The girl was clearly possessed.
She didn't simply become a priest to a forgotten goddess, it would occasionally take over her body and grant her miracles without a prayer. The dungeon was a serious issue we had to deal with, and her power seemed like the perfect tool for the job, but who knew... By the end, she could become an even bigger issue for Saipole.
"Aoi Sama... Ahead..." The voice of my followers barely registered.
What if the wizards couldn't restrain her? Banishment might not work on the possessed, not like any of my magicians could cast it. According to the pact, gods could not manifest on the continent, but the inside of the dungeon was a different plane. What if trying to use her power to my benefit spelled doom on us all?
"Um, Aoi Sama..." They whispered, but I missed the sharp change in the scenery, lost in these thoughts so deeply. Blindly following the traces of mana, I tried to predict if another dangerous monster was blocking our path, but stumbling on the dimensional rift, I wandered through without realizing it.
"Princess, look!" These words were uttered much louder, so I finally turned my head, recognizing the paladin's voice. Of course, she addressed her Princess from the north, not me, but it was enough to drag me out of my thoughts, unlike the calls of my wizards. I took a good look around. "The sky is purple, such a beautiful sight..."
"What? How is this possible?" The men of the penal squad stood with their jaws dropped, but even the magicians who had seen many strange things before, looked mezmerised at the landscape. I couldn't blame them, this was not what I expected either. "Are we on another planet?"
"Geddu says yes." The purple-haired Princess answered, cutting through their formation to set foot in the dungeon. Her behavior quickly started to change though, and her tone too. "It's a foreign world that collided with ours, and might have multiple gates connecting the two."
"But what is this lush vegetation deep underground?" One of the gladiators couldn't comprehend the previous explanation. But then again, after running into those abyssal creatures, I expected a claustrophobic, infernal subterranean landscape too, and not what we got instead.
The sky was purple and red, as if it froze in a permanent sunset, soft clouds hiding the actual sun from our sight. But even though we came all the way here under the ground, this was the surface of an alien world, a vast, open landscape with rolling hills and mountains in the distance expanding beyond the horizon. The entrance we came through was carved into the side of a cliff, which blocked my vision further back.
But this dungeon expanded far and wide, unlike something a newly formed interdimensional plane was supposed to do. The more I looked, the less sense it made. The explanation came from the Crantan goddess through the mouth of the northern Princess.
"This dungeon saw battles of epic scale in the last decade and completely transformed in the process... It expanded way beyond what humans thought possible. This isn't the only place it connects with this world." Her voice was unlike before. The goddess no longer sent her thoughts through the Princess to share with us, she spoke directly. I glanced at the wizards behind us, but they didn't notice.
They were too busy taking in the sights of this amazing realm, the lush forests and tall grass before us. But this turn of events fueled my worries even more. Still, as long as she didn't act hostile towards us, I had to use her power and needed to know where this knowledge came from.
"The creatures we met outside... They were outcasts, survivors of a lost battle, and tried to find a way out. The real enemies don't know that we trespassed their territories yet, but they won't hesitate to destroy us." She said before I could ask any questions. It sounded ominous, but at that moment, she seemed to be the greatest threat in the first place.
The Princess suddenly lost her balance, started blinking, and took quick breaths. The paladin had to support her, and I felt the mana reverberate around her body. Gadurien no longer possessed her body, but I couldn't tell if she willingly pulled back, or if the purple-haired girl fought hard enough to regain control. She was sweating and showed signs of distress, so if nothing else, my questions had to wait.
She seemed to share my worries, when our eyes with the blue-haired knight met, though for different reasons. I didn't want her friend to turn into an undefeatable enemy, and she probably didn't want to lose her the same way. The appearance of tiny, winged creatures prevented me from falling deep into my thoughts again, as they flew past our formation and started circling over our heads.
They looked like large butterflies at first glance, but once my eyes adjusted, they turned out to be fairies. Tiny humanoid bodies with large insectoid wings were often the protagonists of children's stories, but seeing them for the first time left an impression on me.
"Look at their wings, Princess." Cath still supported her friend, but her eyes glistened from the rare sight. They wore vivid colors on their wings, but their bodies were dressed in miniature yet crude clothing. Their ears were long and thin, but their hostile glare was the one thing that surprised me the most as if they didn't want us here.
