1 Shock

In a damp, dark and deep dungeon, somewhere in this World of Agatha, a portal with a purple glow appeared, spitting something out before closing completely.

The figure was human and although pale and unhealthy looking like a corpse, It was still very much alive.

Morgana slowly rose to her feet surveilling the surroundings.

It was strange. As debilitated and wounded as she was, there still should be enough power left to fuel her dark vision spell. After all, It barely consumed any mana.

Speaking of mana, there was certainly something seriously wrong with her reserves.

"How is this possible? Even for this exhausted state it is just too little."

But after the initial shock, she concluded - "No. This is still within the acceptable margin of error. After all I just used a very powerful magical artifact to break the barrier between worlds. It wouldn't be surprising even if all of my remaining energy was consumed."

Morgana calmly fumbled around until finally finding a suitable rock to sit on. Afterward, she immediately began reminiscing her previous battle, the final standoff, her Guild of Avalon against a vast coalition of enemies.

She wasn't, however, at all concerned with the possibility of the enemy following her here. Travel between worlds was a feat few people in history could achieve. The dark wizard herself only accomplished this by employing a relic of old, an item which had been completely destroyed in the process.

Besides, even if the enemy had the means and the will to pursue her into this strange and hostile world, what could she do?

Nothing, unfortunately.

As much as she hated to admit, Morgana was at this moment completely powerless, having spent all of her trump cards.

Like her old mentor said once - "A problem without a solution is solved from the beginning. It is better to use your energy in more productive ways, my dear."

Morgana inspected her wounds, although from sheer instinct and battle experience she already had a rough idea of the situation.

"Hmm. This is not too bad. Luckily I managed to stop the bleeding in my right flank before going through the portal. In this state, although I lost some blood, my health is relatively stable. There is only one problem."

And as soon Morgana thought this, her stomach started growling.

That's right. She had almost no magic and yet needed to secure a source of food and water to survive until she recovered.

Meanwhile, amidst her reflections, Morgana never stopped paying attention to her surroundings. This place was made of solid rock and filled with dirt. There were some small shining crystals spread sparingly through the whole place. But the light was very dim. She soon realized this dungeon had a decent population of bat-like creatures and took her time judging their fighting prowess.

Nests were built on the ceiling and these two feet long animals seemed to eat all sorts of fungi growing on the walls.

Apparently they were not a treat.

Morgana was confident she would be able to catch two or three by using basic fire spells, witch consumed very little energy.

So she hid stealthily in an appropriately large crevice. Just like an experienced wolf, she waited for the sheep to leave the herd. After all, Morgana was nothing if not cautious. There was no way of knowing how the swarm of bats would react when you attacked one of their own. Since they were a new race she never encountered before, there was no such thing as too many preparations.

In other words, she would take no chances. These flying creatures were a necessary source of calories and liquid she could not afford to lose in this dire situation.

But nothing could have prepared her for what was about to happen. When she launched the spell "firebolt" It was not a spell at all, but only a formless cloud of energy.

"What?!" - Morgana cried out loud after the energy mass hit the bat without harming it in the slightest. Baffled by this whole situation