[...A Few Minutes Later…]
Sitting on the mountainous body of the slain crab, the man had a campfire already set up, beginning to cook the crustacean as he feasted on the scrumptious crab meat.
"Delifush," Sirius said with his mouth full.
–
"Haaah…So hot…"
Clutching her magic staff close to her body, Celly wiped the sweat from her cheek as she walked through the fiery region of the island; the ground was burnt to a char, heated as though fire constantly burnt beneath its crust.
RUMBLE
Spinning around, the silver-haired woman witnessed lightning in the distance, crashing down from the skies onto a spot on the other side of the island.
'That's…is it Sirius?' Celly thought.
Though she had a proper direction to now follow, it was still a challenge traversing the incredibly hot environment; the air was thin and heated, as if breathing embers into one's lungs. Stopping for a moment, she took in a deep breath, enduring the uncomfortable warmth it brought to her lungs before closing her eyes.
"Embrace of The Sea Angels," Celly calmly cast.
Around the archmage's body, a thin layer of ethereal water coated her, blending in seamlessly. The light coating of mystical aqua deterred the heat from the ashen region, cooling down her internal temperature and filtering the air she breathed to be as refreshing as the oxygen from a flourishing forest.
'Much better,' Celly thought.
In the distance, she could see the vibrant, flourishing portions of the foreign land, yet all around her, the region she stood in seemed impossibly barren in comparison.
'I understand I was teleported–that much I know. For a split second when I arrived though, I sensed the mana of two others–Sirius and Emilio. They're here, too. I need to find them,' she thought, marching onward.
Going off of how volatile the barren, fiery region was, she didn't think there could be any life sustained within the environment—however, that assumption was quickly flipped around.
The charred ground rumbled briefly before a portion of it was protruded, giving way for something that erupted beneath its crust. Reacting quickly enough, Celly stepped back, raising her staff.
'A geyser? No, that's–' Celly thought.
Rising from the ground was a limbless creature with skin that resembled molten rock, bleeding magma and flames from the cracks in its flesh. It resembled a serpentine creature, only much larger and with distinct rings along its body–a worm.
As the molten worm erupted from the ground, looming over the archmage, the temperature skyrocketed in its presence, causing Celly's breath to delay as she sweat profusely.
'...Hot. If I didn't have this protective spell up right now, I'd be burning up internally. That'll still happen if I don't deal with this,' she thought.
Attempting to cast a spell, her footing was thrown off as the worm quickly burrowed into the ground again, causing the land to vibrate aggressively.
As she caught herself, the opportunity to strike was taken away as the molten worm didn't make itself an easy target–swimming through the charred, dry soil. Still, she didn't plan on just being a sitting duck and waiting for the creature to attack first.
"Sword of Poseidon," she invoked.
With movements of her staff, a long-ranged, highly-pressurized line of water extended, cutting through the heated soil. Aiming the end of her staff, the thin beam of water carved through the ground, chasing the hide of the rocky-skinned worm.
"--!"
As she attempted to lure it from the ground with her eviscerating command of water, the limbless creature responded by periodically peeking its mouth from the ground to spit balls of magma straight at the half elf.
She was quick to respond after one of the projectiles missed, quickly waving one of her hands, "Protective Dance of The Mountain."
An assembly of diamond-shaped rocks formed around the archmage, floating in the air as a disjointed barrier that allowed her to continue her attack while maintaining multiple layers of defense.
'I'll finish this now,' Celly decided.
Extending the beam of slicing water that extended from her staff, it multiplied into a dozen streams, ripping through the barren, uneven ground: "Seaside Expansion of Poseidon."
Like a hot knife through butter, the condensed streams of water cut through the ground around her, inevitable hitting the worm before—
"KRRRR—!"
A rustling, hiss-like sound emitted as the molten worm suddenly erupted from the ground, bleeding magma from a gash on its body. As soon as it exposed itself, the silver-haired mage prepared herself, weaving the mana around her into a new form:
"Melancholic Tale of The Deep."
Bands of water formed around the wounded worm, lifting it and invoking the sharpness of many, fleeting edges of the formless element. The peaceful, yet brutal attack cut the molten creature into dozens of pieces before it was washed away by the passing water, quickly evaporating.
"...Phew," Celly quietly breathed out.
'I truly wonder where I am,' she thought.
—
While the others were able to somewhat deduce the basics of the jarring situation, the bumpkin shielded, stranded in a forest of jagged trees, wasn't so bright.
"Izzis a dream…?" Everett wondered, sitting on a rock.
Beside him, a group of red-furred monkeys hung around, looking at the human man as if he were a gorilla.
The man scratched his head for a moment, humming in thought as he seemed clueless to his own situation.
"What's goin' on here…?" Everett questioned, letting out a sigh.
The region of the island was covered in tall, sharp trees of dark-brown bark.
'I was totally snoozin', then next thing ya know, I'm falling through the sky onto this freakin' island. Don't think it's a dream—definitely hurt like hell when I fell,' Everett thought.
—
[Island of The Grand | The Golden Garden]
Walking beneath the colossal flower petals that loomed over him, he watched along with the whelp on his shoulder as nectar secreted from the golden petals.
"It looks sweet, huh?" Emilio remarked.
As the sapphire-scaled whelp leaned forward to try and lick some of the amber liquid up from the low-hanging petal, Emilio blocked its mouth.
"Rrrh," the whelp looked displeased.
"Hey, we've got no idea what that stuff is. If it's poisonous, we'd have no clue. Do you want that?" Emilio asked, "That's what I thought–c'mon, we can find something to eat nearby…probably."
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