Chapter 45: Homewrecker.

"Sails out!" The pilot shouts.

"Sails out!" "Sails out!" The command relays and the lifting sails fold out and open up. A strong gust of wind shook the airship as it lifts into the air. The drive sails then open, propelling up and slowly forward.

I nervously check my armor, making sure each seam I made is secure and holding the plates correctly. The plates are still riveted to the cloth but this is my last line of defense, I want it perfect. We rose higher and higher, the concentration of mana growing more and more. As the concentration of wind and fire mana grew the enchantment on the sails had a greater effect. I kept a split sphere of perception in the water searching for the nest. It wasn't long until I found it.

I sent down a fairy right in the middle of the thrashing monsters they paid no heed to the fairy, too focused on satiating their carnal desire. This was going to be easy. I sent down as many fairies as I could, making use of my new [Fairy Rush] spreading them around, and sent down empowering bursts of mana and a delayed fairy explosion to many of them. I can send now three [Fairy Explosion]s every two seconds, that's fifty-four fairies plus quadruple that number of empowered to near exploding fairies.

Timing it right three more bursts of [Fairy Explosion] and several more [Fairy Empowerment] sparks a massive cascade of death. Almost fifteen thousand mana went into this attack, empowered to the max by my skills, magic items, class, and race.

Blobs of highly unstable beauty mana shot out as if a frag grenade was detonated. Secondary explosions hit the surrounding Chayaotmos. An earsplitting boom had us all covering our sensitive ears before A massive gust of wind-powered by the shockwave hit us as the crew are distracted. The airship rocked and began leaning dangerously in one direction, threatening to dump us all off.

Despite all our preparation we still overlooked this, bringing a sound mage like Chofel would have been prudent.

The pilots and sail operators struggles to take control of the airship. The crew simply didn't have enough experience in dealing with this. As the ship fell I noticed around twenty percent of the Chayaotmos in the nest and seventy percent of those in the surrounding were still alive!

I knew what was wrong, the shockwave has managed to cause the front starboard sail to partially close, the operator had yet to notice... no, she's trying to open it but it's damaged! The airship is spiraling into monster-infested waters! There was only one thing to do, manually open it or partially close the back port side sail to balance out the lifting forces.

I run to the portside operator.

"Close this sail! Now!" I scream at her. Whether she realized, or just followed my orders due to the chaos she closed it. The airship starting to correcting itself.

"Open it halfway now!" She does so, not overcorrecting in the process. With the crisis averted, for now, we had the time to regain our bearings. We were still losing altitude but slowly.

Ting! You have gained the Clear Mind general skill!

Ting! Clear Mind has obtained level 2!

How do we regain altitude? In order to achieve lift, we can increase the area of lift, but that's damaged so we can't. The other way is to increase the strength of lift.

Knowledge of how helicopters achieve lift surfaced to the forefront of my mind, how there was a Martian heli drone able to fly in a vastly less dense atmosphere.

I ran to the pilots. "Increase the wind on the two half-closed sails but keep the other two fully opened sails as is" This would require two pilots instead of one and would likely reach the limit on how much mana the spell crystal can work with but it's all we can do at this point. If need be we can open the back port sail and just have increased wind pressure on the damaged one.

Suddenly the airship rocked again. Looking over the edge the monsters have begun spitting jets of water at us.

"Deploy the water crystals!" Chyzu commands.

Dozens of water crystals attached to ropes are thrown overboard, enchanted to attract the attacks.

"Get us higher!" Chyzu shouts at the pilots.

With [Dreams of Reality] I create another airship look alike to act as a distraction below us. With an angry roar a massive Eel clad in lightning and flowing water poke its head out, this one was easily four times the size of the adults, and probably larger.

Chayaotmo Matriarch (Grand) Electricity Queen (Grand)

I may not know its level but I do know it's very powerful. A blast of electrically charge water shot through the illusion and grazed the airship. The attack attractor did its job to curve the trajectory but a large gash was torn through the hull. If we want to splash down we'd start taking on water.

I sent down as many fairies as I could and charged up as much as I can make it. Explosions sounded below as the mages joined in attacking the matriarch.

The matriarch seems just as dumb as its younger versions and keeps attacking the closer decoy, good thing too because if it was any smarter we'd have to run away.

My familar is further down, attacking with beams of beauty and provide an additional source of distraction. I suddenly realize that with my stat increases and my new skills I could have two familiars out. I summoned one more to aid the first.

