The shadows of plant demons danced against the cavern walls lit by the dim light of mana crystals.
They skittered and hissed as they dragged their deformed bodies along the uneven ground.
Hikari stood where the carcass of the flying creature was.
She was still in the middle of processing its essence.
Ella quickly crawled up to her. She stood up on her hind legs and brushed her claws against the scales that formed Hikari's skirt.
She lowered her body and did the same for the scales below her knee caps forming a leg guard before moving back up to her skirt again.
The scales ringed in response. The sound echoing back and forth between her own scales and Hikari's armour.
Ella chanted. The runes on her scales lit up. The scales on Hikari's armour responded.
A golden spherical translucent barrier materialized around them.
The mana got thicker and thicker as the hordes approached.
Hikari fidgeted uncomfortably, trying to suppress the assimilation process as she sense her foes approaching.
"(Don't fight it Hikari. I'll hold them off)"
Hikari stood still and focused in. The barrier burned brighter as her mana flow stabilized.
Ella crouches low in a combat stance.
Her wings spread out, her claws bared.
A plant demon, its body full of spikes, appeared out of thin air above them and lunged at Hikari, pointing its sharp drill tip at her.
Its body incinerated into ash as it passed through the barrier.
With a backflip, Ella swiped the drill tip away with her wings, landing gracefully on all fours.
A crowd of nimble plant demons began gathering around the barrier.
Hissing and skittering as they danced around it.
Volleys of acid and spines flew towards the barrier.
The fiery barrier evaporates the acid and repulses most of the smaller spines.
Ella's wings swiped away the rest.
A few spines reached Hikari and bounced off her abdominal muscles.
Before long, the main body of the hoard reached the barrier. They mindlessly threw themselves at the barrier, their bodies turned to ash in the wyvern flames as they attempted to smother the barrier with their own flesh.
At the end of the cavern, a plant demon sorcerer appeared.
The faceless abomination began waving its staff, aether fire gathering at its tip.
With a heave, it hurled a trio of burning projectiles. The cavern was briefly lit as the flames clashed.
The barrier flicked but held.
Ella hissed. She stood upright, held her claws facing each other, a ball of flame forming in the middle.
One fully formed, she turned her claw, palm facing the sorcerer and released.
The torrent of flame streaked through the tunnel.
At the last moment, the sorcerer casted a spell and phased itself out of the material plane.
Ella's flames went right through it, exploding against a stone wall, incinerating the hordes of plant demons emerging from the tunnel intersection.
The sorcerer phased back into the material plan and immediately began channeling the next volley.
Ella began hurling a constant stream of small projectiles towards it.
The sorcerer hastily released the channeled energy, creating a disjointed, flickering ball of aether flame at Hikari's barrier.
It was nowhere as powerful as the first, but Ella could feel it draining some of the barrier's energy.
But at least she was able to force the demonic sorcerer onto the defensive.
Holding out her other claw, she gathered flames into an orb.
Once fully formed, the orb began firing a constant stream of small projectiles at the demon sorcerer's barrier.
Ella was able to turn her attention to the hordes of plant demons that gathered right outside the barrier.
The piling heap of burnt flesh caused an unevenness in the terrain, creating a gap in the barrier. By sheer luck, a zombie plant got through the gap and was immediately shredded by a fiery slash.
The skittering nimble plant demons noticed the gap and immediately tried to squeeze through.
Ella unleashed a flurry of flaming claws, burning and shredding the plants as they funneled through the bottle neck.
The skittering plant demons quickly backed off, continuing to circle around the barrier.
Ella backed off towards Hikari.
Energy echoed back and forth between her scales and Hikari's armour.
The barrier shrunk, closing up the gaps and moving itself on even ground again.
A volley of aether fire struck the barrier.
Ella turned and hurled a volley of flames at the sorcerer who blocked it with its barrier.
She ignited the orb that was suppressing the sorcerer.
The barrier flickered as a volley of aether fire struck it from another direction.
Ella turned and channeled another orb to suppress it.
A plant demon suddenly came out of its camouflage right behind Ella, its drill aiming straight for her.
A flick of her wings knocked the demon into the barrier, incinerating it.
But it caused her to fumble the orb.
The demon sorcerer was able to launch another volley of aether fire.
In a snap cast, Ella hurled a trio of her own fire bolts at it.
The larger aether fire missiles consumed the weaker flames, but it caused dissipation which softened their impact when they hit the barrier.
Ella created the second orb. The burned bodies of plant zombies were piling up again.
She readjusted the barrier, stabilizing it again.
The smaller, denser barrier was better able to handle the constant volley spines.
There was a brief respite.
Ella quickly crawled to Hikari and tore the heart of the flame elemental from her back.
Soon, the runes on the stone burned white hot.
Drawing the power of the stone into her claw, she released a stream of flames, rotating it in a circular arc, reducing the gathering plant demons to ash.
The plant demons quickly scattered, retreating back into the tunnels in the opposite direction of the mindless hordes of zombies.
Ella could still hear their skittering. The sound of their claws scratching against the stone on the cavern surface.
She channeled the flames again, releasing a torrent, incinerating the advancing zombie hordes one tunnel at a time.
Wave after wave she burnt. Yet more appeared.
She checked on Hikari. Her mana flow and breathing was almost stable.
She just needs to hold on a little while longer.
Volleys of aether fire appeared in all directions. Ella hurled her own flames to intercept.
The barrier flickers as it is bombarded in all directions.
Ella scrambled to keep up with the interception, hurling volleys of fire bolts in every direction.
But, she had to shrink the barrier to improve its strength as more and more demon sorcerers appeared.
"Let's go Ella." Hikari spoke, much to her relief.
Before she could reply, Hikari picked up her sword and dashed into one of the tunnels, grabbing the heart of the fire elemental floating in the air as she went.
The squishing sound of zombies getting crushed beneath her bare feet as she sprinted through the tunnel.
Jumping plants full of thorns came out of their camouflage hanging on the walls and lunge at her with their drills and blades.
Hikari merely kept running and knocked them aside with the sheer force of her momentum.
The sorcerers at the end of the tunnel hurled a volley of aether fire at her. She raised her arms in a guard, taking the hit directly.
She could feel the sting of the aether fire combusting her mana.
The sorcerers phased out of the material plane as the wrecking ball that is Hikari barreled down on them.
As she thundered past them, the sorcerers came out of the phase and charged up another volley.
Two flaming claws impaled them from behind, dragging itself through their flesh.
Ella dove after Hikari, flying in the center of the cavern.
They soon broke out of the hordes of plant demons pouring in from all directions.
The cavern around them was dimly illuminated by formations of mana crystals growing out of the walls.
The dripping sound of underground water. The distance sound of skittering demons.
Hikari placed her hand on a vine on the wall.
Ella watched curiously as she cast an unfamiliar spell on it.
"This way." Hikari continued marching in her caterpillar boots.
Ella slithered after her.
"(Where are we going, Hikari?)"
Hikari stopped to place her hands on another patch of vines, doing the same ritual.
"A resting spot"
Ella gave her a confused look.
"The vines. I can feel them."
Ella crawled up to her and placed her claws on her knee cap. Hikari felt the tendrils of her mana channeling into her, checking her.
"(Hikari is right. Hikari has manifested the plant mana)"
"Is it dangerous?"
Ella focused in, continuing to check her.
"(You're fine. It's a small amount compared to your body)"
Hikari nods and continues down the tunnel.
After a short trek, they reached a dead end.
Hikari placed her hand on the stone wall and closed her eyes.
Moments later, she turned to Ella.
"It's behind here."
Ella nods.
"(Ella can smell it too)"
The half wyvern began slithering around in circles excitedly.
Hikari placed both hands on the wall and focused. The mineral composition was tough down here in the depths.
She's not sure if she could break down the wall. Nevertheless, she gave it her best shot. She could sense the presence of plants behind the wall.
Not the demon plants, the native plants that she found in the previous mana veins that bore delicious fruit.
She channeled her mana through her arms into the stone.
Cough! She choked unexpectedly.
Cough! Cough! She coughed a few times, taking deep breaths.
She felt dizzy.
Ella crawled up to her to check on her.
Hikari sat down and started meditating to stabilize herself.
After a brief moment, she did.
"(Ella thinks Hikari's fine. It just the smog)"
Hikari opened her eyes and saw Ella sitting upright on her claws in front of her.
"The smog?"
"(Aura that appears deep into the ground and chasms. Different places different effects)"
Hikari checks herself. Her breathing has stabilized and her mana flow was normal.
Her arms feel slightly clammy due to the blow back from having her spells interrupted.
"Poison?"
"(Very mild poison Ella feels. Ella feels Hikari have enough resistance)"
Hikari closed her eyes and focused her mana sense. There was indeed a strange ambient presence. Distinct from the mana emanating from the mana crystal formations or the the mana of the demon plants.
It seemed to augment her mana. She didn't notice at first as her body had been constantly absorbing mana.
It was not very potent but it did also seem to very slightly dampen her concentration.
She quickly adjusted to it.
Standing up, she placed her hands on the wall again and channeled her mana. The sound of the stone crackling. The cracks themselves became visible, growing outwards from Hikari.
Then the wall crumbled into pieces.
— The Smog Potency : Very Low —
[ Mana + 5%]
[ Mind - 2%]
[ All proficiencies - 3%]