The wind picked up in speed and created a long whining whistle as the nekos leaned to her left, her forked tail acting as a counterbalance while she scanned her surroundings.
"You are insane," Shiro tipped her body to the right and hurriedly stepped away from the edge of the roaring bottomless void. She had already predestined her answer long before taking a better look outside but she did so anyway in the hope that maybe she had seen things and the undead elf's plan had some sense in it. "We are at least fifteen kilometres down and you plan to simply climb out? Did I hit you too hard in the head?"
"We are only ten kilometres down and it's not like I can get tired. Kia and I will lead the way and create a way for me to come back for you, I don't know why is it that hard to understand." Iris stated confident in her plan.
"I understand it completely and that is the problem!" Shiro raised her voice alongside her body causing her to tiptoe for a moment before planting her feet firmly back on the ground as she pressed her fingers against her temple.
"Exactly!" The younger demi-human also expressed her disbelief at the elf who seemed previously as quite a reasonable person in all manners outside Kia. "This is insanity!"
"Well unless you have a better idea other than digging, I'm all ears..." The elf responded crossing her arms in front of her chest as her long black hair fluttered in the wind pouring from the opening beside her.
The two demi-humans simultaneously turned their heads to the pile of rubble and made an awkward expression as the same thought popped inside their head as they imagined themselves moving the huge pieces of rock with their bare hands. Without the help of the two undead, their chances of leaving alive quickly withered into a depressing answer as the power wielded by the level 100 hundredth demi-human albeit superhuman still proved laughably insignificant compared to the power of nature.
"I still can't believe you would even think of this." Shiro peeked her head outside, grasping at anything which would prove the elf right. Instead of proof her eyes were filled with smooth walls with few ledges to grasp onto and an unspeakably dark void. The longer the cat stared into the void the roar of the wind came into focus, a howl so loud that she was certain it could swallow anything even the earthshattering rumblings of a tunniling god. "I hate this." Shiro stepped back massaging her temple as her hand lazily motioned the undead to move causing the elf to wonder what stressed the cat more, the climb itself or the time before the climb when her mind would torture her to no end with increasingly delusional scenarios and there was nothing she could do but wait.
Without prolonging their ascend further Iris looked down at Kia standing right next to her and nodded her head toward the opening through which the light flooded inside the cave. The mage stepped toward the outside and lifted her arm letting the wind caress her snow-white skin. Seemingly satisfied with her test the girl turned toward the elf who picked her up, letting the mage find a comfortable position to hang on to her before feeling the wind tug on her clothes.
"I'm not good with earth magic." Kia pulled herself and whispered into Iris's ear, her mouth barely opening to let the words out, not wanting the beast woman to hear this. Iris turned her head toward the mage who looked completely ashamed as if all her magical prowess disappeared because of this one small thing.
"You are the best mage I have ever seen. I believe in you," The elf said before giving the necromancer a sudden peck on her lips not letting the girl relish in the feeling. "The other half is waiting on you on the top."
In midst of the wild untamed howl rising from the depths below them, a cold chime of a magical circle appearing around Kia's free hand pierced the howl before the sound of rock splitting and reforming cut through the noise. From the solid rock, four rectangular steps grew outwards reaching a width roughly equal to the width of her foot before stopping as the magical circle resembling a bracelet disappeared.
With slow careful movement, the risen stepped onto the step while hugging the wall as much as she could. Her body bent slightly into a "C" shape as the feather-light mage wrapped her hands around the elf's neck with her legs crossed behind her back. When Iris planted her feet securely on both of the steps and her hands gripped the other two, the mage recast the spell a tiny bit higher than previously.
This uneasy cycle of Kia waiting for the elf to stop completely before casting another spell quickly turned into a smooth dance as both the women grew more accustomed to each other's speed. Truthfully, Iris almost found the climb strangely relaxing because of her race, her muscles didn't ache from the constant strain. Her strength made finding a good grip on the rock quite easy and caused the already feather-light girl hanging on her neck to barely register. What she liked most was the strong wind hitting her body as it was strong enough for her numbed skin to feel it causing the elf to remember the windy Autumn mornings of her youth. All these things and more made the trip into a pleasant adventure as long as her eyes stayed focused and she didn't look down into the black void which awoke something primal inside the dauntless undead.
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"Can you flatten this area?" Iris shouted over the wind as she climbed over which protruded slightly into the surrounding rock like a ring made by the way the Wyrm dug through the earth. An icy blue circle appeared around Kia's wrist, Iris saw the muscles in the girl's hand become taut as she pulled her arm toward herself, appearing as if she was lifting something incredibly heavy with her wrist. When her hand pointed straight toward the sky the rock shook as seamlines appeared on its edges. With a great puff of dust, a triangular-shaped block of stone slid at an angle out of the wall and tumbled through the air before disappearing into the void.
