Chapter 407: One-Way Transfer Destination
* * *
The moment I was slammed to the ground by the baby octopus, a blinding purple light suddenly burst forth.
I instinctively closed my eyes and held my breath against the intense light.
And, a few seconds later.
Cautiously opening my eyelids, the intense purple light had subsided.
What spread before my eyes was a pure white ceiling, faintly tinged with purple.
The place I was in just now was a ruin in a forest, and most of the ceilings of that ruin had collapsed... so this is... an unfamiliar place.
In other words, I was slammed into the magic circle and teleported.
That's probably what happened.
"...Hah."
I exhaled briefly, jumped up from my lying position, and looked around... this place also seems to be some kind of ruin.
It's a private room, enclosed by the characteristic white walls with no seams.
The air, as before, is filled with blue fog, obstructing my vision.
This time, I turned around and looked down at my feet.
The magic circle that transported me to this place... is somehow emitting a weaker light than the one I saw in the previous ruin.
<...It's out of mana.>
Extra-sama said quietly.
<This teleportation magic circle... probably only transported small things like fog and small fish until now. But you were forcefully slammed into it, and the teleportation was activated. It seems to have used up almost all the mana it absorbed and accumulated from its surroundings. Now, all this magic circle can exchange with that forest is fog. If it only uses the mana it naturally recovers, it won't be able to teleport even a small fish for another ten years.>
"............"
Hearing that, I tried standing on the magic circle.
As Extra-sama said, this magic circle doesn't react at all.
It just faintly glows.
"I see..."
So I...
Was sent to this unknown place.
One-way.
Those damn octopuses...
"Impressive..."
I have to admit it.
You guys did well.
But.
"AAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!"
This frustration of being outwitted!!
I can't hold it back!!
I punched the ruin's wall with all my might, without holding back!
BOOOOM!!
BOO, BOO, BOOOM!!
The impact punched a large hole in the thick wall of the ruin, breaking through the next wall, and the next, and the next, creating a path leading outside the ruin!
Suddenly, fog from outside, containing a higher concentration of mana than inside the ruin, or even the forest before, flowed in.
"Huu..."
Deep breath.
Deep breath.
It's not good to lash out.
I told myself that.
And walked out of the ruin through the hole.
* * *
Outside the ruin, the world was filled with fog.
Blue fog stretching endlessly, endlessly.
And underfoot, moss and berries with blue-green leaves.
A school of flying fish swam by overhead.
If you just looked at this part, it would be the same scenery as the forest I was in before, but there is one clear difference: there are no trees.
Instead, what stands tall are stone pillars.
I say stone pillars, but they're probably not artificial.
Countless stone pillars, presumably carved by natural forces, like flowing water, wind, and rain, stretch up to the sky.
These stone pillars are so huge that I initially mistook many of them for stone walls.
When I walked around one, I realized that it was roughly circular and that it was actually a stone pillar.
And what all these stone pillars have in common is that they are all extremely tall.
I can't tell how tall they are because of the blue fog.
"............"
I decided to try climbing one of these stone pillars.
It's not hard at all.
I can climb without any difficulty using [Silverfish] to walk on walls.
Step by step, step by step.
I silently climbed straight up.
On the way, I killed a flying horse mackerel that approached me, probably curious about the unusual sight of me, with a [Black Tentacle], and munched on it as I continued climbing.
After climbing for about a few dozen minutes, the scenery around me began to change.
Well, my vision is still filled with fog, but there's one thing that's changing.
Brightness.
The area near the ground, where I was just now, was quite dim, but it's gradually getting brighter.
If I keep climbing at this rate, I'll probably be able to get out of the fog soon.
It was just the moment I thought that...
"Wow."
I involuntarily let out a voice.
Because suddenly, I emerged from the fog... and a clear blue sky spread out before my eyes.
I found a natural chair, carved out of the stone pillar, and hopped over to it, sitting down.
And then, I looked around.
"Wow..."
I gasped.
What spread out before me was a sea of fog, stretching as far as the eye could see, under the blue sky.
From here and there in the sea of fog... the tops of stone pillars protruded like islands, covered with lush trees.
And in the distance... a giant... incredibly giant flying fish was swimming leisurely, its dorsal fin protruding from the sea of fog.
I was engrossed in silence for a while.
Gazing upon the beautiful and majestic scenery.
<...Well, are you calmer now, Emi?>
Extra-sama cautiously spoke to me after a few minutes.
I nodded.
After seeing this scenery...
My frustration has vanished.
But.
<But?>
When I calm down, a question I can't ignore comes to mind.
<You mean... 'Where is this place?'>
Exactly.
I looked around at the sea of fog once again.
It's really a sea of fog, as far as the eye can see.
I can't see anything else.
What is this place?
Where is this place?
<It's easy to answer that question. After all, a landscape this unique exists in only one place in all of Ardyst.>
Extra-sama said that, and after a dramatic cough...
<This is... a different continent from the Golden Continent you were on just now... a vast basin located in the southeastern part of the Fantasy Continent, Nijial...>
Slowly, clearly...
<Well, it is a basin... but... rather than a basin, as you can see, it's filled with fog all year round, so the people of this continent consider this place to be a 'sea of fog'.>
After saying that in a slightly roundabout way...
<In other words, this place is called as follows...>
She told me the name of this place.
<Eserem Sea of Fog.>
And so, Emi has reached the stage of a new adventure, the Fantasy Continent.
From the next arc onwards, our usual Emi will be rampaging on this continent!
Be prepared (who am I saying this to)!!
By the way, this concludes Emi's adventure in this arc, but we'll have a few more stories about other people.
After that, Part 2 will start.
Thank you very much.
TL Note: I retconned 'Niijal' in some past chapters to 'Nijial'.