The mages rained down fire, ice, earth, lightning, and even lasers upon the Matriarch, each doing their part to take down the oversized Eel. They each have enchanted accessories to empower their elements.

It seems to be going well but a stray blast took out the tail sails, injuring our ability to turn as sharply. I watched the attack curve into a direct hit from a grazing hit, the water attractors acting as a double-edged sword. I charge up a fairy with as many empowerments and a delayed explosion as I could and had it target the Matriarch's mouth. I sent a burst of two explosions and three empowerments chasing after the fairy. As expected the matriarch welcomed the food with open jaws and just as it closed them the fairy exploded with the force of two hundred ten points of highly intense mana. The matriarch roars in pain as secondary explosions resounded in its mouth.

"Careful, your food might just bite back, you overgrown sushi" I mutter.

Angered, the matriarch dived into the water and began swimming in circles.

"What is it doing?" A mage asks, now trying to hit the lesser Chayaotmos.

Soon a column of water starts rising. I could see the spell's mana quickly intensifying.

Yeah, let's stop that.

Using Manipulate mana I fight for control over the spell. Still using my second mind to summon fairies. I grit my teeth as the column stubbornly resists me and kept growing! Unfortunately, the Matriarch had more control than the Aydomr and I was only able to slow its formation to a crawl.

I sent another two hundred mana fairy down to hit the matriarch trying to interrupt the spell. The fairy explodes, but the spell is ongoing even as the Matriarch reeled in pain. Worse the added pain seems to have encouraged the monster and its spell grows slightly faster!

We need to stop that.

That's when I got an idea. There is a large cloth weaved from earth attached to the underside of the airship for defense. Using that I could disrupt the water mana and prevent the completion of the spell. I move my second mind from attack to ripping off the earth silk via manipulation. As if trying to pry off nailed-down boards I rip off the silk which drifts down, smothering the spell. To help it along I used both my minds to stagnate the growth of the spell.

The matriarch growls and roars in frustration as its spell failed. It had cost us a layer of defense but with the amount of mana and intensity in that spell, it was well worth it.

Suddenly I am reminded of playing an MMO game, playing against a raid boss. I shook my head, now was no time for personal memories of a life long gone.

The matriarch retaliates furiously but against the illusion. That didn't stop a few attacks from getting worryingly close. Things went downhill as a stray attack took out the starboard drive sail, basting it in half. The ship rocked and several people fell unbalanced and landed on the floor. The lightning mage falls overboard but Chyzu manages to grab the other mage's hand. Chyzu struggles to pull up the other woman but a grazing hit rocked the ship again and Chyzu almost tumbles off she managed to lock her foot in the railing of the ship but a loud crack and a scream suggest she broke her foot. Two other people rush to aid Chyzu and pull them up.

With one drive sail gone we now only have the ability to only turn in one direction and the inability to move forward, the design flaws of the airship becoming more apparent. Perhaps redundant or auxiliary drive sails are prudent in the next iteration of the Valymo.

"When will this fucking beast die?!" A mage complained, standing back up. We all nodded at that.

I check my Kyhosa reserves, a little over ten thousand. I started to slow down on my attacks, only using my heavy-hitting attacks. The matriarch launches another attack at us, the attack veering off course and hit a decoy crystal. Again the matriarch attacks, her focus now on us instead of the illusion. Another decoy was destroyed.

"Finish her! She learned that the illusion isn't real!" I shout.

A blast rips through the center of the airship lightning filled droplets of water raining on us, making several people cry out in pain. I redo the illusion of the airship, overlapping us and having it go in a different direction. It works partially as the matriarch is now alternating her attacks between both the airships, real or not.

How can I make my attacks stronger? I am reminded of my [Beauty Enhancement] I've only ever used it on myself, but can I use it on others? No, I can't use it on spells or objects, that falls more in line with [Imbue Beauty] but what if I can use it on my link and transfer it to my Familiars via our link?

I do so, shoving the enhancement already on myself into my first fairy. Suddenly my fairy grew bigger. I send another dose and another. By the third dose, the Familiar's form is shimmering unstably.

If I can enhance fairies, why not my fairy familiar?

The back end of the airship is blasted off, the tail sail operator nearly fell off and is now dangling off the edge, screaming for help. The other operator is trying to pull her up, others rushing to their location in case another Chyzu situation happens. Chyzu is favoring her foot but still launching attacks at the Matriarch.

