One week had passed since Petra had left the Solarin Castle.
During this time, Petra worked with Wind to create a map that would lead them through the shallow mountains of the Blackstone Mountain Range and towards the Dark Stone Mine.
The Blackstone Mountain Range was named after the 'Black Stone' material that made up the majority of its mountains. It was a massive stretch of countless mountains that got progressively taller as you approached the center of the region, eventually reaching into the clouds and disappearing into the sky. As the mountains increased in their altitude, they transitioned from black stone near sea-level to a white marble-like appearance as they passed the clouds.
The paths that wound through the mountains were a mixture of well-maintained roads and indescribably precarious trails.
Wildlife in the Blackstone Mountain Range was mostly a mixture of birds of prey, earth dwellers, and the more powerful beasts who possessed a high level of maneuverability.
As for human settlements, there were countless. Life in the Blackstone Mountain Range was likely the most diverse throughout the continent, with massive cities built into the sides of cliffs, towns dug into mountains, and villages built atop the occasional plateau and inside the bottomless ravines. As for the myriad races, there were countless. Everything that could be found around the continent lived here in one form or another.
-
Tower Spider, First Floor.
The room had been cleared and a stage had been built.
When the shop wasn't open for business, the girls often turned the first floor into a sparring arena. Whether it was Rose teaching the Ants, Elli training the girls, Levy torturing Petra, or the Beast Maids training themselves, all of the Tower Spiders' residents needed a place to train.
Today, Petra was dueling against the four Bunny Beastmen.
They competed in 'leg arts', a style specifically designed for the Bunny Beastmen and their powerful legs. Petra wrapped her body in a thin layer of mental energy, giving herself the durability needed to not break after a single exchange. Even after Petra took the proper precautions, she still ran into the problem of being too light. This resulted in her small body shooting across the room and bouncing against the walls with every exchange.
This comical combat was both incredibly hilarious and suspiciously enjoyable for the bunny girls.
After Petra could no longer endure being treated as a human ball, she ended their training and ran away crying.
-
Later that day, Petra was called over by Wind and told that they had arrived near the mining area.
Petra excitedly grabbed Lilly and Luna, before jumping down from the Tower Spider and running towards the place on the map.
Wind just sighed, knowing that Petra wouldn't wait for them.
When she left the Tower Spider for the first time in days, the first thing Petra noticed was the increased temperature outside. The Blackstone Mountain Range was a land filled with active volcanoes, so it wasn't too unusual for the temperature to increase. Although Petra disliked it, it was still bearable.
The second thing that Petra noticed was the desolate environment outside. The air was plagued by dust, and the land had been scorched black. The smell of coal hung heavily in the air, while the lack of wildlife left an uncomfortable silence.
They were currently in a relatively barren place, so it was understandable that this place was so desolate, but that didn't stop Petra's first impression of the Blackstone Mountain Range from being really bad.
Petra pulled the two girls forward, their robes flapping as she flew.
Petra consulted the map, following it towards their final destination. When they finally arrived, Petra pulled the dizzy twins behind a nearby boulder and hid away.
Not far ahead was a crater-like indent in the earth, about thirty meters wide. In the center of this crater was a mineshaft, and surrounding this mineshaft was a few dozen men wearing thick iron armour.
Petra recognized the crest; these guardsmen were from the Solarin Castle. It would seem that they were too late.
Petra cursed, the vulgar words coming out comically.
She scrunched up her face and peaked out from behind the boulder. Her eyes widened as she peered through the dusty air and towards the small camp that had been built around the mineshaft.
She pulled her head back, then began contemplating.
She whispered something to herself, before turning to Lilly and Luna for their opinion. The seriousness of her actions was quite cute, especially when the Twins knew that this would just end with Petra bombing the mine.
"What do you think we should do?" Petra asked.
Lilly hummed, playing along. "Little master, it would appear that we were too late. As upright citizens, I suggest that we return to the Tower Spider and leave immediately, this place should now belong to the Solarin Castle."
Luna nodded, agreeing with her big sister.
Petra grimaced. Was such a fantasy even possible?
No!
These two seemed to have gotten too comfortable with her way of doing things. Perhaps, in the future, she would have to mix things up, or give them a little scare, something like that.
Petra jumped out from behind the boulder and swaggered forward, sliding down the crater and walking towards the guardsmen. Her arms were stretched akimbo, and her small body was unguarded, almost begging to be attacked.
-
Over in the camp, one of the guardsmen poked another of his companions and pointed towards the little green ball that was arrogantly approaching.
He asked, not sure if what he was seeing was real. "Do you see that? It looks like a small child is coming this way?"
His distracted partner shook off his hand and scoffed, not even bothering to look over. "That's impossible, this area is in a red zone. Not to mention a common traveler, even gold-level adventurers avoid this place and its unpredictable dust storms."
"But Alan, she's getting closer..."
"I told you, it's imposs- What the hell!"
