Monster Girl Menagerie – Celestial Archive

I breathed in the clammy odor of the forest—a sprawl of ashen trees filled my vision. My companions trailed closely, their strides echoing through the silence. Though we maintained an experienced calm, Pyra bounced around with bubbling enthusiasm.

"So, you don't recall anything?" I asked, keeping my sight ahead.

"Nope," she said. "Nothing besides my name and general knowledge."

Her recounting of events—or lack thereof—was something she shared in experience with Tania. I wondered why Amara would be the only one to remember the darkness. Is it because she's stronger? I pondered.

While curious, Amara's unusual existence was not my priority right now—seeing the mission through to completion was.

We walked through the bushes, skirting the edges of ditches and leaping across sodden logs.

"This place is fascinating, in a hauntingly beautiful way," Pyra noted. "I mean, look at the flora of this forest—it's so sick!"

At least she seems to be having fun, I thought, shaking my head with a smile. The girl bounced with an energetic hop, running her fingers across the wrinkled bark, and bent down to pick a shriveled flower.

"We are getting closer; keep vigil," I reminded, moving ahead. My perceptive enhanced sense of smell warned me of the dangers. I could smell the rank odor of raw mana wafting off the creature—it was my first time smelling something so strong. Instead of zoning in on the target, we veered slightly off course and trudged ahead.

"We're going to dispose of the trash first, right?" Pyra asked, falling in line beside me.

I glanced back at the quartet. They carried themselves like prisoners walking to the gallows. A shadow of gloom covered their features. I smiled and nodded subtly. "Yup."

The path we had walked had been planned after observing the ranks of monsters charging the battle line. We had a general understanding of their layout, and thanks to Captain Aldrin's provided information, we had determined the prime convergence spot for the beasts.

Instead of wading through the tide of monsters, we decided to take a detour. Our path would've led us directly toward the B-Rank monster: our target.

However, we had brought along baggage in the form of my former teammates. If we wanted to continue ahead, we had to dispose of them first. Hence, our stopover at an event.

Unlike the monsters, my nose wasn't sensitive enough to sniff out an active event. Thankfully, Amara had confidently claimed to be able to find one. My skepticism lasted only as long as fog in summer; the vampire somehow managed to ascertain a rough direction by sensing spatial ripples. What did that mean? I had no idea.

"These events sound fascinating," Pyra remarked. "To create these so-called monsters and confine them within. And when the time comes, to cause a breakout. Sounds a little too organized for something natural, don't you think?"

"It isn't," Amara said, keeping her voice measured. "Nothing about those monsters is natural. They are sick and corrupted. It wouldn't surprise me if someone or something was responsible. The power to bring something of such massive scale into reality is beyond even me."

It wasn’t my first time hearing her concerns, but it always managed to make my heart feel heavy. The fact that even Amara at her peak wasn't confident in facing such power really hammered in the vastness of the world. Though I was oblivious to the underlying threat at work, I was determined to remain prepared.

We had wandered deeper into the forest when Pyra suddenly perked.

"Oh," she said, "what’s that?" Her eyes shone brightly as she regarded the glowing orange portal before us. The contrast between the portal’s glow and her hair’s shade made me wonder if it had somehow captivated her even more.

"That," I said, a shadow of a smirk adorning my face, "is an instance."

Event rankings were determined by the portal’s color. From what I had heard, experts concluded that pure, unattributed mana at different intensities produced varying reactions with the atmosphere. Visually, this manifested as differences in coloration.

E-Rank Events radiated weak mana and were thus white in color. D-Rank Events—like the one I had been caught in—were yellow, while Orange Events ranked above at C. I had only heard of Red Events, known to house B-Rank monsters, but I had no idea what color those above them were.

Nonetheless, an Orange Event meant C-Rank monsters—meaning their chances of survival were as slim as a snowflake against a bonfire. Which is to say, not much.

Amara shuffled forward with an intrigued look etched on her face and waved her hand near the surface of the shimmering portal. "Spatial Magic," she whispered so softly that I barely caught her words.

"Spatial Magic? What's that?" I asked, moving closer.

"You remember what I told you about Magic before?" She probed instead of answering my question.

I nodded, taking a moment to recall her words. "Mana can be used for more than just talents."

Amara smiled gracefully and turned her gaze back to the portal. "Magic is the art of altering the world by channeling your intentions through mana," she explained before shifting her attention to Tania. "Carving runes is a special form of magic as well. In fact, most things unrelated to talents fall under the category of magic."

Seeing her take an indefinite pause, I decided to push forth. "And Spatial Magic?"

The vampire didn’t reply to my inquiry, instead turning to my left. I followed her gaze and saw Pyra, a pair of glasses perched on her nose as she examined the portal up close. "What are you doing?" I asked without much thought.

Pyra hummed at my question and, without turning around, said, "Examining."

I was about to follow up on my inquiry when Amara interjected, "Explain Spatial Magic to him."

The Ifrit released another hum and finally shifted her attention toward me. "You know what magic is?" She asked.

"What Amara just said about altering the world and whatnot?" I offered.

"And do you know how to use it?"

"I don't know a lot of things, so why don't we just skip over it for now and focus on the problem at hand?"

"Very well," Pyra said, nodding. "At its core, Spatial Magic revolves around molding the fabric of space into the user's desired form. You can shrink or expand distances and distort or bend space. But more importantly, you can create breaches between realms." She paused to take a breath and then pointed at the event and continued, "Like this portal."

"So, the portal is basically a connection—a hole of sorts?" I said, frowning. "But what does it connect to?"

The amber-eyed woman shrugged at my question and went back to examining the fluctuating rim of the portal. I sighed and turned around, alighting my gaze on the quartet. Their faces had turned wan, and their disposition was morose. I think they had already come to terms with their fate—to some extent—and accepted it.

"I don't have much of anything to say to you all," I said, shifting my gaze from one face to the other. And that was true. I could've gone on a whole spiel about how this wasn’t an act of vengeance or even retribution for their actions—but I didn’t. I was simply repaying the favor.

"Having us around is better than killing us," Elias suggested. "You already have stronger people by your side, but it never hurts to have more disposable personnel. Just don’t throw us in there."

Edith and Finn seemed to share his sentiment, but Theodore met my gaze with eyes full of hatred. For some reason, his rage only deepened my satisfaction. Perhaps some sadistic part of me found his struggle and defiance immensely gratifying.

"Having trash around would only sully my image," I replied, watching despair wash over their faces. "I think it’s better if I just dispose of you promptly."

I gestured to Amara, and she summoned her shadowy tentacles with which she bound them. The four thrashed against their binds and let out shrill cries. They cursed me and prayed for a dreadful end, but I watched it all unfold with a look of indifference. I had no idea what awaited them on the other side, but I knew it would be the last thing they would see.

My last glimpse of the four was their resigned expressions as they were thrown into the portal, its surface shimmering briefly as it swallowed them one by one. For a fleeting moment, a peaceful silence washed over the gloom of the forest.

"Stand back," Amara said suddenly. "I’m going to close it for good."

She paused, then turned to me. "I need a boost."

I nodded and activated Spirit Call—the mana draining away from my body. Amara spread her arms forward, gusts of crimson wind picking up around her lithe figure. Tendrils of bloody mist rose from the ground, enclosing around the portal.

"She can use space magic...?" Pyra muttered skeptically.

"Is that surprising?" I asked.

"Oh, you have no idea," she replied with a soft chuckle. But all of a sudden, her smile faltered, and she frowned. "Oh. She can’t use Space Magic!"

"What?"

"My mistake," she said, shaking her head. "It seems she's just brute-forcing her way into shutting the portal."

"Ah!" I looked ahead as tendrils of blood wove around the portal, encasing it in a crimson cocoon that began to shrink rapidly. I could see the act taking a tremendous toll on her. She strained under its weight, fighting to maintain control as she groaned and trembled.

Even with intelligence over 1100, her mana felt like fragile threads trying to hold up the weight of a boulder.

"I have to help her." Even before she spoke, Pyra had already marched ahead. It was unfortunate that I couldn't use Spirit Call on more than one summon at once. Thankfully, the Ifrit had brimming reserves of Mana that eclipsed even mine.

"I'll help too," Tania told me before following after her. Unfortunately, I had no idea what exactly they were trying to accomplish, but I promised myself that once everything was over, I wouldn’t delay in expanding my knowledge and skills.

We just had to get through this night.