Masteria Online: Shattering the Dark God's Grand Scheme-Chapter 152 - What kind of...?

It was a testament to the sheer scale of the forest that there was anything to stand on at all. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

Lumi brought the airship down and stepped out. Lena followed, tucking her book away and looking around with curiosity.

"Why here?" she asked.

"Pixies." Lumi said.

Lena tilted her head. "Like fairies?"

"No." Lumi shook his head. "Nothing like fairies."

Many people made that mistake. It was a reasonable mistake to make if you didn’t already know the details. Both were small, both had wings, and both were found in forested environments. Anyone who drew a comparison on that basis could be forgiven for it.

But anyone who actually knew both would find the comparison absurd.

Fairies were not very different from humans in terms of mind and culture. They built institutions, maintained societies, developed prejudices and opinions, raised children with names and futures in mind. Headmaster Ney was stern and principled. Deputy Headmistress May was measured and observant. Their only real difference was their anatomy.

A pixie was something else entirely.

A pixie was much more akin to a wild monster.

Yes, it held intelligence. That didn’t make it compatible with the rest of larger society.

Biologically, a Pixie’s mind made little sense. It lacked several instincts and drives that other species would have.

Morality.

The drive to build something for the next generation. To progress. To understand and learn.

Oh, and they were also incredibly bloodthirsty, plotting to kill anything that wasn’t a fellow Pixie.

However, he wasn’t here for diplomacy.

Merath had to maintain a massive network of seals. That was the primary reason he could not leave Elenora.

The primary issue was that this network was set up by the Elf Queen, Lillia, hundreds of years ago. It was incomplete, rendering it riddled with countless flaws. The primary one was that access to the seal didn’t provide any information on where the seal was.

That was right.

Merath was maintaining seals that he didn’t know where they were, or if they even held a monster within still. Due to the nature of the seal, even if he knew the location of one, he’d need someone else to slay the monster within.

This raised countless questions on the spot.

Couldn’t Merath just figure it out?

Couldn’t he have others explore on his behalf?

Why is the seal like that?

Regardless, the conclusion was the same. For him to safely leave Elenora, he required the seals located and the monsters slain. Otherwise, they might all escape if he left Elenora.

This was a sacrifice he could make if absolutely needed for a greater purpose, but otherwise, it severely limited his movement.

Truthfully, there wasn’t that much he could do about it. It wasn’t as if he knew many of the seal locations either. The one he was turning into a raid was the main one.

In his past life, Merath was indeed forced to let the escape happen. That was one thing. However, the Pixies, wishing to cause chaos, allied with many of the escaped monsters.

Perhaps it wasn’t that important to deal with them, but there was also something else he would gain...

"Hehe~" A creature merely a foot tall, with relatively long wings, 9 inches long each, came out of the leaves. Its hair was a fiery red, and its expression was unnaturally bright. "Hey! Humans!"

"Hey?" Lena turned to see the creature. She hadn’t been told why they had come here, and so was unsure what attitude to adopt towards the creature.

"Humans~" The Pixie called out again. "Heya~! What are you doing up here?" She looked contemplative for merely half a second before flying up to Lena’s face. "Wanna follow me, humies?~"

"Humies?" Lena repeated. She blinked. "That’s cute! Okay, follow you where, pixie pix?"

""Huh? Oh, yeah yeah!" The Pixie nodded. "Follow me~"

Lena took a step forward, then looked back at Lumi. He gave her a knowing smile, and followed behind her.

"Humies~!" The Pixie chirped as they followed it. "It’s been a while since I’ve seen humans. I’ll get a medal, hehe~! Say, you know your kind is loved around these parts?"

"We’re loved?" Lena tilted her head. "How come I haven’t seen any Pixies in Elenora then?"

"This IS Elenora, silly!" The Pixie chirped in response.

"..." Lena was stunned for a second. That... wasn’t what she meant. Why the heck was the town named the same as the broader location?

The Pixie continued. "You see, Pixie magic resonates really well with humans! Just a bit further ahead is the Pixie altar. It lets us channel our magic to humans!"

Lena stopped.

The Pixie looked back with a small confused look. "Why’s you stop, humies?"

Lena gestured around the vegetation around her. "What’s with all the fairies hidden around us?"

"Hm?" The Pixie’s smile never went away. "You can see that? Oh well. Anyway, I have an explanation."

"Yes?"

The Pixie explained. "It was supposed to be an ambush, see. Since you spotted them, it’s time for open conflict!"

She spoke such threatening words so casually that many would think it to be a joke. Such a notion was proven wrong on the spot when the Pixie readied up a strike, launching its hand forward as its nails suddenly turned into unnaturally long, sharp claws.

The strike directly clawed into Lena’s face, digging out the left side of her face’s flesh.

Lena gave a big grin.

"Smile...?" Her unexpected reaction made the Pixie pause for a slight moment. By the time the Pixie came to, there was already a dagger about to be stabbed into the Pixie’s face.

"Too slow!" The Pixie mocked, teleporting away from Lena’s strike. "How do y-ujhnnmg-"

Its mocking words were directly snuffed out as a giant arrow of holy magic stabbed up through the Pixie, through its body and coming out of its mouth.

Lena’s smile never went away. "Did you really think... You were that smart? Hehehe~" She turned back to Lumi. "How’d I do! Was this a test for me?~"

Lumi patted her head. "Not exactly. But good job, darling."