The two undead breathlessly awaited for the stone to find the bottom but after being still for an uncomfortable amount of time the pair focused their attention away from the darkness.
"Like this?" Kia said after casting another spell which flattened the sloped rock.
"Perfect," The tall undead whispered into the necromancer's ear. "Wait for me here."
"..." Kia opened her mouth as her feet touched the stone but her voice was drowned out by the swirling air. "Why?!" She shouted into the elf's ear as she leaned over.
"They can't hold onto me for as long as you can! We will have to make stops for them every so often." The risen explained.
Looking down Iris saw that the hole from which they had started was roughly three hundred meters below her. She could see the white-furred demi-human sticking her head and in response, she waved at the doll-sized nekos before turning around to descend down the narrow steps.
"I'm back." The elf nodded to the two beast women as she stepped inside the cave.
"That was fast." Shiro said.
Her first trip with Kia took roughly a bell and a half for Iris to climb and the descent took roughly a quarter of a bell. Her first climb was particularly slow given that neither she nor Kia were used to the process. She guessed that she could lower the time it took to climb up with Kia to about three-quarters of a bell. Either way, Iris didn't know if their time was impressive so she accepted the nekos' compliment with a small genuine smile while making a note in her mind to ask Kia how long will it take them to climb out.
"So, who is going with me first?"
"Where is Kia?" Nakatei asked. The elf noticed that the nail on the fox's left hand had been nibbled upon, leaving uneven toothmarks on their new edge.
"Kia is waiting at the top." The risen words caused the fox to squint before turning to Shiro.
"At the top of the staircase, they made," The older woman who had watched the undead accent explained. "Will stay here, I don't want you to be alone in here."
With these words, the shaman stepped forward looking far more similar to a convict who had accepted her fate while walking toward the executioner rather than her usual self.
Iris talked to the shaman about where to grip and after a while, the quivering fox had her arms locked around the elf's torso alongside her legs. She asked multiple times the fox if the grip she had was good before she leaned over the edge and stepped on the first step.
"I can't, I can't!" Iris suddenly heard Nakatei scream. She wasn't even halfway up and the low-level beast woman was already struggling to keep her hold on the elf.
Iris felt Nakatei's grip slowly slip but each time the shaman shuffled her body a little bit putting her hands back where they started. The undead looked down at the fox while she was in the middle of a step and saw the shaman struggling to breathe, her face painted red with exhaustion.
"Come on we are almost there." Iris said.
The elf's pace slowed down considerably as she gripped Nakatei's gifted clothes and ordered her to change her grip. The shaman wasn't as weightless as her kitten but Iris didn't notice too much difference as the fox locked her arms around her neck. She stopped for a moment as she contemplated if she should pick up her speed to minimise the amount of time the fox stayed over the abyss or if should she slow down and support the shaman with one hand.
"Thank the Spirits." Iris heard the fox whisper as she dropped down from her neck and hit the stone floor looking no better than a sack of earthfruits. The exhausted shaman didn't even bother to shuffle closer to the wall leaving her feet to dangle over the edge.
The two undead both looked at each other and pushed the fox further inside before observing the woman whose stomach rose and fell rapidly.
"I'm leaving her to you!" Iris said as she left the hopelessly spoiled shaman with the monster.
When the risen climbed back down she and Shiro didn't take as much time to prepare as the young fox and they wordlessly began their ascension. Shiro had no problem holding onto the tireless undead throughout their climb but when they were less than fifty meters away from their stop the elf felt the cat's crimson eyes glaring at her.
"I expect you don't think I'm going to forget this," Shiro said but more as a threat rather than out of gratitude. "I look forward to our next training session." The mighty warrior said as she hung above the endless void from the neck of her student, not realising how she looked.
"You weren't going seriously before?" The elf who believed that she learned more if the teacher showed everything without holding back frowned at her teacher.
"Why are you looking devasted by this? Are you into that sort of thing?" The nekos arced her body away from the elf.
"Nakatei?" Shiro hopped off the undead courier before she straddled over the fox who appeared to be asleep.
"Kia?!"
"Yes?!" Her kitten hurried to her feet.
"Can you estimate how many times we will have to do this?!"
"Mmmmm... about thirty-four times I think." The short raven squeezed herself into the elf.
"Can you manage this without sleeping?" The elf asked as she looked at the ten-kilometre-tall walls surrounding them. This would take more than a day of work to climb out of here.
"Of course, that will be easy." Kia proudly announced before the two got to work again, slowly making their serpentine way out of the chasm.