Chapter 213: Sky Trip
———Lynda———
<10: 01 pm>
“...So at what point do we start questioning everything?” I asked the rest as we all chill out in the lobby. The view of the clear sky from the ship’s glass window and us moving through the clouds is definitely not something we should take for granted.
“Huh? Where did that come from?” Rousi asked, a bit taken aback by my current comment that isn’t overheard by the pilot and the supervisors.
“Just as I said. I just wanna hear what you all got to say about how confusing and weird this program is. A flying ship? Monster habitat? It’s just too much and I know all of you wanna shut off your brain and just enjoy the ride, but can’t we be a bit more honest about how batshit insane this is?”
“I mean, I think the Sunday incident was a bit more crazy than this.” Trener chimed in.
“Shut it. That’s an entirely different can of worms.” We already talked about it enough as is anyway. Trying to dig more into that subject would’ve left us with quite a bleak outlook. “At least with that you can just say someone gets strong and hits hard and explodes harder. Magic can’t just magically create a bunch of flying ships! If it was that easy, human history would’ve been insanely different right now.”
“...Ain’t Kroin supposed to be the nerdy one?” Trener suddenly asked.
“Shut it Trener.” I’m not here to talk about class dynamics, who even cares about that anyway? Just hang out and that’s all that mattered in a social circle, except maybe like a team leader but that’s about it.
“So what exactly are we supposed to make of that line of thought?” Kroin asked.
“Just think about it. If something so advanced exists, that means we’re gonna see some big changes soon, most likely.” I said, just putting it out there. “Also, it’d be great if we could find the source of it, just in case we can afford it.”
“...You can just say that you want to talk about it for the sake of talking about it. We don’t have a lot to do right now.” Kroin called me out. Oh shut it you smartass.
“...Well, was it because of money or technology or what?” Histon asked. “Is this all from secret technology from a very specific group or someone having a blank check to accelerate tech advancement?”
“No way it’s the latter. No technological advancement nowadays takes that short of a timeframe to develop.” Kroin chimed in. “If it was still that fast, technology bubbles probably won’t exist, or at least don’t last this long.”
Guess he’s not a big fan of that thing. Can’t say I like it either. Try using it and it makes me feel dumb for even asking.
“So secret society stuff, right?” Trener asked. That is a very obvious answer to all of this, but also not very satisfying on the ground that that’s all we know.
“Probably, though we really might never get close to the actual answer of the whos and hows and whys.” Kroin replied. The others sure aren’t making a fuss of this conversation, guess they find just listening in enough entertainment for now.
“It always feels like they might answer something, but they never do.” I complained with how many vague statements I’ve received from the people who seem to be in the know. “It’s actually more frustrating that we’re adjacent to the people with the answers. Like, we all know some staff members in the school have the answer to most of the questions with how the Eclipse even happened in the first place. We can all agree on that, right?”
The others nodded in response. I don’t think a lot of places on this planet have people like that blatantly out in the open. It’d feel like a missed opportunity if we can’t get something out of those guys, even if it’s simply just so we can indulge in our own curiosity. I doubt any of us want to actually act on it. That’s just asking for so much trouble that we have no way of preparing for. Who knows what sorta crazy stuff people who actually try to get into all the conspiracies are doing right now.
Before the conversation could continue, the ship’s staff came in with all the food, putting them on the tables ready for us to come over and take them at our leisure.
“It seems the class is quite lively.” Teacher Elrik said with a dispassionate face. “...Am I interrupting something?”
“Not really. We’re just kinda pondering on things for now.” I answered. The conversation doesn’t seem to be moving as we are kinda occupied with getting the food. “...By the way. Have you been running into any problems? You know, the big explosion kinda caused all kinds of panic across the entire country.”
“I haven’t been outside much as of late to see the public reaction, and none of you really give me a big scrutinizing glare, so I would say I wasn’t bothered.” He answered. He does give off an introvert vibe and someone who doesn’t hang around a lot. “I suppose the people attending here will get it worse than others who practiced magic, considering what has happened on Sunday. A few have already connected the dots.”
“...By the way. How strong are you? Like, in comparison to other people?” I asked, since we kinda know he’s most likely stronger than the people in Perfect Class.
“I’m nothing impressive in the grand scheme of things, though I supposed in your worldview that would still be a lot…” He said, as if pondering whether he should answer or not.
“<Warning. Several airborne monsters detected within the one hundred meters radius. Do you wish to use the ship’s defense system?>” Some sort of walkie-talkie device in his pocket rang out loudly.
“What’s the threat level? And how many are there?” He asked through the device.
“<Rank A+. Twenty seven monsters in total at the time of reporting, and sixteen more within the two hundred meters radius.>” The voice on the device called out, and his eyes widened out for a moment.
“Hmm… Don’t engage the system. I’ll deal with it.” He replied before walking off and heading towards the deck.
