I opened my eyes and the first thing I felt was the damp cold of the stone against my back.
I was in a cave.
The darkness was not absolute. Faint blue lights, almost spectral, emanated from strange phosphorescent mosses growing in the cracks of the walls. The light was weak, barely enough to distinguish the nearest shapes, and it flickered gently as if it were breathing. The air smelled of ancient humidity, wet stone, and something metallic I couldn't identify.
I sat up with difficulty. Every muscle protested. My left shoulder burned and a sharp pain ran through my lower back. I must have hit several rocks during the fall. I brought a hand to the nape of my neck and felt a sensitive lump.
"Damn it…"
The word came out in a hoarse whisper that was immediately lost among the echoes of the place.
I started walking.
I had no idea which way to go. The tunnels opened in every direction like the veins of a huge, sleeping animal. Some were narrow and low, forcing me to duck my head. Others widened into caverns where the ceiling disappeared into darkness. The ground was covered with a thin layer of water in some stretches; in others, with loose stones that crunched under my boots. The sound of my footsteps multiplied and returned distorted, as if someone were following me a few meters behind.
The further I advanced, the tighter my chest felt.
It wasn't just the fatigue. It was the certainty of being trapped.
(No… I can't stay down here. If I don't get out before time runs out, I'll be disqualified. And if I'm disqualified, everything goes to hell. Iris. The queen. The princesses. Leila. Everyone who's waiting for me to come back. I can't fail them now.)
I stopped dead.
I had heard something.
A soft, wet noise, like something brushing against the stone or moving in the water. I turned sharply, my heart pounding against my ribs.
"The spider woman…?"
The image of those white, shiny legs driving into the tree bark returned with too much clarity. Disgust and fear mixed in my stomach. Without thinking, I pressed myself against an irregular rock formation and held my breath until my lungs burned.
No one appeared.
The silence stretched so long that I began to doubt I had heard anything. Then the noise returned. This time closer. Clearer. And it came from the water running to my left, in a natural channel that crossed the cavern.
I didn't think twice.
The fear of spiders was older and more visceral than any logic. I preferred to face whatever it was before it jumped on me from the darkness. I threw myself toward the channel with a contained shout, hands outstretched, ready to grab whatever I found and crush it or throw it far away.
The cold water enveloped me at once, stealing my breath. The current wasn't strong, but it was freezing. I kicked upward and broke the surface gasping, hair stuck to my face and eyes half-closed from the water.
And then I saw her.
It wasn't the spider woman.
In front of me was a beautiful woman, with a form that didn't seem of this world. The blue light of the mosses played over her pale skin, giving her an almost ethereal glow.
Her hair, long and of a deep light blue, floated around her as if it had a life of its own. Her eyes, large and wide with fright, looked at me with a mixture of terror and confusion.
For a second I forgot how to breathe.
But what really paralyzed me were her ears: they weren't human. They had a strange shape, like fins fused with the flesh.
I brushed the hair from her face on reflex and saw the fusion more clearly. The fright made me let go of her and sink a little deeper. From below I could see her entire body.
The lower part wasn't legs.
It was a fish tail.
I surfaced choking and shouted:
"Mermaid!!"
She got scared and tried to flee, but one of her side fins was injured. She swam with difficulty, leaving an obvious trail of pain.
I calmed down enough to think.
(She's terrified… just like I was a second ago.)
I swam to the stone shore and sat down, raising both hands in a sign of peace.
"I'm not going to bother you. I'm leaving."
I started walking along the edge of the underground channel. After a short while I noticed she was following me at a distance, only her head showing above the water.
I stopped without turning around.
"I'm leaving. You don't have to follow me."
Her voice reached me soft, trembling, but in clear human language:
"It's not that… You didn't try to catch me."
I turned. She was still several meters away in the water, looking at me with distrust and curiosity at the same time.
"In the game they talked about a type of humanoid monster called Xeno," I said in a low voice, more to myself than to her. "They're something like demi-humans, but more mutant. They never showed a real one, so I didn't pay them much attention."
I looked at her directly.
"If you're waiting for me to catch you… I won't."
She tensed.
"I find it fascinating to meet a real mermaid," I continued. "I understand perfectly why you run. And I also know this is a huge cliché."
I turned around again.
"Goodbye."
I walked a few more steps. Then I felt her approaching.
