After some casual chat with her former party members, Celesta cut off the communication, she sighed.
Unlike how she had faced Mathias earlier, Celesta had a grim expression as she gently played with the crystal with her fingers. If she does remember correctly, the appearance of a purple fog means the birth of a new dungeon, the apparition of a new dungeon if you want. She knew this because of how long she lived; one of the elders back in her hometown had assisted at the birth of a dungeon. The birth of a dungeon can be a blessing or a curse but considering the current situation in Xeeno, instead of saying it was a blessing calling this a curse should be more accurate.
''Sigh! I must make some preparations and maybe send over some assistance.'' Celesta heaved another sigh before staring at the ceiling; she started thinking about various things.
•••••
In a desolate world where the only thing visible was an endless sea, this sea seemed to be entirely made of blood; when one looks closely, numerous bodies filled this endless sea of blood.
And standing in the middle of this sea was a person, a woman to be accurate, judged from the long silver hair, hourglass figure, because this woman had her back facing the other side it was impossible to see her features.
Drip! Drip!
From the woman's arms, blood constantly kept dripping, falling into the crimson sea.
''Where am I? What am I?"
The woman kept muttering these words like a broken record; no matter how much she waited, nothing changed, the same scene kept playing again and again, sometimes there were fragments mixed in, a discussion, a beginning, a war, then nothing.
''Who am I? What am I? Haaahhhhhhhhhh!''
The woman in crimson dress bellowed the endless sea got parted in two; crimson lightning descended from the sky as if to try to strike the woman before vanishing, then the woman snapped her eyes open, before closing them again, no something forced her to close it, however, during that short period, change appeared, the moment that crimson eyes opened, the endless sea disappeared, it got replaced by endless desert.
Somewhere, inside a forest, the purple fog covering this forest increased, bringing more harm to the nearest city.
In a dark dimension, a man snapped his eyes open and stared into a certain direction; his purple eyes with black spiral in them seemed to be able to pierce through space in the search for something. However, he couldn't pinpoint the exact location, just the rough location; however, this was more than enough; he had subordinates there, the man smirked and sent some instructions.
In the deepest part of a dungeon, a black dragon shuddered before opening his big slit-like eye.
''Search for it.'' The dragon ordered, and a man with a mask moved.
•••••
Unaware of what was happening, Alex was enjoying the view from the back of the small griffon; at first, it was hard to control this monster; however, after letting out a bit of killing intent and his MP, the monster had become docile.
Alex enjoyed the scenery as the griffon flew faster; suddenly, his expression changed, and Alex snorted.
''Tch! It's why I hate to fly; I'm in a hurry.''
Alex threw a Silver Bettie at the incoming bee; the silver knife cut through the air before bisecting the 30 cm bee in two. Alex recalled the knife through Link before throwing it at another bee.
Sword Bees. As its name suggested, the original needle-like stinger of a bee was now closer to a long sword. It was an E-rank monster; it wasn't powerful on its own. However, because of its habit of persistently pursuing its prey, it was a monster hated by adventurers. And right now, nearly twenty Sword Bees were flying around Alex and the griffon as they flew through the sky.
Throwing the twelve silver Betties, Alex killed twelve Sword bees before he patted the griffon back.
''Do it, Chucky.''
Although he pretty much dislikes this name, there's nothing the poor griffon could do about it; he only wishes to end this travel as fast as possible before returning to his mother's embrace, even that silver-haired wasn't this hateful.
Because Chucky doesn't want to give this cruel human another chance to abuse him, he takes a deep breath before spitting out a fire breath.
Roar!
"Shaar!''
The instant it was wrapped in flames, a Sword Bee's wings burned up and plummeted to the ground, still burning; the roasted smell reached Alex's nose, he couldn't help but frown. Chucky swept his head while spitting out flames. Naturally, Fire Breath also swept across, wrapping several Sword Bees in flames just like the first as they plummeted toward the ground.
Swoosh! Puh!
Throwing a silver Bettie's at the Sword bee's King trying to flee as soon he saw what Chucky could do, was split in two as a silver light passed through its body. Although it is called King, its height wasn't different from an average Sword bee except for its purple color.
Ignoring the materials falling to the ground, Alex urged Chucky to fly faster. The latter flapped his wings in the sky, flying as if cutting through the air; its speed dramatically increased as if he pushed the Nitro button.
Alex riding on the griffon's back traversed numerous villages, sometimes even cities; however, these cities' sizes were small.
Seven hours passed in a flash, and Alex approached his destination; Xeeno was just past this village, the fork village; it's shaped like a fork, thus the name.
After flying past the Fork village, Alex arrived at Xeeno. The city was beautiful seen from afar. Tall walls surrounded the city. At the East of the city was a gigantic forest stretching as far the eye could see; however, this forest was currently shrouded in purple fog; Alex got an ominous feeling the more he stared at that fog.
〖A dungeon is about to be born.〗Suddenly, Silveria's voice echoed inside Alex's mind, followed by Nyx's voice.
〖A pretty dangerous one, an unusual dungeon. Let's investigate.〗
Shaking his head, Alex decided first to descend and deliver what he came to do, investigating come after delivering the Aurora grass.
The birth of this dungeon should be behind the apparition of this unusual Magic fever.