II.

Drezgor nearly jumped when the pair arrived with the adventurers gathered at the gate. This time, another detachment of soldiers had arrived to guide them along the path. Even though the dark clouds of Cel'Row were moving much faster than they were, she still could hear them. They were "somethings," seemingly stretching endlessly across the entire sky, bumping into each other and creating Abyssal amounts of noises all along the way. Coarse hairs dangled along their underbellies, with strange tentacle-like appendages propelling them through the air as if they were swimming. To her continued befuddlement, the tentacles were not the reason they could fly. Strange, ambiguous gas blasted out underneath them from their orifices, presumably keeping the irate creatures afloat.

Madoka's brain finally caught a glimpse of their chubby bodies which were quite bulbous and had a hole with rows of teeth that looked like horns which blew air out forcefully. Worse yet, she could smell them and unfortunately, their droppings. They scattered to the ground like nasty hailstones in the air released from a slingshot. It like they were a bursting dam, muddy chunks and bloated logs crashing down a river as they worked each other into a frenzy. Her neck craned as she observed their retreat. They looked like a frantic stampede taking place upon invisible clouds. Still, instead of addressing them directly, the Acting Guild Leader nodded at them and led the adventurers and soldiers onward. He could not escape Madoka, however, so she quickly caught up to him to give the warning anyways.

"Sir," Madoka greeted him, ignoring his obvious discomfort. "The Cel'Row are fleeing from something hunting it."

Drezgor nodded, but a grin slowly formed on his lips as he glanced back at her.

"So, House Dalion," he teased. "Will you be the one to stop that threat? Or will another adventurer party claim it for themselves?"

"I-" Madoka was about to protest, but she groaned and fell back to Audrey after Drezgor strode off. Well, she tried, but his arrogance seemed to be too great to heed her warnings. Was he bitter because she defeated his fellow party companion? That Blue Hair… She sighed as she recalled the charred state her Crystal left her in, still smoking and brittle. If she made it out of Petal 3 alive, then she could go get another Diamond tag. The sound of metal thrumming with energy clanged its way into her ears. The princess's hands were manipulating the Knotting Strands. Her free hand still could not interact with those golden chains, but the other Godtouched one managed to straighten them out briefly. The result was a small shaking needle the length of her finger, but it was rusty and incomplete. The humming stopped as if it was the needle's last breath, then it crumbled to dust.

"Audrey?" Madoka watched her with a cautious interest, maintaining a practiced distance born from her fireballs and Wind Blades. Audrey's focused frown was replaced with disappointment as the remains of her experiment slipped between her hands. It was clear that she was attempting to create a metal rod, but she was still curious.

"There's… particles in the air all around us," Audrey murmured. They quickly fell behind the adventurers and took their time as she continued forming more needles. "You can see how the Knotting magic thingies travel in zig zags all over the place, right?"

Her eyes followed the magic as if they were leaves traveling along the wind's whims. A strand drew near them, before launching skyward in an erratic pattern. Madoka was used to it, but it never occurred to her that these free strands were actually traveling along the surface of things like manas.

"Do you mean you can change the manas into…?" Madoka quieted her voice. The march of armored boots from the soldiers and their fellow adventurer's loud cheering conversations masked the secret she accidentally spilled, but still it helped to be cautious. Audrey shook her head.

"Not exactly. To be honest, I don't know what the manas truly are. Pnaumen hasn't spoken to me about much."

"Pnaumen," Madoka frowned. That was the kind Goddess who spoke to Audrey in the Abyss itself, according to Her Highness. It was a rather vague concept to her, so she bit her lip and said nothing to ease the ache in her head sprouting from thinking too hard.

"You remember the King Slime?" She asked. Madoka nodded, refraining from groaning at the memory. How could she forget that terrible monster? "How we stopped it, well, you stopped it. I gathered particulates brought by the air from an ocean or sea somewhere nearby. Salt based, teeny tiny rocks we cannot see. There's countless of these particulates everywhere in the air, but are so small we cannot see them. The strands of Knotting magic bounce between them. Like that one over there! Or that one! Or–"

Madoka sighed and lowered the princess's pointing Golden Hand. Audrey could have pointed to every strand in the air, but the message was clear. There were more than just magical chains and Manas in the air. Then the realization hit her.

"You're transforming them?" Madoka asked, shock jolting her.

"I thought those Cel'Row creatures were cows, or something similar," Audrey ignored the question. "Not flying octopus fuzz balls. What a letdown."

Another metal needle manifested as the Knotting magic surged when her Golden Hand clenched into a fist.

