The forest was thick enough that Yuriko had to aid the levitation runescript to reach the Chaos Fount’s entrance in the middle of it. The trees grew close together and the undergrowth was too thick otherwise. The canopy was roughly twenty to thirty paces above the forest floor.

Adan flew just above the foliage, heading almost directly east, for about four longstrides, then he stopped and hovered over a small clearing. Yuriko judged it to be a bit too small to put down the Wind Darter.

On a closer look, however, Yuriko frowned. The clearing was new. She could see fallen trunks and trampled bushes scattered about. The Chaos Fount’s entrance was quickly apparent since it was practically emitting Chaos. However, the gate seemed to keep the iarvesh level contained to a few paces around the thing instead of allowing it to disperse. Well, either that or the elemental energies abundant in this place applied a sort of pressure that served to do the same thing.

Also…what were those spiky things jutting out of the ground? A quick brush with her Anima told her that the pointy pillars were made out of dense stone tipped with iron points. Those things were the ones responsible for bringing down the woods, and she spotted several trees surrounding the clearing with smaller spikes embedded in their trunks.

The Fount’s gate was a frame of black metal twisted and shaped into vines. The gate was an opaque oval on one side, and a mishmash of multiple hues, yellows and blacks mostly, on the other. It felt like a portal but also like a Fysalli’s Veil. Whatever forces determined the planar laws here were very much different from what she was used to.

Perhaps these Chaos Founts weren’t Fysallis after all.

“An Earth elemental Fount? Or is it Metal?” Cillian muttered with a little bit of disdain.

Ah, he was a mono-elementalist rather than a cyclist, despite the fact that his Fire was in both systems. Though Yuriko wondered why they chose to distinguish metal from earth anyway. She couldn’t see Metal elemental energy, but she was sure the iron points were replete with Earth anyway.

“Does the aspect matter inside?” Yuriko asked.

“Most times, yes. Metal…that either means the air is bad or the creatures inside use weapons, or they’re armoured.”

Yuriko nodded while she checked for a place to land the sloop. They might have to move nearly two or three hundred paces away, where the forest floor was flatter and she could move the canopy to fit the Wind Darter through. Then again, she was sure Ryoko wouldn’t want to enter the Fount, and when she asked, received a hearty agreement. Alternatively, she could dump enough Animus in the sloop’s storage to empower the hover runescript weaving to allow it to stay up in the air, though that would be dangerous if they were absent for a prolonged time.

“Do you really want to enter the Chaos Fount?” Gwendith asked pointedly.

Yuriko blinked at her in confusion. “Uh, yes.”

“I hardly think it would provide a challenge.”

“Well, I doubt it, too, but, but! It’s something new!”

Gwendith chuckled, “Yeah, I guess it is. Bring us to a place we can land so you don’t have to worry. And we’re coming with you. No wiping out all the enemies at once!”

“Ehehehe.”

“Yuri…”

“Fine, fine.” Yuriko sniffed. “Ah, who’s staying with Ryoko? Desire, Devotee, are you interested in exploring?”

“Yes,” Devotee said. “I’d like to see if I can find the Hidden Ways inside it.”

“I wanna come!” Desire said plaintively.

“Saki, I guess you’ll stay?”

The handmaiden, who was stationed at the stern, nodded. “I will meditate, young mistress.”

Yuriko turned to Adan and Cillian. “Both of you are coming?”

“Just me, Lady Yuriko,” Cillian said. “Corporal Ortiz isn’t a delver.”

“Too right,” the birdkin said. “Not enough space to soar, more often than not.”

“I see. What would we normally find inside a Fount?” Yuriko asked Cillian while she moved the Wind Darter south.

“Monsters, inhospitable environs, labyrinths, and Chaos.” Cillian shrugged, “It could honestly be anything.”

“Too dangerous to enter?” Yuriko asked. “For the weaker populace.”

“Of course, just as most civilians don’t come near the wastelands.”

Yuriko absently shifted the canopy away from the sloop as they descended to the forest floor. Some of the branches broke from bending too much, but she caught them before they could make the landing site more cluttered. She activated the sloop’s landing struts, and they landed with nary a jostle.

“How does she do it?” Cillian muttered under his breath. “Telekinetic control without the ambient energies reacting… Does she have that fine a control? Do True Magi have to be that skilled or is it a Grand Magus quality?”

Yuriko ignored his plainly private mutters, then finished the sloop’s landing procedures. “Let’s go.”

The six of them easily made their way towards the clearing. When she activated Chaos Sight, the Fount’s presence was a beacon in the dark. There were no other sources of Chaos, and because of the restriction cuffs, Desire’s and Devotee’s internal Chaos was kept well contained. Whatever leaked was quickly absorbed by the cuffs, though over the last couple of days, their storage function was close to full.

The way to handle the excess was simply to allow the two Chaos Lords to reabsorb it, however, it was akin to breathing in the same air that had just been exhaled. Neither could they absorb each other’s leavings without consequence. It was something that none of them had anticipated at all. The only other way was for Yuriko to take in the shed Chaos and allow her Radiance to consume them, turn it into more Radiant energy, then convert it to Animus, before feeding it back to them, or transferring it to one of the Animus cubes, or into the Wind Darter. Otherwise, they would have to change the storage containers, which left the full ones, hazardous wastes. Or perhaps, they were coveted treasures from how Cillian and Adan eyed the cartridges. Perhaps it was another source of wealth, and probably why the cuffs cost so much.

