Chapter 296

Chapter 296

Squee!

Gaia flew around the messy living room.

“Woohoo!”

Briel ran after Gaia.

Their sudden game of hide-and-seek made the whole house noisy.

Gaia and Briel had no time to be bored.

When Briel studied alchemy, Gaia would put its head together with hers and ponder alongside her.

That did not mean Gaia actually helped Briel with anything. It was, literally, only putting their heads together. But even that alone often gave Briel great inspiration.

When Briel’s short attention span ran out, the two would run around the room like this and play together.

Watching Gaia fly around the cramped house made Zeon feel sorry for it.

For a being that could fly freely through the sky to live trapped inside a narrow house was itself a tragedy.

Zeon rose from his seat and said,

“Let’s go out today.”

“Hm? Where?”

“Somewhere Gaia can fly as much as it wants, and somewhere you can run around and play.”

“Is there a place like that?”

“We’ll have to find one now.”

“Then I’ll go.”

Squee!

Briel and Gaia answered at the same time.

Zeon chuckled and put on his robe.

Briel also put on her pointed hat and robe, preparing to go out.

Gaia entered Zeon’s subspace for a moment.

Once they had finished all their preparations, they left the house.

The two quickly left the slums and came out into the desert.

Only after they had gone far enough that Neo Seoul could no longer be seen did Zeon open his subspace and let Gaia out.

Squee!

Gaia made a happy sound.

It had grown happy just from coming out into the wide-open desert.

Gaia enjoyed its freedom to the fullest, flying freely around Zeon and Briel. Seeing Gaia like that, Zeon regretted not bringing it out sooner.

Briel also smiled brightly as she watched Gaia fly to its heart’s content.

“Gaia!”

Briel spread both arms and chased Gaia.

Gaia fled, wagging its tail and pectoral fins.

Both of them looked extremely happy.

However, this place was close to Neo Seoul.

There might be passersby.

If they saw this scene now, they would surely report it to City Hall.

They needed to go somewhere completely away from people’s eyes.

Zeon said,

“Let’s go farther.”

“Okay!”

Squee!

Briel and Gaia answered at the same time.

Then Gaia stared intently at Briel.

Squee!

“What, you want me to ride on your back?”

Squeeee!

“Is that okay? Really?”

Squeak, squeak!

“Okay! But if I’m heavy, put me down anytime.”

Gaia nodded its large head as if it understood.

Briel carefully climbed onto Gaia’s back.

Even with her riding it, Gaia did not sink in the slightest and maintained its flight.

When Zeon unfolded Sand Walk and moved ahead, Gaia followed behind with Briel on its back.

Riding on Gaia’s back, Briel spread her arms wide and met the wind.

“Kyaaahaha! Can’t you go faster?”

Squee!

Gaia increased its speed, passed Zeon in an instant, and climbed high into the sky.

Zeon did not know by what principle, but Gaia could fly freely without being affected by gravity.

Just like a fish swimming through water.

Gaia soared high into the sky.

“Ugh!”

Briel felt tremendous pressure pressing down on her. But that lasted only for a moment, and soon breathing became easier.

Gaia’s authority was clearly at work.

Pressure and wind could no longer torment her.

Briel hugged Gaia’s head and whispered,

“This is the best! Thank you, Gaia! Thank you for giving me such an amazing experience.”

Squee!

“But we came too high. Zeon won’t be able to follow us like this. Let’s go down.”

“I’m fine, so keep flying.”

At that moment, Zeon’s voice came from right beside her.

Startled, she looked over and saw Zeon flying beside Gaia on a sand-laden wind.

“What the hell? You can fly in the sky too?”

“As you can see, if I ride the sand-laden wind......”

“Wow! That’s so broken.”

Briel revealed her true thoughts without realizing it.

At that moment, Zeon’s expression suddenly hardened.

“Monsters.”

“What?”

Briel looked ahead in surprise.

Far away, pitch-black objects were flying toward them at frightening speed.

Bzzzzzz!

Even though they were still quite far away, the sound of their wingbeats was terrifying.

Zeon frowned.

“They’re Bullet Hummingbirds.”

“What?”

“Bullet Hummingbirds! They’re lower-ranked monsters with a trait similar to Bomb Bees. They ram into their targets and self-destruct.”

Bullet Hummingbirds flapped their wings at frightening speed, just like real hummingbirds, and lived hundreds of meters high in the sky.

They never came down to the ground until the moment they died, so ordinary people did not even know they existed.

Even among Awakened, Zeon was nearly the only one who knew of the Bullet Hummingbirds’ existence.

The reason was simple.

Everyone who had encountered Bullet Hummingbirds had lost their lives.

Boom, boom, boom, boom—!

The Bullet Hummingbirds flew in at once and rammed straight into Gaia and Zeon.

Their method of attack was to collide at the same bullet-like speed with which they flew, then explode.

Bullet Hummingbirds were only common F-grade monsters. However, if thousands or tens of thousands of them collided and exploded at bullet speed, they could turn monsters of Grade C or lower that lacked force fields into scraps of rag in an instant.