Normally people just used regular dirt and ores, sound and things they could sense to use their Ways on. It was true, she supposed. Such small particulates in the air were probably seen to simply not provide enough material to change into metal. It never occurred to her that she could create something from nothing, but also realized that the same "nothing" she assumed was always there actually carried tiny rocks. Audrey made another tiny needle from thin air which hung above her fingers for a longer duration than her previous attempts, but still dissolved into black dust. Interesting for once, Madoka held out her hand and reached for a thought-shard drifting out of the black dust. The image of her face followed after touching it.

"You're brilliant," she murmured. Then as the Knotting strands wrapped around the shard's rocky surface, she channeled her own Strands from her wrist into them. The metal rod turned into a spear, just like the ones she created in the middle of their fight while inside the Leyline. Audrey gawked at it, her most recent attempt instantly melting. "I couldn't change the air into metal even if I tried."

"Didn't you just—" Audrey nearly shrieked, but looked at the humming rod in Madoka's grip. "You're not going to explode that, right?"

"I used your thoughts to make this," Madoka shook her head. "Like when— you know."

Audrey did know. She gulped then quickly averted her gaze away from her eyes back to the metal staff Madoka created.

If she exploded the Cel'Row with it, that would ruin their chances of getting meat from them. Audrey's curious gaze could sense the straightened Knotting magic tightly packed within every inch of the metal rod's circumference. The strands were perfectly still and under Madoka's control. Without another word, Audrey stared back at her hand and concentrated her magic again.

Those floating brown hairy "fuzz balls" seemed to have gathered in the plains high up in the sky. She could hear their babbling even here in the cleared out forest opening. They were nearing where Audrey defeated the Goblin King. Tue strange scent from her magical explosion and goblin blood still stained the air when they passed by the Adventure Guild's tents. The ones who set them up had already gone to the plains. She looked around at the parties they were following. Ranged weapons, magical staffs, and Substance talismans hung off the adventurers' backs. Other close ranged weapons also were included, but she could not quite place why if the beasts flew high above. She supposed that the beasts were going to be quite the hassle, so whatever they could use would help anyways. Surely, enough of these people were present to stop whatever was hunting the Cel'Row as well, right?

They soon found Eraziror and Rin near the temporary shelters set up by the Guild out in the fields. The annoying bleating and bellows of Cel'Row made it difficult to concentrate, while the smell of something foul covered even the goblin stench from the crater Madoka created awhile ago. There were peculiar rocks piled up nearby. They were their droppings, she frowned at the unfortunate knowledge and held her nose. How could something so tasty stink so bad? A soft Aura caught her eye as she heard a string stretch tightly. Instead of a sword or a wand, he had a bow that glowed yellow instead. Madoka raised her eye at it, while he shrugged.

"Well, if it isn't the overly zealous goblin destroyers, House Dalion themselves. Glad to see that the blast of light from last night didn't get you," he bowed politely, a smirk playing at his lips. Rin shifted away from them nervously. It was clear that she had noticed Audrey much longer before they saw her. How satisfying, she mused quietly. "Come to join in our fun?"

Madoka shrugged while planting the metal staff she made into the ground, while Audrey was still quite preoccupied with her Knotting Magic to bother Rin. She had forgotten that the explosion she created with her Crystal was definitely seen from all around her. It was somewhat embarrassing, but at least no one knew she was the cause of it. Now, she shifted her attention to the meat flying above her with great interest. Their thoughts were frantic, but the images of the predator that chased them away from their previous roosting ground was quite indecipherable.

"Cel'Row migrate from field to field," Eraziror explained. "Dropping their little gifts all over this great land and chewing up all of the people's fields. It's quite laughable, you might say, but that's the world we live in. Slaying mighty beasts or pest control."

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"At least the pests are tasty this time?" Madoka offered. She felt the storage talisman around her neck and noticed that Rin had actually approached Audrey in the distance. The mage was bound to desire more knowledge in the arcane. Huh, so the two could actually get along after all. "What can kill a Cel'Row cleanly?"

"Well, look around you," Eraziror pointed to the others. "I know you got plenty of tricks up your sleeves."

He laughed, but all Madoka could see is visions of the weaponry inside of the storage talisman's portal. An oncoming headache ensued when she mentally sorted out her arsenal. She truly did not remember where she got all of the weapons inside of it. There was a bow with some arrows, multiple swords of various qualities, and a laser gun among all of the options before her, but she saw a certain weapon appear as she pushed through the groups of weaponry. A crossbow with plenty of bolts stood out.

"This'll do," Madoka pulled it out and loaded a bolt into it. She also had Magnolia out, which weighed her down heavily, but she did not mind. The satisfying click and snap pleased her ears, but then she remembered how she got it. Those Esmeralda soldiers, she could not help but scowl at the memories that rushed back to her. They deserved to have their weapons taken away and be put to good use! Eraziror raised his crossbow along with an eyebrow at her. She ignored him and went back to Audrey. As she approached the two women sitting on a bench, she heard the princess speaking hesitantly, as if she heard something that troubled her.