I try to empower my familiar but I'd always used a default summon, which somehow means using my previous [Beauty Beam]. But what if I send my [Fairy Strike] to familiar? It was worth a shot. I ordered my Familiar to get as close to the matriarch as it could, to hug it if need be and I sent my [Fairy Strike] empowered and with a delayed explosion. The mana rushed into my familiar and an immediate defining explosion greets our ears. Just as my Kyhosa fell below two thousand mana a 'Ting!' alerted us all to the notification of the Matriarchs demise.

Ting! Your party has killed a Matriarch Chayaotmo (Grand), Electricity Queen (Grand) Level 312, extra experience has been rewarded for being under-leveled.

The hard part was over, now we just have to slay the rest. It was easy to pick off the normal adults. They could not reach us and it was fairly relaxing with the target practice. Soon the nest is destroyed. We'll send several boats to get the materials and maybe find any surviving eggs. If we have a safe enclosed space to put them we could benefit greatly from a fishery of them, slay any that gets too large, would make for great exp grinding too.

Unfortunately, the airship can only turn with one drive sail, so we had to get close to the water and use our oars to bring us back. We open the damaged lift sail to ease the pressure on the pilots and lowered just enough that the airship is partially in the water.

Chyzu may have a water bond but she can't keep us from sinking the entire way back, especially after that battle and in her current condition.

I check my messages to see what I gained from the battle.

Ting! You have killed a Mature Chayaotmo (Major), Sea Hunter (Adept) Level 141, extra experience has been rewarded for being under-leveled....Ting! Your party has killed a Mature Chayaotmo (Major), Bite Berserker (Adept) Level 152, extra experience has been rewarded for being under-leveled.

Ting! Your Bond has obtained level 206!...Ting! Your Bond has obtained level 241!

Ting! Your Bond skill, Beauty Enhancement, has evolved into Beauty Empowerment!

Beauty Empowerment: Gives up to 30 extra beauty mana to your beauty magic or to other people. (Beauty) (Enhancement)

Ting! Your Bond skill, Dreams of Reality, has evolved into Echo of Reality!

Echo of Reality: Create illusions that can expend mana to make sounds and move with Impart Instructions, up to twenty extra mana can be stored for miscellaneous uses. (Beauty) (Illusion)

Ting! Your Bond skill, Summon Familiar, has evolved into Create Familiar!

Create Familiar: Create a Familiar with a pseudo intelligence, may only do simple tasks without further instructions

Ting! Fairy Empowerment has obtained level 20!...Ting! Fairy Empowerment has obtained level 29!

Ting! Fairy Commander has obtained level 10!...Ting! Fairy Commander has obtained level 17!

Ting! Fairy Rush has obtained level 1!...Ting! Fairy Rush has obtained level 4!

Ting! Fairy Explosion has obtained level 18!...Ting! Fairy Explosion has obtained level 30!

Ting! Summoner's Expertise has obtained level 4!...Ting! Summoner's Expertise has obtained level 8!

Ting! Your Class, Fairy Summoner has obtained level 50! 15 status points awarded....Ting! Your Class, Fairy Summoner has obtained level 91! 15 status points awarded.

I more than doubled my level, but I didn't hit my level cap of one hundred nine.

Despite two hundred monsters around level one-fifty and one over three-hundred the experience was shared over thirty people, even the sail operators were considered part of the battle if their exclamations of how much they leveled are anything to go by.

Also got the new Bond skill evolutions. My [Beauty Empowerment] now includes Magic and seems to work with [Fairy Empowerment]? More testing required. My now [Echo of Reality] got a direct upgrade and [Create Familiar] now has some sort of intelligence?

The crew was cheering and in high spirits. No one had died although it was a very close call, for some especially. I have two fairy familiars healing Chyzu. We have to row back to town which is taking a lot longer and this was probably the end for the Valymo, our only casualty.

We arrive back home, the divers who hunted small Domrs and collected coral and gems were the first to see the state of the Valymo. Soon a crowd of worried families showed up as we slowly made our way back.

We docked the airship and everyone left and joined their families, the last to leave is Chyzu as she was preventing the airship from sinking. She walked with the help of a pilot supporting her.

"Was the mission successful?" Tusile asks Chyzu.

"It was, we'll need to send a fleet of boats to get materials and check for any surviving eggs, we would have but..." Chyzu trails off, motioning to the sinking Valymo.

"I take it the airship was a good idea after all, how do you think it would have gone with normal boats?" Tusile asks.

"None of us would have survived. The airship kept us at a good distance in case anything unexpected showed up and something did. We hadn't noticed a level three hundred grand monsters in the nest."

