A war airship was breezing through the sky. It was flying just right below the dark gray clouds of the North, carrying adventurers led by Duman and it was heading right toward Elsos which was currently completely surrounded by a horde of monsters. The airship had the shape of a fish with two thirds of its surface being the balloon part which was covered with square plate panels which was switched onto the linen and was sealed with tree resin so that it wouldn’t leak air. On its front right, there was a shallow rectangle window just wide and tall enough for someone to be able to see. Faro could be seen behind the window and he was wearing a thick fur coat that was flapping around due to wind. He was holding onto a ship wheel which was responsible for maneuvering left and right. The wheel was attached to a sloped podium. The altitude was controlled by a stick next to it.
“I’ve never been to the North,” said Faro. His eyes were wide. A flurry of snow was colliding rapidly as he piloted their airship through the sky. Some did enter the cockpit and there was some snow accumulated in corners.
“That’s called snow,” Roseline explained who happened to be in the cockpit to admire the view. After all, it wasn’t everyday people would be able to look at the clouds at such a close distance. “I am sick of it actually.”
She was from Siwen along with Duman, Meizei, and Amanda. They were all from the North.
“How come?”
“Because it’s cold here. Malnutrition and cold weather is a bad combination to have.”
It was rather common for men to have lost a finger or two to frostbite in the North. For Faro, both elements were foreign to him. Southern Egra was a literal paradise for those who had arrived from the North. That was a reason why Brian was hell bent on settling down in the South.
“It must have been rough.” He said so nevertheless. As a guild receptionist, he was getting better at carrying conversations along. He may have not understood those who loathed the cold weather for personal reasons but he was able to conceal his lack of knowledge in specific topics. This was achieved by not stating his personal opinions and by speaking absolute minimum.
“You do get used to it, but it doesn’t mean you love the cold.”
She never did in fact. As a hunter’s daughter, she had to help her father whenever he brought in his animals, who indulged himself in liquor once he was home and couldn’t care less about anything else. It was down to her and her mother would take care of the dead animals. She never liked skinning animals and drying meat, especially under freezing weather where she almost had frostbite a few times. And thus, when she found out that she had a very high affinity to water, she pretty much hightailed from home and enlisted to a guild at the age of just eleven. She was in such a rush that informing her parents was in the back of her mind until she found her neighbors informing guards that they found her. It all worked out in the end because, when she finally informed her parents about her intention to leave, she was let go without a fuss. The reason was that she had three other siblings, and food was tight; one less mouth to feed was welcome news for them. Additionally, it wasn’t as if she was going away. She would be residing in a guild nearby.
“By the way, can you go up a little?”
“Go up?” Faro cocked his head, looking confused. “Um, I don’t want to hit the clouds.”
Nobody knew what clouds were made of. For all they knew, it could be floating rocks, which was highly unlikely but this was a world where magic existed; logic was sometimes in short supply. Even the manual he read mentioned avoiding clouds specifically.
“Can you get closer at least? I want to see what it’s made of. It’s a rare opportunity.”
She wasn’t wrong. Without airships, only wind mages would have a chance to approach clouds. Only two people in this world knew that water would turn into vapor at the moment. Those two people were Cezary and Kamil.
“I will slow down. You open the door and see.”
“That works just as well. Thanks.”
Some called it a door. Some called it a hatch. It resembled a door but a mechanized ladder was attached to the bottom of the door to fold out when it was open, making it easier to either step out or get in. Another beneficial side effect was that it made the door heavier and more controllable in high wind like in mid air. She groaned loudly as she tried to push the door open but couldn’t.
“Duman! Give me a hand here!” She shouted to get his attention, who was doing some maintenance on his arbalest. Meizei was also nearby and was doing maintenance of her tower shield. The once luxurious interior of the airship had turned into a workshop more or less. Tools were scattered around with oil stains here and there.
“What is it now?” Sounding rather uninterested, he stood up slowly and walked toward her. “You and your curiosities.”
“Why are you opening the door? We are going to lose warmth fast,” Meizei complained. Ayaan and Amanda were in their rooms underneath and weren't present on the floor.
“It won’t take long. I just want to examine clouds. I want to know what it’s made of.”
“Clouds?” He showed some interest as well. “Okay, well, make it quick, girl.” His thick and muscular arm opened the door against mild wind easily.
