"They're Geomoths. While they aren't strong, they're quite territorial and always attack in large numbers, which makes them a bit troublesome…" Upon seeing the enormous moths, Elara quickly commented in a serious tone, to which Zoe nodded and then turned to look at Erik, asking in an equally serious voice.
"How many can you sense nearby, Erik?"
Although he could already feel a considerable number in the vicinity, Erik still closed his eyes and increased the amount of mana he sent to the mana gathering point in his head, accelerating his thoughts. At the same time, he fully focused on the Myst, which allowed him to extend his consciousness and clearly sense each individual presence within his range of perception. Then he opened his eyes and looked at Zoe to reply.
"Around 300, but if you want, I can try something. I have the perfect spell for situations like this."
"Really? What's the spell called?" Elara asked, sounding somewhat curious, to which Erik replied calmly.
"Chain Arc. It's a spell with an electric affinity."
"Well, it can't hurt to try. While they're troublesome, Geomoths are still manageable, so this is a good opportunity to get an idea of your skill with elemental spells."
Zoe commented in a calm voice, at which point Kaiser and Ebonique cheerfully approached Erik, visibly eager to join in. The star-haired boy shook his head and replied in a relaxed tone.
"You heard her. This is a test to see how effective I am with elemental spells, so I have to do it alone."
"The power of your contracted spirit is part of your own power, so there's no problem."
Ebonique quickly replied in a strict tone, at which point Kaiser barked happily, almost as if to say it was the same with contracted magical animals, which made Erik laugh in amusement. He then commented casually while pointing his right machete forward.
"I'll do it alone this time. Next time, it'll be Ebonique, then Kaiser and Tiberius, so Zoe and Elara can get a clearer idea of how we work as a team."
"I suppose that's fine… though those insects are far too weak for you to show anything interesting…" Ebonique commented calmly while watching the insects in the distance, to which Erik nodded and replied as various runes materialized around his machete.
"True, but it's better than nothing."
As Erik's voice faded, what looked like a small arrow of electricity shot out from his machete, striking one of the moths directly. At that moment, two arcs of electricity shot from it, hitting two other moths, which in turn released two electric arcs each, striking four more. This initiated a chain reaction that, within seconds, caused the entire Geomoth swarm to fall to the ground completely charred.
"It really was the perfect spell…"
Seeing how easily the entire swarm fell—a threat that could have given them quite a bit of trouble—Elara couldn't help but comment in a strange voice that mixed admiration and disbelief. Zoe could only nod in response, but the beautiful knight quickly turned to Erik and spoke in a serious tone with a hint of fascination.
"That was an impressive spell, Erik. From now on, if you have a similar means, let us know—I have the feeling that things will be much easier that way."
"Of course." Erik replied with a calm and composed smile, while Kaiser, Tiberius, and Ebonique raised their heads proudly, as if showing off on behalf of their beloved contractor.
Meanwhile, Hiyori, the nine-tails fox spirit, watched all this in complete silence, holding her breath in disbelief. After all, she still found it inconceivable that such a highly regarded figure from the spirit realm could act that way—and even more absurd that he would make a contract with a human.
But although Hiyori was doubting reality itself, she did not dare show the slightest hint of it. After all, she had been warned that if she did, she would understand why spirits were only 'quasi-immortal'. Knowing the stories about that esteemed figure, the fox spirit was absolutely certain that just a snap of her fingers would be more than enough to make good on her word.
"Well then, let's move on."
After a few minutes, confirming that the entire colony was indeed dead, Zoe gave the order to advance. Everyone returned to their positions and followed closely behind her, successfully making their way through the irregular archway that looked like the exit of a cave. But when they saw what was on the other side, the three young people couldn't help but stop in their tracks, completely awestruck by the scene before them.
Right in front of the irregular arch was what appeared to be a gorge of dark rock. From which it was clear that they were actually inside a colossal cavern, filled with a mysterious whitish mist that made it difficult to see the entire place. However, thanks to various sources of light, they could make out different buildings seemingly carved directly into the stone, giving the impression that they were standing before an ancient, forgotten city full of mysteries.
Standing near the edge of the rocky cliff, everyone realized that the place where they had been was nothing more than a small cave in one of the walls of the underground city—a city so vast and imposing that, even though they were several thousand meters above it, they seemed like mere ants looking at an elephant.
"This is incredible…"
Taking in the scene, which was so breathtaking that they truly felt like ants before it, Elara commented in a slightly dreamy voice, to which Zoe and Erik couldn't help but nod. At that moment, the star-haired youth focused on the city, hoping information would appear.
[Lost city.
[Although much is still unknown, the information that has been gathered suggests that this city is filled with all kinds of structures containing different secrets, from seemingly infinite libraries to complete gardens…]
As Erik read, he was suddenly enveloped by countless small golden chains that seemed to emerge from the very air. At that moment, the screen before his eyes began to flicker erratically, and at the same time, he could hear the enraged growls of Ebonique and the wolves. But keeping calm, the star-haired boy turned to look at his companions, realizing that they were in a similar situation.
But before he could do anything, Erik saw the chains shatter into tiny fragments and then disappear into nothingness. At that moment, he felt his mental connection to the most powerful artifacts given to him by his masters—artifacts he kept in a special storage ring—suddenly cut off at great speed, causing him to open his eyes in disbelief.