"Looks like we'll need to build more airships then, and refine our techniques, we'll hold a meeting on what can be improved" Tusile left, looking relieved. She must have been stressed about this whole thing.

"Alysara!" My family rushes toward me, giving me a huge group hug. "We were so worried when we saw the state of the Airship"

"Aly you are not doing anything like that again!" Mom firmly says. "You told us you'd be safe in the Airship, just look at it!"

"Feyan, Aly's alright, she doesn't even have a scratch on her."

"That's not the point!" Mom argues, still crushing me in an embrace.

"The fact that the airship looks like that and not me is a sign that it did its job" I try to say, my face being smothered however meant mom didn't hear a word.

Mom babied me the entire way back home and during the baths, under a smiling Myrou.

Happy I gained so many levels in such a short amount of time? I mused, there was no point, it's just a program meant to instill faith in the Runalymo. I wonder if the other gods, or as the Guardian calls them, Great Spirits, do the same elsewhere in the world.

Soon came the after-action report, everyone part of the Valymo mission had to attend. First was a retelling of what had happened.

"If we need to go on future missions we'll need Aly's illusions," Chyzu says.

"Actually" I interject. "I've been wanting to experiment with spell crystals, perhaps we can fit an illusion spell crystal on the next airship, Maybe even have spell crystals for powerful attacks."

"That is a good idea, it's best if we don't have to send our best people into a life and death situation," Tusile says. I frown at being implied as "one of the best" but my current level and race evolution don't make a good counterargument.

"We'll need to experiment with many things about spell crystals, how size matters, how the base of the spell used to form the crystal matters, and more, it'll likely take weeks or months of experimentation," I explain.

"Very well, we'll do something about it" Tusile nods to me. "What else can we improve upon?"

"We'll need to reinforce the sails, having one damaged almost had us crashing into the water," A sail operator says, I recognize her as the one operating the broken one.

"Redundant sails too, losing just one drive sail crippled our ability to move forward. We'll need to double all sails, if we had lost just one lift sail we'd have been done for" I say, several nods of agreement came after my words.

"But that also comes with its own problems" I added. "The more sails means a larger airship, which means we'll need more sails which in turn means an even larger airship"

"In other words, we might not be able to do it" Guklaro sighs.

"Actually I have an idea if instead of putting the lift sails out to the side we put one giant one over the airship. We can have pitch and roll control with smaller sails on the side. This comes with the added bonus of forming a wing above the airship and thus we wouldn't need drive sails except to move faster or slow down" I say. Leaning forward a little.

"And it'll reduce the points of failure" Yukika notes. "The Valymo had four points of failure with just the lift sails, this one will have one and even if it's damaged it can still work just with reduced efficiency" Yukika is drawing out a concept of the airship.

"This way we won't need as many sailors as well," A pilot says, getting excited.

"Fewer people to command and less room for Runaly error. Lift can be adjusted simply by adding more or less wind" a second pilot says.

"The sails will require fewer mechanics and have fewer parts to fail as well" A sail operator nods. "The mechanism holding the sails stable kept getting stuck with the drive sail"

Everyone seems to like the new design. A more streamlined and simple design, less over-engineered.

"If we make the tail sail larger it can act as both a rudder and a sail without the need for air silk," another operator says.

"Like this?" Yukika says, drawing the rudder.

"Yeah!"

The meeting had changed focus but the elders seem too interested in the new airship design to notice.

"We could have two of the rudders, it should be better" I suggest.

The meeting continued with new ideas being brought up and sometimes shot down. Having many people experience the faults of the Valymo meant that all the problems experienced from multiple perspectives could be ironed out. There were some problems I'd never felt or seen during the battle, and some that could only be pointed out by the pilots and operators. In the end, Yukika had almost twenty concept drawings of the airship, each being more streamlined than the last.

"Seeing all the improvement brought to our society, mostly brought here by Alysara," Tusile says with a nod, making me suddenly self-conscious. "Has made me realize that we are on the cusp of a new age. An age of discovery and exploration. Soon we won't have to fear the storms, soon our peoples will become more interconnected, and perhaps, strike out into the world for the first time since we escaped the great evil ones. Only this time we will be prepared, we won't surrender ourselves. We'll need an order of powerful warriors and mages, we'll need ways to gain strength, and we'll need to perfect our craft and knowledge of all the new things that have come and will come. Today we've learned many new things; tomorrow, we'll put that into action."