“Is that?” Zuri paused mid-flight when she spotted the air pillar in its entirety. Up close, Zuri could see that the pillar was truly condensed of a strong air current. Severa leaves and grass caught up in the pillar gave it a deceptively greenish, beautiful hue. Contrary to expectations, many avians were gathered around the pillar, and quite a few wore sad or melancholic expressions as they bid farewell to their friends or families.
Zuri slowed down and carefully approached the air pillar, but surprisingly, no one paid her any heed. Only when she was just three meters from entering did an avian man fly in front of her.
The avian guard frowned as he closely examined the strange girl. “I do not recognize you. What is your name, and where are you from?”
“Zuri is Zuri,” Zuri proudly proclaimed. “Zuri is a Maggot!”
Down on the ground, Shadow tensed and he instinctively drew his dagger. But he ultimately buried his bloodlust, choosing to trust Zuri until the situation became untenable. Fortunately, the avians had zero guards on the ground, so Shadow did not fear getting discovered.
“A maggot?” The avian’s frown deepened, but then he burst into laughter as he proclaimed, “Maggot, is it? Haha, indeed, compared to the planes above, we might as well be Maggots.” The avian guard then patted Zuri’s shoulder as he advised, “But, don’t forget your avian pride. You too can reach the top planes if you train hard enough. So, do not despair and call yourself a maggot. Maggots are confined to the ground, while the skies belong to us avians!”
Zuri blinked. She knew the avian had misunderstood her, but before she could correct him, Shadow’s voice sounded in her ear.
“Stop. Go along with what he said. You can’t let them know where we’re from.”
Zuri was surprised. How could she hear Shadow when he was all the way on the ground? However, she intelligently hid her shock, and faced the avian guard with a smile. “Zuri understands. Zuri will do her best.”
The avian guard nodded in appreciation and then stepped aside. “You may enter. I hope to hear of your victories in the future, Zuri.”
Zuri nodded, and then flew into the pillar. To her surprise, the air current was not as harsh as expected. It gently carried her skyward, and she soon passed the barrier where the winds became volatile. However, the wind pillar protected her, delivering her unscathed to the ceiling above.
Meanwhile, on the ground, Shadow released a breath of relief. Fortunately he learned [Ventriloquism] from Lunette a long time ago. In its simple state, the skill projected the user’s voice to a distant location. Through hard work and practice, however, Shadow learned to control the volume and precise location where his voice materialized. As a result he could send messages to a specific person even if they were in a massive crowd.
Shadow sheathed his dagger and looked at the air corridor. He was certain the corridor would have guards on the higher floors. He could not follow Zuri any further or he would risk getting caught. On the way here, he already told Zuri everything she needed to know about how to prevent herself from getting found out. Now, he just had to believe in her like Kashi did.
Shadow walked over to a tree and ‘blended’ into the darkness as he watched Zuri turn into a distant speck in the sky. “Good luck, Zuri. See you soon.”
***
“—and so the great Vanguard battle against the twelve demons and their endless armies to ensure our prosperity and continued existence. It is the dream of every avian to fly among the vanguard and fight for our race’s continued superiority. The Sky Is Ours!”
While Zuri ascended the sky corridor, an avian family of four trembled in fear as a young man read a fairy tale.
“So that’s how it is.” Gentle Breeze closed the book and then adjusted his glasses as he looked at the avian group composed of an old avian male, a relatively young avian female, and two avian children. Trickles of blood seeped into the room from beneath an adjoining door, suggesting something terrible had taken place.
The family were huddled in a simple room with wooden chairs and beds. Like most avians, this family lived in a simple treehouse atop a fifty-meters tall tree.
Gentle Breeze turned his gaze from the shuddering family and contacted his guildmaster through the system menu. For some reason, the rinks were not working, so he could only rely on this method.
-Gentle Breeze, huh? How is it going on your end? Any sign of Kashi?
“No, not yet. But, I’ve gotten a clue into how this realm and test functions.”
-Oh? Well, don’t stand on ceremonies. Spill it quickly!
