Chapter 14: 2.00

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Arc 2: Cold

Thera 2.00

“As I’m sure most of you already know by now— as long as you’ve been paying attention to the last few lessons— magical storms are a rare phenomena that drastically alter the shape of a terrain. They are considered natural catastrophes. Not disasters. Catastrophes.”

Luna sat in Professor Albanus’ class, remembering better times. She didn’t listen to the lesson, instead glancing surreptitiously towards a boy seated at the front of the class.

Marcus.

She first got to know him during one of Albanus’ long lectures. That was how they became friends. But now, they were estranged.

“But the type of magical storm that occurs is contingent entirely on the environment they occur in. Meaning, that a magical hurricane cannot form in a desert since the climate is not humid enough to support it. However, magical sandstorms do form there, and they are deadly, capable of wiping out even large cities without the appropriate level of protection in place.”

And while she had thought she was fine with their new relationship at first, she came to realize she’d been lying to herself. Her heart ached, and she developed a longing for the boy. Placing a hand on her chin, she stared at the back of his head.

He glanced back at her, shifting slightly. Luna immediately averted her gaze, flushing. Her face burned as she snuck a few more peeks towards Marcus. That was right. Even though it had been months since they had spoken, Luna realized she was…

…in love.

She sighed wistfully, hoping that one day they’d reunite. And Professor Albanus simply continued his lesson.

“These magical storms can last for weeks on end, even able to alter the terrain for months. One such example is how magical frost storms are known to greatly expand the size of ice masses like in the Mavros Sea…”

* * *

A storm brewed over the sea.

Its cold gales chilled the rising waves, marring the turbulent tides until they halted, frozen in place. Large glacier masses took form and rapidly converged as a heavy hail pelted the last visages of the open ocean where Thera waited.

It had been a long and arduous journey for the baby Mystic Turtle. She emerged from the depths of the sea where light from the sun did not reach. She escaped a terrible Dungeon, surviving the muddy grave where her first and only friend fell. Now, as she poked her little head out of the water, she watched this scene— the thick layer of frost rapidly proliferating towards her.

The vast nimbus clouds overhead spiraled into a single mass of darkness. It cast its shadow over Thera, encroaching over the last semblance of daylight. A blast of ice lightning thundered down, striking a dozen feet to her left. Her eyes widened as a sheet of frost abruptly formed over the water. A spire of ice and brine sunk below the surface, its cold touch reaching for the shallow seabed.

The Vanima Testudine looked up at the raging magical frost storm, then down at the thin sheet of gelatinous sac wrapped around her body. Mors, Thera’s friend, mentor, and adoptive mother had entrusted the safety egg sac to her before perishing in the Ruins of Brunnholl’s Fleet. It had been a long, exhausting day. Yet, even when plagued with languor, Thera didn’t luxuriate in her lassitude. With a lugubrious determination, she gathered her resolve and descended back into the water.

Once her head was submerged, she took in the scene. She realized the chaos that was happening in these crystal clear waters. Around her, the local sealife were already fleeing in a frenzy— schools of fish swam frantically in all directions, trying to get away from the storm but with no idea as to where to go.

Crustaceans of all kinds— lobsters, shrimps, and krill— circled each other, at a loss of where to go. She heard the muffled booming of another bolt of ice lightning striking the water. This time, Thera saw the ice spire shooting down beneath the water surface. A magical brinicle, of sorts. It moved fast, catching a group of unknowing circling crustaceans and froze them on the spot. They sank like rocks.

And a rain of hail fell from the sky. They didn’t sink as fast in the water as they fell in the air, but their presence only added to the pandemonium that was breaking out in the ocean.

The baby Mystic Turtle watched this scene play out. She looked back up and saw the crust of ice forming over the waves, threatening to smother the last of the open water. Not only that, the rapidly approaching ice occasionally sent their own flurry of magical brinicles below, forming what looked like a jungle of tall ice spires that stretched down from the white ceiling.

Fish and crustaceans were dying in droves just from this terrible environment alone.

“I made a promise,” Thera whispered to herself as she swam around an ice spire. “I will keep the eggs safe.”

She tightly clung onto the sac as she forced herself to move. She was scared, directionless, but still she knew one thing: she needed to get to safety. Both her instincts to save herself and her desire to protect the egg sacs moved her. She raced ahead of the other marine life in the area.

Already-formed magical brinicles barred her path in every direction, but she dared to dive into the thick of it. She felt their cold radiance— an icy touch of death. [Underwater Maneuverability] helped her navigate around the ice spires, avoiding them even while moving at relatively high speeds. Many other fish weren’t nearly as lucky as her as she saw their frozen corpses sticking out of the mixture of salt and ice…

Thera swam and swam and swam as the ocean continued to freeze, propelling herself forward with everything she had to get away from the storm. Most of the sealife were focused only on their own survival too.

She escaped the forest of ice spires and joined a school of fast moving fish and crustaceans as they headed as a group in a random direction— she hoped they would lead her to some place that was safe. Unfortunately, even in the most terrible of disasters, there were always opportunists lurking, and they moved to impede her.

