My Servant System

"That's..."

I didn't have an answer for it right away, but that didn't change the fact that time was moving on regardless of how I felt or the worries I had, and we needed to take action sometime soon; already the howling of the wind, the thudding of the various quartz pillars getting torn off of their bases, and then the roars and screeches of the monsters that were becoming active around us were becoming far to frequent and not showing any signs of delay anytime soon.

So we had to get moving before we were caught here in the middle of it all, and that was what the others realized as well, with Draka clicking her tongue and looking back at the carriage before saying "She's right though, we need to just push through all of this. Our barrier would allow us to continue forwards and see what is in front of us while Lady Fenyras and Lady Lilith protect us."

"Honestly, the longer we're here the more likely we are to get caught up in the turf war, so let's get the hell out of this biome. Point us in the direction please, Lilith, and we'll just head in a straight line."

Mom was quick to accept the idea and moved to one of the two shafts that extended past the carriage itself, becoming one of the two 'horses' that would have been moving the heavy lump of wood.

The other 'horse' took her place a second later with a nod, unbothered by this role as she gestured for us to get ready, something that was reassuring to me in ways that I couldn't really explain; her and Mom's innate trust and quick decision to follow that order made me feel warm inside, though I pushed that down and focused on my part in all of this as soon as I could.

Leone gave Draka and I some extra potions as she prepared us for the long march, a stamina and mana regeneration potion sliding down our gullets smoothly as we boosted ourselves as best we could, preparing to summon and maintain a giant clear disc of ice that would be pelted by fine quartz sand for who knows how long.

The other two Caninekin unsheathed their blades and took up spots on either side while Leone stood between the two blue Demoness' and us, with Lilith walking just in front of us as she prepared to guide us through the desert and this storm.

The roars outside continued to grow in abundance as the monsters fought in earnest, and the more we heard the more we hardened our resolve as we pushed out of the safety of the bunker and out into the harsh storm, immediately noticing just how much worse the winds had become in the few minutes we had been hidden away from it.

It crashed upon us in waves, only ever getting stronger and carrying far more sand with each fresh gale that swept over the desert, and the moment Draka and I joined our magic together to create that curved dish that would allow the sands to spill out on either side of us we got to truly feel how strong it was when the ice began to crack. Your next journey awaits at empire

Chunks of quartz no larger than a fingernail were zipping through the air and slamming against the ice, blowing away large portions of our shield and allowing the grains of quartz to begin sanding away at whatever cracks appeared, worming their way through the few inches of ice.

Instantly we were tested on our ability to repair and maintain a barrier as large as this while also siphoning off all of the opacity to ensure it was clear, allowing us to walk forwards and navigate the desert in the safety of this very small, fragile bubble.

The winds were so loud that we couldn't hear ourselves think, but even over the world itself making its anger heard we could distinctly make out the sounds of battle as the monsters waged a war nearby, each roar, each screech, each thud forming a cacophony that assaulted the mind.

It slowly spread all around us too, making it even worse as we found ourselves truly in the middle of it all, meaning that there was no clear indicator of the direction that we might be attacked from; it was simply coming from everyone all at the same time, and that was putting us all on the edge.

Even Lady Fenyras was quiet and prowling in a more reserved manner than usual, though I couldn't focus too much on the others as all of my energy was being poured out of my fingertips and into the giant dish in front of us.

Everything honed in on this single thing for me, the sheer overabundance of effort I needed to put into maintaining this barrier causing everything else to fade into the background - a noisy background, but a background nonetheless.

Our feet pounded against the sand as we barreled through the desert as quickly as possible, avoiding the louder, more obvious battlefields as best we could, only to be targeted by the attacking wind attuned monsters that sailed over the desert atop those winds.

The moment they saw us some of them dived straight down, letting out various caws as they extended their razor sharp talons and aimed their jagged, giant beaks at our skulls; winged monsters of all kinds roamed the skies above, but not all of them deemed us as worthy prey.

The ones that did were met with a barrage of hopeful fireballs from Leone, who missed at first as the winds blew them off track and then overloaded them with far too much oxygen, causing them to explode prematurely; when she got that down and began to predict their movements and how the atmosphere would affect her magic, she blasted them apart above us as best she could.

Any that got close were impaled on earthen spikes that Lilith summoned from existence with just a wave of her hand, and if they had the audacity to live after such an attack the two prowling Caninekin's swiftly ended their lives, leaving a trail of bodies in our wake as we braved the storm.