So far, the twins had witnessed a lot of wonderous and extraordinary events while with Nex Loki. They had witnessed the revival of the great ancestor, they had seen the impossible destruction of a vault, they had met with a city-lord, they had wandered through a pocket world, they had seen oblivion, and they had reunited with their long lost aunt. However, none of that compared to watching Loki design and construction an entire airship out of nowhere right before their eyes.
It had taken some time to sort through her stockpile of materials taken from the cultists, but when that was done, she proceeded to solve their current predicament.
Utilizing her [Authority] skill, in tandem with [Trace], [Transmutation], and [Designer], she began to process and combine the raw materials.
This build would be rushed, and would essentially be a false existance, but it would get the job done. Calling up schematics in her head, she began the rapid configuration of pieces.l, reinforcing them with her own anima so it would hold together as long as she needed it to.
She worked tirelessly throughout the night, and as the first light of dawn broke over the horizon, the others were awoken to discover a large patchwork airship hovering above them, its large turbine engines that kept it afloat roaring loudly.
"That was..." Tetra said in awe
"How did...?" Petra added
"A bit crude, isn't it?" Fen wondered
"Yeah," Loki shrugged, "it was a rush job."
"I like it," Thor said, "it's practical,"
"Let's go, people," Loki said, as she started to climb up the rope ladder.
Once they were all on board, they got comfortable on the wooden benches.
"This thing is held together by string, glue and hope," Fen said, "are you sure it can get us where we need to go?"
"It's also held together by my anima," Loki said, "I used [Trace] to reinforce the hull, so it should hold together"
"Alright," Fen smirked, as she took the helm,
"How come she gets to fly this thing?" Thor demanded
"Because I can use both hands to steer," Fen teased
"That reminds me." Loki said "Here, Thor. I had spare parts leftover for this."
Loki then threw a basic prosthetic arm at Thor. It wasn't anything as fancy or sophisticated as her own cybernetics, but it was functional with a simple grabber claw for a hand.
"I would've preferred something nicer, though," Thor complained, attaching the arm to her stump.
"It should do until I can get you a proper replacement,"
"So, onwards then," Fen said, steering them towards their destination.
* * *
The trip that would've taken a few weeks, took only a couple of days by air. The airship was a swift thing, but that was because it was basically a basic chassis with little much else.
Loki's anima permiated the entire construct, the green circuit patterns of [Trace] that covered the structure.
The twins didn't think anyone could expend so much anima at a steady constant pace for so long, all the while she looked like she was simply meditating.
Nex Loki was truly something else.
"We're almost there," Fen reported, "there's a city up ahead,"
Loki opened her eyes, the emerald orbs glowing with boundless power.
"Alright, bring us down here," Loki said
"Are you sure?" Thor asked
"I would be better if they didn't notice us flying overhead," Loki said, "plus I can only keep this thing together for so long."
The city of Rold was in decline. A vault had opened up not far from the city, and at first proved to be an archaeological and economic marvel. However, when more and more adventurers started dying in the vault, and less relics were recovered, it's value started drying up.
It's threat level kept growing with every dead adventurer, and pretty soon, the city had to pay adventurers to delve into the vault. Before long, the vault went from an asset to a liability, especially when a monster stampede emerged from the vault. The damage to the city was minimal, thanks to the surviving adventurers, but that had marked the end for the city as an adventurer haven.
Now, Rold was mostly a slum, a lawless ruin where gangs warred for territory.
As they walked through the dirty streets, Thor and Fen kept a wary eye on their surroundings, their menacing aura keeping the riff-raff away.
They went to the local adventurers guild, which was just a shell of what it once was. The guild was still open because every once in a while, there was the odd adventurer who ventured there hoping to take on this killer vault and Rold still technically held the rights to it.
After paying an exorbitant fee, not that Loki would care since it wasn't her money, they were given permits to enter the vault.
* * *
The Rold vault had been ranked extremely dangerous. It had been open for over a century and had never been conquered. Most who went in never left. Naturally, Loki was confident in her ability to overcome whatever she faced.
As the group proceeded inside the cave, they discovered it was fundamentally different to other vaults. There were no puzzles or riddles to solve, no traps to avoid, it was as straightforward as they came, designed to keep people out.
"This place is wierd," Thor noted
"I felt it too," Fen said, it's not like the vault in Nüjaven."
"Do we really need to be here with you?" Tetra asked, they wore simple armor over their uniform.
"I don't feel comfortable leaving you behind in that city." Loki said, "What's the history of this place anyway?"
"Well, they say the vault was cursed," Petra said, "that there was something evil trapped here, and they need to send it sacrifices to stave it off."
"Is that why the guild was so eager to send us in?" Fen said,
"They did seem rather desperate, despite that high entry fee," Thor said
"Well, at least we got in without much trouble," Loki said, "and if we can conquer this place, we shouldn't expect any trouble."
After walking a bit, they met their first obstacle, it was a standard wood golem, essentially a large puppet. Thor's lightning, and Fen's chains were enough to destroy it and they proceeded with little difficulty, but with each subsequent monster they encountered, they discovered that it was marginally stronger than the last one they faced, and though that mattered little to the Valkyrie, it was becoming annoying.
"Whoever made this vault is starting to piss me off," Thor growled, lifting her hammer from the splintered remains of a golem of a griffin.
"There's something else going on here," Fen mused, "I'm not sure what it is yet, but I can sense a presence that hasn't left us since we entered this vault."
"That sounds perfectly ominous," Pretra commented to herself.
"Let's keep going," Loki said, "Petra, Tetra, you take up the rear, watch out backs, but make sure to keep your distance."
"Right." They nodded, brandishing their weapons.
The group pressed on, for hours, clearing wood golems of all sorts of monsters, but persevering. Oddly enough, they didn't find any chest of loot on the way, or drops from the monsters, which was unlike their other vault experiences.
"No wonder they gave up on this vault, this place sucks." Thor grumbled, "there better be something worthwhile in the treasure room."
"We still haven't found the hidden crypt either," Fen noted, "something is very wrong with thus vault."
"Well it's a single tunnel, which is something at least," Loki mused, "I have a feeling we'll find our answers at the end of this tunnel."
At the end of the long tunnel, they came across the large doors that led to the treasure chamber, the only thing that resembled a normal vault. That's where they came face to face with the what would be the vault guardian, and they were stunned by what they discovered,
"It can't be," Fen growled in outrage,
"Why her?" Thor hesitated, her face conflicted.
"Yggdrasil?" Loki said simply.
Before them was a little girl that looked about thirteen years old, her tanned, wood colored, skin was as youthful as they remembered, and her hair was made of vines and adorned with colorful wild flowers. She wore only a simple white dress, and her brilliant golden eyes stared at them coldly.
"You are trespassing on a restricted area," she said coldly, "turn back now or suffer the consequences. You have 10 seconds to comply."
"Yggy, it's us." Thor called,
"Yggdrail, what happened to you?" Fen asked, "when did you wake up?"
The girl remained silent for a moment.
"Time limit expired. Lethal force authorised." She said with a blank expression, before she pointed at them. From the ground, roots and vines shot out at them.