Chương 20: A Threat Born of This World

Gloria was currently… happy? Yes, that was certainly one word capable of describing the emotion overwhelming her, though it was competing rather fiercely with several others she would have preferred not to acknowledge.

Gloria, Iris, and Echidna were indeed travelling through the forest, surrounded on every side by towering trunks, tangled branches and enough vibrant greenery to make the forests of DDO appear embarrassingly artificial by comparison, yet they were not walking beneath those trees as Gloria had spent the last several minutes eagerly imagining.

"Woah! This is amazing, Lady Echidna!" Iris exclaimed as she leaned over the low stone railing surrounding them, watching the forest floor rush past several meters below.

"I had no idea spells like this were even possible!" Echidna lifted her head, the wind pulling at her hair as she stood near the front of their unusual mount.

"Such a creation is rather elementary for Echidna, child, and you would do well to recognize that this is no spell, but a skill." The distinction appeared deeply important to her, though Gloria remained far more concerned with the creation itself, which resembled an enormous spider sculpted entirely from stone.

Eight thick legs extended beneath its broad body, each one bearing more resemblance to a moving pillar than anything belonging to a living creature, while the platform upon its back had been made wide enough for all three women to sit or stand without difficulty. Low walls surrounded its edges to prevent anyone from falling, and despite its size, the construct moved with surprising ease between the less densely packed trees, carrying them above most of the bushes, roots and other vegetation.

It was undeniably impressive, and at their current speed they would likely reach Ural within a few hours rather than two full days. But there was one critical flaw with it… And it was that Gloria hated it!

'I know I am technically still travelling through a forest,' she thought as another branch brushed across her horns and scattered several leaves into her hair,'and I am seeing the trees, smelling the trees, and collecting half of them on my head, but this is not how this was supposed to happen!' She had imagined walking between the trunks, examining unfamiliar flowers and searching the undergrowth for strange insects, yet the construct carried her above nearly everything worth seeing.

And on top of that, whenever the space between the larger trees narrowed, its pillar-like legs simply forced a way through, and one of them soon descended upon a young trunk, snapping it near the base before the creature marched over what remained without slowing.

'Okay, but did we really have to stomp on it?' Another trunk bent beneath the construct's body before breaking with a sound that made something inside her recoil.

'The trees cannot defend themselves, so apparently I must!' The spider raised another leg, aiming directly toward a cluster of saplings that had committed the terrible crime of growing in its path, and Gloria decided that she had endured enough.

"Slow your creation, Echidna." Her voice carried easily, causing the goddess to turn immediately while the spider's pace began to lessen.

"Mighty Gloria?" Echidna asked, her pride briefly giving way to concern.

"Does its speed displease you? Echidna can compel it to move faster if you wish."

"That will not be necessary." Gloria looked toward the trail behind them.

"We are in no particular hurry, and your creation is leaving behind a rather noticeable path." Echidna stared at the destruction behind them, her brow furrowing.

"And what creature in its right mind would dare follow us, Mighty Gloria? You have no cause for concern, for if any fool possesses enough courage to approach you with hostile intent, Echidna shall be the first to greet them." Echidna sounded so certain that Gloria found herself struggling to argue. The trail could also easily belong to some enormous beast, and no one in this age seemed likely to recognize either of them anyway.

'She has a point,' Gloria admitted reluctantly.

'A very annoying point, because now I either have to explain that I simply do not want her ruining this place or just shut up.' While Gloria was still searching for an answer, Echidna's eyes widened.

"Oh... Oh!" She pressed one hand against her chest and bowed her head.

"Echidna begs your forgiveness, Mighty Gloria. It required her lesser mind far too long to recognize the danger you perceived the instant you looked upon our trail." Gloria kept her expression perfectly composed, despite having no idea what danger Echidna had supposedly discovered.

'Y-Yes. The danger. Naturally. The extremely obvious danger that I definitely noticed.' Iris looked between them, her own confusion nowhere near as carefully hidden.

"Am I missing something?"

"The False King," Echidna answered.

