Chapter 79

Spinning World

The journey through the portal was staggeringly uncomfortable–unlike the entrances and exits to the Tunnel, Delilah's skill with stabilising the portals was still lacking. Everyone, even Ethan, tumbled out disoriented, falling to the floor and vomiting. Not only did the journey take some two to three minutes of stumbling through the abyss, unlike the Tunnel portals which were all but instant, but the world was shaking the entire way through, as though ready to collapse.

However, they made it out–they were back in the underground chamber, humid and wet. Considering that the alternative was facing the entire wrath of the Chinese military, some nausea was more than welcome.

Ethan was the first to emerge from the hole, welcoming the fresh air of the morning. It was just past 6 A.M., and he could immediately sense Sarah and Layla in the lodge, still fast asleep. Just then, the fairy that came along landed on his shoulder, curiously examining the world around it.

“Voyagebinder, huh? I guess even vermin can luck into something decent every once in a while,” the fairy squeaked out the words as both it and Ethan noticed the approaching flutter. “Ah, the disappointment thus comes. I wonder which bastard aligned–eh? E–eh? N-no…?”

“Hm?” It was then that Tian noticed the strange fairy on Ethan’s shoulder, pausing for a moment as he observed it. “Cyra? Huh? What are you doing here?”

“L-L-L-Lord Tian!!” The fairy heaved off Ethan’s shoulders and belted off to Tian, kneeling midair in front of him. “Cyra’tekateshantu greets Lord Tian!”

"..." Ethan looked oddly at the scene, as did the newly joined Ronald, Elijah, Delilah, and Mingzhu. At the same time, Tian looked past the fairy and at Ethan, as though asking 'What the hell?'. "You won't believe what she was saying." Ethan's words seemed to send bolts of lightning into the fairy's body; it shuddered and shivered, its tiny head spinning out toward him, the eyes growing larger and pleading.

“What was she saying?” Tian flew over and landed on top of Ethan’s head. “Something along the lines of ‘human vermin’ and ‘fairy traitor’ and ‘human filth should kneel and kiss the dirt’?”

“Yup,” Ethan cackled. “God, it was just a weird nostalgia trip.”

“E-eh?” Crya stuttered, confused.

“She was still leagues better than you,” Ethan yawned and stretched lazily as he headed over to the lodge. “Remember? The very first words you ever uttered to me: ‘I will have to dig out my eyes and replace them just because they caught a glimpse of your disgusting form’. Man, I’ve heard all kinds of shit, but that hurt.”

Meanwhile, Mingzhu stared around in awe–though she knew that they wouldn't exit through the same portal that they entered through and that they wouldn't be in China, the fact that they were currently in the U.S. still astounded her. For however painful the travel was–and painful indeed it was–it was in equal measure worth it. For all intents and purposes, she was now likely considered dead. Fuck, it’s probably better this way, right?

Ethan sat on the sofa and quickly opened his phone as soon as they entered the lodge while Ronald went to the kitchen to fix a quick breakfast. Elijah and Delilah sat opposite Ethan, both seeming dead tired and just about ready to conk out, while Mingzhu joined Ronald to 'assist' him. Tian landed on Ethan's head and Cyra fluttered about in confusion, uncertain as to what was happening.

It had already hit the news–the Tunnel in China, in Shanghai of all places, had suddenly and abruptly disappeared. Wild rumours circulated immediately, and the story of the ‘four phantoms who snuck in’ spread like wildfire. There was also leaked CCTV footage of their mad rush into the Tunnel, though the footage was far too blurry to discern anything past four pixelated blobs disappeared into the vortex of light.

“Shit, you guys are famous, huh?” Mingzhu, at some point, walked behind the sofa and looked over Ethan’s shoulder and at the phone.

“What? You thinking of revealing our identities for a moment of flame?”

“Oi, I left my suicidal self in high school. Don’t drag her into this.”

Ethan stroked his chin in silence, pondering. The way the entire thing played out was even better than his most optimal predictions. Outside of getting shot a couple of times, not only did they clear the Tunnel cleanly, got an exceedingly nice haul of items, and disappeared without trace through Delilah's portal, but by the roll of fate, Mingzhu joined them. Having one of the Ten Beasts join him was a rather distant dream for Ethan. The reason why he asked Ronald to pay attention to certain names, Mingzhu included, was simply to keep track of them.

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From what he recalled, all of the Ten Beasts were beyond prideful and egotistical. Even this early on, they were the starfire that burned far more brightly than the rest. Collecting them as though they were precious cards was always out of the scope of his plans. At best, he’d hoped to form harmonious relationships with them.

Then again, Mingzhu was always an unpredictable wildcard.

But it didn’t matter. For better or worse–largely better–she was now with him. And he had more than enough chaos planned in store for her to be entertained well throughout.

