Niko hesitated to reply. He knew nothing he said would change the way Elijah has been thinking. Niko has always been cursed with having no one notable around him, even his family. For Niko to understand what is going through Elijah's head was ignorant.
"Well… I am going to get some sleep. I hope we don't die." Before Elijah closed his eyes, he stared directly into the trees that were creating a monstrous tipi that covered them just enough from the harsh pattering of the rainstorm.
…
With the open palm of Beni's hand, a sturdy and heavy shield of stone materializes in front of the back of his hand.
Crack!
"H-how?!"
Beni, a knight from the adventure guild — alongside his compatriots, had been moving in between the trees killing beast after beast.
A disturbance within the jungle has been going on for almost three fortnights. One bringing an uncountable number of new and terrifying beasts to the walls of the Gion Kingdom.
In a moment of distress, he saw his entire life flash before his eyes until everything went dark. A thick and pointed bone extended from within the chest of the Bone Reaper and extinguished the poor man's life — one who had a family to go home to…
"NOOOO! BENI!!"
His compatriots were being surrounded by beasts they had no way of contending with. They were told by their captain of simple orange and yellow core beasts. Instead, what they wouldn't even dare to call a beast, but only an abomination was defying all of what they once knew.
The army of The Void had now entered into the confines of the greater world, tearing about the previous pastimes of power levels.
"Damn! These abominations must've come from Astraea!!" A burly black haired man with a missing left arm was walking on wind while avoiding the strikes of bone reapers. Constantly, he was having to erect a shield of water that he would push behind him while weaving through the complexities of the Crosstree Jungle.
There was not a single place for him to go, but hide as these beasts had surrounded the entire area of the adventure squad.
Fortunately, the screams and cries of pain coming from the surrounding areas distracted these beats as this man eroded a small hole into a tree. A safe haven that would temporarily protect himself from the inescapable danger.
Even the gorgons who would catapult themselves through the air while saliva dripped from their maws.
"I knew I shouldn't have become an adventurer…" Richter muttered while staring at his comrades being torn apart into pieces.
…
Niko woke Elijah up from his sleep by tapping his head after unwinding himself from the layers of oversized leaves hugging his body.
The birds had just stopped chirping as they flew away from the vicinity they both had slept in. Thankfully, the light of the morning was breaking through the east of the jungle and caused Elijah to grab Niko and fly to the tip of the tipi.
They were by no means on top of the world, but by flying to the top of one of the trees that crossed the others, a sight unlike anything drew emotions and colors into their eyes like nothing before.
An endless expanse of sunshine and leaning trees created a tapestry never seen before.
From the night of sleeping in cold temperatures, the hot sun gave them a sense of comfort, and allowed them to continue flying forward.
Gion was not visible yet, but would soon reveal itself through the massive expanse of trees.
At least, that was what they assumed.
Two hours of flying through the jungle's upper layer of the jungle caused Elijah to somehow run out of mana. They once again spent time recuperating mana, then rejoined the skies.
Also, they both began to notice a crevasse slowly expanding into the earth. The further they traveled, the wider this crevasse became.
Another half an hour passed, finally leading to the grand reveal. In the near distance, a magnificent and tall building with multiple spires, and level changes was seen.
"That has to be the castle of Gion, and it's beautiful. What kind of material is that?" Elijah suddenly became interested.
Niko suddenly sighed as he loved his head around. "Elijah, I hate to break it to you, but there is a wall protecting the kingdom."
"Ahh… That makes sense. We should plan our entry, I'll get us closer."
Assuming there would be l guards, Elijah and Niko would focus on finding an opening on an edge that was hopefully unmanned. However, this is if the invisibility runes Elijah was taking out of his spatial storage would not work if split between the two of them.
"Try pushing more mana into it." Elijah said while doing the same.
Unexpectedly, the runes did react to more mana while turning both of their bodies fully invisible. They both wondered if this feat would be possible with a single invisible rune.
"Hold on tight this time, we will be flying just above the trees this time." Said Elijah after returning the invisible runes to his storage.
The further Elijah and Niko ventured through the ceiling of the jungle the more they changed their direction to the opening that grew larger to the eye as time passed.
"That's. That's a ravine!"
"Wait! Beasts! There are beasts down there!"
"Niko… Those beasts are chewing on their prey. Likely the people of the Gion Kingdom…"
"We should help! Maybe we can use this chance to steal their clothes and blend into the kingdom!"
Elijah paused with reluctance, then simply smiled at the good idea, infatuated with the excitement that would come from a silent operation.
Swiftly moving through the trees, they took a stance on a thick branch with a perfect line of sight to a menacing gorgon ripping away at the clothes and bones of the human.
A nod sent them both into action. However, Elijah slightly hesitated when he felt how much mana was within his core. There was 60 percent left, and surely means his flight power is no longer unlimited!
'What could be the difference?!' Elijah voiced inside his head.
"Damn!" Niko had already created an illusion of himself that had not yet made itself known.
Before putting his illusion to work, released a condensed fire beam. The gorgon had all of its empty emotions within the body of the human, and felt nothing as its life was extinguished.
Boom!
From high up in the trees, Niko felt the vibrations of a fist sent from heaven blowing holes and fatal injuries into the ravaging beasts. Flying through the air was a menace unperturbed by the laws of gravity.
Bam! Bam!
Dozens of hoarse and terrifying sounds were heard in the distance while Elijah was carefully yanking the clothes and small bits of metal armor off the dead and beaten bodies. Out of fear, Elijah had just barely ripped the clothes off the second body which also came with a belt full of goodies.
A small knife with a rune engraved into it. A small green and slightly bendable disc with again, another rune engraved into it. Finally, a small gray ball with a cap and what looked like an enticing red button.
"Grab on, tight!" Elijah flew up to Niko and conversed about their next play. "I don't know how much longer I can fly…"
"What? How is that possible?"
"The mana in this area… it must be a different density compared to Astraea. Have you noticed it has taken longer to reabsorb mana?" Elijah asked while strapping the belt tightly to his waist.
"Damn… Now that you say it, that must be the reason. We need to get to safety…"
Suddenly, just as they were about to leave their area, a voice resounded from what seemed like the inside of a tree. A voice that shook Elijah to his core, causing him to freeze in place.
"ELIJAH VERAN!!!"
Not a single person knew his name besides the people in Astraea. The only possible explanation relates to an emotional conversation with his father — someone he thought he would never see again…