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A shadow dove down to Thera’s left, snatching up a fleeing fish in an instant. The baby Mystic Turtle whirled around as she saw a group of shrimps vanish. More and more of these shadows swam around her as her eyes widened.

[Letus Seal]

[Letus Seal]

…

“Stay back!” she called out as they encircled the baby Mystic Turtle.

There were dozens of them. Each of these creatures had long, fat bodies covered in a short layer of fur. They had both small front and hind flippers, with pale-gray skin that disguised them in the darkening ocean.

One of them bared its sharp teeth at Thera, diving for her. She dodged out of the way, only to be struck from behind by a second Letus Seal. [Indomitable Soul] protected her as it gnawed on the golden aura. She swung at it with her flipper-blades, and it reeled back. But it didn’t bleed. Instead, blobs of blubber spilled out of the wound as the monster grunted at her.

Thera swam back warily, still surrounded by dozens of Letus Seals. They didn’t just aim for her. They targeted all the sealife in the area, feeding in a frenzy. Clutching the egg sac wrapped around her body, the Vanima Testudine realized this was not a battle she could win. She felt her core and knew that she didn’t have much left in her. After all, she’d just escape the Ruins of Brunnholl’s Fleet.

The Letus Seals encroached on her, and she dove down with a burst of speed from [Hunting Dive]. They crashed into each other as she swerved back towards the ice spires. The monsters gave chase, not wanting to give up a good hunt. A lightning bolt struck the ice sheet above, and somehow, a magical brinicle spiraled down from it, nearly hitting the monsters.

Thera entered the forest of ice spires as they funneled after her. She curved around the magical brinicles, making sharp turns as she used [Bubble Conjuration]. Two of the Letus Seals swam straight through the blast of bubbles obfuscating their vision. But they crashed straight into one of these magical brinicles, sending chunks of ice scattering as the brine trapped them.

They tried to break free, but frost rapidly grew on their body. One of the seals wriggled there until it was a frozen statue, while the other shattered its frozen flipper to escape.

The other monsters didn’t wait for their two friends. They continued pursuing Thera as she swam in all directions. Whether it was up, down, left, or right, the Letus Seals never gave up. Her only hope of truly losing them lay in [Essence Explosion]. But—

“Will I have enough mana…?” she wondered as her [Indomitable Soul] flickered. The moment that golden aura protecting her vanished, the egg sac was going to be vulnerable. And [Essence Explosion] drained her core immensely each time she used it.

The Vanima Testudine discarded the idea for now. She could still escape on her own. She barely avoided a diving Letus Seal. She reached the edge of the forest of ice spires, swimming as fast as she could to get out.

Maybe I can lose them in the open ocean— the thought crossed her mind. But as a muffled thunder boomed overhead, she came to a halt. Her eyes went wide as she stared at a giant black thing ahead of her.

It had a long, cylindrical body that tapered off on both the front and back, although more so towards its rear. While most of its body was colored black, there was a large white blotch at its underbelly as well as smeared on either side of its face. A long tusk protruded from its mouth, reaching nearly a quarter of the length of its body. It was chewing on the frozen remains of a large fish sticking out of an ice spire.

And it was over ten times Thera’s size.

[Horned Orca]

The baby Mystic Turtle paused in front of this giant monster. It opened its mouth as she glanced back at the rapidly approaching Letus Seals. A blast of air shot out from the Horned Orca’s mouth as Thera dove down just in time.

She heard the low, ear-piercing screech as it echoed behind her. Glancing up, she saw rings of air shoot out in a cone, destroying even the magical brinicles, and ripping apart a dozen of the Letus Seals in an instant. The Horned Orca lashed out moments later, grabbing the sinking smaller monsters and chomping on their corpses.

Of course, the Letus Seals tried to fight back, but Thera was certain they didn’t stand a chance. She cast her gaze back down, focusing only on escaping. Most of the fighting and chaos seemed to accumulate closer to the ice ceiling.

But even if this was the seabed, it wasn’t the depths of the ocean. She was in far shallower waters now, but with the frost storm blotting out the sun overhead, the world grew darker as Thera descended. She made her own path with her light, although she kept it dim and concentrated it onto her flippers.

Unwrapping the egg sac from her body, she folded it neatly and hugged it close to her underbelly. With [Underwater Maneuverability], she didn’t need her front flippers for casual swimming. She looked around the dark seabed, searching for a safe rock to hide under. But instead of finding safety down below, what she found was… frost.

Frost and salt.

Giant brine pools that expanded twenty-feet in diameter at the very least, with some of them reaching a hundred feet. They covered the seabed, freezing hundreds of mollusks and clams within their radius. It was another deathtrap, no safer than dealing with the frost storm above.

Thera looked up once at the silhouette of battling monsters, then turned back towards the silent death of the seabed. Sighing, she tightly hugged the egg sac and pressed on.

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