"…I see, that news is… Well," Audrey trailed off, looking at her Golden Hand. She nearly jumped when she noticed Madoka bending over to look at her closely. "M-Madoka?"

The girl looked at Madoka in the eyes with a puzzled expression, then at the crossbow in her hands. The maid was simply inspecting if Rin did anything to her, but the mage quickly averted her gaze and scoffed.

"I don't care if she's Godtouched or if you like her," the orange haired fiery girl crossed her arms. "You remember what I told you back in the Guild, right? No matter how many promotions you get, you'll never escape her shadow. Got it?"

Leave me out of it."

With that, she grabbed Eraziror and stormed outside. That was their cue to leave as well, so without another word Madoka reached out and took the princess's normal hand. What were they talking about? Before she could ask, soft and slender fingers intertwined themselves with hers. She squeezed the hand tightly, a little more than usual. Audrey yelped.

"No fireballs," Madoka growled, swinging the crossbow over her shoulder.

"Nae waah," Audrey whined. "I got this, honest. Unless that bigger predator shows up, right?"

"We'll see about it," Madoka made no further comment.

The Cel'Row's racket drew closer and suddenly something heavy smacked the top of their shelter with a bang. Shouts and something else came from outside. Growling. They looked at each other, immediately let go of each other and peeked out from under the cracking wood. The fuzzy balls were swooping dangerously close to the ground! Madoka watched the chaos unfold into yelling and roaring of the frantic beasts. As odd as the Cel'Row looked, they were not very smart.

The aggressive ones slammed into unsuspecting Adventurers as others swooped to steal anything they could eat. No wonder why some of them had swords. Gutteral noises whined overhead, closer this time, and a bulbous shadow barreled towards her.

"Get away! My food!" Its belligerent thoughts hollered in her head, as she saw its puckered ringed mouth lined with teeth first fast approaching. The tentacles around its mouth were swatting at her, but her heavy axe silenced it in one go. Others were also bumping along the sky and swarming the place. A chorus of grunting beasts were flying straight at her, driven by sheer provocation and competition, Madoka noticed that they were quite large. If any of them hit her head on, she was certain it would hurt.

Before they could reach her, a zone of green Wind magic chilled the area, stopping them in their tracks. The air was being squeezed out of them, making their tentacles swing in erratic throes before straightening out into rigid branches, never to move again. Lifelessly, they dropped in the middle of their flight and crashed to the ground like dead bugs swatted down by an invisible hand. Audrey promised her not to blow any of them up, but it still did not bring her any comfort. Before any hesitation filled her mind, she quickly grabbed the talisman and scooped as many of the fallen Cel'Row as she could, then carried on her macabre work.

Magnolia proved to be a messy weapon. Like Boss Thribelt said, it was not like any other axe. Its dull stone popped many Cel'Row emotionally like her. Madoka just did not expect killing pests to be its first job. She took no pleasure in crushing these creatures with crossbow bolt and swing, but her stomach propelled her into seeking more and more. Within the hour, she noticed the dirt was replaced by smashed Cel'Row. The sun peaked out through the clusters of their fuzzy frantic patches of bodies now, indicating that the Adventurers were indeed managing to drive the beasts out of this Petal. This area was thinner, but the small encampment was completely smashed by the fallen blobs. Was this so-called event always like this?

Madoka's stomach and eyes scanned the situation, searching for places to help drive the beasts away. Soldiers were lined up in vague formations, crossbow wielders aiming and others holding shields up to brace for some of the angrier Cel'Row bold enough to charge from the sky. They'll be safe, she assumed, so she better find somewhere else. A familiar blue cloak screamed nearby, and strands of orange hair raised as heat gathered on Madoka's skin. It was Rin! Juujee and Eraziror were busy fending off some belligerent ones, while a few new Cel'Row seemed to be readying for a ranged attack of some kind. The blubbering noises they created stirred a feeling of disgust in her so she dashed over, her hand over the Crystal in her chest.

The gurgling noises from the group of Cel'Row above nearly reached a breaking point like a gross volcano ready to spew and erupt, but Madoka stepped in front of Rin and prepared the golden barrier.

"Madoka?" Rin cried out.

"Focus," Madoka growled and shut her up.

Rin nodded, regaining her composure and started to chant. Domineering strands rushed along her veins as her staff glowed red and a crimson spell circle caused the grass beneath them to burn. Madoka pressed on with her own barrier. She needed this mage alive. The bulbous volcanoes launched their attacks from their puckered maws, vomiting gross purple chunks that released steam that distorted the air as they flung towards the two of them. Those chunks were poisonous! A thought-shard glinted in the middle of one of the blobs of bile, revealing a blurry image of the large monster in her head. It was bright like the sun, presumably because they were high up in the sky and could see above the cloud. A fireball released past her and Rin's chanting broke Madoka's thoughts. It lanced through one of the Cel'Row, which deflated from the hole and fell like a stone dropped down a cliff.