"Should that creature remain within these lands, such an obvious trail could guide him directly to us. He has already demonstrated the ability to create seals powerful enough to imprison Echidna, and the breaking of that seal almost certainly alerted him." Relief flooded through Gloria so powerfully that she nearly thanked the universe.

'Thank you, Echidna. Thank you so much!'

"Precisely," she said.

"That being defeated you when your strength greatly exceeded what you possess now, which makes him a threat neither of us should dismiss while we know so little about his present condition or intentions. Until we understand what he is capable of, leaving an unmistakable trail would be unnecessarily reckless." Echidna bowed more deeply.

"Your wisdom once again exceeds Echidna's own, Mighty Gloria. Echidna understands her mistake and shall correct it immediately." She rose and lifted both arms, prompting Gloria and Iris to watch as pale light gathered between her hands and stretched into the outline of a large magical circle. Symbols began appearing along its edges in succession, while the center filled with the image of a towering tree encircled by dozens of winding serpents, each one drawn from a separate strand of mana.

Echidna worked on the circle slowly, guiding each line into place while humming into the spellwork the entire time, the sound making the serpents coil around the tree as though they were responding to her voice. Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. [Renova] The formation burst apart without sound, scattering into millions of glittering fragments that swept behind the construct upon a sudden current of wind.

They spread throughout the damaged path and gathered around every broken trunk, crushed bush and torn patch of earth, sinking into the vegetation until soft light began shining through the cracks. Splintered wood drew itself together, flattened plants slowly rose from the soil, and several trees that had been pushed nearly to the ground straightened.

Even the lingering disturbance in the air seemed to fade, the unsettled mana flowing back into the forest until Gloria could no longer distinguish the construct's path from the untouched land surrounding it.

"The forest has been returned to its former condition, while the flow of mana throughout the land we crossed has also been repaired. Even a skilled tracker should now struggle to determine the path we followed."

"You can do things like this too?" Iris asked, still watching the trees. Gloria nodded with calm approval.

"Well done, Echidna." The goddess's expression brightened immediately.

"Your praise honors Echidna, Mighty Gloria. The spell is elementary, and she shall cast it as many times as necessary to erase every trace of our passage as we move on."

'Not exactly what I intended, but somehow everything worked out,' Gloria thought as the construct resumed its journey at a slower pace, weaving around the trees rather than forcing its way through them. With the trees no longer in immediate danger, Gloria leaned back against the stone wall and attempted to enjoy the forest once more, though another disappointment soon became impossible to ignore.

The branches still swayed, birds could occasionally be heard somewhere in the distance, and small movements passed through the undergrowth whenever the construct approached, yet every living creature vanished long before she could catch more than a glimpse of it.

She had hoped to see strange animals that had never existed in her former world, perhaps something with glowing antlers or feathers made of crystal, but the thudding of eight stone pillars against the earth announced their arrival far too clearly for anything with functioning instincts to remain nearby.

'I have seen plenty of trees now, which is admittedly wonderful, but would it be too much to ask for one animal that does not immediately flee for its life? A rabbit would be enough. It does not even need magical horns or three tails. I would accept an entirely ordinary rabbit at this point.' Her gaze followed another trembling bush until whatever had hidden behind it disappeared into the deeper forest, and the complaint escaped her before she could decide whether speaking it aloud was wise.

"It is unfortunate that we have encountered so little wildlife." Echidna went completely still.

"You are correct, Mighty Gloria!" Echidna said, turning toward the forest.

"Echidna did not even think of it." Iris blinked, then looked from Echidna to Gloria and back again.

"Oh, come on. There cannot possibly be some hidden meaning behind that as well."

"There most certainly is," Echidna replied, offended by the suggestion.

"My child may no longer damage the forest, yet its steps continue frightening every creature long before we approach. A traveler who knows these woods could notice the unnatural silence, follow the path abandoned by the wildlife, and use it to determine our direction even without finding a single footprint." Iris opened her mouth to object, though her expression changed as she listened to the silence surrounding them.

The birdsong remained distant, the bushes ahead had gone still, and even the insects seemed to quiet whenever the stone construct drew near.

