A sharp, almost piercing wind grazed my skin.
In an instant, Horus soared into the sky so fast that the ground seemed to shrink beneath us.
["Kyaaa!"]
"...What are you doing?"
["Well, I just thought it was the right time to scream, you know?"]
Despite being a Spectral-type, which meant Horus's speed didn't really affect her, Esther was acting like an excited child.
At times like this, she really did live up to her appearance.
["But isn't the distance between Ark and Heshbon pretty far?"]
She was right.
Heshbon was one of the more remote minor cities near Kronos. The terrain itself made it hard to reach, so the city naturally ended up isolated, half by choice and half by circumstance.
Of course, it wasn't as if Heshbon deliberately adopted a closed-door policy, but rather that the environment forced it into that state.
In fact, my reason for going to Heshbon also had something to do with past incidents between Heshbon and Ark.
"That's why I'm in a hurry."
["Is that so?"]
"That's right."
[Kiiiik!]
Horus increased his speed even more.
Thanks to that, I had to stop our small talk and grip Horus tightly.
The landscape shifted rapidly.
It didn't take long for us to completely leave Ark's air defense range.
"That way."
[Kiit!]
I pointed east.
Since Heshbon was relatively close to Kronos, it made sense to head in that direction.
["Hey, Boney, what did you do while we were away?"]
[Kieeek!]
It looked like Esther was having some kind of conversation with Horus, as if they were connecting on some level.
It felt oddly surreal, but I didn't bother interfering.
["He says he's been eating monsters while waiting."]
"...Didn't ask."
["Just felt like telling you."]
No wonder he looked a bit bigger than before...
Well, it wasn't a bad thing.
The stronger Horus got, the more powerful my overall combat strength became. Plus, if he took care of his own meals, that saved me a lot of trouble.
'Definitely more convenient than Janus.'
Considering how busy I'd been lately; I hadn't had much chance to let Janus feed on monster corpses.
At least Horus wasn't starving himself. That was a relief.
[Kiggit!]
Janus let out a low growl, as if asking for a bit more attention.
I ignored it and instead estimated our arrival time while watching the rapidly changing scenery below.
'At this speed... we should get there today.'
Back in the day, a trip even shorter than this would've taken over a week.
Now, I could finish a round trip to Heshbon in just two days.
'Assuming pure travel time, of course.'
This was outside of Ark.
Even high in the sky, there was no such thing as a safe place.
As if to prove it, Esther suddenly shouted.
["Master! Over there!"]
At her call, I slowly raised my head.
In the distance, I saw a swarm of small black dots approaching.
Flying-type monsters.
'Knew it.'
Not surprising at all.
It was just a matter of time before they showed up.
There was a reason Ark didn't bother deploying fighter jets or any other aerial forces.
Around Ark, the air defense network was nearly perfect, but once you left Ark's range, it was an entirely different story.
The world outside Ark was wild.
If I were on the ground, I might have been able to find some cover, but up here in the sky, there was nowhere to hide.
Moreover, I couldn't activate Ankelenth's Domain here.
To use it, I needed Ankelenth's Fang to make contact with the ground, but that was impossible right now.
Even so, it wasn't like I could willingly descend to the dangerous ground just to deal with flying monsters.
'No choice.'
I didn't particularly want to engage in aerial combat while riding Horus, but under the circumstances, striking first was the best option.
Especially since the enemies were foolishly flying in a straight line.
Clack—
Since I couldn't use both hands freely, I secured myself to Horus with bone tendrils sprouting from both Janus and Horus, forming makeshift safety belts.
Thanks to that, I could aim the gun stably despite the wind.
"Good job."
[Kiggit!]
With the wind howling around me, I squinted my eyes to make out the flying dots.
The wind made it hard to see properly—should've brought goggles.
'From the looks of it... roughly Grade-6.'
This was the terrifying reality of being outside Ark.
Even Grade-6 flying monsters were agile enough to evade Ark's fighter jets.
Right now, there were about ten of them.
'With resources already tight, no wonder they don't bother deploying aircraft.'
Even if Ark did build expensive fighter jets, they wouldn't be able to handle a single Grade-6 flying monster.
That's why Ark kept its aerial forces minimal and only deployed them when absolutely necessary.
'Well, that's that...'
I didn't hesitate to pull the trigger at the rapidly approaching flock.
The loaded ammo was A-985 Explosive Rounds—one of the most effective bullets against flying monsters.
Pheeeeew—!
The bullet tore through the air and hit the monster's wing dead-on.
No matter how poorly I could see, hitting a wide target like a wing wasn't that difficult.
Boom!
The wing was blown apart, and the monster fell helplessly.
[You have defeated a Grade-6 flying monster, Green Feather Clan Harpy Warrior.]
[Damage to Green Feather Clan Harpy Warriors increased by 0.05%.]
The other harpies, shocked at losing their companion so easily, screeched in rage.
[Kaaaaargh—!!!]
The ear-piercing scream made me instinctively scowl.
'Annoying.'
To silence those screeching beaks, I fired again.
One shot.
[You have defeated a Grade-6 flying monster, Green Feather Clan Harpy Warrior.]
[Damage to Green Feather Clan Harpy Warriors increased by 0.05%.]
Two shots.
[You have defeated a Grade-6 flying monster, Green Feather Clan Harpy Warrior.]
[Damage to Green Feather Clan Harpy Warriors increased by 0.05%.]
Three shots...
[You have defeated a Grade-6 flying monster, Green Feather Clan Harpy Marauder.]
