Agnisotra: Origin Tails

The maggot-less dimensional fabric was still bothering me but there was nothing I could do. I detected some dangerous animals around them but nothing special. I had also found a group of archaeologists, I assume, that had a camp on the far end. They are probably studying these structures but as far as I know most had already given up on deciphering the language on these.

I wonder if I should become a helpful fox and write dictionaries for them. But it will probably make me more well-known or even as anonymous they might use it to weaponize whatever they find inside. It also has some strong magic inside. This is of course assuming they can make it out of those dungeons alive.

I’m wondering how humans would fare in those. It might also be one of the many reasons I had brought them here. Because it doesn’t matter what race you are, those dungeons are unfriendly to whatever is alive. Even Vinny was struggling in the Shadow Behemoth dungeon. I wonder how Greg’s matchup would be against that thing.

I scouted the Pyramids and I made a shocking discovery. Most were connected to each other underground so most were just 1 building. I say most because there are 7 pyramids here but they are actually 3 dungeons. The biggest one contains 4 pyramids, then one that has 2 pyramids and the last one is just 1. I don’t know what this means but what I do know is that the one with 4 pyramids is the biggest. That’s not where we’re going. Let’s keep it simple and go for the single pyramid.

The single pyramid had a glade in front of it. It would be perfect for sightseeing.

It seems something had been there in ancient times but it’s gone now but it had left an open space. Nothing seemed fishy about it so this would be the destination.

I returned to the group and they just finishes fighting off some jungle snakes.

Good job! I have found a good spot for sightseeing; you guys will like it. We do have to go through the jungle for a bit.

I ignored some complaints and dispelled the frost houses. It was nearing noon so we had to get going.

I tried to avoid Crissy and Hayley because they would ask too many questions but I failed. I was leading the group so it was predictable where I would be.

“Is your arm alright?”

I showed off that it was ok by swinging it around. You have to remember that I’m not a human.

“That’s cool and all but just like us humans you have feelings too!”

I don’t know why but Hayley also seems upset with me. What have I done wrong? I will never understand humans.

My feelings are fine, they will be hurt though if we continue at this snail pace. Hey guys! Move faster! I got complaints that we’ve been walking for a while and other nonsense.

Ok smartasses, why is none of you using magic to make this experience better?

They looked at me as if I was speaking in Hourai.

Magic isn’t just a tool to beat others up its to make your life easier, now stop complaining and use your brains!

Sometimes I think that being smart is something people turn on and off. Students used magic to speed this up. They had created a team effort to make a budget bus out of wood and vines and use wind magic to make it float.

Shall I drive?

I got a unanimous resounding “No!’ so I had to just point in the right direction as the students used their wind magic to steer this wooden floating coffin. The ride was pleasant and didn’t take too long. Some students intimidated and fought off monsters who thought that attacking us was a bright idea. Most monsters didn’t even get to do anything. The students effectively shut them down. The monsters are quite predictable in what skills they will use but it’s still impressive. The students started to gasp and chatter now that we were getting close to the pyramid temple.

The pyramid temple looked like it was made out of steps for giants and made out of some brown greenish stone. One third of it was overgrown with jungle plants. It looked impressive but not intimidating.

I threw rocks at monkeys that were making a lot of noise nearby. I did sneak a banana in Teppei’s clothes which ended up in some monkeys assaulting him. He failed to control his temper and cut the vehicle in half after I evaded his slash. Luckily, we weren’t far so we could walk the rest.

I froze frost houses on the empty space. Right guys it’s nearing 16:00 so going into this dungeon now is a bad idea. Go sightseeing. Make sure you don’t get lost. There is a camp of archeologists about 10km that way so don’t disturb them unless you want to answer a lot of annoying and strange questions.

I pointed to the northeast where the building was that had the 4 pyramids. You have already encountered the monsters and animals from this jungle, they’re no match for you but still stay alert. I will slack here in case you find something strong, just lure it here. Don’t be irresponsible! Now I put the frost houses in the same layout as before so take the one you had yesterday.

“Where did our stuff go?”

It’s in your house…

“Wait! How did you…”

I can’t tell them I have a dimensional pocket I hope they just go do their thing.

They confirmed that their stuff was still there and headed off. I decided to use this time to rest. I sat down on the house of Teppei and laid down on the roof. I noticed 7 individuals climbing up the roof.

What are these idiots doing, they should go sightseeing. It was Crissy, Hayley, Randy, Francis, midget, and the other chick. Wait I counted 7 these are only 6.

I got up and looked around. The 7th person disappeared. Am I going crazy?

Guys a serious question, did you guys climb up here with 7 of you?

Midget looked around. “Hmm, now that you ask it did seem like that but I only count 6 of us.”

“Uuh, we’re not being haunted, are we?” Brunette chick said as she looked around quite paranoid.

“Did you see something again?” Crissy asked very worried.

“It’s not more of those super creepy monsters, right?” Hayley got battle ready.

Someone adjusted his glasses. “I am curious to what you two are referring to.”

Pay it no mind these two are suddenly so overprotective.

