Chapter 21: Into the Otherworld

After entering the gate to the Otherworld, Velgin felt as if she was in outer space.

Looking around in all directions, she noticed that there was no ground or sky. Everything around her was floating about in the dark grey void of near nothingness, though by sensing the Magicules in the area, she noticed that there were a lot of weak monsters nearby.

Velgin's goal in this trip was to find an Insectar who has lots of potential, like Zegion. It was unlikely to just run into one, so she was going to visit Zelanus and hope he listens to her request. She also wanted to convince Zelanus to not partner with Feldway in the future to make it easier on the rest of the world.

Secondly, she wanted to avoid finding Feldway, since they would probably be enemies in the future when he goes mad. Even if Feldway would listen for now, once he starts disobeying orders to do what he wants, Velgin wouldn't want to deal with him.

After floating around and sensing the surrounding areas, Velgin noticed something else. The Magicules in the area are coming from one specific monster, Ivarage, who is so powerful that his leaking aura can create an atmosphere of a planet, keeping the world in.

As this was the first time she had ever been to the Otherworld, Velgin didn't know where to find the Insectars.

So instead, she was thinking of first finding the Cryptids, the mindless monsters born from Ivarage's Magicules, who are locked in an eternal battle against the Insectars. This meant she would be travelling closer to the Ivarage, which was still better than travelling aimlessly in this dangerous space.

Floating cautiously towards her destination in [Magic Mode] while constantly sensing her surrounding, Velgin both discovered and was discovered by many mindless Cryptids.

Insects, Beasts, Humanoids, Formless monsters, and more. The multiple dull, colorless Cryptids who saw Velgin immediately attacked her, not caring about who was stronger.

None of these beasts could withstand more than two attacks, though most only took one. Holy Light magic was a major weakness of theirs, with their impure Magicules and Spiritual forms.

The insect Cryptids weren't Insectars, so she had no qualms of annihilating them. The other Cryptides were the same, all followers of Ivarage, and Velgin showed no mercy, blasting them with a large amount of power.

Her attacks revealed her position to most of the surrounding Cryptids, but this was all part of her grand plan.

As the second wave arrived to take her down, Velgin hid her Magicules, and essentially became invisible to these monsters who relied on sensing energy rather than sight.

After they searched aimlessly for an hour, they left the area, scattering and returning to wherever they came from. And Velgin took advantage of this, following a humanoid Cryptid to wherever it was going next.

The Cryptid who Velgin followed didn't travel in a straight line, nor to a singular destination. Weaving about, zig zagging, curving, and turning, it found another group of Cryptids near the same area who were going towards a Phantom who was attracted by Velgin's energy. This lone Phantom was no match for the group, and was pummeled to death before being eaten.

They split up once again, and this time, the Cryptid travelled to a very peculiar place.

Instead of just monsters floating about, it lead Velgin to a large rock. This rock looked more like an asteroid, and had a cave carved into it.

Entering, Velgin saw that this cave wasn't the home of the Cryptid, but instead the home of its next snack, as once it entered, it immediately began feasting on the many eggs spawned by Ivarage's energy. The small cave the size of a room was stacked with eggs, making multiple piles on the floor of the room.

Sneakily, Velgin picked up three of the silver grey eggs, and stored them into her [Inventory]. Although these eggs showed no signs of having a soul, Velgin may be able to either transfer a soul into them or create a new soul.

The humanoid Cryptid seemed to be satisfied by its meal, curling up in a ball to take a nap.

After a full day, annoyed, Velgin was about to leave when the sleeping monster finally woke. It seemed that it was hungry again, and decided to travel in search of food.

Wandering seemingly aimlessly, Velgin was beginning to think that the Cryptid had no idea where it was going. And she may have been right, as the Cryptid walked directly into a patrol of sleek black Rhinoceros Beetle Insectars, and was quickly stabbed to death by their horns.

Finally finding her target, Velgin revealed herself to the patrol group to try to negotiate.

"Hello there young fellows! May I ask what's the direction towards your boss, Zelanus?" She said bluntly.

Maybe if Velgin was better at speaking to others she could properly negotiate, but the Insectars thought that this was a trap laid by the Phantoms, and immediately attacked her with their horns.

She tried to talk to them for multiple minutes, but their intent and determination to kill the intruder in front of them was too strong.

Eventually, after half an hour of failing to reason with the aggressing Insectars, Velgin had enough, and used her superior speed to instantly knock all of them out with a karate chop to the head.

Then, using both [Sherlock] and [Raphael], Velgin read their memories to learn where Zelanus's location was. Her next target wasn't that far. It would be just up ahead, and would be in another asteroid type cave, but much larger and intricately created.

Going back to hiding her presence and Magicules, Velgin headed towards the Insectar base, making sure to hide herself from the many Insectar patrol guards.

The next little while was fairly calming for Velgin. No battles or disruptions, only the silence of the void.