[Damage to Green Feather Clan Harpy Marauders increased by 0.05%.]
One after another, they fell from the sky like broken kites, leaving a trail of feathers in their wake.
The battle had barely started when I took down four of the flying monsters with my initial shots.
However, more than half of them were still left—six flying monsters rushing toward me.
But there was one thing they hadn't realized: I wasn't the only force they had to deal with.
[Kieeeeeek!]
Horus let out a fierce screech.
Shlash! Shlack!
Bone tendrils shot out from Horus's body, piercing the fleeing monsters in an instant.
Not only did they pierce through the bodies, but the tendrils also began absorbing them right away.
Sluuurp, slurp—
[Kraah, kraaah!]
[Kraaaak! Kraaak!]
Only then did the remaining monsters seem to realize that something was seriously wrong, but I had no intention of giving them a chance to escape.
'Where do you think you're going?'
Usually, chasing down fleeing flying monsters is a real pain.
But that's only when you don't know their movement patterns. To me, their escape patterns were all too familiar.
'Now.'
I pulled the trigger without hesitation, the muzzle spitting fire once again.
Bang!
Boom! Boom! Boom—!
A series of explosions rocked the sky as three more fleeing monsters were hit and plummeted to the ground.
The greatest strength of flying monsters is their unique mobility, but at the same time, their greatest weakness is their wings.
As long as you can hit the wings, even powerful flying monsters aren't that hard to take down.
[You have defeated a Grade-5 flying monster, Green Feather Clan Harpy Assault Leader.]
[Damage to Green Feather Clan Harpy Assault Leaders increased by 0.05%.]
Finally, with all the flying monsters dealt with, Horus nonchalantly discarded the remains of the absorbed monsters to the ground.
Since he had already consumed the essence, there was no need to carry the leftovers.
With that intense battle concluded, the journey continued.
At first, Esther was bouncing around in excitement, but as the scenery kept repeating itself endlessly, she eventually flopped down and yawned in boredom.
["Aww... Where are the cute little things? I'm dying of boredom here."]
"Don't even think about calling them on purpose."
["Who said I would? Although... that doesn't sound like a bad idea."]
She seemed to be expecting me to react with surprise, but I was too tired to bother humoring her.
["You're no fun."]
Esther stuck out her tongue in a childish "Bleh."
I didn't see any reason to respond, so I just ignored her.
After hours of flying through the razor-sharp wind, Esther finally gave in.
["...When are we getting there? I'm seriously bored out of my mind."]
"We're almost there."
["You've been saying almost for the past two hours! At this rate, we'll get there in a week. Won't that be fun to watch?"]
"That wouldn't be so bad, but not right now. Look over there."
I pointed my finger at a mountain peeking through the clouds, and Esther's expression gradually brightened with excitement.
["That... is it real?"]
"As you can see."
Heshbon.
At last, the ruined City of Clouds revealed itself through the thick mist.
*
The City of Clouds, Heshbon
True to its name, Heshbon was a city built on a mountaintop, with clouds floating right at eye level.
A high-altitude city comes with both advantages and disadvantages.
The advantage is, of course, that it's easy to defend against enemy attacks. The downside is that resupply is difficult.
Fortunately, Heshbon was relatively self-sufficient, which allowed it to hold out longer than most other cities—right up until Kronos fell.
Now, of course, it had crumbled like every other human city outside Ark.
The scenery of ruined Heshbon didn't differ much from any other fallen city.
Since it wasn't a densely populated city to begin with, the number of dead soldiers was significantly fewer compared to the corpses of monsters.
'Nothing particularly noteworthy...'
Just in case there were variables I hadn't anticipated, I had Horus circle above Heshbon once before landing.
Having nearly been caught off guard once before, I wasn't going to make that mistake again.
"Good job."
[Kiiit!]
"Wait here."
[Kieeeik!]
I instructed Horus to stay put and started walking.
Since I had been to Heshbon countless times before, I was already familiar with the layout, but the current state of the city was slightly different from what I remembered.
'It should be around here...'
Retracing my memories, I navigated the ruins.
Esther, unable to hold back her curiosity, finally spoke up.
["What are we even looking for? It's about time you told me, don't you think? We'll find out once we get it anyway."]
Hmm.
She had a point.
It wasn't really wrong, so I nodded.
"A Rose Line senator's ID card—Ganesha Tripathi's ID. It's here."
["...Huh?"]
Esther's face went blank, as if to say, What's so important about that?
I added one more sentence to clear up her confusion.
"The item your people are looking for."
["...What?"]
For a moment, Esther just stared at me, her expression caught between shock and disbelief.
'Yeah, I figured that'd be your reaction.'
The ID card of Ganesha Tripathi wasn't just an ordinary identification item.
To the Shadow Order, it was a critical piece of the puzzle—a key item that would play a pivotal role in their long-cherished plan.
If I secured it first, it would significantly hinder their operations.
Esther's expression slowly shifted from confusion to realization, and then to a mixture of panic and urgency.
["Wait... Are you serious? That's what we've been looking for?"]
"You didn't know?"
["No! I mean... I knew we needed it, but I didn't know it was here!"]
"So much for being useful."
["Ugh! You're so annoying! Why didn't you tell me earlier?!"]
"Would it have changed anything?"
["Well... No... But still!"]
Esther pouted, crossing her arms in frustration.
Ignoring her sulking, I moved toward the location where the ID card was hidden.
'If the Shadow Order hasn't found it yet, it's probably still intact.'
The reason it wasn't discovered was simple—no one thought to look in the most mundane place.
And that's where I was headed.