3. Escape> After Sian reached the realm of Alpha and came to the Ra-Sian Continent, the first thing he worried about was only one thing.
He had told Miss Steel that his first objective was to become strong enough to face Dragona, but Sian’s true priority was that. Where could he go to build his strength without getting caught?
After agonizing over it for a long time, he came to one conclusion.
But there was always the chance of an unforeseen situation. If his existence were discovered here, he would have to flee somewhere safe. And in his opinion, the only safe place on the entire continent was the land of the Lukra, the Extreme Mountains. Inside that place, which had maintained the balance of the racial war for three thousand years, even Dragona, Krona, and the Drakun would not be able to carelessly enter.
Now that he had set his goal, the means became important.
There were two ways to get there. Either he could enter from the Don-Nasian Continent on the other side, or he could enter from the Ra-Sian Continent where he lived.
Naturally, the first method was far safer. If he only hid his power and crossed over, even the Drakun would not know. That was why Sian had first thought of using spatial transfer to move to the Don-Nasian Continent, then entering the Extreme Mountains from there.
However, when he realized that no coordinates had been set for that place and he could not go there, he gave up in disappointment. The magic circle Ragaofe had installed was not a two-way Ra-Shar-Roa, but a one-time-use formation, so he could not use it to return. There was no point grumbling at Ragaofe now; there was no answer.
Then there was only one path left. Breaking through Krona and Dragona to return to the territory of the Lukra.
That was why Sian’s first objective was to gain the ability to escape from them. His ability alone might be insufficient, but with his talent, which always showed him the path by which he could move, he felt he might somehow manage.
He would not be able to run for long, but he did not need to. He only had to flee as far as the Lukra’s territory.
And the more of them who chased him, the better.
From reading Nekra’s memories, it seemed those three did not get along very well.
Since he had been discovered anyway, there was no reason to hold back. Now it was a battle of speed. Sian unleashed every bit of energy he had cultivated until now and rapidly increased his speed.
Not only the internal coefficients within his body, but even the surrounding environment adjusted and changed for his sake. Space folded and warped, and Sian moved through those gaps as he charged forward without hesitation. His body, half-translucent, crossed through space as he advanced toward the Great Forest at a terrifying speed.
Sian made his presence unmistakably known to Liona and began racing recklessly toward Krona’s territory. ‘If I just hold out a little longer… I can reach the Lukra’s domain.’ The Great Forest was vast beyond measure, but his speed was tremendous, so it would not take long to pierce through it.
The problem was that Dragona and Krona were faster than he was.
There was one thing Sian was counting on. The fact that he was an enticing existence to Dragona, Krona, and Liona alike.
When he had read Krona’s memories, the three of them seemed reluctant to enter one another’s territories and clash. But Dragona was ignoring that and flying toward him. That meant he looked delicious enough to be worth that risk.
Then it was probably similar for the other two as well. ‘I’ll aim for the moment those three check one another and escape…….’ All of this was conjecture. But right now, he had no choice but to entrust himself to conjecture. There was no other way. If he hid his aura now and concealed himself within the continent, those monster bastards would sweep across the entire continent to find him. ‘Damn it… if only spatial transfer were possible…….’ Escaping to the Ra-Shar-Roa would have been far easier. The path beyond the Great Forest felt impossibly distant.
Sian gritted his teeth and ran like mad toward Krona’s forest.☆ ☆ ☆<…He’s quite a crafty one.> Dragona, sensing the aura of the one running far ahead, inferred the direction he was heading and his eyes gleamed.
The fellow was running straight toward the territory where the Ra lived. Through Krona’s domain, no less.
If he entered the Ra’s territory, Dragona would have no choice but to let him go. Even they found it troublesome to enter that place. He had to catch him before then.
No—if he could not catch him, then at least another must not eat him. If that happened, the gap between that one and himself would widen. Even out of sheer envy, he absolutely could not allow that.
Crackle. Crackle, crackle.
“Huh……?”
Larun frowned at the sound, which seemed familiar somehow, and turned back.
Behind him, a phenomenon he felt he had seen somewhere before was taking place.
“Ah… again?”
Perhaps because this was his second time experiencing it, Larun was not as startled as before. Still, just in case, he quietly moved nearby and lay flat behind cover.