“Thanks.” She had a sword equipped on her belt. Drawing it out, she tried to reach the clouds but she was still way short. “Dang it,” she complained.
“Here you go.” Duman grabbed her by the waist and lifted her up. She was surprised by the sudden grab but nevertheless remained focused on the task of examining the clouds. The tip of her sword poked the gray clouds and skimmed across the surface. This was when she realized that the tip of the airship was already traversing through the clouds, leaving a rather visible trail along the way.
“Wow, it’s not rocks,” she remarked with her eyes wide open. “I don’t know what it is. It feels like … there is nothing? Duman, get me higher.”
“Mei, get me a box or a crate.”
Grumbling about the rapid loss of warmth, Meizei tossed a small wooden crate over his way. Those from the North knew the implication of losing warmth all too well. However, her worry wasn’t entirely justified because the airship had an adequate amount of fire crystals to provide warmth. It was just a force of a habit. Anyway, standing on a crate, he was able to bring Roseline slightly higher, and her sword was cutting across the clouds, leaving a trail of a groove along the way.
“What is this?” She wondered aloud. She was confused. It felt like there was nothing. Evidently, however, something must have been there. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to see it. “You can get me down now. Thanks for the assistance by the way.”
“No problem. What is that anyway? Your sword cut it as if there was nothing.”
“Nothing is correct. There is nothing, but something is there.”
“So…” He closed the door and gently kicked the crate away. “There was nothing, but something was there. The sentence contradicts itself.”
She placed her sword back. “I really wish I could tell you more, but that’s all I’ve got. You saw it yourself.”
“True, I did see it. Something was there alright.”
Water vapors was the answer. Of course, it was beyond their comprehension for the time being. Placing both of her hands on her waist, she fell into thoughts for a brief moment before asking.
“Do you think it’s safe to go into the clouds?”
“Well, I don’t think it’s going to do anything, but we really don’t know for sure, do we? Besides, we have a more important job to do.”
“Dang it.”
“Girl, if we survive this, you will have plenty of time to do whatever the hell you want. So, let’s focus on the job.”
Heaving a long sigh, she agreed eventually. “Yeah, I hear you, and you are right. How long until we reach Elsos?”
“No fucking clue. This thing is way too fast to be real, though. I reckon a day or two max.”
The speed of the airship surprised everyone in the group. When Ceres became progressively smaller in their eyes in a matter of seconds, they realized instantly that it was faster than anything they could have imagined. For the record, they did ride airships before, but those were early versions which were almost exclusively used for transports and such. What the world had was the early versions because, when the schematics were sold, they were very early iterations. Nobody, other than Cezary, worked on improving the existing design. What they were riding on was the 24th iteration. In other words, as far as the air force was concerned, Ceres was so superior that it wasn’t even a contest. Even if his schematic was leaked, nobody had the means to manufacture parts for it because some of its sophisticated parts had their own schematics. It may also be entirely plausible that not many would be able to understand the schematics themselves at this point. And, just as he expected, they were approaching Elsos in a little over a day.
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“Holy God of Life, what in the world?” Faro uttered as the Elsos keep was coming into visual range. He pulled a rope nearby which was attached to a small bell, which alarmed everyone and made them reach out to the cockpit.
“What’s the warning for?” Duman was the first one to arrive and demanded an explanation to which Faro simply pointed forward. Clenching eyes, he looked forward.
“Fucking hell, are those all monsters?”
The keep was apparently surrounded by black dots, and the black dots were literally everywhere within his field of view.
“What’s going on?” Meizei was the second to arrive and pushed Duman inward to make room for her to enter. “The fuck?!” She, too, was utterly shocked to see the scene unfold before her eyes. “How in the world are they still standing? The keep is still standing, right?”
“I would assume so since they are still surrounding it,” Duman replied. Ayaan, Amanda, and Roseline arrived shortly after.
“Aren’t we supposed to help them?” Roseline wondered aloud to which Ayaan replied dismissively.
“The fuck can we do? We are just a small group.”
Granted, they were stronger than regular soldiers probably, but against such a large number of monsters, it was pointless to even consider giving them a hand. It wouldn’t make any difference.
“We can’t do anything, yeah.” Duman agreed. “But we can reach out and ask them if they need anything. Faro, you haven’t seen any airborne monsters, yeah?”
