Portal noises!

  The transition was rather smooth, the moment I stepped through the portal I seamlessly moved between “dimensions” however that might actually be wrong now that I’m thinking about it. Rather than being different dimensions, it’s more accurate to say that I have moved towards a different area but still within this dimension per say. Think of it as a secret area that is only accessible by this portal. Everything in here has the same look as the previous area but unlike that one, this one is much and I mean much simpler in terms of the complexity of the layout. This legit seems to be an arena from how it looks, one with close to 625 square meters, 25 meters in length and width to be extremely precise in case someone wants to know. The floor is pathed with the same tiles as the other area, ones that sure are shinny as hell. Surrounding this area is a rather tall bush, one that is on top of a half wall for some inexplicable reason. The sky well, it still has the same properties and looks not much I can say in that sense and thanks to the bush I’m unable to physically see what’s past this area however with a simple usage of magic sense I can confirm that this is a floating platform in the middle of nothing. Literally. I can vaguely sense the other area and because of that I can say that I’m close to 250 meters from where I was before entering the portal. Not a great distance but not short either, though…

  “While this thing might be invisible to the naked eye, it’s not hiding its magic energy at all and therefore, I can sense it and even see it with the correct skills.”

  Now this is beyond bizarre and even creepy. I mean, think with me, the monster in front of me is what I called Crystal Fortress, an A rank monster with quite the intimidating look to it. He is completely still, staring at me with those deadly eyes, patiently waiting for me to make a move. Though, does this mean that, unless I move forward, he won’t do anything? And what do I have to do from him to be “triggered”? He’s not particularly close to me but a meter or so behind me there is that half wall with said bush on top of it while on the other hand, he’s right in front of me, easily above the 10 meters mark. Maybe I’m too far for him to do anything? Maybe that is the reason? Once I’m in range he will then attack me? Nah, the previous fight that I had against another Crystal Fortress that thing was spamming Cannon Blast and that spell has quite the long range to it so I doubt it’s a matter of range. Could it be manners? He won’t take by surprise those who dare to challenge him? Does that even make any sense at all?

  Whatever it might be the case, it seems I won’t be getting the answer for it.

  “!!!”

  Blast!

  It came from the heavens, piercing through the Crystal Fortress like he was made of jelly. It seemed to be the exact same scenario as when a knife easily and smoothly cuts through butter from how easily it pierced through its hardened crystal body. The impact was violent, creating a decent shock wave and of course crumbling the ground where it hit, lifting a dust cloud at the end of it. He was defeated in that instant as anyone that saw it happen can and should expect after all, the hit was that violent. A few moments then go by and as the gentle breeze blows the dust away it reveals the scene to the spectators, showing the culprit, the victim and the state of both. It seems to be a giant spear, one that is made of purely magic with a beautiful and captivating cyan colour to it, but one that has several shades to it but still within the same colour I would say. The magic on it is close to perfection though, the way that the magic itself travels through the spear, similar to how waves work in the ocean, the gentle but breaming aura that surrounds the spear, one that seems to act the same way fire would, in a chaotic matter but somehow, in a slow and harmonic way, with a rhythm that would even make musicians jealous to be able to create. The size of the spear seems to be around 5 meters, in this case the exact size of the height of the Crystal Fortress but since it hit the back of it, the majority of it is outside of the body. The thickness however, it’s close to 20 centimetres, more than enough to blow my entire torso up if I got hit the same way as he did for example. Yikes, why did I even think of this gruesome scene? But to make it worse would be the fact that the spear would go through the torso, decimating it in the process but without affecting legs and even head as the sheer speed at which that thing travelled would not allow for any of those body parts to feel the impact. In other terms, my head would be left up in the air for a few solid moments until gravity grasped into its hands and enforced its rules on it.

  However, while my mind is going to places that it shouldn’t, the spear itself is not what shocks me the most but who did it.

  “Who’s there!?”

  Quite loudly and with a firm tone of voice I shout this towards the sky, towards where the spear came falling down. Yes, someone did this and it wasn’t Miranda, The Void Queen and of course Miss Pink Orb as the magic present on the spear is far too unfamiliar to belong to either them. Someone else is here as it also does not belong to the Crystal monsters nor the Shadows.

  “Ora? Is someone actually here?”

  Wait a second, I knew that I shouted this towards someone and I was expecting to get an answer but, where the hell is this voice coming from? I mean, it didn’t seem to be coming from the sky but neither it’s talking to me telepathically, that’s why I’m quite confused but also curious to where it’s coming from. It’s a female voice, not as soft and gentle like Miss Pink Orb, not cold like Miranda’s voice and not “Empress” like The Void Queen either. No, it seems to be a normal female voice that might belong to a woman slightly younger than I? Moving on, I’m not going to guess her age by hearing her voice, however, I’m not going to say that my first impressions are good as she does sound a little too smug for my liking.

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  “Well, that means you’re not from here, aren’t you? Otherwise, you would know of me.”

  “Hmm? What about you then? You seem a little too fancy to be here… Maybe you are the owner? You did say that I should know of you.”