“Hey! We’re not! Maybe it’s not a big deal to you but for humans it’s a big deal to lose an arm!” Hayley blurted out; she held her hand in front of her mouth but the damage was already done. I had to explain to the other 4 that we got attacked the night before.

“That sound rough dude. You can count on us to help out!” Randy made a very confident pose.

Even though none of you can see or hit these things?

The confident pose disappeared quickly.

Now stop wasting your time and go sightseeing!

“I can’t, that 7th person thing scared me!” Crissy used this opportunity to grab my tail.

“Can we...” Randy pointed at my tail.

Ugh, fine. I don’t understand how you humans are the dominant species out here, a race with fluffy tails could conquer you easily…

I endured my tail being stroked as I thought about what this 7th person could be.

Hey Francis, when you got time, can you ask around if other people also had the feeling of there being one or more extra people in their group but the numbers not matching up?

Someone adjusted his glasses. “Sure. I’m curious about what this about too.”

So many bizarre things were happening lately. There was that blur, the dimensional fabric is doing worse than ever and now these phantoms. Is my life slowly turning into a mystery novel? I could do with some answers.

At that moment something exploded not too far from our ice village. This isn’t my fault, is it? I tried to get up but the students stopped me.

“They can take care of this; you told them to lure it to here if they can’t” Brunette chick is correct but it can’t be coincidence that this happened when I wanted answers.

I heard a monstrous shriek that sounded like whatever that was just breathed it’s last. I could check it out with my Elgards eye but I had the feeling I would end up with more questions than answers. When did my life turn into such a mess? Probably the moment we got kicked out of Hourai. Does that mean that this is not all my fault? Then again if we were strong enough, we wouldn’t have gotten kicked out. I sighed.

“Something bothering you dude?”

Way too much.

I activated my Elgards eyes. Almost every group was fighting some sort of monster. Most were doing fine but some were struggling. I created a frost bow, aimed at the sky and shot several [Frost Arrows]. They rained down and killed the monsters that proved to be problematic for the students.

“Whoa, that’s cool. I can’t believe I’m saying this but I wish I had a water affinity now!” Randy was as enthusiastic as ever. Where does this guy get his energy from.

You need a lot of mana control to use water. It is quite hard as the majority of the water users demonstrate. If it was easy more water users would be known.

I created small ice statues identical to the students here. Something strange happened, it looked like I had 6 fingers and I made 7 statues but the 7th one didn’t look like me.

Someone adjusted his glasses. “I assume you didn’t do that on purpose, it also seemed as if you had 6 fingers for a bit.”

Francis was right, I had 5 fingers now and only 6 ice statues floated above my right hand.

“What is going on! I don’t like this!” The chicks hugged my tail.

“Oh, you have 2 tails?”

Brunette needs glasses. Wait did it copy my tail too?

Someone adjusted his glasses again. “He has only one tail. I assume something here is adding the illusion of a +1 to everything but they seem to disappear the moment we get aware of it.”

Crissy pulled on my sleeve. “If they are supposed to disappear when we get aware of it. Why is that house still there? You made 7 houses of ice yesterday, right?”

Yeah…

I looked at where Crissy was pointing. It was a house made out of frost magic that I’m sure I didn’t make. It was my frost magic though. I placed illusion layers and it placed more than I intended to. I tried to break through whatever illusion we were stuck on but it wasn’t an illusion so there was nothing to break.

I wanted to get up to investigate the extra house but Crissy pulled me back by my sleeve. “Where are you going?”

I’m going to check that house out. It’s not supposed to exist.

“Are you out of your mind! Let’s just ignore it! It might go away.”

I actually like that idea, ignoring problems until they go away but I’m in charge of your safety. I can’t leave things here if they’re not supposed to exist.

I flicked an ice cube off Teppei’s house and swapped myself with it and approached the house that shouldn’t exist. It seemed perfectly normal to me.

You see at this point it would be fine if the house would give off a strange energy so that I was incentivized to ignore it but it being quite normal is jarring. It is a strange feeling or like an instinct to remove it since it doesn’t belong here. It’s like an itch that needs to be scratched, a dirty speck on an else clean surface. bubble wrap that hasn’t been popped. It is near impossible to ignore its existence. It needs to go.

I walked over to the extra house and tried to dispel the frost magic but it just looked like it was mine. It had no mana runic structure; it was as if I was trying to get rid of a house that was made out of real ice. What is the meaning of this? My Elgards eyes were useless on it because it was like frost magic. I deactivated my eyes to get a better look at it. In all shapes or forms this looks similar. The students followed me from a distance, they were still visibly creeped out by this phenomena.

I walked up to the front door. What would I find inside?

The door flew open without a warning and I saw… I have actually no idea what it was but I did recognize the background. It was the void.

Oh shit!

A strange kraken like tentacle monster grabbed me around my waist and tried to drag me into the void. My [Dimensional Anchor] kicked in and prevented me from getting dragged to the void. I had to do something because while it wouldn’t be able to drag me into the void, it would snap me in half trying to.

The six students panicked and tried to aid me.

Seriously guys stay away! I can’t help you if it drags you into the void!