“...Where is he going?” Trener asked, clearly not eavesdropping on the conversation with whoever was on the walkie-talkie.
Several screens then popped up out of nowhere, which usually means something big is gonna happen and someone wants us to see it.
The screen shows Elrik on the deck and the other screens show giant black birds with big yellow beaks all surrounding the ship. Wait, could I see that from the glass wall. Those things are huge!
He straight up jumps off the deck and starts flying towards them, cutting them out quickly before they could even attack. He zips around the ship and starts taking down these giant birds like they were simple pests.
He flew and cut through them like they were clouds, and the monsters didn't even have the time to react at all before all of them were cut down and dropped down.
The screens faded and he came back to the lobby. That was all happening in about… fifteen seconds? Maybe twenty?
“Sorry for the interruption. Where were we?” He said after walking back to us.
“...Talking about how strong you are?” I said, wondering if he really does forget about that question.
“Ah. That. I suppose what you all should know is that I am stronger than the students here, including the one that is always in the conversation.” He answered. “...In terms of the people involved with the creation of this place, I couldn’t hold a candle to them. The difference in power is simply too far apart for me to accurately gauge it.”
“...Is there… like a specific number you can give?” I asked, just in case there’s something.
“There isn’t.” He answered. I guess that’s all he’s gonna say then. “Does anyone else here have any questions?”
No one is saying anything and keeping to themselves as they eat. Guess no one has quite the guts to ask this guy about some important things.
…I guess I’m just gonna continue with getting the food and start digging in myself.
———Kenni———
<10: 12 pm>
*Grapple* *Slam* *Crash* *Snap*
I grabbed it by its neck using my entire body and sent both of us crashing down onto the ship’s deck. I can feel its neck cracking. Seems like that finally does it in.
“Whew! A bit of a workout, but nothing too hard.” I could’ve probably just aimed for the vitals at the start but there’s no fun in that. “This thing’s beak is absolutely massive. You could fit a human in there.”
“Seems rather impractical, but monsters do not work under any laws of nature.” Emmie said as she looked around, seeing a few more of the bird monsters surrounding the ship. Where in the world did they come from anyway? Last time our trip was being interrupted we had literal dragons harassing us. What is making all these weird birds show up?
“These things just don’t let up.” I remarked. Guess we just have to get a bit more serious. “Where did all these strong monsters even come from? One of these can easily wreck up a settlement.”
“Seems to be another anomaly. A lot of things can cause it. Failed ritual, certain someone cracking up the monster counts, weird experiments, something changing in the nearby Fantarban Realms. It could ultimately be anything.” Rico said as she suddenly walked up to the deck. Looks like she’s the only one who comes up here while the rest simply choose to watch in the cozy lobby. “Anyway. Are you two going to keep fighting until they all drop down to the cold ground below?”
“What else are we gonna do? Why else are we here?” I said with a smirk before turning around to see the monsters closing in and chasing the ship. “What? Are you gonna stop us?”
“Nah. I’d rather let you two deal with it. If I did it’d be over in a second and that’d be boring.” She answered. So she is giving us an okay, it seems.
“Then let’s get this show on the road already! These things ain’t waiting for us!” I said before I jumped off the deck and started flying towards these big black birds. Emmie probably followed me close behind.
———Karra———
<10: 15 pm>
“These two are really going at it.” Qyunda remarked as we watched the battle from multiple points of view. The amount of monsters is numerous and each of them puts up a bit of a fight for the two renegades. Some of them were quickly taken out thanks to being caught off-guard by the likes of Emmie’s scythe swinging down on their neck, or Kenni’s point-blank spell.
Those that do see their attacks coming struggle quite well, tanking two or three hits before finally going down.
It’s hard to track the power output of these two as the fight goes on from within here. The magical reinforcement on the ship causes a bit of interference with sensing power signatures from outside.
“They’re getting into action super early, it seems.” Orrel remarked.
Soon enough, the number of monsters dropped rapidly and then the area around us was finally free of these pests. It only took them a minute or two to clear it all out.
“Phew! Got a few sweats out of me, haven’t had a fun fight like that for… at least four days.” Kenni said as she got back to the lobby with the other two. Looks like Rico didn’t need to intervene in the end. “You guys really should try air battles more often.”
“Yeah, nah, I’m good.” Qyunda said in response. I don’t think many of us would confidently say that they can stay airborne for a long time, or even have super efficient flying technique.
“...Wait when the food came in?” Kenni suddenly asked as she noticed the tables of food that weren't here last time she was in the lobby.
“A while ago. You were too busy with the monsters to think about it.” Emmie replied.
“Well ain’t that just super swell.” She said while scratching her head. Please at least wash yourself before eating, same with Emmie.
“Okay you two, go wash up first before you eat. You two are stained with blood.” Rico said before escorting the two to the showers. It almost looks like someone scolding young kids covered in dirt, but it’s blood, so it’s nowhere near as innocent as it seems.