  Seriously, why does she sound so smug!? It’s as if she figured out my scheme or something like that, you know? I’m the villain and somehow, she figured out my master plan or whatever in this little interaction of ours. But seriously, where’s the voice coming from? I can actually properly hear her, not only her voice is as clear as a crystal but the timber of it is also perfect, almost as if she’s right in front of me…

  “No, the Whale is the one that commands this world. I, just like you, am a visitor. Although in your case you might be an invader…”

  Alright, with a calm tone of voice and with a stoic look on my face I say this towards the spear. Yep, I have figured out where her voice is coming from and why it’s so clear. While I have no clue how she’s doing it but, she might be using the spear remains as a “mirror” or maybe a crystal ball should be more correct. The sound is coming from it and I can also guess that she can see me as otherwise she wouldn’t say that I look fancy. Though, what does she mean by that? In her unknown eyes do I look nice to them? Huh, maybe she thinks I’m good looking or something-Why am I thinking about this now? What happened to me thinking that she’s too smug some moments ago? Huh!? What’s wrong with you? A girl compliments you and somehow all the red flags go down!? Are you mental-

  “The Whale you say…”

  Her tone of voice grows a little distance or in this case, it seems what I’ve said made her think about it in a deep manner, making her quiet down a notch. I should be careful though; I have no clue who she is and therefore I should keep the information that I give her to the bare minimum as I also have no idea what her intentions are. Why is she here and why didn’t Miranda nor The Void Queen mention her? In fact, I should try to get as much info from her as I can as she might be bad news. Hehe, time to turn this around, going to make you regret for acting smug in front of me!

  “Yes and the monster you have defeated, it was created by it. Can’t say that was a good decision on your part… You’ve committed two infractions now thanks to this.”

  Let’s see how she react to it, if she has seen the Crystal Whale then, she will know just how much of a monstrosity that thing is-

  “Oh? Do you think that is going to scare me? Make me tremble in my boots?”

  And my perfectly well thought out plant fell through in a damn second.

  “I mean, if that thing makes an enemy out of you then, I doubt you could last for long.”

  My tone of voice is sharp and the look on my blue eyes match it. I mean every single word that is coming out of my mouth but it seems that my warning will fall flat on the ground and then crushed by the soles of her boots. What a fool, arrogance will get her killed but hey, maybe she’s that strong after all, I have no clue who she is. I might be able to sense and even see the gentle magical threat that is connected to the spear going towards the horizon but allowing her to communicate with me, I still have no way to know her real strength. From what she displayed here, I can say that she’s at the very minimum A+ rank as she was able to defeat the Crystal Fortress with a single hit. But that’s the minimum, not the maximum and as far I’m concerned, she might as well be on the same level as Miranda for example.

  “Mhuhaha! If that happens then, I will simply end its life!”

  “If that’s the case then, that would mean you are mine-”

  “Opah! It seems I’m out of time! See ya around! Try to not get hit by one of my Heavenly Spears! Ta-daa!”

  ……..

  ……

  …

  Soft magic noises!

  The gentle breeze blows into my face, caressing it at the same time. The silence is loud but comforting as the definitely not so annoying voice disappears with this gentle breeze. With it, the spear starts to lose its material form and in the space of a few seconds, it’s fully gone all in a beautiful manner as the magic on it is dispersed throughout this arena, leaving a few magical traces coloured in that cyan colour. I do have a few things to comment on but it seems I made the right set of decisions of not moving a single centimetre without confirming where she is but also by not telling her much. What I also did correctly is to not leave this place and wait for the Crystal Fortress to crumble into nothing, leaving a magic stone behind, the one that I needed to collect. Was she looking for it? If not, what just happened? Was she looking around this place when she happened to stumble across me? Doing all of this to… What? Scare me? Indirectly threaten me? Seriously, what are her intentions?

  “Whatever, there is no point in trying to figure out the mind of a fool, I will only torment myself by doing so as I will try my hardest to understand it.”

  Though I can’t simply put her to the side and forget about all of this. I didn’t feel any hostile intentions from her, quite the opposite, curiosity and even amusement were a few feelings I got from her but I’m basing all of this on my intuition and her tone of voice, two aspects that can be horribly wrong. There is a massive chance that I will be wrong and that’s why I should keep my toes up and my guard the same way after all, while I was able to sense the spear falling down, I cannot say that I could dodge it-actually, I could (barely). But now that I’m aware that this can happen, she will never hit me and I will make sure of that. Moving on, I walk up towards where the stone is and I pick it up, turning backwards the moment I do so and not to my surprise, the portal is still there. I walked up to it, entering it once I was close enough. Nothing has changed and with the usage of Magic Sense, in an area of 500 meters I cannot sense anything out of the ordinary, and that includes that woman. I can sense in a much bigger range but it seems I have hit the “edges” of this area.

  “Does she have dimension spells or skills? Where the hell is she?”

  Either two things, she was close to me when she used her spell and then left this area once she was done talking to me or, she did everything while in a different dimension. Now, if the later one is the correct answer, then, she might actually be quite strong, not enough to defeat the Crystal Whale in my opinion but strong enough to do damage I would recon. But let’s move on from here. I have more important objectives to accomplish than to overthink about her strength, her motives, what she is doing, how she looks and so on. I walk up to the device, one that is right in front of me and once I was close enough, I inserted the final stone into the slot, fully activating the device and with it, lighting up the final line that extends itself towards the locked colossal door. Alright, everything seems to be going smoothly, now I just need to pour a little magic into the device and the door should open.

  …..…

  ……

  …