Arpious of the Planes

After a few more hours of waking up and enjoying the nice relaxing massage, we finally set off for the massive cracked line in the ground, which I immediately assumed to be a,

"Ravine," I mutter as we stood near the edge of a massive chasm that stretched for about 50 meters north.

The forest had thinned out the closer we got to the ravine, and when I tried to [Inspect] it, nothing popped up, signaling that it wasn't another biome within the [Mountain of Twilight].

The bottom of the ravine was covered in a thick fog that made it impossible to see the bottom but above that were beautiful shining gems and ores that I had never seen before.

"Would Mistress like me to collect some of these ores to bring back?" Bella asks, her eyes lit with determination for some reason.

"You like gems?"

"Y-yes, v-very much. B-but, of course, I'll collect them with only Mistress's permission,"

"Where are you going to store them?"

"I have a bag made from the hide of a few monsters, so I should be able to fit at most one big piece of ore and a few gems,"

"Then go ahead. There's no reason for me to decline," I shrug my shoulders while stretching a bit.

"Thank you very much,"

And as soon as Bella thanked me, we jumped down into the ravine.

With just a slight glance at Bella, she already knew what I wanted to do, so I activated my dragon wings while Bella perked up her red-feathered wings.

FWOOSH

We both grabbed the hands of my remaining maids and tugged them up while flapping our wings.

We could've easily jumped into the fog, but I didn't know what might happen to us. Maybe a powerful monster or even a trap laid by the humans.

"You think there's going to be ores down there? If there isn't, then you should be collecting some right now," I ask Bella, who wiped a drop of sweat from her chin with her own shoulder.

"There should be the same ores or maybe even rarer ores down there, so please don't worry," Bella responds.

We immediately began to descend into the fog slowly, making the air thinner and my body heavier.

It felt as if gravity had increased by at least 2 fold, causing me and Bella to descend even faster than before. Flying up wasn't an option anymore as it seemed almost impossible without any buffs.

But, the main goal was descending anyway, so flying up was out of the question.

"Mistress… I can't breathe," Amelia says as I continue to grip onto her hands.

"You can breathe, but if it gets too hard, just use some of your buffs,"

"I already have… but I can still barely breathe,"

"Then continue to breathe… This is a nice training for you and even for me,"

Even if she does faint from lack of oxygen, I'll still be holding onto her body so she won't be dying anytime soon- oops, she already fainted… well… should I just clear this fog?

Scrolling through my status, I try to find a skill that lets me clear the fog without needing to use my hands.

"Wait, what am I doing… [Summon: Phoenix]," I mutter.

A massive rainbow phoenix appears below us, frightening my maids, who clearly didn't know it was my summon. But with a quick gesture and calmly landing on the back of the phoenix, my maids calmed down before running over to my side.

"Take care of Amelia," I say, handing my beastwoman maid to my remaining maids.

They weren't struggling nearly as much as Amelia, but they were definitely having trouble breathing. They were able to intake just enough oxygen to stay conscious, while I, on the other hand, just felt like somebody was pushing against my chest, declining any deeper breaths that I try to take.

BOOM

We landed on something hard before I could even use a skill to split the fog.

"Phoenix, can you clear the fog with your fire breath?"

KEKKEEREEEEEEEE

My phoenix shouts a similar cry when I originally fought it before blasting a bundle of white flames with a shimmer of rainbow.

The thick fog split instantly into 2 parts, revealing a pure, smooth stone ground that seemed to go endlessly.

Only a little bit of light shone from above, so the white fire helped illuminate the dark ravine.

"We're getting off," I say before un-summoning my phoenix.

Tap

My landing echoed through the ravine, the sound only dissipating a few seconds after.

Tap Tap

My other maids land as well, with their footsteps resounding through the ravine, slightly surprising them.

They weren't surprised at the sudden sound but at how quiet it was. Even a dampened footstep made an echo through the ravine, which we couldn't see the top of anymore.

FWOOSH

Suddenly, the fog rushed back in, filling the missing space as if it was a parted sea. But before I could lose sight of my maids, I dashed over to them and grabbed their waists, pulling them in tightly.

I could only trust my maids to keep Amelia in their grasp; otherwise, we might lose her in the thick fog.

"Shit," I mutter as my vision was entirely covered in thick gray fog.

[Godly Senses: 8]

A wave of information flooded my mind, causing me to stumble back slightly. My maids came with me and thankfully supported me before I took a knee.

"Mistress! Are you alright!" Bella and Anna shout with worry but quickly regret their decision as they began to gasp for air.

The oxygen around us suddenly thinned even farther, making even me struggle to stay conscious.

I was sucking in deep breaths of air while gripping onto my maid's shoulders as hard as possible, but as soon as they dropped to their knees, I dropped to my knees.

The eyes of my remaining maids, who were still awake, rolled back before their bodies hit the hard, smooth stone floor.

The mix of flooding information and thin oxygen was torturous as I tried to grasp everything at once.

No matter if it was I or my phoenix, we couldn't fly up in the slightest. Gravity seemed to increase by 5 fold, pinning us on the floor.

After a few minutes of struggling… nothing had happened, but I didn't panic. I first activated my soul equipment to see if I could split the air like my phoenix, which worked for only a couple of seconds before the fog closed in once again.

Next, I tried [Throne World: Purgatory] as I thought it could maybe me drag out of this cave and place in me a different world, which worked for a split second before everything crumbled into glass shards, filling my vision with thick fog once again.

I didn't get to see all of my new throne world, but I didn't have time to be disappointed as I continued to activate all of my skills.

…

『Status』

[Name: Arpious]

[Race: Lamassu of Ancient Fires]

[Status: Exhausted]

[Servants: 7]

[Subordinates: 7]

[Pets: 3]

[Level: 72/100]

[HP: 700/700  MP: 16/500  SP: 29/500]

...

HUFF HUFF HUFF

My breaths were getting heavier and heavier as time passed. It felt as if it had been an eternity, but in reality, only about 10 minutes had passed.

I deactivated [Godly Senses: 8] so I could actually focus, but it wasn't helping at all as none of my skills were doing absolutely anything.

My divinity domain as well didn't do much... in fact, it made my situation worse as it drained my mana at an insane pace.

Even my censored skill, which could devour divine lights, didn't do anything… well, in reality, it actually didn't do anything. It didn't create anything like the mouth it created for the divine lights.

After another 5 minutes of struggling and weakly gripping the smooth stone floor with my fingers, I lost all feeling in my body.

My body slumped to the ground while my eyes faintly stared at the smooth stone floor…

Smooth stone… smooth stone… why is there smooth stone… why does it look so artificial… as if somebody created it… shit… I was fucking naive and stupid again… I fell into a shitty trap… and now I'm going to die like this?

Suddenly, a thick, clear, gooey liquid rose from the smooth stone under me, but before I could react, I lost consciousness.

…

[Day 71]

My entire body felt like it was soaked in something wet, but it was much thicker than water.

"Urgghh…," I groaned, sitting up while rubbing my aching head.

Suddenly I gagged and then threw up a mouth full of a thick clear liquid.

"Mistress…" I hear a faint voice from behind me.

I snap my head in the voice direction and see Anna lying on the ground next to me, trying to reach for my hand.

"*cough* *cough* *cough* *cough* *cough* The- the fog is gone?" I mutter after finally realizing the thick fog had disappeared.

I scan the room once again and realize that I'm in a massive 80 by 80 meter dome-shaped room. It was entirely gray and made from artificial-looking smooth stone.

There were 4 exits within it, one being a massive archway about 50 meters tall and the 3 others being about 30 meters tall.

The empty room was lit by the faint white light from the 50-meter tall archway that had a rushing river colliding into it that was made of clear liquid—the hallway's ceiling that came after the archway was missing, allowing bright sunlight to enter.

But back to the river… It was as if there was an invisible barrier blocking the clear liquid from coming into the room.

"Where am I?"