When the man finally looked up, his eyes widened.
Who was this arrogant brat swaggering towards them? Where did she come from?? Couldn't she see that they didn't welcome outsiders! Was she crazy, or just stupid?
He froze for a moment, unsure of what to do.
Like the man before, he also wondered if he was hallucinating.
After his companion gave him a hard push, he snapped out of his daze, before widening his eyes aggressively and stomping forward.
He wasn't scared of this ghost!
He approached Petra aggressively, one hand already on his sword.
"Brat! This is not a place for you! Go play somewhere else!"
His shout attracted the attention of the other guards, all of which seemed to finally see the small child slowly approaching. Some were shocked while others rubbed their eyes to confirm. One must know that working as a guard in this godforsaken place would play tricks on the mind. After confirming that this little girl wasn't an illusion, some of them began to leave their posts and approach Petra together.
The other man nodded.
Petra pouted, puffing out her cheeks.
She responded to the man's shout with a very serious yell of her own.
"I am a normal and unassuming small child who poses no threat to any of you." Her voice was emotionless and nonchalant.
The guard named Alan paused. "Ha?"
His tired mind finally caught up with him and seemed to click back into place. He realized that something was wrong. He took a step back, widening the distance between himself and Petra.
Unlike the others, who were about to die of boredom, he suddenly backed off.
He heard a light chuckle on the wind, before a wave of sleepiness found him. It drilled into his limbs like a wave, and like the others, within seconds, the hundreds of guards that filled the defensive camp were sent to sleep by the slight purple tint that danced on the wind.
Lilly and Luna jumped out, quickly running back to Petra's side.
No matter how many times they saw it, Petra's ability to easily deal with large groups of people who exceeded her in strength never ceased to amaze them.
Lilly asked while poking one of the guardsmen with her shoe, 'Is this fine? Will they wake up?"
Petra shook her head.
"My poison isn't just a simple sleeping drug." She raised her little hand and condensed a line of bubbly purple liquid that clung to the bottom of her forearm. "This kind of poison will send a signal directly to the brain and lock them into a dreamless solitude, it's not a real sleep."
Lilly and Luna nodded, not understanding at all.
Perhaps, if they did, they would feel a chill at the implication.
Anyways, Petra wouldn't explain.
They turned their attention to the mineshaft.
"Should we wait for the others?" Lilly asked.
Petra shook her head. "There's no point, this should be quick."
Luna nodded, then followed Lilly and Petra down into the darkness.
-
After descending, Petra used her mental energy to construct a simple green lantern that lit up with a white light. The three girls were given one each, allowing them to illuminate the way forward.
Unlike normal mages, Petra's body was only capable of using the darkness element. That didn't mean that she couldn't use elemental magic, it just meant that she could only store dark type elemental energy in her body. If she relied on fire type elemental energy to always create a light source, then what would happen if they were in a place without the fire element?
For this reason, Petra had taught herself to compress her mental energy to the extreme and form the 'white flame' that lit up each lantern. Unlike elemental energy, which was unreliable, Petra's mental energy would always be there.
For most people, including Petra and the twins, this was just a simple white flame, but to those who truly knew what was going on, they would understand that each of these girls was holding an explosive that could level a mountain.
Fortunately, none of them knew.
The girls advanced down into the mine.
As they continued to descend, the temperature started to drop, and a strange chill hung in the air. This chill was not 'cold', instead, it was as if one could feel the palpable tension in the air.
After another ten minutes of walking, they finally reached the shallowest section of the mine.
The stone walls had begun to crystallize, and that uncomfortable feeling began to intensify.
A Dark Stone Mine was dangerous because of the abundance of the darkness element. This was an unpredictable power that could cause a nearly endless number of problems. These problems ranged from mental distortions, physical mutations, spawning, and environmental corruption. Unlike spirit stones, which were relatively flexible when one applied their will, Dark Stone was completely uncontrollable.
As they continued deeper, the crystal-like walls became denser, eventually replacing the normal stone. It was mostly black with large sections of dark blue and purple stripes, mixed with the occasional streak of white light, all mixing together in distorted patterns, creating a surprisingly beautiful scene.
Soon, Petra and the girls came upon another camp.
Like the camp setup at the mines entrance, this place was still filled with the Solarin Castle's soldiers, but unlike the camp back up top, this one seemed to be mostly focused on mining the Dark Stone Ore.
Surrounding the soldiers were dozens of miners, each wearing only a crude set of pants and a simple forward-facing light. As Petra looked closer, they almost looked like slaves, or at least, something similar to slaves. This gave her an unnatural feeling, almost like something didn't belong. Although her stay in Solarin was short, she never got the impression that they were the kind of people to utilize slave labor, even on their criminals.
It was clear to Petra that this wasn't the main camp, but she still wanted to use it for something.
She nudged Lilly and Luna, signaling them to go forward and deal with it.
The two twins nodded, then approached.