"Are you… a good human?"
I didn't understand the question at first.
"What?"
"I… was a prisoner. A human woman let me escape. I can walk on land when my legs dry. That's why I reached this underground channel. It leads to another city. There I would find a friend who would help me escape completely."
She pointed with her head toward the path I had fallen from.
"But the channel was blocked."
I looked back. The crack I had fallen through had collapsed part of the ceiling. It had obstructed her only escape route.
(Damn…)
Even though it hadn't been on purpose, I felt responsible.
"Then… while I look for the way out, you'll come with me. Does that sound good?"
She hesitated. Her eyes studied me intensely. Mermaids, from what I vaguely remembered from some JRPG bestiaries, could sense hostility. In the end she nodded. She lifted more of her torso out of the water, visibly relieved.
"My name is Clariana."
"I'm Razel…"
While I introduced myself, my eyes accidentally dropped to her chest.
Her upper body was completely bare. Two large, round, perfect breasts floated just above the water.
She noticed my gaze and covered herself instinctively, though not with hostility.
"That… wasn't hostility. It was something else."
She said it, then I scratched the back of my neck, embarrassed.
"That happens to me when I see big breasts. Sorry."
(Since I'll probably never see her again after this… I can be honest.)
"Better not stand up completely in front of me," I added. "I love big breasts. And I have no problem taking a non-human woman as a lover."
She blinked, surprised, but didn't flee. We continued walking in silence, her swimming beside me along the channel.
◇◇◇
On the surface of the Forest of the Moon, the fights multiplied.
Leila and Tonma were facing one of the Dimitrie copies. The puppet moved with monstrous speed, launching bolts that carbonized everything in their path.
"This guy is too powerful!" Leila shouted while dodging a bolt that split a tree in two.
Tonma, with his cut lip tense, joined both hands in front of his chest.
"I need a little time. He's too fast. I can't prepare the attack if you don't give me space."
Leila nodded with her ears perked up.
"Leila will do it!"
She launched herself like a bullet, using her bestial speed to force the puppet to focus on her. Claws and fangs tore through the air. Every time the puppet tried to aim at Tonma, Leila interposed herself with a savage attack.
Tonma closed his eyes for a second. Mana concentrated between his hands until it became visible, a dark and dense sphere.
When the puppet got close enough to crush Leila, Tonma opened his eyes and shouted:
"Gagan!"
The sphere expanded like an invisible mouth. In an instant it devoured the entire upper body of the puppet. The armor, the head and the torso disappeared as if they had never existed. Only the legs remained, which fell inert to the ground.
Leila stared with her mouth open and her tail completely bristled.
"What… what was that?"
Tonma lowered his hands, breathing hard.
"A secret skill of my clan. The clan no longer exists. I'm the only one left."
He remained silent for a moment, observing Leila.
"Do you want to learn it?"
The wolf girl's eyes shone with an almost childlike emotion.
"Yes!!"
◇◇◇
Further west, Zack and Gilbert were lying against a tree, groaning.
They had managed to defeat one Dimitrie copy, but the price had been high. Both were exhausted, covered in light burns and with their mana almost depleted. Not even a full day had passed.
Then they heard heavy footsteps.
Another Dimitrie copy appeared among the trees.
Pepe's voice came through a floating orb:
"Even if you defeat one, it doesn't mean they stop. The forest is full of them."
Zack spat blood and cursed.
"This trial is shit."
Gilbert stood up with difficulty, leaning on his sword.
"Fighting another one now is useless. If we stay, we die or end up so broken we won't reach the goal."
Zack looked at the approaching puppet and then at Gilbert.
"…Let's run."
Both took off running once more, with the lightning falling behind them.
◇
The cold woke me.
The underground channel had become noticeably more freezing. It must have been night on the surface.
I took off my jacket and rolled it up as a pillow. The stone floor was torture.
Clariana poked her head out of the water.
"Aren't you cold?"
"Yes. Quite a bit."
She crawled out onto the shore. With a gesture of her hand she used water magic to dry her legs quickly. The scales retracted and transformed into normal human legs. The fins on her ears also disappeared, leaving only human ears.
I sat and watched her.
"Can you use magic?"
"Yes. Even if you don't believe it… I was born to a human family."
While she finished drying, she spoke in a low voice, as if telling an ancient secret.
