thought.

A lot of the chainling was for show. If it wasn’t for the humongous size, Dallion wouldn’t even be worried facing something of that nature. Unfortunately, he wasn’t alone, not to mention that the monster wasn’t his only opponent. Wasps and lesser chainlings were in abundance. If Dallion were to try and fight the big one, that would leave Adzorg and Diroh to fend on their own.

VORTEX AWAKENING

You are in a level 6 VORTEX

Defeat the guardian to Absorb the VORTEX

Dallion felt as if he were a cork shooting off a bottle of champagne. The opening behind him flew back into the distance, turning into a small dot. He was in an entirely different realm now, identical to the last in almost every aspect. The only difference was the lack of mountains.

“What happened?” Dallion and Diroh asked simultaneously.

“Vortex within a vortex,” Adzorg sighed. “You really should pay better attention when I’m explaining.”

“The other one was a nine,” Dallion said, still trying to wrap his mind around it.

“Of course. The reason the second vortex formed was because the first one wasn’t able to do its job, namely stop the void from invading the world.”

Just like a bandaid on a bandaid, Dallion thought.

Reality here had to be so weak that anything could bleed in: void, colossi, other beings from the banished realm. Did that mean there was a way for him to summon Gleam? Everything else aside, a fully developed spectral shardfly could be quite useful right about now. On the other hand, there was the risk that he’d lose her again.

“So, to get out, we need to defeat that?” The fury pointed as hundreds of aether wasps flew at the massive black creature, stings first.

The vast majority struck it, burying half of their torso in the side of the chainling. Threads of purple spread from the points of impact, covering him like veins. Sadly, that didn’t last long. The tentacles on the other side split into dozens, striking the insects in a lethal blow. Hundreds of purple rectangles appeared above the vortex minions, indicating their demise. As soon as that happened, they dissolved along with the aether they were injecting.

Well, at least they weakened him, Dallion thought.

“Di, I know you can think logically, so please do so,” the mage grumbled at her. “The only way to escape a vortex is to absorb it. Tell me, does that creature look like part of the vortex?”

The fury remained silent.

“Or is it another invader, just like us?” he continued, words dripping with sarcasm.

“Where is the heart?” Dallion asked instinctively. As he did, he already regretted it.

Vortexes of this nature didn’t have a heart, they had a guardian. In order to get out, they were supposed to defeat an entity whose realm this was.

Considering that the level six vortex had failed at keeping the void at bay, they’d probably be facing a level nine. That would make it twice as powerful as the last guardian he had faced.

Harp, I’ll need your help on this, he said.

I’ll be here for you. The harpsisword’s strings vibrated. Just not in my full form.

Will you help me use spark music?

Yes. The answer came instantly, without a speck of hesitation.

Suddenly, a line of purple flickered on the horizon. It lasted for a fraction of a second, but Dallion knew precisely what it was.

“Look out!” he shouted, doing a vertical spark infused line slash of his own.

A force of purple sliced the chainling through the waist in two, then continued in the direction of Dallion. Before it could get near, it clashed with the white line he had sent in an explosion of sound. Both lines of destruction shattered at their point of contact. Dallion felt a strong gust of wind, as the force of the purple line attack flew past on both sides. If he had been a little slower, there was a large chance that Adzorg wouldn’t have lost his legs as a result.

“Keep close!” Dallion said, preparing for another attack.

In the distance, two dots of purple light glistened. A moment later they were gone, replaced by two humanoid beings clad in full plate armor of hardened magic.

TWIN VORTEX GUARDIANS – SARIO MURSER, AGENELIN MURSER

Species: HUMAN

Class: MAGIC

Health: 83%, 21%

Traits:

- BODY 90, 60

- MIND 90, 60

- PERCEPTION 90, 60

- REACTION 90, 60

- MAGIC 90, 60

Skills:

- ATTACK

- GUARD

- ATHLETICS

- ACROBATICS

- FORGING

- SCHOLAR

- SPELLCRAFT

Weakness: HEAD

“That, dear boy, is the real issue.”