Crackle-crack-crack!
Space tangled and folded, and before long, a brilliant blue light surged forth. The blue sphere he had seen once before grew larger and larger, then once again spat out a person from within. ‘Who is it this time…….’ As Larun was wondering, the figure that walked out from inside scattered the surrounding dust and opened his mouth.
“Hmm… where should I look for that man named Sian? Should I go to House Roman first…….”
The man, Ribias, looked around and muttered quietly. He had come here, but he had no idea where he should search for him.
“Ragaofe, you petty bastard…….”
No matter how little he had to do and how much he had been lazing around, how could Ragaofe dump such a dangerous mission on him? Was this not too much?
When he recalled Sian bursting out from within the red sphere while tearing it apart and screaming like a monster, Ribias’s expression naturally twisted. ‘Right. Surely, if I’m only delivering news… he won’t do anything to me.’ It was a little unfortunate that the news was not particularly good, but he had done nothing wrong, and he had heard that the man named Sian was thorough in that respect at least, so he felt somewhat relieved.
While looking around, Ribias saw a monkey-like fellow lying flat on the ground, and with an expression that said this was convenient, he opened his mouth.
“You there… you. Come here.”
“Yes, sir!” ‘…Huh?’ Normally, when such a strange phenomenon occurred, one ought to be so shocked that one fell backward, yet the fellow’s attitude somehow seemed extremely familiar with it. And seeing that attitude, Ribias was able to infer one piece of good news.
“By any chance… did another person pop out here about a month ago?”
Then the monkey before him opened his mouth with an expression that seemed to say, just as expected.
“Yes. About a month ago, two other people emerged here.”
“Good.”
Having found a clue at once, Ribias looked very pleased.
“Do you know where those two went?”
“Yes. They went to House Roman in Crotia Castle.”
Larun answered obediently, and Ribias, pleased by this, nodded and opened his mouth.
“Good, good. Then I suppose I should go that way first.”
Ribias launched himself toward the Crotia region, where House Roman was said to be.
After taking about two days to arrive in the Crotia region, Ribias came face to face with a not especially welcome face.
“Mister, long time no see. What brings you here?” ‘This wild brat was here too…….’ Ribias sighed as he looked at Steel before him. He had heard two people arrived, but he had wondered; it seemed she had come all the way here after following that man named Sian. He did not know what she had eaten while he had not seen her, but she had become so strong that he could no longer even deal with her. Kon-Rad had said she was now only a little weaker than Kon-Rad himself, and he had doubted it, but seeing it with his own eyes, he could not disbelieve it.
“I came because I have something to tell the man named Sian. Where is he?”
Ribias asked, looking at Steel, and Steel shrugged as she answered.
“My brother? He said he had something to do and went to the Lagrang region. He’ll be back soon… Should I pass it on for you?”
At that, Ribias looked conflicted for a moment, then finally nodded. Now that he thought about it, it would take a long time to go from here to the Lagrang region. And if Steel, rather than himself, relayed the message, the chances of that man’s anger falling on him would drop greatly.
Ribias, who also had items to pick up at places such as Amaran and Baroka, decided it would be best to tell Steel the matter here and leave. Looking at her, he opened his mouth.
“Very well. I’ll ask you to do it for me. It’s nothing else… first, give this to that man Sian.”
“What is this?”
Steel asked with a puzzled expression as she looked at the small egg-like object Ribias handed her.
“It’s nothing else… It is an artifact containing coordinates that allow spatial transfer to right beside the land of the Lukra. They say that if you throw this egg into the middle of the Ra-Shar-Roa and activate it, you can spatially transfer to Kiculus, right beside the Extreme Mountains. Since spatial transfer is impossible inside the Extreme Mountains, he should land beside them and walk in…….”
“…But why are you giving this to him?”
Then Ribias relayed what he had heard from Ragaofe.
“They say the Lukra demanded it. There is little time left, so he must fulfill his duty as an ally. But… they said he must not die a dog’s death, so they would first assess his level and make a suitable request; therefore, he should enter their territory. They cannot leave it themselves.”
“Ha…….”
“Well… That man Sian will not want to go, but he cannot refuse. If the Lukra collapse, everyone will die all the same.”
“Whew…….”
