Chapter 428 - The Scattered Dawn III

Claire loosened her shoulders and caught her breath as she watched the giant turtle close in. The red that covered its shell was not a brilliant crimson like the blood splattered all over the snow, but a dark, rusted iron to match the metallic nature of its body. Every last bit of organic material had been replaced with sheets of metal. Looking far more geometric than not, the vlasch almost seemed closer to an iron golem in the shape of a Langgbjern turtle than it did a true member of its species. Its behaviour, however, affirmed that it was no mere copy. It ate everything in its path, extending its hands to grab trees, herrings, and panthers without the faintest hint of discrimination.

She still wasn’t sure how she wanted to approach it. Her first instinct was to face it head-on, but the iron vlasch’s hands were even faster than those of its organic peers. One moment, they were in their sockets, and the next, they were stuck in a creature a full hundred meters away.

It wasn’t like it was strictly an upgrade, however. The mechanical mole turtle was much slower to reel in its prey, and it often struggled to correctly capture it within its mouth. But like the second vlasch that the party had found, it made up for its weakness with its mastery of lightning.

Opening its maw, long before it closed the distance, the giant, rusted turtle vomited a blast of concentrated electricity. Nine bolts flew from its nine tongues and struck the lyrkress head-on.

Thinking that it was risky to simply take an attack from a monster around level three thousand, Claire tried her best to dodge. And were she not cursed by the god of thunder, she surely would have succeeded in doing just that.

Alas, it was not meant to be.

The lightning curved as she leapt out of its path and caught her by the tail. It raced up the length of her spine and coursed straight through her body. But despite her concerns, she found herself unharmed. The worst jolt to come out of the attack was on the level of a static shock. The simplicity of its magic revealed the metal vlasch to be more of a close combatant than a mage. Perhaps, even with the difference in their levels, her resistance had simply negated its attack.

Or at least that was what she thought until the sky warped out of shape. The mass of lightning that gathered above contained enough power to distort the heavens themselves. It vaporized not only the surrounding clouds, but even the atmosphere, and ripped open a hole to the cosmos.

What Claire had mistaken for a plain old projectile was but a marker for a more powerful attack. For each of the tracer rounds, there was an unholy blast, a bolt of lightning with nearly enough voltage to be a source of elemental power—just as how the giant mushrooms could almost produce true ice, the mutant vlasches could almost produce arc plasma.

Even the first felt like it would kill her. She could feel it frying her body, bubbling her blood and destroying her flesh. Bright, vein-like patterns appeared in her skin, marring it beneath her scales.

She almost screamed, but she grit her teeth and stood her ground. Panting heavily, she grabbed the next bolt with a vector and wrenched it off course. It pushed right back against her efforts, but she was able to force it to strike the ground beside her instead. Bolts number three and four were given the same treatment, she missed the timing for five. And thrown off by the searing pain, six, seven, eight, and nine as well.

The consecutive attacks blackened her flesh. Charred bits crumbled off of her body as the vlasch drew ever closer. It was almost in range to skewer her, to claim its burnt meal and crunch its way through her charred organs.

But Claire was having none of it. Forcing her circuits back into action, even as they screamed their complaints, she completed a set of emergency repairs. All the bits of blackened skin were coated in a faint layer of ice, and the talon and leg whose flesh was lost regained their shapes in translucent blue. Once fixed enough to regain her form, she raised her lizard and assumed a stance. Unlike his master, Boris was unfazed, undamaged by the lightning. He contained the current within his body, even as she clasped him between her teeth.

She didn’t wait for the mechanical turtle to strike. Ripping open a portal, she teleported directly behind it. It was a bit too quick for her to keep up, but she latched onto its frame by hooking her claws into the tip of its tail. From there, accessing its vulnerable, exposed buttocks was as simple as climbing its stubby rear appendage.

It wasn’t like she could simply worm her way under the monster’s shell and tear at its spine. There were no gaps between its shield and its flesh, but that particular problem was easily resolved.

The vlasch immediately caught onto her ploy and started swiping its tail back and forth, but there was nothing it could do to stop her from climbing.

Its hands simply couldn’t reach that far. Like an unfortunate, inflexible centaur, it was incapable of reaching its posterior.

Perhaps in panic, it started to strike itself with lightning. Each pulse that traveled through its body melted more of her flesh and further deprived her ability to carry a charge. The true ice she used to patch her scorched parts was entirely non-conductive, and its coverage only grew with every volt the vlasch delivered.

