Trapped In Another World With No Magic

Daniel, Magnir, Arachne, and the five kobold women cautiously stalk into the town they've been travelling towards. After the monstrous rakehorn was defeated, Moelka, Levvikami, and Glizumi wanted to immediately feast upon it, which Daniel and Magnir decided not to object to. Arachne loomed over Daniel to help him cook as if she hopes to learn new skills.

Now, though, the town has seven of the eight on total edge. Arachne seems to be cautious, but doesn't experience fear the way normal living beings do, since she was originally summoned to be an obedient killing machine. That said, she is alert and keeping close to Daniel to try to intercept any attacks.

"Any signs of anything?" asks Daniel.

Magnir replies quietly, "No, Sire."

"Daniel, nonsuuta. {Daniel, monster.}" murmurs Tulztame cautiously as she taps her nose. Glizumi, the second eldest kobold, nods in agreement. 'nonsuuta' is the closest Daniel and Magnir could teach them to say 'monster' in English. Strangely enough, it was Arachne's request to use English for now, in spite of the fact that even the highly motivated Dragon Empresses have only a passing understanding of some English phrases so far without 'cheating' and using translation magic. Because translation magic can actually be disabled by mana nullification, and in some cases, wears off on its own, the Dragon Empresses have made a concerted effort to learn it the proper way when they have time and access to Daniel's phone in order to make him feel more and more at home.

"Father, I agree with Miss Tulztame. Something is here, but it doesn't match anything I'm familiar with."

"So, it's just a monster you don't know?" asks Daniel quietly.

"No. It doesn't match any grouping I know; reptile, mammal, bird, drake, feldrok…"

Magnir adds to this with his own unsure confirmation, "I have to agree, then. There is a foulness to the scent of the air, but it doesn't smell like anything alive. Or dead, for that matter."

Daniel feels uneasy, and he grips his revolver.

"{There's not enough refined mana present to suggest any of these houses are occupied, either, Daniel. You might want to pop me free, just to be safe. Something is wrong.}"

The mechanic can't help but agree. He kneels and clicks his teeth, which gets the attention of the nervous Kobolds. "Moelka,..."

The grey and green kobold perks up excitedly, and she briskly jogs to Daniel. He carefully offers the revolver to her as he takes hold of Nemaisol. "Magnir, please tell her to be careful. I'm trusting her to act as a fourth point of attack for us, but this is just as deadly to us as it is to our enemies."

Magnir explains, and Moelka looks at him to listen, nodding along. She pats her chest confidently as she replies, finishing with "Daniel, loove. [Daniel, love.]"

The mechanic gives a smirk and nods, handing the revolver over. She carries it preciously, but still holding it like a rifle and careful not to aim the barrel at anyone.

He then unlocks Nemaisol from the sword's locking ring and draws it. He notices the other four kobolds, specifically Sodenizia, pout a little, but the eerie town keeps them from bickering. Daniel is trusting Moelka with his revolver, since Magnir and Arachne are capable of battle on their own, especially now that Arachne has magic of her own, which she has been testing out when they're safe.

"I swear, if we got teleported to somewhere where we stumble across another Kernuules, I'm never leaving the Citadel again," grumbles Daniel, trying to lighten the mood a bit.

"I can think of a few people who would agree with that, your Majesty," replies Magnir.

"I agree, Father," adds Arachne. "The Citadel is large enough and you have worked hard. Stay and be pampered by Mother and the others, and spoil your eldest daughter in turn."

Daniel looks at Arachne briefly, and the giant Death Knight matches his gaze. Her face is still stoic, but it's not quite 'expressionless' like it used to be.

However, before he can reply, he feels it.

The human from Earth isn't sure what he's feeling. Calling it a 'tingle' or a 'chill' aren't quite right. 'Pressure' doesn't do it justice either, since it's more foreboding, like a more severe version of the 'I'm being watched' feeling. He glances around, trying to find anything obvious, like eyes, movement, or suitable hiding places that have a line of sight on him.

Everyone else seemed to feel it as well, and they have formed a perimeter to try to ensure there are no blind spots.