If Sian had heard this story, he would surely have clutched the back of his neck at his rising blood pressure. How long had it even been since he arrived here, and now he had to be dragged off again to fulfill his duty as an ally? Feeling sorry for Sian, whose path of hardship had clearly opened wide before him, Steel let out a sigh.
“I came to deliver this story and this egg. Without this egg, he would have to break through Dragona and Krona. Then wouldn’t that man Sian be far too pitiful?”
“…….”
“…is what Ragaofe told me to convey. Since there will be many fights anyway, there is no need to start scuffling already, so he said to come comfortably when he comes.”
“Well… I’ll tell him when he gets back. Anyway… you don’t have any more business here?”
At that, Ribias shook his head and said,
“No. Please deliver the egg and the message to the man named Sian properly.”
“Got it. Take care.”
Thinking that, from her brother’s perspective, this was at least fortunate, Steel nodded and saw Ribias off.
It was something that happened exactly half a day before Sian arrived in the Lagrang region.☆ ☆ ☆As Sian ran on for some time, he saw the path before his eyes—the path he had to move along, which had stretched out in a straight line—bend and twist violently, and he gritted his teeth.
There was only one reason a path that should have extended in the shortest line if nothing were wrong would twist like this.
“You’re here…….”
Sian gritted his teeth and desperately twisted his body along the path. The path was demanding movements so extreme that he could barely follow them.
In other words, the danger now approaching was something that required that much effort to avoid.
Something flew down from the sky at an incredible speed and struck the spot Sian had twisted away from.
The range of destruction was by no means large. A hole just barely large enough for a single person to slip into. There was no sound, either. If someone had been sleeping beside it, they would never have noticed the change.
But when Sian saw what was happening there, goosebumps rose all over his body. Not only had the spacetime at the point of impact been utterly destroyed, the surrounding space was being sucked into it as though collapsing inward. He still could not even sense the presence of the one who had attacked him. It was hard to believe that an attack with such destructive power and precision could be launched from that far away. If he had been caught in that, even if he had not died, he would have been left a mangled wreck. ‘Beyond anything I imagined…….’ Judging by the look of it, it did not even seem like an attack meant to kill him. Though if it hit, it would certainly cripple him. Just from that alone, the one attacking him was making their intent to devour him abundantly clear.
With a sickened expression, he clenched his teeth and hurriedly moved his body along the path with all his might. Every coefficient within his body aligned itself for survival, struggling to keep up with the movements the path demanded. If he had not raised his ability to perfectly control his body and coefficients through training, he would not have been able to follow the movements the path demanded even a few times before being struck by that attack. That was how desperately the path was demanding that he move.
Each time Sian twisted and shifted his body this way and that, strange spheres flew in from the far distance and struck, gouging chunks out of the space around him with dull, brutal impacts. Sian ran desperately, as though racing along a path atop a crumbling cliff, while trying to think of which monster was causing such immense destruction. ‘Whose attack is this… Dragona? Liona?’ He had not yet even reached Crona’s domain. That was why Sian thought the attack had to belong to one of the two.
In truth, that was not especially important. What mattered was just one thing: whichever of the two it was, they were extremely dangerous to him.
As Sian desperately dodged, he suddenly felt the path twist into something even more complicated. At the same time, however, he could feel that he had gained a little more leeway. ‘Another one came!’ Sian let out a sigh of relief that his guess had been right. If those two had joined forces to kill him, the path would have become simpler. Because there would have been no way to dodge. He would simply have been bombarded by attacks from every direction, turned into a handful of bloody pulp, and swallowed by them.
But now, while the path had become more complicated, it was far easier to evade. Even if he moved with a little more composure, he could still keep up with the path’s motions. Of course, that only meant things were slightly better than before; it was nowhere near a level where he could let his guard down. Still, compared to the situation moments ago, when he had felt as if he might be ground to pieces at any instant, this could be considered a very timely intervention.
Sian breathed a sigh of relief and dashed into Crona’s domain at an even greater speed.☆ ☆ ☆
The instant it seemed he had been caught by Dragona, he scattered waves of qi in every direction and drew Liona in. Liona was probably rushing toward this place at tremendous speed as well, thinking much the same thing as Dragona.