“I don’t think I have.”
“I am pretty sure that we will run into some eventually when we approach Siwen mountain.”
Faro had never encountered any flying monsters. In fact, rarely anyone did. They weren’t common at all. Some were found in the North.
“Just watch out for giant eagles. We will start seeing them as we approach Siwen mountain,” Duman warned.
“Eagles?” Of course, Faro had no idea what that was. Avian creatures were largely extinct in this world. Only some select predatory birds were present, mostly found around mountains, preying on ground creatures for food.
“Right…, I guess we’ve never seen birds to begin with. You will see when one approaches. I think the armor on this airship is good enough to protect us from it, but it’s going to get really bumpy.”
“Understood. What should we do now? Should we not bother the keep at all and just proceed to Siwen mountain?”
The others looked at each other for a moment with Duman speaking up in the end.
“Anyone got an idea? Let’s hear it.”
“Let’s just go to Siwen mountain,” Ayaan suggested, looking completely uninterested. Both Meizei and Roseline shot a glare at him, prompting the latter to speak up.
“I don’t see any giant eagles around. No danger as far as I can tell. Let’s descend but not land. Lower rope ladders and meet up with the commander or something.”
“I agree,” Meizei added quickly. Realizing that he was going to get overruled, Ayaan scoffed and walked away, going downstairs.
“Alright, kid, bring her down but don’t land.”
“Understood.”
As the airship descended, the details of the battle were clearer for everyone to see. At this point, Duman and the others were by the door which was already open.
“Man, they are holding fine,” Meizei remarked.
Spearmen were doing a fine job as the first layer of the wall defense. Since the first layer of defense was holding firm, it was safe to say that the keep was not going to fall anytime soon. As the airship approached, no one seemed to mind its presence. The days were gone when everyone was surprised and shocked to see an airship. It had become a common occurrence for common folks and soldiers alike.
“Rope ladder lowered. Who wants to go down and meet whoever is down there?” Roseline asked but everyone knew the answer and looked at Duman. He was, after all, the leader of the expedition.
“Yeah, yeah, I am going.” Then he grumbled in a whispering tone. “I just dislike ropes…”
That was due to his huge body; it was never easy for him to climb down using such a narrow and unsecured ladder, not to mention looking comically ridiculous when such a large man climbed down. Regardless, he climbed down at a slow pace. The airship was hovering above the courtyard which was full of frozen supplies they had moved out of their basement due to goblin sappers digging through. A middle-aged man with a leather eyepatch in full plate armor, flanked by a hooded woman and another woman with short hair were present. The man’s appearance stood out due to his full white hair.
“Who are you?” The man demanded. While his hair had all turned white, his face looked much younger, making it hard to guess his actual age.
“The name’s Duman. I am an adventurer from Ceres,” he introduced himself. There were no guards at all in the courtyard, and the three people were not showing any hostilities, either. Therefore, he was relaxed.
“Ceres?” The man looked up. “And you own an airship? Wait, that one looks … vastly different. That is an airship, right?”
“An airship, yes. The latest one, and it’s not mine. The duke sort of loaned it to us.”
“He did? For what purpose?”
He wasn’t sure whether he should tell the man the truth. He needed to know who it was first.
“May I ask who you are? Are you the commander of the keep?”
“My name is Karsten Egra.”
His eyes shot up. He knew exactly who it was. The man who destroyed his nation was standing before him although he didn’t have hard feelings about it because many knew that the Siwen was on its last legs.
“Answer me. Why do you have an airship? That thing is not cheap.”
Snapping out of his thoughts, he decided to reply earnestly because he had nothing to hide, “The duke hired us to lure out the dragon. He wishes to defeat it after.”
“Defeat it? He makes it sound so easy, doesn’t it?” He let out a subtle scoff right after. If it was that easy, he wouldn’t need to go through what he was going through, risking his life to hold a line.
“I don’t know the details. I am simply following the order.”
“You must know more because this order of yours is so dangerous that you are risking your life. You must know how the duke could defeat a dragon.”
Duman shrugged. “I honestly do not. He did promise us huge rewards, so huge that we will never have to work again. We’ve decided that it’s worth the risk.”
Karsten growled in frustration. “If so, what have you come here for specially?”
“He did ask us to help you if possible. If not, record your last moments.”