"I lived with my parents near a stream. One day, while washing clothes, I slipped and drowned. I thought I was going to die. Then I started breathing underwater… and my legs fused."
She hugged herself.
"When I came out, my mother found me and got terribly scared. My father calmed her down. He confessed that he was also… like me. A Xeno, a living being that is neither human nor monster. My mother fled and reported us to the feudal lord. They hunted us for months. We ran from place to place. In the end I managed to reach a safer place. My father couldn't."
She fell silent.
"How did you end up down here then?"
"I left the refuge for a moment because I needed to swim. If I spend too much time on land I feel like I'm suffocating. They kidnapped me and took me to the casino in the next city. The woman who helped me escape works there. It's not the first time she's gotten beings like me out of that place."
I looked at her seriously.
"I'll help you get to her."
Clariana looked up, surprised.
"Why? Are you also far from your home?"
"That's right. I want to go back home but I have things to do here. I understand how you feel."
"That's why I'd like to help you return safely."
Instead of answering, she came closer and hugged me. Her bare breasts pressed against my chest.
"That's why I wasn't scared of you. When I saw you… you didn't think anything bad. I've been running for so long that I can feel other people's bad intentions, but with you it was different."
I returned the hug.
"I don't plan on selling you, if that's what worries you," I said, trying to pull her away a little. "But… don't touch me with your breasts like that."
She tilted her head, curious.
"Does a non-human excite you?"
I sighed.
"I have an elf girl as a woman. As long as the upper part is a woman's… I'm fine."
She didn't pull away. On the contrary, she curled up more. That's how we spent the night, with the sound of the water as our only company.
◇
I woke up with something soft and warm crushing my face.
They were Clariana's breasts.
"It's a pleasant sensation… but get up."
I carefully moved her aside and got dressed. My stomach was growling. We hadn't eaten anything since the previous day.
"There's a freshwater spring further ahead," she said, already with her tail again. "I drank from it before arriving here."
We decided to continue.
◇◇◇
Razel was so carefree when he met Clariana that he didn't notice someone was watching them. It was Freaks, who had found them.
From an upper crack he observed them with his clown smile and then ran to inform the others.
Jackpot, Zargan and Geruto were deeper in the cave network, eating a duck that Freaks had hunted on the surface.
Freaks arrived quickly and told them.
"I found them," Freaks announced. "They're heading toward the spring. We can set a perfect trap for them."
Jackpot stood up, wiping the blood from his mouth.
"This time he won't escape."
◇
We were near the spring when the earth under my feet suddenly became soft.
It wasn't a tremor. It was as if the ground had lost all solidity in an instant. Before I could react, my boots sank. The earth swallowed me up to the knees with a wet, dirty sound. I tried to lift one leg, then the other. The earth hardened immediately, as if it had turned into living cement.
"Clariana!"
She was close to me, still on the edge of the channel. She looked at me with wide eyes, not understanding what was happening. The earth around me began to undulate, to move as if it were a sleeping animal that had just woken up. The water in the channel agitated violently, splashing the stone walls.
It was exactly the same sensation I had felt when I fell through the crack the first time.
"Into the water!" I shouted at her.
With a brutal effort, using all the weight of my body and the little mana I could gather in my arms, I managed to free one hand and pushed her hard toward the channel. Clariana fell into the water just as the earth closed completely around my legs, trapping me up to the waist.
I had no time.
I concentrated mana in both palms and launched an Impact directly downward, against the earth that held me. The rock and soil cracked with a dull roar. I took advantage of the crack to push myself upward and jumped to the side, rolling on the wet stone.
I had barely landed when a blade gleamed centimeters from my neck.
It was the same guy I had run into a while ago.
His sword cut through the air with a sharp whistle. I twisted my torso on instinct and blocked the slash with a spinning kick, hitting the flat of the blade with the sole of my boot. The impact ran through my entire leg, but I managed to deflect it. He took two steps back, smiling arrogantly.
He gave me no time to counterattack.
A tornado hit me from behind with the force of a hammer. The air filled with fine dust that got into my eyes and mouth. I was thrown forward and the ground disappeared under my feet.
I fell.
Several meters of darkness and the sound of wind in my ears. I landed badly at the bottom of a natural hole, hitting my shoulder against a rock. The pain tore a grunt from me. When I looked up, still dazed, I saw four silhouettes leaning over the upper edge, outlined against the weak light of the cave.
