That Time a Bookworm Got Ascended in Tensura

Ch. 38 The Dwelling of Spirits

Rozemyne's pov: 

Milim threatened not to hold back if I didn't use all my power in the attack I was firing, and what attack do you ask? Well Right before this, Milim, Veldora, and I all had a conversation through [Though Communication]. Together the two of them devised a modified version of nuclear canon that would be able to act as a continuous spell, as opposed to a burst fire. Currently I was pouring all my magicules into what they had come up with. 

It was so, so hot! Despite my elemental resistance, I could still feel the searing heat of the magicules interacting in front of me. The barrier did keep the magicules in place, but it did not do so for the heat and wind produced by them. They told me to have the barrier exclusively work on magicules to save energy, but what they didn't  tell me is I'd be subjecting myself to a desert windstorm! Maybe even worse than that, it had honestly felt a lot like being inside a fire. It couldn't burn me, but I could still feel the heat tickle my skin! 

The worst part of all, was that this was a looking battle, I could see with my senses as the beams clashed. My beam was losing, at a not so slow pace. The clashing was slowly approaching me, as such I resolved to pour even more energy into it. I could not think of anything but the death beams made of concentrated magicules coming straight toward me! 

As it got closer and closer I could start to feel my legs getting uneasy under me, I desperately wanted to simply run away! As fast as I could! As the clash nearly got to me, I readied myself to run away.

Before I could even think of doing that, however, Milim's beam completely dissipated. Shortly afterward I felt a massive amount of magicules flow out of me as my beam blasted all the way across the cave and directly into her! Was she going to be alright? Sure she was strong, but this was my strongest attack.. 

it took some time for my attack to dissipate, I was standing there with baited breath waiting. Finally the magicules cleared enough for where Milim was standing to be visible, and when it did. "WAHAHA-HAHAHA-HAHAHA! That was so good, little spirit! I can see why Veldora likes teaching you-noda!" She was standing there with her arms on her hips and proudly announcing while she didn't even look like she had been scratched. 

"What are you made of!!?" I yelled, loudly enough that my throat's shrinking was notice-able. My voice was incredibly high pitched, and promptly before I could say anything further. 

Everything went black, and I didn't even feel my own body this time. It felt like I had shrunk to a much smaller size and I could not even use any of my senses. 

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Ferdinand's pov: 

The density of magicules, as I had come to know mana, in this cave was immense. It was difficult to see through, but several beings stuck out like beacons of shining bright light in my senses. The clash between the brightest and dimmest of the beings that stuck out like this, had just come to an end. Rozemyne had not really been victorious, in fact she had been terribly defeated. Milim had simply allowed her to take the final hurrah. 

"What are you made of!!?" Was what had just been yelled by Rozemyne, as she was beginning to shrink in the distance. I watched as her form compressed into a small orb of golden light with a small rainbow colored stone at the center, it looked very similar to a feystone. To say the least, that development was incredibly alarming. 

It seemed the first to react to any of this was the previous older sister of Myne, I had not remembered her name. She had with a speed I did not expect even after seeing her skirmish with Wilfried earlier, had ran straight out of the the barrier held up by the true dragon in front of us. This mistake proved extreme, as the air outside of the barrier was hot enough to visibly burn her hand as it reached out of the barrier. The girl was promptly pulled back by Veldora. 

The small fairy on Veldora's shoulder held up her hand, and from it spread changes to the environment. It appeared to not even require many magicules, and soon as the air around the barrier sizzled it cooled and fogged up the barrier shortly after. What exactly was she? 

Shortly after this the barrier dropped and the chilled air fell across us, I could feel the chill creep onto my cheeks. It felt very similar to the small chill I had felt in my stomach, a very familiar feeling as of late. Really Tempest was both a marvel and terrifying, in every way. 

The other demon lord I had met shortly earlier, Milim. She picked the stone up out of the air with and floated back over to us. She presented the stone to the fairy on Veldora's shoulder, then began to speak. "S-sorry, Ramiris. I exhausted her a lot more than I thought! How long will it take her to recover?" She let the stone levitate in the air while she twiddled her fingers together. 

'Recover? Isn't she dead?.. Is that not a feystone?. That odd glow on it isn't normal, but otherwise it looks just like one.' The chill in my stomach lightened somewhat while I stared at the two, it was still there but. I simply had to comment, I did not care about being rude to a superior at the moment "What exactly do you mean? She isn't dead?." 

The fairy turned to me while holding he fingers on each side of her nose with what seemed to be quite of an annoyed look. "Of course not, she is not a fully physical lifeform. She is just compressed to conserve energy while she recovers." It made sense, to a certain degree. Though it seemed much more extreme than the low power state Rimuru had described monsters as having before, was this different? Looking back to Milim the fairy took on an exasperated expression, "Rimuru is gonna be pissed, it will take a month for her to recover. Unless.. she could stay in the dwelling of the spirits, but someone would need to stay with her, and feed her magicules. Gotta match her attributes though, she'll reject anything else in this state. I definitely don't got enough." She sighed and waved her arms around in the air angrily. 

