Superficial Cosmos

Chapter 100 - Superficial Cosmos

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Superficial Cosmos is a biome came from an unknown origin. Even in the Stella's official bestiary, the place still remains a mystery. The biome was already there, even with the Aerial Enclave, an old, ruined city before it floats away. Oh! Incidentally, Superficial Cosmos was actually just a Mod made by Stella's players. Should it still be considered as an official entity in bestiary, I wonder? It should be a yes, right?

Additionally, for the biome's appearance. Besides the supernatural phenomenon that turns the sky into a stellar of endless night, the biome is filled with a ghostly mist. The place is located on a large crater, now had an appearance of a pale color. Kind of like an unknown infecting the place.

Anyways, back to the present. Astra, Lemuen, and I continued our way to the said Biome. Keyword: present. Because the moment we stepped inside the endless night of a Biome, loads of alien-like creatures with myriads of varieties came to attack us. A gargantuan alien with golem-like look, a floating eye, a giant mantis, and some alien with an odd appearance. All of them had the same color type, a combination of black and blue. They really merge well in the biome appearance-wise.

Nonetheless, it was a horde, were going to get crushed by their overwhelming number if we don't retreat sooner! ....Or was it?

"Ora! Take this!" Astra shouted in delight, hysterical as she violently obliterates the hordes of alien-like monsters coming her way. It was an impressive sight, I say. "What's wrong?! Is that all you've all got?! Nyahahaha!!"

"Wow... look at her go..." Lemuen commented, visibly in awe. "She looks like she's having a time of her life..."

"Isn't that great?" I replied. Astra's situation still hasn't lost at the back of my mind, so seeing her like this makes me happy. "Anyways, we should help her. Lemuen, support us from the rear."

"Yes!" Lemuen replied, then began to cast her spell, aiming her Stave at the group of monsters and stormed it with her magics.

As for me, I dashed swiftly behind Astra. Slicing everything in half who dares to attack her in her blind spot. While doing so, Astra and I fought an unceasing onslaught of army of monsters, moving and supporting each other's back. We were fighting in synchronized tandem, added with Lemuen's remarkable support. Not to mention our Weapon's skill, which shoots beams from Astra's blade and my sword's lightning from the enemies. Looking at it, we were unstoppable!

Anyways, while were fighting, let me give you an insight on why we're here. Upon these countless creatures, drops a material called [Cosmic Particles]. These [Cosmic Particles] is used and merged with [Mana Fragments], thus creating a consumable item called [Spirit Shard]. And this item, as you probably guessed, will be used to permanently increase our Mana from 200 to a maximum of 400. Davis already had his status double than us so it can mean that this item will also increase ours after consuming.

Taking a step back, both of us leaned into each other's back. "Haha! Sai, this thing rocks." Astra said.

"Right?" I replied, mildly panting. Don't get me wrong, I just forgot to breath due to an intense excitement. "Huff, I'm glad you're enjoying it..."

"Really, Sai..." Astra replied, sweating bullets. "Thank you for everything..."

"Oh? You're welco—"

But before I even finished my words, Astra dashed away, engaging from the enemies. Perhaps she's only taking a bit of a breather... That's rude, girl!

Lost in thought, I noticed that our rear support, Lemuen is starting to get girded by the enemies. So, I dashed in quick approach and began slicing the monsters that dares attack Lemuen. They were quite many of them, but it didn't matter. The lightning bolt that rained from a random direction finished the half while I killed the latter. Man, this sword sure is overwhelming.

"I guess Vaconawa being a half-deity wasn't for show, huh." I remarked. "This Weapon sure is darn strong as heck. It's so fun to use."

"Sure is." Lemuen replied, firing magics from the monsters. I got to say, Lemuen's Staff fits perfectly in this kind of situation. The flower-shaped magic explodes into the group of monsters, spreading another small petals that homes to other enemies. In short, it's an AoE specialized Magic Weapon.