A small portion of the hairs on Daniel's left forearm tingle, and he immediately halts even his sweeping search of the area around them. His heart starts to beat a little faster, and he glances to his left. Shifting his arm causes the hairs to shift as well, and his brain swirls as he tries to process. He didn't even have enough presence of mind to tell anyone that he was stopping his motions.

Possibilities race through his mind. They have to. He spent his entire adulthood learning to consider options while troubleshooting. Since coming to Zenkon, he has had to consider every possible thing that could be a threat to him, because to him, this world should have only remained in fantasy.

The mechanic tries to study his forearm. It's not the cold of the mountain. It's not the fear. Something is touching his arm.

Why can't I see…? Web. It has to be a web. "Magnir!" shouts the human. "Ring of fire, now!" He then shouts, "Everyone, cover your eyes and nose! Don't breathe!"

Magnir follows Daniel's instructions after only a moment of glancing at his Emperor, confused why he's being given such an order, but with Daniel's continued urgent instructions, he quickly translates as he sparks his teeth. The pilot flame ignites in the dragon's mouth, and he inhales through his nose in preparation for a flame breath. Daniel crouches while the kobolds dash towards him, and the blue Einherjar exhales a jet of fire in a wide arc, while Arachne paces behind him, scanning their surroundings alertly. The flames pass over Daniel's and the kobolds heads, and they flinch.

As Daniel expected and feared, a flash-over occurs like a 'light' explosion. There's no shockwave or boom, but rapid flames erupt around them, licking at his face and skin wherever it's exposed, and he can hear the kobolds cry out.

Worse, he can hear Arachne yelp in pain.

Daniel brushes his face off and looks around quickly. The flames are still swirling around them, while Magnir instinctively shields his face. Even lesser dragons are relatively flame-proof, but there is a threshold where flames can harm them. And, as proven with Mulmonbargonaed, their eyes are a weak point. It's not the flames, per se, that Magnir needs to shield himself from, but the shrapnel that could come from such a flare-over turning into a true explosion.

The human almost misses it, but his confirmation comes in the form of a flame racing away in a light swirl, but more like it's following a fuse. The flame curves downwards in a slow arc, rather than the chaotic movements of the embers and flares twisting away from them, or crackling on the ground where Magnir's flame-breath ignited some of the soil and debris around them.

I knew it. It is a web. But, how the hell is it so invisible to us, and what made it?

Daniel looks for signs of the web now that he knows it's there, scanning the buildings. Earth spider webs could be difficult to notice, especially in broad daylight, made worse by snow. Naturally, spiders and web-producing insects don't normally spin webs in the winter, as far as the mechanic knows. But, these webs had to be created freshly enough to not have been disturbed by snowfall, nor to catch a large amount of snowflakes.

There… The whole town is covered, thinks the mechanic. He notices snowflakes suspended in the air, not floating downwards naturally. They bounce a little, likely disrupted by air currents created by the blast of hot air from his dragon knight.

"Father!" calls out Arachne as she tackles Daniel, pinning him down. She yelps again, and Daniel asks, "Arachne!?"

The kobolds chatter and frantically scatter a few yards out as they go into their offensive stances.

Magnir calls out when Arachne doesn't respond, "Ranged attack! I didn't see where it came from!"

"L-Left…" murmurs the Death Knight, slumping down.

"{She's poisoned, Daniel. Be careful. You're the only one here who can't be cured by antidotes or magic.}"

"Arachne!?" shouts Daniel. He fights to squirm out from under her, trying to find any signs of their attackers. Several objects ping as they ricochet off of Magnir's armor, and he flinches. "There! Fire out!" replies the dragon as he darts slightly to the left, placing himself in front of Daniel. Before Daniel can say anything, a jet of fire ignites, passing narrowly over Tulztame's head, prompting the kobold to cry out as she dives onto her belly, covering her head.

The flames explode one of the wooden houses violently, lancing through the solidified mud supported with wooden supports.

A shrill scream fills the air, and Magnir pivots, unleashing another jet of flames. "Levvikami!" cries out Sodenizia as she runs to her immediate elder. She's been hit with the same poison as Arachne, which is quickly incapacitating them.

Daniel doesn't have time to think. He doesn't have time to address finding the antidote potations, and he's desperate, so he acts quickly.