"This is bad..." The Princess struggled to talk, and I wasn't sure if she meant her possession or the fairies. "They... They will alert their masters of our presence... Geddu wants me to wipe them out but... I'm at my limit."
Just as she said this, the little creatures suddenly sped up and flew towards the way they came from. They flew faster than expected, and I wasted precious seconds to clear my mind, heavy with worrisome thoughts. Once I prepared my spell and summoned flames they were out of reach. I sent a telepathic message to the wizards to take them down, but the distance grew fast between us.
I managed to burn a few of them, their wings catching on fire and they fell to the ground, but more than half of them kept flying even after the barrage of lightning bolts from my followers. A few got through, and I lost sight of them. This was indeed bad.
"After them, quick!" I yelled the order, and the magicians cast all kinds of enchantments on themselves to try and catch up with the creatures. Some of them ran incredibly fast, one even started to fly, but they couldn't match the speed of the fairies. I knew no such spells, so I had to stay behind with the gladiators and the rest. "Damn it."
The blue-haired girl let the Princess sit on the ground to take a few deep breaths while she examined the burned bodies of the tiny creatures I took down. Her wide eyes reflected both surprise and curiosity, but she wouldn't go as far as to touch them directly. She poked one with the huge sword she carried, whatever she tried to achieve with it.
"What was that for?" She asked angrily, aiming it at her Princess, not at me. "They seemed harmless, and now almost all of them are dead. Why did you tell them to wipe them out?"
Her behavior surprised me. She didn't seem like a soft-hearted woman to me, nor someone who'd use a tone like this with her friend or superior. Something felt off, but the tired gaze of the Princess didn't reveal anything for me. I wished I had a voice in my head, that explained what happened too, or at least helped me in any way.
"It's... They are still alive..." The purple-haired northerner said out of breath, and looking at the others, they seemed tired too. I was lost in thought until now and believed they dragged me down, but I just realized how exhausted I felt. And it wasn't a natural tiredness, neither one caused by overusing my mana. We wandered in those caves for a while, but I felt nothing until we entered the dungeon.
It appeared after the pixies started circling above our heads. The only one unaffected was Cath, and she pointed her heavy falchion at her only comrade. She acted strangely, we felt suddenly tired, and it took me painfully long, to put the pieces together...
I raised my hands, aiming behind the paladin, and she immediately retargeted her sword towards me. The gladiators noticed but reacted very slowly, and if I didn't launch those lightning bolts immediately, the crazed woman might have struck me down. But now she just laughed.
"You let me wear my magic-resistant armor, Aoi!" She yelled, swinging her sword to threaten me. Her tone didn't sound the same as a moment ago though. "Your bolts didn't even touch me..."
"And I wasn't aiming for you either, idiot," I noted, pointing behind her back. "You let yourself controlled by those tiny critters, magic-resistant armor or not... And you were about to attack your own Princess."
She froze up, almost dropping her swords. The sleepyness slowly escaped my mind too, and moments later everyone was back to normal, except the paladin, who was blushing her hardest, and the purple-haired northerner, who quietly fell asleep. Finishing off the pixies broke their spell, but it was scary how a few tiny creatures cast such strong magic against us, without anyone noticing.
"I, um... Sorry, and thank you." Cath mumbled, bowing for me before sheathing her sword and rushing to stand by her friend's side. She gently tried to shake her up, but the Princess was out cold.
"We should rest up anyway, let her sleep," I told her, and everyone else around. "Look for a good place to camp nearby, and be ready to fend off any creatures, be it large or small. I hope the wizards will return soon."
"Aye, Aoi Sama." The gladiators bowed, and their leader sent out a scout in every direction. The others were still under the spell of the dungeon itself and looked like they comprehended little from what happened moments ago. At least they didn't seem to be in the mood to rebel, and so far, we only lost one man to that beholder.
We made good progress, but it was too early to let my guard down. I needed a plan to deal with the possessed Princess, the dangers of this place, and the men at once, but first of all, I had to meditate and recharge my mana after this short engagement. Speaking of which, I felt multiple powerful waves from where the wizards left.
"I have a bad feeling about this..."