The Dead Surface
After the Queen got ahold of the Mastery Key and the Threshold itself, it became very obvious that Haalfrin and the Arkin need to find some other place to stay.
The Arkin are the easiest to settle, since they can just go back to the Death Realm through his soul whenever they're not directly fighting.
Haalfrin, on the other hand, needs some kind of defensible position – some place he can fight from and return to.
So, during the next few weeks that Haalfrin is being healed up, the Arkin and Wills carry Haalfrin through the tunnels below the Threshold.
Since many of the Ants had grown so powerful, the Queen herself ends up staying behind in the Threshold while she leaves everything to her minions.
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After several weeks spent pulling off the same evasive tactics the Queen had used before when she hid in the tunnels, Haalfrin is fully healed up.
Fearing that the Queen has other surprises for them in these tunnels, he feels they need to find some other place to stay.
So, he lets his Arkin go back to the Death Realm. Then, he takes his Wills with him and digs his way through up through the ground until he reaches the surface.
Honestly… this is the first time Haalfrin has seen the sky since he's started this war with the Ant Queen; he fully expected to see the noon sky, as there ARE devices in the Threshold used to tell time.
However, instead of seeing the shining sun and blue sky, the sky is a cloudless, gloomy, grey mantle, and the sun isn't even there.
What's perhaps even more startling is that all the ground is an ashen and barren plain rather than the lush and fertile forest it was before.
"Why's everything dead?" he mumbles in shock.
Freyya's body slowly levitates down from above him as she slowly flaps her wings. "Haalfrin… with how much Death Aura you've released with your Syl Name, you've made this plot of land as dead as the Death Realm."
"Hmm…," Haalfrin muses, "I see why the Death Reapers are so important now." With nobody to take souls and absorb the Death Aura, everything on every world would eventually die.
"Well…," Freyya asks in between pauses, "what are you going to do now?"
"I'll think about it along the way."
The goddess of Defeat leans in and pecks him on the cheek. "Ok. Whatever it is, good luck. Have fun. Eat well. Remember to shave."
"Got it."
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Naturally, the Queen sees that her enemy had suddenly fled to the surface. "Why?" she muses. "Is he hoping for some advantage being under the open air? His people DO have flight spells, after all…"
The more she thinks about it, the more his move doesn't feel right. "But… my Captains can shoot mana blasts and make mana shields as well now… so the pointy ears being able to fly won't matter very much; I'll have hundreds of thousands of my children being able to attack them."
Until she figures out what he's planning, the Queen feels that it's best to play it safe. So, she permanently stations a force inside the maze. Rooting the enemy out of that basement was way to hard for her to willingly give it up now.
Other than that, the Queen starts working on redoing the tunnels down below, as well as expanding them. She knows the barrier trapping them all in this battlefield is several miles wide, and she wants her enemy to have nowhere to run to.
Even if her forces can't physically be everywhere, she can mitigate this flaw by increasing her army's mobility across the land by constructing roads and straight tunnels to the far reaches of the battlefields. Then, she can give the impression of being everywhere if she can somehow hide much of her forces.
By keeping many of the tunnels hidden away, she can surprise the dragon slayer wherever he goes. Even if he's resting somewhere that her Ants aren't he'll never know that.
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Now that Haalfrin is by himself, he realizes that it'll be a lot harder for the Queen to find him. Unlike her, his stealth spells are far more advanced than hers, so she shouldn't be able to sense him with her mana.
He also uses some illusion magic to help out… though only in a limited fashion.
You see, there are 2 schools of illusion magic. One type of illusion magic has you directly meddling with someone's mind – making them perceive things that aren't there, or not perceive things that ARE there.
This type of magic won't work on the Ants, since these spells become harder the more targets you have, and the more intelligent your targets are. With millions of Ants all sticking together, trying to cast this spell would drain Haalfrin completely of mana, only to accomplish nothing.
The other type of illusion spell is less popular, but it's the only one that'll work here. This magic bends light around him to make people see what's behind him. As long as he keeps his distance from the Ants, they won't be able to tell he's there.
And so, Haalfrin pulls out his full suit of armor, has some of his Wills get inside, and has them carry him high into the sky. Here, the Ants won't be able to follow him, and here, he'll be unseen and unknown.
Once Haalfrin makes sure nobody's watching him, he ascends into the sky.
After he's up there, he tells his Wills to hold him in place. Then, he closes his eyes and enters his Soul Realm to see if he can figure something out.
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The Queen is getting really annoyed at this point. She's scoured all the land. She's tunneled everywhere within the confines the strange, black barrier. She's even posted sentries watching the skies, but with no clouds, she has no idea where he could be hiding.
After being completely unable to find the man, the Queen is starting to wonder if the man had found a way to escape their shared prison.
Thinking of this possibility, the Queen starts poking around the barrier with renewed interest – looking for any weaknesses or gaps.
She becomes so engrossed in her new activity that she (seemingly) forgets all about Haalfrin.
Still, just in case the human and his pointy eared friends come back, the Queen is sure to keep guards posted at all the important locations.
In between poking at the barrier, the Queen also decides to study the crystal she got off of the old man's corpse. That thing has such complex magic that she's sure it's an important tool.
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"Fisco?" Haalfrin calls out once he gets to his soul realm.
"… Yes?" comes his Contractor's reply a few seconds later.
"You said you can't send many supplies because of the emperor, correct?"
"What's this about?" Fisco asks.
"I'm going to need a lot of supplies," Haalfrin explains as he takes a deep breath, "and in order for you to do that, I guess I'll have to help make you the emperor."