Hurriedly, Erik glanced at his right hand while channeling his mana into the ring that stored his magical artifacts, but no matter how hard he tried, it remained completely inert, without the slightest response. This put a solemn expression on his face, but it quickly grew even more grave when he felt his armor's weight increase exponentially, going from featherlight to weighing several tons in an instant.
Realizing the reason, Erik tried to activate various functions of the armor, but no matter what he attempted, absolutely nothing happened, confirming his suspicions: somehow, those golden chains had managed to disable his magical artifacts. With an incredibly serious tone, he announced while gathering all his mana and Myst around him.
"I've lost my magical artifacts, Tiberius."
At his master's call, the massive jet-black wolf instantly turned into a shadow and merged with the ground, forming a circle so dark it seemed to absorb all light. The circle then expanded to about three meters in diameter, at which point Erik ordered solemnly.
"Jump."
Immediately after speaking, Erik jumped into the circle along with Kaiser and Ebonique, who had both shrunk down to just over 50 cm in size and were completely consumed by the dark circle in mere moments. At that point, Elara and Zoe, who were still a bit confused by what had happened, decided to trust their companion and jumped into the black circle at the same time.
Almost simultaneously, Hiyori, who had also shrunk to a size similar to Ebonique's, leaped into the circle, vanishing just like the others. At that moment, the circle of darkness quickly shrank until it disappeared, leaving the place in a gloomy silence.
Immediately after jumping, Erik emerged from a deep shadow in one of the corners of the cavern they had walked through just moments before, closely followed by Kaiser and Ebonique. At that moment, the latter asked in a visibly angry and worried voice.
"Are you alright, Erik?"
"Yes, but all my magical artifacts have stopped working, including my storage rings." Erik quickly replied in a grim tone while simultaneously extending his [Ethereal Projection], creating a sphere of mana nearly a kilometer in radius around him where nothing could escape his perception.
At that moment, Elara and Zoe emerged from the darkness, catching Erik's words, which immediately prompted them to check their own storage rings, only to realize that, indeed, they were not functioning. This cast incredibly dark expressions over their faces; after all, their potions were stored there, and losing them was practically like losing an arm and a leg—their combat capabilities would be drastically reduced.
Although shocked, Elara and Zoe did not panic and maintained their composure, gripping their weapons tightly and extending their own [Ethereal Projections]. They then slowly moved to form a calm formation behind Erik, all of them scanning in every direction and ready to attack at any moment. Since if those chains were an enemy attack, whoever was responsible would likely arrive soon to finish the job.
"…It seems like no one is coming… could it have been an automatic defense mechanism of the city…?"
After a few moments, Zoe asked in a low and measured voice, standing with her back to Erik and Elara in a stance ready to draw her katana at any moment. Although all of her armor was completely inactive, the sword somehow remained floating near her waist, defying gravity. Elara responded in a serious tone.
"It's possible, but there was no mention of anything like that in the initial exploration documents."
"There's a way both things could be true at once—there could be activation conditions." Erik replied in a serious tone, to which Elara quickly nodded in realization, then began speaking hurriedly, almost as if organizing her thoughts.
"That's highly probable, since there are several things that are different from the initial exploration. First, there are more people—400 in total, far more than the 40 who entered that time. Also, we're using highly specialized artifacts, a world apart from the weapons and military armor used by those who entered before. The average power level is also much higher. So it could be any one of those factors, maybe a combination, or even all three at once."
"Whatever the case." Zoe quickly commented in an incredibly serious tone.
"That doesn't change the fact that we're in a critical situation. Besides the fact that our defense and offense will be greatly weakened, without potions we'll hardly be able to survive long battles, and without the support functions of the armor, things will get even more complicated. There are even spells and techniques we won't be able to use anymore."
At that moment, Erik asked in an equally grim voice while looking at Ebonique, who seemed a bit lost in thought.
"Ebonique, you can usually communicate with Ignis in the spirit dimension, right?"
"Eh? Oh, yes, I can." Hearing Erik, the pensive Ebonique snapped out of her thoughts and replied while looking at him, but imagining the reason for the question, she asked calmly.
"Do you want me to ask Ignis to inform your masters about what happened?"
"Yes, it's better if they know."
Erik replied thoughtfully, which brought a bit of hope back into Elara and Zoe's eyes, though not much, since it was unlikely that those outside could do anything in the short term. At that moment, Erik spoke in a dark tone.
"We no longer have access to the map to the exit, nor do we have any way to efficiently map this place, so finding a way out will be a monumental task. And don't forget, it was our turn to enter because not even the Legendary-levels were able to break this place's restrictions, so help might not come for who knows how long—if it comes at all. We're on our own.
"Without food or shelter, and constantly at risk of being ambushed by other participants. Plus, whatever managed to affect artifacts of the level we're using, it can't be just anything. Practically, nothing in the galaxy should be able to do something like that, which only tells us one thing: we're truly in a special ruin, and who knows what it has in store for us next."
Upon hearing Erik's words, the two young women lowered their gazes slightly in apprehension. After all, he was right—they were in an incredibly desperate situation and could die at any moment. But right then, the pair of beautiful girls heard the slightly surprised voice of the star-haired youth.
"Zoe… why is your katana still floating?"
***
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Lost City: