Chapter 17

The next day, Elerina made her way to the last known position of her target. Since she couldn’t afford a fight while I’m at university, she chose a small village as her hiding spot as she waited for me to arrive home. Once I closed the doors, I gave her the go-ahead.

“Time to start the hunt.” She grinned. We turned on the drone, and I took it to the skies. The monster we’re after is a large, two-legged beast. It had two small hands, a long neck, and a large head. Based on the information, it seemed similar to a T-rex from Earth. Spotting it from the skies shouldn’t be too difficult.

“Hmm? What's that?” A white structure stood in the middle of the open plains. It didn't look like anything I've seen before. The structure had a tall cylindrical pillar at its center, and three pyramids on its side. The way it looked felt somewhat ominous.

“A magic shrine?” Elerina asked. She appeared from behind the trees. I watched her as she approached it.

“A magic shrine? The one you touched?”

“A similar structure, yes.”

The structure in front of me looked like a regular concrete structure, not that concrete exists in her world, which made it all the weirder. All the buildings I saw so far were either stone or wood, so this one looked out of place.

There's of course a chance that this isn't concrete. I couldn't touch it, so I couldn't feel it. Although, even if I do, I probably wouldn't be able to differentiate.

I wasn't the only one curious. Elerina looked around the building, walking clockwise. She reached out her hand and touched it-

•••

… Where am I?

I stood in the middle of an empty space. The path underneath me was clad in black. The structure in front resembled a mansion, but it too was painted in pitch black. There was no one else around me, not a single soul.

“Hello? Anyone here?” I called out, but there was no reply. Not even a single echo. I had never heard such clear silence before. No gusts of wind, no footsteps, nothing. I tried clapping my hands hard. My hands turned red, but no sound came out of them, no matter how hard I tried.

“Is my voice the only thing…” It was the only thing I could heard. It sounded exceedingly dry.

“... Come… home…”

Words appeared in my ears. They surrounded me, appearing and disappearing. I don't know what they meant. They sound like a recording, like a film played on an old TV. It felt distant, something from the past.

“... Izoma…”

Izoma?

Elerina said it as a part of a spell, the most powerful spell in her arsenal. She never used that spell, probably doesn't need to considering her strengths, but I distinctly remember that one word. It was the shortest, simplest word from her paragraphs-long spell.

I waited for the voice to speak again, but I could hear nothing else. Instead, my vision became blurry, and I lost my balance.

•••

“Nicholas! Nicholas!”

Elerina’s voice came to my ears. I opened my eyes, finding myself lying on the floor, staring up at the ceiling.

“Nicholas!” Elerina slapped my cheeks, bringing my attention toward her.

“Oh, thank goodness you're alright.” She hugged me tight.

“What… happened?”

“You collapsed all of a sudden and didn't wake up.”

“How long have I been out?”

“An hour.”

Elerina handed over the drone to me. It hadn't been damaged, but it did ran out of battery. The drone must have made a controlled flight down once it began running out and couldn't connect to the controller, which had dropped in my room.

I took the drone and charged it. While I wait, I took a look at my phone. I had several missed notifications, but none of them particularly important.

“What happened on your end?”

She looked worried when she asked. Not wanting to worry her, I shrugged my shoulders and said casually, “Nothing-”

But before I could pull out my excuse, she shot it down.

“You're lying.”

“Huh?”

“Something did happen. Tell me.”

“But… it'll sound dumb. I mean, it might just be a dream-”

“Just tell me.”

She stared at me like a tiger stalking its prey. I relented.

“It was a space filled with black. There's like a mansion in front of me. I heard some voices saying to come home. There are other words that I couldn't make out, but I did hear it end with the word ‘izoma’.”

Elerina lifted an eyebrow. “Izoma? The magic spell izoma?”

“Maybe? The pronunciation is the same.”

When I asked her about it, she said spell itself didn't have an element. Izoma is widely used to boost the properties of other spells. It's easy to pronounce and people from various races have no trouble with pronouncing it.

“Maybe I wandered into that space and they sent me home?”

That said, I never seen such a place in my life. I doubted it's somewhere on Earth. I wouldn't be surprised if it had something to do with magic from her world.

“Does that mean you can interact with magic?” Elerina turned toward something. “This magic shrine… could it influence you also?”

“But that's a large object. It shouldn't be able to go through.”

The ‘middle dimension’ where an item could exist in both our worlds only fit small items. Even a chair is too large for it. How could a structure like it pass through?

“Maybe the object itself doesn't past, but its influence does.”

“Umm… maybe?”

I did collapse the second she touched it. But shouldn't it affect her as well, then?

“Besides… why Izoma? That spell couldn't be used on its own.”

“Maybe I didn't hear the other words?”

There were gaps in between the voice’s words. While I couldn't hear anything in those gasps, some kind of chant might be there.

“How mysterious…” Elerina reached out and tried touching the structure again, but this time, nothing happened. “Maybe we should try returning to that shrine.”

“Yeah.”

I was a bit worried for my well being, but my curiosity won out. It wasn’t much of a fight, really. I, too, wanted to know what those words mean.

Elerina unsheathed her sword and dropped to the ground. I took my phone that lay on the floor not far from me. It didn’t take long for it to reconnect with the video feed coming from Elerina’s action camera. She hid behind the magic shrine, careful to not touch it. In the distance, we could see our target.

The large T-Rex was at least three stories high, towering above the nearby trees. Its tail alone could rival the length of a bus. It let out a roar, its red eyes scanning the area.

“So that’s our target…”

Elerina nodded. It looked like it would be a tough one. I looked toward where I was charging the drone. It hasn't finished.

“We can't scout it.”

Elerina gave me a reassuring look. “I'm used to doing these things solo.”

“Good luck.”

She shot from behind cover, dashing through the open field. The dinosaur turned her way and unleashed a fire attack, burning the ground before her. Elerina leaped to the side. She passed the dinosaur’s right. I thought she had missed, but when she turned around, a line of blood trailed from the open wound.

The dinosaur let out a loud roar, screaming in pain.

“Ck. I thought it would do more damage.”

The wound did look impressive, but she had hit it on its leg. Its mobility may be reduced, but the dinosaur didn't have trouble with just turning around. If anything, the way its head turned like an owl’s is frightening in its own way.

Elerina dodged an incoming fire breath, then leaped forward for a diagonal cut on the dinosaur's back. The cut that sliced the bull into two hardly hurt this one.

“This one's tough,” she whispered. While its attacks didn't do a lot of damage, if she couldn't kill it, it would eventually worn her out. Even if she has enough stamina to survive, being this far behind enemy lines without support and being tired is always risky.

“Its skin must be strong…”

“Yeah, probably actual physical protection.”

“Maybe it didn't have a strong magic shield?”

It would be unfair if it did. Of course, this isn't a game, so the monsters aren't balanced.

“Maybe you should try striking it with magic.”

“... This one may be too strong for me. I'll retreat.”

“Wha-”

Elerina's words caught me off guard, but I quickly shut my mouth. She had a point. Retreating would be much better in this scenario. Monsters might come to the dinosaur's aid, and we wouldn't want Elerina to be surrounded. Even as strong as she is, there's only so much monsters she can take at once.

After dodging another fire breath, she ran into the trees, heading back to the closest village.