Crissy pointed. I could see that she tried to stay calm but she was failing. “What is that!”

Owowowow I don’t know! Get as far as possible from here!

I tried to get its grip to loosen by squeezing it’s tentacle with my tail and freezing it. Its grip was weakening but it was sending more tentacles my way. I couldn’t move so I couldn’t use Dragonvein. I threw magic at it but it seemed to be immune to it. What a cheater! I bet only non-magic or spatiotemporal magic works on this monster.

“What is going on! Agnis what in Yxim’s name is that?! Let me cut it down for you!”

I appreciate it old fart but I need you to get everyone out of here! Remember what I told you about my sword?

He was old but his memory seemed better than mine and remembered that Shirayuki would attack indiscriminately if I was in danger. He used wind magic to blow any curious students away. I took Shirayuki out my dimensional pocket. She instantly reacted.

She was compelling me to draw her out the sheathe. It was hard to breathe because of this stupid tentacle monster strangling me but I managed to unsheathed Shirayuki. All I saw was a light blue flash.

I was encased in frost but I could break out of it. Did I pass out? It shouldn’t have been for long. The house was obliterated and I don’t know how. I broke out of the encasing and found myself inside an enormous 9-sided snowflake pattern of ice that had cut through the ground. Every arm of the snowflake crystal had an ice trail cut extending for who knows how far. It seems whatever Shirayuki used was some variation of [Iai: Nilah] but this was many times stronger. Shirayuki was sheathed at my hip. Thank you.

Shirayuki still seemed restless and froze herself to my arm when I attempted to return her to the dimensional pocket. What a stubborn sword. Now I have the special privilege of having to explain this to the curious humans. I have no clue what happened so asking me is useless and I told them that.

“Why do you keep making others worry about you!”

Hey that’s not fair Crissy! How was I supposed to know what was awaiting in there!

“You could have just left it!”

And risk it to jump out and drag a student into the void? Do you have any idea what that is? It’s in between dimensions! It’s impossible to navigate in there unless you’re a member of one of 2 races! And even then, it’s still hard. It’s safe to say if someone disappears into the void he’s gone forever!

Crissy had no comeback for that but I could see she still didn’t like my response.

“Just be careful, ok?”

Look at the student being concerned about her professor. Everything will be fine. Old fart let’s get ready to head over to the pyramid before it gets too late.

Teppei was busy keeping the students calm. “Are you sure? Shouldn’t you take a short rest?”

Fine I’ll take a rest if you guys stop being so over protective!

I took a rest against my will to make sure these humans wouldn’t be so annoying. It did seem that the +1 problem was gone now. Everything seemed normal. Why did that house connect to the void? Wouldn’t that mean that there was a hole in the dimensional fabric there? I activated my Elgards eyes but all the frost was interfering with it. This big snowflake cut, Shirayuki had made is beautiful but I can’t see shit with this.

It took me 3 minutes to get rid of it and inspected the dimensional fabric. It looked beat up but there was no hole. Still no maggots on the other holes that I had torched with white opaque flames. Maybe I should torch them again. I wanted to get up but noticed Hayley and Crissy were watching me like a hawk. It would be nice if they would mind their own business…

At least I know my [Dimensional Anchor] works. Not that I wanted to discover it like this… I don’t like how I keep get reminded why 9t are probably near extinct. I guess these humans are right to worry about me. I hope Greg has a better time being a 3t. although he has to deal whenever something stirs within the shadows. It seems they aren’t caused by weak creatures.

The last time was the salt and pepper dragon in Boshi town. And I have the feeling the demon that tried to possess me also is something he has to deal with. That demon thing is his race's responsibility, not mine. I just got unlucky as usual. I looked down, the troublemakers in the Basement are his responsibility, spirit Isi told us it had devils, demons and other stuff too. I’m sure Greg remembered what was down there... I don’t think it’s easier than what I have to deal with. Guess he’s just lucky that they are behaving for now.

I wondered how long they wanted me to rest. I want to see what’s in that dungeon. I will just find more problems if I sit still.

They finally decided it was time to head over to the pyramid.

“Hey Agnis, Chris is really worried about you and asked me to lead, are you fine with that?”

Such a doting gramps. Sure, means less responsibility for me!

“You know I also was young at one point and had a lot of responsibility. It’s ok to just relax and rely on others from time to time.”

I will try, thanks old man I will slack until we reach the entrance then. Good luck fighting off the horde of monsters that have locked on to us.

I casually kept walking while Teppei had to intercept the monsters approaching.

I think these six students had become friends over being worried about me. I felt surrounded because they were walking in front of me, next to me or behind me. We arrived at the pyramid later than I had hoped but nothing we can do about it.

Someone adjusted his glasses. “How are we going to gain access to the innards of this structure?”

We just solve a puzzle or tell it to open up. Let’s see. Oh, this language. No puzzles, hmm that’s odd. I guess the dungeon will be quite tough then.

I told the door to opening the correct ancient language and the door opened to the surprise of all the humans here.

Stop gawking, let’s go inside!

I stepped inside and the humans followed.

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