The mechanic throws Nemaisol through the air in one of the directions Magnir hasn't engaged yet. If it's a magic attack of some kind, it should hopefully be intercepted. But, he's not holding his breath.

And, now that he's not being mana-negated, he activates his magic bag, quickly storing Arachne, and then Levvikami. Sodenizia tries to protest, but Daniel knows it's only a fear of living things going into void bags.

If he dies and loses the void bag, she's dead anyways. The mechanic sees Magnir make a sort of 'bark' like noise as he flinches, quickly ripping something out of his lower abdomen before tossing it aside.

Already, his flames start to choke when he tries to breathe another incinerating blast in the direction the attack came from.

BOOM! The revolver fires, and Moelka stumbles, still caught off guard by the heavy recoil. Magnir is doing his best to stay on his feet, but he's losing strength, and the length of each of his immolating breath attacks reaches less and less far away.

Smoke is suffocating the area around them, and most of the houses of the town have been completely annihilated.

However, there is a cackling that fills the air deeply. Their opponent has been toying with them, and Daniel is on edge.

"{It's not magic,}" declares Kaeralegier as Nemaisol reappears in the scabbard at his hip. "{The creature is moving quickly and stealthily, but I don't think it's using any magic at all. If anything, it's triggering long-range dart traps, which caused Magnir to attack in the wrong directions.}"

Any suggestions? thinks Daniel in reply.

"{Hmm… Can you hold out for a minute?}"

The hell does that mean!?

Daniel flinches back when a flash of light narrowly passes in front of his face. He didn't dodge so much as react to a narrow miss. With as fast-acting as it is on a giant like Arachne and a powerful being like a dragon, just a graze would likely kill Daniel in seconds. Some kind of needle attack is being launched at them, and Moelka is hit by a different attack from the opposite side.

Daniel curses under his breath, and he sprints to the soft-spoken kobold, quickly storing her in his bag. Magnir is slowly falling, and Daniel is running out of time.

That's it!

Daniel withdraws one of the shelter shells, quickly calling out, "Move! Here!"

His shouts are enough to catch the attention of the Kobolds, and the three that are still able to run to Daniel, while Magnir limps. He is pelted with another barrage of the glass-like needles, and the dragon drops to his knees, unable to proceed any further as he pants. He doubles over, vomiting, and Daniel takes a breath. He dashes out to the blue Jomsviking, and he uses Magnir partially as a body shield while he readies to store the dragon.

"I'm… sorry… your Grace…" grunts Magnir.

"You're not dead yet, Magnir." Daniel stows his body in the magic bag, diving towards the shell. His instincts crawl like insects across his back, but he doesn't feel his body shutting down, yet, so he scrambles into the shell.

The garatin shells have somewhat of a hermit-crab-like depth to them, rather than a clam shell, meaning it gives enough of a retreat to force the attacker to show itself more.

Tulztame, Glizumi, and Sodenizia are panting as they catch their breaths, and Sodenizia chatters desperately at Daniel, but he can't understand her. Still, he pets her head to try to reassure her.

Crap… I left the revolver… Daniel looks. He dropped the shell pretty much where he recovered Moelka, but the revolver is a couple of yards just outside of the mouth of the shell.

Gotta do it, Daniel. But…

The mechanic finds his helmet and the other parts of his armor that he took off for comfort for their travel. The kobolds aren't as affected by the cold as one would assume for a reptilian race, but they're not dangerous, so the lies and deceits they're still maintaining aren't a grave concern to him.

Now, though, his armor could be the only thing that stands between him and death.

As he's getting ready to dash for the revolver, Glizumi cries out, "Daniel! No!"

He shoves her back into the shell, trying to keep her in cover. He dashes out across the gravel and hard-frozen dirt, dropping to his hip to slide to the revolver and scoop it up with as low of a profile from a ranged 'shooter' as he can.

The mechanic hears the quiet taps of something hitting the ground, and he thinks about what Kaeralegier said.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

He aims in the opposite direction and fires.

Something large shimmers as the voice that was laughing screeches in surprise, ducking behind one of the burning fires of a destroyed house. He keeps his eyes glued to where it was. He's not sure if it's magic camouflage or some other ability, since his sword-bound goddess companion seemed certain no magic is in use near him.

