As Aleria’s vision adjusted to the darkness, the enemy became obvious. Beady orange eyes locked onto her own, while a wiry tongue—long enough to wrestle with—flickered out to hiss at the intruders. Its head connected to a long cylindrical body which had coiled itself around a stalagmite, shrinking the further it trailed; the end of this tail, constricted one of her fairies.

Aleria glared back, silently analyzing the target, determining its threat level.

[Tunnel Snake | Lvl 7]

Hmph, not a threat.

“How dare you!” Aleria ground out through her teeth. She gazed at the snake with the same icy eyes she gave the harpies after they had killed so many of her Cadre. She was pissed. I’ll be dammed if I allow myself to lose a subordinate on day one. Especially by something so… so weak.

“Surrounded it!” She barked out.

The snake responded to her call-to-action by tightening its grip around the suspended fairy and hissed again, in a mocking challenge.

Knowing that it wouldn’t take long before the little fairies bones broke, leading to a dead corpse, Aleria had to act fast. Time to try ‘that’ I suppose, hopefully works first try.

Aleria called upon the wind, or at least what little could reach this deep into the cave, willing it to compress. Sweat dripped down her brow as she put ninety-five-percent of her concentration into the procedure, the other five watched over the enemy.

Luckily the snake seemed content to let her do whatever. You’ll soon regret not taking me seriously.

From the beginning of Integration until her death, her weapon of choice had always been the sword. Throughout those 115 years she could safely say she had become a master of the sword. So that is exactly what she chose now; it had been such in her first life and would be such this second one.

As the gathered wind gathered, compressed and became corporeal, the shape of a sword made itself known to the world.

A sudden ding rang in the depths of her mind, followed by a stream of information which she processed in seconds. The System had verified her creation.

[Wind Blade:F]: By utilizing your basic mastery over the Air Element, you command the surrounding winds to condense into a blade that can used like a traditional sword. Only lasts around 1 minute. Cannot leave the users hands. (Chant: One Word; choose now.)

I succeeded. Aleria thought as she gazed at the swirling blade of wind, no bigger than a human’s pinky-finger. Its chant shall simply be: ‘Blade~’

Due to the Earth Element being dominate in the surroundings, her feat had taken almost everything Aleria had. It would be easier to conjure now she had a direct spell and also as she leveled, re-acquired her sword skill and furthered her magical expertise; but for now, it would hopefully do.

No, she thought. It will be enough!

Now with sword in hand, Aleria flew upward, while her mind judged distance and searched for a weak point on the monster’s tail.

What happened next, occurred in a second.

Blade met thick flesh, pained hiss echoed against rock-walls, strangled fairy fell gasping for air, and the dark cave rumbled in fury.

While Aleria hadn’t managed to lop off the snake’s tail, or even cause major injury, it was enough to free the victim.

Damn that’s some hard skin, Aleria thought. No level 7 monster should be capable of receiving a strike like that. Is my new body really that weak, or…? Her strike had only left a shallow wound, barely penetrating the snake’s skin.

The only reason I didn’t cause more damage must be from an opposing element. Aleria glanced down at her breezy blade. She narrowed her eyes. This snake had to have been born from Earth.

Aleria didn’t need to wait for confirmation of her theory. It instead, took the form of the cave’s stalagmites enlarging, causing chunks of rock to break, sending them careening in a landslide, all while angry and confused orange orbs glared at Aleria.

They conveyed the snakes bafflement at how such a tiny insect could possibly injured it, even so minor.

Seems of I’ve gained its attention—good—she thought. As long as it focused on her, she wouldn’t need to worry about any of her fairies dying to inexperience.

However, when Aleria looked over at where the fairies were, they were sadly all paralyzed with fear. Only Miia and Green had any semblance of control over their bodies.

Miia had taken up position in the center of the group and was blowing away any rubble that fell toward them. Green must have had nerves of steel, or maybe its just a healer thing, as she had rushed under the snake unnoticed, caught the previously constricted fairy and was now treating her.

Aleria would be impressed and proud, if not for the fact Green seemed to have no situational awareness as she obliviously healed the fallen fairy.

“Wake up you lot!” She gave them time to tune in, “If you cannot stand strong in the face of danger here and now, then you might as well give up! Remember what we came here for; remember why we are in this cave; remember who we are her for! You already lost one home, do you want to lose a second!?”

The snake lunged at Aleria before she could see if her words had any affect, it had recovered from both pain and confusion.

She gracefully glided back, away from the attack, just enough to be out of range, yet close enough for a second attack. Too easy. She used to be a Tier 6 powerhouse, she might as well kill herself if she allowed herself to be hit by a mere level 7.

Its head reared back to its previous position after the strike failed, looming over everything inside the cave. It didn’t seem to want to stop clinging the stalagmite, otherwise it could’ve reached further. And maybe then it could get me. Hah, good joke.

