Chapter 541 - Descending Upon the Northern Continent (Patreon)

With her gift of gab, miraculously not lying or even deceiving people in the slightest, Iona had somehow persuaded the relevant parties to let Fenrir fly around the North Pole. I wasn’t quite sure where lies of omission fell on Iona’s [Vow] - there were times when they weren’t allowed, and Iona was an endless chatterbox, then it swung back and Iona didn’t have to explain everything. Best I could tell, her understanding of the spirit of her [Vow] continued to evolve.

Fenrir being fully armored didn’t fit with anyone’s plans except his, where he dreamed of battling endless legions of gigantic monsters to free Auri, who was surely held captive in some foul lair. Fair point to him - if we needed to battle legions of gigantic monsters, his armor would help. For leaving the School and the phoenixes themselves, the armor was a hindrance.

It had been hastily stuffed into my [Tower], along with all the other bags and trunks we’d brought along, and I’d heard some awkward cracking and breaking noises as I stuffed everything in. One of my chests had gotten stuck between an unmoving stone and my strength, a bunch of bananas bursting and desecrating a hat of mine.

I hadn’t packed them like that, the big shuffle from upgrading my skill had fucked me over once again. One of these days - probably right after we got Auri back - I was going to remove everything from my [Tower], and redo the whole thing.

Basically everyone could use a spell once it was made. It was the creation that was difficult. I’d made a dozen different spells for Iona, from a charm that enclosed her head in fresh, breathable air, to a spell that turned her skin impervious to acid. None of it would last particularly long, nor was it very strong stuff, but it didn’t need to be. They were simple ‘let Iona stay in Fenrir’s mouth’ spells, with a hefty dosing of ‘in case of accidental swallowing…’

While warm and summery in the south, the north was in the depths of winter. It didn’t help that in order to properly sell Fenrir leaving the island, we were departing while over the North Pole. Even on the Island, with its shields and huge number of quality of life spells, it was freezing. The wind howled, bringing a flurry of snowflakes dancing through the School under an eternal night.

Our nighttime exit from the School went off without a hitch. Fenrir left, flapping in the wind with a roar of triumph. The weather had to be great for his Storm class.

It was both easier and harder for me. Kunchenjab had helpfully displayed a number of Jiwa runes for seeing things, and I cast all of them. The world sprung around me in a thousand glorious details.

Delicate golden lines criss-crossed the School, one going right through me. A silvery web was overlaying the ground, and I could see a thick pillar of white light shooting up into the air, terminating on the ever-shifting animal high up in the School’s sky that told time. Dozens and dozens more spells, wards, and charms sprung to life around me.

Whooooa. Was this how Auri saw the world?

[*ding!* You’ve unlocked the Class Skill [All The Magic of the World is Laid Bare Before My Eyes]. Would you like to replace a skill with it?]

I spent a moment ruminating on the skill while trying to adjust to everything I was seeing. In the end, I declined. The skill didn’t require a lot of magic power, and I could mostly replicate what it did with wizardry. I wanted skills that I couldn’t easily replace with a spell I already knew. 

It sounded glorious though.

The important parts were the swirling shields around the School. The island was encased in a blue shield with runes swirling like lace all around it, a clear dome that looked crystalized like a cut gem, and millions upon millions of tiny red dots. It would’ve been a little too easy if they were all in a single layer.

I was a little disappointed that neither [Erudite Archmage] nor [Seraph of the Dawn] leveled up looking at all this cool new magic. I suppose my level was higher than most people got in their lifetime, and I couldn’t just stroll down the road picking levels up anymore, large experience boost from [Endless Pursuit of Knowledge] or not.

I made sure we were all paid up at The Wandering Inn for the next few weeks - didn’t want to give the game away by checking out while we were over the North - and slipped the key under the door to our clean room. Just because there was a [Cleaner] dedicated to turning over the room, didn’t mean we had to make more work for him. The broomstick I’d just enchanted was great for that. Just because it was more durable and could fly, didn’t mean I couldn’t keep using it for its original purpose.

Then using [Greater Invisibility], I slipped out of the inn. Thankfully, my broom was small and close enough to me, and the designer of the spell smart enough, that it came with me. I would’ve needed another plan otherwise. 

It was fascinating to see the spell interact with all the magic around me. Some spell lines twisted out of my way, while I ‘passed through’ others no problem. I could see ‘ripples’ from my step being absorbed and removed. Not only were all physical traces of my existence removed, but most of the magical ones as well.

There was no sense in being complacent. [Greater Invisibility] was an older, well-known rune, and anyone worth their degree should know a way to magically detect someone under the skill. I, personally, didn’t know how, but that didn’t mean it didn’t exist. They really gave degrees out to anyone, didn’t they…

I walked to the edge of the island, [Teleporting] over new barriers I started to see near the edge, careful not to let my broom hit the wards. Wards that warned that students were approaching the edge.

I wanted to dramatically step off the Island, but there were a number of additional barriers right at the edge, so I had to [Teleport] over them, letting myself freefall. I carefully timed each [Teleport] to get me over the layered barriers, contorting myself and my broom each time to avoid touching them at all.

The wind gusted, grabbing the broom and trying to force it into the shield. I thought it was the protective one, not one of the more delicate alarm structures, but what did I know? I yanked the broom close to my body, acrobatically twisting in the air somehow - thank you dexterity - before falling enough to teleport for the last time out of the School.

Possibly massive overkill for getting out. Possibly the only reason a hunter-killer team of Wardens wasn’t dispatched to handle me. Immortals in mortal lands was their ‘keeping the blades sharp’ job - enforcing the North’s neutrality was their true calling.

Fortunately, monsters tended not to send [Couriers] off to the Wardens. We were free and clear, and didn’t need to worry about them too much.

Unfortunately, we were still in view of the School, and [Seraph’s Wings] were about as flashy as a flying skill got. I couldn’t use it under [Greater Invisibility] because of how Radiance and Mirage interacted, and my initial plan of ‘just go splat on the ground and have Fenrir find me’ was ruined by the heavy snow covering the North Pole. That’s where the broom came in!

I put it between my legs and shot off towards the wyvern, Iona’s companion occasionally shooting off [Lightning Bolts]. Anyone watching might think it was a dominance display - I knew he was lighting himself up enough that I could find him.

I sped after Fenrir, who was circling a single spot as the island with the School zipped away, taking a hard right turn before rapidly vanishing over the horizon.

It was just us, in the eternal night and steadily increasing blizzard. I waited a few minutes after the School had vanished over the horizon to account for any number of unusual vision skills, double-checking my memory of the School’s projected flight path. It shouldn’t be doubling back for a long, long time, and my broomstick was torturously slow.

I deposited it into [Tower], came back out, and spread my wings, shining [A Shining Light in the Darkness] at Fenrir, letting him know where I was.

[*ding!* [A Shining Light in the Darkness] leveled up! 23 -> 24]

I supposed I was doing exactly what the skill said - shining a bright light in the darkness. Fenrir flew over to intercept, and spat Iona out. She immediately started shivering as the cold air cut right through her saliva-soaked clothing. 

“I got you!” I pulled out two spellbooks, rapidly casting three spells to dry, clean, and warm Iona back up. She stretched, wearing not nearly enough clothes for the weather. I was more than a little jealous. Her Ice element class combined with wyvern’s blood was keeping her toasty after getting dried out. Wet was a lethal killer. I ‘only’ had some wyvern’s blood, and I was a tropical lass. Practically a lizard. Put me on a rock in the sun!

We all piled onto Fenrir’s back.

“Which way?” Iona asked. I closed my eyes, overlaying the direction I’d seen the School flying off with the flight map, orienting myself in space, and marking where the Phoenix Peaks were. 

“That way.” I pointed. Fenrir turned, and we were off. Iona was warm, and snuggling in close to her warmed me right up.

This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see the North Pole, and I didn’t waste a moment of it. A school of narwhals ‘swam’ through the ice, snow and ground, bursting up and down like they were swimming through waves. Maybe there was an ocean down there - all the maps said it was solid ground, but it wasn’t like the place was extensively mapped and researched. The rainbow-horned narwhals grabbed and dragged down skittering centipedes that were longer than they were, ‘playfully’ snapping them in half and eating their still-wiggling bodies. Little moths with crystal snowflake wings flapped around dazzling blue tulips that tried to blend in with the environment.

Iona tapped my thigh urgently.

“Look!” She pointed off to the right. “It’s the north wind!”

I squinted, not seeing anything.

“The north wind?” I asked. She nodded furiously.

“Yeah, the elemental!”

My mouth dropped open. An elemental? I’d only ever encountered a few in my entire life, and never in the wild. The north wind sounded like an old, powerful one to boot.

I caught a patch of green out of the corner of my eye, and I whipped my head around, focusing to see what was going on. A number of nykur were around a fairy ring of spotted red mushrooms, a threatening patch of eternal spring in the frozen wastes. The snow around them was a slightly different shade of white, and I blanched as I realized it was a pile of ground bones. I tapped Iona and pointed it out.

“We need to avoid them.” 

Iona nodded her agreement.

I caught another glimpse of green in the frozen wasteland, and turned to look. It wasn’t another set of fae. I rubbed my eyes and looked again, pointing it out to Iona.

“Illusion or real?” I asked her. She squinted, and started laughing.

“No, no, that’s real. There’s a coconut treant up here.”

I threw my hands up in the air.

“A coconut treant. A coconut treant! The gods are laughing at us! Magic makes a mockery of the world!”

Iona tilted her head and laughed some more.

“Yeah, the Goddesses are laughing at us.” She confirmed.

It is amusing. Ciriel confirmed unbidden in my ear. 

We made it out of the blizzard, the glorious night sky with all its stars glittering unfurling above us, like some cosmic building spilling a jug of milk. We were lucky enough to see an aurora, glimmering ribbons of green and blue spilling across the night sky in beautiful celestial splendor. A herd of elk were trotting along

That’s when Fenrir got cored. 