But then, magic could include a lot of things, from my perspective.

Daniel watches either side of the smoke as diligently as he can. If it is something using a sort of active camouflage, that makes it invisible like a pane of perfectly clear glass, then it'll be extremely difficult to spot, even if he's looking for it.

Daniel carefully climbs up from his hip to a kneel, keeping the revolver pointed towards the fire. There's no guarantee that the monster is alone, and it's rather intelligent. It's also got a virtual guaranteed death for the otherworldly human if he's clipped by even one of its needle attacks.

And, as if to curse him even further, his helmet starts to fog over from the inside. The last time he had it out was in the shelter shell, which they were keeping warm for camping. It's not at equilibrium with Daniel's body temperature nor the exterior temperature and low dew point.

Daniel closes his eyes and takes a breath. The monster can't see his eyes just yet, so it won't know that he's effectively blind already. But, it'll know that he's abandoning offense, which is the perfect time to counter.

Daniel springs towards the mouth of the shelter shell, keeping his forearm against his neck to shield one of his most vulnerable portions of his body.

Pin-pin-ping!

Daniel stumbles when he hears it because it nearly gives him a heart attack.

No! I don't want to die! Please, please, please…! He stumbles the rest of the way into the shell, barely managing to catch himself on its mouth and duck inside.

His heart is pounding, and three kobolds check on him with urgent cries of, "Daniel!" "Daniel!"

Daniel checks his forearm and wrist. There are no signs that he was hit, and his heart is still racing. Given how quickly Arachne went down, there's no way he should still be conscious.

Of course, that doesn't rule out Daniel going into an immediate coma dream and not realizing it, but he's pretty sure he's still alive.

The mechanic suddenly coughs as he realizes his lungs are burning. For a moment, the thought Oh god, I'm hit! crosses his mind, but it was actually himself holding his breath too long. He pants heavily as he manages to relax, and he flips open the revolver's cylinder, trying to calm himself down with a task. The mechanic pulls the spent shells out while glancing outside. He fumbles with the second shell, and he has to clench his shaking fist.

"{Calm down, Daniel. You're not hit. You've faced far worse.}"

I know, I know. I've just never been shot at before…

He knows it's not a rifle. He knows there is a low-level chance it's not a lethal toxin. He knows even he could potentially be cured if the last survivor is able to evacuate him in the void bag.

And, Kaeralegier is right. He has faced off against far more fearsome attacks that, had they landed, he wouldn't have time to process that he has been hit. He would be vaporized or smashed into paste. But, at the moments that he narrowly avoided death, he was feeling pretty much the same as now.

His own weakness, his own normal state of being, his very human fragility; all of these were painfully slammed into his face by the narrow margin by which he escaped death.

Being shot at is something that he can truly process and acknowledge as something that can instantly kill him. It was a low-level fear he had on Earth. If a gun was aimed at him, or bullets were flying and he wasn't at the range, he would have felt the same.

It may not be a firearm aimed at him in the last few moments, but it definitely reaches his instincts like one.

Daniel takes a deep breath and exhales. The enemy is undoubtedly positioning itself to attack the shell.

The human looks to his lizard-person companions, and the three are quickly trying to strategize. Glizumi is suggesting using the bedding to try to cover themselves as they run for it, as far as Daniel can tell, while Tulztame seems to be signalling for a flanking blitz attack. Sodenizia is glancing back and forth between them, occasionally looking at Daniel for feedback, even though they all know he won't be able to strategize with them.

Or can I?

Daniel looks at the heavy blanket Glizumi is trying to insist they can shield themselves in. It's said of the 5.7x28mm bullets used in the P90 and Five-Seven firearms on Earth that the high velocity, small diameter bullet has a high level of natural penetration ability due to its small size, particularly against fabric armors. That said, lighter projectiles of any kind, including that very same 5.7mm bullet or high-velocity needles are also much easier to deflect. The blanket will do almost nothing to protect the kobolds, who only have a few plates covering vitals from the leftover armors Daniel had in his void bags from the battle of Fort Peony. More than anything, they chose clothing that is warm.

