The morning sun filtered through the windows as we settled around the table for breakfast. Maya glanced over her cup and asked, “So, did you wrap up everything you needed in the city?”
I leaned back, tapping the rim of my mug. “Yeah, I think so.”
Al raised an eyebrow. “You neglected to bring me my herbs.”
I froze, feeling a prickle of embarrassment, and rubbed the back of my neck. “Uh… oops?”
Al gave me a long look, his lips twitching. “Did you perhaps… forget?”
Before I could dig myself any deeper, Maya’s laughter filled the room, quickly joined by Al’s low chuckle. At least he wasn’t mad, just amused.
“Well,” Maya said, pushing aside her empty plate, “we should figure out where to spend the winter before we run out of time.”
We opened the Map to examine our options.
“Judging by the time it took us to get here from the ruined city…” I mused, “we’re looking at a week, maybe ten days to reach the mountains. That’s with a good boost from the wind.”
Al nodded, his brow creased. “And if another hail storm rolls in suddenly…”
Maya sighed, the corners of her mouth tightening. “We’ll need somewhere safe to land if it does.”
I glanced outside, watching the trees sway in the wind. “I really don’t want to stay here for the winter,” I said, letting out a sigh.
“Neither do I,” Maya replied, scrunching her nose in distaste.
Al sighed wistfully. “Would it not be splendid if we had a valley here, like the one we spent the winter in Lumis?”
We inspected the Map again, but even in zoom mode, it was just green, green, and more green.
“The farming community where we collected the food?” I suggested.
“There is nothing to do there,” Al replied. “You would not be able to grow and harvest with the hail. Besides, we have sufficient food.”
Maya’s eyes lit up as she leaned in, tapping her finger on the table with a grin. “Then let’s go back to the destroyed city,” she suggested, her tone animated. “We can set up the house in one of the less ruined areas. It’ll be protected from the worst of the hail.”
Al and I exchanged a look, listening as she continued. “Think about it—two-thirds of the city’s dungeons are still untouched. If we’re stuck somewhere, why not be somewhere with plenty of work to keep us busy? On clear days, we can head out, clear dungeons, and gather cores. It’ll give us something to do.”
She paused, watching our reactions. I could see the logic in her plan. Spending the winter in a place that offered both shelter and loot… it made sense.
“Dungeons!” Rue suddenly exclaimed, his ears perked up, tail thumping against the floor.
I looked at him in shock. “You… want dungeons?”
Rue gave a firm nod, his expression as serious as a giant dog’s could be. “Rue want levels,” he declared, his tone resolute.
"I'm all for that idea," Al said, nodding with a hint of approval in his voice.
Well, with three of them on board and me lacking any strong arguments against, it looked like we were set to spend the winter cleaning out dungeons.
“Want to leave today?” I asked, glancing around the group.
“Better not,” Maya replied, shaking her head thoughtfully. “The hailstorms have a habit of sneaking up on us. But I’ve noticed a pattern: after each storm, there are at least two clear days. Let’s wait until the next one passes, and then we’ll take off right away.”
It was a solid plan, and by the looks of it, even Rue seemed satisfied.
After we settled on the plan, we spent three more days outside the city, waiting out the next storm. The hail came on the fourth day, raging through the night and into the next, finally clearing up after two days.
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On the bright, calm day before the storm hit, I figured I’d make the most of the quiet and looked at the ruined section of the wall surrounding the city. Initially, I thought about leaving it as it was—wide open. But as I watched, I noticed how none of the residents ventured near that part of town. The gaping hole in the wall loomed, keeping them away.
With a sigh, I did one last decent thing for them. Channeling my mana, I cast Fuse Stone, binding cracked stones together seamlessly. Then, with a flick of my fingers, I used Lift Block to raise the heavier stones into place. Bit by bit, the wall took shape again, solid and whole, until the gap was nothing but a memory.
After the storm passed, we returned to the clearing where we’d landed, setting up the balloon for departure. With a few practiced pulls, the fabric billowed to life as it inflated, lifting us gently from the ground. Once airborne, I murmured a request to the wind, hoping for a friendly push, and it responded with a powerful gust, propelling us forward with remarkable speed.
We soared over the landscape, the ruined city growing closer with each passing hour. By evening, the familiar silhouette of the crumbling buildings appeared on the horizon. The wind was a great friend, carrying us faster than we could have hoped.