One moment we were flying around, the next Fenrir bucked and screamed as a thick jade-colored spear of ice went through his body, belly to spine, exploding out the back in a shower of steaming, freezing gore.

[Persistent Casting] was the unsung hero of my kit, letting me permanently keep [Universal Cure] on. My first thought, as I flew unsecured through the air, was to check on Fenrir.

He was alright. In spite of his spine being broken, the attack going straight through his skill and vitality-reinforced skills, the attack had only destabilized him slightly. My healing had immediately snapped everything back together - after he’d reflexively flung me off his back.

Iona had a skill for riding, and had stuck to his neck like she was glued there. Her bow was already out, firing endless [Hailstorms] towards the ground, where the attack had come from.

I snapped my wings out, spinning and dodging around in an erratic pattern, scanning the ground for the attacker. Between the snow and Iona’s [Hailstorm], I couldn’t see who or what was attacking us. More spears of jade-colored Ice lanced up from the ground, rapidly turning into an impossible storm. Staring at the source of the attacks, I only saw a small hole in the snow.

[Six Wings, Six Million Feathers] combined well with [Radiant Angel’s Spear of Obliteration], and I sent a few probing attacks in the direction of the attacker, joined by a few of Fenrir’s Ice spears. I held back, knowing my main job here wasn’t long-range damage, but to keep everyone alive. I had great healing, but Fenrir was big.

Kill. Placate. Drive off. Tolerate. The four ways Rangers had to handle a problem. There was a last one, based on assumptions that didn’t apply to Rangers, that never even crossed my mind when I’d worked as one.

Run away.

I flew near Iona, my attacks still in the air. Dozens of spikes continued to fly at us, focused on Fenrir, in a deadly barrage. Every time Fenrir was hit he staggered in the air, slowing down as his wing was torn then repaired, as his guts exploded out then got instantly fixed.

I had a brief vision of the Formorian war flash across my vision, as the Sentinels dove into endless needle barrages. This was the same thing, writ large.

Nobody died today. Not on my watch. [Event Horizon] started to put in some serious work, intercepting shots that strayed close enough to me, vanishing the attacks into the endless darkness.

“We need to leave!” I shouted. Iona’s eyes went huge as she stared at something behind me. I twisted my neck around to see what was coming.

A gigantic ghostly scorpion, clearly a projection of some sort, stretched for a mile. Its body shimmered with stars, outlining and defining where it was. Its malicious curved tail nearly reached the clouds. The monster reached up with an incorporeal claw, grabbing the aurora above us, then brought it down on our bodies. 

Fenrir used [Flash Wing], and in a crackle of Lightning, leapt forward with Iona, trying to dodge the attack. I was small and hard to kill, I didn’t mind them trying to avoid the epicenter of the attack without me.  

It passed through us like a thousand red-hot knives through soft butter. Dozens of criss-crossing bloody lines popped up on Fenrir as the aurora effortlessly passed through him. The attack was so clean in some ways, but the aurora was so big, I couldn’t just heal it as it happened. Like a blade a kilometer long slicing through us. I lost a leg while Iona got bisected at the waist. Fenrir half-exploded into bloody chunks, his rapidly reforming body ‘pushing’ all the chunks away at high speed, baptizing up all in blood.

The wyvern shot a devastating set of [Lightning Bolts] back towards the source of the attacks. My Radiance skills landed with similarly devastating effect, turning the patch of snow and ice into a steamy sauna. I vaguely hoped to get a kill notification as I parboiled the scorpion.

No such luck.

We weren’t standing still. The whole time Fenrir was pushing himself, hurtling along. The scorpion - I assumed it was a scorpion, with the shape it was manifesting - was just so damn large.

Still, it felt like we were leaving it behind, and the endless barrage of jade-Ice was coming in at a steeper and steeper angle. I pushed my flight, hurrying to catch up with Fenrir. It was clear he was the target, a delicious meal for the bug. Heck, if it was actually normal-scorpion-sized, with how things were preserved here, it could literally last the bug decades. He was faster than me, but still well in range of [Universal Cure]. Iona had him slow down a bit, just to be safe.

The oversized bug, seeing his attack with the aurora fail, waved it through us a few more times. I twisted and turned, keeping the smallest amount slicing through. I didn’t think it mattered - I barely noticed my hand falling off and regenerating, same with my feet - but I never knew when the attack would have some more oomph to it, something that could give my healing a run for its money. If not today, then in the future. Carelessly taking every attack was a sure way to end up dead one day.

Fenrir was not having a good time of it. My mana was slowly but steadily going down, Iona’s companion’s massive bulk significant to regenerate. Four slices through, four bloody sets of falling chunks I maneuvered through, four full-wyvern bodies regenerated, and the scorpion stopped. 

Then it reached out with an impossibly large claw, and with the speed, power, size, and surprise factor, suddenly targeted the bright glowing angel in the sky. Its claw tightened around my neck, and decapitated me with a snip.

My naked body regenerated so fast it sent my old body cannonballing down to the ground below. I shivered as I flew up to Iona, landing on Fenrir’s back.

“Go go go!” I shouted, and we were off.