76 – Memories

The flight to Prismarche was littered with obstacles, but none individually problematic. Simply voidbeasts of varying strength. More of the same, even if ‘the same’ couldn’t be described as inconsequential.

Those powerful beasts were more numerous once they left Meridian, and she knew it was because the breach had called everything nearby to come flooding in. She’d dealt with hundreds of square miles of those strongest beasts, and had subsequently eradicated the majority of the infestation. Putting appropriate distance from Meridian returned the fauna to their regular levels, so to speak.

She was forced to take a more sedate pace than she’d have preferred. The sky was far from empty like in the real world. Gigantic voidbeasts were common, blocking their way and sensing her despite her obfuscation spells, which she was continuously iterating upon.

Considering her maximum speed, she might be able to zip past unnoticed, but some of the [Greater Voidbeasts] were outrageously fast too, and had specialized attacks, beams of void-energy that behaved fundamentally the same as their carapace. Those void-energy projections were rare, all things considered, though maybe Vivi only thought that because of how short her encounters with most of the monsters were.

Nevertheless, clearing a path was safer for Isabella, since Vivi could never be totally certain that her shields would hold. She had yet to perfect her spells against the foreign energy.

Killing voidbeasts in such quantities was burning through her mana pool, but she had no choice. She needed to learn as much as possible. Returning home meant she was going to have to pierce the dimensional boundary one way or another…and no matter how delicate her efforts, she might be responsible for another event like the breach at Meridian. If something of the sort did come to pass, she needed to be capable of ending the invasion single-handedly. She refused to allow another mass casualty event.

Potential solutions brewed in her mind, which she used the long flight to expand and refine. One idea in particular felt promising, and she tentatively shelved it as her current plan. Having an emergency course of action set out relaxed her no small amount, though she would definitely prefer one that wouldn’t be so…unpleasant for her afterward.

She and Isabella were nearing the border of the Central Kingdom when they ran into something of note that wasn’t just another Voidbeast.

At first, seeing the shadow of those great ridges rising up to the clouds, Vivi thought it a mountain. After a short delay in which she registered that there shouldn’t be a range in this part of the Central Kingdom, she startled, then slammed the two of them to a stop.

“What? What is it?” Isabella asked in alarm.

Vivi stared.

A simple [Inspection] confirmed her suspicion.

“Wait. What is that?” Isabella breathed, realizing, finally, that the faint outline far in the distance was no mountain.

“The Colossus,” Vivi said simply. After a brief pause, she added, “Or the memory of it.”

***

An Echo of a Great Beast

***

In retrospect, it made complete sense that the Cataclysms would have left their marks—scars—on the world, even a hundred years later, to the extent that they had impressed into this void-realm a Concept to be represented by. She should have predicted it, even.

A Great Beast. Simple and encompassing, there was no other way she would have labeled that titanic creature.

“I’ve seen depictions, of course,” Isabella mumbled. “But…a painting could never…”

Indeed, even Vivi felt somewhat humbled, seeing the Colossus in the flesh. Her memories from Seven Cataclysms had always been muted by the lack of true fidelity, and the knowledge that she’d been inside a game.

Here was a mountainous monster, literally, that was real. Or, sort of. An echo of that beast among beasts. It was slightly transparent like the other Concepts, not quite as vibrant as she or Isabella, but the sight was breathtaking nonetheless.

“How do you even kill something like that?” Isabella asked.

“Very carefully,” Vivi replied dryly.

Isabella let out an incredulous huff.

The two of them spent a few minutes observing the continental shadow with a solemn and admiring gaze—admiring in the sense that a person could admire an erupting volcano, or any natural disaster. Eventually, Vivi spurred them forward.

“We’re heading toward it?” Isabella stammered. “Really?”

“I don’t think it will attack.”

“Think? I want more than think,” Isabella cried. She froze. “S-sorry, Lady Vivisari. It’s just…it’s the Colossus!”

“It’s an Echo of a Great Beast,” Vivi corrected. “I’m assuming it encompasses more than just the Cataclysm. The Colossus is simply the most common representation, so it’s what we see. The same way High King Alistair the First is the man most people think of when it comes to virtuous kings, so he was who we saw.”

“I…suppose that makes sense?” Her tone remained trepidatious. “Still. You think it won’t attack?”

She had a strong suspicion it wouldn’t, nearly a certainty, but she guessed not total confidence. “We’ll be fine. Even if it’s stronger than the original, I could deal with it if I needed to.”

The statement sobered Isabella. Vivi had meant to reassure, not brag, though it had probably come out that way regardless.

The Great Beast inspired stronger awe the closer she got. An identical sense to what she might receive when staring at an incoming tsunami. Terrifying and inevitable, yet wondrous, for all the destruction soon to be wrought. The Great Beast evoked less human emotions than the other Concepts—or maybe more human. Primal in nature.

The beast mirrored the Colossus down to every detail. If she had to pick a single animal, imperfect as the comparison would be, she would say it was a turtle, with a ridged shell and four squat legs that could flatten towns with a step. Its face was blunt, and within its enormous eyes burned orange, smoldering flames.

It didn’t attack as they neared, confirming her suspicion. In fact, on the way over, she watched its enormous jaws snap out to gobble up a [Greater Voidbeast]. A motion that looked ponderous from afar, but only thanks to its sheer scale. Mountains always looked slow when they moved.

For a while, Vivi floated around the huge creature and studied it. But, like the other ghosts, its existence meant little, practically speaking.

Besides one crucial realization. If this Cataclysm had an echo, wouldn’t the others?

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Seeing how their destination was Prismarche, that was definitely something to be concerned about.

***

Half a day later, the next event of substance transpired.

She had burned through a third of her potion-restored mana pool by then, simply from peeling apart [Greater Voidbeasts].

Defensive spells were her focus. She desperately wanted to regain her confidence when it came to layering a bubble around people she cared about and being certain nothing could penetrate it. Perfecting her shields mattered much more to her than her offensive abilities. And she was fortunately making good progress toward that goal—they were becoming quite durable, even against the strongest of the voidbeasts. The progress was coming at the expense of a dwindling mana pool, though.

She could quaff at least two more potions before worrying about serious drawbacks, but she had more or less resigned herself to manaburn by the end of this adventure. Because, even if this hunting didn’t exhaust her, her current plan on how to safely make a return trip would.

The event of substance wasn’t a monster, this time. A [Lance of the First Dawn] tore through a level 1962 [Greater Voidbeast]—one of the strongest she’d seen, but not of actual note—when several notifications appeared to block her vision.

Maybe the words shouldn’t have shocked her so much, but they did.

***

Level Up!

You are now a level 2110 [Archmage].

***

Vivi froze.

She hadn’t known she was capable of leveling. Seven Cataclysms’ soft limit had been two-thousand—that was where the game’s content had ended. As one of, if not the most prolific players, she’d pushed far past that cap by sheer hours played, to the point she’d been the highest in the world.

She supposed killing hundreds of Cataclysm-level monsters would be pretty good for barreling past that supposed limit, even more so than running endgame raids. So of course she’d eventually garnered enough experience to tick up another increment.