That was only one, Madoka groaned after she glared at the mage behind her. Her face must have told the stick holder everything of her disappointment in that magic fireball: All of that chanting, for that? The other Cel'Row, now even more angry and excited, began their puckering racket again. Madoka took aim and heard the twang of a bolt hiss through the air. The gutteral punch piercing into one of their mouths barely made a difference to the volume, but she already loaded another bolt by the time Rin could whine. Another fat blob fell.

Suddenly, a large javelin of pure metal screamed through the aid and popped the remaining row of the poisonous Cel'Row. Madoka did not need to know who was responsible for the missile, she was already dashing to the carcasses that were left intact from colliding with the ground. The barely contained raging animals dispersed like a hissing cloud and left her all of the free food on the ground. They were presumably fleeing, she hoped. She was about to eagerly store it all, but someone shouted. Knotting Magic thrummed somewhere behind her as Rin pointed. The sky grew downcast as a large shadow blocked the sun. Madoka glanced skyward, and in the middle of the fuzzy balls of flying fat came a larger shadow. It was barreling through the crowd of flying mewing beasts, seemingly deliberately targeting the source of the metal rod attack with furious thoughts.

"Audrey!" Madoka shouted and aborted her plans of looting. The Cel'Row charging at the princess was twice as big as the King Slime Core and equally gross. Its size dwarfed the girl and its jaws were wide open, sniveling as it prepared for a mean bite. "Not if I could help it!"

Madoka skidded to a stop, finding that the fat bodies of fallen Cel'Row would not easily budge if she bumped into it. Staring at the beast's ringed mouth, containing hundreds of spirals worth of fangs. Despite its friends getting shot by volleys of arrows and spells behind it, this one stubbornly remained fixated on attacking her. The thoughts in wherever its brain finally overloaded with hostility, making her frown defiantly back at it. Then, the Cel'Row let out a wavering gurgle of disapproval and charged with a gassy push, while Madoka rebuked it as she drew Magnolia.

"You dare approach my lady even though I'm here? I told you so," Madoka shouted at it with her thoughts as she hefted the heavy axe. "You'll pay for it, dearly!"

With that, she swung the weapon down with a thunderous roar. The resulting explosion immediately split the foolish Cel'Row into halves like a parted meatball — and the lands beneath her strike became a large crater that swallowed the remaining beasts. They apparently lost their flight in the chaos like fat brown chickens tossed into a pit of no return.

"Are you alright?" Madoka looked at the girl, who stood there stunned for some reason. Aside from some goop smudging her clothes splashed from the halves of the big Cel'Row flinging passing by, she was fine. Audrey even gave a nonchalant shrug.

"I have a smaller hitbox. Bigger ass than yours, though," she said.

"Hitbox…?" Madoka caught the girl peeking at her rear and turned her face away with her hands. She then noticed the princess's own butt. It was seemingly more plump than hers, but that did not make her feel jealous. Maybe she should limit how much the girl eats, she pondered instead. She immediately took the thought back, remembering how grumpy she gets when she became hungry.

The internal thought tugged at her own stomach, so she turned back to the Cel'Row in the pit and discretely used the storage talisman's portal to scoop the rest in. Yelling pierced the air in the distance and armored hands pointed skyward. The Cel'Row were indeed broken, but the adventurers were also battered. Even the soldiers were catching their break, glancing warily at the clouds. Madoka also looked up, extending her thoughts to touch the panicking Cel'Row above. They were now dispersing, fleeing to the mountains in droves. Brown balls of fat and fur bobbing in the air was definitely a sight to behold, but as the dark cloud split up and the bulk of their clusters separated, the sun began to glow even brighter than before.

Madoka rubbed her eyes, struggling to maintain her awareness of what was happening in the heavens. The shouting became more frantic as the cloud turned into broad daylight, searing harsh sunny rays and blue skies. Audrey panted beside her, holding her hand above her brows as she looked at the source of the intense light. The sun looked… different, did it not? It shimmered in the air, yet remained perfectly still as it reflected an golden aura to everything beneath it. The raging Cel'Row bumbled underneath it, desperately attempting to flee from it. She realized that their thought-shards were quite accurate— that sphere in the bright blue sky was the thing hunting them. Could this be the creature sent from the Witch to hunt them?

"That's not the sun, right?" Madoka pointed at it while shielding her eyes with her other hand. As if on cue, the golden ball in the let out a horrible, grating and metallic roar that sent the beasts packing. A small dark line cracked its perfect surface, revealing the outline a wing and red eyes glowering behind it. Someone shouted a warning in the distance, answering her question before Audrey could.

"It's a wyvern!"

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