For the mechanic, though, who is wearing most of his full-body sharmelkolle plate armor, adding the blanket could add enough interference that only a perfectly-placed shot on his vitals would, ideally, be able to penetrate through his clothes and reach his skin. Hitting the armor even at an angle should provide enough disruption to the monster's attack to intercept it and sap its energy.

Or at least, that's how Daniel convinces himself.

The mechanic has to move fast. There's no telling where the monster is, since it moves quietly, quickly, and with a stealth ability. He snatches the blanket from Glizumi and shoves his revolver into Tulztame's hands. This suddenness startles the remaining kobold women as he flings the blanket over his shoulders. He pats his chest, pointing outside, and then points at Tulztame, smacking his back.

She is confused at first, but it registers quickly, and she nods vigorously. Daniel wants her to flank the monster, whatever it is once they have some semblance of an idea where it is. They'll have to all move quickly, but Daniel's size will make it more likely that he is the target, especially since he was the last one to have the revolver. Moelka was targeted right away when she fired it, so it's almost certain Daniel making a reappearance will also draw its attention, even if it's using some sort of remotely-triggered ranged attacks.

Or, there's more than one.

"{Certainly, Daniel. Be careful. Keep your shoulders high and run as fast as you can. Sorry I can't be more help.}"

Don't be. Here goes.

Daniel starts sprinting out into the open, but just as he's clearing the shell, he hears it crunch and sift against the gravel and sand. The monster was just about to engage the shell, and it's likely already far too late.

Daniel tries to pivot. If it believes he's about to fire, he might be able to disrupt its attack, since there's no way he'll be able to count on the distance making him harder to hit.

What happens next is another one of those moments that happens too quickly for him to follow until after the fact.

His back slams the ground, and a cough barely escapes his lungs as a heavy weight pins him to the gravel of the mountainside village. When the daze clears, he is looking up at a grey and white creature that almost reminds Daniel of a movie about sharply dressed secret agents and the alien final boss.

While 'insect' is easiest to come to mind, its features are distinctly more arachnid, but with an alternating glossy and matte leathery exoskeleton like a scorpion. Its posture is a little higher than a scorpion's, like a jumping spider with a horse-like neck, but it still has the long tail of the sting-tailed branch of arachnids. Rather than a stinger, though, the tail seems to have 'spinnerrettes', but a clear liquid clings in droplets to each of the finger-like parts of the spinnerrette.

Given the glass-like needle spines growing from its back, Daniel suspects the tail produces poison, but its 'stingers' are the ranged attack.

And, like a scorpion, the creature has Daniel pinned down by a large foreclaw extending from its 'torso'/'neck' area.

BOOM!

The revolver fires, startling the monster before it can finish the human, but it doesn't let him go. Rather, it flinches, and when it finds itself unharmed, it slaps its long tail through the air, slamming Tulztame across the ground. The force of the hit is only reduced by the fact that the sweep of the creatures tail hits the shell as well, nearly toppling it and startling Glizumi and Sodenizia into screaming.

Daniel tries to get his hand on Nemaisol, but he doesn't have enough range of motion to draw it. His right arm is blocked by the claw, while his left is pinned to his side by its grip.

"{Took her long enough…}" grumbles Kaeralegier's voice in Daniel's head.

He's struggling to resist the pain of his joints being squeezed, so he isn't able to figure out what the sword-bound goddess is talking about.

That said, the scorpion-monster seems to have noticed it too, as it turns its gaze towards the sky, seemingly becoming fearful.

Before anything else can happen, a deep impact slams into the earth, shaking the ground and sending a reverberating rumble all the way to Daniel's bones. His best description would be if something like a concrete truck had just hit the ground nearby, especially considering the blast of air that rushes over them, with a spray of gravel and snow that also follows.

This finally drives the gigantic scorpion to release Daniel in a backwards retreat, and it throws its needles. He hears the distinctive, long, nostril-inhale of a dragon, but thankfully, it isn't a jet of point-blank flames that erupts from its mouth, but a seemingly weak shockwave from a powerful roar.

A roar that Daniel recognizes as distinctly different from a dragon's, and one that he would never forget without ever hearing it again.

He looks, finding the terrifying visage of one of the most powerful enemies the Fievegal has fought to date.