Humans, whose defensive power was weaker than monsters, went without saying.

The one fortunate thing was that Gaia, though still only a baby, could unfold a force field.

Thanks to that, Gaia and Briel remained safe even through dozens of small explosions.

“Zeon?”

Briel quickly looked at Zeon.

Boom, boom, boom—!

Countless explosions were occurring in front of Zeon as well.

He had been exposed to the Bullet Hummingbirds’ attack.

However, just like with Gaia, the Bullet Hummingbirds’ attack did not inflict any real damage on Zeon.

Whoooosh!

That was because of the Sand Curtain whirling around Zeon.

The Bullet Hummingbirds could not pierce the curtain made of sand and exploded in front of it.

Thanks to that, Zeon remained safe from the Bullet Hummingbirds’ attack.

Zeon said to Briel,

“I don’t think flying any higher than this is a good idea. Let’s go down.”

“Okay!”

Squeeee!

Zeon and Gaia slowly lowered their altitude and descended to the ground.

Briel got off Gaia’s back and rubbed her chest.

“Wow! I thought I was going to die.”

Squee!

“Thank you! I survived thanks to you.”

Squeak, squeak!

“It looked like there was nothing there, but terrifying things like that live up in the sky. That scared the hell out of me.”

Briel raised her head and looked at the sky.

From the ground, the Bullet Hummingbird swarm that had attacked them so fiercely could no longer be seen.

If she had not experienced the Bullet Hummingbirds’ attack firsthand, she would not have believed that such vicious monsters lived so high above.

Briel asked Zeon,

“Monsters like that live in the sky?”

“Different monsters live at different altitudes.”

“How?”

“At the lowest levels, there are insect-type monsters. A little higher, there are lower-ranked monsters like those. The stronger ones live at higher altitudes.”

“Good heavens!”

“In a way, the ones living in the sky are more dangerous than the monsters living on the ground. They hate other lifeforms entering their territory more than death itself. But their territories are far wider than those of monsters on the ground. It looks like this entire area is Bullet Hummingbird territory.”

“Then do the monsters in the sky not come down to the ground? Do they spend their whole lives in the sky?”

“In the case of Bullet Hummingbirds, they’re born in the sky and die in the sky.”

“How is that possible? No, even if they’re monsters, shouldn’t there be times when they need to rest on the ground?”

“I’ve been wondering that too.”

Monsters were already creatures that could not be understood through common sense, but the monsters living in the sky were even further beyond human understanding.

Unlike monsters on the ground or underground, their ecosystem was completely unknown.

That was also why Zeon did not often use his ability to rise into the sky on sand-laden wind, even though he could.

There was no reason to risk danger and go into the sky when he never knew what kind of monster he might encounter.

That high sky was an unknown realm even to him.

Zeon stroked Gaia’s head and said,

“It’s better not to go too high until Gaia grows up.”

“Yeah! We should do that.”

Squeeee!

Once Gaia fully matured, even the monsters that ruled the sky would not be able to do anything to it. But no one knew when it would grow as large as its mother, Moby Dick.

Briel looked around and said,

“By the way, where are we?”

They had gotten so excited flying that it seemed they had come far too far from Neo Seoul.

“I think we’re at least several hundred kilometers from Neo Seoul.”

“Ugh! You’re saying we came that far in such a short time?”

Squee?

Briel and Gaia were startled.

Zeon smiled and said,

“You don’t need to be so surprised. Flying through the sky greatly shortens both time and distance.”

“Then how do we get back to Neo Seoul? Do we fly back again?”

“Gaia seems pretty startled too, so let’s just walk.”

“That’ll take a long time.”

“All we have left is time, isn’t it?”

“Well, if we think of it as a picnic, walking isn’t bad either.”

Briel soon nodded and accepted it.

If an ordinary person had to walk several hundred kilometers, they would have to risk their life. But neither Zeon nor Briel was anywhere close to ordinary.

They were also used to walking in the desert.

“Let’s go!”

“Okay!”

The two began walking.

Zeon moved at the front and judged the direction.

Briel followed Zeon while endlessly talking with Gaia. Thanks to that, there was no time to be bored.

“Still, it was nice. The Bullet Hummingbirds were a little scary, but flying through the sky felt incredible.”

Squeeee!

“You want to go again?”

Squeak, squeak, squeak!

“Let’s go when you grow a little bigger. It seems a little dangerous right now.”

Squeeee!

“You’re fine? No! We still shouldn’t take risks. Life is precious.”

Briel comforted Gaia.

No matter how long one watched, the sight of an elf and a small flying whale talking earnestly never grew tiresome.

Thanks to that, walking beneath the scorching sun did not feel all that boring.

“Hm?”

At that moment, Zeon sensed a foreign energy.

At the feeling that seemed to tickle the soles of his feet, Zeon stopped and looked down.

“What is it?”

Squee?

Briel and Gaia looked at Zeon with puzzled expressions.

Zeon tilted his head and answered,

“It seems there’s a dungeon underground here.”

“A dungeon?”

Squee?

“Want to go inside?”

“Yeah!”

Squee!