One was the dwarf from the Phantom Troop, Bricks I think his name was.
Beside him was the knight who had attacked me.
And next to him two guys identical to the ones who attacked me in the city.
I understood everything now.
A crack appeared in the middle of the wall of the hole.
The hole began to pour water. Fast. A constant stream entered through a crack in one of the side walls and the level rose before my eyes.
The knight rested a hand on the hilt of his sword and smiled from above.
"Here we're going to kill you."
No witnesses.
No escape.
I got up as best I could. The water already reached my knees. I touched it with my fingers and then brought my hand to my mouth.
Salty.
(Seawater… where the hell does seawater come from down here, in the middle of a forest?)
I saw the crack where the water entered with more force. It was narrow, barely the width of an arm. I approached it, ignoring the laughter coming down from the edge, and crouched enough to whisper something into the darkness of the crack.
Laughter came from above.
"He's crazy," commented the dwarf with his clown voice. "He's talking to the wall."
I didn't answer. I just turned and raised my guard.
The coordinated attack began immediately.
"Die for underestimating the Phantom Troop!"
The dwarf was first. Small black portals, the size of a head, opened under my feet without warning. Every time one appeared I jumped or rolled, but the irregular ground and the ever-rising water made movement difficult. One of the portals grazed my ankle and I felt a brutal pull that almost stole my balance.
The big guy worked in silence. He touched the ground with both hands and the infrastructure of the place trembled; undulations occurred and the terrain moved to make me lose my balance.
He didn't control the entire terrain, only limited zones. He raised platforms of stone and hardened earth on the sides of the hole, creating elevated points from which the knight could launch himself without falling into the water. He also made sharp rocks rise from the ground that tried to impale my legs.
The one with the single-horned mask was in charge of the chaos. Compact tornadoes that spun inside his own arms were launched against me, lashing my face. Breathing became increasingly difficult. The wind mixed with the salty water and wet earth, turning into a fine mud that hindered every step.
The water already reached my waist.
I couldn't use the Lightning Spears. If I did, the current would electrocute me too. All I had left were my fists, my kicks and my Impact.
The knight jumped down from one of the platforms. His cape fluttered for a second before his sword sought my neck again. I blocked the first slash with my left forearm reinforced with Blut. The clash made the hole tremble. The second slash I deflected with a low kick. The third I took full on the shoulder, cutting cloth and skin.
I growled with rage and answered the aggression.
A direct knee to the knight's stomach stole his air. I took advantage of his moment of weakness to plant both hands on his chest and release a point-blank Impact. The shockwave lifted him off the ground and slammed him against the stone wall. He spat blood.
I couldn't celebrate it.
The man with the single-horned mask took advantage of the opening and sent a tornado directly at my face. Remains of earth and sand entered my mouth and nose. It forced me to swallow salty water mixed with dirt. I coughed, almost drowning, while the water kept rising.
"You're going to die here, trash!" the man shouted from above, laughing. "This hole will be your tomb!"
The water already reached my chest. Every movement was heavier. Every breath, shorter.
And the four of them kept looking down at me from above, sure that it was only a matter of time.
◇◇◇
While Razel struggled not to drown, on the surface Gilbert and Zack continued fleeing.
It was no longer a single Dimitrie copy. There were three.
"This trial is the most absurd of all!" Zack shouted, dodging a bolt that almost burned his shoulder.
Suddenly two figures fell on the puppets from the trees.
Leila and Tonma.
With surprising coordination, Leila distracted while Tonma used smaller versions of his "Gagan" to destroy vital parts of the puppets. In less than a minute the three were reduced to pieces of inert armor.
Zack and Gilbert recognized them instantly.
"The dog girl… and who's that?"
"I became TonTon's disciple in the biting style!" she announced proudly, with her chest puffed out.
"I'm Tonma and it's not called that."
They didn't fully understand, but they were grateful for the help.
"The goal is close," Gilbert said. "Let's go together."
They advanced cautiously among the trees. The forest was still dangerous, and none of them wanted to relax yet.
Suddenly, in the distance, between two enormous oaks, they saw a figure moving at absurd speed.
A man in elegant green clothes, almost shining under the little light that filtered through the canopies, and long silky brown hair that waved behind him like a cape.
In a matter of seconds he took down two Dimitrie copies with precise and lethal movements. Small, controlled bolts came from his fingers every time he struck.
