The domain already had us completely within its range. No matter how I mowed down the plants, instead of falling, they would start to branch off and become thicker.
"Damn! Igni, burn a path for us!"
I busily dodged the rapidly growing vegetation, similar to the others. Only Ember, who was flying in the air on her throne, was relatively safe.
Igni, who heard my command, quickly faced the back and took a deep breath. Then, after a short delay, a wide blast of blue flame spread around. The plants along the path of her breath rapidly turned to ashes; however, buds were already appearing on the burning ground.
Despite the ground still burning in hot flames, the buds grew regardless. It was as if, after getting burned once, they were now immune to fire.
"Go, go, go!"
Noticing that we'd lose the chance to escape if we dilly-dally any longer, I urged everyone to rush out of the domain. Fang, the fastest, was in the lead, followed by me and Igni.
Ember was pulling on Fina to let her ride on top of the throne as they both floated away, out of the domain's control. Namia was calmly running at the back of the group with a neutral expression.
The buds growing on the burning ground were already as large as a small child, making it hard to find our footing. Luckily, we were already near the edge and managed to break out of there before we got swallowed by the plants.
As soon as we got away, I turned around to look at the space behind us.
"Woah!"
The entire region, previously barren and almost lifeless, turned into a colorful forest with a verdant canopy. To add to that, the scale of the entire field was off the charts. The edge, where we just came out, was already about as tall as I am. The middle part was already towering hundreds of meters high!
"Master! Are you alright?"
Ember slowly descended, worried about us who were left on the ground. I just smiled at her as I changed gears.
"We got unlucky and entered his or her territory by accident. We'll detour around it for now and resume our original plan!"
Looking again, the forest seemed to have stopped the movements of the 9th-stage demons that got caught in the middle of it. However, they were only immobilized and were still completely unscathed.
"I want to rush in and finish the job, but I'd only get caught up in it too..."
I sighed before turning in the other direction.
We assumed our previous formation and rushed ahead, circling the outer perimeter of the plant's domain. As we did, we encountered several 9th-stage demons and made quick work of them. With how few there were around here, the three of us were fighting to see who'd kill the demon first.
After circling about half of the entire domain, suddenly another domain spread before us. This time, it was a more violent one, with flames covering everything around. The temperatures weren't that high, but the demons that got caught on fire burned fiercely. The flames didn't die down, no matter what the demons did.
The flame domain and the plant domain intersected, causing some of the trees to burn. The plants at the edge of the plant domain were already as tall as a mature tree, so the flame burned so brightly that it was hurting our eyes.
Miraculously, the foliage didn't turn to ash. The leaves were burning but regenerating at the same time. In the end, the plant domain only ignited but remained mostly unaffected.
I turned to the middle of the flame domain and quickly found the source. It was a humanoid monster about two meters tall with a bulky build. He was carrying a lump of metal that burned redder than his skin. Although I felt a little sad since I couldn't appraise him since we were just too far away, my curiosity and our mission were clashing inside my head.
"... Again, detour."
After a lot of consideration, we just rushed ahead. I should have another chance of seeing a fight using Domains later, but if the gun falls on Noir's hands, then I don't know just how bad everything would end up.
We continued rushing ahead, eliminating anything that got in our way, and finally reached the eastern end of the northern front. Any further, and we'll end up in the territory of the Eastern army.
Although I don't have a clock, I barely recall five minutes passing. We completed the task faster than estimated!
"Everyone, well done! Now, we can leave the rest to the 9th-level tamers!"
As I shouted, I turned to Ember, about to ask her to teleport us. At that moment, a crack in space opened before us.
"Oh, excellent timing as usual."
A man with blue hair snickered as he appeared.
"God Zeshion!"
I was surprised by his presence. He should've been protecting the southern end of the kingdom. Why would he come here?
I turned to his side, and there, Goddess Zeta was standing with her arms crossed as usual. However, this time, there was one more in their group, and it wasn't the fluffy-looking Eta, but a small girl about 8 or 9 years old visually.
I turned to Zeta again, looking at her long black hair, and back to the child, who had similar long black hair. Then, I turned to Zeshion with blue-green eyes and back to the little girl with the same blue-green eyes.
"... Is she you two's daughter?"
Upon hearing my words, Zeta visibly blushed, but she showed an angry expression. Zeshion, on the other hand, simply laughed like he just heard the funniest joke.
The little girl squinted her eyes and looked at me from head to toe, as if evaluating me. Then she turned to the other girls and did the same for each, one at a time.
After she finished looking at the girls, she turned to Namia. Namia stared back without a change in expression. Their gazes met, and the little girl's brows raised a little.
"You're Will, right?"
The little girl muttered as she paced forward slowly.
"Yes, I am..."
As I was wondering why she approached without warning, she created a fist with her right hand and released a straight punch aimed directly toward my jewels.
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