Yaulwembor, the ancient terror of Mattarglos.

Daniel feels his blood pressure drop, even as the terrifying roar fills the air.

However, dozens of shrieks come from every direction. The scorpion that pinned Daniel down is not the only one. The houses are distinctly built like human-kin structures, so there's almost no chance these beings are the denizens of the village. And, even if they are, attacking on sight is a bit extreme.

Yaulwembor pivots and slams her tail down on the one that had Daniel pinned, and her tail doesn't even slow until it cracks into the ground. She pivots and casts magic with her foreclaws, skillfully sending a rain of summoned magic stones through the houses and barraging the ground like a massive machine gun. Other scorpions shriek and cry, and a presence approaches Daniel quickly.

"Darling!" calls out Doephluev's voice, and the mechanic is surprised, confused, and a little relieved.

The archoneldwyn has Hekate in a princess carry, and the feldrok girl's ears are folded back as she keeps her eyes closed tightly.

Treia and Kera'tai also jog up behind them, with the gatonine dropping to her knees to check on Daniel. He does everything he can to murmur, "P-Poison…"

"Don't worry, Daniel," replies Kera'tai. "I'm using defensive magic. It's not unbreakable, but I think they're more worried about her." She gestures to the draconic titan annihilating the remainder of the trap-laden town.

The scorpion-like monsters are trying to barrage Yaulwembor with the poisoned needles, but they shatter and ricochet off of the faormyr. Her tail seems to curl around the group, as if to create a wall to defend them, since her tail is rather large. She continues to barrage the area with ice and rock blasts, which destroy the buildings, but minimize the destruction of materials that could be recycled.

Daniel isn't sure how or why Yaulwembor is free, since she doesn't appear to be under the effects of a magic contract, yet she's defending the group.

He does his best to sit up, and Glizumi calls out, "D-Daniel!?" She's with Sodenizia and Tulztame, who is unconscious.

Daniel points, "Please…"

Doephluev shakes Hekate, saying, "Hekate. You're up. Healing magic."

The Feldrok Empress whines, still unable to open her eyes. It's her behavior if she's exposed to her greatest fear; heights. She can tolerate it with people she trusts, but it's clear Doephluev had to make a quick decision that involved jumping from high up. "G-Gimme a second… I just need-WAAH!"

The fox-eared ravenette yelps as Doephluev dumps her on the ground. Hekate scrambles her hands and quickly flips over to her hands and knees, panting heavily. Her ears fold back in anger, and she glares up at Doephluev.

"Hekate, please hurry and heal them," urges Kera'tai. "We need to make sure everyone's out of Yaulwembor's way."

The titan's foot stomps the ground as she steps to simply turn, and even that alone rumbles like a movie dinosaur, since an avian apex predator doesn't particularly need padded feet to hide its approach from prey.

Hekate groans as she rubs her butt, but she climbs up quickly, jogging over to the kobolds to cast healing magic on them, which the feldrok girl has been practicing. She's inefficient at it, but she has mana to spare. Even with the battle raging around her, Hekate focuses her magic on Tulztame, doing her best to heal her.

And, after a few moments, while Treia checks on Daniel's injuries, the chaos finally subsides. He catches a glimpse of the last few scorpion-creatures scurrying over the nearest ridges to escape the terrifying predator.

However, Yaulwembor doesn't pursue her 'prey'. Instead, she turns her long neck to look at Daniel and the others. The ancient draconid's expression is still difficult to read, since she's still new to the group.

And, before anything else can happen, her gaze shifts up above the group, and Daniel, Treia, and Kera'tai look where her gaze falls.

Appearing like a ghost becoming solid is the armored form of a smoke grey dragon. Yaulwembor's body is built more distinctly to allow her to be bipedal, while dragons are structured more like bears in the sense that they can stand upright, but are more comfortable on all fours while in their natural forms.

Thankfully, the dragon is Neith, and he's only standing guard against Yaulwembor if she decides to turn on Hekate and the others who arrived alongside her.

Yaulwembor growls at Neith, but Hekate calls out, "Hey! Yauly! Down here!"