The balloon drifted smoothly along, pushed by the steady wind, until Maya nudged me and pointed toward the hills ahead. “Think you could ask the wind to ease up a bit?”
With a nod, I reached out, whispering a quiet request to the wind, feeling it gradually slow its push. Meanwhile, Maya used her navigation gadget, adjusting our direction until we were gliding toward the familiar hills where my house once stood. We didn’t bother deflating the balloon once we arrived; instead, we anchored it securely to the house, letting it hover overhead like a tethered bird.
The next morning, we set out again, gliding over the ruined city to see what had taken up residence since our last sweep. Sure enough, a few new monsters—odd ones at that—had claimed parts of the old territory. The weirdest of the bunch were massive, hulking figures that looked like oversized monkeys, but with twisted horns on their heads and an extra mouth smack-dab on their stomachs.
The stomach mouths were... unsettling, to put it lightly. Every time one monkey leaped from ledge to ledge, that second mouth opened wide, rows of sharp teeth glistening with something I didn’t want to think too hard about. Each time they moved, a low, wet growl echoed up from below, like someone scraping meat off the bone. It was the kind of sound that sticks in the back of your head and makes your skin prickle.
Maya raised her gun and took aim, squinting at the writhing mess of fur and horns below. She fired a few rounds, each shot hitting its mark but barely slowing the things down. With a frustrated grunt, she swapped to one of the heavier guns we’d picked up in Tolarib. The next few shots packed more punch, the bigger bullets ripping into the monkeys with some real impact. But even with the extra firepower, it took her a solid twenty rounds to drop just one of them. Each hit only seemed to piss them off more, their snarls rising with every bullet, that stomach mouth yawning open like it was daring us to get closer.
I pulled out my crossbow, ready to lend a hand, but Maya waved me off, her gaze steady on the sights of her weapon. “I’ve got this,” she said, determination flickering in her eyes as she took aim at the next creature.
For most of the day, we circled over the area we’d previously cleared, scanning the ground for any lingering horned monkeys. One by one, Maya took them down, her rifle cracking the air with each shot until she cleared all of them. As we completed our rounds, the streets beneath us looked empty and quiet.
I glanced over at her. “Weren’t we aiming for a spot more sheltered from the hail?”
Maya shrugged, her gaze still fixed below. “Yeah, but I just wanted to clear them out first,” she replied, a hint of satisfaction in her voice.
Satisfied the area was clear, we shifted our flight northward to the part of the city that had escaped most of the destruction. It was far from the territory dominated by giant birds, and the buildings here still had some solid walls standing—a decent shelter against hailstorms.
As we glided over the quieter streets, it became clear this area had its own set of guardians. The horned monkeys with those unsettling stomach mouths unmistakably ruled the largest part.
Not far from the monkeys, I spotted two other groups holding their own patches of ground. The first pack looked like dogs, but wrong—sleek, low-slung canines that moved on six legs instead of four. They slinked through the rubble with creepy, graceful precision, each paw landing soft and soundless, like shadows come to life. Every so often, one of them would let out a whimpering growl that rose into a high-pitched whine, just enough to make my hair stand on end.
Then there were the green things—small, round creatures that looked like scaly balls with four stubby legs, gleaming in the sunlight like they were made of polished glass. They scuttled in quick, jerking bursts, and every time they stopped, I heard a faint clicking sound as their scales rattled. From above, they looked like weird little marbles rolling around town, confident and right at home among the ruins.
I leaned forward, trying to get a better look. “Do those things even have eyes?” I muttered, watching the green creatures as they moved with surprising confidence through the ruins. They seemed perfectly at home, but whenever I tried to spot them directly from above, they vanished, blending with the wreckage as if they were just another part of the rubble.
We returned to the house, settling around the table to map out our next steps. As we began planning, Rue stretched out lazily on his oversized bean bag, watching us with half-lidded eyes.
When I mentioned another round of clearing the city from above in the balloon, Rue huffed, his telepathic voice coming through loud and clear. “Rue come when Rue get levels,” he declared, his tone firm and final.
With that, he curled up on the beanbag, his eyes sliding shut in a show of complete contentment. Clearly, he wasn’t budging until there was something in it for him.
Spoiled dog.