Despite the world seemingly bending over backwards to screw him over, his current position far outpaced his plans. It hadn’t even been half a year since the Descent and he was already Level 25. Not only that, but he had a rather impressive line of people following him. His early must-have, Delilah, was also there. Really, just getting her would have already been amazing.

For all the trailblazing, however, things would have to slow down now. While he’d have to clear three more Tunnels in rapid succession, he was unlikely to gain more than 4 Levels from them–in part because he wanted others to start catching up to him Level-wise, but also because, as far as First Generation Tunnels went, max Level one could achieve solely through them was Level 50. Noting, however, that the first Second Generation Tunnel appeared eight years post-Descent. Even if his interference likely accelerated it, Second Generation Tunnels were likely years away, and him being high Level wasn’t nearly enough to contend against them.

What they lacked the most was raw damage output–Ronald was decent, but he wasn't the glass cannon type that every party needed. He was more of a bruiser type with some decent self-sustain. Mingzhu, too, was more of a utility-based damage dealer–though her damage would likely outpace Ronald's at even Levels, it wouldn't be by that much. The true majesty of her Class was the utility aspects of it rather than the damage output.

Sarah and Delilah weren't even combat Classes, and Elijah was pure support. However, no matter how much he scrambled his memories, he couldn't remember any particular standouts in that department from the City–or even the nearby vicinity. In his original plans, he hadn't expected the pace to be this aggressive. In fact, he planned on recruiting one such person when he went to France for the Tunnel there, but that was still about a month away, and he simply didn't have the luxury of waiting for a month.

“What’s wrong?” Ronald asked.

“Nothing,” Ethan shook his head. “Just thinking.”

“What now?”

“Probably North Korea?” Ethan mused aloud.

“Hm? The fuck about North Korea?” Mingzhu asked.

“Our next target,” Ethan said. “We can’t let anyone else have the first clear ‘cause I’m fairly certain that the item’s a guaranteed drop only for the first clear.”

“When does it open?” Ronald asked.

“I’m pretty sure it’s already opened,” Ethan shrugged. “Yo, you’re from there. Look,” Ethan pulled up Google Maps and showed Mingzhu a rough estimate of where the Tunnel was. “Would it be easier to access it through sea or through the land border with Russia?”

“... how the fuck would I know?” she looked at him oddly.

“... yeah, fair enough. I’ll ask Sarah to look into it when she wakes up,” he said. “I know it’s a tough shot, but do you know anyone else who looked promising? Class-wise? Specifically, a damage dealer?”

“Hmm,” Mingzhu mulled for a moment. “Maybe Delta? But nah, that bitch is off his rocker. Not really. We weren’t exactly encouraged to share our Class info with others. Just with our superior officers.”

“... lemme guess. You’re a Rogue?”

"Wow, are you a mind reader or something? How'd you know?"

“Just a guess,” Ethan shrugged. “Well, anyway. We’ll rest for a couple of days while Michael prepares the plane. Right. We really need to start expanding this place. Some people will literally have to sleep on the floor.”

“Can’t we just make another underground chamber?” Ronald asked.

“I mean, you’d still have to do all the work on it that you would on any other room,” Ethan replied. “You’d have to insulate it, make sure it has running water, electricity, proper ventilation, heating–especially heating–and I’m pretty sure nobody here can do any of that. Unless Mingzhu here has a secret, plot-armour talent for it.”

“Nope.”

“Yeah, the only brick she semi-understands is the one that rests on top of her neck.”

“... fuck. You’re quite good at potshots, huh?” Mingzhu said. “You should know, though, I bite back.”

“Yeah, well, dogs do that.”

“Alright, I walked into that one.” She said, lounging back on the sofa.

“I’ll see if Sarah can figure something out for the lodging,” Ethan said. “It should be fine. We’ll be travelling quite a lot for the foreseeable future, anyway, so there’s time still.”

A rather simple breakfast of eggs, salami, and bacon soon lay spread across the table. Before long, Sarah and Layla were up, joining them, with the latter cementing herself in Ethan’s lap and not leaving. He’d been gone for almost four days altogether, and she seemed hellbent on keeping him there for at least a few.

It was also then that Cyra awkwardly landed on Ethan's shoulder and whispered apologies in his ear, though he hardly cared. They were just platitudes–though Ethan never quite figured out Tian's identity, he was well aware that he wasn't just an ordinary fairy. After all, an ordinary fairy could not simply pull someone back twenty-five years.

Ethan never asked, however–as he didn’t care to know. Tian had his own circumstances, and from the sounds of it, they were quite grand. What they were, however, Ethan wanted to keep elusive–he already had a handful of grand circumstances himself, and he did not want to let them loose through his fingers, no matter what.