Milim seemed to perk up at this, "I have all attributes of magicules! I should suffice, no? I should have more than enough to get her back awake in a day." After more closely inspecting the stone, Milim nodded several times while looking over to Veldora, "He could do too." 

"NO NO NO! Not either of you, you don't want her to end up like me! You both have too much concentration of the demonic attribute!" The proposal actually seemed to get the fairy legitimately upset, and she then turned away and puffed out her cheeks before continuing. "I became a demon lord cause of your tantrum!" She was a demon lord? That was difficult to believe, I possessed several times her magicule capacity. 

Finally Milim settled her gaze on Sylvester and I, "How about one of them, they got a lot of attributes in pretty even quantities. The younger one is closer to a match though." While saying this the demon lord fully set the stone in Veldora's hand while awaiting a response from the fairy. 

The fairy turned and seemed to take an intense focus on the pair of us. Finally after some deliberation, she began to speak "You, I order you in the name of Ramiris, The Fairy of the Labyrinth to supply your magicules to help Rozemyne recover. I'll reward you afterward, but seeing as you are becoming a demi-spirit, that was a given." Taking on the first regal commanding tone I had heard from them, the fairy promptly commanded me to assist her, while pointing to me. This situation felt oddly familiar in a way I did not understand. 

I looked to Sylvester before answering, "Get my suit fitted, I cannot be there to fit it. Please just make sure they don't make it baggy like that last time you served to fit for me." After precisely ordering my immature older brother, I turned back to the fairy? 'Wait for one moment, Ramiris, The Fairy of the Labyrinth. She is a member of The Octogram, as well.' I took a bit of a respectful tone as a result, as I was afraid of disrespecting Milim or Rimuru by association. "I would have been willing regardless, Lady Ramiris. I would have liked to request a visit to the dwelling of spirits under more pleasant conditions, but it is an honor." With that I very slightly prostrated my head in respect. 

With a nod and an satisfied turn, she looked to Veldora. "Master, we need to go now. It would be best for him to start as soon as possible. I can direct him, but you'll need to take us there." 

With a nod and a bit of a pained expression Veldora said, "You just want me to tell Rimuru, I get it. You wry old fairy!" He had an improperly annoyed expression while huffing a small bit of smoke from his mouth. After the short tantrum, he turned to me and placed a hand on my shoulder. No consent involved, we were immediately transferred in space to a completely different part of the Labyrinth. I could no longer even sense and other part of it. 

The room was a circular cavern with a central crystal structure with a platform adorning it's peak. The ceiling of the room appeared to be composed of a rainbow pattern flat crystal, while the floor and walls were made of simple brown stone. Soon a pathway of light appeared leading to the peak of the pillar of crystal. 

The true dragon sighed, before gently handing the gem, which I should likely be referring to as Rozemyne, to me. "Be careful with her, she is liked in Tempest. I'd kill anyone who hurts her, personally." With that, he disappeared promptly there-after. It made one wonder why the dragon had come to be protective of her, though I assumed it had something to do with the teaching Milim had mentioned. 

While briskly holding Rozemyne's gem in my hand, I could feel the soft pulse of magicules inside. It was far fainter than the dazzling glow that could normally be seen, when she was not restraining her aura. One thing to wonder is if her bracelet had been compressed along with her, I worried it may interfere with the recovery. 

Ramiris was quick to fly along the path, while guiding me along. Once we had ascended to the height of the pillar, she turned back to me while landing on the ground. I could see a faint transfer of magicules from the rich platform to the fairy as she stood there. She then went to spent some time constructing what appeared to be a cot of light, or perhaps simply a bed roll similar to those hunters used for camping. "You'll be laying here, for some time. You won't need food, so don't worry about that." She gestured for me to lay, even if to my sensibilities it seemed inappropriate. Many things in Tempest had been quite inappropriate, however. 

"How long will I need to stay here? I can trust you as the queen of spirits, but I do not wish to be trapped for a long while." I made sure to respect her title along with the question, and then stated my potential grievance. 

The fairy stood up straight and rubbed her chin with her hand for some time, then after a short time she nodded. "It should only take a few days at most. I promise to tell you a story during that time, though. I'll be here each morning and night to check on you." A story? I suppose it could contain useful information from the past, especially from such an ancient being. 

"May I make a request on the topic?" 

"You may." She seemed rather suspicious while saying it, but accepted. 

"I would like to know of the history of Demi-spirits, it is often left vague." 

"Ugh. I knew you'd ask that! Fine, Fine. You are making up for my mistake, so I'll tell you." The fairy puffed her cheeks out while turning away, and gesturing for me to lay down. 

After taking a moment, I sat in the bed of light. Afterward I laid back, and could feel the magicules begin to flow into me. The floor of the crystal pillar was quick to make a connection with me, I could additionally see many spirits now which had previously been hidden. Floating around the space as small orbs of light, while jittering and buzzing like small bugs in the summer. I could also feel Rozemyne's gem respond to this, buzzing to a bit more life and siphoning off excess magicules from me and the surrounding air naturally. 

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--2229 words-- 

(AN: Next chapter will be, VERY LONG)