Another Stupid Isekai

The kick of power I received from the skill was enormous. I swung widely, not really carrying about the technique, just focusing on getting as many as I possibly could. I dumped ‘Void strike’ into that attack for a good measure.

Then thanks to shadow walking I repositioned, practically only turning around, to swing back, getting the enemies from the opposite direction.

Suddenly a cloud of smoke surrounded me. It was a fraction of a second worth of disorientation, but enough for a couple of spells to hit me, so I had to evacuate. I stopped pulling the ghosts towards myself too.

Quick glance assured me that there were still a few alive, so I got them in the next couple of seconds, briefly cleaning the area. I didn’t stay there to watch or collect the crystals, because I chose to immediately jump to Loistavadvaar. I needed to replenish my strength. Hopefully, also stop blurring more enemies from the flying city.

A few seconds’ worth of a break later, I was back. Since nothing didn’t seem to be going after me, I allowed greed to take charge in the decision-making department. Yes, I went to pick up the crystals. Who wouldn’t? It was a freaking fortune down there.

I wasted a minute or two, mostly looking up above than down below. Not the best way to search for things, but I was afraid that more ghosts could show up at any moment. This probably led to me picking only a part of what fell down, but the situation didn’t allow for more.

I promised myself to return later, to get what I didn’t at the first search, dropped an anchor there to mark the spot, and flew back up.

Still, with one eye focused on the area where I noticed Aaraam’soturi, I remade the protective barrier, since I had the mana back. After all, I had no idea what I should expect if I got really close to that damned place.

With the protection, I started to slowly approach. My senses were on high alert, so every little thing was grabbing my attention. Due to that, it took some time despite the short distance.

The fact that nothing was flying my way made me even more anxious, so I was probably twice as careful as I was supposed to be. Eventually, though, I arrived at the place where the dome around Aaraam’soturi was.

The first moment I touched it I immediately shadow walked back because I actually thought it was some kind of attack. Normally I would probably laugh at myself, but because of the situation, I didn’t. Instead, I approached it again.

I slowly passed through, ready to escape at any moment, but since nothing was happening, I made it through. What I saw was, to put it in one word, incredible.

A massive space hard to really catch with your eyes because of the topography. Devastated mostly, with literal mountains of rubble, but a few buildings did survive. Just like Loistavadvaar had its jade color, Aaraam’soturi also had one, well actually two – gold and white.

The buildings looked like they were all made of white marble with golden roofs. The ones who survived were tall with almost dome-shaped roofs. Almost because they were pointy at the very top. None of them had any windows, but knowing the weird architecture of Loistavadvaar I knew exactly why.

I landed on the rubble, pushing the smaller piece away with my foot, while still looking around. Then, just for a brief moment, I peeked at the floor.

​ It was paved. White marble plates, with carvings filled with gold. Yeah. I guess Bahumdabars was really adamant about sticking to the theme they chose. At least for the important places.

I started slowly walking forward, climbing my way over the rubble. I could fly, but staying closer to the ground was giving me additional cover. Since I didn’t want to find myself surrounded by hordes of enemies, I thought that this approach would be the best one.

Observing the destruction I noticed different marks here and there. Some of the marble and gold were melted, probably through fire. A bit was crushed by heavy attacks, but in some places, it looked like some of the stone was crushed to dust.

There were areas you could distinguish from the rest of the battleground, as somebody definitely protected them by some means, as the destruction was abruptly stopped. It made me wonder if Ixa made it all the way there, and then encountered enemies who pushed her back. Or maybe the marks were much older. Left there during the ancient battle where Yashasvee’mies was taken down.

I couldn’t pay too much attention to that, because I had to stay on high alert, so It was really hard to tell.

I continued my travel. Crossing the mountains, trying to find the center of the city, but because of its size, it was quite obvious that such a goal would take some time. Especially due to my cautious approach. Add to that the curiosity and hunger for understanding what transpired there, and you have quite the snaily outcome.

Midway I started really wondering how that place looked before the battle. It was such a loss. The crown jewel of a monstrous empire was gone. The mere idea was making my imagination go wild.

It was abruptly killed, though.

I came from beyond a really tall mountain, not even really going over it, but more trying to go around it. When It stopped blocking my view, the first thing I noticed was this massive tower. It was far away, but so thick that there was no problem spotting it. It was completely white. Maybe with the exception of the very top, which I couldn’t see because the clouds covered it. At the first glance seemed important.

At a second glance, I noticed the small black dots around it. It took me a second to realize that those were ghosts.

At least a few dozen of them.