The earthen spikes were solid stone. Denser than basalt or granite, Yuriko thought, harder. The iron tips were actually the weaker material. She pressed her finger against the sharp tip, having withdrawn her condensed aura to judge it properly. The thing bent against her skin, then collapsed as she applied a bit of force. When she tapped the earthen spear, there was only a solid thunk. It required a bit more force to mark it, and a sharp blow to break off the top.

The air was filled with the sharp scent of spilt tree sap, and the footing was treacherous. It posed little trouble for her since she could carry herself over them, but Gwendith slipped against some leaves and barely caught herself with her Animakinesis.

Heron created a path towards the gate, shoving tree trunks over to a side. He paused at the threshold and stared at the multi-hued side of the oval, with his lips pursed. He touched the gateway’s frame, with both fingers and Anima. Then he squeezed the frame and the metal creaked. Almost as soon as he withdrew his hand, the metal twisted back into shape, as though nothing happened.

“It will persevere even if the frame is destroyed,” Cillian said. “The only thing that will happen is that the internal pressure builds up faster. The gate returns after some time.” He nodded towards Yuriko. “Shall we proceed? I judge the Fount’s danger to be no greater than the foes we’ve fought in the wasteland. And with you and yours so powerful, I don’t think we’ll have any trouble.”

“Then let us proceed,” Yuriko decided.

She took the front and stepped through the doorway. The sensation was akin to passing through a portal save for the fact that the pressure that squeezed down on her was so miniscule that nobody else would have noticed, probably.

The next moment, she was underground. Her Anima expanded quickly and encompassed the entire chamber. It was only ten paces wide, and twenty long, with a ceiling of roughly three paces high. The chamber narrowed into a tunnel at the far end and looked like any other cavern she found herself in over the past year. On the surface level anyway.

Whatever elemental energies the Fount had was thick enough to coat everything here. She could feel a dull pulse coming from the ground, and…hmmm. Her connection with her sunblades outside had been muffled. She could still feel them and knew she could take control of them as soon as she stepped out of the Fount, but for now, they were just…there.

She held up a hand to conjure a dozen sunblades, though she shrunk them down to the size of needles when the others entered behind her. Cillian was the third to come in, right after Gwendith. Heron followed after, then the two Chaos Lords.

Desire breathed a sigh of relief and her hands moved towards the restriction cuffs, key held amidst her fingers. Devotee looked at Yuriko for permission and unlocked his own when she gave it.

The ambient Chaos in this space was refreshing. It wasn’t even a tenth of an iarvesh though, but it seemed abundant after the drought outside.

“So we can recover here,” Heron muttered, prompting a curious look from Cillian.

Yuriko gave him a pointed glance, and he blushed.

Cillian said, “Looks like a straightforward delve. Not at all like an Earth-attuned Chaos Fount. It must be the Metal.”

Yuriko surreptitiously sent her sunblades through the floor. There was a sizzle and a pop, then the blade punched through, almost as easily as a hot knife through butter. Well the sunblade held incredible heat, and the Radiant energy ate the Earth Elemental energy to propagate.

The noise caused Cillian to look, but by the time he did, the sunblade was already a couple of dozen paces from the surface. There was a reddish spot on the ground, but it was already cooling.

They walked towards the tunnel while Yuriko spread sunblades under the ground. She broke through another chamber some twenty paces underground, and this one was filled with… creatures.

Human-sized, greenish-grey skin. Large claws on their hands and feet, and grotesque features as if a human face had its skin melted and allowed to run down the bones. Milky white eyes made her think they were blind, but they reacted to each other and to the terrain as though they could see.

The chamber and tunnel were illuminated by a soft light that didn’t have an apparent source. After twenty paces, the tunnel split into two. Yuriko took the left-hand side and the others followed. And soon, they emerged into a square chamber that contained the same grey-skinned creatures inside. They perked up at their arrival, roared wordlessly and charged.

Cillian yelped and began conjuring his fire orb, but Gwendith and Heron were faster. An ice dagger materialised around the girl, while Heron plucked a collapsible spear off his belt, snapped it open, and lunged at the right most creature. The spear tip took on a bluish hue as he coated his Anima around it, and a single stab through the creature’s centre, and a brutal twist afterwards took its life. He spun the spear around and used the other end like a club, striking another grey-skin across the cheek. It fell bonelessly on the floor, and he stomped on its neck a moment later, with a resounding crack.

Gwendith’s daggers, two more materialised, killed a grey skin each. And the last one was flattened by Devotee’s war maul.

“Hmmm, not bad.” Yuriko smiled, then turned to Cillian. “Do they have something to harvest too?”

Cillian, who had just finished his cast and now had no target to blast, looked blankly at the carnage. “Ah, the claws and horns, I think. They look replete with Earth and Metal elemental ore.”

Harvesting the claws and the stubby horns didn’t take more than a few minutes. They got wrapped up in cloth and tossed inside the spatially expanded backpacks.

“Let’s continue,” Yuriko smiled. The chamber below them had been cleansed of creatures, too, and her sunblades consumed everything.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep