Level 1 Fallen

Out of consideration for the tiny creature attached to the underside of the car, I extended the barrier ahead of us slightly further down than usual. These fairies didn’t know how I usually flew, so there would be no real risk of discovery. At the same time, my Wraith Zone wrapped around the entire car, including the pixie itself, so it would see how we had managed to appear unnoticed before.

In the car, the other three were animatedly discussing various monsters or recent events, though at the same time they were sending messages to one another privately. Anything concerning the pixies that we didn’t want to have shared was left out of normal conversation.

As we flew along, a sudden, sharp beep caught the attention of everyone in the car. We had yet to see any monsters yet, or any fighting at all, but my eyes were drawn towards the item mounted on the dashboard of the car.

The dungeon detector was releasing loud, frequent beeps, with five dots visible on its small screen. “Diane, is it broken?” I asked hesitantly. We had never encountered an area where five different dungeons were in such close proximity. Sure, there was the Archetype dungeon that had multiple entrances for different instances of the same dungeon, but this reading implied that there were at least five dungeons clustered together within a one hundred meter area. Even the dungeons spawned by the city management window weren’t that clustered.

“It shouldn’t be…” Diane muttered. “You think that this has some kind of connection to the monsters attacking the pixies?”

“It might. We’d better investigate, just to be safe. In the worst case scenario, I’ll smash the dungeons and move on.” After I said that, I noticed the pixie on the underside of the car tremble, clearly eavesdropping on our conversation.

I drove the car down towards the source of the five blips on the dungeon detector. As I did, the car seemed to pass through some kind of invisible field. Once through the field, my eyes widened, and I quickly swerved the car off to the side to avoid crashing into a black stone pillar.

“I think we found the monsters…” Bella muttered, looking at the myriad monsters on the surface below. The ground, which had originally been a fairly normal meadow with neon flowers, had been replaced by a giant, black platform. Dozens of pillars lined its edge, and monsters of every shape and size stood on the platform. Between some of the pillars were open portals, allowing more and more monsters through, while the center of the platform was conspicuously empty.

This odd detail was soon solved when a pack of five monsters stepped onto the center, abruptly disappearing. “Teleportation?” Ella asked. “So, this is where the monsters come from? They use these dungeon portals to invade the realm, and then teleport to some other location to actually attack?”

“Why go through so much trouble, though?” Diane questioned next. “If they have the power to gather like this, why not just go directly to their staging point, or attack from here?”

“It’s because it’s a random teleporter!” a small voice shouted out, startling the four of us in the car. A tiny, humanoid form flew up from beneath the floorboard of the car. It had four butterfly-like wings and blue hair, its body releasing a shimmering light. “We need to get out of here, quick! Hurry, hurry!”

“What the--” Bella looked at the pixie in shock, but it just as quickly turned to her.

“Hurry, hurry! I know you’ve known about me being there for ages! No time to chat!” Hearing that the pixie was already aware that we noticed it, I let out a sigh, lifting the car up and out of the stealth field that they had set up around the platform.

“I’ve surrounded the car in a high-level stealth field, so they shouldn’t have detected us,” I pointed out, but the pixie quickly shook its head.

“No, no! Not you, me! They have ways of tracking us! Hunt us down, put us in cages, take us away, or just kill us on the spot! Even if we hide in bark or brook, they know where to look!” I perked a brow, flying higher and higher in response to these panicked cries.

Sure enough, three figures flew out of the seemingly empty space. Two of them appeared to be demons, while the third was a black-winged harpy. Their eyes were fixated on the location of the car, showing that they did in fact know the location of this little pixie.

“Everyone, grab onto me,” I said, before looking at the pixie. “You too, unless you want to be left behind.”

Letting out a startled squeak, the pixie flew over and hugged my cheek while the other three reached out and placed their hands on my arms. A moment later, we teleported back above the space where Ella had first been trapped.

The pixie held onto my cheek for several moments after the teleportation, seemingly still waiting for whatever was going to happen. It only let go after I finally spoke up. “We’re already here.”

After that, the pixie blinked, backing away and looking around. “Huh? You did a spatial shift without invoking any runes?” it asked in confusion. “Is that one of those ‘skills’ that people keep talking about? I just thought that this vehicle was a runic machine, but I guess there’s more to it than that, then.”

Then, the pixie turned towards the four of us, looking somewhat unsure of what to do. “So, what are your actual plans for us, huh?” it questioned with a sharp tone. “I know that air tapping thing is how you all talk to each other secretly! If you wanna harm us, I’ll… I’ll fight you! Yeah!”

The four of us blinked almost in unison as we looked at the tiny pixie, who in this form looked about as intimidating as a small kitten. “We’re not interested in fighting,” I answered, shrugging my shoulders. “We heard a couple weeks ago that the fairies were being hunted down by monsters, so we thought we’d come hunt the monsters down in turn. Maybe we’d even get on your good side in the process. But, most of us got caught up with another matter and couldn’t come until now.”