While pondering so, I continued to kill as many enemies as possible, not getting far off Lemuen as to protect her. As for Astra, eh... I'm just going to get her have her fun.

* * *

Three hours had passed since we took our first step from the Superficial Cosmos. And ever since then, the number of monsters didn't diminish even one bit! What's going on?!

The fight continued endlessly that we have no choice but to issue a tactical retreat. Currently, we were taking our rest inside a ruined building just outside the Biome. This building probably got left out when the Ruined City emerges upwards from the sky. Regardless, despite our heightened stats, fighting continuously for many hours would still wear us out eventually.

"Man, my body feels sore..." I groaned, setting a [Campfire]. "Just where do they even get that numbers... It was ridiculous."

The place was dark and quite gloomy. Probably affected because it was near the Superficial Biome. Nonetheless, such timid environment is making me sleepy. Ugh, I want to rest...

"Shall we wait for the others to arrive then?" Lemuen suggested. "All those pressures I've been feeling is starting to wear me out..."

"Me too..." Astra leaned tiredly against the wall, looking obviously sleepy. She's been fighting in full vigor for an hour, demolishing everything in wildly. Like girl, learn save your energy...

Anyhow, from those continuous three hours of work, we manage to haul an astonishingly number of 1600 [Cosmic Particles]. Ridiculous right? But sadly, despite the number, were not even halfway of our desired total.

In order to craft a single [Spirit Shard], I would need an exactly 50 [Cosmic Particles] to be able to craft it. Multiply by 10, which is the amount that a single person will need to maximize their Mana. Lastly, multiply by 8 which is the members opted to take the item each. In conclusion, we would need an exact amount of 4000 [Cosmic Particles] for everyone to get each of their own fill.

"What a blunder..." I mused. I probably should have made plans for this. Anyhow, I also got to think the moral of the girls currently. "How do you fare, girls?"

"I'm good..." Lemuen replied. "Though, I'll be frank, I really want to take a long rest first before we continued. Is that okay?"

"Ugh, me too..." Astra added.

"Of course, you can!" I replied. "I'm glad you're being honest with me. It would have caused us some problems had you lie for the sake of modesty."

"Yeah..." Astra timidly replied. "I'm glad you're not one of those people who likes to boss around, forcing people to do their job..."

"Hey! I would never do that!" I complained. I was done setting the [Campfire] so I slowly leaned against the wall to finally take some rest. "I had thought that one of you would actually suggest into taking a full retreat but surprisingly, you still want to continue, huh."

"Well, yeah." Astra replied. "Still wanting that Artic exploration so..."

"Me too." Lemuen agreed. "Moreover, I'm having so much fun. It's my first solid adventure after all."

"Good. I'm glad you're both—?!"

Roar!! I was shocked when I was abruptly interrupted by an Alien-like Mantis creature that lunge towards us. We were outside the biome, so how?! Nonetheless, I took my sword to fend it.

⟨⟨Iaijutsu⟩⟩ + ⟨⟨Triple Slash⟩⟩

After a quickdraw, I slashed the large mantis in lightning speed, cutting it in three pieces. The girls had also begun to take their weapon, but it would have ended pretty late. They were in an awkward position after all.

"Looks like were not pretty safe here, huh." Astra remarked, sitting back after she rose earlier.

"Looks like it." I replied. "You girls should take a rest. I'll be watching in the meantime."

"Really? Then, I'll take your word for it." Astra replied, then began to close her eyes.

"Yeah. Me too." Lemuen added, then leaned against a wall, putting her staff on her side. Yeah, take a rest. The place, despite eerie, was quite cool so they should be able to sleep comfortably.

"Welp, I guess it's me and myself then." I mused as I began guarding the place. Hm, since they're sleeping and all, should I build a temporary shelter, perhaps? The next few hours will get quite boring after all. And I can fend them while building in case some monsters decided to attack us.

"Hm, alright..." finally decided, I began rummaging inside my pouch. Alright, looks like it'll be quite busy for me from now on.