Arc 6. A seemingly endless loss
Road to a Hero:
Three chances in another world
Chapter 8. Vrooom
The death of a companion, the death of “man's best friend”. A dire wolf is chewed on by a monstrous bat ten times the size of a normal one. Rage Consumes Edward, banging at the back of his mind, trying to get in. The Warroirs' spirit is something that’s been dormant for months, and it’s hungry to be let free. As Edward’s about to clash with the monster, a loud noise is heard behind the carriage. An engine pumps and roars with power, echoing throughout this soundless fog.
Gray: “GET IN DAMMIT!”
From within the carriage, Rosemary hears Gray’s wails, so she grabs everyone's things, boosts into the fifth stage, and smashes through the side of the carriage. Edward looks forward to finding the Deep Bat lunging at him, and even if Edward wants to let the warrior's spirit take over, even if he wants to slaughter the beast with his bare hands, he knows it’ll take too long. Now letting this eternal rage subside, he punches the monster in its nose, angering it, but giving himself time to get to Gray. In the driver's seat of the Silver Chariot, he quickly backs out of the wooden cage it was staying in, then continues reversing, pulling out right in front of Rosemary and the others.
Gray: “GET IN, COME ON!”
Gray flows the Cloak of Darkness out, grabs everyone's bags, and pulls them into the car. Edward slides over the hood, jumping into the passenger seat while everyone else shoves into the back seat, having to squish together due to the large bags in the back with them.
Peter: “DRIVE DAMMIT!”
Gray puts the car into drive, slams on the gas, and spins around, driving right towards where Valatrocitus’s main gate should be. The Deep bat recovers from Edward's punch, screaming with anger. The loud howls from the beasts shake the area so much that the pure pressure coming off of it blows so much of the mist away that Gray’s able to see the road. But the loud roars tell the other lower-ranking Spirit beasts that not only is there a large snack, but one the king cannot defeat.
Rosemary: “I’m pretty sure we’re gonna have even more monsters coming after us.”
Soku: “OHHH GREAT!”
Going almost two times faster than when they were in the carriage, they kept a good distance between themselves and the flying monster. The thick tires plow through the ground, tearing up the grass and pulling up dust.
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Soku: “CAN THIS THING GO ANY FASTER!?”
Gray: “YEP…I HOPE!”
Gray opens up the glove compartment, and instead of open space, there’s a large blank crystal. Gray puts his hand on it, and starts pumping mana into it, mana that feeds into the main engine. As the engine gets kicked into overdrive, flames shoot out of the exhaust, and the wheels start spinning so fast that the rubber begins burning off. The pure speed of the vehicle causes everyone in it to be met with a large amount of force, pushing them back. Now that they have another speed advantage, the Deep Bat begins flying as fast as it can, bursting with power that pushes even more fog back. And due to the fact they're so close to the end of the fog when it gets pushed back they’re finally able to see their destination. With smiles on all of their faces, they spot the Valatrocitus capital wall and the singular gate.
Gray: “THE GATE! IT’S OPEN! WE MADE IT!”
As Gray says this, the engine gives out. Smoke spews out of the exhaust, then the rest of the engine. Now everyone is annoyed and fearing for their lives. The Bat closes in, but the other monsters emerge out of the fog along with it. Four small, multicolored Legend lizards begin moving towards them, causing the earth to shake.
Peter: “Hey…that’s not that bad…”
Another roar is heard from within the fog, a giant four-armed, eight eyes, red gorilla begins running on all fours.
Edward: “AN ARCH-GORILLA, GRAY WE GOTTA KEEP GOING!’”
Gray: “I CAN’T, THE ONLY REASON WE’RE STILL MOVING IS BECAUSE WE HAVEN'T LOST OUR SPEED!”
Soku: “How the hell can these things keep up!?”
The fear coming off everyone is like a sweet dessert to the two devilish monsters, but due to their power and pride, they want Gray all for themselves. The Deep Bat turns around right as the Arch-Gorilla fires a strong white web at its face. Now, because of the speed the Deep Bat is flying, It’s unable to move, getting its face consumed by the web. Now that the bat is wrapped in webs, and the lizards are running away, the gang's only opponent is the Arch-Gorilla.
All the way at the gate, the guards spot all the commotion heading right for them and must follow protocol, by beginning to close the giant gate.
Gray: “NOW! SOKU BLAST US!”
Soku: “WHAT!?”
Gray: “WIND BLAST US, NOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWW!”
Soku sticks her hands out of the caged back window, uses as much power as she can, and increases it with her mark of providence. Then, a massive amount of light green mana blasts from her arms, so much power that Edward and Rosemary have to push on her back to make sure she can continue this giant exertion of power. Now the magical thruster known as Soku sends the Silver Chariot barreling towards the slowly closing gate. The Arch-Gorilla notices that they're about to be unreachable for it, and decides to shoot another web line, which is torn to shreds by Soku’s wind.
Soku: “I CAN’T!”
Soku uses up all of her strength, right as they’re about to get into the capital. With nothing they know of that keeps them moving, they assume they aren't going to make it. But with a sudden wave of resolve, Rosemary pushes into the driver's seat, having Gray hold her while she sticks her body out of the window.
Rosemary: “HOLD ON GRAY!”
Gray puts his arm around her waist, using the other to steer the car.
Gray: “DO IT!”
Rosemary charges her arm to the sixth stage, then punches the air so hard that it creates such a powerful blast of wind that it moves the Silver Chariot so fast it’s able to barely make it under the gate. It’s so close that the bottom of the gate rips off the top of the Silver Chariot, almost tearing everyone's heads off. Now safe from the monsters, they have to deal with the guards, who are currently surrounding the car. They look into the driver's seat, demanding that they state their names, but Edward takes out their invitation. The guard leans in to get a closer look and immediately apologizes once he sees the Valatrocitus seal of approval, egging on his fellow guards to get down on their knees.
Valatrocitus guards: “Welcome to Valatrocitus’ capital, Titans of Walgonia. We’ll get a carriage here as fast as possible.”
Everyone takes a sigh of relief, having finally made it. And at the same time, the tires deflate, then fall off, which causes Gray to slam his face on the horn.
End of Chapter 8