An hour later, as she was entering very close to the Insectar base when she felt danger from right behind. An unknown being had snuck up behind her, put a hand on her shoulder, and in a low, creepy, metallic, robotic voice, the being said, "What … are … you … doing … here."

Velgin jumped in fright, being surprised that someone had snuck past her Ultimate Skills, as his hand had reached directly onto her shoulder, not being repelled by any of her barriers.

Turning around, Velgin saw a metallic black humanoid Insectar, standing tall with threatening posture.

Without needing to analyze him, Velgin noticed that he was radiating with a Magicule level that was much higher than her own, rivaling and possibly even surpassing Guy's.

'Ah, its probably Zelanus then,' she thought, believing that she had no hope in a fight. Luckily, she indeed didn't need to fight him.

"Hello there. I'm Velgin, the adopted daughter of Veldanava, as well as the newest True Dragon." Velgin said, introducing herself.

"Zelanus," the Insectar said domineeringly. His aura was disturbed for a moment, when she said that she was related to Veldanava. But very quickly, Zelanus's aura became more hostile than it was before.

"If you analyze my aura, you'd see that Veldanva's Magicules are still lingering around me, since he named me." Velgin said a little nervously. She believed that Zelanus only became hostile because he thought that she was trying to trick him, so she provided some proof.

Zelanus's eyes blinked with a red glow, his towering body leaning forward as if he was looking down on Velgin.

*Silence*

For multiple seconds that felt like days, Zelanus stared at Velgin, analytical eyes roaming all over her aura and body.

Then, as if he was satisfied with what he found, his intimidating aura and posture relaxed.

"I'm … surprised. No… one … ever … comes … here," he said while pausing between each word, enunciating each word clearly.

Then, remembering that she still hadn't answered his first question, Velgin said, "By the way, I wanted to ask if I could take one of your people that had a large amount of potential to be me subordinate."

Obviously, Zelanus didn't need to comply with her request and could still kill her, but Velgin saw that all of his aggression had disappeared, and took this opportunity to ask while she still could.

*Silence*

Once again, Velgin was getting nervous, as Zelanus didn't respond for a few seconds. But just as she was mentally giving up, he nodded his head.

Surprisingly, Zelanus was very civil for a person who lived in a void like world where constant war and battle were life.

He was thinking that even though she was related to Veldanava, he couldn't really afford to give her anyone special, because he would need them eventually in his long war against Feldway.

But then, he thought of something and told her, "I won't give you have of my people, but there is an Insectar who we were going to either banish or execute who has decent potential. My many times great grandson tried to assassinate one of my favorite warriors when they came back injured from a battle with some powerful Cryptids. He's currently being held in a temporary cell before I give the final verdict. You can meet him if you want."

After agreeing, Velgin started following Zelanus into their nest. He may or may not have had a teleportation ability, but Velgin had previously learned that teleporting in the Otherworld was near impossible because of Ivarage's excess energy disturbing space,

Walking through the maze like hive for multiple hours, Velgin was trying her best to not show how bored she was. Her face was stiff and her movement became a little robotic, arms and knees not bending and libs rotating like they were twitching.

After an hour of wondering through the maze like nest, they finally arrived in a place that looked similar to a castle dungeon, metal bars lining a wall with a small room easily visible on the other side.

Walking in front of the only taken cell, Velgin was surprised. She expected the grandson to atleast be a humanoid insectar, but it was still a beetle. Velgin wondered why it thought that it could assassinate one of the strongest soilders, but put that aside. She assumed it was because he was only recently born or something like that.

Banging on the cell loudly enough to wake him up, Zelanus ruthlessly declared, "You have 2 options. Be executed, or become a subordinate to her."

"With all due respect my lord, only follow the strong, and can't stand lazy people like Insectar General 1. Unless she can beat me in a fight, I'll never submit." the imprisoned grandson said. Apparently, this Insectar General 1 was known to be lazy, which was why the grandson couldn't stand him and wanted to be rid of him.

Velgin easily agreed to the battle, knowing that her chances of winning were high. Zelanus knew this as well, and brought the 2 outside before he left.

"You better be serious, or I'll destroy you," The unnamed grandson said to Velgin.

"I think you will find that I'm just a little tiny bit stronger than you," Velgin said arrogantly while using her thumb and index finger to measure approximately a millimeter in front of her to taunt the Insectar.

Not getting the joke, the unnamed Insectar leaped off the ground and charged towards Velgin, his 2 horns directed at her head, and his battle intent showing in his eyes.

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Extra Authors Notes:

Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

If you did, please give me a comment and add the story to your collection.

I'm going to try my best to read and reply to comments so if you have question, feel free to ask things.

I'm starting a new arc, and want to include more fighting rather than story and character development, so I hope its interesting.

Also, if anyone has any suggestions for how I can improve my writing, I would love some advice.