Wait… Tunnel Snake? Aleria eyes lit up as if she’d solved a mystery. So that’s where that elusive passageway is. Her eyes narrowed. This damn snake is the one protecting the mana-spring.

As the snake prepared to lunge a second time, a few stone arrows flew by, none hit, but they were enough to startle, messing with its posture.

Now.

The instant Aleria judged an opening, she struck.

“Blow~” she chanted, causing a gust of wind to accelerate her forward. If I can’t cut you with my bodies strength, then I’ll apply Physics.

She’d always preferred being a dexterous and agile fighter compared to a meaty and muscled style. It just so happened that this new body of hers, seemed as if it were built with this in mind.

With ridiculous accuracy, Aleria’s sword strike swept along the same path it previously traveled. This time the blade sank halfway through the tail before being halted by both thicker muscle and a earthy-brown glow.

It can channel its element!? She dodged away from the spasming snake, rending more flesh along the way by pulling her sword free. This isn’t going to be easy. It seemed it still hadn’t been treating them like a threat.

It will now though. Aleria thought as the cave around her seemed to roll with ferocity.

Seeing their queen dominate the entire fight against the dastardly creature with such beauty and grace seemed to raise the confidence of the terrified fairies. Half began to fire their arrows with increased speed and accuracy, while the other half—the spearmen—took over for Miia in blowing away falling rock-shards, still too hesitant to fly into melee range.

With her position freed up, Miia proved she had been watching her queen closely, as she now pointed her spear at the enemy while preparing to gust toward it.

It wasn’t to be however.

The snake now looked positively enraged as its orange orbs bathed the area in a menacing light. It had enough. It would put everything into this fight, as it now knew, this was a fight for survival.

A few drops of viscous fluid dripping out the snakes closed jaw were all the warning Aleria had before her enemy began to spray out a haze of misty vapor which sizzled as it drifted through the air.

“MOVE!”

Aleria flapped her wings in a scrambled backward toward a confused Miia. The head of the snake began to track its way from her last position toward the group of fairies, it looked like morning fog had rolled in, gained sentience, then decided to chase people.

She grabbed Miia and booked it toward the group.

“Blow away this filth!” Aleria commanded before glancing back to see the effects of the presumably poisonous cloud. What she saw, caused goosebumps to form. Anything the mist touched dissolved in mere moments, even rock.

Guess we learned how it tunnels, Aleria joked before freezing. She’d forgotten something. Or rather… someone.

“Green!” She looked around, scrutinizing each fairy. “Where is Green!”

She isn’t here, Aleria reached a solemn conclusion. That little fairy is still inside the toxic mist, still healing that fairy, probably remaining oblivious to death until it began eating her skin. Damn healers and their short sighted devotion to the medical profession.

There is no way she survived. She hadn’t know the fairy long but she seemed like a quiet and shy hard-worker. In all honesty she would’ve preferred to let the other fairy die for Green. A healer took priority over a common foot-soldier. That was reality in this Integrated world.

The collective efforts of the fairies began to disperse the mist, however, they weren’t out of danger yet. A barrage of rocks flew at them, like a hail of baseballs from one-hundred pitching machines, causing them all to begin dodging.

“Tighten formation and increase the wind’s strength!” It was the only counter Aleria could come up with. Someone would get hit if this kept up; they weren’t trained soldiers after all, they had an endurance limit.

We can’t keep this up, she thought. The strain on each fairy increased with each rock that had its course altered by the fairy-made wind current. Already some looked about ready to pass out, even she noticed her magic-reserves draining fast.

I need to end this now!

“Keep defending, I’m going to kill that snake!”

Aleria dropped out of the gusting formation and checked on the stability of her wind blade. A few seconds left, more than enough.

“Blow~!” As the chant left her lips she flew forward, picking up speed as she went and upon entering the trade-wind created by her fairies, this acceleration picked up even further.

These speeds went beyond what her body could handle. As she felt as if her body was tearing itself apart.

It doesn’t matter, I just need to slay the beast and then we’ll be home free—literally; besides, this is nothing compared to the speeds I could move at in my previous body.

Aleria weaved in and out between incoming rocks as she approached the dissipating cloud of poison. This is going to hurt. She thought, closing her eyes.

Pain grated her skin, like going through a cheese-grater, as she cut through the mist. Thankfully, however, the toxins had weakened substantially after being exposed to air for this long, or she would’ve had some nasty scars.

When her eyes reopened Aleria was greeted to the sight of her target. The snake didn’t even notice her rocketing toward it.

Needless to say, it noticed when its tail fell, severed.

However, Aleria had no time to celebrate. Her body had given up; numbness spread through her limbs, including her wings, causing her to smash into the floor.

As darkness graced her consciousness over-and-over again, Aleria found a lifeline. A pair of bright green emeralds, glowing like fireflies in nature. Whatever they were, they were helping. They were healing her.

“Is this heaven?”