Ella gulped, nervously looking off to the side. “As for me, well… I just thought that the pixies sounded really cool, and wanted to see what you looked like. Maybe… maybe I’d be able to design outfits for you, and that would make me look better for my bosses.”

That reminded me, Ella worked at some fashion company in the world of Players, and used her position as a ruler of a nation to promote her company’s products. 

The pixie, meanwhile, looked at Ella in surprise. “Really, really? No lie?” Then, she turned to face me. “And what would you do if you did get on our good side, huh?!”

Ella simply blushed further, while I gave another shrug. “Probably just see if any of you wanted to come and live in the kingdom I’m in charge of. Nobody would want to hunt you or anything there, so you’d be safe. Otherwise, we might be able to set up some kind of trade deal.” I didn’t really have anything that I needed to hide from this pixie. If I said that I just wanted to be friends, it might be more suspicious to a creature that was used to being hunted by everything that came across it.

The pixie seemed taken aback at our answers, placing a hand on the side of its head. “No lies, really, really? That doesn’t make any sense, no it doesn’t. Are they all just a little silly in the head or something?”

My eye twitched at the pixie’s one-sided conversation, while Ella hesitantly spoke up. “Uhm… who are you talking to?”

“Hmm? Oh! I’m talking to the Pixie King Gerfectenalt Riolegese the Third! Ruler of G’Riol, seventy-eighth in line to the throne of Feycross!” the pixie puffed its chest out proudly as it announced who was on the other end of its conversation, before blinking. “Huh, I shouldn’t have told them, I shouldn’t? What do you mean, huh? But everyone should know how awesome you are, yeah!”

I had the strangest feeling that this pixie was a particularly troublesome individual, even for the one it served. “Anyways, what can you tell me about that platform we saw before?”

“Hmm? Oh, right! We need to report that to Pixie King Gerfectenalt Riolegese the Third! We found the new relay point! They’re hiding it with a sneaky field, real sneaky! So far, they’ve opened five portals, five! Yeah, yeah, we need to get rid of this one before the last two get opened up!” the pixie ignored my question, a hand on the side of its head as it reported back to its superior. 

Still, the report was valuable information. From what the fairy said, it sounded like each of those portals should lead back to one of the monster cities. Once all seven cities were connected, the monsters would have completed their forward operating base. It was possible that some other special effect would occur, but we didn’t have enough information to determine that for sure.

“Yeah, yeah, we’ll wait here, Pixie King Gerfectenalt Riolegese the Third!” the little pixie reported, performing a salute off into the distance before turning towards us. “Your services have been commissioned by the great pixie kingdom of G’Riol. Your mission, whether or not you choose to accept it, is to lead the army of G’Riol towards the sneaky place!”

“What?” I blinked, caught off-guard by the sudden announcement. “I thought you guys were avoiding the monsters and hiding from them. ‘In bark or brook’, you said before.”

“That’s when we’re alone!” the pixie huffed indignantly. “The might of the army must not be underestimated, no no! We’ll destroy their sneaky place like we destroyed all of the others!”

Noticing the lack of any kind of mission window, Diane couldn’t help but question. “No offense, but… what exactly do we get out of this? You’re just suddenly ordering us to act on the behalf of a ruler we’ve never met.”

“Eh?” The pixie was confused, quickly turning around and placing a hand on the side of its head again. “Great Pixie King Gerfectenalt Riolegese the Third, they’re asking for some kind of reward. Yes, yes, I told them that this was a service to the great nation of G’Riol. Yes, I even told them your name, yeah! I know, yeah! Wait, wait, are you sure? Well, I know, yeah, but still! Yes, yes, I’ll tell them.”

With a huff, the pixie ‘hung up’ from its conversation with its king, turning to face us while clearing its throat. “The great Pixie King Gerfectenalt Riolegese the Third has so deemed that aiding in the destruction of the sneaky place will award your group with a personal audience, as well as one great runic cannon.”

The pixie puffed its chest out proudly once again as it made this declaration. At the same time, the air around the car seemed to shift, before a dark shadow was cast over the land below us.

I had to stick my head out the window and look up to see what was there. Above us, high in the sky, was a massive airship, pitch black in color with glowing blue vents on the underside of its spread wings. Its body was long and sleek, with hundreds of little pixies visible fluttering around it. “What… is that?” I couldn’t help but ask, while the pixie brought a hand up to its mouth, laughing flamboyantly.

“That is the flagship of G’Riol, the Spatial Cruiser Gelrioc. With thirteen great runic cannons, and a single flagship destruction blaster, it is the most powerful force within the great nation of G’Riol! Well, well, do you feel honored to work for the great Pixie King Gerfectenalt Riolegese the Third yet?!”

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