“The realm is split into nine floors, right? Well, each floor is also progressively stronger than the last. Apparently, the apex floor endlessly pump out monsters that use the air corridors to invade and destroy the lower floors. The avians conduct tests on each floor from the third and above to select avians strong enough to join the fight on the apex floors. If they do not fight, the monsters will wipe them out.”
-Wait. So, the avians don’t come from the dungeon cores? That’s a first. So, the avians should want to destroy the cores, right? If we work with them—
“—There’s a problem,” Gentle Breeze gently refuted with a frown. “This realm does not have any indigenous monsters, and most trees don’t have edible fruits. The monsters from the dungeon cores are the only method through which they can feed their entire race.”
-Oh, what a dilemma. They won’t let us destroy the cores, then. But, we’ll be stuck here if we don’t. Can’t we free them after we destroy the cores?
“We cannot promise that. Unlike the previous floor, there is nothing in their history that gives any promise or conditions for freedom. For all intents and purposes, this is a complete, but closed biome. They will never agree to our request without proof.”
-Haha, what is this? Isn’t this Razznik a sadistic bastard? Is he asking us to choose between ourselves and a whole race? Is there no third option?
“I’m sure there is. But we are short on time. We do not have the time to explore a third option.” Gentle Breeze picked up the story book and gently turned to the third page, which had an illustration of a snake spitting out wind at a man holding a broadsword. “But there is something that is bothering me.”
-What is it?
“The avians seem to worship a snake of all things?”
-A snake? Does that make sense? Why would avians worship a land animal?
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“I don’t know, but their folklore states that the snake used to be their guardian spirit. Apparently, something killed their god, and that is when their calamity started. But their prophecies state their god will return and take them to paradise. So they are resolved to fight and survive until its eventual return.”
-Prophecies. Sonic faltered. In the real world, he would have scoffed, but he had stayed next to Sayen long enough to know that they were real in this world. Good work, Breeze. There’s most likely a clue in there somewhere, but don’t pursue for now. We can’t risk getting caught.
“Of course. I won’t give us away.” Gentle Breeze nodded and ended the call. He then glanced at the family. “You should take a seat. Please understand. I cannot let you out of my sight until my colleagues finish their missions.”
One of the avian children clutched her mother’s dress as she glared at Gentle Breeze through tears, “You killed our father! You monster!”
Gentle Breeze’s smile faltered. Aish, why did the developers have to make the NPC’s so realistic? He felt a pang of guilt as he looked at the little girl’s tears. However, Gentle Breeze promptly stomped down that feeling.
Gentle Breeze was not like other gamers. He enjoyed L.N.E’s world and respected the A.Is autonomy, but he would never be so foolish as to see them as real people. At the end of the day, they were still a cluster of ones and zeroes. Gentle Breeze would not fail a mission out of pity for a glorified .exe program.
“Your father foolishly tried to flee and get help despite my warnings.” Gentle Breeze’s gaze turned frosty and cuts appeared on the table as the air grew sharp. “I’m not an indiscriminate murderer, but if you force me, I will not hesitate to end you. If you understand, sit down and put your hands on the table.”
The child wanted to say something, but the avian mother immediately clamped her mouth and walked over to the table. She sat down with her father-in-law, and made the children put their hands on the table.
The avian mother looked at Gentle Breeze with reddened tear-filled eyes. “Th-Thank you for your mercy. I, Amon, will remember this favor.”
“Why does this sound more like a curse than gratitude?” Gentle Breeze smiled and then said, “Whatever. Like the gentle breeze, let’s let fate take its course. We will most likely drift apart, never to meet again. But, if by some miracle, your hatred evolves into a tremendous gale that sweeps me away, then—that too, is part of fate.”
Gentle Breeze’s lips spread in a nonchalant smile as he took a book from his inventory. “For now, let us wait patiently.” The young man then reclined in the chair, and adjusted his glasses as he softly sang, “Freely, Freely, like a gentle breeze, we blow on midsummer’s eve~”
***
“534, 535, 536…” Somewhere at the edge of the island, a draconian monotonously counted the seconds as he tossed rocks into the storm.
***
Elsewhere, a vampire prince smiled as he walked through the forest. Syèl was in a good mood. His relationship with Shokō had advanced many leaps and bounds ever since they shared the truth.
