Chapter 296
—Be!
Gaia was flying around the messy living room.
“Wahaha!”
Brielle ran after her.
The sudden game of hide-and-seek between the two filled the house with noise.
Gaia and Brielle never had a moment to feel bored.
Whenever Brielle researched alchemy, Gaia would press her head close beside her and ponder together.
That didn’t mean Gaia actually helped Brielle with anything.
She literally just put her head next to hers.
But even that alone often gave Brielle great inspiration.
And once Brielle’s short attention span ran out, they would dash around the room together like this.
Watching Gaia fly around the cramped house made Zeon feel sorry for her.
A being meant to soar freely through the skies being trapped inside such a tiny house was tragic in itself.
Zeon rose from his seat and said,
“Let’s go out today.”
“Hm? Where?”
“Somewhere Gaia can fly freely. And somewhere you can run around to your heart’s content.”
“A place like that exists?”
“We’ll have to find one.”
“Then let’s go.”
—Be!
Brielle and Gaia answered at the same time.
Zeon chuckled softly as he put on his robe.
Brielle also put on her pointed hat and robe to prepare for going out.
Gaia temporarily entered Zeon’s subspace.
Once they finished preparing, the two left the house.
Before long, they exited the slums and entered the desert.
Only after they had traveled far enough that Neo Seoul was no longer visible did Zeon open his subspace and let Gaia out.
—Be!
Gaia let out a delighted cry.
Simply being out in the vast desert had lifted her spirits.
She freely flew around Zeon and Brielle, savoring her freedom.
Watching her, Zeon regretted not bringing her out sooner.
Brielle also broke into a bright smile as she watched Gaia fly as much as she wanted.
“Gaia!”
Brielle spread her arms wide and chased after Gaia.
Gaia wagged her tail and pectoral fins as she fled.
Both of them looked incredibly happy.
But this place was still close to Neo Seoul.
There was a chance someone might pass by.
And if anyone saw this scene, they would surely report it to city hall.
They needed to go somewhere completely out of sight.
Zeon said,
“Let’s go farther.”
“Okay!”
—Be!
Brielle and Gaia answered at the same time again.
Then Gaia stared intently at Brielle.
—Be!
“What, you want me to ride on your back?”
—Bii!
“Really? Are you sure?”
—Bibi!
“Alright! But if I’m too heavy, let me down anytime.”
As if understanding, Gaia nodded her large head.
Brielle carefully climbed onto Gaia’s back.
Even with her on board, Gaia showed no sign of strain and continued hovering effortlessly.
Zeon used Sand Walk to move ahead, while Gaia followed behind carrying Brielle.
Riding on Gaia’s back, Brielle spread both arms wide and embraced the wind.
“Kyaa! Can’t you go faster?”
—Be!
Gaia increased her speed, instantly overtaking Zeon before soaring high into the sky.
No one knew the exact principle behind it, but Gaia could fly freely without being affected by gravity.
Like a fish swimming through water.
Gaia shot higher and higher into the sky.
“Ah—!”
Brielle felt immense pressure crushing down on her.
But only for a moment.
Soon, breathing became easy again.
It was obvious Gaia’s power was protecting her.
No longer could the pressure or wind trouble her.
Brielle hugged Gaia’s head and whispered,
“This is amazing! Thank you, Gaia! For letting me experience something this wonderful.”
—Be!
“But we’ve gone too high. At this rate Zeon won’t be able to keep up. Let’s go back down.”
“I’m fine, so keep flying.”
At that moment, Zeon’s voice sounded right beside her.
Startled, Brielle turned her head and saw Zeon flying alongside Gaia atop a sandstorm.
“What? You can fly too?”
“As you can see, if I ride the sand wind……”
“Wow! That’s totally broken.”
Brielle blurted out her honest thoughts without realizing it.
Then suddenly, Zeon’s expression hardened.
“Magical beasts.”
“What?”
Brielle quickly looked ahead.
Far in the distance, black objects were flying toward them at terrifying speed.
Wiiiiing!
Even from this far away, the sound of wings beating rang ominously in the air.
Zeon frowned.
“Bullet Hummingbirds.”
“What?”
“Bullet Hummingbirds! Low-grade magical beasts that self-destruct by crashing into their targets, like bomb bees.”
Like real hummingbirds, Bullet Hummingbirds beat their wings at frightening speed and lived hundreds of meters above the ground.
Until the moment they died, they never descended to the surface, so ordinary people didn’t even know they existed.
Even among awakened ones, Zeon was almost the only person aware of the Bullet Hummingbirds.
The reason was simple.
Everyone else who encountered them had died.
Boomboomboomboom!
The Bullet Hummingbirds flew in instantly and slammed into Gaia and Zeon.
Their attack method was simple:
They crashed into targets at bullet-like speeds and exploded on impact.
Individually, Bullet Hummingbirds were nothing more than weak F-rank magical beasts.
But when thousands or tens of thousands collided and exploded at bullet speed, even C-rank magical beasts without force fields could be shredded into rags instantly.
Humans, whose defenses were far weaker than magical beasts, didn’t even need mentioning.