The faormyr looks down at the feldrok girl, and Hekate makes a few hand gestures, finishing with a thumb's up. It's clear that, somehow, Hekate managed to find a way to communicate with Yaulwembor.

Or, at least, she seems to think so.

Thankfully, the draconic being with a faintly rainbow sheen from her natural sharmelkolle armor relaxes on the ravenette's hand signals. If anything, the faormyr lets out a long breath like she's giving an exasperated sigh. She looks away from everyone, including Neith, like she's pouting. It ironically puts Daniel at ease seeing that she's acting so… human.

With that as his signal, Neith sighs as well, relaxing his guard. He sits back a bit, raising a foreclaw to cast a spell. A swirl of magic smoke dances around and engulfs him, and from it emerges a human with metallic grey horns and a reptillian tail. He drifts from midair to the ground, landing on his feet before jogging closer.

"My Liege. Forgive me for taking so long to come to your aid." He glances around, asking, "Sir… Magnir?"

Daniel coughs, but he is relieved the battle seems to be over. He's a little uneasy with Yaulwembor free and present, but she doesn't seem to be hostile anymore. "Magnir and Arachne were hit by their attacks. They used some kind of poison."

"Poison?" asks Treia. "Strong enough to take those two down?"

Daniel nods. "Two of the kobolds were hit as well trying to help us. They went down so quickly…"

"Where are they now?" asks Kera'tai gently.

Daniel pats his void bag, as much to indicate it as to check to see that it's still intact.

"Good thinking, my Darling," replies Doephluev as she kneels in front of Daniel. "Regardless of the outcome, the void bag bought us valuable time."

Treia helps him sit up more, and Hekate bounds over, diving onto him. "Daniel! You big dummy!"

"Careful!" exclaims Treia. "He could have bone or joint injuries we don't know about yet."

Hekate groans, squirming more and more to crowd against Daniel while the others can only sigh. He chuckles, coughing lightly before petting her back. "Thanks for coming to the rescue, you guys. But… uh…" He looks up at Yaulwembor, who cocks her head curiously.

Kera'tai explains, "If you can believe it, there is a way to communicate with her, and she is sentient, it seems. But, she can't understand language, even with comprehension magic used on her."

"Really?" asks the human.

"I find that hard to believe," replies Neith. "But, she is more docile than…" He goes on guard and darts around the group as he prepares to shield them.

Yaulwembor has her foreclaw up, and she's casting a spell. Hekate does her method of "communicating" with the faormyr, but the ancient apex predator does something even more strange.

She lifts her other foreclaw to give a thumbs up, surprising everyone. All gazes turn to Hekate, who is equally dumbfounded.

And, a swirl of magic smoke starts to circle around the rainbow-tinted sharmelkolle-scaled being. Unlike for Neith, however, an immense amount of visible mana is being pulled in to such an intense degree, that Daniel can feel the static of the mana passing by them, and it takes him back to the fight with Lugrae, then known as the Feral Feldrok.

This puts everyone on guard, with the Kobolds jogging over to crouch with Daniel and Treia, while Hekate, Neith, Kera'tai, and Doephluev are on their feet in defensive postures.

Even the light of the afternoon daytime seems to be swallowed up by the intense spell, and Daniel starts to feel fear creeping into his heart again.

And, he doesn't need ears like Hekate to know everyone is sharing the sentiment.

"What is she doing!?" asks Daniel as the kobolds chatter and hum while trying to tug on his arm.

Hekate snaps at the kobolds, "Don't you dare try to move him! I just saved your lives, I'll protect you!" She realizes Daniel asked her something, but Doephluev is the one to answer, "I think… she's transforming. But, it shouldn't… I don't know why it's like this."

Kera'tai holds her hand out, seeming like she's feeling something, like a warm wind passing by. "It feels like…" She looks at Daniel. "She's absorbing the leftover contaminated mana."

Daniel's eyes widen. "Is… that safe?" He knows he's still at least partly contaminated with the intense interfering mana from Kernuules.

His question is answered when the storm of magical energy compresses in on itself, 'solidifying' into a much smaller figure.

Like Neith, Yaulwembor descends to the ground slowly by suspending herself with magic, rather than wings.

Seeing her, though, Daniel suspects he's the one who's in trouble.

***