Many times, Syèl could not believe there was someone who cared for him despite knowing all his ugly truths. Shokō was not scared of him, nor did she keep her distance. They could hang out in the real world, and fight together in this world. How could life get any more perfect? He was so happy he wouldn’t complain if he dropped dead today.
“Hm? What’s this smell?” Syèl’s brows furrowed as a familiar stench wafted into his nose. It was an all too familiar smell – one he would have recognized even if he wasn’ta vampire.
“Who’s spilling this much blood? The smell is so thick.” Syèl unfurled his wings and flew over the forest to get a better grasp of his surroundings.
Syèl spotted a cluster of tree houses on tall trees a few dozen meters away. “Is that where the smell is coming from? Strange, I don’t hear anything.” The vampire pondered for a moment, and ultimately decided to check out the scene. The blood was so thick that the kills had to be fresh. The culprits might even still be there.
“Do the avians fight each other? Kashi didn’t mention anything about that.” Syèl had many speculations, but he ultimately froze when a horrific sight greeted him at the village.
Around fifty or more avian corpses were splattered over the tree branches, their blood falling to create a dark pool on the distant ground. Amongst the corpses were avian children, but very few had intact bodies. Whoever massacred this people was thorough. They blasted their bodies apart to ensure they did not survive.
Syèl wore a grim expression as he descended. He knelt on a tree branch and retrieved a straw snake doll from a severed hand. The bloodied doll felt oddly heavy as it began overlapping with another doll from his distant past.
“Hahaha, for a bunch of useless bird NPCs, they give nice XP.”
A loud guffaw drew Syèl’s gaze to the ground, where he spotted a man dragging a female avian by her hair. A woman walked by his side with an exasperated expression, but she did not respond to him.
GrizzlyDiamond chuckled as he threw the avian woman against a tree trunk. “You shouldn’t have run away. You made me waste so much aura chasing you. What would you have done if you spoilt boss’ plans!?”
“Ughkakh!” The woman cursed at GrizzlyDiamond as bloody tears streamed out of her eyes. Unfortunately, no meaningful sound escaped her mouth because she did not have a tongue!
RustyReaper sighed. She could not watch any longer. “Stop torturing her, Grizzly. We’re within in the barrier. Kill her already.”
“Alright, Alright. Let’s get the XP and clean up this place.” GrizzlyDiamond laughed and raised his sword. “Don’t hate me. You were just too weak.” With those words, GrizzlyDiamond swung his sword and split the avian in half!
Clang!
Or so he thought.
“Hoho. To think we would meet here.” GrizzlyDiamond grinned as he looked at the vampire that had grabbed his sword. His eyes flashed with a dangerous, excited glint as he challenged, “Should I take this as a declaration of war?”
“War?” Syèl’s aura grew dark and sinister as he clutched the doll. “No. You spoiled my mood, so I’m going to kill you.”
“Kill me? Good luck with that. Many have tried before you, but I’m still here.”
Syèl’s expression turned vicious as he squeezed the sword. Brak!
GrizzlyDiamond and RustyReaper stared in shock as the sturdy blade shattered like glass.
“Ah, now you’ve done it. I really liked that sword.” GrizzlyDiamond’s eyes turned solemn as he glared at Syèl through the falling debris. GrizzlyDiamond nonchalantly pulled out a larger broadsword from his inventory and then pointed it at Syèl. “Don’t worry. I will only take your head as compensation.”
Syèl’s arms lit up in flames as he returned the knight’s provocation, “Try me.”
***
Oblivious to the chaos that was about to ensue, Zuri stepped out of the wind corridor after it broke through the second plane. She gazed into the next air corridor in the distance, unfurled her wings and then took off with a powerful flap. She would finish this mission quickly, and receive Kashi’s head pats!
***
“996, 997, 998, 99—oh, it worked!” Kashi watched with excited eyes as the stone he threw floated in the air as if somehow isolated from the surrounding maelstrom. Moments later, the stone suddenly shot upward like it was pulled by a powerful suction force.
Kashi’s eyes gleamed. “So, it’s still here.” He grinned and then clenched his fist. “Triple K, here I come.”