He laughed, filled with half sneer and half surprise. “He thought I’d die? Well, perhaps he isn’t wrong, but I won’t fall any time soon. I’ve chosen this place for a reason.”
Duman scratched the back of his head, feeling a bit foolish. He did really expect a dire situation where the defenders of the keep would be fighting tooth and nail for survival.
“Well, it looks like there isn’t anything for us to do for you. In that case, do you have any messages then?”
Karsten, or rather everyone in the keep, was unaware of what had been occurring outside because they had been completely cut off due to being besieged. Now, Leonhard could have sent messages if he desired but didn’t. Therefore, he didn’t know that his son had failed miserably to hold his kingdom together and it fell apart. Perhaps, his son was afraid of being berated since he had essentially destroyed his father’s lifework.
“Is there any point in entrusting you with messages? You may not make it back.”
This time, Duman laughed. “You’d be right. In fact, you may survive, but we may not.”
That was a real possibility. It was believed that the horde was controlled by the dragon. If the dragon was defeated, nobody knew what would happen to the monsters. Would they simply vanish or would they flee in all directions? Nobody knew. The bottom line was that so much was unknown.
“Leave us be, big man. We’ve got a job to do.”
Duman nodded firmly. “Alright, survive.” Then he climbed back up.
“How did it go?” Roseline asked as soon as she saw Duman reach the wooden ladder which was extended out when the door was opened.
“They are doing fine. In fact, it felt a bit too peaceful down there.”
“The whole place is surrounded, though,” Meizei said.
“They are defending a small spot with enough men. It looks like they know what they are doing. They are doing their job. We should do ours.” Then an idea hit him. “Guys, let’s give them a parting gift.”
The airship proceeded toward Siwen mountain slowly, leaving Elsos behind. The door was open, however, and Amanda was standing at the doorstep. Directing both of her palms down at the horde of monsters, she chanted.
“Elementals of fire, heed my call. Shower my enemies with fiery rain: Firestorm!”
Rain of fire fell upon them like small meteors falling down, touching literally countless monsters in the vicinity as well as creating small explosions upon impact. Then she chanted again right after even before the spell would finish.
“Elementals of fire, heed my call. Grant me a fireball to whack my enemies: Fireball!”
A ball of fire, that was the size of a soccer ball, was conquered in front of her palms and eventually shot out toward the horde of monsters, creating a sizable explosion, engulfing countless monsters in searing flame as well as sending unlucky ones to flying. She finally took steps back, looking somewhat tired, and Meizei was standing at the doorstep at once.
“Elementals of earth, heed my call! Crack the earth to swallow my enemies: Earthquake!”
The ground shook violently and soon cracked open, causing many monsters to fall to the depth of earth. It wasn’t as spectacular as Amanda’s fire spells but it was just as deadly. She chanted again soon.
“Elementals of earth, heed my call! Shoot out from the ground to show the wrath of soils: Spear of earth!”
Tens of sharp and hardened rocks that had the shape of a spearhead shot up from below, either piercing or launching monsters high up in the air. She cast earthquake again right after before stepping back, looking a bit pale after casting three successive powerful spells. Now, it was Roseline’s turn.
She shouted, pointing at the sea of monsters down below, “Seiche!” For someone of elemental affinity nine, she didn’t really need fancy incarnations. A large wave of water, about ten meters tall and twenty meters wide, swept across the field. This was probably the most destructive spell of all that had been cast because, unlike other spells, the seiche spell had nearly a hundred percent of inflicting some form of damage to everything as it swept across the ground, traveling about fifty meters before losing its power and dispersing. She cast it two more times before stepping back. Duman appeared on the doorstep finally, looking down on the mess down below.
“Man, you girls really messed’em up,” he remarked with a whistle. The carnage was indeed impressive although they had no real numbers to back it up. What they didn’t know was that they had removed over 3,000 monsters out of the horde. It was a drop in the bucket but it was a high number regardless. Their spells had the maximum effect due to how densely the monsters were packed on the field.
“Well, we did all we can, let’s head over to Siwen mountain.” Then he closed the door. At the speed the airship was capable of, it would take just two or three days to reach the mountain. Perhaps, they might need to land before the mountain in order to avoid giant eagles. Whatever the case may be, they were heading to their final destination.