Zack frowned.
"Who the hell is that?"
The man stopped for a moment over the remains of the puppets, ran a hand through his hair and smiled arrogantly.
"The Knight of Lightning. Remember that name."
With that said, he disappeared among the trees as if he had never been there.
Gilbert clicked his tongue.
"Another lunatic hungry for the spotlight."
Leila sniffed the air, confused.
"It smells… strange. Like a storm."
Tonma said nothing, but his eyes followed the place where the man had gone.
They continued advancing. A few hundred meters further on the noise of combat became deafening. When they reached a wide clearing they stopped dead.
A dozen Dimitrie copies were facing three men who fought with a coordination and power completely different from the rest of the participants.
Zack's eyes widened with recognition.
"It's them…"
Gilbert nodded gravely.
Tonma asked who they were.
Gilbert explained while they watched:
"The Three Knights.
The representatives of the three ducal families of the kingdom. The one with silver hair, sharp but confident expression. Dirk Rapha Mermoria, of House Robson."
"This is nothing to me!" Dirk shouted excitedly.
"The one with long blond hair and blue eyes. Alessand Rapha Adder, of House Rodman."
Relaxed and confident he said, "Elegance makes strength and you lack it."
Gilbert pointed to the last of them.
He had black hair, clear glasses and a stoic but intense personality:
"Paxton Rapha Bianchi, of House Rosenthal."
Paxton contemptuously dismissed his enemies without emotion while destroying them.
"Is this all you have? What mediocre copies you are."
Zack grumbled.
"Now I understand the cloud of dust from the previous trial. It was their doing."
"That's right," Gilbert said, watching how they defeated their opponents.
"Let's ignore them and keep going."
They ignored them and continued in a straight line until they reached the goal, being the first of the group.
Before crossing the finish line Leila looked back, uneasy.
"Where is Master…?"
she wondered while Pepe declared that they were the first to arrive.
◇
The water already reached my stomach.
The knight stayed on an elevated platform that the big guy controlled from a distance. Every time I tried to get closer, the ground under my feet moved or sank.
I could have electrocuted the water with a Lightning Spear, but the big guy only manipulated small and changing zones. It wasn't total terrain control, but it was enough to keep me at bay and protect his companion.
The water level kept rising. Soon it would reach my chest.
I slipped and fell into the water.
Then a soft voice, almost a whisper, resonated inside my head through aquatic vibrations.
"Hold your breath."
I didn't think any further and followed the voice's instructions. I obeyed on pure instinct.
I surfaced to take air. I inhaled all the air my lungs could hold until I felt they were going to burst.
"Here I go."
The dwarf, the one with the clown smile, looked around with a frown.
"Where is that voice coming from?"
The crack through which the water entered widened suddenly, as if something had forced it from the other side. An enormous torrent burst in with violence. The big guy reacted instantly and tried to close it by raising walls of earth and stone, but the water pressure was too much. The walls he built cracked and collapsed again and again.
In a matter of seconds the hole flooded completely.
The world became a chaos of bubbles, murky water and shadow. My enemies floated or clung to the walls as best they could.
The knight tried to stay on a platform that no longer existed. The man with the single-horned mask created small air currents underwater, but they lost strength rapidly.
Through the murky water I saw a familiar silhouette swimming toward me with grace and speed — Clariana.
She took my hand firmly and pointed upward, toward the four who were still trying to reorganize.
Her message was clear even without words:
Eliminate them.
There's no guarantee they'll drown.
If you give them time, they'll find a way out.
I nodded.
First I went after the big guy. The man who manipulated the earth was the most dangerous under these conditions because he could still manipulate the terrain even while submerged, though with less precision. I swam toward him with all my strength.
He saw me coming and tried to create a stone cage around me, but the water slowed his movements. I reached him, used a powerful punch that forced the air out of his lungs. Once, twice, three times. I kept hitting him until his body stopped struggling and became heavy. He stopped moving and floated.
The others were trying to escape.
I focused my gaze on my next target.
The dwarf didn't hesitate for a second. He saw his companion fall and reacted with speed. He created an improvised, irregular and forced portal, grabbed the knight by the arm and both disappeared in a black flash before I could reach them.
Only the man with the single-horned mask remained.
