Arpious of the Planes



"What the hell… I even get the titles?" 

"I mean, if they have a function, but unfortunately, most don't. The main attraction, though, would definitely be [Monster Magic]. I don't know exactly how she managed to acquire such an overpowered skill, but I'm not complaining," Treyni smirked. 

I went to go and try to use one of the skills, but Treyni quickly grabbed my hand and dashed out of the opening we came from. 

"What's wrong?" 

"We have to wait for it to come out before we can patch anything up…." 

"Huh? Wait for what?" I lightly chuckled, but just as I got a bit too overconfident, a chill shot down my spine, and the being that had just appeared across this wall unleashed a terrifying roar. 

It shook the walls of the cave, and I could audibly hear the massive crystal stalactites within breaking apart and falling from the ceiling and walls.

"Wanna give it a try?" Treyni asked, tapping on the part of the solid wall whilst chuckling at my pale expression. 

"Ummm… sure…" I shrugged, letting out a long breath of stress in order to calm myself down. It took a bit longer than I hoped for, but eventually I managed to get to a level where I was able to infiltrate back into the cave and light the entire place up with golden flames. 

I didn't even see the monster as I immediately activated my skill, burning it to death, leaving its ashy corpse to just lie there, on the middle of the dusty ground. 

"Oh… wow… you're good," Treyni smiled, stepping through the entrance and touching the portal once again. And just like that, the entire place lit up with red flames once again, allowing a large gust of new oxygen to sweep through the cavern mercilessly. 

It nearly choked me to death as the sudden switch was so traumatizing to my body that it froze every muscle in my neck. It was almost as if the icy grip of death was already trying to get me. 

"What was that for?" 

"There were more…" Treyni continued to smile.

We soon exited the entire labyrinth without much trouble, but we did run into a few people who seemed like would bring us some trouble as soon as we got out of the gaping hole. 

Treyni immediately took down the mountains preventing the spread of gargoyles onto the rest of the plane whilst a busty beastwoman with cyan fur and hair walked up to us. Her arms were crossed, and her square dark blue pupils were locked onto Treyni, who just stared back. 

She still had a smile, but a sense of irritation almost seemed to radiate from her without having an outlet. She was too cheery and happy on the outside to display such negative emotions, so it could only escape as a deadly aura threatening to suffocate me. 

"What do you want now?" Treyni asked in a polite manner, yet the question definitely had some kind of other attack hidden behind it. 

"Do you understand how this disturbed so many citizens and trade routes? People kept complaining to me how their produce wasn't able to get shipped across the plane when you already know how terrible the relationships between each empire is currently… so, what is your excuse?" 

"Wait… wait, wait, wait, wait… We were only in there for at least an hour. Don't go blaming her when your people couldn't be patient for just a few seconds in comparison to the rest of their lives… like, come on," I stepped in angrily since it was clear this was just a personal attack. 

"No, Ysal, time is different within the plane's skeleton. An hour in there is an entire day out here, so she is in the right… but how about you speak to me a bit kinder next time. Then, I might just hear your sorry ass out," Treyni continued to smile. 

A bolt of lightning crackled between the two as they glared with such intensity that the air around them was suffocating. 

"Tch… whatever… who is this anyways? Some random?" The beastwoman angrily spouted at me while storming in my direction. "You seem pretty strong… how about you work under me instead of this leaf-headed chick. I'll quadruple your pay." 

Seeing how she thought I was a servant or some kind of assistant of hers pissed me off, but before I could speak up, the beautiful leafy woman stepped in instead. 

"First of all, she is a wife of Arpious, so how about you give her some respect? Secondly, she's an empress of another plane, not from here… so how about you now get out of our buisness and go back home, fur ball." 

Once again, lightning crackled between them as tension rose. I couldn't even attempt to infiltrate the conversation since they were so focused on trying to best the other that they blocked out any outside attempt to reach them. 

"Hmph… so you're one of my wife's concubines, huh? Well, it's a pleasure to meet you," The woman stuck out her hand for a handshake. 

"Well, I guess I am one of her concubines, but to me, she is my wife. In your terms, I have two other concubines who I love just as much… and she has visited me various times." 

The woman's eyes softened just a bit as she looked up at me with an intrigued stare. Clearly, she discovered something she wanted to make use of… or something like that. Her dark blue eyes were just so hard to read that I gave up in the end. 

"If you want to seduce somebody, then how about you pick the right choice… I'll treat you like a queen if you come with me," The woman, this time shifted her hand from a handshaking position to one where I could grab it like she was a knight and I was a princess. 

Palm faced up and her head leaning forward, she looked intent on capturing me from Treyni, who just rolled her eyes at the woman's pettiness.