The fellow was dodging quite well, but that much was within the range Dragona had expected. No, if anything, it was rather pleasing. The stronger he was, the more Dragona would gain once it ate him. That was why it attacked the fellow without hesitation. He was dodging well, but at that level, Dragona could catch him before he slipped completely out of reach.
But from far away, blue rays of light shot out, disrupting Dragona’s attacks while also attacking the delicious prey over there.
At this point, it had become a battle of pride. In a way, eating that fellow over there was merely a means. The true objective was to devour the other two.
The attacks punching holes beside his path had been reduced by half. But because a new attack had been added beside them, in the end it amounted to the same thing.
The newly added attack did not bore holes through space or anything of the sort. But its ferocity was even worse. Each time a beam like light flew in from far away and grazed past his side, Sian had to twist his body desperately to avoid it. Worse still, this one apparently had no particular desire to eat him, for it was truly pouring out attacks with the intent to kill, making it even more troublesome.
A single ray of light that brushed past Sian’s body plunged into the ground.
Fshk!
There was no loud sound, but the beam of light pierced smoothly into the earth like a raindrop falling into a lake. It went so deep that even Sian’s qi perception could not grasp where it ended. ‘Kugh…….’ While dodging every which way, Sian was struck by one attack and staggered. ‘Kuhuk……!’ Feeling as though his entire body were shattering, Sian clenched his teeth, but if he fell here, he would truly die. Fortunately, thanks to all his training, he had developed an astonishing resistance to pain, allowing him to keep the coefficients within his body from falling into disarray. And for some reason, the intensity of the attacks had been weakening little by little, so although he had been hit, he was able to endure to some extent and keep running forward. ‘Even in the middle of this, my skill keeps rising…….’ The incessant threat of death caused the characteristics of Lucra within Sian’s body to activate fiercely, and even as he fled, his abilities were growing by leaps and bounds. If that was the case, escaping should have become easier, yet it was still just as difficult as ever.
In the midst of that, Sian swallowed a groan when he suddenly saw the line bend at an incredible angle. ‘Another one has come…….’ The line sharply veering to the left told him that some mighty being was rushing in from far away on the right. It was surely Crona. Sian swiftly avoided the attacks violently smashing apart his surroundings, snapped his direction to the left, and began running at tremendous speed, squeezing out every last bit of strength he had.☆ ☆ ☆
The problem was Dragona and Liona, who were fiercely chasing after him and pouring out attacks from behind. As if to prove they were both foul-tempered bastards, they were attacking each other tremendously. Even amid that, they were unleashing attacks ferociously for fear of losing the prey, but perhaps they were growing increasingly irritated with each other, for their attacks on the prey were decreasing while their attacks on each other were increasing. They were still pressuring the prey, but at this rate, they were going to lose him.
Seeing that, Crona charged toward the prey as fast as it could, with all its strength. It intended to gulp the fellow down while those two idiots were busy brawling.
But at that moment, the attacks that had been pouring down on the fellow began mercilessly raining down on Crona instead. As though it had known this would happen, Crona swung its forelegs and fired fierce waves of qi, blocking the attacks.
If Crona chased with all its might, it could catch him, but the two foul-tempered bastards behind it would not simply sit and watch. Since things had come to this, Crona decided it might as well beat up those detestable fellows it had not seen in a long time, and began pouring attacks with all its strength toward Dragona and Liona, who were floating in the air.☆ ☆ ☆“Hoo… did I survive…….”
Seeing that the path no longer forced danger upon him and instead stretched straight ahead before his eyes, Sian let out a sigh of relief.
Far away, towering high into the sky, a gigantic mountain came into view. That was probably the place called the Mountain of Extremes. The strange mountain, giving off an uncanny sensation, emanated an extraordinary aura at a glance.
Behind him, the three monsters were clashing violently, but fortunately, it seemed the damage would end within the depths of the Great Forest. If that happened, it would actually be beneficial for the Ra-Sian Continent. The Harijans would not be able to cross over easily.
The immediate problem was himself. He wanted to go back, but he had absolutely no confidence he could break through that chaos behind him.
Back there, the sky was collapsing and the earth was being smashed apart. It was obvious what would have happened if creatures like that had gone all out to capture him, and goosebumps rose all over Sian’s body once more. ‘I won’t be able to return that way anymore…….’ Sian looked at the enormous mountain in the distance and shot forward.