"I must have been too distracted by everything that happened today to consider it," she admitted reluctantly.

"You are correct, Lady Gloria. Someone familiar with the forest could follow the disturbance even after the physical trail disappeared. Well noticed."

'You too, Iris!?' Before Gloria could respond, the Archer stepped toward the center of the platform and struck the stone beneath her fist five times, each blow spaced evenly apart. A soft green glow spread outward from the points of impact, flowing through the construct's entire body. Echidna watched the light settle into the stone.

"What manner of spell have you placed upon Echidna's creation?"" [Clara]," Iris explained as the green glow faded.

"It is a calming spell normally used by hunters when approaching frightened animals or travelling through territory occupied by monsters. Those under its effect become harder to notice, while any sound they make beyond direct sight is softened enough that most living creatures will struggle to focus upon it. The construct is far larger than anything the spell was designed for, so I cannot make it completely silent, but the wildlife should stop fleeing before we come anywhere near it."

Echidna considered the explanation before giving an approving nod.

"A modest skill, though well chosen. You have served the Mighty Gloria's design adequately, child." Iris's eye twitched at the praise.

"Thank you... I think?" Gloria offered her own approval.

"Your spell was well chosen. I have studied a great deal of magic, yet this one is unfamiliar to me. I shall remember its name." Iris blinked, clearly caught off guard by the praise, before straightening with pride.

"It is mostly used by hunters and scouts, Lady Gloria. I would not expect someone of your power to have much need for it."

'Power has nothing to do with it. I simply cannot learn every spell from every class…' Gloria thought. Under other circumstances she might have questioned Iris further, but the earlier mention of the False King remained lodged in her thoughts.

"What precisely was the False King?" she asked, turning toward Echidna.

"You have spoken of his strength and the seal he placed upon you, yet you have said little of his nature." Iris's attention immediately shifted toward the goddess.

"I have never encountered that title in any account of the Golden Age, nor in anything written afterward. So if you don't mind, I would be curious about it too, Lady Echidna."

"That is because he did not belong to the Golden Age," Echidna replied, and for once there was no pride in her voice.

"He was no Supreme Being, nor any creature Echidna had encountered before." Gloria's eyes narrowed slightly.

"You are certain of this?"

"Echidna is certain." Echidna's fingers curled against the stone beneath her.

"Supreme Beings carried a presence that could not be mistaken, even when they concealed their strength. The False King possessed nothing of that nature. Echidna could not identify his race, his magic or the source from which his power flowed, and throughout the entirety of their battle, he never revealed enough for her to understand him." Echidna quickly continued.

"There is something else. Throughout the entire battle, he did not form a single circle." Gloria's gaze sharpened.

"Not even once?"

"Not once. His manner of combat marked him as a warrior, and it is possible that he simply possessed little talent for magic. Even so, Echidna found it strange." Gloria had to agree. Warriors had always been absurdly powerful in DDO, but raw strength was only one part of what made them so dangerous. Their magic could split battlefields apart, turn wounds into temporary power, reinforce their bodies, or heal injuries that should have ended the fight.

They might not possess the endless variety available to dedicated spellcasters, but no truly powerful warrior fought through physical ability alone. Yet the False King had defeated Echidna without revealing even that much. Either his physical strength had simply overwhelmed her, or he had wielded magic in the same circleless manner Iris did. If it was the latter, then Echidna's conclusion became far more believable: the False King had not come from DDO. His power belonged entirely to this world.

A chill traveled down Gloria's spine. The thought unsettled her; she would have been lying to herself if she claimed otherwise. This world had continued changing after the Golden Age, producing powers that had never existed within the game and beings capable of standing against its greatest creations. Yet as she imagined meeting a warrior whose strength she could not predict, the chill returned, sharper than before, and a smile began spreading across her face.

That was when she recognized what lay beneath the unease. Excitement!

'How could I forget?' The frightened girl she had once been might still whisper somewhere inside her, but that girl no longer decided where Gloria would go.

'I am Gloria Superba, and fear has no place beside that name.'