Claire was barely conscious by the time she reached the back of its shell. Her breaths were red and moist, but she drove her scalpel straight into its butt regardless and cut open its metal skin to reveal its still-fleshy interior.

Though showered by a mix of oil and blood, Claire continued to strike, carving away the tissue that sealed its shell shut. She almost didn't feel it when the turtle’s lightning strikes lit the fuel on fire. Unlike its magic, the fire was a simple physical phenomenon. Her resistance saw it ignored.

From there, the vlasch was easy pickings. She burrowed her way through its chest cavity and tore its heart to pieces.

Log Entry 885322

You have slain a level 3019 Langgbjern Silver Vlasch

You have gained the following bonus rewards:

- 1049 points of agility

- 2033 points of dexterity

- 7992 points of spirit

- 7400 points of strength

- 2914 points of vitality

- 188 points of wisdom

Log Entry 885323

You have leveled up. Your health and mana have been partially restored.

Your racial class, Caldriess, has reached level 717.

Your titular class, Witch of the Seventh Tempest, has reached level 51.

You have gained 2888 ability points.

Emerging from its body with half her flesh restored, she lunged straight at a panther. It clamped its jaws the moment she closed in, but she defended against its teeth with the ice that covered her left arm. With her right, she traced Boris through its body, delivering a straight, heavy blow that separated the two halves of its head.

Only when it was dead did she set her eyes on its prey—a small group of bears in the midst of fighting a fungus. They were slowly whittling it down, defeating its icy incantations with their flaming breaths. Just like the ice it wielded, the mushroom was weak to fire.

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Making a mental note, Claire charged into the fray, her spear-shaped lizards glimmering in the light as she drove them into the bears’ open backs. The first two to fall howled in pain, but barely registering the sounds, the caldriess continued to slaughter her way through the pack. She killed all ten before flapping her wings to get a better angle on the mushroom. But as she rose into the sky, as she shook the vlasch’s blackened blood out from within her ears, she found the mountains dead silent.

It wasn't like the monsters had disappeared. Rather, they had simply stopped moving, regardless of what it was they were in the middle of doing. Together, all at once, they turned their heads straight north. And Claire was made to do the same.

It is now 8:00.

A moment later, she heard a distant voice. It was quiet, but clear, deep and husky—a voice that could only have belonged to the goddess of the frozen wilds.

The morning frenzy has reached its conclusion. All monsters are to report to their assigned locations. Further acts of violence will be banned for precisely one hour.

Naturally and nonchalantly, the monsters untangled themselves from their predicaments and headed off in seemingly random directions.

Dungeon monsters will be authorized to free roam for 45 minutes starting at 8:15. Please ensure that you have arrived at your station prior to their release.

Their wounds vanished with their departures. Broken legs, cracked skulls, and even missing guts were put right back in their rightful places. Once fully healed, the monsters were cleaned, given a fresh coat of paint devoid of the bloodsport’s stains. And it wasn’t just them. Claire and the mountains were subjected to all the same treatment.

Trees sprung up out of nowhere and replaced their deceased counterparts. The placement wasn’t exact; it wasn’t like they rose from the broken stumps. Rather, they simply appeared haphazardly wherever there was space. Any fallen trees and stumps they touched were magically absconded from the realm in favour of new growth. Likewise, the snow, which was muddied and bloodied by the gratuitous violence, was restored to a perfect, pristine white. Every single footprint was erased, and though they distorted it with their steps, the traveling monsters left no fresh tracks in their wake.

Dark, heavy clouds formed overhead, dimming the sky as a strong wind began to blow.

It stirred the fallen snow, causing it to drift to and fro as another layer fell from the heavens. It started out as a light, almost invisible display, but it picked up with each second that passed, becoming a raging blizzard that blotted out the sky and forest in turn.

Not even with her enhanced sight could she see her feet. The snow was so dense that it almost felt like she was swimming—drowning in it. It continued to pile on her face and clog up her vision until a bubble appeared to keep it at bay.

“Holy crap!” squeaked the shelter’s creator. “What the heck is up with all the snow!?”

“I don’t know,” said Claire. “But it’s because of the goddess of the frozen wilds.”

The divinity that radiated through the winter storm was completely different from that which had affected the mountains at night. The sensation it produced was almost familiar, similar enough to her own that she could have absorbed and manipulated it with ease.

“I guess that means last night’s stuff was ‘cause of the divine collective then?”

“Probably.”

Lifting the fox off of her head and pulling her into her arms, Claire spread her wings and hastened up the mountain. It wasn’t a dash or even a run per se, but she made sure to fly fast enough to stay afloat without the use of her vectors.