The leader of those Desert Kings that Zack had mentioned. He created an air bubble around himself so he could breathe and from inside it began launching hardened whirlwinds at me like projectiles.
I swam in a zigzag thanks to Clariana, dodging as best I could. The whirlwinds lost speed underwater, but they were still dangerous.
He generated an air bubble around himself; he was running out of air.
When I was close enough, I concentrated mana in my right fist and released a concentrated Impact directly against the bubble.
The air sphere shattered.
The water enveloped him immediately. I took advantage of his moment of panic, grabbed him by the neck with both hands and dragged him downward, deeper, away from any air pocket. He struggled. His hands tried to scratch my face and neck. The whirlwind he still controlled grazed my arms, cutting the skin. But I didn't let go. I kept him under until the movements became weak… and finally ceased, perhaps.
I released him. His body floated.
But I was also running out of air.
Clariana appeared at my side again and took my hand. She guided me toward a narrow, dark tunnel I would never have found. There were small air pockets trapped in the irregular ceiling. We swam as fast as we could, rising to take a gulp of air every time we found one.
"It's not much farther, hold on a little more."
She said while guiding me somewhere; the bubbles were already running out.
My lungs burned. The water pressure and the accumulated fatigue made me see black spots. When I truly thought I was going to pass out, she went ahead, placed both hands on a thin layer of rock and broke it with a tail strike and magic.
She pushed my head toward the hole.
Air.
I clung to the edge with both hands, coughing, spitting salty water and breathing like a madman.
My chest rose and fell violently. I clung to the outside and after being on solid ground I observed that I was somewhere in the same forest.
Clariana quickly hid under the surface at the exact moment a flying orb of Pepe appeared floating in front of me.
"Last remaining participant! Where had you gotten yourself? If it weren't for your companions saying you were somewhere I would have already disqualified you."
"Everyone else has already reached the goal! You have thirty seconds or you'll be disqualified!"
The orb moved away without waiting for an answer. I followed it and saw that I was only a few meters from something that looked like the goal; my vision was still blurry.
I turned toward the water, still gasping.
"Clariana…"
She showed only her eyes and forehead.
"Good luck."
She told me; I couldn't say a proper goodbye to her.
"Thank you. Really."
That was all I said to her.
There was no time for more. I took off running toward the goal, ignoring the pain in every muscle as I activated Raijin Phase 1 to run fast.
I had covered barely fifty meters among the trees when I heard a muffled scream behind me. I stopped dead and looked back.
"No! Let me go!"
"Help me, Razel!"
A man dressed like an executioner, with his face completely covered by a light-colored cloth, had Clariana by the hair and was dragging her toward the interior of the forest and then put her into a bag.
She struggled, but the injury to her fin and the fact of being on land while wet weakened her.
"I'll take her back to the casino in the city," said his hoarse voice. "The boss will pay well for a mermaid in good condition."
I wanted to turn. I wanted to throw myself at him without thinking.
Pepe's voice resonated from another orb that appeared beside me:
"Ten seconds!"
Time stopped inside my head.
(If I don't make it… everything I've done until now is useless. The queen's plan. Luring the Phantom Troop.)
I clenched my teeth so hard my jaw hurt.
"Forgive me!"
I launched myself toward the goal in a desperate sprint. My legs trembled. My chest burned. Behind me I could still hear Clariana's struggling, which I could hear because my senses were amplified.
I crossed the line of magical light just as Pepe's voice shouted:
"Zero!"
"The last participant has arrived!
The nine finalists are finally here!"
I fell to my knees, gasping, with my hands on the ground. Gilbert and Zack appeared immediately and helped me up.
"Razel, are you okay?"
I could barely speak. I looked toward the forest, toward the exact place where they had taken Clariana.
"Is there… a casino near here?"
My two companions exchanged a confused look.
"There is," Gilbert said, and Zack asked me.
"Do you want to gamble or something?"
I just clenched my fists until my knuckles turned red.
"Yes."
(I'll find you and save you, Clariana. I swear it.)
_________________
The fanservice is for Clariana, the new waifu. That's right, Razel is definitely a pervert… but you all have your reasons for being jealous.
https://danbooru.donmai.us/posts/12059453
_____________
Download the PDF with illustration here: https://mega.nz/file/yhYn3B5L#7vfkjTUtHk-keEA1c6qCLizG0nZGLF9H3phfoFNehAk