Thankfully, even though Gaia was still just a juvenile, she could already deploy a force field.
Thanks to that, neither Gaia nor Brielle suffered any harm despite dozens of small explosions.
“What about Zeon?”
Brielle hurriedly turned toward him.
Boomboomboom!
Countless explosions were erupting in front of Zeon as well.
They had been exposed to the Bullet Hummingbirds’ attack.
But just like Gaia, Zeon suffered almost no damage from their assault.
Fwoooosh!
It was because of the sand barrier swirling around him.
The Bullet Hummingbirds couldn’t penetrate the wall of sand and exploded before reaching him.
Thanks to that, Zeon remained unharmed despite their attacks.
Zeon spoke to Brielle.
“It looks like flying any higher is a bad idea. Let’s go down.”
“Okay!”
—Bii!
Zeon and Gaia slowly lowered their altitude and descended to the ground.
After climbing down from Gaia’s back, Brielle pressed a hand against her chest.
“Wow! I thought we were going to die.”
—Be!
“Thank you! You saved us.”
—Bebbi!
“I can’t believe things that terrifying live up there where nothing even seems to exist. That scared me to death.”
Brielle lifted her head and stared into the sky.
From the ground, there was no sign of the swarm of Bullet Hummingbirds that had attacked them so ferociously.
If she hadn’t experienced their attack herself, she never would have believed such vicious magical beasts lived so high above.
Brielle asked Zeon,
“So there are magical beasts living in the sky too?”
“The magical beasts differ depending on the altitude.”
“How so?”
“At the lowest levels live insect-type magical beasts. Slightly higher up are low-grade beasts like those. The stronger they are, the higher the altitude they inhabit.”
“My god!”
“In some ways, the magical beasts in the sky are more dangerous than those on the ground. They hate other lifeforms entering their territory more than death itself. And their territories are vastly larger than those of ground-dwelling magical beasts. It seems this entire region belongs to the Bullet Hummingbirds.”
“Then do sky-dwelling magical beasts never come down to the ground? Do they live in the sky their entire lives?”
“In the case of Bullet Hummingbirds, they’re born in the sky and die in the sky.”
“How is that possible? No matter what, shouldn’t even magical beasts need to rest on the ground sometimes?”
“That’s what I’d like to know too.”
Magical beasts already defied common sense, but the creatures living in the sky were even further beyond human understanding.
Unlike magical beasts living underground or on the surface, virtually nothing was known about the ecosystem of the sky.
That was also why Zeon rarely used his ability to ride sandstorms through the air despite being capable of it.
There was no reason to risk entering the skies when he never knew what kind of magical beast he might encounter.
The vast heavens above were still an unknown realm even to him.
Zeon stroked Gaia’s head and said,
“Until Gaia grows up more, it’s better not to go too high.”
“Yeah! We should do that.”
—Bei!
If Gaia fully matured, even the magical beasts ruling the skies would be unable to threaten her.
But no one knew when she would become as large as her mother, Mobydick.
Looking around, Brielle said,
“But where are we now?”
Having gotten carried away with flying, it seemed they had traveled far beyond Neo Seoul.
“I think we’ve come at least several hundred kilometers away from Neo Seoul.”
“Whaaat?! We came that far in such a short time?”
—Be?
Brielle and Gaia were both shocked.
Smiling, Zeon replied,
“It’s not that surprising. Flying through the sky drastically shortens both time and distance.”
“Then how are we getting back to Neo Seoul? Flying again?”
“Gaia seems pretty startled too, so let’s just walk back.”
“But won’t that take forever?”
“All we have is time anyway.”
“That’s true. Thinking of it as a picnic and walking back doesn’t sound bad.”
Brielle soon nodded in agreement.
An ordinary person would have to risk their life to walk several hundred kilometers across the desert, but neither Zeon nor Brielle were anything close to ordinary.
And both were already accustomed to traveling through the desert.
“Let’s go!”
“Okay!”
The two began walking.
Zeon moved at the front, gauging their direction.
Meanwhile, Brielle endlessly chatted with Gaia as she followed him.
Because of that, there wasn’t a single moment of boredom.
“Still, it was amazing. The Bullet Hummingbirds were a little scary, but flying through the sky felt incredible.”
—Bii!
“You want to go again?”
—Bibibibi!
“Once you grow a little bigger, we’ll try again then. Right now it seems too dangerous.”
—Bii!
“You think you’re fine? No way! Let’s not take unnecessary risks. Our lives are precious.”
Brielle gently soothed Gaia.
Watching an elf converse so earnestly with a tiny flying whale never grew old.
Thanks to that, even walking beneath the blazing sun didn’t feel all that tedious.
“Hm?”
At that moment, Zeon sensed something strange.
A sensation like something tickling the soles of his feet made him stop and look down.
“What is it?”
—Bei?
Brielle and Gaia looked at Zeon curiously.
Tilting his head slightly, Zeon answered,
“I think there’s a dungeon underground here.”
“A dungeon?”
—Bii?
“Want to go inside?”
“Yeah!”
—Be!