She was feeling confident enough to move onto the next area. River aside, the vlasches were effectively the most powerful non-aerial predators, and having killed a few of them already, she was itching for something a little bit different. It helped that Aurora had healed her. Her circuits felt as good as they had before the morning frenzy, and the eyes destroyed by the recoil had all been readily returned.

A smile appeared on Claire’s face. From the message Aurora had relayed, it sounded like the healing and the frenzy were both regular events. If that were really the case—she needed to wait a few days to confirm that it wasn’t part of a larger schedule—then the bloodbath was a chance to go hog wild and unleash the full extent of her might.

Before she knew it, a tune escaped the snoose’s lips. Rather than one of the ones that Sylvia had taught her, it was an old tune she had picked up back when she lived in the manor, a simple but lovely tune that Marie had often hummed.

“Someone’s in a good mood,” said Sylvia, with a giggle.

“A bit,” said Claire. “I’ve always wanted to come up here.”

“Into these mountains?”

The snoose nodded. “Ever since I saw them from way up in the manor. And ever since Allegra told me how dangerous they were.”

“Does it really get that much worse? I mean, the monsters around here do seem a little tougher than usual, but the one you just beat was already over 3000!”

“Levels aren’t everything.”

“I know! But they’re still something. And I mean like, 3000 is a really big number.”

“The deeper we go, the stronger they’re supposed to get. The monsters out here are the ones that were chased away.”

“Are you sure?” asked the fox. “They seemed like they were a pretty big deal already, compared to everything else you fought.”

Claire sighed before turning her body so that they were parallel with the mountain. Their distant peaks were completely blotted out by the blizzard, but she pointed at them regardless, her lips a faint smile. “Don’t you see how far they go?”

“How far what goes?”

“The Langgbjerns.”

“I’m pretty sure you’re only supposed to do that when I can actually see them.”

“Shut up.” A light pinch. “Just close your eyes and pretend.”

“Oh, fine.” Giggling, the fox cleared her throat and stared into the blizzard.. “Er… uhm… I guess you’re right. It almost looks like they go on forever.”

“They might as well,” said Claire. She closed her eyes and thought back to the sight that Griselda had shown her. “They take up a third of the continent.”

“Wait, seriously!?” cried the fox. “What the heck!?”

“Right? You should see what they look like from space.”

“Oh! That sounds like it’d be fun,” said the fox. “But I kinda wanna wait until we’re done, just so nothing gets spoiled.”

“Okay,” said Claire, with a faint smile.

She hugged her fox a little tighter and rubbed their cheeks together. She stayed like that until a devilish plan appeared in the back of her head—a plan she immediately acted upon.

Shifting her face just a little, she buried her nose into the back of Sylvia’s head and pressed her lips into the fox’s neck.

“Eep!” The fox leapt out of Claire’s arms with a start, her body shuddering like a cat in a thunderstorm. The action was mimicked by her bubble, which was completely distorted out of shape and squished in haphazard directions before being quickly rearranged. “W-what the heck was that for?”

“What was what for?”

“Y-you uhmmm...” She tried to hide her face with her paws, but fumbling around, she found that her snout was too big and her non-humanoid hands were too tiny. “Y-you kissed the back of my neck!”

“No I didn’t.”

“You totally did!”

“Nope.”

“Yes you did!”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Sylvia puffed up her cheeks. “W-what the heck! You’re such a meanie,” she mumbled. “At least warn me next time.”

“Warn you about what?”

“Meanie! Pervert! Bully!”

Each insult was accompanied by a barrage of light smacks, but Claire continued to smile throughout.

“If anyone’s the pervert, it’s you,” she said. “You’re the one who panicked for no reason.”

“It wasn’t for no reason!” Grumbling, Sylvia crossed her arms and huffed. “Geez! What the heck…”

“I don’t mind never doing it again if you really hated it that much.”

“H-huh? W-wait, uhm, that’s not what I mean either!”

“So you want me to keep doing it?”

“No! I mean yes! I mean no, I mean…” Sylvia sighed. “Ugh… there’s just no winning with you, is there?”

“Nope.”

Not even bothering to cover up her laughter, Claire pulled her fox into her chest again and continued her way north.

She realised, as she squeezed the furball, that Panda’s claim had a much greater effect on her than she would have liked. She couldn’t help but recall a particular quote, born of a conversation that had left her father fighting for words—a quote that she felt like she had finally come to fully understand.

There was nothing more fun than someone worth teasing.